MacRumors

A new in-depth story about the ongoing legal fight between Apple and Qualcomm has been posted online today by Bloomberg Businessweek, going behind the scenes of the accusations and rebuttals made by the two tech companies. The fight centers upon the "Qualcomm tax," or the amount of money that Qualcomm charges smartphone makers for the internal components of a device that allows it to connect to a cellular signal, also known as the smartphone's modem.

According to court documents seen by Bloomberg Businessweek, the true origin of the feud is described as starting two summers ago at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. There, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee are believed to have "shared a quiet word," where Cook told Lee to "pressure" South Korean antitrust regulators into intensifying a Qualcomm investigation that had been open for about a year at the time.

Apple wanted to get itself in front of investigators and spur more questions about the Qualcomm tax, which it could do because it was in an agreement with the modem supplier. That deal had lowered the tax from $30 to about $10 per iPhone, with Apple promising not to challenge any of Qualcomm's patents. However, it meant that Apple could truthfully answer any question in an investigation about the supplier that was already under way -- which Qualcomm claims was exactly Apple's intent at the Idaho conference.

Qualcomm claims that at the event—almost certainly the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, which both Cook and Lee attended—the Apple executive urged Samsung to pressure South Korean antitrust regulators to intensify an investigation into Qualcomm that had been open since 2014. “Get aggressive,” the Apple executive said, according to Qualcomm's filing, adding that this would be the “best chance” to get Qualcomm to lower its prices.

Apple says nothing improper happened. “I don’t know what conversation they are talking about,” says Bruce Sewell, the company’s general counsel, in an interview at headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. “For Apple to have said to Samsung, ‘You guys are in Korea and you should be watching this case carefully,’ doesn’t seem to me to be anything beyond simply the kind of conversation two CEOs might have.”

The story then details a few other parts of Qualcomm's history, including its massive "Patent Wall" that greets visitors to its headquarters, displaying patents for Qualcomm's CDMA specification and others that the company claims to be for the first smartphone and app store. "I can't think of a keystroke that you can do on a phone that probably doesn't touch a Qualcomm invention," said CEO Steve Mollenkopf.

Apple was reliant on Qualcomm for this reason for many years, as it produced the highest quality modems in the supply chain and forced the Cupertino company to deal with the Qualcomm tax. That changed in 2015 when Intel began producing modems that would arrive in the iPhone 7. According to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell, "What prompted us to bring the case now as opposed to five years ago is simple, it's the availability of a second source."

This introduction of a quality second source in the modem supply chain was met with another point by Apple: a smartphone modem is simply one of many components that make up an iPhone — and of "no special significance" as modern consumers rely less on the actual cellular features of the device. These two points encouraged Apple's decision to fight back against Qualcomm, ultimately leading to Apple's lawsuit earlier this year, a Qualcomm countersuit soon after, and more companies joining Apple in its fight.

“Cellular connectivity is important,” he says, “but it’s not as important as it used to be.” On another table behind Sewell, an Apple representative has laid out two versions of the iPhone 7: One model, which has 128 gigabytes of memory was sold by Apple for $750. The other, which has 256 GB, sold for $100 more. How is it fair, Apple asks, for Qualcomm to charge as much as $5 more for the technology in the more expensive phone, given that the two devices are otherwise identical?

In July, Qualcomm claimed that Apple infringed on six of its new patents concerning battery life and graphics processing in smartphones, and in August the U.S. International Trade Commission opened an investigation into Apple's alleged infringement with a decision date aimed around the time of the September 2018 iPhone launch. The patent infringement accusation is said to be designed to disrupt Apple's supply chain and "push the company to negotiate," with Qualcomm CEO Mollenkopf stating that all of the legal back-and-forth won't last forever, expecting Apple to settle soon.

That won't happen according to Sewell: "There's no way that this case settles, absent a complete reinvention of the licensing model that Qualcomm has adapted in the industry."

Check out the fully story by Bloomberg Businessweek right here.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it will take Ireland to court for its failure to recover up to 13 billion euros ($15.3 billion) of tax due from Apple (via Reuters). Apple was ordered to pay the unpaid taxes in August 2016 after the Commission ruled that the company had received illegal state aid.

The Commission argued that Irish revenue commissioners gave Apple unfair advantage between 1991 and 2007 by allowing the company to move income from the European market through two "non-resident" head office subsidiaries based in Ireland. Ireland vowed to appeal the ruling.

“More than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, adding that Dublin had not even sought a portion of the sum.

“We of course understand that recovery in certain cases may be more complex than in others, and we are always ready to assist. But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition,” she added.

The Commission said the deadline for Ireland to implement its decision had been Jan. 3 this year and that, until the aid was recovered, the company continued to benefit from an illegal advantage.

