Apple Insider

• US officials concerned over Apple's AI partnership plans in China

  Apple's potential plan to partner with Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to its products in China is raising eyebrows in Washington.
  
  

  img src="https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/63663-132417-63102-131091-000-lead-Tim-Cook-xl-xl.jpg" alt="Apple CEO Tim Cook has built good relationships with Chinese officials and developers." height="720" >
  Apple CEO Tim Cook has built good relationships with Chinese officials and developers.

  
  Officials from both Congress and the White House have expressed concerns about plans Apple has to partner with Chinese commerce giant Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to China. The company sees such a deal as crucial to remaining competitive there.
  
  A report from The New York Times notes that China accounts for about 20 percent of Apple's total sales. The company will require a partnership with an AI provider in China in order to compete against China's own smartphone companies.
  
  
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• Apple Pay and Apple Cash experienced an outage on Friday

  An Apple Pay and Apple Cash problem left users unable to complete transactions for just over an hour on Friday, as Apple was quick to resolve the issues.
  
  

  
  Apple Pay and other Apple services experienced an outage on Friday.

  
  According to the System Status page on Apple's website, several Apple Services were affected by an outage. At around 11:14 AM Eastern Time on Friday, users began experiencing difficulties with Apple Card, Apple Cash, Apple Pay, and Apple Wallet. Other Apple-branded services, such as the iOS App Store and iCloud appear to have been unaffected.
  
  The company's website now states that all of the issues with Apple's various payment-related services have been resolved, as of 1:01 PM Eastern Time. During the outage, many iPhone users took to social media to complain, saying they couldn't complete Apple Pay transactions or use Apple Cash.
  
  
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• Apple refutes Epic Games claim that it has blocked 'Fortnite' worldwide

  "Fortnite" developer Epic Games had claimed that Apple was both keeping the game out of the US App Store, and removing it from stores in the European Union, but now Apple denies this.
  
  

  
  Apple vs Epic continues. Image source: Epic Games

  
  After its first submission of "Fortnite" to the App Store was allegedly ignored by Apple, Epic Games announced that the game had been blocked in the US. According to the company's CEO, Tim Sweeney, Apple had also removed it from the European one, despite previously having been forced to allow it.
  
  

  Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.

  — Fortnite (@Fortnite) May 16, 2025

  
  
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• Trump is too busy for his own tariff negotiations, so will dictate terms instead

  Countries including ones who supply Apple, have been told they will no longer get to negotiate tariffs with Trump, because he hasn't got the time.
  
  

  
  Trump during his first administration — image credit: White House

  
  When Trump announced his "reciprocal" tariffs, he could not have tried to be any clearer — these were the tariffs, there would be no exceptions. Then there were exceptions, then those were temporary, and then there came negotiations with various countries, which came along with a pause in the tariffs.
  
  Now Trump says there simply isn't time to negotiate with all of the countries, so he's not going to. Instead, according to Bloomberg, Trump says that "over the next two to three weeks," countries will just be told what their new tariff is.
  
  
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• iPhone 17 Air may debut advanced silicon battery for more efficient charging

  Apple's iPhone 17 Air may last longer on a charge that it would with existing tech, thanks to silicon batteries that pack 15% more energy into the same space.
  
  

  
  iPhone 17 Air render on the right

  
  The iPhone 17 Air, expected this fall, could be the first Apple smartphone to feature advanced silicon-anode battery technology. Japanese supplier TDK has confirmed that it's accelerating production, with shipments set to begin by the end of June.
  
  That timeline may give Apple just enough lead time to include the new batteries in its rumored 5.5mm-thin device, according to DigiTimes. The thin model is widely expected to be announced in September.
  
  
  Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible
  
  
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• Japan moves closer to requiring third-party app stores

  The Japanese Fair Trade Commission is planning a raft of proposals that would emulate Europe's App Store regulations regarding Big Tech firms such as Apple and Google.
  
  

  
  An Apple Store in Japan

  
  It may now be consulting with the public, but Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) expects to begin enforcing its Big Tech regulations from December 18, 2025. The consultation comes after the plans were passed by Japan's House of Representatives and House of Councillors in 2024.
  
  The country's FTC has issued what its announcement calls draft subordinate legislations. They are all part of Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act, and a summary document shows that the new law says Apple and Google must:
  
  
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• Anker Prime Thunderbolt 5 Dock Review: 14 ports and future-proofing for power users at a price

  Thunderbolt 5 docks are new to a forward-thinking market. For Mac power users, this dock has a lot to offer — but at a price that'll make you wince.
  
  

  
  Anker Prime TB5 Dock review: The Mac mini resemblance is hard to ignore

  
  While modern Macs come with more ports than they used to, power users can still run out. Some ports just aren't offered at all, and in both cases, a dock is the likely answer.
  
  I've been using a Thunderbolt 4 dock with my 16-inch MacBook Pro for well over a year, and I couldn't work as well without it. It's like magic, because plugging a single cable in connects power, my monitor, peripherals, and more.
  
  
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• WWDC macOS 16 wishlist: What we'd like to see Apple add for power users

  WWDC is so close now and it's certain to bring major updates to the Mac with macOS 16. While we wait to see what Apple actually brings us, though, here's what intensive and extensive Mac users really hope will be included.
  
  

  
  Tim Cook will announce new macOS features at WWDC 2025

  
  Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will be held from June 9 to June 13, and will be the venue for major operating system updates. No question, this will as ever include the next version of the Mac operating system, macOS 16, alongside iOS, iPadOS, and more.
  
  What's also certain is that the WWDC keynote will reveal feature changes that Apple will do its best to convince us are fantastic. Next, during the rest of the WWDC week, we'll learn more from the developer sessions.
  
  
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• iPhone 20, CarPlay Ultra, and new Accessibility on the AppleInsider Podcast

  CarPlay Ultra is finally here, really tremendous accessibility features have been announced, and there are rumors of the iPhone 18, iPhone 19, and iPhone 20, all on this week's episode of the AppleInsider Podcast.
  
  

  
  CarPlay Ultra as first demoed in 2022 — image credit: Apple

  
  Just as we hit that peak time of rumors about the next iPhone — and, this week, also the next, and the next — Apple goes and surprises us with CarPlay Ultra. Previously known as CarPlay 2, the issue here is that "previously" now means a very long time ago.
  
  Or maybe the issue is not that Apple is at least 18 months late with this, but instead it's that CarPlay 2 will never been seen by the enormous majority of Apple users. That's because of the sheer cost of it — CarPlay is free, but the Aston Martin car you have to buy to run it, is not.
  
  
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• AirPods Max vs Sony XM6 - Over-ear headphones shootout

  Announced on May 15, Sony's WH-1000XM6 are premium over-ear headphones with ANC, which improves upon its predecessor. Here's how they compare to Apple's AirPods Max.
  
  

  
  AirPods Max [left], Sony WH-1000XM6 [right]

  
  The premium headphone market has a few companies at the top, and Sony is one of them. Its headphone heritage is extensive, with its XM4 offering good quality at a price $200 cheaper than the AirPods Max.
  
  The Sony WH-1000XM5 were a revision that more directly competed with the AirPods Max, and was very well received in 2022. Now, Sony has continued the line with the WH-1000XM6, this time boasting highly improved active noise cancellation.
  
  
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