The Ivory Solo Buds have been available for about a month through exclusive retail partners in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, but availability has now expanded to Walmart in the United States, where they are priced at $69.00 and are available for delivery within just a few days.
Notably, Walmart is also the retail partner in Canada and the earbuds are still listed with pre-order status and estimated availability of mid-November there even though the listing went live and they were supposed to be available a month ago.
The Drenched Gray Solo4 headphones have also been listed through Walmart in Canada since last month, and availability recently expanded to Walmart in the United States as well. It does not appear that this color will come to retail partners in other countries, and similar to the Solo Buds, the September listing in Canada still shows a pre-order status with mid-November availability, while the U.S. is showing quick delivery times.
Walmart is currently selling the Drenched Gray Solo4 headphones for $129.00, a significant discount from the full Solo4 retail price of $199.95 and even the $149.95 pricing Walmart, Amazon, and select other retailers are currently offering on other colors.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart and Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
OpenAI today introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a dedicated AI browser that includes ChatGPT integration. OpenAI says that the browser was designed around the question "What if you could chat with your web browser?"
There is a dedicated "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar, allowing users to ask the chatbot questions directly from the browser without having to go to the ChatGPT website or app. ChatGPT will be able to do things like provide page summaries, compare products, answer questions about content on a website, edit and check code, and more, because it can see what the user is looking at. Browser memory is included for personalization purposes, and Atlas will learn more about the user over time.
For searches, the browser opens with a ChatGPT-based response, but there are quick access tabs to get to traditional search results, images, and other options. The ChatGPT sidebar is meant to stay open while browsing takes place, providing a browsing companion.
The new browser includes OpenAI's Operator AI agent that can take actions and complete web-based tasks like booking restaurant reservations, ordering groceries, creating purchase lists from online recipes, and filling out online forms. There is a "Cursor Chat" tool for editing writing inline in the browser.
All of the standard browser features are also included, like tabs, bookmarks, history, and password integration. The design is simple and familiar, featuring a standard search window like Safari or Chrome.
ChatGPT Atlas is launching on the Mac to begin with, and versions for iOS, Android, and Windows will be coming in the near future.
OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser will compete with Apple's Safari browser and Google's Chrome browser. Safari does not have AI integration as of yet, but Chrome does. With OpenAI, Google, and also Perplexity offering AI browsers, Apple may need to integrate Siri and other AI tools into Safari in the future to keep up with the competition.
ChatGPT Atlas is available on macOS starting today, but agent mode is only available to Plus and Pro users at the current time.
Nomad today announced the launch of its latest Apple Watch accessory, the Stratos Band. Priced at $179, the Stratos Band is a titanium and FKM hybrid band that combines the benefits of titanium with the comfort of fluoroelastomer.
The band has outer links made from metal injection molded Grade 4 titanium, with compression molded FKM on the interior. The FKM is used to link the titanium pieces together, providing flexibility that's not available with traditional metal bands. The FKM material peeks through the rounded titanium links, adding visual interest, plus it offers space for ventilation to help with moisture evaporation and breathability.
Nomad's Stratos Band is available in silver or carbide (black) titanium options, with black, volt, or ultra orange FKM inside. A custom magnetic clasp keeps the band secure on the wrist, and there is an included tool and two half-sized links to adjust the length for a custom fit.
While the band is designed for the Apple Watch Ultra models, it is also compatible with all other Apple Watch models, including those dating back to the original Apple Watch.
Apple's newly introduced M5 chip takes Apple silicon to the next level, delivering meaningful gains across CPU, GPU, and AI workloads, but how does it compare to the M4?
