Updates & Follow-ups

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

• 🇬🇧 More Apple investments in London: Apple and The King’s Trust launch initiative to empower the next generation of creatives — 📣 Apple PR
  • “His Majesty The King, and Tim Cook celebrate the launch of the Apple x King’s Trust Creative Labs at Apple Music Hall in London … an immersive new education programme to help young people build careers in the creative industries …” — Apple PR
• 🇺🇸 Verizon Is Going to Charge $10/Month for iPhone Handoff — daringfireball.net/…
• 🇺🇸 More high-end manufacturing moving to the US: iPhone Camera and Titanium Chassis Manufacturing Expands in US — appleinsider.com/… (parts for iPhone 18 Pro & iPhone Duo)
• 🇨🇳 Two Years Later Apple Intelligence Makes its Way to China — appleinsider.com/… (first-generation Apple Intelligence, not Siri AI!)

Regulatory Rundown

• 🇬🇧 EU iPhone NFC Concessions Don’t Go Far Enough Says UK — appleinsider.com/… (Rather than copying what the EU have for the UK, the regulators want even more open access to the chip)
• 🇦🇺 Australia Demands Apple Make Similar App Store Changes to Those in the EU by March 2027 — appleinsider.com/…
• 🇰🇷 South Korea Becomes the Latest to Fine Apple and Google Millions over Their App Stores — appleinsider.com/…
  • “Apple has been fined $15.5 million, while Google’s fine is double that at $32 million. It’s over a 2021 South Korean law regarding how App Stores must not prevent developers from using payment systems other than the store operators’ own.” — Apple Insider
• 🇹🇼 Apple Cuts its Take of App Sales in Taiwan Just a Bit — appleinsider.com/… (4%)

Legal Latest

• Taction -v- Apple

  • Apple has challenged the $5.7B Taction verdict, arguing jury got it all wrong — appleinsider.com/…
  • Taction Won Record Breaking $5.7 Billion Verdict Against Apple Asks for More — appleinsider.com/…

• 🇺🇸 Apple -v- OpenAI

  • Apple Will Get some OpenAI Documents but Not Everything It Asked for in Court — appleinsider.com/…
  • OpenAI Cries Foul Says Apple Stole Secrets From It in 2026 — appleinsider.com/… (As John Gruber points out, this the old playground “I’m rubber your glue … “ defence — daringfireball.net/…)
  • Don’t Change the Subject Apple Tells OpenAI over its Lawsuit — appleinsider.com/…
  • OpenAI Swears It Won’t Use the Apple Trade Secrets It Seemingly Admits It Has — appleinsider.com/…
  • Judge Grants yet More of Apples Requests for OpenAI Information — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple and OpenAI Won’t Face Off over Trade Secrets Until July 2027 — appleinsider.com/…
• 🇺🇸 Epic -v- Apple: New Joint Filing Shows Epic Remains Unhappy with Apple at Every Turn — appleinsider.com/…
  • ‘According to a joint filing from both Apple and Epic, there seems to be some dispute on the state of document production and discovery. Epic suggests Apple isn’t complying and creating artificial delays while Apple’s response is equivalent to a lengthy “nuh-uh.”’ — Apple Insider
• 🇺🇸 DOJ -v- Apple: Apple & DOJ antitrust suit reaches impasse over document collection — appleinsider.com/…
  • “In a last-ditch effort, the DOJ is seeking more documents from Apple in spite of a previously agreed-upon schedule.” — Apple Insider
  • Related: there are reports the DOJ is considering settling the case: Vocal Developers Dismayed at DOJ Considering Antitrust Settlement with Apple — appleinsider.com/…
• 🇺🇸 Appeals court upholds Apple TV’s ‘Servant’ plagiarism lawsuit win — appleinsider.com/… (likely the end of this case)

Apple HR & Acquisition News

• Apple Nabs Meta VP for Global Litigation Chief Role — appleinsider.com/… (Scott Tucker joining Apple as VP of global litigation and financial services)
• EU regulatory filings reveal two acquisitions:
  • 🇩🇪 AI Audio Firm Samplab Acquired by Apple to Boost Logic Pro — appleinsider.com/…
    • “Apple has acquired AI audio editing firm Samplab, likely to extend Logic Pro’s existing stem splitting tools, as well as adding the ability to edit individual notes in chords.” — Apple Insider
    • This is a small German firm
  • Apple buys AI startup that strives to ‘make data engineering delightful’ — www.cultofmac.com/… (seems to be an aqua-hire)

