Apple achieves record revenue in John Ternus’s first results, the wait for the iPhone Duo reaches 89 days, Samsung mocks its cracked screen, an iPhone jailbreak bypasses Lockdown Mode and persists after updates, Apple puts its employees on an AI budget, a home robot from Apple with a 360-degree rotating screen, a $6.3 billion theft from Binance started with a fake Mac tool, Anthropic reaches $17 billion in a single quarter, and other exciting news on the sidelines…
Apple achieves record revenue in Ternus’s first results
On November 2, Apple announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, with revenue of $114.5 billion, a 12% increase over last year, a net profit of $30.7 billion, and earnings per share of $2.10. This is the highest figure for a September quarter in the company’s history, while Services achieved an absolute record of $31.6 billion.
iPhone sales reached $57.6 billion, a growth of 17%, and Mac sales reached $10.8 billion, a growth of 24%. In contrast, iPad sales declined by 10% to $6.2 billion, and Wearables and Home declined by 8% to $8.3 billion. Sales in Greater China grew by 21%, and total fiscal year revenue reached a record $478.8 billion.
These are the first results announced by John Ternus as CEO since taking office on September 1, succeeding Tim Cook. Apple expects revenue growth in the holiday quarter to be between 7% and 10%, with profit margins declining to 45-46% due to rising memory prices. It also announced a deal with the Department of Education in the Philippines to supply 170,000 MacBook Neo devices.
Five new Apple devices arrive tomorrow
On Friday, November 6, Apple will begin selling five new devices after opening pre-orders last week: an iPad mini with an OLED screen and A20 Pro processor starting at $699, an iMac with an M6 processor starting at $1,499, and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M6 processor starting at $1,999.
The stars of the show are the 14-inch MacBook Pro with a touch-enabled OLED screen starting at $2,899 and the 16-inch version starting at $3,399, which are the first touch-enabled MacBooks in Apple’s history. Most models arrive on launch day, but the base 14-inch touch model in Space Black is delayed by 3 to 4 weeks.
iPhone Duo: 89-day wait and bots snatching stock
Getting an iPhone Duo remains difficult. According to UBS data, the average wait time is 89 days across more than 30 regions, despite a 7-day decrease from the previous week. Apple officials said in the earnings call that the device is "currently supply-constrained," and they cannot predict when supply will balance with demand.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple initially intended to launch the Duo in November in the US and China only, but launched it on October 23 in over 70 countries without sufficient stock. He added that bots used by scalpers snatch any stock available for in-store pickup within seconds. The device starts at $1,999.
Apple alerts its stores to iPhone Duo internal screen cracking
Apple sent an internal memo to its stores and authorized service centers explaining how to inspect for internal screen cracking in the iPhone Duo, requesting that affected devices be repaired or replaced according to standard procedures. The memo states that only a small number of devices are affected, and there is no recall or general repair program.
Apple acknowledged the issue on October 26, stating in the earnings call that a "very small percentage" of devices were returned due to the screen. An iFixit teardown on October 25 pointed to a potential hinge defect, but this remains unconfirmed.
Samsung mocks the Duo screen, and Fold 8 sales rise
Samsung exploited the cracking crisis in an advertising campaign on Instagram in Canada, Malaysia, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. Among its slogans are "Folding is not new to us" and "Switch to Galaxy Z Fold8." In the Saudi ad, a crack appears on the Fold 8 screen, which turns out to be just a wallpaper.
In Korea, sales of the Galaxy Z Fold8 rose by more than 20% in the week of October 23-29 according to the Korea Herald, with a price of 2.28 million won compared to 3.29 million won for the Duo. However, the newspaper stated there is no confirmed evidence that Apple’s issues are the cause, as telecom companies increased their subsidies for the Samsung device during the same period.
iPhone 18 Pro jailbreak bypasses Lockdown Mode and persists after update
The ethical hacking team Calif published a video on November 3 showing a jailbroken iPhone 18 Pro despite having Lockdown Mode enabled. Even more strangely, the jailbreak persisted after updating the device to iOS 27.2. The attack begins with a malicious PDF file sent via AirDrop that the user accepts.
The team wrote: "Lockdown Mode helps, until it stops helping." They confirmed they are reporting the vulnerabilities to Apple and will not release a public jailbreak tool. This is the same team that jailbroke the iPhone Duo on its launch day.
Apple warns users in 99 countries about spyware
Apple sent a new wave of threat notifications to users in 99 countries, warning them that they may have been targeted by mercenary spyware, which are high-cost attacks usually targeting specific individuals. Apple does not identify the attacker and does not confirm that the devices have been compromised.
In Germany, the Federal Office for Information Security stated that members of parliament and prominent figures received the alerts and were asked to assume their devices might have been compromised. Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Berlin takes the matter "very seriously" and refused to say if Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among those targeted.
