Commotion of Apple Links for week ending on November 25, 2025
It's the week before the Thanksgiving holiday. And yet the pickings aren't as meager as one might expect.
First, an aside:
The Google Gemini Gem that performs copy editing chores gave me a nifty little surprise this time. I've set it up to just flag any obvious spelling and grammatical errors, and other problems I routinely discover when I copy edit my own stuff. It spits out a nicely-formatted table with suggested edits.
This time, the Gem flagged my mention of the South Korean animation studio that used to turn news stories into cheesy CGI animations with a breathtakingly fast turnaround time. It offered that "You are likely referencing Next Media Animation (now TomoNews). They are a Taiwanese studio, not South Korean." I'd meant to fact-check that before posting this…but I forgot.
My initial reaction: "Useful thing, this Gemini," and then I (lightly) congratulated myself for using it.
My next reaction: "But I never asked it for a fact-check. Is this a Gemini 3.0 advance? Or have I never ever tried to post anything with a factual error before? Or…I've been making factual errors left, right, and center this whole time and Gemini has finally hit its breaking point?" I shall ponder, with an open and objective mind. ⓘ
The Future, Soon
Paywalled Apple iOS 27 to Be No-Frills ‘Snow Leopard’ Update, Other Than New AI
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-23/apple-ios-27-snow-leopard-like-quality-focus-ai-features-tim-cook-retirement-mibq7jv8
Howard Hawks famously said that all you need for a good movie is “three good scenes and no bad ones.” This sounds like a good goal for an annual point-zero OS update, too: “three good changes and no bad ones.” iOS 26 was a biggie. Commensurately-big problems were just to be expected. So we’re all a little bit twitchy right now. As much as we’d love Apple to announce some sort of policy where a Revolutionary Step Forward only happens in odd-numbered years, with even-numbered years earmarked for basic improvements in fit, finish, and reliability…well, Revolutions happen when they must happen. Ask King Louis XVI of France (gesturing towards basket).
Around 100 iPhone Folds made after ‘breakthrough’ in eliminating the crease.
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/25/around-100-iphone-folds-made-after-breakthrough-in-eliminating-the-crease/
Report says that Fold has moved another step further in the formal production process. Another report says it might retail for as much as $2400. As a freelance journalist who would lovvve to have something like a truly pocketable iPad as part of his everyday carry, I’m disappointed, yet excited for the people who can and will buy such a thing. It’s from Apple. Plenty of people will tick both of those boxes.
Jony Ive and Sam Altman Discuss AI Device That's Playful, Bite Worthy, and as Peaceful as a Cabin By a Lake
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/24/jony-ive-sam-altman-ai-device-2/
Hoo-boy. The Jony Ive/OpenAI partnership isn’t Just Another Speculative AI Project, but boy-howdy, are they ever talking like any other AI startup with a product that’s still years away from shipping. Woo-woo to the max! As always, I’m most eager for an answer to the question “how will this gadget be in any way an improvement upon a Bluetooth connection to my favorite AI, running on my phone?”
Business
Paywalled Apple Cuts Jobs Across Its Sales Organization in Rare Layoff
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-24/apple-aapl-cuts-jobs-across-its-sales-organization-in-rare-layoff
Unusual, indeed. Apple rarely makes the sort of hard-pivot that can instantly obsolete a notable number of employees, and they try to keep lean numbers on the payroll to begin with. The cuts appear to directly affect the teams that sell to businesses, schools, and governments…the “bulk pack” markets. That's got to mean something.
Cook controversially dines with Saudi Crown Prince at White House
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/11/19/cook-controversially-dines-with-saudi-crown-prince-at-white-house
Indefensible. Tim elects to drop another rung lower on the Integrity ladder.
Gurman: ‘Few signs internally’ point to Tim Cook stepping down as CEO early next year
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/23/tim-cook-unlikely-to-step-down-as-ceo-in-2026-bloomberg/
Yeah, a lot of this talk about Tim’s succession plans is just fun, harmless, “Real Housewives”-style gossip. Hey, remember when a Taiwanese news service used to animate these types of stories, using cheesy and factually questionable (but adorable) computer animation? This story seems like it’d be right up their alley.
Apple Cracks Down on India’s re-exports of iPhones to Russia - Reports
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/11/24/apple-cracks-down-on-indias-re-exports-of-iphones-to-russia-reports-a91228
This directive comes from iPhone distributors…maybe not directly from Tim Apple per se? Obviously this is a sensitive enough issue that the market isn’t going to merrily sell as many iPhones as possible to as many buyers as possible.
Singapore orders Apple, Google to prevent government spoofing on messaging platforms
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/singapore-orders-apple-google-prevent-government-spoofing-messaging-platforms-2025-11-25/
This demand isn’t controversial per se. The government is trying to stop scammers who send messages that definitely are not from government sources, directing users to open links that definitely do not open official government sites. There’s no indication that this is some kind of surveillance Trojan Horse. And yet, in the abstract…yes, a government is ordering Apple and Google and other makers of end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms to examine messages before they’ve been encrypted (thus beyond the reach of state surveillance), and to subsequently perform an action based on what the message is. This kind of thing is always worth keeping an eye on, right?
