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Tired of hearing about DeepSeek yet? The China-based LLM chatbot beached itself onto the scene this week, dominating the tech news cycle and even taking #1 on the App Store, where it still sits as of writing. However, its rapid popularity has led to a wave of new phishing campaigns, investment scams, and macOS malware disguised as real DeepSeek applications. Here’s the latest.

You’re reading 9to5Mac Security Bite, where each week, I share insights on data privacy, discuss the latest vulnerabilities, and shed light on emerging threats within Apple’s vast ecosystem of over 2 billion active devices.

The basic design of the iPhone hasn’t changed much in the last few years. New models get better annually, but the average person probably wouldn’t use the word ‘innovation’ to describe Apple’s recent upgrades. According to Tim Cook though, the iPhone roadmap looks especially exciting and there’s ‘a lot of innovation’ ahead.

TikTok has bounced back from its time offline according to traffic logs, but creators are worried about the uncertain future of the app.

Some are assuming the worst, and preparing for the platform to shut down, while others feel TikTok has a unique role and it would be difficult to replicate their success on other platforms …

Today CalDigit took the wraps off its first Thunderbolt 5-enabled device, the nine port, and aptly-titled Element 5 Hub. The follow up to the company’s original eight-port Element hub, the $249 Element 5 features four Thunderbolt 5 ports supporting 80Gb/s, plus a whole host of additional features and tidbits to consider. Let’s take a closer look.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently isn’t very happy about employees leaking things he says during internal company-wide meetings. The company issued a memo threatening to fire people for leaking internal comms – and that memo was of course immediately leaked …

Way back in 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple, alleging a defect in early Apple Watch models that could allegedly cause the display to crack or detach from the casing.

While Apple has acknowledged some issues related to swollen batteries, and offered free service, it refused coverage for cracked or detached screens. The company has now agreed to a financial settlement for this …

Compared to Android, only some of Google’s iOS apps use the latest version of Material Design. Gmail for iPhone and iPad was finally updated with a Material 3 redesign today.

Apple Maps is about to get a notable upgrade that will lead to more efficient EV routing suggestions for Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers.

In perhaps yet another sign of the growing reach of Apple TV+ content, the sci-fi series Silo has ranked on the Nielsen U.S. streaming originals chart for the first time ever. The show ranked 9th with 417 million minutes viewed, for the week of December 30 through January 5.

This is one in just a handful of appearances of an Apple TV+ title on this chart. Typically, Apple shows are not popular enough to make it onto the Top 10 list of streaming originals, according to Nielsen’s numbers anyway.

When asked about Chinese AI firm DeepSeek on today’s investor call, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained how the disruptive new model is a positive development for the iPhone maker.

Apple disclosed today that its global install base has reached a new high. However, the active device growth rate is down compared to the previous year.

Apple just reported earnings for the all-important holiday quarter. Overall it was Apple’s best quarter ever, but iPhone sales didn’t quite hit expectations, mainly because of China. CEO Tim Cook’s key takeaway though: iPhone 16 sales were strongest in countries where Apple Intelligence was available.

Not every iPhone launch outperforms launch sales of the prior model. That’s the a problem for the iPhone 16 family, however. Apple CEO Tim Cook tells Susan Li that the latest phones are selling in higher volumes than the iPhone 15 family during the same time last year. Perhaps surprisingly to some is the reason: Apple Intelligence.

Apple has released its earnings report for fiscal Q1 2025. The company reports $124.30 billion in revenue during the three-month period. That compares to $119.58 billion during the same quarter a year ago. Wall Street expected $124.13 billion in revenue. Profit from revenue includes $36.33 billion. The holiday quarter includes the bulk of iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series 10 sales as it includes the last three months of the year.

This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: a leaked Apple Intelligence-related memo, and iPhone 17 Pro Max and SE 4 reports. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.

More than a year has passed since Apple paused advertising on X over brand safety concerns. Soon, however, Apple may begin advertising on X again.

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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Apple Intelligence officially launched three months ago in iOS 18.1, and new features have steadily rolled out ever since. But the next iPhone update, iOS 18.4, is going to be especially big for new Apple Intelligence capabilities. Here are seven features and changes expected to arrive soon.

Benjamin and Chance review the 2025 Apple Unity watch band, watch face and wallpaper. They talk about some compelling leaked iOS features currently in internal testing, and Apple reportedly redoubles its AI efforts. Also, T-Mobile and Starlink launch a seemingly better satellite connectivity offering, than Apple’s in-built SOS feature.

And in Happy Hour Plus, the pair debate if it is time for the Apple Watch hardware lineup to expand. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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Tuesday morning, Boom Supersonic made its supersonic flight debut with its XB-1 test aircraft. The flight featured the first civil supersonic flight from a jet-powered aircraft made in America and was live-streamed for all to see. Using SpaceX’s Starlink and an iPhone, aviation enthusiasts were treated to some of the best in-flight views ever.

TSMC is a major Apple partner, producing chips for its many hundreds of millions of new devices each year. But per the company’s founder, there was once a time when Intel got a shot at iPhone chip production, and failed to impress.

Today’s best deals in Apple gear and accessories include Apple Watch Series 10 at up to $136 off alongside ongoing Black Friday pricing across the entire lineup. These offers join the $110 price drop on Apple Watch Ultra 2, but Amazon has also brought back the most affordable M4 MacBook Pro at the lowest we have tracked with $200 in savings alongside a massive $400 price drop on select M4 Max MacBook Pro configs for folks looking to score a real beast of a new laptop. Satechi is running a serious 50% sale on its desktop and workstation accessories, plus you’ll find everything else down below. 

Yesterday Meta reported its quarterly earnings, and amid sharing updates on Threads, Instagram, and yes, the metaverse, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined an interesting new priority for this year: getting back to ‘OG Facebook.’

You don’t have to be in the Super Bowl stadium to be exposed to a lot of noise during the game. A new Apple Watch study found that noise levels across America are significantly higher than normal for about nine hours on Super Bowl Sundays.

On average, across the US, you’re likely to be exposed to noise levels between 1.5 and 3 decibels higher than usual – which is a lot worse than it sounds when it comes to potential hearing damage …