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Apple's iPhone 17 lineup is selling well enough that Apple is on track to ship more than 247.4 million total iPhones in 2025, according to a new report from IDC.

Total 2025 shipments are forecast to grow 6.1 percent year over year due to ‌iPhone 17‌ demand and increased sales in China, a major market for Apple.

Overall worldwide smartphone shipments across Android and iOS are forecast to grow 1.5 percent, primarily because of the success of the iPhone.

In China, Apple's largest market, massive demand for iPhone 17 has significantly accelerated Apple's performance. It ranked first in October and November per IDC's China Monthly Sales data with more than 20% share, miles ahead of the competition, leading IDC to revise Apple's Q4 forecast in China from 9% to 17% YoY. This turns a previously projected 1% decline in China for 2025 into a positive 3% growth, that's a phenomenal turnaround. The success story is replicated across all regions, including the US and Western Europe that had previously slowed down. This calendar year will not only be a record period for Apple in terms of shipments but also in value, which is forecast to exceed $261 billion, with 7.2% YoY growth in 2025.

Back in October, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple is expecting to set a new all-time revenue record in the December quarter, and a best-ever revenue record for the ‌iPhone‌. Apple believes overall revenue will grow 10 to 12 percent year-over-year.

Apple has seen strong interest in the standard ‌iPhone 17‌ and the iPhone 17 Pro models, even though the iPhone Air hasn't performed as expected.

Next year, Apple plans to change its ‌iPhone‌ release timelines. The high-end ‌iPhone‌ Fold and the iPhone 18 Pro models will come out in September 2026 as usual, but the lower-priced ‌iPhone 18‌ will be held until spring 2027.

IDC predicts that the decision will drop iOS shipments by 4.2 percent in 2026, while a global memory shortage will lead to supply constraints and price increases across the smartphone market. Total global smartphone shipments could decline 0.9 percent in 2026 due to the supply issues and Apple's lineup changes.

OpenAI appears to be working on Apple Health integration for ChatGPT, although it is unclear when the functionality might be made available to the public.

The latest version of the ChatGPT app for the iPhone contains a new image of the Apple Health icon hidden within the app's code. The image's file name suggests that it will be possible to connect the Apple Health app to ChatGPT, so that you can receive more personalized and useful answers based on your health and fitness data.

The image shows that ChatGPT would be able to tap into several Apple Health categories related to your activity, sleep, diet, breathing, and hearing.

While the ChatGPT app for the iPhone was updated on Monday, it is unclear when this functionality will go live, if ever. Should the plans move forward, Apple Health would be available in ChatGPT's settings, under Apps & Connectors.

ChatGPT can already connect to many other apps, including Box, Dropbox, GitHub, Google Drive, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Notion, Slack, and others.

Another popular platform is launching an end-of-year highlight reel. First came Spotify Wrapped, then Apple Music Replay, and now there is the YouTube Recap.

YouTube Recap highlights your viewing habits, top channels, personal interests, and more, based on your watch history. If you listened to a lot of music on YouTube in 2025, you can also see your top artists and songs of the year.

You can share your personal highlights on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

YouTube Recap will be available starting today for users in the U.S. and Canada, and it will roll out in other countries this week. It can be accessed via YouTube's homepage on the web, or by tapping on the "You" tab in the iOS or Android app.

We're in the middle of Cyber Week, which means that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are officially over. Although many deals have now expired, you can still find a few solid leftover discounts on products like M5 MacBook Pro, Apple Watch Series 11, and more.

M5 MacBook Pro

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
MacBook deals are dwindling fast on Amazon, but you can still get the new M5 MacBook Pro for $1,349.00, down from $1,599.00. This is the 10-Core model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD in Space Black, and it's a new all-time low price on the M5 MacBook Pro.

Apple Watch

You can get the 42mm GPS Apple Watch Series 11 for $329.00, down from $399.00, and the 46mm GPS model for $359.00, down from $429.00. Only one color of the 42mm GPS is left at this price, while three colors are available for the 46mm GPS model.

For the Apple Watch SE 3, you'll find $50 off both the 40mm and 44mm GPS models. These have some of the most consistent stock and color options available post-Black Friday/Cyber Monday, with two colors available for each.

M5 iPad Pro

Amazon has notable discounts on Apple's brand new M5 iPad Pro, with the entry-level 11-inch model available for $899.00, down from $999.00.

AirTag

Although the AirTag 4-Pack is no longer at an all-time low price, you can get the AirTag 1-Pack for $17.97 today on Amazon, down from $29.00.

