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Breaking news from Cupertino. We’ll give you the latest from Apple headquarters and decipher fact from fiction from the rumor mill.

Apple Park Tim Cook AAPL

AAPL is a California-based computer company that became the most successful smartphone company in the world.

AAPL defined by Apple

Here’s how Apple defines itself:

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

Key AAPL history

From Apple I to iMac

Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs (Steve), Steve Wozniak (Woz), and (briefly) Ronald Wayne as a business partnership: Apple Computer Company. The following year it became Apple Computer, Inc. The company’s first product was the Apple I, a personal computer hand-built by Woz and sold in part-completed kit form. The Apple II and Apple III followed.

The modern Apple as we know it today began in 1983, with the launch of the first personal computer with a graphical user interface, the Lisa. Way too expensive to succeed, it was replaced by the Macintosh in 1984, launched with the single showing of a Ridley Scott commercial during the Super Bowl. The Macintosh transformed the world’s understanding of what a computer was, and would eventually lead to Microsoft adopting the GUI approach.

Steve Jobs and then Apple-CEO John Scully fell out in 1985, when Steve wanted to focus on the Macintosh while Scully wanted to put more attention on the Apple II, which was still selling well. That led to Steve being forced out of the company and going off to form NeXT.

Apple focused on selling Macintosh models at the highest possible margins, but would eventually fall foul of a mix of unsustainable pricing in the face of competition from Windows machines, and an overly complex product lineup. By 1996, the company was in trouble, and in 1997 Steve was brought back, along with the NeXT operating system, which would eventually form the basis of Mac OS X.

Steve simplified the Mac lineup and had industrial designer Jony Ive work on a whole new look for a consumer desktop Mac, the colorful iMac. The iMac, like the original Macintosh, again changed the world’s understanding of what a computer was, and who should want one.

From Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.

In 2001, Apple launched the iPod. Although this wasn’t the first mp3 player, it was massively better than anything on the market at the time, and succeeded in turning a geeky piece of technology into a consumer electronics product with mass-market appeal.

The success of the iPod paved the way into other mobile devices. Apple was working on what would eventually become the iPad, when Steve realized that this was the basis of a smartphone. He diverted the team’s work into this, to launch the iPhone in 2007. The iPad launched later, in 2010.

The iPhone was yet another transformational product. While most other smartphones of the time were clunky devices with a keyboard and stylus, the iPhone was a sleek-looking device operated with a finger, and so simple that no user guide was needed. It was with the launch of the iPhone that Apple Computer, Inc. was renamed to Apple, Inc.

From Intel to Apple Silicon

While the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more are made with Apple-designed processors, the Mac lineup has historically relied on third-party companies for its CPUs. Over the years, Macs progressed from Motorola 680000 series chips through PowerPC to Intel.

In 2020, Apple began a two-year transition to the final stage in that journey, with Macs too finally getting Apple-designed chips. The first such is the M1 chip, used in the latest Mac mini, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Other Apple Silicon Macs followed.

AAPL today

Apple is one of the largest companies in the world. It was the first publicly traded company to hit a trillion-dollar valuation in 2018, $2 trillion in 2020, and $3T in 2022.

The company’s product lineup includes five different Mac families (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini); four iPad ranges (iPad mini, iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro); four iPhone 12 models (12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max); three main Apple Watch models (SE, Series 3, Series 6); as well as other products, including Apple TV, AirPods, and HomePod mini.

In addition to hardware sales, Apple derives a growing proportion of its income from Services, including the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple Pay.

Apple will today ask a judge to dismiss the DOJ antitrust case

Apple will today ask a judge to dismiss the DOJ antitrust case | Illustrative photo of court building

Lawyers acting for Apple are today expected to ask a federal judge to dismiss the DOJ antitrust case against the company in its entirety.

