A federal appeals court on Thursday backed a ruling that held Apple in civil contempt for brazenly defying an order designed to open its iPhone app store to other payment systems besides its own, but the decision also reopened a door for the company to collect commission from the rival options.

This week’s Apple headlines: iPhone 18 Pro leaks, iPhone Air loses value, iOS 26.2 is here, two new MacBooks, iPhone Fold impact, App Store verification issues, and

Apple announces its App Store Awards each year during the final weeks of the year. Ostensibly, these reward developers for building apps and games that push creative boundaries on Apple devices including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, TV, and Vision Pro.

The three-judge Ninth Circuit panel issued a unanimous, 54-page opinion that largely affirmed U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ April contempt order but found that her blanket ban on Apple collecting any commission went too far,

The court order that required Apple to collect no fees from developers who link to purchases outside of the App Store is unconstitutional, Apple said today in a reply brief directed at Epic Games and filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to Apple’s U.S. App Store rankings, the most downloaded free iPhone app of 2025 was ChatGPT, followed by Meta’s Threads, Google, TikTok and WhatsApp. Rounding out the top tier were Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Gemini, another AI assistant.

After announcing the finalists last month, Apple today officially announced the winners of the 2025 App Store Awards. This

Apple has today the winners of its 2025 App Store awards, with 17 apps and games recognized for their “technical ingenuity and lasting cultural impact”. Apple whittled down a list of 45 finalists to get to this figure of 17 total winners across the App Store for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Apple should be able to collect a reasonable commission on purchases made using external links included in iOS apps, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled today (via Reuters). The U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed sanctions imposed on Apple after Apple was found to have willfully violated an injunction in the ongoing Epic Games vs.