Apple announces changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store in the European Union

[Craptacular]

Apple iOS platforms represent a large part - often largest by a fair margin - of the adressable mobile market. It's not a choice to develop for Apple products, if you want your business to reach more people you simply have to. Apple has no right to exert that kind of control over people's access to millions of different services, just as they have no right to extort and profit from others work and every transaction they do.

The government is only forcefully changing how Apple does business - and clearly unsuccessfully as this latest example of malicious compliance shows - because they're not complying with existent competition laws and market regulations. The only baffling thing is how it's taking so long to break down this walled garden

Your graph literally only shows three countries where iOS is half or a majority so I'm not sure where you are getting the word "often" from.

Sure, but the fact is, you need a mobile phone these days and you havent got many options other than Apple or Android. Market isn't healthy.

You don't need a smart phone for personal use, you can use a flip phone.

 

[remixedcat]

Oh wow, I just found out something, the iOS changes are iOS only and don't apply to iPadOS. Things like third party payments or links to other payment methods are relative to the App Store so they apply to both systems, but 3rd party stores, notarization, browser selection and independence from using the god awfull safari webkit are only available on iOS! You just couldn't make this shit up

Apple's EU App Store Changes: iPads, TestFlight, Default Stores and More

Apple announced an overwhelming number of changes to the app ecosystem in the European Union yesterday, and with the flood of information, there may...

www.macrumors.com

This makes them have the fragmentation they hate lol

 

[Prima.Vera]

... Google needs to revisit its strategy and lagdroid phone makers need to innovate, look at the last 6 or 7 Galaxy S phones and tell me if you're not BORED of them. I am.

Funniest post ever, considering the irony that for the past 5-6 years the Apple phones basically look and perform almost IDENTICALLY, haha.
Really, the Apple cultists/fanboys are a different breed.

 

[bug]

Funniest post ever, considering the irony that for the past 5-6 years the Apple phones basically look and perform almost IDENTICALLY, haha.
Really, the Apple cultists/fanboys are a different breed.

Yeah, my sister actually ordered a cover for the wrong iPhone model, she actually forgot it wasn't the same model anymore. True story.

 

[trsttte]

Funniest post ever, considering the irony that for the past 5-6 years the Apple phones basically look and perform almost IDENTICALLY, haha.
Really, the Apple cultists/fanboys are a different breed.

I believe the point was - and as shown by the video he shared later - that android is getting stale and with the way prices have increased even past Apple prices it openned the doors wide open for iphones to just gobble up a big share of the market. Why spend 1000$ on a galaxy s when you can buy a "higher status" iPhone for 800$? That's has been an undeniable problem in recent years.

 

[bug]

I believe the point was - and as shown by the video he shared later - that android is getting stale and with the way prices have increased even past Apple prices it openned the doors wide open for iphones to just gobble up a big share of the market. Why spend 1000$ on a galaxy s when you can buy a "higher status" iPhone for 800$? That's has been an undeniable problem in recent years.

Prices for some Android phones have crossed into ridiculous. But whenever I needed a new phone, I could get something solid for 300€. Sometimes less. (It's not for everybody, you really have to know what you're looking for.)

 

[RayneYoruka]

If you want a second rate OS, sure

Nah I used to daily run IOS a decade ago. Not like I'm missing anything anyway

 

[Dr. Dro]

Funniest post ever, considering the irony that for the past 5-6 years the Apple phones basically look and perform almost IDENTICALLY, haha.
Really, the Apple cultists/fanboys are a different breed.

Granted they're all Scamsung phones maybe that's the problem

 

[Prima.Vera]

By the way; Why are the Apple cultist compare iPhones with Android?? Really. One is a phone brand, the other is an mobile operating system.
They should compare the Apple phone with Samsung, HTC, Honor, Xiaomi, Sony, Nothing Phone, Motorola, Asus, Nokia, etc. There are hundreds of phones out there from worst to best. The only thing they have in common is the undercore OS which is Android OS. However, even this OS is custom build for each different vendor, so comparing the speed and functionality of an Android OS on a Samsung Galaxy A03 (50$) vs Galaxy S24 Ultra (1200$), is ridiculous and silly to say the least.
This is what the cultist never get.

