Business

The U.S. Department of Justice and Apple are reportedly exploring a negotiated end to the government's antitrust lawsuit over the iPhone, and developers who have been consulted are doubtful that any deal would change much. MacRumors reported the details on October 16, citing reporting by The Information.

The DOJ sued Apple in March 2024, alleging that restrictions affecting messaging, digital wallets, smartwatches, cloud gaming and multipurpose apps help the company protect an unlawful smartphone monopoly. Apple has rejected the allegations and has argued that the remedies sought would undermine its ability to design products that work closely together.

A federal judge has granted most of Apple's request for early discovery in its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, the AI hardware startup io Products and two former Apple employees, according to a report from 9to5Mac on the October 13 ruling.

Apple filed the suit around July 10, 2026. It names former employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, along with OpenAI and io Products. Apple alleges that the two ex-employees improperly accessed or used confidential information about Apple's products and technologies to help OpenAI's consumer hardware effort, and that information was also obtained from Apple employees during recruiting interviews.

John Ternus officially became Apple's chief executive on September 1, 2026, completing a transition that the company announced in April. Tim Cook moved to executive chairman. Reports say he stayed on as CEO through the summer to work alongside Ternus, and that his new role includes engagement with policymakers around the world, particularly in China and Washington.

Arthur Levinson, who had been chairman for 15 years, became lead independent director. Ternus also joined Apple's board.

Ternus was born in 1975, studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and joined Apple's product design team in 2001. He became senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021.

Bloomberg reported on August 31 that longtime Apple executive Phil Schiller is no longer running the App Store or overseeing Apple's product events. MacRumors covered the report.

Schiller is not leaving Apple. He keeps the title of Apple Fellow and is said to be working on unspecified projects. Employees quoted by Bloomberg suggested the 66-year-old appears to be moving towards retirement, though that is an interpretation rather than an announcement.

Responsibility for the App Store goes to Eddy Cue, who oversees services and ran the store until 2015. Carson Oliver, a longtime member of the App Store team, will handle day-to-day operations.

Apple has reported results for its fiscal third quarter, which ended on June 27, 2026. Revenue came in at $109.4 billion, a 16 percent increase compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

Diluted earnings per share reached $2.02, up 29 percent year over year. Apple said both the gross margin of 50.1 percent and the per-share figure were helped by refunds related to tariffs, which contributed roughly two percentage points to margin and eleven cents to earnings per share.

According to the company, iPhone, Mac and Services each set a revenue record for a June quarter and each grew by double digits. Revenue also rose by double digits in every one of Apple's geographic segments, and operating cash flow was a June-quarter record.

On April 20, 2026, Apple announced a major leadership transition: John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering, will become chief executive officer on September 1. Tim Cook, who has led Apple since 2011, will move into the role of executive chairman of the board.

The announcement framed the change as a planned handover after more than a decade under Cook. The coverage we reviewed did not lay out detailed reasons beyond that.

Ternus is an engineer by background and has long been responsible for the hardware side of Apple's product line. Ternus's promotion puts a hardware engineer in the company's top job.