Apple Pencil Pro

Amazon is still discounting the Apple Pencil Pro for $94.99, down from $129.00.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple today shared a new "I'm Not Remarkable" ad that highlights the accessibility features available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

Apple says its products are designed for every student, with the ad showcasing the use of accessibility features like Magnifier and VoiceOver in college.

"Apple products are designed for every student," says Apple. "Accessibility features like Magnifier on Mac, Accessibility Reader, Braille Access, VoiceOver, Sound & Name Recognition, and Live Captions can improve access, enhance learning, and create new opportunities for people with disabilities to study, socialize, and succeed in college."

Apple today released its 2025 Apple Music year-end charts, highlighting new global listening trends, expanded analytics, and several unexpected chart-topping performances across streaming, radio, lyrics, and Shazam activity.

Apple said the annual charts reflect a broader set of data collected throughout 2025 from global ‌Apple Music‌ streams, Shazam searches, time-synced lyric engagement, radio, ‌Apple Music‌ Sing usage, and more.

Top Songs of 2025: Global

1. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, "APT."
2. Kendrick Lamar & SZA, "luther"
3. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, "Die With A Smile"
4. Kendrick Lamar, "Not Like Us"
5. Billie Eilish, "BIRDS OF A FEATHER"

Top 100: Shazam

1. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, "APT."
2. Lola Young, "Messy"
3. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, "Die With A Smile"
4. Alex Warren, "Ordinary"
5. MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea, "Shake It To The Max (FLY) [Remix]"

Top 100: Global Radio

1. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, "APT."
2. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, "Die With A Smile"
3. Lola Young, "Messy"
4. Alex Warren, "Ordinary"
5. Billie Eilish, "BIRDS OF A FEATHER"

Top 100: Lyrics

1. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, "APT."
2. Kendrick Lamar & SZA, "luther"
3. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, "Die With A Smile"
4. HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast, "Golden"
5. Kendrick Lamar, "Not Like Us"

Top 100: Sing

1. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, "Die With A Smile"
2. ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, "APT."
3. Billie Eilish, "WILDFLOWER"
4. HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast, "Golden"
5. Mrs. GREEN APPLE, "Lilac"

All 2025 ‌Apple Music‌ year-end charts, including the Top Songs of 2025: Global, the Top 100: Shazam, the Most-Read Lyrics, Top 100: Sing, Top 100: Fitness, and the year-end Shazam Global Radio Spins chart, are now available to browse and play in the ‌Apple Music‌ app.

The full Replay 2025 experience is now available in the Apple Music app, allowing you to reflect on your listening habits over the past year.

There are two main components of the Replay 2025 experience. First, there is a full year-end playlist containing the Apple Music songs that you listened to the most over the past year, as well as a Highlight Reel with images and a video that are designed to be shared on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

You can view your total minutes spent listening to Apple Music songs, the total number of artists you listened to, your favorite genres, and more for 2025.

Apple Music already offers monthly Replay playlists throughout the year, but this full year-end experience provides a lot more information. This year, Apple says it has highlighted even more listening habits related to the following:

• Discovery: New artists who captured your ears over the past year
• Loyalty: Artists you've kept coming back to, year after year
• Comebacks: Artists who made a return to your rotation

A multi-year Replay All Time playlist with the songs that you have listened to the most since you first subscribed to Apple Music remains available.

Starting with iOS 26, the Replay experience is fully native in the Apple Music app, but it also remains available on the web at replay.music.apple.com.

Replay 2025 is prominently featured in the Apple Music's Home and New tabs right now, and Apple is celebrating with an exhibit at Miami Art Week this week.

In related news, the Apple Music for Artists app was updated today with new Replay metrics, including listenership growth and year-over-year performance summaries.

Apple Music Replay is similar to Spotify Wrapped and the all-new YouTube Recap.

End-of-year Apple Music and Shazam charts are now out.

Opera has announced an expansion of its partnership with Google to integrate the latest Gemini AI models across much of its browser lineup.

The expansion means the Gemini-powered side panel previously exclusive to Opera Neon is now freely available in the company's free-to-download Opera One and Opera GX browsers.

By interacting with the side panel's AI chatbot, users can get contextually relevant answers based on the current webpage and group of webpages, as well as videos. Opera says responses can include easy research, content summaries, and comparisons between different tabs.

In addition, Opera AI supports voice input and output, along with file analysis for multiple file types, including images and video.

