There's a major shakeup for the App Store in the U.S. this week, with Epic Games winning a major victory that is forcing Apple to make immediate changes in how it works with developers seeking to offer alternative methods for purchasing in-app content and subscriptions.
This week also saw fresh rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup, while Dan and Hartley talked through all of the current Apple Watch rumors on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!
Epic Games Wins Major Victory as Apple is Ordered to Comply With App Store Anti-Steering Injunction
In a sharp rebuke, Judge Yvonne Gongalez Rogers ruled this week that Apple has been in "willful violation" of her 2021 ruling in the court battle between Apple and Epic Games, with Apple continuing to engage in anti-competitive behavior by limiting how developers can link to alternative to Apple's in-app purchasing system and charging significant fees even on purchases made outside of Apple's ecosystem.
Apple is going to appeal, but in the meantime it must immediately cease charging commissions or fees on purchases made outside of apps and may not restrict developers' abilities to promote alternatives to users.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says the company intends to bring Fortnite back to the U.S. App Store next week, and has offered a "peace proposal" that would see Epic drop additional litigation on the issue if Apple extends the changes required by the ruling worldwide. Epic is also going to launch Epic Games Store Webshops that will allow other developers to deploy digital storefronts outside of the Apple's App Store.
iPhone 17 Pro's Scratch Resistant Anti-Reflective Display Coating Canceled
While Apple was reportedly aiming to bring an anti-reflective display coating to the iPhone 17 Pro models this year, a reliable source now tells MacRumors that the plan has been canceled for now as Apple ran into difficulties scaling up the process for the millions of devices it will need to produce.
Apple has brought anti-reflective nano-texture display options to several recent products like the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro, but so far the iPhone has been limited to a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating that still leaves the glass fronts of the devices susceptible to glare.
All iPhone 17 Models Again Rumored to Feature 12GB of RAM
We're expecting at least some iPhone 17 models to see an increase in RAM to 12GB from the current 8GB, and a new rumor claims that the increase will extend to all four models in the lineup.
Apple had originally been thought to only include the higher RAM amount in the iPhone 17 Pro Max, though analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicated last week that it will extend to not only the iPhone 17 Pro and the "iPhone 17 Air," but potentially even the base iPhone 17 if supply chain issues can be overcome. This week's rumor from Digital Chat Station on Weibo claims this will indeed be possible.
Google CEO Suggests iOS 19 Will Feature Built-In Gemini Integration
While ChatGPT is currently the only third-party AI service integrated into Apple Intelligence on iPhones, Apple has reportedly been open to adding other services, with Google Gemini regarded as the most likely future addition.
As part of an ongoing antitrust trial against Google, its CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed that he has held discussions with Apple CEO Tim Cook about Gemini integration and he hopes a deal will be reached by the middle of this year. That timing would set the stage for the inclusion of Gemini in iOS 19, set to be introduced at WWDC next month ahead of a public launch in September.
The MacRumors Show: Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 Rumors
On the latest episode of The MacRumors Show, Dan and Hartley discuss what to expect from the 2025 Apple Watch lineup when new models launch in the fall, with updates for the standard Apple Watch, high-end Apple Watch Ultra, and low-end Apple Watch SE all expected.
They also look at the latest rumors about iPadOS 19, where a macOS-style menu bar is expected to appear on-screen when the iPad is connected to a Magic Keyboard. The iPhone could also be getting a Stage Manager-like feature when connected to an external display.
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