Apple Services & Original Content Highlights

• Apple One Subscribers in Europe Hit with a Price Increase — appleinsider.com/…
  • 🇧🇪 🇧🇬 🇨🇿 🇩🇰 🇭🇺 🇱🇻 🇲🇹 🇵🇹 🇸🇰 🇸🇮 🇪🇸 🇨🇭 Apple One Family increased in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain & Switzerland
  • 🇵🇹 🇪🇸 🇨🇭 Apple One Premier increased in Portugal, Spain & Switzerland
• Apple continues to invest in its Formula 1 Partnership:
  • 🇺🇸 Apple TV adds Dolby Atmos for F1 starting with US Grand Prix — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • 🇺🇸 Apple Maps Detailed City Experience Comes to Austin Texas Ahead of F1 Grand Prix — appleinsider.com/…
  • Related: Formula 1’s CEO Sees a Very Long Term Future with Apple TV — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple Sports Gets Better Live Activities — appleinsider.com/… (and some more leagues)
• Apple Kicks Off Indie Games Week with Six New iPhone and iPad Games, Plus No Man’s Sky Preorders — www.macstories.net/… (📣 Apple PR
  • After a 10-year redemption arc, No Man’s Sky is coming to the iPhone and iPad — arstechnica.com/…)

Main Stories

Story 1 — the iPhone Duo Launches

• Apparently Strong Initial Demand

  • iPhone Duo Pre-Orders Launched, and Three Hours Later It’s Sold Out Through the End of January — daringfireball.net/…
    • Apple shortens the iPhone Duo wait for some lucky buyers — www.cultofmac.com/… (some brought forward from early December into late November)
    • iPhone Duo Delivery Dates Stabilize on Late January Deliveries for All Models — appleinsider.com/…
  • iPhone Duo queues form days before Apple Store doors open — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Post-Embargo Reviews Emerge

  • 🎦 CT Scans of the hinge: Inside the iPhone Duos Groundbreaking Hinges Innovations — appleinsider.com/…
  • iPhone Duo drop test delivers a painful reality check — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • iFixit find the Duo surprisingly repairable, more so than other foldables, and gives it a repairability score of 5/10 — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • After 32,000 folds, iPhone Duo’s hinge serves up a big surprise — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • “’The result: The hinge was actually a little bit stiffer’, [Joanna] Stern says, ‘which seems impossible but should put to rest concerns that the iPhone Duo will become floppy over time. In everyday use, I really couldn’t feel a difference. So after 32,000 folds, it felt pretty much the same as day one, which is pretty darn impressive.’”
    • 🎦 References Joanna Stern’s excellent video review — youtu.be/…
  • iPhone Duo Review Roundup: Great Hinge, Messy Apps, and Everybody Misses Face ID — www.macstories.net/…
  • The most positive review I read: iPhone Duo Review: Proof that Foldables Dont Have to Suck — appleinsider.com/… (Wesley Hilliard)
    • “The iPhone Duo isn’t a poorly implemented iPhone posing as an iPad. It is an iPhone through and through, even down to the (mostly) excellent camera system.”
    • “iPhone Duo is somehow both great at being an iPhone while being something totally new. The outer display is gorgeous and feels fresh and fun to use. The inner display literally opens up what is possible on iPhone. Apple Pencil integration is just the first of what could be many upgrades to the platform.”
  • Excellent overview of the most respected reviews: Early iPhone Duo reviews are in; I have no iPhone 18 Pro regrets — lexontech.org/…
    • “Everyone loves the hinge and the matte screen. Everyone wishes it weighed less. And nobody’s sure about that cover screen.” — Lex Friedman
  • Apple iPhone Duo review: Two screens, two experiences, two thousand dollars — arstechnica.com/…
  • The iPhone Duo — daringfireball.net/… (John Gruber)
    • “The Duo name is perfect. It truly is like having two devices in one. The outer device is, by far, the worst iPhone Apple has ever made. It’s a miserable fat little thing. The inner device is a splendid, joyful, beautiful tablet, with a UI that out-iPads the iPad. For me, by far, it’s my favorite tablet experience ever.”
    • Gruber makes a wonderful analogy to transformer toys from the 80s — they were terrible cars or trucks, and not great robots either.
  • Confessions of a Reluctant iPhone Duo Buyer — appleinsider.com/…
• iPhone Duo arrives at Apple Store locations worldwide — 📣 Apple PR

• Apps Getting Quicker Updates than Expected

  • Apple Highlights 50+ iPhone Apps That Have Already Been Optimized for the Duo — daringfireball.net/… (📣 Apple PR)
  • Building for iPhone Duo, in App Developers’ Own Words — www.macstories.net/… (Developers share positive experiences with John Voorhees)
  • How They Got Duo Support in NetNewsWire — daringfireball.net/…
    • “Develop your app the right way and, depending on the app, it might literally be no work at all to produce a great version for the Duo.” — John Gruber