Showbiz
Vince Gilligan’s ‘Pluribus’ Sets Record For Biggest Apple TV Drama Series Launch
https://deadline.com/2025/11/pluribus-launch-ratings-apple-tv-drama-series-record-1236625239/
So it looks like there’s something to this “Quality, Not Quantity” scheme that Apple’s come up with. As always, those numbers are based on third-party estimates, and don’t come directly from Apple. But (like “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”) if Luminate’s rankings are inaccurate, the data is, at least, definitively inaccurate.
Apple TV subreddit to hold AMA with character ‘Carol Sturka’ from Pluribus
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/20/apple-tv-reddit-ama-pluribus-carol-stark/
I love this kind of marketing. They played it straight, all the way through; “Carol’s” comments were limited to things that the character would have known, at the very start of the series. It was all so very meta. “U/ImCarolSturka” pretended to be the author of a slightly cheesy series of fantasy novels, and the Reddit users pretended to be her fans.
Misc
The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/the-eu-made-apple-adopt-new-wi-fi-standards-and-now-android-can-support-airdrop/
And this is why I’m predisposed towards more government regulation on Apple, Google, et al, rather than less. This is an important leap forward for interoperability and convenience that harms iPhone security and privacy not one bit, and it’s only happening because the Digital Markets Act required Apple to include a valuable ecumenical standard for device-to-device sharing in iOS 26.
Exploring, in Detail, Apple’s Compliance With the EU’s DMA Mandate Regarding Apple Watch, Third-Party Accessories, and the Syncing of Saved Wi-Fi Networks From iPhones to Which They’re Paired
https://daringfireball.net/2025/11/apple_eu_dma_iphone_accessories_wi-fi_sync
Lots of protein in this piece. Gruber goes into technical detail on Apple’s compliance with a different EU interoperability mandate. Yes, Apple sometimes chooses to be downright petulant about these things (including their not-at-all-biased insistence that the EU needs to do away with the DMA entirely). But oftentimes, the answer to the question “Why doesn’t Apple just do this?” is “because it’s hard, and it takes time to come up with a workable plan and implement it well.” And “The EU isn’t always super-clear about what ‘compliance’ actually means."
Apple News Loses CNN
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/24/apple-news-loses-cnn/
Fifteen years was a mighty long time ago. We can look forward to a lot more jockeying of this nature. Apple News isn’t going to maintain its value if it can’t maintain its access to high-reputability news sources. And “reputability” costs money to maintain.
Apple releases another limited-edition designer iPhone accessory
https://www.macworld.com/article/2979602/apple-releases-another-limited-edition-designer-iphone-accessory.html
One colorway is Apple Store-exclusive; others are still available from the Hikawa store. It’s a lovely way to remind everybody about Accessibility (and that Apple’s been making it a priority for 40 years). It looks cool, and it looks like it’s just plain useful. As anybody would have guessed, you can already download 3D-printable bootlegs from wherever you regularly get your XML-formatted mesh data.
[via Redditor] My hacked iPhone running iPadOS! And running a Mac-like experience on the external monitor! It can multitask + run iPad apps. Apple doesn't allow this as it would hurt Mac sales.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/1p3e4bz/my_hacked_iphone_running_ipados_and_running_a/
A Redditor exploited a security hole in iOS 26.1 to make an iPhone 17 Pro run iPadOS! Apple’s patched the hole already (as is correct), so it’s just a demo. Still, wow! An iPhone 17 Pro that delivers a full desktop experience when it’s connected to an external display! This behavior is high on a list of features and concept that I love, but which haven't really caught on. I disagree with his reasoning about why Apple doesn’t ship this as an iOS feature, of course. But it goes to show how much horsepower an iPhone is packing…and that the line between “iPhone” and “iPad” is mostly philosophical.
Google Mocks iPhone in Musical ‘Wicked’ Ad Claiming Pixel Firsts
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/21/google-iphone-wicked-ad/
Another bit of harmless, “punching upward” fun from the Pixel marketing team. And: look at those Glinda and Elphaba phone cases and tell me they wouldn’t both sell out on day one of release! I’d probably knock the tiara off the Glinda one (else I’d be picking Swarovski out of my pocket linings forever). Otherwise, we all need a Pink Sparkly Princess phone case, or one with the bright, freckled colorway of a woman committed to truth and justice, regardless of personal cost. These kinds of things keep our spirits up during the long, cold, dark winter nights ahead (meteorologically and culturally).
Apple announces finalists for the 2025 App Store Awards
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/apple-announces-finalists-for-the-2025-app-store-awards/
As an annual evaluation and celebration of “the best of the year,” the App Store Awards are about as transparent and valid as any Golden Globes Awards telecast of the Eighties or Nineties. ICEBlock would earn a nomination in any proper overview of the best and/or most significant apps of the year. I do enjoy this list, because it gives us a peek at what types of apps Apple wants to push into the spotlight. It’s usually a mix of apps that make Apple platforms look modern and relevant, apps that reinforce Apple’s current marketing plan…and apps that the editorial team Just Plain Likes.