Ireland's finance ministry said it had never accepted the Commission's analysis in the Apple state aid decision, but would collect the money due pending Dublin's own appeal of the ruling.

"It is extremely regrettable that the Commission has taken this action, especially in relation to a case with such a large scale recovery amount," the ministry said in a statement.

Apple claimed earlier this year that the Commission made "fundamental errors" when it ruled that the company owed Ireland the unpaid taxes plus interest, and argued that the profits to those activities were attributable to the United States.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the EC's ruling "total political crap" and described the lower end 0.005 percent tax rate Apple is accused of paying as a "false number". The Apple CEO has previously said he believes the decision will be reversed.

In addition, Vestager announced a demand for Amazon to pay around 250 million euros in taxes to Luxembourg. Amazon denied it owed any back tax, and claimed it had not received any "special treatment" from Luxembourg.

"We will study the Commission's ruling and consider our legal options, including an appeal," an Amazon spokesperson said.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 produces generally better results than the iPhone 8 Plus when shooting still photography, but falls short of Apple's handset when it comes to recording video. That's according to the latest comprehensive smartphone camera test conducted by Dxo Labs, in which the two phones essentially came out tied overall.

The reviewers singled out Samsung's device for its "phenomenal" photo sub-score, which as the first smartphone to achieve 100 points in the category, "breaks new ground and makes the Note 8 the current class-leader for stills, thanks to excellent zoom quality, good noise reduction and detail preservation, and fast and accurate autofocus".

The Note 8 is Samsung's first foray into the world of dual cameras and is a great success, offering the best zoom capabilities of any mobile device we've tested to date. Add to that PDAF autofocus, optical image stabilization, Auto HDR, and a massive 6.3" Super AMOLED display, and there's plenty for smartphone photography enthusiasts to get excited about.

Overall, Note 8 achieved a DxOMark mobile score of 94 points, making it the joint-leader for smartphone image quality alongside Apple's iPhone 8 Plus, which the site previously praised for having the best smartphone camera they had ever tested. The Note 8's low-light photos showed less noise and more detail than its rivals, although HDR mode tended to clip highlights and highly backlit subjects didn't always turn out very clear.

In terms of video, the Note 8 was notable for offering good exposure with fast convergence, fast and stable autofocus, as well as good noise reduction, white balance, and color rendering. However, while the Note 8 trumped Apple's phone when taking stills, its video performance suffered due to residual motion when holding the camera still during recording, earning it a video sub-score of 84. In comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus achieved 89 in the same tests.

DxO says it has analyzed the image and video quality of over 10,000 cameras, lenses, and mobile phones, and its tests are generally respected within the industry. The company also sells some consumer-facing products like the DxO ONE camera, which can be plugged into an iPhone's Lightning connector.

The full review is worth checking out, and includes additional photos and analysis of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8's dual cameras compared to its rivals.

Apple has announced it will be opening an all-new retail store at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, California later this year.

"We've got something special in store for you," says Apple. "Introducing the all-new Century City. Join us this fall."

Apple's plans to open a more spacious store at Century City were first revealed by MacRumors last month, as part of the company's ongoing efforts to modernize its chain of nearly 500 retail stores around the world.

Apple will be in a prime location at the center of the shopping mall, which is undergoing a $1 billion expansion and modernization. The new store will be opposite an upcoming Rolex watch store, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Apple's current store at Century City opened in June 2005 and has significantly less square footage. The larger store will provide the space needed to accommodate more products, increased customer traffic, and Today at Apple sessions.

The new store should also be based on Apple's latest retail design, including large glass doors, sequoia wood tables and shelves, a large video screen for Today at Apple sessions, and light boxes spanning the length of the ceiling.

All new Apple retail stores opened since September 2015 have been based on the updated design, including Apple's flagship Union Square location in San Francisco. Apple has also renovated over 40 existing stores with the newer look.

Apple has yet to provide a more specific date for the store's grand opening, but it appears it will be at least a few weeks from now, based on the lack of intermediate Today at Apple sessions on the store's calendar through at least October 17.

Yahoo's massive data breach that occurred in August of 2013 affected all three billion Yahoo accounts that existed at the time, Yahoo parent company Verizon disclosed today in a statement on Oath.com, the website for the brand that now encompasses both AOL and Yahoo.

Previously, Yahoo said the hack affected 1 billion accounts, or a third of all accounts at the time. Verizon now says new intelligence suggests the attack was much larger, compromising all Yahoo accounts in 2013.

Subsequent to Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon, and during integration, the company recently obtained new intelligence and now believes, following an investigation with the assistance of outside forensic experts, that all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft.

Information stolen from affected accounts included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, hashed passwords, and both encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. Clear text passwords, bank account information, and credit/debit card information are not believed to have been accessed in the attack.