Compared to the M4 chip that Apple launched in May 2024, the M5 delivers:
Up to 15% faster multithreaded CPU performance
Up to 30% faster overall graphics performance
Up to 45% faster ray tracing performance
27.5% higher unified memory bandwidth
In addition to general performance claims, Apple published a set of specific real-world workload results showing measurable gains in AI-driven applications:
4×+ peak GPU compute performance for AI
3.6× faster time to first token (LLM)
1.8× faster Topaz Video Enhance AI processing
1.7× faster Blender ray-traced rendering
2.9× faster AI speech enhancement in Premiere Pro
With the M5, Apple is heavily emphasizing an AI-centric design. The company says the new GPU architecture includes a dedicated Neural Accelerator within every GPU core, and that the chip delivers more than six times the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to the M1. Apple also cites improvements to the Neural Engine, memory bandwidth, and developer-facing APIs to support on-device AI models. Other hardware changes compared to the M4 include:
M4 Chip
M5 Chip
Made with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process (N3E)
Made TSMC's third-generation 3nm process (N3P)
No integrated Neural Accelerators
Integrated Neural Accelerator in every GPU core
Metal 3 developer APIs
Metal 4 developer APIs with Tensor APIs to program GPU Neural Accelerators
Second-generation ray tracing engine
Third-generation ray tracing engine
First-generation dynamic caching
Second-generation dynamic caching
Shader cores
Enhanced shader cores
120 GB/s unified memory bandwidth
153 GB/s unified memory bandwidth
Support for up to 2TB storage
Support for up to 4TB storage
For users whose workloads include on-device AI inference, complex 3D rendering, or other GPU-bound or memory-intensive tasks, the jump from M4 to M5 is material. The combination of per-core Neural Accelerators, higher memory bandwidth, and new GPU architecture produces multi-fold speed-ups in certain AI operations. In environments where time-to-result directly affects workflow, such as local LLMs, diffusion models, video enhancement, or ray-traced production or gaming, the M5 represents a meaningful step-change rather than a minor iteration.
By contrast, for typical day-to-day usage, browsing, office work, media playback, basic editing, and general responsiveness, the difference is unlikely to be perceptible. The M4 was already a high-performance chip that routinely exceeded the demands of normal Mac and iPad workloads, leaving little visible headroom to exploit with the M5. In non-specialist scenarios, devices equipped with the M4 remain effectively indistinguishable in experience from those running with an M5.
As a result, average users should not be dissuaded from buying or keeping an M4 machine. That being said, if you plan to keep your device for many years, M5 devices will be more future-proof and better equipped to handle increasingly popular AI-based utilities.
The M5 chip is currently available only in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the latest iPad Pro, and the Apple Vision Pro. Higher-end M5 Pro and M5 Max variants are expected to follow in future Mac models.
The first reviews of the iPad Pro with the M5 chip have been shared by selected publications and YouTube channels, ahead of the device launching this Wednesday.
The new iPad Pro has up to a 15% faster CPU, and up to a 35% faster GPU, compared to the previous generation. Models with 256GB and 512GB of storage have a 9-core CPU, while 1TB and 2TB configurations have a full 10-core CPU.
If you're coming from, say, an M1-powered iPad Pro, you'll notice the performance improvement right away. Things that used to load and buffer now just render and save almost instantly. The leap from the M4, though, will only really appear if you're moving huge amounts of video or 3D renderings through the machine. For all but the most aggressive, creative-professional workflows, the M4 was and is more than enough processor.
Here are six other upgrades beyond a faster processor:
An increased 12GB of RAM for models with 256GB or 512GB of storage. 1TB and 2TB configurations still have 16GB of RAM.
Apple's custom N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. However, the chip only supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the standard's 320 MHz maximum. Apple says the chip also improves the overall performance and reliability of features like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.
Apple's custom C1X chip for cellular configurations. With this modem, Apple says the new iPad Pro achieves up to 50% faster cellular data performance than its predecessor, and power efficiency is also improved.
Apple says the new iPad Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD read and write speeds compared to the previous generation.
The new iPad Pro can drive external displays at up to a 120Hz refresh rate, and Adaptive Sync is now supported, resulting in smoother scrolling and gameplay with lower latency on the external display.
