By John Moltz
May 9, 2025 2:00 PM PT
This Week in Apple: An unappealing appeal
Apple appeals the ruling against it, Eddy Cue testifies, and Apple puts the iPhone release schedule on shuffle.
This whole court is out of order!
As was foretold in prophecy (the kind of prophecy where Apple just tells us it’s going to do something), Apple has officially appealed U.S. District Court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling against its anti-steering policy. After taking the weekend to slam the door to its room, sob into its pillow, and draw buck teeth and acne on pictures of Judge Gonzalez Rogers, Apple came to work on Monday with its game face back on.
“Apple just appealed the court ruling that forced big App Store change”
If you are an Apple pundit, please consider that there might be enough time to go get a law degree and then come back and talk about this case with some level of actual expertise.
I do not have a law degree but I do have a degree in Apple (disclaimer: not an actual degree — I checked, it’s not even an online degree) and this appeal seem ill-advised from a PR perspective at the very least.
Apple additionally filed an emergency motion on Wednesday seeking to stop Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling from taking effect until we all just take a big breath, calm down, and let other, cooler, and more company-friendly judges uh, you know, overrule her.
Meanwhile, in an act of performative legislation, Representative Kat Cammack (R-Epic) introduced “the App Store Freedom Act” (nailed it) that would force app store operators (COUGH APPLE COUGH) to allow users to install third-party stores. While this legislation is unlikely to go anywhere, it does seem like the writing is on the wall for Apple’s continued efforts to stonewall App Store reform.
Piling on to Apple’s woes here is a new class action suit against the company, brought by developers seeking damages due to Apple’s insistence it be paid 27% of any revenue garnered from linking to payment options outside the App Store. The argument goes that no one bothered because the 27% was a poison pill, making it not worth the trouble.
What, people don’t work for 3% anymore? The younger generation, I tell you what…
Say what?
Get set to turn in your iPhones, as a prominent Apple executive declares they’re going out of style just like all those slim fit jeans I own.
Seriously, I just can’t do the ‘90s styles again. I can’t and I won’t.
“Apple SVP Eddy Cue says ‘you may not need’ iPhone by 2035”
OK, sure, 10 years is a long time. Think back to 10 years ago. Think about how happy you were. Now look at everything. Ugh. Just gross.
A lot can happen in 10 years.
The iPhone’s life cycle has already lasted considerably longer than that of the iPod, which has gone the way of the dodo, by which I mean the Zune. Still, “may” seems to be doing a lot of work in that sentence. Work that seems wholly for the benefit of Apple as Cue tries to spin that the company’s deal with Google is no big deal. Even though it is a deal for billions and billions of dollars, so literally a big deal.
Cue implies that AI may end up changing things so substantially that people no longer need iPhones. Personally, I’m waiting for a technology that means we no longer need pants because these fashion changes are killing me.
Foldable rumors in-creasing in intensity
Despite Cue’s testimony, the iPhone remains a product very much in Apple’s lineup, even if it is set to go through some big changes in the coming years.
“Apple Plans Split iPhone Launch Strategy: Pro and Foldable in Fall 2026, Standard in Spring 2027”
Yes, us cheapskates are going to have to wait an additional six months to get new phones next year. The company stopped short of forcing us all to wear a scarlet letter.
But what’s this business about a foldable? According to rumors, Apple has tapped Samsung to make foldable screen thinner and with less creasing than any foldable to date, including those sold by Samsung itself.
That’s awkward. But don’t feel bad, Samsung, it could be worse. You could be trying to make a living as an App Store developer.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]