Apple puts its employees on an AI budget
Bloomberg reported that in October, Apple reduced the budget for some of its engineers to use AI tools from $300 to $200 per day, and it may drop to $100. For non-engineering departments, the limit is often $100 per day, and for some teams, it may be as low as $25.
Apple provides its employees with access to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and others, and is asking some teams to switch to cheaper models or to on-device AI. The move comes as the company employs external consultants to review productivity in the Ternus era, as he seeks to reduce administrative bloat.
Siri AI more advanced in iOS 27.3
On November 3, Apple released the first beta of iOS 27.3, in which Siri AI can perform more complex tasks within 15 apps, including Mail, Calendar, Files, Photos, and Safari. For example, it can unsubscribe from mailing lists, undo a message just sent, close duplicate tabs, and delete files you haven’t opened in a while.
Siri AI also supports new languages: Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Norwegian. Apple has allowed any developer to link their app to Siri AI via App Intents, with new "skills" that combine multiple actions into a single experience.
Apple Intelligence arrives in China with Alibaba model
Apple announced the arrival of Apple Intelligence features to users in China, more than two years after their launch in the US, in collaboration with Alibaba, whose Qwen model powers parts of Siri, writing tools, and visual intelligence. Testing began with the developer beta on November 4, with a public launch in December alongside iOS 27.3.
Features include real-time translation in Messages, FaceTime, Phone, and via AirPods, writing tools, the Clean Up tool in Photos, Genmoji, and summaries for Mail and notifications. However, Siri AI and WWDC 2026 features are not available there, and the features work on iPhone 15 Pro and later.
Apps can now try to stop you from unsubscribing
On November 4, Apple announced a "retention messages" feature for developers, which are messages that appear to a subscriber when they attempt to cancel an auto-renewing subscription, and may contain text, images, or a special offer. Developers set this up from App Store Connect, defining who sees it and the duration between messages.
Apple also launched an API that allows developers to choose the appropriate message for each subscriber based on their subscription details, and access it upon request. This means you may soon see a discount offer before you complete the cancellation.
Three new iPads in the first half of 2027
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg said that Apple plans to launch an iPad Air, an iPad Pro, and a standard iPad in the first half of 2027. The iPad Air will get an OLED screen for the first time, and it is likely to move to an M5 processor.
The standard iPad will get an A19 processor and 8GB of RAM, enabling Apple Intelligence, along with N1 and C1X chips, marking its first update since early 2025. The iPad Pro will get a vapor chamber cooling system and an M6 processor. This is all information from Gurman that has not been confirmed by Apple.
Apple expects 16 million MacBook Neo units in 2027
Apple has informed its suppliers that it expects to ship 16 million MacBook Neo devices in 2027, double the approximately 8 million units expected in 2026. Mark Gurman says the second generation of the device is coming in early 2027.
The MacBook Neo was released in March 2026 with a price of $599 and an A18 Pro processor, and it recorded the best sales week among first-time Mac buyers. The specifications and price of the new generation are not yet clear.
A home robot from Apple with a 360-degree rotating screen?
Apple is working on a device described as HomeView Ultra, which is a 9-inch screen on a robotic arm that rotates 360 degrees according to Mark Gurman, with a design similar to the iMac G4 or the famous Pixar lamp. The device is supposed to be aware of its surroundings and act on its own, such as turning on lights or telling the cat to get off the table.
The report says the hardware has been nearly ready for about two years, but there are internal disagreements over software features in the first generation. The target date is 2027 with a price of about $1,000, and it may be delayed to 2028. Apple has also experimented with a wheeled robot, a flying one for inside the home, and a third for folding clothes. All of these are reports that Apple has not confirmed.
Memory suppliers take revenge on Apple
The Wall Street Journal published a report stating that flash memory suppliers who suffered for years from Apple’s pressure are now "taking their revenge" due to the memory shortage caused by the AI data center boom. Two years ago, Apple was buying about twice as much as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google combined; now, these companies are buying double Apple’s share.
Despite this, Apple still profits significantly from storage upgrades. According to the newspaper, upgrading an iPhone 18 Pro to 1TB costs $600, while its direct cost to Apple is estimated at $192. SK Hynix says the shortage will continue until 2030.
Supreme Court sets date for Apple’s appeal in Epic case
The US Supreme Court has set January 11, 2027, as the date for oral arguments in Apple’s appeal against the contempt of court ruling in its case with Epic Games. Epic must submit its response by November 13, and Apple must comment by December 14.
The court is considering one question: Can Apple be considered in violation because it breached the "spirit" of the court order? Apple had imposed a commission of up to 27% on purchases via external links, for which it was found in contempt in April 2025. The US Department of Justice supported part of Apple’s arguments.