The new iPad Pro supports fast charging. Apple says up to a 50% charge can be reached in around 30 minutes for the 11-inch model, and in around 35 minutes for the 13-inch model. Apple has not shared similar figures for previous iPad Pro models, so it is unclear how much of an improvement this is.
As for the C1X chip, Snell said he saw slightly slower 5G download speeds on the AT&T network in the U.S., but significantly faster upload speeds:
I did my testing across two days on AT&T's 5G network, and while speeds were all over the place, on average, the M5 iPad Pro was a little slower at download and a whole lot faster at upload. Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on your carrier and geography. It's certainly a viable chip, and that 6.8× improvement in upstream speed was especially surprising.
I own a 27" 4K OLED monitor that refreshes at 240Hz and is G-Sync compatible, so I was keen to see if this change would be supported (a) on non-Apple displays and (b) with USB-C cables instead of Thunderbolt ones. […]
As soon as I connected the iPad Pro to my ASUS monitor, the resolution stayed at 4K, and the refresh rate was immediately bumped to 120Hz, resulting in faster and smoother animations out of the box with my existing USB4-certified cable. This is an excellent change; when I connect the M5 iPad Pro to my desk setup, I no longer have to sacrifice the quality of the iPad’s internal ProMotion display, and I can enjoy the same, smooth iPadOS animations on the ASUS monitor as well.
Viticci on fast charging:
I tested fast charging with this 160W UGreen power adapter and a 100W-certified USB4 cable, and I could indeed charge up to 50% in 30 minutes with the iPad’s display turned off on the Lock Screen.
While multiple reviews confirmed the new iPad Pro uses the latest PCIe 5.0 storage technology, we could not find any that tested SSD speeds.
With Halloween just around the corner, Best Buy this week is detailing its sale plans for the holiday, as well as the rest of the year. This includes a special event on Friday, October 31, and the usual month-long discounts leading up to Black Friday on Friday, November 28.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Best Buy will kick off its holiday sales with "DoorBOOsters" on Halloween day, with additional doorbusters dropping on select tech products every Friday of the holiday season. My Best Buy Plus and Total members can expect to get up to $25 in bonus rewards on select doorbusters this season as well.
Afterwards, Best Buy's Black Friday sale will officially start on Thursday, November 20 and run through Saturday, November 29. Cyber Monday deals will then appear on Sunday, November 30 and run through Monday, December 1. There will also be a week of last-minute savings from December 15 through December 24.
Deals Available Now
Ahead of these events, there are also a few notable discounts happening at Best Buy this week, including great deals on TVs, Apple products, and more. This event is available to all customers and doesn't require a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership.
If you're shopping for the M5 iPad Pro and you're a My Best Buy Plus or Total member, you can get $50 off the new tablet at Best Buy this week. The retailer also has special trade-in offers on the M5 14-inch MacBook Pro, with Plus/Total members getting an extra 10 percent trade-in value.
If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find as we head into the holidays? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Apple today opened its broadest legal attack yet on the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), telling the EU's second-highest court that the new competition regime unlawfully compels changes to the iPhone, the App Store, and iMessage (via Bloomberg).
Apple's arguments were delivered by before the General Court in Luxembourg. The company claims that the DMA, which came into effect in 2023, imposes obligations that are incompatible with protections of security, privacy, and property rights under EU law. Apple told the court that the law places "hugely onerous and intrusive burdens" on designated gatekeepers, which include Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance, and Booking. Apple is the first U.S. company to mount a full-scale merits challenge to the framework after TikTok's earlier defeat.
The DMA requires big tech companies like Apple to make core services interoperable with rivals and to loosen business model restrictions, with the aim of preventing firms from leveraging dominance in one market to entrench power in another. In its filing, Apple contests three designations or decisions linked to that law.
Firstly, it challenges obligations that would require iPhone hardware and services to interoperate with competing devices such as earbuds or smartwatches. Apple argues that mandated interoperability with unknown or unvetted hardware classes could undermine user security safeguards, violate intellectual property protections, and diminish privacy controls that are central to iOS's security architecture.
