Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is best known for making some of the world’s most ubiquitous consumer devices, software, and services: the iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iOS, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and many more. Led by CEO Tim Cook since 2011, Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world alongside Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
It’s a terrible time to buy a laptop (sorry), but if you gotta do it, here are some to consider.
The rare US-China partnership comes as Apple prepares to roll out its on-device generative AI service in China.
You’re not alone — Apple told TechCrunch that it sent the notifications on Thursday to users in 110 countries who it suspects have been targeted by mercenary spyware. Apple has a new support page with guidance on how targets can best protect their devices against such attacks, which have “historically been associated with state actors.”
The company working on deals that would let Siri to lean on publisher content for news and information, The Wall Street Journal reports. Apple has apparently proposed a plan where publishers would get paid when content is actually used.
[The Wall Street Journal]
Now, it’s a glassier orb. I like it.
With beta 5, Apple also tweaked the Safari, Preview, Settings, and Remote app icons, according to 9to5Mac. I grabbed a screenshot of the new icons — what do you think?
Jennifer Bailey will be leaving Apple in October, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. That means she’ll be leaving shortly after incoming CEO John Ternus takes over on September 1st.
In a memo to staff included in Gurman’s article, SVP of services Eddy Cue said that a succession plan will be announced before Bailey departs.
ESPN lost Formula 1 rights last year, when Apple spent big to get the rights for Apple TV. Now, Disney is replacing F1 with… Formula E, the all-electric (and increasingly Formula 1-ish) racing series, starting this December on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. Shockingly, this deal might come with less talk about battery management than whatever’s happening with F1.
[The Walt Disney Company]
An analyst report yesterday claimed Apple had canceled plans for an all-glass iPhone to mark its phone’s 20th anniversary. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman disagrees. He says the phone is still due to launch in 2027, it just won’t be all glass, with a slim metal frame connecting the two curved glass panels.
With the success of Whoop and other screen-free fitness bands like the Fitbit Air, Polar Loop, and Helio Strap, it’s not a surprise that the company is weighing its options. But nothing is set in stone yet. According to Mark Gurman:
The company is considering new devices with no displays, as well as different types of screens and various sizes. While unlikely to hit the market, round screens have even been considered. I’m told the work also includes potentially adding premium models beyond the Ultra and Hermès variants. On the lower end, Apple is considering more affordable concepts besides the current SE model.
Private Relay is supposed to conceal your IP address when browsing Safari, but security researchers discovered that several WebKit browser engine quirks actually allow any website that supports passkeys to bypass the privacy feature entirely and expose your device’s IP. This comes just a month after Apple’s Hide My Email feature also failed to hide emails.
[Mysk Blog – In-Depth Cybersecurity & Mobile App Privacy Research]
Saw this from a MacRumors headline that I keep chuckling at: “CarPlay is Coming to Pontoon Boats.” Maybe Apple should have built a boat instead of failing at a car? (I’m kidding…. unless?)
According to the Financial Times, Apple “has introduced a cap and a 30-day cool-off period” for researchers’ vulnerability reports for its operating systems due to an uptick in reports using AI that “can hallucinate security risks.” Apple is also reportedly using AI internally to help manage the recent “upsurge” in bug reports.
[Financial Times]
The Cupertino company has reportedly launched another legal challenge against the UK government’s attempt to force Apple into providing it with backdoor access to encrypted iCloud data. While the UK dropped its initial demands in August 2025, it apparently issued a second order last October that specifically targets British user data.
Apple is struggling to keep the laptop in stock, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, with new orders on some configurations experiencing “essentially unprecedented” delays of roughly a month. This joins the shortages for the Mac Mini and Studio, all of which are seemingly connected to the ongoing memory crisis.
The Wall Street Journal gets into the “staggering” fundraising efforts launched by President Donald Trump and his team, including the tech giants making multimillion-dollar donations:
SoftBank donated $50 million toward Trump’s presidential library. Apple cut a check for around $25 million toward his White House ballroom project, while Microsoft gave around $10 million and Amazon chipped in around $5 million, according to people familiar with the contributions. Meta Platforms recently gave $10 million to a Trump-aligned political committee, people familiar said, on top of a multimillion donation to the ballroom and a prior $22 million payment to the planned presidential library.
[The Wall Street Journal]
Apple has reportedly been seeking permission to buy memory from CXMT, a blacklisted Chinese supplier.
“We urge Apple to abandon any effort to incorporate memory from CXMT, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), or any other Chinese state-backed supplier into any of its products,” the Senators wrote in a letter to CEO Tim Cook.
[U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York]
Apple recently started allowing alternative app marketplaces in Brazil following a long legal dispute, during which Epic originally announced that the store would be launching in the country.
The store will have Fortnite and Rocket League Sideswipe, Epic says.
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Apple says the “restricted mode” that 9to5Mac uncovered in iOS 27 beta code won’t be used for missed lease payments in the new Apple Upgrade scheme. That does leave some pretty big questions about why Apple reportedly coded it in the first place though.
wtfjohnson:
So they just built this feature into the OS for funsies? 👀
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As we trudge through RAMageddon, Samsung is allegedly rushing to create new production lines, at least in part, to keep Apple from pursuing other vendors. Just yesterday, Chinese memory company CXMT became the most valuable company on Shanghai’s STAR market, and Tim Cook has reportedly been asking for permission to buy memory from the company amid the shortage.