Russia puts Apple on government surveillance registry
The Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor has added Apple and Microsoft to the "information dissemination organizers" registry. This requires them to store messages, including audio and video, for security services, and to keep user identity data and transmission logs for 3 years, otherwise they face fines and restrictions on their services.
The registry already includes WhatsApp, Telegram, and Snapchat, and Google was added in January. Russia blocked FaceTime in December 2025, while Apple has stopped its sales there since March 2022.
Leaks: iPhone 18 with a larger battery and higher price
The leaker Digital Chat Station said on Weibo that the standard iPhone 18 will get a battery larger than the 3,692 mAh in the iPhone 17, with a 6.3-inch 120Hz screen, a 2nm A20 processor, and a 48MP dual rear camera, and its price may increase. It is expected to launch in the first half of 2027 alongside the iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2.
As for the iPhone 18e, the leaker Fixed Focus Digital said the only confirmed upgrade is the new processor. Digital Chat Station also said that next year’s 20th-anniversary iPhone will retain a cutout in the screen, meaning the Dynamic Island is here to stay. All of these are unconfirmed rumors.
$6.3 billion theft started with a fake tool on Mac?
Binance stated that its losses in the hack that began on October 29 reached about $6.34 billion, of which about $2.85 billion was frozen. TRM Labs estimates it at $6.36 billion, about four times the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025, and attributes it to the North Korean TraderTraitor group.
The attack chain began in June with a modified version of a Homebrew tool, then a "task" during a fake job interview in September, then a hack of an internal AI tool on October 20. The 9to5Mac writer suggests the beginning was on a Mac, because the software targeted the Homebrew path specific to Apple processors, but Binance did not explicitly mention the Mac. The platform announced that it had compensated 98% of the affected assets.
Anthropic reaches $17 billion in a single quarter
Anthropic, the developer of Claude, revealed in an amended version of its S-1 public offering filing that its revenue in the third quarter reached $17 billion, compared to $11.6 billion in the second quarter and $1.4 billion a year ago. However, it recorded a net loss of $23.3 billion, mostly due to the accounting treatment of convertible bonds.
Notably, the filing warns that the company "may very soon reach" the definition of its responsible scaling policy for the stage of AI that accelerates its own development, while confirming that it has not classified any of its current models as having crossed this threshold.
ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion weekly users
Adam Fry, head of ChatGPT consumer product, said at a dinner organized by OpenAI in New York on November 2 that the number of weekly ChatGPT users rose from 1 billion to 1.2 billion in about 60 days. He added that the search volume in it is equivalent to "about one-fifth" of Google’s search volume, noting that OpenAI counts any query that requires a web search.
Users generate 1.5 billion images per week, and 250 million people use the voice mode every week. OpenAI also announced the integration of the Chat and Work tabs in ChatGPT, with Codex remaining a separate experiment that shares the same usage limits.
Google bans Chinese company that planted a backdoor in 1.3 million devices
Google’s Threat Intelligence group announced the dismantling of the XCPE botnet, which included more than 1.3 million TV boxes running Android, and expects that shutting down its servers will disconnect at least 10 million other compromised devices. The botnet has been active since at least late 2024.
Google says it believes with high confidence that the Chinese manufacturer Videostrong built the backdoor intentionally and sold access to it to criminals, so it has banned it from certified Android devices and from pre-installing Google apps. The Japanese National Police and security firms including Lumen and HUMAN participated in the operation.
Meta acquires Conductor for AI programming
Meta has acquired the startup Conductor, which allows running multiple AI programming agents from Anthropic, OpenAI, and others simultaneously, without disclosing the deal value. Its CEO Charlie Holtz will join Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab to work with Alexander Wang and Nat Friedman.
Conductor stopped new sign-ups on November 4, its cloud service will become read-only on November 13 with refunds, then shut down on November 20, while its local app will stop in early 2027.
Marvell to buy Lumentum for $115 billion
Marvell announced the acquisition of Lumentum, which specializes in optical components for data centers, in an all-stock deal valued at $115 billion, the largest deal in 2026. Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each share, owning about a third of the merged company.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2028. The market was not impressed, as Lumentum shares fell 18.6% and Marvell shares 12.7%. Marvell CEO Matt Murphy says the merged company serves a $550 billion market.
Samsung smart glasses may arrive in December
The Korean site ChosunBiz reported that Samsung will launch its smart glasses with Android XR in mid-December in the US and South Korea, before Christmas. They will come with designs from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, all with front-facing cameras, and will be powered by the Gemini assistant.
The price has not been announced yet, but Samsung said in July that it would be "reasonable within the premium category." The company describes the glasses as an extension of the phone experience, not a device that replaces it. The date is still a press report that Samsung has not confirmed.
