A week in which Apple simultaneously litigates, acquires, and pushes open an important door in China – while, of all things, an email mishap causes potential talks with OpenAI to collapse. The dispute with OpenAI reaches a new level, the foldable iPhone moves into mass production, and iPhone users' loyalty climbs to a record high. Seven days that reveal a lot about Apple's AI course.
The past week was defined by two opposing lines of force. On one side, the legal dispute between Apple and OpenAI is escalating, with OpenAI now employing hundreds of former Apple specialists and working on hardware of its own. On the other, Apple is making quiet but visible progress with its own AI strategy – from the long-awaited clearance of Apple Intelligence in China to new acquisitions in the chip and software space. On the stock market, investors now view Apple's deliberately restrained AI course as an advantage, while sales figures show how stable the business remains despite a difficult market environment. Add to that a foldable iPhone edging closer to mass production and a record level of customer loyalty: the week brought several course-setting moves at once.
🔥 Story of the Week: Apple's dispute with OpenAI reaches the workforce
The conflict between Apple and OpenAI reached a new level of escalation this week. Apple has expanded its lawsuit to dozens of employees, requiring them to preserve all relevant documents – a legal step that draws the circle of those involved considerably wider than before. OpenAI sees no evidence for the theft allegation and rejects the account.
The dispute gains its edge from the personnel question. OpenAI now employs more than 400 former Apple employees, many of them from hardware and AI teams. At the same time, it emerged that OpenAI's first own device is set to be a speaker with a camera – a product that could challenge Apple right in the living room. What began as a legal battle over departed specialists is increasingly turning into a struggle over the next device category.
📰 What Else Mattered
Apple Music is getting more expensive in Germany. For the first time since 2022, Apple is raising the prices of all Apple Music plans: the family plan climbs by three euros to 19.99 euros, while the individual and student plans each go up by one euro. Nothing changes about what's included – Apple cites higher licensing costs as the reason. At the same time, AppleCare+ fees are rising as well.
Apple Intelligence launches in China. After a long wait, Apple has received the green light to roll out its AI features in the world's largest smartphone market – implemented through local partners Qwen and Baidu. For Apple, China is finally unlocked, even if with Chinese rather than its own models running in the background.
The EU exempts AirPods and Apple Watch from the replaceable-battery requirement. Both the Apple Watch and the AirPods do not fall under the new EU rule on replaceable batteries. Both product classes may therefore continue to be built with firmly bonded batteries – a detail with direct consequences for every future model on the European market.
The memory shortage is splitting the smartphone market. Rising prices for memory chips are hitting the industry hard, yet Apple is emerging as the winner from the situation: thanks to long-term supply contracts and pricing power, the company can cushion the costs where smaller manufacturers start to stumble.
Nine new emoji are waiting in the wings. The next batch of emoji has been finalized as proposals – among them a pickle, a lighthouse, and a meteor. Before the characters land on the iPhone, however, at least one more software cycle is likely to pass.
New Mac malware disguises itself as a crash report. Security researchers are warning of malicious software that harvests passwords through fake crash reports. Anyone who reviews system messages critically and confirms nothing from an unknown source stays on the safe side.
💡 Rumor of the Week: The iPhone Ultra moves into mass production
Signs of an approaching production start are mounting for the foldable iPhone. According to supply chain sources, Apple has significantly ramped up orders for vapor chamber cooling – a component that dissipates the heat of powerful chips and is typically ordered in large quantities only shortly before mass production. The move fits a whole series of production signals from recent weeks and fuels the expectation that the iPhone Ultra will still arrive in 2026. None of this is confirmed – but the ordering patterns speak a clear language.
📊 Number of the Week: 87 percent
That's how high iPhone users' brand loyalty has climbed, reaching a new record according to a recent survey. Of the owners who are planning a new device anyway, 87 percent stick with an iPhone – a top figure that hardly any other manufacturer reaches. For Apple, this is the tangible proof of its own ecosystem's staying power and a cushion that the competition can only break through with difficulty.
👎 Flop of the Week: An email mishap costs Apple the OpenAI talks
Sometimes big deals fall apart over small things. As became known this week, an email mishap caused the talks between Apple and OpenAI to fall through before they could really gain momentum. In light of the current legal dispute, the missed understanding looks in hindsight like the early squandered chance to have kept today's conflict from arising in the first place.
🔭 What's Coming Next Week
As the week draws to a close, iOS 26.6 is entering the home stretch: after five weekly beta rounds, the Release Candidate is up next – the near-final version that usually carries over unchanged into the public release. In parallel, Apple is likely to follow up with the next iOS 27 beta and further expand the public testing phase launched in July.
💬 My Take
On the surface, Apple's AI week read as defensive: a widening lawsuit, a deal that fell through, talent draining to a rival. Look closer, though, and the pattern is anything but reactive. Instead of staging a headline-grabbing model of its own, Apple turns AI on where the market actually demands it — in China, through local partners like Qwen and Baidu — buys in specialists and silicon expertise without fanfare, and defends its intellectual property in court when it must. That isn't a company playing catch-up; it's one setting its own tempo rather than dancing to someone else's. Whether the patience pays off comes down to one thing: Siri AI finally shipping. Until then, this looks far more like calculation than confusion.
📚 From Our Archive
- iPhone Ultra: all rumors and facts at a glance – The ramped-up vapor chamber orders are just the latest piece of the puzzle; the complete picture, from the expected market launch to the price, is gathered here.
- Why the DMA is holding up Siri AI on iPhone and iPad – While China is now unlocking Apple Intelligence through local partners, the EU launch of Siri AI remains stuck on the rules coming out of Brussels.
Between the courtroom, the shopping list, and the China clearance, it's becoming clear that Apple is building its AI future less through grand gestures than through many small, controlled steps.
Until next Sunday, Apfelpatient wishes you a relaxed read and a good start to the week. (Image: Shutterstock / Lia Koltyrina)