Secondly, Apple disputes the inclusion of the App Store as a covered service under the DMA. EU regulators previously found that Apple's control over app distribution confers structural gatekeeper power, and in April they issued a €500 million fine for violating anti-steering provisions relating to purchases outside Apple's system. Apple is challenging both the designation and the penalty in separate cases. The company says that the App Store should not be treated as a single unified service for the purposes of the DMA and therefore should fall outside the statute's scope.
Thirdly, Apple challenges the Commission's move to probe whether iMessage should have been deemed a covered service. The Commission ultimately decided not to subject iMessage to full DMA obligations because the service does not directly produce revenue for Apple. Apple maintains that initiating that inquiry was itself procedurally improper.
Commission lawyer Paul-John Loewenthal argued that Apple has constructed an exclusionary position by maintaining unilateral control over the iPhone platform. He told judges that Apple's "absolute control" allows it to extract "supernormal profits in complimentary markets where its competitors are handicapped," adding:
Only Apple has the keys to that walled garden. It decides who gets it and who can offer their products and services to iPhone users. And through such control, Apple has locked in more than a third of European smartphone users.
Apple's latest case marks the first time the company has asked EU judges to limit the legal reach of the DMA before the law is fully implemented at scale across its ecosystem. A final ruling could determine the extent to which the EU may compel Apple to unlock technical layers of the iPhone, restructure App Store rules, or subject iMessage to regulatory requirements.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Samsung is holding a Galaxy Event tomorrow, where the company will unveil its long-awaited "Project Moohan" mixed reality headset that will compete with the Apple Vision Pro. Samsung says that it is "ushering in a new era" with its upcoming "AI-native devices."
Samsung already showed off the Project Moohan AR/VR headset back in January, and it looks a lot like the Vision Pro. It has a display that resembles a set of ski goggles, just like the Vision Pro, and a soft, fabric seal that fits against the face. There's a single padded strap that has a knob at the back for adjusting fit. As with the Vision Pro, Samsung's headset uses an external battery that's meant to be carried in a pocket.
We don't know full details on Project Moohan yet like how heavy it is, the display resolution, or what it will cost, but Samsung has described it as "lightweight" and "ergonomically optimized" for "maximum comfort."
The headset will run Android XR, a new operating system that Samsung co-created alongside Google and Qualcomm. Android XR was designed for extended reality headsets and smart glasses, and it is Google's equivalent of visionOS.
With Android XR, Samsung headset users will be able to immerse themselves in a virtual environment or use the cameras to stay present in the real world, similar to how Apple lets users adjust the Vision Pro immersion level.
Samsung's headset will have more AI features than the Vision Pro because it will support Gemini for accessing device controls and providing insight into what the wearer is seeing. YouTube will be available to watch on a "virtual big screen," Google Maps will offer an immersive view, Chrome will offer multiple virtual screens for multitasking, and Google Photos will support 3D images.
Samsung plans to hold an event to announce the headset tomorrow night, and it will kick off at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time or 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Sora, OpenAI's AI video app, will no longer allow users to create videos featuring celebrity likenesses or voices.
OpenAI, SAG-AFTRA, actor Bryan Cranston, United Talent Agency, Creative Artists Agency, and Association of Talent Agents today shared a joint statement about "productive collaboration" to ensure voice and likeness protections in content generated with Sora 2 and the Sora app.
Cranston raised concerns about Sora after users were able to create deepfakes that featured his likeness without consent or compensation. Families of Robin Williams, George Carlin, and Martin Luther King Jr. also complained to OpenAI about the Sora app.
OpenAI has an "opt-in" policy for the use of a living person's voice and likeness, but Sora users were able to create videos of Cranston even though he had not permitted his likeness to be used. To fix the issue, OpenAI has strengthened guardrails around the replication of voice and likeness without express consent.
