Ben Lovejoy

A new market intelligence report says that Chinese smartphone brand Honor managed to double its year-on-year sales in Q2, and that copying iPhone features was one of the reasons for this success.

Honor was the only brand to increase its market share during the quarter, though Apple fared better than all remaining brands …

We’re not seeing much progress with US antitrust legislation just at present, but if the two bills do make it through the Senate, that raises the prospect of Apple default apps being banned. Which is to say, Apple could not pre-install its own stock apps on iPhones, instead having to offer customers a choice of core apps.

Apple might respond with a choice of key apps during initial iPhone setup, likely with its own apps top of the lists …

A day ahead of the Cupertino company disclosing AAPL earnings Q3 2022, analysts are expecting to see an end to the company’s pandemic-fuelled growth.

As is the new normal, the company hasn’t issued any guidance for the fiscal quarter, given continuing supply disruption as China continues its COVID Zero policy …

Democrats last week urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to schedule votes on two pieces of tech antitrust legislation, but he last night told donors that he won’t do it yet.

At the heart of the impasse is a disagreement about whether enough senators would vote in favor of the two bills – one of which would have a big impact on Apple …

The announcement of an Apple buy now, pay later feature, Apple Pay Later, has drawn the attention of the US consumer finance regulator, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

CFPB director Rohit Chopra said that Apple Pay Later raised “a host of issues,” with antitrust concerns one of those …

The future of the internet will depend on the outcome of an Apple versus Meta headset battle, claims Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

He told employees that the two companies had very different visions for the metaverse, and admitted that it’s not yet clear which will be better …

Reality TV celebrities Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have lashed out at the Instagram video pivot, saying that the app should remain focused on photos. They call on Instagram to “stop trying to be TikTok.”

Instagram head Adam Mosseri responded with – what else? – a video in which he effectively shrugged, and said the transition is happening whether or not the company encourages it …

Congress is set to vote on The Intelligence Authorization Act, intended to further punish spyware makers like NSO. It follows evidence that the company’s Pegasus spyware was used to hack iPhones used by American diplomats.

The Commerce Department had already named NSO as a threat to US national security, and banned the import and use of Pegasus, but the bill would take things further …

Update: Patently Apple notes that the patent has now been granted.

We noted recently an Apple patent application showing a curved iMac design where the all-in-one computer is made from a single slab of glass.

We now get a clearer idea of how such a machine might look…

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The UK’s antitrust watchdog has said that streaming music antitrust action is unlikely, despite the fact that the business is dominated by a small number of major players. Apple Music is said to be the third most popular service.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that none of the companies involved were making excessive profits (an understatement if ever there were one!), and that consumers are not being harmed by the limited choice of services …

A preview of the new Apple Brompton Road store in London’s upmarket Knightsbridge shopping area shows off both the unique features of the space itself, and a number of Apple Store firsts. The store will be the fifth one in London, and the third flagship, alongside Covent Garden and Regent Street.

The store opens on Thursday, but the company has today previewed the space, with a series of photos and notable elements …

Full-on Foxconn COVID-19 precautions are back in effect, at the request of the city government in Shenzhen, China. The company has been asked to return to closed-loop production, where workers live in dormitory accommodation on the campus, and are prohibited from physical contact with anyone outside the factory complex – including family members.

While Foxconn is downplaying the measure, it is raising concerns about a repetition of Shanghai-style lockdowns that could create extremely difficult conditions for workers and other residents, as well as significantly disrupting production …

The base model iPhone 14 (and its larger counterpart) is expected to stick to an A15 chip this year, while the Pro models get an A16. That suggests that iPhone 14 Pro performance could be considerably better than the base models.

There’s a lot of guesswork involved in what that might mean in terms of iPhone 14 Pro performance, but it is possible to at least get a rough steer …

One of the secrets to the success of iPhone sales in China is something the company doesn’t usually like to admit: the widespread availability of Apple discounts. Usually these are offered only by third-party companies, even if the iPhone maker itself is offering them the discount to pass on to customers.

But today the company is promoting Apple discounts on a whole range of products on the company’s official website …

It’s the time of year when certain states offer sales tax holidays on a range of consumer electronics products, proving an opportunity for some Apple tax-free shopping.

This year nine states are offering the opportunity to buy at least some Apple products without paying any sales tax on your purchase …

Two proposed US antitrust laws should be put to a vote sometime in the next few weeks, say Democratic members of Congress.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, they express concerns that time is running out to approve the laws before the end of the year …

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is again investigating the collection and use of carrier location data – the information mobile networks have about where your mobile devices are, as well as your movement patterns.

It follows a previous investigation which last year found that wireless carriers broke federal law by selling this private data to a number of third-party companies …

Creating Instagram Reels has been made easier than ever, with a number of new features added by parent company Meta. The company has also confirmed earlier reports that all short videos posted to Instagram will be shared as reels.

These include templates with placeholders to insert your own clips, and a whole bunch of new ways to create reaction videos …

An Apple Indonesia agreement could force the company to hand over to the government the personal data of iCloud users.

Other tech companies also signed the agreement after the government set a deadline to avoid fines or even being banned from operating in the country.

An official depressing study revealed that TikTok is the fastest-growing source of news for British adults. For teenagers, the top news source was Instagram, closely followed by TikTok then YouTube.

The situation is even worse in the US, where a quarter of adults say they use TikTok to get their news.