The company says the engine has been rebuilt for speed, with 20% faster responses thanks to the use of a new architecture that adopts an agentic-approach from Opera Neon.

Opera also emphasizes that its privacy features ensure the user has full control over what context is shared with Opera AI and what is kept outside its awareness.

"AI is reshaping how people interact with the web, and the browser is the natural entry point for those experiences,” said Opera's EVP Commercial, Per Wetterdal. "Through our partnership with Google, we are able to offer users the experiences they really want through native search and AI features, for free, directly in their Opera One and Opera GX browsers while our most advanced users of the agentic Opera Neon browser are already getting access to Gemini 3 Pro."

Many users have been critical of AI's creep into browsers, but Opera argues that browsing is the next AI frontier. "Unlike a standalone chat interface, the browser has access to real-time context such as a user's open tabs, page content, and browsing flows," says the company's press release. "This enables more relevant and efficient assistance, supporting task completion directly within the browsing experience."

You can decide for yourself by visiting Opera's website, which includes download links for Opera Browser, Opera Air, Opera GX, and Opera Mini.

Apple has announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available in Singapore, providing a way for independent sellers, small businesses, and larger merchants in the country to use an ‌iPhone‌ as a contactless payment terminal.

Tap to Pay first arrived in February 2022 in the US, and allows iPhones to accept payments via Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets‌‌‌. All transactions are encrypted, and Apple has no information about what is purchased or the person who made the purchase.

No additional hardware or credit card machine is required‌ to use Tap to Pay on ‌iPhone. The feature uses NFC technology to securely authenticate the contactless payments, plus the feature also supports PIN entry, which includes accessibility options.

Tap to Pay will initially support Adyen, Fiuu, HitPay, Revolut, Stripe, and Zoho in Singapore. Apple says Grab will offer Tap to Pay on iPhone beginning early next year.

Tap to Pay on ‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌ requires ‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌ XS or newer models, and works for customers as any normal ‌‌‌‌‌Apple Pay‌‌‌‌‌ transaction would. Sellers just need to open up the app, register the sale, and present their ‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌ to the buyer, who can then use an appropriate contactless payment method.

Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available in 50 countries and regions around the world. Apple's website maintains a list of countries where it is available.

Apple will resist a new Indian government directive that would require all iPhones sold in the country to ship with a preinstalled state-run security app, reports Reuters.

This week, India's Department of Telecommunications ordered all smartphone makers to preload Sanchar Saathi, a non-removable government app designed to help users block stolen devices, report fraudulent calls, and verify second-hand phones.

The app includes detailed tracking functionality controlled by the government, potentially opening a pathway for broad data access and potential surveillance, so there are privacy and security implications for iPhone users.

According to The Business Standard, citing industry sources familiar with the matter, Apple has informed officials it does not plan to comply with the requirement. The company will reportedly tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company's iOS ecosystem.

Apple's resistance to the directive will put added pressure on New Delhi, with political opposition parties already accusing the government of overreach.

In response to the criticism, India's telecom minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Tuesday said the app was "completely optional," adding that users can choose to activate it and can "easily delete it from their phone at any time." Scindia rejected allegations of surveillance, stating the app contains no provisions for snooping or call monitoring.

There are more than 700 million smartphone users in India, so any final decision will have major implications for how much control the government can exert over device software and how far tech companies like Apple can go in enforcing their own privacy standards.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Samsung today introduced the Galaxy Z TriFold, its first smartphone that has three total screens and two folds instead of one. The Galaxy Z TriFold features a 10-inch display when opened, and a 6.5-inch cover screen when closed, with "minimized creasing."

The device has an inward-folding design that's meant to protect the main display, and Samsung says that the "easy opening and closing" folding mechanism has been engineered with an alarm that alerts the user if it's folded incorrectly. Samsung is using a titanium Armor FlexHinge with two differently sized hinges that work together with a dual-rail structure. Samsung claims that the new design offers a smoother, more stable fold despite the varying weight across each display, plus greater durability thanks to the inclusion of a "thin piece of metal" that protects the folding mechanism.

A third of the display is 3.9mm thick when the smartphone is unfolded, though it is thicker in the area with the triple-lens camera. The main center screen is a bit thicker at 4.2mm, and the screen with the side button is 4mm. There is a reinforced overcoat over a shock absorbing display layer for better resistance, and the aluminum frame keeps the screens from making contact with one another.

There's a 5,600 mAh three-cell battery system with one battery behind each display panel. Samsung says it is the largest battery that it has used in a smartphone to date. There are three cameras at the rear of the device, including a 200-megapixel wide angle camera, a 12-megapixel ultra wide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. There are two 10-megapixel selfie cameras on the cover screen and the main screen.

