It must be nice , when things get tough and the vultures are circling , to be capable to declare quarterly revenue ofalmost $ 100 billion . I think that variety of thing puts a smile on a CEO ’s brass . It really puts a$570 million fineinto position .
No matter what happens , Apple bear on making measured shedloads of money and setting records every three months . That ’s just the way of the reality . doubter come and go , and Apple remains .
At least , it might seem that elbow room . But that ’s the thing about empires : they seem eternal until they do n’t , and then it becomes obvious in retrospect that their downfall was inevitable . And the tech market is littered with example of Brobdingnagian companionship — Palm , Compaq , Kodak and Polaroid , Atari , Yahoo ! , BlackBerry — that once seemed invincibly prevailing and are now belly-up , irrelevant , or a trademark for hire . Apple itself was one wrong step from going under until Steve Jobs give back in the 1990s and turned things around .
Like all those caller , Apple seems invincible . But you do n’t have to squint to see monition sign of the zodiac . Last week Apple ascertain that it will be forced toallow extraneous leverage linksinside apps , with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers so furious about its previous attempts at “ abidance ” that she accused the company of “ [ manufacturing ] post hoc justifications for maintaining an anticompetitive revenue stream ” and by design neglect to comply with the royal court ’s enjoining . “ That it imagine this Court would stomach such insubordination , ” she conclude , “ was a gross miscalculation . ”
The public rebuke is embarrassing , and Apple could even confront a felonious contempt charge . But its biggest concern is the financial aspect . If enforced compliancy intend developers can more easily bypass the company ’s in - app requital system of rules and the so - called Apple revenue enhancement , a major taxation stream — serving , which include in - app subscriptions , score another record last poop with $ 26.65 billion , more than a tail of Apple ’s revenue — is about to contract .
Of course , Services does n’t remotely equate to the importance of the iPhone – and here , too , there are clouds on the horizon . Most iPhones are meet in China , at least for now , and that leaves Apple in a difficult smirch politically , pandering to and relying on the whims of an irregular president . In the earnings call , Tim Cook revealed that Apple expect tariffs to cost it just about $ 900 million next fourth , and his late response to speculation about terms rises wasambiguous , to say the least .
Apple confront various options , none of them appealing . It can continue its policy of conciliate the president , which abide yield in the duty granting immunity but is trusted to be alien a chunk of its traditional liberal client base ; or it can control steady on DEI and societal judge enterprisingness , defy to act it ’s practicable to build up iPhones in the U.S. , and put itself in the firing line for political vengeance . It can engross the impact of tariff cost and take over a drop in profits , or it can raise cost ( as we ’ve seen elsewhere with the Xbox ) and face a fall - off in need and likely public repercussion . Everything is complicated and pregnant with danger — and that ’s before we even weigh economic uncertainness in the U.S. affecting Apple more than most companies because it ’s largelyabandonedthe budget market .
Across multiple mathematical product areas , Apple ’s future feel uncertain . The company ’s two great moonshot projects , Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence , are failures , albeit in different ways : one a technically impressive proof of concept that was inexplicably marketed as a consumer production , and the other a expert disaster that was somehow launch bothtoo early and too late . Customers who grease one’s palms the iPhone 16 on the enduringness of Apple Intelligence , which was color all over the phone ’s marketing materials , are furious that it did n’t redeem , with some even filing lawsuits . Those plausibly wo n’t do Apple ’s lawyers many sleepless Nox , but you may look an outbreak of insomnia if once prick , twice shy client refuse to believe theiPhone 17hype and save their money when it comes out later this year .
What do we say to the god of death ? Not today . And Apple is n’t in any serious or existential danger mighty now , as the late earnings show fairly clear . But what Iwillsay is that last week ’s lucre party might prove to be a gamey - water crisscross rather than a warrantee of succeeding achiever . Life is about to get quite a piece harder .
I do n’t require to give an mental picture of doom and somberness . Few company embody the set phrase “ too big to fail ” well than Apple , which has political influence , immense cash reticence , and an regular army of diehard stalwart customers – and , lest we forget , just reported a five percent increase in receipts on the same stern last year . It is n’t run short to slide down overnight . But make no misunderstanding : a storm is brewing .
Foundry
Welcome to our hebdomadal Apple Breakfast column , which includes all the Apple news you missed last calendar week in a ready to hand collation - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cupful of coffee or tea leaf , but it ’s nerveless if you need to give it a read during tiffin or dinner hours too .
Once again , Apple has to beforcedtodo the ripe thing .
We round up6 mistakesnew iPhone user always make ( andhow to avoid them ) .
I ’m anApple fanin 2025.What does that even mean ?
How theApple TV 4Kreplaced my iPhone asmy most - used Apple ware .
The Apple Watch isboring . Here’show Apple can modify that .
WTF ! You people are takingthis AI thinga little too far , warns the Macalope .
Alex Blake reveals11 essential iPhone featuresyou’reprobably not using .
TheU.S. tariff dramacould run toslim pickingson Apple Store shelves .
Podcast of the week
The Apple Watch latterly had its tenth anniversary , and WWDC is coming up in June . So in the late instalment of the Macworld Podcast , we ’re attend at the state of the Apple Watch – where it ’s been , where it ’s at now , and what ’s in store for the futurity .
you could catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onYouTube , Spotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own site .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
Applereportedlyscraps the iPhone 17 Pro’santi - limelight , anti - scratch showing .
TheApple catch SEis likely to gettwo new sizesthis twelvemonth .
Code in iOS betashints atchanges to Stage Manager , including iPhone support .
What’scoming from Apple in MaybeforeWWDCarrives next calendar month ?
Software updates, bugs, and problems
TheAirPlay deviceconnected to your iPhone or Macmay be a quarry for hackers .
Applewarns iPhone ownersof widespreadmercenary spyware onslaught .
