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Trump’s rationale for his threatened tariffs is to force companies to manufacture in the US. He’s cited the example of Apple making iPhones in the US, and even recently claimed that the company plans to do so.

Apple has explained many times why it simply wouldn’t be practical to do this, with CEO Tim Cook doing so a full decade ago. Analysts, supply-chain experts, and a former Apple engineer have all added their weight to the view that it simply isn’t possible, and wouldn’t help even if it were …

Apple has just announced a special new Apple Watch fitness challenge to mark 10 years of the product’s impact. Separately, there’s a special limited-edition pin that you can pick up at an Apple Store to celebrate a decade of closing Apple Watch rings.

Let’s see, where are we in the Trump tariff saga? After the White House increased tariffs on Chinese imports <counts> five times in the space of nine weeks, we then got a “pause” and an exemption on consumer electronics products – before the latest development.

Namely, the White House yesterday said that the exemption, which covers all Apple products, was only a temporary one, lasting 1-2 months. However, there are three reasons why this is exceedingly unlikely to be true …

In case the continuously evolving tariff news hasn’t been confusing enough, there’s now another twist to the story. According to the Trump administration, the exemption from the 125% reciprocal tariff is only temporary, and a tariff will apply to smartphones, laptops, and more in “a month or two.”

Tim Cook really wants Apple to make true AR glasses. He “cares about nothing else”, according to an Apple engineer. That said, building true AR glasses will take a lot of time.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman though, Apple is developing “its own glasses with cameras and microphones” in the meanwhile, similar to Meta Ray-Bans. Despite this interim product, AR glasses are Tim Cook’s “top priority.”

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is going full steam ahead on a lighter and cheaper version of Apple Vision Pro, addressing some of the biggest pain points with the first generation headset. There’s also a second headset in the works, which aims to reduce latency concerns with real world applications.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to make its upcoming iPadOS 19 overhaul “more like macOS.” This comes after many, many years of complaints about the capability of the iPad’s operating system.

This morning, Bloomberg reported that tech imports would be excluded from the Trump administrations 125% “reciprocal” China tariff. To be specific, this includes “smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips.” In short, Apple doesn’t really have something to worry about anymore – at least for now. The initial 20% tariff for the “fentanyl crisis” is still in place, however.

While we are safe from imminent price hikes for now, an additional 125% tariff on China would’ve been extremely damaging. Here’s a quick overview bullet we just dodged.

Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.

VoicePen is a native app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro that transcribes your lectures, meetings, and any sort of speech into clear notes. All of the transcriptions run through OpenAI’s Whisper model, making it accurate and fast. It also offers more than just meeting transcriptions, and can be used for YouTube videos and other online content.

Some of you may not know this, but during a brief period from summer 2021 to fall 2023 – Apple made a battery bank.

Of course, since it’s Apple, it was MagSafe. This MagSafe battery pack had a number of interesting features and quirks, and ultimately it only stuck around for two years. However, thanks to an interesting new Apple trend, I think it’s plausible that it comes back – but not as an Apple product.

Apple and its customers can breathe a sigh of relief today after the White House carved tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, and more. The iPhone maker was facing a 145% fee on products imported into the United States from China. This caused weeks of speculation that the iPhone and other electronics could be subject to price hikes to cover the cost.

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One of the constant challenges for IT teams is balancing security and productivity, especially regarding network access. It’s easy to give people broad permissions to keep things moving, but that creates long-term cybersecurity risks when that access lasts longer than is needed. I am a massive fan of Tailscale, and the company has rolled out a new feature that addresses that problem.

Apple makes a variety of Apple Pencil products, but they only differ in features, not so much in design. Thanks to ColorWare, however, you can now buy an Apple Pencil Pro that’s designed to resemble a crayon—and it comes in seven different color options.

ChatGPT’s growth keeps hitting new heights, including last month earning the honor of top downloaded app (not game) in the world per Appfigures—no doubt thanks to Studio Ghibli.

Apple’s TV division is having a standout year so far. Following the conclusion of Severance, its biggest hit ever, Apple TV+ now has three excellent new shows airing that all offer something unique.

Our long national nightmare is over. No, not that one. This one. According to posts on social media, Apple has completed installation of the more durable rainbow arches found within the circular campus.

Aqara continues to be one of the best smart home vendors for HomeKit fans. This week, the company announced a major update to its Matter integration that will benefit anyone using HomeKit as their primary platform.

CarPlay is used and loved by millions of iPhone owners. And while the wait for CarPlay 2 keeps getting longer, iOS 18.4 and other recent updates hint at a promising CarPlay trend.

Here’s a weird one. My son and I were discussing shapes on the drive to school earlier this week. His question for me was, “What is the name of the shape that looks like a square with uneven sides?”

I’m now in the habit of saying “ask ChatGPT” before any Siri request that isn’t taking an action like creating a reminder or sending a message. In this instance, though, I picked up my iPhone and pressed the Action button to open Advanced Voice Mode on ChatGPT. The results satisfied his curiosity.

A few days later, I decided to use his query as an example for how ChatGPT through Siri is useful. The results surprised me.

iOS 18.4 arrived late last month packed with a variety of new features, including an upgrade you might have missed that provides a fast way to open your go-to conversations in the Messages app. Here’s how it works.

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I’ve recently found myself down the rabbit hole of lesser-known Terminal features. These past months, I covered everything from enabling Touch ID for sudo authentication to cleaning up public Wi-Fi connections stored on your Mac. But this past week, I journeyed deeper and found even more neat features you probably didn’t know Terminal could do, and I’m not talking ping command here. In this edition of Security Bite, allow me to elevate your command line prowess further.

The behind the scenes journalistic recaps of Apple’s AI drama continues today at The New York Times. And in this latest report, blame for Apple’s struggles to compete in AI is assigned to a surprising source: Luca Maestri and budget.

It’s been a busy couple days for in-depth journalistic explorations of Apple’s recent Siri and AI struggles. Following yesterday’s The Information report, today The New York Times has its own deep dive. One of the biggest takeaways? Apple’s planning to launch its new iOS 19 Siri upgrades sooner than we expected.