#apple

#apple

Apple shared its latest quarterly financial results today and the news is once again very, very good for the Cupertino company. The quarter ending December 27, 2025 marked "the best-ever quarter" for iPhones, which generated a record high revenue of nearly $85.27 billion for the business. Apple doesn't disclose the number of devices sold any more, but even with the prices for many of its latest generation of smartphones surpassing $1,000 a pop, that's still got to be a heck of a lot of iPhones.

Apple has finally begun paying up for the Siri eavesdropping scandal. After a long-running legal battle, Apple has not only agreed to pay a $95 million settlement but has also begun payouts. According to reports on social media cited by USA Today, many Apple users have begun seeing the funds credited to their accounts. While official figures cap at $20 per device, some users who filed for more than one device reported receiving as low as $8.

When Apple stops supporting older iPhones and iPads with the latest version of iOS or iPadOS, it usually isn't the end of the line-Apple keeps releasing new security-only patches for those devices for another year or two, keeping them usable while their hardware is still reasonably capable. Once those updates dry up, it's rare for Apple to revisit those older operating systems, but the company does sometimes make exceptions.

With platforms that have arguably become the best devices on which to run and build AI, Apple is under great pressure to prove it can also provide AI services people will trust and use, while retaining the essential simplicity of the Apple user experience. For good or ill, the importance of AI will only grow in the coming years, meaning Apple is under serious pressure not just to deliver something good, but also to deliver something that satisfies expectations.

"I'm a big believer in the free market. But we have to admit when the free market is not working. And it hasn't worked here,"

Having started with ads in the App Store back in 2016, a program which was dramatically ramped up in 2022, the company went on to put them in Apple News, Stocks, and, as of this year, Apple Maps. But now it appears to have run out of new places to put ads, because it's going back to the App Store for another round.

Apple is working on an AI-powered wearable pin with cameras and microphones designed to pick up a user's surroundings, according to a report from The Information. The rumored device is reportedly the size of an AirTag, with "thin, flat, circular" housing made from aluminium and glass. The Information reports that Apple's rumored AI pin will have a standard lens and a wide-angle lens, along with three microphones, a speaker, a physical button on one of its sides, and support for wireless charging.

Apple has begun to set up shop at its emerging tech campus in North San Jose, an expansion that is poised to bring hundreds of workers to the city. The company moved workers into an office building at 2509 Orchard Parkway in late 2025 and has launched preparations to place more employees at a nearby office building at 2325 Orchard Parkway, the company told this news organization.

The iPad Mini is my favorite Apple tablet for its size. It is small enough to pack alongside my laptop and powerful enough to rekindle my love for photo editing. But over the last two generations, I've wished Apple would offer a better screen, as the smudgy LCD panel isn't ideal for reading or color accuracy. That could finally happen as soon as this year.

This has led tech companies to increase their investments in infrastructure upgrades to keep up with demand. While Apple was slow to jump on the AI bandwagon, it's now reported to be starting mass production of its own AI server chip this year. The word comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said Apple's self-developed AI server chip is expected to enter mass production in the second half of 2026.

Shares of Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL) plunged into correction territory on Thursday as the losing streak extended to a whopping seven sessions. Even as the market marched higher in the first few sessions of 2026, Apple stock has been gravitating lower. Alphabet ( NASDAQ:GOOGL) is now officially the larger company by market cap, and it's unclear if the iPhone maker can retake the lead, given the perception of being behind in the AI race might be weighing down sentiment again.

Alphabet Inc. has overtaken Apple Inc. to become the second-most valuable company by market capitalization, a reflection of how the Google parent has emerged as one of the most significant winners of artificial intelligence. Shares of Alphabet rose 2.4% on Wednesday, closing with a valuation of $3.89 trillion. That allowed it to surpass Apple, which closed with a market cap of $3.85 trillion on Wednesday, following a six-day slump that erased nearly 5% and almost $200 billion off its value.

Of course, perhaps investors are right to wait and see how the much-anticipated Siri update will fare, given how the initial launch of Apple Intelligence turned out and the aftermath that followed once many consumers felt that the Cupertino-based giant underdelivered after perhaps overpromising a bit too much. Going into the new year, the tides could turn, and Apple might overdeliver in 2026 after underpromising for most of 2025.

Tech companies may have already grown numb to Trump's unpredictable moves. Back in February, Trump warned Americans to expect "a little pain" after he issued executive orders imposing 10-25 percent tariffs on imports from America's biggest trading partners, including Canada, China, and Mexico. Immediately, industry associations sounded the alarm, warning that the costs of consumer tech could increase significantly. By April, Trump had ordered tariffs on all US trade partners to correct claimed trade deficits, using odd math that critics suspected came from a chatbot. (Those tariffs bizarrely targeted uninhabited islands that exported nothing and were populated by penguins.)