• ‘Crack-Gate’

  • Some number of display are breaking almost instantly in an identical way. The scale is not yet clear, but it’s definitely a real thing.
  • Some iPhone Duo screens are already failing, Apple says only a “small number” are affected — arstechnica.com/…
    • “We are aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units. If users experience issues with their iPhone Duo display, they should contact AppleCare for a replacement.” — 📣 Apple PR
  • Sources within Apple Stores suggest the problem is not very widespread — appleinsider.com/…
  • Suspicion turns to manufacturing problems with the complex hinge — appleinsider.com/…
  • iPhone Duo Hinge Maker Denies Blame for Screen Failures — appleinsider.com/…
  • 🎦 Jerry Rigs Everything tries to figure out what’s going on, and discovers a whole separate dust ingress issue that could cause longer-term problems for users — www.youtube.com/…
  • Analysis: a light-hearted but fair and informative summing up from Andy Ihnatko: Snap, Crackle…iPhone Duo? — ihnatko.com/…

Story 2 — Apple’s “Welcome Home” Day

• Apple Home collection

  • Introducing Apple Home Collection, a new lineup of smart home accessories — 📣 Apple PR
  • Apple Teams Up with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric to Offer the Apple Home Collection — www.macstories.net/…
  • An Excellent Overview: Apple Home Collection Introduces New Cameras, Doorbell, Lock, and Thermostats — tidbits.com/…
    • LG Video Doorbell ($250) — two view, for callers & packages
    • LG Floodlight Cam ($400) — adaptive floodlights with motion detection
    • LG Outdoor Cam ($300) — low-light colour night vision
    • LG Indoor Cam ($200) — literally looks away when you are home
    • LG Smart Deadbolt Lock ($350) — designed to work with the LG Video Doorbell, and supports the new Aliro standard
    • Schneider Electric Smart Thermostat ($200) — minimalist squircle design
    • LG Smart Thermostat ($200) — round display with more text

• Updated HomePod Mini

  • Apple announces the next generation of HomePod mini with support for Siri AI, beautiful new colors, and rich sound — 📣 Apple PR
  • Updated Homepod Mini 2 Comes with New Colors and Surround Sound Option — appleinsider.com/…
  • HomePod mini 2 Adds Siri AI, S10 Chip, and Sound Glow — tidbits.com/…
  • Latest Homepods Can Output Mac System Audio in Compatible Configurations — appleinsider.com/… (was already possible with big HomePods, but not first minis)
  • New new Sound Glow feature is being back-ported to some older HomePods, but Siri AI is not — www.cultofmac.com/… & www.cultofmac.com/…

• Updated Apple TV 4K

  • Apple unveils the new Apple TV 4K, supercharged by Siri AI — 📣 Apple PR
  • Fourth-Gen Apple TV 4K Brings Hands-Free Siri AI at a Whopping $299 — tidbits.com/…
  • Apple TV 4K gets Siri AI and a remote you can actually find — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • Cool new Siri Remote can upgrade your old Apple TV 4K — www.cultofmac.com/…
    • New Siri Remote’s Find My feature limited to N1-equipped iPhones — sixcolors.com/… (does’t work with iPhones 15 or 16)
  • The cost is generating more controversy than anything else
    • Apple TV Started at $69 in 2015 — daringfireball.net/… (the lowest point in the product’s history)
    • Taking inflation into account leads to an interesting result; today’s price is effectively the same as that of the original Apple TV when it was released in 2007 — glog.glennf.com/… (Excellent graph by Glenn Fleishman)
  • A useful comparison: Apple TV 4K 4th gen vs. 3rd gen: More capable, harder to justify — www.cultofmac.com/… )(big processor boost, better connectivity, new mic, and findable remote)