In a statement, Verizon says the Yahoo team is continuing to take significant steps to enhance security.

"Verizon is committed to the highest standards of accountability and transparency, and we proactively work to ensure the safety and security of our users and networks in an evolving landscape of online threats," said Chandra McMahon, Chief Information Security Officer, Verizon. "Our investment in Yahoo is allowing that team to continue to take significant steps to enhance their security, as well as benefit from Verizon's experience and resources."

Yahoo initially uncovered the attack after law enforcement officials provided the company with Yahoo user data from an unknown source. Yahoo notified users it believed were affected in 2016 at the time the attack was disclosed, but the company will now send email notifications to additional user accounts affected by the hack.

Along with the attack in 2013, Yahoo saw another data breach in 2014 that compromised 500 million accounts, and a third major breach targeting accounts between 2015 and 2016.

The security breaches affected Verizon's $4.48 billion June acquisition of Yahoo, leading Yahoo to drop its asking price by $350 million.

Yahoo is already under SEC investigation for not disclosing the data breach sooner and affected victims have been given the right to sue the company.

Apple corporate employees in the United States are testing Apple's upcoming person-to-person Apple Pay feature internally in the iOS 11.1 update, suggesting the Apple Pay improvements could indeed be introduced in iOS 11.1. Employees first began testing the Apple Pay Cash last week, but many were only able to access the feature starting today.

MacRumors forum member Chuck SaaS was in touch with an Apple employee who is testing the feature using iOS 11.1 and a device certificate that was distributed internally by Apple. Employee testers are required to download iOS 11.1, install an additional internal-only beta profile, and have their Apple IDs white listed to access Apple Pay Cash.

He shared two screenshots, one of the setup process and one of an attempt the employee made at sending money to him on the iOS 11.1 beta. The transfer didn't work as both devices need support for the new Apple Pay feature. Apple is encouraging employees to test the feature among themselves.

Apple Pay Cash works through the Messages app and allows for quick person-to-person money transfers, much like Square Cash and other competing services. It's available as a built-in Messages app, with cash transferred through iMessages.

When sending cash, it can be sent from a linked debit or credit card, while received cash is stored in an Apple Pay Cash card in Wallet that can be used for purchases or sent to a bank account. Sending cash through a credit card incurs a 3% fee, while sending cash from a debit card is free.

As has been previously revealed, the Apple Pay Cash card available in Wallet is being made available through a partnership with Green Dot, a company that offers prepaid payment cards.

Person-to-person Apple Pay was first announced as an iOS 11 feature at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, but it was not implemented in any of the iOS 11 betas and towards the end of the testing period, Apple confirmed it would be introduced in a future update.

There is no sign of Apple Pay Cash in the first iOS 11.1 beta that was seeded to developers last week, but if employees are testing it internally in iOS 11.1, it could be added in a future beta or simply released when iOS 11.1 is made available to the public.

Given that we've only had one beta of iOS 11.1 so far, it's not clear when the update will see a public launch.

Two weeks after being released to the public, iOS 11 is installed on 38.5 percent of iOS devices, according to data collected by analytics company Mixpanel.

Since last week, iOS 11 adoption has grown by just over 10 percentage points. At the 24 hour mark, iOS 11 was installed on 10 percent of devices, and at the one week mark, iOS 11 was installed on 25.28 percent of devices.

iOS 11 adoption rates have been slower than iOS 10 adoption rates during the same time period last year. Two weeks following the release of iOS 10 in September of 2016, the update installed on 48.16 percent of devices, putting iOS 11 about 10 percent behind.

It's not clear why iOS 11 adoption is lagging so far behind iOS 10 adoption, but it could be due to the fact that key features like peer-to-peer Apple Pay and iCloud storage for iMessages have been delayed until a later update.

Apple has already released two minor updates to iOS 11, iOS 11.0.1 and iOS 11.0.2, both addressing bugs in the operating system. The most recent iOS 11.0.2 update, for example, fixes an issue that caused some iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models to emit a crackling sound from the earpiece during phone calls.

As iOS 11 adoption grows, the number of users on iOS 10 has been decreasing. 54.82 percent of iOS users continue to run iOS 10, while 6.69 percent run an older version of iOS.

At an event held in San Francisco this morning, Samsung and Microsoft announced the debut of the HMD Odyssey, a headset designed to work with the Windows Mixed Reality platform.

Priced at $499, the headset offers high-resolution dual 3.5-inch AMOLED displays with a 110-degree field of view for what Samsung says is the "most immersive Windows Mixed Reality experience." With AMOLED technology, the headset offers more vibrant colors and deeper blacks for more lifelike images, and there are built-in AKG headphones for 360 degree spatial sound.