The Department of Justice has for years been investigating whether Apple broke antitrust law by abusing its dominant position in the US smartphone market, before deciding that it did, and filing charges in March of this year

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Apple’s advocacy for regular standing backed by new study

Apple's advocacy for regular standing backed by new study | Sit-stand desk shown

Apple has been one of the most vocal supporters of the benefits of regularly standing up during the working day.

The company encourages standing once an hour via Apple Watch alerts, and it also made sit-stand desks a standard fitment in its Apple Park campus. CEO Tim Cook even cited the “sitting is the new cancer” phrase which has proven so controversial …

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Final Cut Pro 11 auto-caption feature is a huge win for creators and accessibility alike

Final Cut Pro 11 auto-caption feature is a huge win

Apple last week launched Final Cut Pro 11, and the company clearly consider the new features offered to be a big deal. The last time Apple did a full version number change was the launch of Final Cut Pro X (aka FCP 10) way back in 2011.

Final Cut Pro 11 includes eight new features, and the AI-driven automatic caption feature was one of the headline ones …

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Discriminatory job ads for iPhone workers ended after Reuters report; Apple didn’t comment

Discriminatory job ads for iPhone workers ended after Reuters report | View of Mumbai waterfront at sunset

Reuters found discriminatory job ads for iPhone workers in India, with recruitment leaflets stating that women applying for positions with Foxconn must be unmarried and aged 18 to 32.

The offending ads have been withdrawn following the launch of state and federal investigations into Foxconn’s hiring practices by the Indian government, but neither Foxconn nor Apple has yet offered any explanation for the original requirements …

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One year after the end of Apple leather iPhone cases, what do you use? [Poll]

One year after the end of Apple leather iPhone cases, what do you use? | Leather-like case shown

I’m fairly firmly convinced that people who don’t keep their iPhone in a case are from an entirely different species to me. While I don’t make a habit of dropping mine, I don’t think there has been a year in which I haven’t dropped or knocked it against something at least once.

For me, then, an iPhone case falls into the category of a necessity rather than a luxury – but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a luxurious look and feel …

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The reported Apple smart home camera will combine ultimate privacy with Apple Intelligence

An Apple smart home camera will combine privacy with Apple Intelligence (Xiaomi camera shown on desk with flowers in vase)

Earlier this week Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that we’ll see an Apple smart home camera in 2026, with the company confident it will prove to be a popular accessory, selling in the tens of millions per year.

Given Apple’s habit of minimizing the number of products it makes, if the report is accurate the company must feel there’s good reason to enter a crowded product category, and I think an Apple camera will likely differentiate itself in two ways: privacy, and Apple Intelligence

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Surgical complications really brought home the value of Apple’s Health Records feature

Surgical complications really brought home the value of Apple's Health Records feature | iPhone screenshot on blurred surgery photo

Apple first launched its Health Records feature way back in 2018, to provide a unified view of our own health records.

Recent complications following surgery really showed how valuable this could be if universally adopted, not just for us as patients, but also to assist healthcare providers in delivering the best standard of care …

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I effectively previewed Apple’s wall-mounted smart display in 2019, and I think it’ll be a winner

I effectively previewed Apple's wall-mounted smart display panel in 2019, and I think it'll be a winner | Wall-mounted iPad Air

A Bloomberg report yesterday suggested that Apple is working on a wall-mounted smart display panel to act as “a command center for the home” – and that it could launch as early as March of next year.

I effectively trialled this concept back in 2019, wall-mounting an old iPad Air to serve as a dedicated smart home control panel, and reactions to that were enough to convince me that the upcoming new product is likely to be a winner …

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EU opens antitrust investigation into key Apple supplier Corning

The European Commission has announced its latest antitrust investigation, and it could once again have an impact on Apple.

The EC says it is investigating whether Corning, a key Apple supplier, “may have abused its dominant position on the worldwide market for a special type of glass that is mainly used to protect the screens of handheld electronic devices, such as mobile phones.”

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