Artists, performers, and individuals are meant to have the right to determine how and whether they can be simulated with Sora. Along with the new guardrails, OpenAI has also agreed to respond "expeditiously" to any received complaints going forward.
OpenAI first tweaked Sora late last week to respond to complaints from the family of Martin Luther King Jr., and the company said that it would strengthen guardrails for historical figures. OpenAI said there are "strong free speech interests" in depicting deceased historical and public figures, but authorized representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used on Sora cameos.
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then choose "Tinted." The Tinted option increases the opacity of Liquid Glass UI elements and improves contrast, while the Clear option is the standard Liquid Glass look.
Apple's new option looks different in both light and dark mode, increasing opacity in color consistent with each option. It works for Lock Screen notifications and within apps to make menu and navigation bars less transparent, but there is little to no change with other parts of the OS like Control Center, the App Library, and app icons and widgets on the Home Screen.
iOS 26.1 beta 4 is available to developers and public beta testers at the current time. We're expecting iOS 26.1 to be released later in October, and that's when everyone will have access to the new settings.
Apple today provided public beta testers with the fourth releases of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1 and watchOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. Apple seeded the betas to developers earlier today.
After signing up for beta testing on Apple's beta site, public beta testers can download the updates using the Software Update section in the Settings app on each device.
iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 expand Apple Intelligence to new languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese.
AirPods Live Translation is also available in Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (both Mandarin Traditional and Simplified) in iOS 26.
Kohler is expanding its line of bathroom products with Dekoda, an iPhone-connected device that's designed to be attached to a toilet rim (via The Verge). The device's included "sensors" point into the toilet bowl, allowing it to analyze what goes on in the bathroom.
According to Kohler, Dekoda is a health tracker that can monitor gut health and hydration, as well as detect the presence of blood in the toilet.
The website for the product is careful not to say that the product is essentially a camera that's peering into the toilet, instead referencing unspecified "powerful sensors" that analyze the contents of the toilet. According to the website, the sensors "see down into your toilet and nowhere else."
Kohler says that it uses advanced optical sensors and spectroscopy to observe how light interacts with waste, then it analyzes the data using machine learning algorithms to provide health insights. Data is protected with end-to-end encryption and fingerprint authentication. There is a separate Bluetooth fingerprint scanner that can be attached to a wall near the toilet to prevent the Dekoda from scanning the waste of guests, though it is optional.
Dekoda is the first product in a new Kohler Health line, and it requires a membership to use. Kohler Health is priced at $6.99 monthly for a single person, or $12.99 monthly for up to five family members. There are also yearly memberships priced at $70 and $130, respectively.
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below.
Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle
Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness, there's a new option to switch between Clear or Tinted settings.
Clear is more transparent and is the standard version of Liquid Glass that displays the background underneath buttons, menu bars, and other interface elements, while Tinted increases the opacity of Liquid Glass and adds contrast.
Lock Screen Camera Swipe
In the Camera section of the Settings app, there's a Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera setting, and turning it off disables the feature where you can swipe left to open the camera from the Lock Screen.
The iPhone has long allowed users to open the Camera app directly from the Lock Screen with a swipe, but it can be a setting that's easy to activate, and it provides a way for someone that gets ahold of an iPhone to use it to take unwanted photos.
There was previously no way to turn off Lock Screen camera activation without disabling the camera app entirely.
Phone Haptics
In the Phone app, there's a toggle to turn off haptic feedback when a call is connected or dropped.
Apple Intelligence Settings
Apple has changed the look of the Apple Intelligence section in the Settings app, and it is now left aligned. Apple made the alignment change for other sections of the Settings app in earlier betas, but Apple Intelligence remained the same.
Apple has also removed the "Beta" label from Apple Intelligence, but it's not clear if some features are officially out of beta, or if it's an oversight. Apple has not removed the beta labeling in macOS Tahoe 26.1 beta 4.