Galaxy Z TriFold users can use three different portrait-sized apps side-by-side, resize apps in a multi-window view, watch shows in full screen, or hold the device vertically for reading. Samsung added standalone Samsung DeX, so the Galaxy Z TriFold supports up to four workspaces with five apps running simultaneously. Samsung apps have been optimized for the larger screen, as has Google's Gemini Live.

The Galaxy Z TriFold is launching in Korea on December 12, and it will expand to other markets like China, Taiwan, Singapore, and the UAE later. It will launch in the United States in the first quarter of 2026, and pricing is unknown.

We're getting closer to the launch of the final major iOS update of the year, with Apple set to release iOS 26.2 in December. We've had three betas so far and are expecting a fourth beta or a release candidate this week, so a launch could follow as soon as next week.

Past Launch Dates

Apple's past iOS x.2 updates from the last few years have all happened right around the middle of the month, which gives us some insight into when iOS 26.2 will launch.

• iOS 18.2 - RC on Thursday, December 5, launch on Wednesday, December 11. Four betas total before RC, with beta 4 on Wednesday, November 20.
• iOS 17.2 - RC on Tuesday, December 5, launch on Monday, December 11. Four betas total before RC, with beta 4 on Tuesday, November 28.
• iOS 16.2 - RC on Wednesday, December 7, launch on Tuesday, December 13. Four betas total before RC, with beta 4 on Thursday, December 1.
• iOS 15.2 - RC on Tuesday, December 7, launch on Monday, December 13. Four betas total before RC, with beta 4 on Thursday, December 2.
• iOS 14.2 - RC on Friday, October 30, launch on Thursday, November 5. Four betas total before RC, with beta 4 on Tuesday, October 20.

Apple has stuck to a December launch schedule for x.2 updates since 2021. Before that, updates were less scheduled with more variation in launch timeline. RCs have consistently come during the first week of December, with a launch during the second week.

Possible Scenarios

Compared to the past two years, Apple is a bit behind on the launch of the fourth beta. With iOS 17.2 and iOS 18.2, the last beta came in November, so the RC was able to launch earlier in the month.

This year, we haven't had a fourth beta yet. We should be getting it sometime this week between Tuesday and Thursday. Apple has historically waited a week between beta 4 and the RC, and then another week before releasing the update. If Apple sticks to a similar timeline this year, we'll see the following:

• Beta 4 between December 2-4, RC between December 8-11, iOS 26.2 launch on December 15 or December 16.

December 15 or 16 would mark the latest that we've had an x.2 release since Apple adopted a more consistent update schedule. It's possible Apple might want to speed things up. If that's the case, we could see this launch timeline:

• Beta 4 between December 2-4, RC between December 4 and 8, launch around December 11.

Apple could condense the amount of time between the fourth beta and the RC, or the amount of time between the RC and launch. There's also a possibility that we don't get a fourth beta at all. With no fourth beta, the timeline looks like this:

• RC between December 2-4, launch between December 8-11.

Apple has consistently done four betas before an RC, and there are some major regulatory updates in Japan, so the first scenario with the later iOS 26.2 launch date seems the most likely at this point.

Either way, iOS 26.2 is coming in just a couple of weeks.

iOS 26.2 Features

iOS 26.2 isn't a major update for most people outside of Japan, but there are a handful of useful new features.

• Reminder Alarms - You can elect to have an alarm go off when a reminder is due, with standard stop and snooze options.
• Lock Screen - There's a slider that lets you adjust the Liquid Glass transparency of the clock.
• AirDrop - iOS 26.2 lets you generate a one-time AirDrop code for file sharing with someone who isn't in your contacts list. It supports file exchanges for a 30-day period.
• Sleep Score - Sleep Score ranges have been adjusted to better reflect how people might be feeling after a night's sleep.
• Live Translation - AirPods Live Translation is expanding to the EU.
• Japan - iPhone users in Japan will be able to download apps from alternative app stores and replace Siri with a different personal assistant.

There are even more features in iOS 26.2, with a full list available in our features guide.

iOS 26.3

Apple often follows launches with new betas, so while iOS 26.2 will be the last major software update of the year, we're still likely to get a glimpse of what's in iOS 26.3 before 2026 rolls around.

