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.
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.
While season 3 sure seemed like a finale, Ted Lasso is nonetheless back on Apple TV next week. The upcoming season sees Ted taking charge of a new women’s football team, and it’s coming just in time for those of us suffering through post-World Cup withdrawal.
Instead, Apple says users can either finish making payments on their device or switch to its new Apple Upgrade program, which will allow them to lease an iPhone, Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch. The company notes that customers can also finance a new device with monthly installments on the Apple Card.
Apple is patching dozens of flaws across iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, including a vulnerability that could allow apps to access a user’s contacts, as well as a security hole that could allow malicious apps to escape their sandbox in the Game Center. Several fixes are rolling out to macOS Tahoe 26.6 as well.
It’s the first expansion outside the US for the service, which covers multiple Apple devices against loss, theft or accidental damage under a single subscription. Availability opens on August 4th, with prices starting at £16.99/€20.99/$29.99 AUS per month to cover up to three products.
[Apple Newsroom (United Kingdom)]
Chipmaker Changxin Technology Group is now the most valuable China-listed company after IPO’ing this morning, rising nearly 500 percent on speculation that RAMageddon will drive demand for its memory chips in a market dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Tim Cook’s said to have asked for an exception to use CXMT’s chips in Apple products sold in China to keep costs down.
We just got a first look at Blade Runner 2099, and now Apple has finally shown an initial glimpse of its adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. It’s a quick, minute-long trailer, but it does at least include a date: the show will start streaming on January 22nd.
Apple announced that one of its biggest early hits will be coming back for a fifth and final season in 2027. The Morning Show premiered alongside Apple TV as one of its prestige plays, with a notably star-studded cast. The news comes the same day Apple announced a new dating series.
The streamer announced its first dating show, called The Last Person on Earth, which it describes as an “eight-episode dating documentary series” about how opposites attract. No word on when it will release, but it’s part of a steady push from Apple to make its streaming service more mainstream.
OpenAI can’t afford another lawsuit, especially not with a company like Apple.
Reports of a new wider foldable phone suggest Samsung is ready to take a risk.
Right now, the iPhone maxes out with a 6.9-inch display. That could climb to a full 7 inches if reliable leaker Digital Chat Station is correct. We’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
According to sensor tower, apps added to the App Store almost doubled to about 560K in the first half of 2026, compared to about 600K added in all of 2025. The surge comes as AI makes it increasingly trivial to develop apps. That’s good if it means useful apps finding an audience, bad if Apple’s reviewers can’t keep up and more junk and malware slips through.
As 9to5Mac reports, the release notes for the latest iOS 26.6 beta say it “optimizes the Spotlight index to prepare for iOS 27.” This is likely aimed at speeding up the indexing process so it doesn’t take days when iOS 27 officially launches, like some users on the developer beta have reported.
A hidden popover interface has been discovered in the macOS 27 Golden Gate beta that surfaces AI-powered contextual actions and writing tools when text is highlighted, including Rewrite, Proofread, and “Edit with Siri.” Beta users can try the unfinished feature by following the instructions provided by MacRumors.
The reputable Design Docs YouTube channel has a new documentary about Apple’s first graphic designer. Kare is responsible for the smiling Mac icon, that weird looped-square Command symbol still found on Apple keyboards, and many other “pictures that taught a generation of nervous, non-technical people that a computer could be approached without fear.”
San Francisco city attorney David Chiu demanded that Apple and Google remove 13 apps that could generate non-consensual nude images. Adam Dema, a spokesperson for Apple confirmed their removal in a statement to The Verge:
“We have always strictly prohibited apps designed to generate, distribute, or consume pornography. ‘Nudification’ apps are against our App Review Guidelines and we have proactively rejected many of these apps and removed many others, including when users have flagged them via our reporting tools. We have removed three of the apps in question and are in the process of terminating their developer accounts from our program.”