More Features
Know of a feature that we left out? Let us know in the comments. To see what Apple has added in prior iOS 26.1 betas, check out our iOS 26.1 feature guide.
The fourth beta of iOS 26.1 includes an option to turn off the Lock Screen swipe that activates the camera, a feature that iPhone users have been wanting for years.
In the Camera section of the Settings app, there's a Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera setting, and turning it off disables the feature where you can swipe left to open the camera.
The iPhone has long allowed users to open the Camera app directly from the Lock Screen with a swipe, but it can be a setting that's easy to activate, and it provides a way for someone that gets ahold of an iPhone to use it to take unwanted photos.
There was previously no way to turn off Lock Screen camera activation without disabling the camera app entirely.
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted increases the opacity of Liquid Glass and adds more contrast.
The new setting can be found on iOS and iPadOS by going to Settings > Display and Brightness, or System Settings > Appearance on the Mac.
Apple says that the new toggle was added because during the beta testing period over the summer, user feedback suggested that some people would prefer to have a more opaque option for Liquid Glass. The added setting provides additional customization in iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1.
Increasing opacity and adding contrast applies to Liquid Glass throughout the operating system, including in apps and Lock Screen notifications.
There are multiple other new features in iOS 26.1, including a new slide to stop feature for alarms and timers, new Apple Intelligence languages, a redesigned Apple TV app icon, changes to the Settings app, and more, with a full list of features available in our iOS 26.1 feature guide.
Apple today provided developers with the fourth betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The fourth betas come a week after Apple released the third betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.
Apple Intelligence is now available in more languages in the updates, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPods Live Translation also works with Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (both Mandarin Traditional and Simplified) in iOS 26.1.
Liquid Glass has been expanded to the Phone app's keypad, Apple Music has a new swipe gesture for changing tracks, and there are visual changes to Calendar, Safari, and Photos. Details on what we've found in iOS 26.1 so far can be found in our iOS 26.1 feature list.
The iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1, betas will be released later in October.
Apple's stock price reached a new all-time high today, with shares in the company trading for as much as $264.38 on the intraday market, according to Yahoo Finance.
The company's previous intraday high was $260.10, set on December 26, 2024.
Keep in mind that Apple's stock has split five times since the company went public, including on a 4-for-1 basis in 2020 most recently.
Apple achieved the record high despite continuing to lag behind companies like OpenAI and Google in the generative artificial intelligence space. Over the weekend, it was reported that some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about how well the more personalized version of Siri works on an internal iOS 26.4 beta for the iPhone.
Apple's next quarterly earnings report will be released on October 30.
A law firm in China has filed a new antitrust complaint accusing Apple of abusing its control over iOS app distribution and payments, escalating a dispute that previously failed in civil court by seeking action from state regulators instead, Reuters reports.
The new complaint was submitted to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on behalf of 55 Chinese iPhone and iPad users. The filing alleges that Apple maintains a monopoly over iOS app distribution in China via the App Store, restricts the use of third-party payment systems in apps, and charges commissions of up to 30% on digital transactions. Those claims mirror an earlier case brought in 2021 by individual plaintiff Jin Xin, represented by the same attorney, Wang Qiongfei. That lawsuit was dismissed in 2024 by a Shanghai court after demanding that Apple completely cease collecting its App Store fee and pay damages.
Wang has now re-opened the case more broadly via a different channel, telling the media that the new administrative complaint is intended to prompt regulatory enforcement rather than a civil judgment. Unlike the 2021 filing, this complaint incorporates a comparative argument based on changes made in other jurisdictions. The filing asserts that Apple is continuing to operate a closed App Store in China while permitting alternative payment methods and sideloading in the European Union following enforcement of the Digital Markets Act and a U.S. court ruling that obliges Apple to allow outside payment links.
Wang expects the regulatory complaint to proceed faster than the previous civil action. He is also appealing the 2024 dismissal to China's Supreme People's Court, which heard arguments in December. No ruling has yet been issued in that appeal.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Image Credit: Six Colors