The first beta of iOS 18.3 came out on December 16, the first beta of iOS 17.3 came on December 12, and the first beta of iOS 16.3 came out on December 14. The first beta of iOS 26.3 should come the day after iOS 26.2. Unfortunately, the x.3 updates are often more focused on internal improvements than outward-facing features, so we are finished with exciting updates until 2026.

OpenAI appears to be gearing up to introduce ads in ChatGPT, presumably for users who don't pay to access the chatbot.

Engineer Tibor Blaho recently found references to upcoming ad functionality in the ChatGPT Android app. Code strings mention search ads, a search ad carousel, and an ad API. Though ad mentions were found in the Android app, it's likely a change that's coming to ChatGPT on all platforms, including iOS, Mac, and the desktop.

Given the "search" wording, it's possible ads will be limited to web searches and shopping research requests.

Access to ChatGPT starts at $20 per month for the Plus plan, with a ChatGPT Pro plan available for $200 per month with higher access limits. There are also business and education plans, along with the current free plan. In other countries, OpenAI offers a cheaper "Go" plan that could also expand to the United States when ads roll out.

There have been rumors that OpenAI plans to gradually raise the price of ChatGPT access, and a plan restructuring with an ad-supported tier seems like the ideal time to make pricing changes.

As noted by Search Engine Land, OpenAI executives have been changing their messaging around ads over the course of the last 12 months. In late 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ads were a "last resort," but in early 2025, leaked internal forecasts included $1 billion in "free user monetization" revenue in 2026. Earlier this year, Altman said that he loved Instagram ads and felt they were valuable. He said he thought OpenAI could find "some cool product ad" that's a "net win to the user."

Panels, a wallpaper app launched by well-known YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), is shutting down at the end of 2025.

According to a notice on the Panels website, the "makeup of the development team" changed earlier this year, and MKBHD wasn't able to find other collaborators who were the "right fit" to continue work on the app. Brownlee said in an accompanying video that he wasn't able to turn Panels into the vision that he had.

The Panels app is being shut down on December 31, 2025. The Panels app code will be open-sourced under the Apache 2.0 license in January 2026 for anyone who wants to create new projects based on the code.

Panels users who have downloaded or purchased wallpapers can continue to use them, and wallpapers can be downloaded until the end of December. When the app is removed from the App Store, active subscriptions will be automatically canceled, and annual subscriptions will be proactively refunded. Purchases in the app have been discontinued as of today.

Panels was heavily criticized when it launched in September 2024 due to pricing and aggressive data collection. The app cost $11.99 per month or $49.99 per year to download full resolution wallpapers. There was an option to watch two ads to download a wallpaper, but only at a limited 1080p resolution. It also asked to track activity across websites and apps, requested location information, and displayed ads in the feed.

Brownlee updated the app to address user concerns and dropped the subscription price to $2 per month, but Panels failed to catch on after its initial problems.

Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down from his position and retiring in spring 2026, Apple announced today.

Giannandrea will serve as an advisor between now and 2026, with former Microsoft AI researcher Amar Subramanya set to take over as vice president of AI. Subramanya will report to Apple engineering chief Craig Federighi, and will lead Apple Foundation Models, ML research, and AI Safety and Evaluation.

Subramanya was previously corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft, and before that, he spent 16 years at Google. He was head of engineering for Google's Gemini Assistant, and Apple says that he has "deep expertise" in both AI and ML research that will be important to "Apple's ongoing innovation and future Apple Intelligence features."

Some of the teams that Giannandrea oversaw will move to Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue, such as AI Infrastructure and Search and Knowledge. Khan is Apple's new Chief Operating Officer who took over for Jeff Williams earlier this year. Cue has long overseen Apple services.

Apple CEO Tim Cook thanked Giannandrea for his role advancing Apple's AI work, and he said that he looks forward to working with Subramanya. He also said that Federighi has played an important role in Apple's AI efforts.

"We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "AI has long been central to Apple's strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig's leadership team and to bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple. In addition to growing his leadership team and AI responsibilities with Amar's joining, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year."

Apple said that it is "poised to accelerate its work in delivering intelligent, trusted, and profoundly personal experiences" with the new AI team.

Giannandrea's departure comes after Apple's major iOS 18 Siri failure. Apple introduced a smarter, "‌Apple Intelligence‌" version of ‌Siri‌ at WWDC 2024, and advertised the functionality when marketing the iPhone 16. In early 2025, Apple announced that it would not be able to release the promised version of ‌Siri‌ as planned, and updates were delayed until spring 2026.