 

[Dr. Dro]

By the way; Why are the Apple cultist compare iPhones with Android?? Really. One is a phone brand, the other is an mobile operating system.
They should compare the Apple phone with Samsung, HTC, Honor, Xiaomi, Sony, Nothing Phone, Motorola, etc. There are hundreds of phones out there from worst to best. The only thing they have in common is the undercore OS which is Android OS. However, even this OS is custom build for each different vendor, so comparing the speed and functionality of an Android OS on a Samsung Galaxy A03 (50$) vs Galaxy S24 Ultra (1200$), is ridiculous and silly to say the least.
This is what the cultist never get.

I think it's the other way around.

Spoiler

Since Apple's devices tend to be a status symbol and tend to be on the pricier side, many inherently see iPhone owners as snobbish and spoiled, not to mention that a lot of people derive intense pleasure from "look my Xiaomi does everything your Apple does at a third of the price!", and then perceive people who opt into simply buying the iPhone as people with "limited intellect" and/or "attention seekers", so to speak, buying into a brand either because 1. "they don't know any better and were oversold on a device they'll never need or use to its full potential" or 2. "You literally paid $800 extra for an apple behind your phone just so you could show off lol what a loser".

As of late, there are no truly low-end Apple phones either. Even the lowest cost device they currently offer, the 3rd generation iPhone SE (2022) has an A15 Bionic processor which has the equivalent processing power of a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and this really made a LOT of Android phone owners miffed as to why does that "lame iPhone gets all that and my SUPER COOL and COST EFFICIENT Xiaomi Poco has some Mediakek chip" (and I'm speaking figuratively, I know that since the Dimensity series became a thing, Mediatek isn't lame anymore).

Think of Android fans about the same as AMD GPU fans. It's a point of pride that they're "not sheep", "aren't funding <supposedly evil megacorp Crapple/Ngreedia> or somesuch" and "have more flexibility, anything else be damned, who cares about an ecosystem or user experience anyway. I'll just make my own!"

It's pure clubism and it'll probably never go away, just like the AMD vs. Nvidia thing.

 

[bug]

By the way; Why are the Apple cultist compare iPhones with Android?? Really. One is a phone brand, the other is an mobile operating system.

I don't think most of them can make that distinction.

 

[Prima.Vera]

As of late, there are no truly low-end Apple phones either. Even the lowest cost device they currently offer, the 3rd generation iPhone SE (2022) has an A15 Bionic processor which has the equivalent processing power of a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and this really made a LOT of Android phone owners miffed as to why does that "lame iPhone gets all that and my SUPER COOL and COST EFFICIENT Xiaomi Poco has some Mediakek chip" (and I'm speaking figuratively, I know that since the Dimensity series became a thing, Mediatek isn't lame anymore).

This is wrong and also have no context. A 3rd generation iPhone SE is still around 429$ for a crappy 64GB storage and $579(!!!) for just 256GB (https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-se)
Of course the 50$ phones perform worst than a 580$ phone.
Now the question is, a smart phone, with Android OS, on 580$ price range is better, or worst than the Apple iPhone SE phone?

 

[Dr. Dro]

This is wrong and also have no context. A 3rd generation iPhone SE is still around 429$ for a crappy 64GB storage and $579(!!!) for just 256GB (https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-se)
Of course the 50$ phones perform worst that a 580$ phone.
Now the question is, a smart phone, with Android OS, on 580$ price range is better, or worst than the Apple iPhone SE phone?

I don't think anyone's ever comparing any iPhone to a Galaxy A03 Core, man. The SE is Apple's cheapest and considered to be its entry level device, so yeah, they don't have low-end phones anymore, since you can't really call a $400+ phone packing an A15 Bionic a low-end phone. This is priced at the midrange. This SE is a spruced up iPhone 8 and it has been kept around pretty much due to high consumer demand for this form factor, even though it is (other than the updated SoC) a super dated phone by practically every metric at this point.

But that also has its strengths, for example the screen resolution to SoC power ratio on the SE is through the roof, makes it an excellent gaming phone, and the iOS versions of games tend to run circles on the Android versions. Apple's also supporting their devices for a very long time, even the iPhone 6s and 7 received OS updates as recently as October last year. Samsung has long since abandoned the Galaxy S6, and even my S10+ runs an OS about a year older than my 6s+.

Otherwise, I guess you're probably going to be satisfied with a Galaxy A54?

 

[trsttte]

it has been kept around pretty much due to high consumer demand for this form factor, even though it is (other than the updated SoC) a super dated phone by practically every metric at this point

Small correction there, not demand for the form factor, demand for the price point. The ancient form factor is simply Apple spitting in it's clients faces. They only updated the SoC because it's cheaper to produce more of the newer one instead of keeping the older models in prodution

 

[R0H1T]

Apple's also supporting their devices for a very long time, even the iPhone 6s and 7 received OS updates as recently as October last year.