Miscellaneous News
◉ Apple spent about $45.77 billion on research and development in fiscal year 2026, an increase of $11.22 billion (32%) over the previous year, or about $125 million per day. The company now spends about one dollar on R&D for every 10 dollars of revenue.
◉ Apple acquired the Californian company Ascend.io, which specializes in data engineering automation with AI agents; the deal appeared in a European Commission notice on October 30. The price was not disclosed, and the company’s website announced it is ceasing operations after ten years of work.
◉ Some Apple Watch users faced a glitch after the daylight saving time change, where the watch shows a one-hour difference in always-on display mode only when the wrist is lowered. Apple said the solution is to change the watch face and then return to it or restart it, and the glitch disappears on its own at midnight and does not affect alarms.
◉ In the same issue, Google’s Nest Hub and Nest thermostat devices showed the wrong time in some Canadian provinces after the time change, causing alarms to ring an hour late and schedules to be disrupted. Google said the issue affects a small number of devices and it is working on a fix.
◉ Apple revealed that the battery of the new iPad mini has a capacity of 18.9 watt-hours (4,900 mAh), slightly less than the 19.3 watt-hours in the previous generation, but battery life estimates have not changed. The device is 15% thinner and lighter, and comes with an 8.5-inch OLED screen.
◉ The HomeView device arrives on November 13 for $299, carrying a six-month-old system (version 26.5), and requests an update to 27.2 during setup. The leaker @itspdfu revealed texts in its settings indicating it could function as a HomeKit security camera with four modes, which Apple has not announced.
◉ Apple launched the Gym Strength beta program in Fitness+, which designs adaptive 4-week strength training plans from over 350 exercises on more than 30 types of equipment. It requires iOS 27.3 and is part of the $9.99/month Fitness+ subscription.
◉ Developer Aaron Perris found a Selfie Sing feature in iOS 27.3 in Apple Music, which records selfie clips in karaoke style to share on TikTok and Instagram. Also, the horizontal lyrics view with the extended animated cover, as in the iPhone Duo, is coming to all iPhones.
◉ iPhone 18 Pro sales in China rose 29% in the first three weeks compared to the iPhone 17 Pro, according to Counterpoint, while they fell 4% in the US and 27% in Japan. Globally, the increase was 3.1%, and the Pro Max version accounts for 56% of the category’s sales.
◉ TrendForce expects Apple to ship about 5 million iPhone Duo units in 2026 with a 24.8% share of the foldable phone market, and for its share to rise to 29.8% in 2027. In contrast, Samsung will decline from 35.1% to 31.9% and Huawei from 24.8% to 21.3%.
◉ Eye Security researchers found that the old Popcorn Time app left a dangerous vulnerability on between 250,000 and 350,000 Macs, because its update tool runs with full privileges over an unencrypted connection. To remove the risk, delete the PT.updd file from the /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools folder and the PT.updd.plist file from /Library/LaunchDaemons.
◉ Mark Gurman said that Apple will likely focus in the high-end MacBook Pro category on touch-enabled versions, and may later abandon the M5 Pro and M5 Max versions with mini-LED screens currently sold for $400 less. He did not specify a date for this.
◉ John Ternus was asked in the earnings call about merging Mac and iPad systems after adding touch and Dynamic Island to the MacBook Pro, and he replied: "We don’t have any fundamental changes planned right now, and we wouldn’t talk about them anyway."
◉ The startup Enough is raising funds on Kickstarter for a small Android phone with a 5.3-inch screen, similar in size to the iPhone 13 mini, with a user-replaceable battery and updates until 2032. It costs $599, and shipping is expected to begin in May 2027.
◉ Carl Pei, founder of Nothing, said the company’s first product "built primarily on AI" will ship next month, and that it is "without a new screen, and it couldn’t have been an app." He has not yet revealed the nature of the device.
◉ Microsoft said that Windows 11 devices with 8GB of RAM have become up to 20% more responsive and up to 40% faster in multitasking with the 26H2 update. Among the improvements is that the Edge browser now puts inactive tabs to sleep after 15 minutes instead of two hours.
◉ Tesla launched a Robotaxi service without a safety monitor in Fort Worth, Texas, on November 2, becoming the seventh city with this service. The service area covers about 143 square miles with Model Y cars.
◉ Sony’s operating profit in the second quarter rose 45% to 622.3 billion yen ($3.95 billion) supported by the Spider-Man film and PlayStation, and it raised its annual forecast by 9%. However, PS5 sales fell to 2.6 million units compared to 4 million a year ago.
◉ The Voyager 1 spacecraft reaches a distance of one full light-day from Earth on November 18, about 25.9 billion kilometers, so its signal takes 24 hours to reach us. It was launched in 1977 and had a design life of only 5 years.
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