Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer who started his career on PC World and has written for dozens of computer and technology magazines, as well as numerous national newspapers, business and in-flight magazines. He has also written several books, and creates occasional videos.
He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, an M1 13-inch MacBook Air, an iPad mini, an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and multiple HomePods. He suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.
He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:
He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.
He gets a lot of emails and can’t possibly reply to them all. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.
The Android and iPhone spyware company NSO has suffered a major defeat in a US court, after a judge ruled that the company must hand over its Pegasus code to Meta.
Update: NSO was yesterday ordered to pay Meta more than $167M in damages for the attack. It’s the latest setback for the company, which has been blacklisted in the US, sued by Apple, seen victims alerted by the iPhone maker, and faced severe financial problems …
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Epic Games‘ five year legal battle against Apple has cost the developer well over $100M in legal fees alone, and CEO Tim Sweeney says that the total cost has been north of a billion dollars.
While Sweeney thinks it was worth it, one high-profile Apple commenter has his doubts – suggesting the legal victory doesn’t necessarily mean Fortnite will be allowed back into the App Store …
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Global Apple Watch shipments have now been in significant decline for two years, according to a new market intelligence report. The news is made worse by all competing premium smartwatch brands seeing their shipments grow during the same period.
The report lays the blame on fewer reasons to upgrade, suggesting that Apple needs to focus on introducing new features and possibly design changes too …
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Instacart has launched a new Fizz app aimed at Gen Z users. While the Instacart app is geared to food delivery, Fizz is all about booze and snacks. The company says it incorporates a number of features specifically geared to a younger demographic.
However, it may have run into an issue with the name – see the update at the bottom of the piece …
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When Apple CEO Tim Cook praised Warren Buffett at the weekend, it followed the billionaire investor modestly stating that Apple had made more money for his Berkshire Hathaway investment fund than he ever did through his other investment picks.
Buffett also said that while Steve Jobs was vital to the formation and early days of the company, Cook was equally vital to its growth since then …
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![Cringeworthy Google ad mocks the iPhone 17 design even before it launches [Video] | Screengrab shown](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/05/Cringeworthy-Google-ad-mocks-the-iPhone-17-design-even-before-it-launches-Video.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
A new ad for Google’s Pixel 9 Pro mocks the upcoming iPhone 17 line-up for copying its camera bump design, even before the new models launch.
The highly unsubtle ad features an iPhone talking to a Pixel and admitting to the “coincidence” of launching Night mode, photo Clean Up, and widgets years after the Pixel …
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An argument could be made that this year’s iPhone line-up will have two top-tier models, depending on your priorities: either the iPhone 17 Pro Max or the iPhone 17 Air.
If you value iPhone photography, or all-round performance, you’ll want to stick to the Pro or Pro Max. If you prioritize sleek design, you might instead consider the Air to be the best model. But Apple seems to know that its sleek new model isn’t for most people …
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If there’s one thing likely to put the damper on any overseas trip, it’s racking up a huge data roaming bill on your iPhone. I once managed to notch up a bill of about $40 in the 15 minutes between switching on my phone after the plane landed and organizing a local data plan while inside the airport terminal.
These days, I have a simple solution to instantly acquiring a local eSIM at a competitive price, but using this on a recent trip made me think how sensible it would be for Apple to make this a standard iPhone feature …
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Apple has been ordered to pay Optis $502M for the use of standards-essential 4G patents in both iPhones and cellular iPads. Interest also has to be paid, bringing the total due to over $700M.
The court ruled in favor of the patent troll, despite an unconvincing attempt by Apple’s lawyer to claim that the company might withdraw the iPhone from sale in the UK if it was forced to pay …
Expand Expanding Close![Severance-inspired keyboard could cost up to $699 – have your say [Video]](https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/05/Severance-inspired-keyboard-could-cost-up-to-699-–-have-your-say-Video.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
Apple might not really be able to sell you a Lumon terminal, but we noted earlier this month that you will be able to buy a Severance-inspired keyboard. The good news is that you now have a chance to have your say on the specs for the device (as well as see video demos) – the bad news is that it will cost up to $699 …
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When the US Supreme Court upheld the court ruling in the Apple vs Epic Games case, I said that the iPhone maker’s response was clearly made in bad faith, and was effectively giving the middle finger to the judge in the case.