• The New HomeView Devices

  • Meet Apple HomeView, a new way to enjoy entertainment, stay connected, and manage the home — 📣 Apple PR
  • Two HomeView Home Hub Models Evolve Apples Home Strategy at $299 Each — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple HomeView apps include 15 built-ins — but no App Store — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Two basic modes — generic control of the home, and an extension of your iPhone/iPad when you walk up to it
  • The primary interface is Siri AI, and the HomeView users a combination of facial recognition (not FaceID) and phone presence to become an extension of the appropriate family member’s phone/iPad (up to 6 people)
  • So, unsurprisingly: “Apple HomeView is not available for sale in the European Union, as Siri AI is currently unavailable in iOS in the EU. Apple is working constructively with the EU in an attempt to find a path forward.” — Apple PR
  • Video and audio playback is currently via the CarPlay APIs, driven from the user’s device, which is sub-optimal — appleinsider.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple HomeView apps include 15 built-ins — but no App Store — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Apple HomeView turns web recipes into hands-free cooking instructions — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Apple HomeView Lacks VESA Support, Limiting Your Wall Mount Options — appleinsider.com/…
  • Good Overview: Apple HomeView: 7 features and catches worth knowing — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • Analysis:
    • HomeView Points to Siri AI as the Next Developer Platform — www.macstories.net/…
    • Why HomeView doesn’t have its own App Store — www.cultofmac.com/… (enables it’s multi-user and personalised Siri features, which are vital to it’s essence)
  • Opinion:
    • The best feature of Apple’s HomeView might be its simplicity — www.theverge.com/…
    • Apple’s HomeView: A Peripheral in Search of a Purpose — tidbits.com/…
    • HomeView Thoughts and Observations — daringfireball.net/… (Harsh but fair criticism of the promotional video)
    • Hands-on: Devil is in the Details: Tidbits From Our Time Trying HomeView — appleinsider.com/… (🎦 the embedded video is well worth watching)

• Opinion & Analysis

  • Apples Home Revamp is only Half Done but the Future is Bright — appleinsider.com/…
  • Initial Thoughts on This Week’s New Apple TV 4K (4th Generation) and HomePod Mini 2 — daringfireball.net/… (good products, high prices)

    Story 3 — OS 27.2 Updates

• An Excellent overview: OS 27.2 Gives Siri AI a Memory and Brings Small Improvements — tidbits.com/…
  • “The marquee changes affect Siri AI. It can now remember past conversations, draw on more of your personal data, and work in more languages.” — Adam Engst from TidBITS
  • The new languages are French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese & Spanish — 📣 Apple PR
  • 🇪🇺 Remember, EU users are still left out —Siri AI Expands to Five More Languages as EU Users Remain Left Out — appleinsider.com/…
• iOS 27.2 adds hidden SynthID watermark to AI images — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Apple Music gets a new logo — arstechnica.com/…
  • New Apple Music logo was made with sound and mineral oil — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • 🎦 Apple’s own explanation of what they did — youtu.be/…
  • Opinion: The new human-crafted Apple Music brand matters in an AI world — arstechnica.com/…
• The new iPhones Duo get the promised Apple Pencil support and Edge Light — appleinsider.com/… & appleinsider.com/…
• Sound Glow comes to first generation HomePod Minis, and second generation HomePods
• 🇨🇦 Most of Canada gets the AirPods Pro hearing aid feature — appleinsider.com/…
  • Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, & Saskatchewan get the feature
  • Ontario is notably not
• iOS 27.2 is Out without the Apple Health Revamp — appleinsider.com/…

  Story 4 — Apple’s “Pro and Tell” Week

• Apple Creator Studio Updates

  • Apple Creator Studio adds powerful new AI features and even more creative tools — 📣 Apple PR
  • MotionVFX, AI tools feature in Apple Creator Studio’s latest update — appleinsider.com/…
    • “The main change is the inclusion of MotionVFX directly into Final Cut Pro for Mac. The addition brings with it thousands of templates, graphics, titles, and transitions.” — Apple Insider
  • Intelligent Assistant Added to iWork Apps for Creative Studio Subscribers — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple Creator Studio to Add MotionVFX, AI Assistants, and MCP Support in November — www.macstories.net/…
    • New file format to facilitate content generation: Apple Creator Studio Updated With a Slew of AI Features, Along With a New Open JSON File Format for Keynote — daringfireball.net/…
    • Related: Apple published a research paper describing Minons, a system to for combining spare GPUs on Apple Silicon Macs on the LAN into a virtual GPU — appleinsider.com/…
    • Related: Apple is partnering with Meta to bring their open-weight Muse Spark Open model to Apple Silicon Macs — www.cultofmac.com/…

• New iPad Mini

  • Apple gives iPad mini its biggest update ever — 📣 Apple PR
  • iPad mini Gets Larger OLED Display, A20 Pro, and Landscape-Edge Camera — tidbits.com/…
  • Excellent overview: Apple Announces New A20 Pro iPad Mini — daringfireball.net/…
    • Prices rise by $100
    • 128GB, 256GB & 512 GB storage options
    • 2 colours — Star Light & Midnight
  • OLED iPad mini 8 vs. iPad mini 7: What’s new and different? — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Updated 14” MBP

  • Apple introduces the new 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M6 — 📣 Apple PR
  • Slight 14-inch MacBook Pro refresh adds M6 AI power, Wi-Fi 7 — appleinsider.com/…
  • No change in price — www.cultofmac.com/…