An exodus of Apple's AI team followed as Apple scrambled to improve ‌Siri‌ and deliver on features like personal context, onscreen awareness, and improved app integration. Apple is now rumored to be partnering with Google for a more advanced version of ‌Siri‌ and other ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features that are set to come out next year.

Apple's Passeig de Gràcia store in Barcelona, Spain will be temporarily closed for remodeling starting in February, according to a source familiar with the matter.

In Montréal, Canada, a separate source indicated that Apple's Sainte-Catherine store will be moving to a new location in mid-January. Last year, the newspaper La Presse reported that the new store would be located in a 125-year-old heritage building, at the northeast corner of Rue Saint-Catherine and Rue de la Montagne.

Apple recently announced that it will be opening its fifth retail store in India this month, at the DLF Mall of India in Noida, a city near New Delhi.

Apple Noida is set to open on Thursday, December 11, at 1 p.m. local time.

Apple's first two stores in India opened in 2023, in Mumbai and New Delhi. The company then opened another two stores in India in September, in Bengaluru and Pune. In addition, the Apple Store app launched in India earlier this year.

India is requiring smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung to preload devices sold in the country with a state-owned cyber security app that can't be deleted, reports Reuters.

The Department of Communications in India is giving smartphone companies 90 days to begin preinstalling the Sanchar Saathi government app on all new devices that are sold. It has also requested that manufacturers push software updates to devices that are already in the supply chain.

Users are supposed to be informed of the app at the first use or when the device is set up, and the app's feature set is not able to be turned off or restricted.

India is aiming to cut down on fraud and cyber crime, and the app is supposedly meant to provide additional security to smartphone users while also informing them about government initiatives. It is able to verify the authenticity of IMEIs to prevent stolen devices from being used with duplicate or spoofed identifiers.

A website for the app says that it lets users report suspected fraud, block and track lost or stolen devices from being used, verify the authenticity of a device, report international spam calls, and verify telephone numbers. The app includes detailed tracking functionality controlled by the government, so there are privacy and security implications for iPhone users.

The majority of smartphone users in India have Android devices, and it's a market that Apple is trying to expand in. Apple has not acquiesced to a government request for a fully preloaded ‌iPhone‌ app, so it will presumably find a way around India's mandate. Counterpoint Research told Reuters that Apple will likely negotiate for a middle ground, such as informing users of the app rather than preinstalling it.

Russia has a similar preinstall mandate for government-approved apps. During setup, iPhones in Russia have a prompt suggesting users install the apps, but opting out is possible.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Anker's Black Friday sale has now become a Cyber Monday event, with notable discounts on portable chargers, USB-C hubs, cables, and more. This sale will last all Cyber Week and end on December 7.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker and Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

There are a few bonus offers during this event as well, including blind boxes with various random Anker accessories. The first box costs $29.99 and includes one random item or bundle worth $49.99-$169.99, while the highest box costs $129.99 and includes one random item or bundle worth $199.98-$4,799.99.

This sale also includes some Amazon discounts, with a highlight being the 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock for $319.99, down from $399.99. This dock has three Thunderbolt 5 ports, two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, an SD card reader, audio jack, and more.

Finally, it's worth noting that MacRumors readers can get $10 off a minimum purchase of $200 with our code Ankermacrumors200 on Anker's website. You can stack this code with other discounts, so if you're shopping for a lot this holiday season it's a good opportunity to add more savings to your cart.

Prime Chargers

• Prime Charger (100W, 3 Ports) - $41.99, down from $84.99
• Prime Power Bank - $58.49, down from $89.99
• Prime Charging Station (8-in-1) - $129.99, down from $164.99
• Prime Charger (250W, 6 Ports, GaNPrime) - $99.99, down from $169.99

Wireless Chargers

• MagGo 3-in-1 Foldable Wireless Charging Station - $57.49, down from $99.99
• MagGo 2-in-1 Wireless Charger Stand - $36.99, down from $49.99
• 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station - $149.99, down from $229.99

Amazon

• Nano USB-C 30W Foldable Charger - $11.19, down from $19.99
• 10,000 mAh Magnetic Power Bank - $29.99, down from $49.99
• Soundcore V40i Open-Ear Headphones - $39.99, down from $79.99
• MagGo UFO 3-in-1 Charger - $57.49, down from $89.99
• 10,000 mAh MagGo Qi2 Power Bank - $54.99, down from $89.99
• 140W 4-Port USB-C Charger - $59.99, down from $99.99
• Power Station with Lantern - $79.98, down from $149.99
• 14-in-1 Thunderbolt 5 Dock - $319.99, down from $399.99

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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