The judge has now officially confirmed this view. She has not only directly called out Apple for ignoring her ruling, but said that a senior Apple exec lied under oath, and referred the matter for prosecution …
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Apple has notified iPhone users in 100 countries that their devices have been infected with spyware, implying that it may be NSO’s Pegasus.
The company has warned victims to take it seriously, and to immediately take a number of security actions in response. One of the recipients has shared almost the entire message, the first time I can recall seeing more than a brief excerpt …
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Yesterday gave us our best look yet at the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, in the form of a highly realistic dummy model shown alongside the iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple will doubtless employ a whole range of superlatives to describe the look of the device: thinnest, slimmest, sleekest … and it will of course be the <superlative>est phone they’ve ever made, and Tim will be sure we’re going to love it …
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Meta’s encrypted messaging app WhatsApp will use an approach pioneered by Apple to add AI capabilities without compromising privacy.
The company has announced that it will use tech it calls Private Processing, which appears to exactly replicate Apple’s Private Cloud Compute …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has said the company is “excited” to be the first customer of TSMC’s Arizona chip plants. He made the comment as the company started construction on its third US plant.
TSMC says that the addition of the third plant makes the project the largest single foreign investment in US history …
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Security vulnerabilities discovered in Apple’s AirPlay SDK mean that millions of devices could be hacked by attackers. The flaw has been dubbed AirBorne.
Related vulnerabilities would also have allowed hackers to attack Apple devices too, but the iPhone maker says it has issued fixes for these in the past few months. CarPlay devices are also vulnerable, though the real-life risks there are very low …
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Trigger warning for brief references to sexual assault.
It’s been discovered that millions of Reddit users were deceived and “psychologically manipulated” by an unauthorized AI experiment performed by researchers from the University of Zurich …
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A leaker with a decent track record says that Apple will be switching to a much better type of integrated memory for the iPhone 18 line-up, offering three benefits over the current RAM spec.
It’s also looking increasingly likely that all iPhone 17 models will get 12GB of integrated memory to boost AI performance …
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Key Apple supplier Pegatron has suggested that the US might soon see “empty shelves” in stores due to the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
Pegatron is second only to Foxconn in its role in Apple’s supply chain, as a key assembler for MacBooks, iPads, and the Apple Watch …
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A Bloomberg report over the weekend suggested that we may see Apple smart glasses as an interim step along the way toward a full AR-based Apple Glasses product.
Essentially, it would be a copy of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses – and as someone who uses those, my view is that an Apple version only makes sense if two key conditions are met …
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Slow Horses was one of three Apple TV+ shows to win multiple BAFTAs at a ceremony in London last night, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
BAFTAs recognize the best in British television and film, and Apple has notched up a number of awards over the years …
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The idea of a made-in-USA iPhone is one of those fantasies that refuses to die, despite Apple pointing out many times why it would be utterly impossible.
The Financial Times has now weighed in with a detailed report on why even the few American-made components aren’t really made in the country, and the 2,700 reasons why the idea is so wildly impractical …
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I thought my days of wearing a smartwatch were over, after making the switch to dumb watches and relying instead on a smart ring, but the chance to try out a $65 Apple Watch clone proved too intriguing to refuse!
I fully expected it to be pretty terrible. But while I wouldn’t recommend buying the WithIt Giga instead of an Apple Watch, I was actually quite pleasantly surprised …
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Apple was yesterday fined €500M ($570M) by the EU for its App Store policies. Apple has now responded, stating that it is being unfairly targeted, with the White House also weighing in to describe fines levied against Apple and Meta as “extortion.”
Update: While there had earlier appeared some softenting in position on both sides of the antitrust dispute, Apple has now told us that it will appeal the ruling – see the end of the piece …
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