• Updated iMacs

  • Apple unveils new iMac with M6, delivering a major boost in performance and AI capabilities — 📣 Apple PR
  • New iMac Keeps Old Design but Adds M6 Processor and New Colors — appleinsider.com/…
  • M6 iMac gets faster without getting pricier — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • M6 24 Inch iMac vs M4 24 Inch iMac Apples All in Ones Compared — appleinsider.com/…

• New MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display

  • Apple unveils groundbreaking MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and Touch for the first time on Mac — 📣 Apple PR
  • “The world’s best pro laptop now features an industry-leading tandem OLED display, an intuitive Touch experience, blazing-fast M5 Pro and M5 Max performance and AI capabilities, and up to 24 hours of battery life, all in a thinner, lighter design” — 📣 Apple PR
  • The focus of Apple’s release is the professional quality of the display, the new touch capability is given second billing
  • Apple have added accommodations for touch, but not fundamentally changed the OS: How macOS is Changing on Touchscreens Beyond Sidecar but only a Bit — appleinsider.com/…
    • “individual controls respond differently depending on how users interact with them.” — Apple Insider
    • “Apple says many existing Mac apps will support touch immediately because macOS converts finger taps into mouse clicks” — Apple Insider
    • “Developers can add more advanced touch features using Apple’s updated gesture APIs.” — Apple Insider
    • Related: Apple Kicks Off Touch on Mac Developer Resources with Videos and Labs — www.macstories.net/…
  • MacBook Pro gets the Dynamic Island but no Face ID, and some fans are irked — www.cultofmac.com/…
  • It’s back - the glowing Apple logo makes a return on MacBook Pro at last — appleinsider.com/…
  • Existing 16” models remain on sale: PROLED 16-inch MacBook Pro vs 16-inch MacBook Pro: Compared — appleinsider.com/…
  • Apple’s Execs are clear about why a touch-enabled MacBook makes sense in 2026
    • It Was the Right Time to Add Touch to the MacBook Pro Says John Ternus — appleinsider.com/…
      • “The Mac is first and foremost an indirect input device, built around the trackpad and keyboard. But I think there’s times when it’s comfortable and handy to have touch [on a notebook].” — John Ternus
      • Ternus also explained that it would not have been possible to add touch without unacceptable compromises like thickness, weight, or batter life until now.
    • Why Apple built a touchscreen into the OLED MacBook Pro — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • “Most pros own an iPad, and almost every pro owns an iPhone. So this is something that they’re natural with. There’s a generation of young creators and young people using our MacBook Pros that expect to touch.” — Greg “Joz” Joswiak

  • Analysys & Initial Reviews

    • Touchscreen MacBook Pro hands-on: OLED looks great on a Mac — arstechnica.com/…
    • OLED MacBook Pro reignites controversy over touchscreen laptops — www.cultofmac.com/…
      • “It’s important to note that touch is not the primary method of interacting with the latest MacBook Pro. It is certainly not a convergence of a laptop and an iPad. Instead, while the user has the option to touch the screen, they’ll mostly use the traditional keyboard and trackpad.” — Ed Hardy
    • After his hands-on, John Gruber is very positive about touch on a Mac — daringfireball.net/…
      • “After a long fun day of hands-on exploration, briefings, and a slew of demos, not just most, but all of my concerns about touchscreen support adversely affecting the Mac UI have been allayed. I love it” — John Gruber
    • Federico Viticci: MacBook Pro with Touch: A Mac for the iPad Generation — www.macstories.net/…
      • *“… feels like an obvious product designed for a generation of users that grew up with iPads and are now ready to graduate to a Mac for more intensive workflows.”
      • *“… they brought multitouch to the Mac, and optimized the macOS UI for it in the process, without turning the Mac into an iPad or fundamentally altering the nature of a MacBook Pro.”
      • “I think too many people ascribe too much importance to something that Steve Jobs said 16 years ago without realizing that so many things in our society have changed since.” (I could not agree more!)
• Preorders Are Live for Apples New iPad Mini Imac MacBook Pro Lineup — appleinsider.com/…

Quick Stories

• There was also some smaller hardware news:
  • MacBook Neo Gets a Price Hike for Education Customers — appleinsider.com/… (discount reduced from $100 to $50)
  • Finally on sale: Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB RAM upgrade costs $15,500 on its own — appleinsider.com/…
• Apple celebrated the iPod’s 25th anniversary with some fun and whimsey: Apple Built a Photo-Realistic Functional Original iPod for Apple Music’s 404 Page — daringfireball.net/…

Legend

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.