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Phones

This Month

Apple chief executive Tim Cook greets developers at WWDC on Tuesday.

Apple execs held internal talks about buying AI start-up Perplexity

Following an underwhelming AI offering at their Worldwide Developer’s Conference, Apple is making moves to strengthen their AI capabilities.

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Monash shares dive; Marines in LA; iPhone’s big update

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Meet the iPhone’s biggest update in a decade

Except for the “squircles”, almost all of Apple’s smartphone overhaul was leaked ahead of time.

May

Apple iPad pro on display inside the company’s store during its opening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year.

What’s in a name? A lot, according to Apple, as it rebrands iOS

The next operating systems for the iPhone maker will be identified by year, rather than with a version number, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

A composte image of Apple product designer Jony Ive on the left and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman on the right, ahead of Ive joining OpenAI to begin ChatGPT product design.

OpenAI taking on Apple is the beginning of the end of the iPhone

Sam Altman’s acquisition of a storied design firm positions him as a contender to the legacy of Steve Jobs: not just reshaping software, but also reimagining devices.

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Inside the ‘stolen iPhone’ building

The Financial Times tracked the roaring trade of mobiles grabbed in London, New York and elsewhere, then sold in one district in southern China’s Shenzhen.

This phone’s stats don’t capture how different it feels from others

Samsung had to make sacrifices to come up with its slimmest, lightest Galaxy handset. The question is, are you willing to make those compromises too?

US President Donald Trump said he had a tough chat with Apple boss Tim Cook.

Trump has a ‘little problem with Tim Cook’

The US president said he spoke to the Apple boss about moving the assembly of devices to the US, rather than accelerating a shift from China to India.

The tech sector is waiting for clarity from Trump’s agedna.

Apple and Amazon have no idea what’s coming

Big tech earnings are holding up well for now, but it’s clear Amazon, Apple and other tech giants have little idea of how a protracted trade war might hurt them.  

April

Your iPhone is a target for thieves. Do this to help protect your data

Taking a few precautions, you can dramatically reduce the fallout that comes with a lost or stolen handset.

How do I make those Trumpet of Patriots spam texts stop?

Everybody’s doing it, and everyone hates them. So why are political parties allowed to send you so many texts?

Tim Cook has been hesitant to provide clear and direct guidance on product development, sources said.

What’s wrong with Apple?

Even before the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs, there were questions about the company’s inability to make good on new ideas.

Why is Google’s Pixel 9a so cheap? It just doesn’t add up

Head-to-head with Google’s premium phone, the Pixel 9 Pro, the new mid-tier model is a lot closer than the price difference might suggest.

March

The iPhone 16 Plus can do almost everything the Pro can do – and looks better doing it.

Apple just pulled an iPhone ad. The move shows it’s now in crisis

An AI update to bring Siri into the agentic era has been delayed, placing the tech giant in a bind as it races to make other big changes to its devices.

An iPhone 16. The new software will make devices across Apple’s range more coherent.

Apple prepares dramatic software overhaul for iPhone, iPad and Mac

The revamp – due this year – will fundamentally change the look of the operating systems, updating the style of icons, menus, apps, windows and system buttons.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook greets people during the opening of the first Apple flagship store in Mumbai.

Apple’s quiet pivot to India

The iPhone maker wants to diversify its supply chain beyond China. Can the world’s largest democracy deliver?

The new iPhone raises some questions. The trickiest one is in the name

We put Apple’s entry-level iPhone 16e through its paces, and found it compares pretty well to our iPhone 16 Pro. Here is a kind of alphabetical guide to the device.

February

Priced at $US599 ($944), the iPhone 16e will have enough computing power to run Apple Intelligence, the set of features that includes integrated access to ChatGPT.

Apple launches low-cost AI phone for the cost-of-living crunch

The new model will have enough computing power to run Apple Intelligence, and will bring communications in-house for the first time.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra is a perfect phone, with four slip-ups

Did the company fail to add magnets to its new handset just to be annoying? Maybe not. It could signal a broader trend we like to call “peak phone”.

January

The family safety and location-sharing Life360 app is often used by parents to monitor their child’s whereabouts.

Should you track your kids through their phones?

The combination of new technology and the age-old devotion to keep your children safe is taking “helicopter parenting” to a whole new level.

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