The full extent of the U.S. government’s impeding tariffs were revealed by the Trump administration today in a press conference. The hefty tariffs threaten economic trade on a massive scale with implications on almost all big US companies, including Apple.

The Apple supply chain relies on manufacturing and assembly of its devices in countries like China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. All of these regions are now facing huge tariffs, which ultimately increases the cost of production and undermines Apple’s margins and potential profitability.

The just-released iPhone software update has a bunch of headline features including Priority Notifications, new emoji, Sketch in Image Playgrounds and more, but iOS 18.4 also has some more under-the-radar changes.

As spotted by Mysk, iOS 18.4 adds a new setting buried in Location Services called ‘Improve Location Accuracy’. For some users, including myself, it was on by default. Here’s what Apple says this toggle does …

Apple is celebrating the return of baseball with a new documentary, Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series, streaming today on Apple TV+. The service’s Friday Night Baseball double-header games also start again this evening.

Fight for Glory goes behind the scenes of the 2024 World Series, with exclusive access to the Yankees and Dodgers as they revive Major League Baseball’s most iconic playoff rivalry.

Today, Apple debuts its highly-anticipated hot new comedy series The Studio, streaming now on Apple TV+. The show stars Seth Rogen as a Hollywood exec in control of a studio that is struggling to stay relevant.

The show is a comedic satire of the quirks of the industry, from the relentless pursuit of IP to the ongoing clash of artistry and business incentives. The show also features a laundry list of cameo appearances throughout.

You may have seen Apple Maps survey cars in your area before. As they drive around, the cars take photos and 3D scans to generate ground truth data that can be used to improve map accuracy and offer features like Look Around, Apple’s equivalent of Google Street View.

But now the data collected from these cars will also have another purpose. In an updated disclosure on the Apple Maps Image Collection website, Apple says that starting this month, imagery from its vehicle surveys will also be used to train generative AI models, like those used for Apple Intelligence features such as Image Playground and Clean Up.

A strange Apple Maps bug is showing point-of-interest pins for a smattering of airport baggage claim stations across the United States, while the map is zoomed far way enough that otherwise almost no landmarks, let alone airports, are marked.

The random baggage claim pins appear across Apple Maps on iPhone, iPad and Mac. This is obviously a glitch with the data being served by the Apple Maps backend, and should be fixable by Apple with a server update.

Apple TV+ has officially renewed its hit sci-fi drama series Severance for a third season, on the heels of the second season finale dropping today.

Writing on scripts for season three has already been underway for some time. Executive producer and director Ben Stiller has promised fans that there won’t be a three year wait this time between seasons, although filming on season three has not yet commenced.

In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple firmly rebuked the EU decision announced today about specific interoperability requirements the company must implement over the coming months.

Apple said “Today’s decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple’s ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don’t have to play by the same rules. It’s bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users”.

Update: Apple has responded to the EU’s announcement with a statement provided to 9to5Mac, that strongly opposes the decision.

The EU has followed up on its Digital Markets Act specification procedures for Apple regarding the iPhone’s interoperability with third-party connected devices like smartwatches and headphones, as announced last fall.

Today’s announcement details exactly what third-party integrations the EU commission expects Apple to implement. This includes giving third-party devices access to iOS notifications, as well as way for companies to make like-for-like competitors to AirDrop file sharing, AirPlay streaming, and much more.

In collaboration with the GSM Association, Apple today announced it will add support for end-to-end encryption for RCS messages. This brings RCS much closer to iMessage in terms of security standards.

The new RCS Universal Profile 3.0 including end-to-encryption was only just released today, so it’s not clear exactly when this support will ship to customers. Apple said it helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-encryption to the RCS Universal Profile …