Apple

• A federal judge partially denied Apple's request to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit concerning Apple Pay's alleged antitrust behavior, initiated by three credit unions.
• The credit unions claim Apple violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by charging excessive processing fees and excluding other digital wallets from accessing its NFC-scanning hardware.
• The judge acknowledged that iOS tap-to-pay, via Apple Pay, constitutes a distinct market due to its convenience compared to other payment methods like QR code apps.
• Lawyers argued that Apple Pay is "unlawfully tied" to Apple's devices, though the judge found this claim unconvincing as Apple Pay is free and not forced upon users.
• The judge agreed with the accusation of "arbitrary and inflated fees" for payment processing, and identified a lack of competition in the iOS digital payments market as detrimental to consumers.
• This case follows a preliminary 2022 EU ruling deeming Apple Pay anticompetitive due to Apple's exclusive use of the iPhone's NFC reader, with a court meeting scheduled for December 1 to further address the lawsuit.

CrossOver 23.5 has been released for macOS, Linux and Chrome OS.

This release offers an alternate way to run DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games through CrossOver, using components from the Apple game porting toolkit. It can be enabled by toggling on “D3DMetal” in the right bottle sidebar.

The new D3DMetal option improves quality, compatibility, and performance for many games on Macs with the M1 chip or later, including Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077, Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, Mortal Kombat 1, Deep Rock Galactic, Satisfactory, Monster Hunter Rise, God of War and Batman Arkham Knight.

• Apple has been the leading buyer of AI startups since 2017, acquiring 21 companies, nearly double the number purchased by Microsoft and Meta.
• While other Big Tech companies like Google and Microsoft are vocal about their AI investments, Apple remains relatively quiet, choosing to announce things as they come to market.
• The startups Apple has acquired focus on areas like self-driving technology, voice design, music generation, and image recognition.
• This acquisition strategy contrasts with companies like Microsoft and Google, who are more cautious with acquisitions due to antitrust scrutiny and instead opt for partnerships with startups.
• Apple's AI investments have contributed to new iPhone features such as personal voice and real-time voicemail transcription.

• Beijing has imposed restrictions on iPhone use among its government staff, causing Apple's stock to drop by more than 3%.
• The move exacerbates already high tensions between the U.S. and China, affecting U.S. tech companies with significant exposure to the Chinese market.
• U.S. lawmakers from both major parties express national security concerns and urge a tougher stance against Beijing.
• Apple suppliers like Qualcomm and Broadcom also experience stock declines, leading losses among major tech firms.
• The restrictions indicate that even companies with good relations with China are not immune to geopolitical tensions.
• Despite U.S. sanctions on Huawei, Apple faces competitive pressure in China, where it earns nearly a fifth of its revenue.

9to5Mac sources are corroborating an unlikely-sounding claim: that there will be no official Apple leather cases for this year’s iPhone 15 lineup.

iPhone 15 is almost here, and one of the biggest changes expected is the replacement of the Lightning connector with USB-C. We’ve heard before that at least some of the new models will support faster charging speeds, and now we have another source to corroborate that information. According to people familiar with the matter, iPhone 15 is rumored to support charging with up to 35W.