The HMD Odyssey is equipped with a Six Degrees of Freedom sensor for "intuitive and natural movements," while the headset itself features an adjustable control wheel for a snug fit on the head and the two motion controllers enable movement in the virtual world.

Windows Mixed Reality, despite the name, is essentially Microsoft's virtual reality platform. Microsoft has teamed up with several PC makers like Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to create a range of "Mixed Reality" headsets that work with the platform. Mixed Reality mixes augmented and virtual reality experiences to blend the real world with the digital world, but Windows Mixed Reality is a full virtual reality experience at the current time.

While Apple has delved into and embraced augmented reality with the release of ARKit in iOS 11, the company is also rumored to be exploring virtual reality concepts. There have been rumors of work on both a virtual reality headset and augmented reality smart glasses, but it's not yet clear if those products will ever make it beyond the prototyping stage.

Apple in macOS High Sierra is planning to support eGPUs and VR content creation through Metal 2 and partnerships with Valve, Unity, and Unreal, but beyond that, ARKit is the closest thing the company has to the Windows Mixed Reality platform, and there is no comparable product to the Samsung headset.

Samsung's Odyssey Mixed Reality Headset is priced at $499, and is available for pre-order starting today ahead of a November 6 launch. A range of other Mixed Reality headsets are also available from Microsoft at prices starting at $329.

Apple today released the second official update to its new iOS 11 operating system, iOS 11.0.2. iOS 11.0.2 comes one week after Apple released iOS 11.0.1, and two weeks after Apple released iOS 11 to the public.

The iOS 11.0.2 update can be downloaded to all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update.

Today's update addresses bugs that have been discovered following the release of iOS 11. According to Apple's release notes, the update fixes an issue that caused some iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 users to hear a crackling or static noise coming from the earpiece during phone calls and FaceTime calls.

The bug, described by users as "very annoying," was first discovered shortly after the launch of iOS 11, and in late September, Apple said it was working on a fix that would be released in a future update. For affected users, the only way to avoid the static sound was to use headphones or the speakerphone function, as changing cellular settings and resetting the device did not help.

Following the update to iOS 11.0.2, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus owners that have been plagued by crackling should be able to resume phone calls as normal with no further interruption. Today's update also addresses an issue that could cause some photos to become hidden and it fixes an email bug.

- Fixes an issue where crackling sounds may occur during calls for a small number of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus devices
- Addresses an issue that could cause some photos to become hidden
- Fixes an issue where attachments in S/MIME encrypted emails would not open

iOS 11 is a major update to the iOS operating system, introducing a redesigned Lock screen experience, a new customizable Control Center, a more natural Siri voice, a redesigned App Store, new HEVC and HEIF codecs for better photo and video efficiency, and an entirely overhauled interface for the iPad. For more info on all the new features in iOS 11, check out our iOS 11 roundup.

Vanity Fair released its annual New Establishment List this week, which it has described as the top 100 so-called "Silicon Valley hotshots, Hollywood moguls, Wall Street titans, and cultural icons," and two Apple executives made the cut.

Apple CEO Tim Cook rose to third overall, up from 11th in the year-ago list. Apple's services chief Eddy Cue, who recently ceded Siri leadership to software engineering chief Craig Federighi, dropped from 54th to 73rd.

Cook's description:

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT
With a market cap north of $800 billion, Apple is on track to be a trillion-dollar company.

RARE DISPLAY OF MORTALITY
As consumers reject the new MacBook Pro and Apple arrives late to the game with HomePod, an Echo wannabe, the company is clinging to the iPhone for more than half of its revenue—an inauspicious strategy, since phone sales are predicted to decline.

MORTIFYING TRUMP MOMENT
Cook showed up at Trump Tower in December to kiss the ring, then went to the White House in June to try to convince Trump of the importance of coding in schools.

Cue's description:

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT
Launching HomePod, Apple's voice-activated virtual assistant. The product, a competitor to Amazon's Echo, may be the new hit Apple so desperately needs as interest in the iPhone wanes.

RARE DISPLAY OF MORTALITY
Planet of the Apps, Apple's foray into original programming under Cue, "feels like something that was developed at a cocktail party," according to one review.

Laurene Powell Jobs, co-founder of educational and philanthropic organization Emerson Collective, rose from 73rd to 44th.

Powell Jobs gained a majority stake in The Atlantic in July, and she's also reportedly investing in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of several Washington D.C. area sports teams. She is the widow of the late Steve Jobs.

Professional wrestler turned actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who starred in an extended Siri ad this year, broke in at 37th.

Vanity Fair's fourth annual New Establishment Summit is underway this week at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California. There, so-called "titans" of technology, media, business, entertainment, politics, and the arts discuss issues and innovations shaping the future.