Apple is objecting to GT Advanced Technologies' financing plan over concerns that it would undermine its existing settlement reached with the bankrupt sapphire crystal supplier last year, reports Re/code. GT Advanced reached a settlement with Apple in October 2014 after failing to produce sapphire crystal of the quality desired by the Cupertino-based company for potential use in future products.
GT Advanced is attempting to restructure by raising $95 million through a loan agreement under the supervision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Hampshire, but the financing plan is contingent upon the company receiving enough insurance money to repair any damage to sapphire furnaces following a fire at its former Mesa, Arizona facility a few months ago.
GT Advanced's inspection equipment damaged in Mesa facility fire last May
Apple argues that GT Advanced already determined damage at the facility to be minimal, adding that the terms of the loan agreement give lenders too much leverage to foreclose on the sapphire furnaces that GT Advanced is supposed to sell in order to repay Apple. A group of GT Advanced shareholders have also reportedly questioned why the company needs to raise money nine months into bankruptcy.
GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy last October after it became clear the company was spending over one million dollars per day to run its operations, despite being unable to produce sapphire acceptably by Apple's standards. The company began winding down its sapphire production and decommissioning the furnaces to prepare them for storage and resale through the end of last year.
Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store.
The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump.
...
Wednesday November 5, 2025 11:57 am PST by Juli Clover
The smarter, more capable version of Siri that Apple is developing will be powered by Google Gemini, reports Bloomberg. Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion per year for a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model that was developed by Google.
For context, parameters are a measure of how a model understands and responds to queries. More parameters generally means more...
Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more.
Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features.
Liquid Glass Toggle
iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass.
In the Settings app, under Display...
Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences.
The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report.
Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...
Friday November 7, 2025 6:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's online store in the U.S. is suddenly offering a pack of four AirTags for just $29, which is the same price as a single AirTag.
This is likely a pricing error, and it is unclear if orders will be fulfilled. Apple has not discounted the AirTag four-pack in any other countries that we checked.
Delivery estimates are already pushing into late November to early December, suggesting...
Thursday November 6, 2025 4:08 pm PST by Juli Clover
IKEA today announced the upcoming launch of 21 new Matter-compatible smart home products that will be able to interface with HomeKit and the Apple Home app. There are sensors, lights, and control options, all of which will be reasonably priced. Some of the products are new, while some are updates to existing lines that IKEA previously offered.
There are a series of new smart bulbs that are...
Wednesday November 5, 2025 3:54 pm PST by Juli Clover
It's been over a decade since Apple's HomeKit smart home platform launched, and it is overdue for an update. HomeKit and the Home app can no longer keep up with AI-powered solutions from other companies like Google and Amazon, but that's set to change with a smart home revamp that Apple has planned for 2026.
Home Hub
Apple is working on a home hub or "command center" that will serve as a...
This is such an interesting story. I really wish someone would do an in depth investigative report on it. For a could years there were so many rumor/news stories about how sapphire was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. When Apple contracted with this company the stories talked about how this was such a game change and that Samsung and other phone makers were going to be years behind the curve on sapphire.
Then seemingly over night Apple pulls its contract and GT declares bankrucy. Then stories come out about how the executives of GT dumped their stocks only weeks earlier. Then, after seemingly after all is lost, Apple announces they're going to repurpose the facilities. Now this fire.
I'm not arguing a conspiracy theory, but I feel like there have been so many interesting twists in the story that it really deserves an in depth look at what really happened here.
Apple's contract to buy GT's equipment and facilities might be null and void because of the bankruptcy filing.
Say, I have $1,000,000 in debt and I sell my 3 yachts to someone for $500,000. Then I declare bankruptcy. According to the law in the United States, I can't give up my property and then declare bankruptcy - this is fraud. The other debtors want their share of the bankruptcy estate (which the yachts were part of. Any transactions in the prior 2 years are looked into and can all be taken back.
Apples contract to buy GT's equipment is *part* of the bankruptcy. It is how Apple is going to be able to recover their investment. Trying to get a loan which uses that same equipment as collateral *after* agreeing to sell them to Apple during the bankruptcy proceedings is more than a little shady.
GT can't be trusted ... they have proven that - they are for the quick money with fishy methods, they have no respect for contracts they sign or anything they promise and blame everyone else for their own failure.
Apple's contract to buy GT's equipment and facilities might be null and void because of the bankruptcy filing.
Say, I have $1,000,000 in debt and I sell my 3 yachts to someone for $500,000. Then I declare bankruptcy. According to the law in the United States, I can't give up my property and then declare bankruptcy - this is fraud. The other debtors want their share of the bankruptcy estate (which the yachts were part of. Any transactions in the prior 2 years are looked into and can all be taken back.