You mean security updates? They're not really adding anything major/minor feature wise so it should be counted just as that! You could argue the app updates on Play store do something similar, also most Android phones generally ship with the latest OS version(14) and aren't usually sold 2-3 years down the line as you'd see with some iPhone models.

 

[Dr. Dro]

You mean security updates? They're not really adding anything major/minor feature wise so it should be counted just as that! You could argue the app updates on Play store do something similar, also most Android phones generally ship with the latest OS version(14) and aren't usually sold 2-3 years down the line as you'd see with some iPhone models.

The last security update my S10+ received was in January of 2023, and it hasn't been updated ever since. The security patch is a full year out of date by now. And of course, forget about downloading the firmware blob from Samsung themselves

Samsung Galaxy S10+ (SM-G975F) - ZTO - G975FXXSGHWA3 firmware

Fast download latest Samsung Galaxy S10+ firmware SM-G975F from Brazil with G975FXXSGHWA3 and Android version 12

www.sammobile.com

iOS 15.8.1 for the 6s and 7 was released last week, 22 January 2024

Apple security releases

This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.

support.apple.com

S10+ had Android 9 when I got it and was abandoned on Android 12, this is actually a remarkable run for an Android device, most get one or end up beached at the software they launched with (for example, my brother's Moto G200 was never updated from Android 12 at all despite being a capable Snapdragon 888+ device)

The 6s was released in 2015 and has received iOS: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and its incremental upgrades, and is still actively patched by Apple

As for software compatibility? Well, just like most apps still run on Android 7 or newer, most still run on iOS 15. I think the only two that I found that no longer run are the Microsoft Office suite and the Netflix app that are asking for iOS 16, but all other streaming services (including Disney and Star+) work. No other compatibility problems with literally anything that I have ever tried, and all of them work extremely well for an almost 9 year old device.

Small correction there, not demand for the form factor, demand for the price point. The ancient form factor is simply Apple spitting in it's clients faces. They only updated the SoC because it's cheaper to produce more of the newer one instead of keeping the older models in prodution

Believe it or not, some people have an active preference for the Touch ID-equipped, no nonsense bar phones without the fluff. Price factors into it, yes, but remember, the original SE for example had the iPhone 6s's innards on the 5s's chassis, and for many years it was practically the best compact phone you could buy, in many ways, still is. When Apple retired it, a lot of people, myself included, got pretty upset about it, which is why I have the S10+... they took about a year after I got it to backtrack on killing off the SE and releasing the 2nd gen 2020 model that's identical to the 2022 one (again, iPhone 8 chassis) but had an older A13 chipset instead. I definitely wasn't alone:

The iPhone SE was the best phone Apple ever made, and now it's dead | TechCrunch

I only wanted one thing out of 2018's iPhone event: a new iPhone SE. In failing to provide it Apple seems to have quietly put the model out to pasture — and for this I curse them eternally. Because it was the best phone the company ever made.

techcrunch.com

 

[R0H1T]

The last security update my S10+ received was in January of 2023, and it hasn't been updated ever since.

There's Google play system updates which are separate from OS/security updates, besides the app updates from the developers. They should provide better level of protection against common malware or security vulnerabilities. It's updated fairly regularly though you would need to be on Android 10 or above to get them.

Spoiler

 

[Dr. Dro]

There's Google play system updates which are separate from OS/security updates, besides the app updates from the developers. They should provide better level of protection against common malware or security vulnerabilities. It's updated fairly regularly though you would need to be on Android 10 or above to get them.

Spoiler

Yeah I know about them... My phone doesn't receive them anymore

Spoiler

 

[R0H1T]

Slightly odd, I thought Samsung would be doing more than that! I don't have anything comparable to test it against because my oldest phone is what 6-7 years old now. Are these region specific as well like folks in Europe/US would be on newer (PS)updates?

 

[Dr. Dro]

Slightly odd, I thought Samsung would be doing more than that! I don't have anything comparable to test it against because my oldest phone is what 6-7 years old now. Are these region specific as well like folks in Europe/US would be on newer (PS)updates?

I'm afraid it's not an obscure model, it's just the standard global S10+ (SM-G975F/DS), Exynos 9820 variant. Actual garbage phone (it aged horribly compared to the Snapdragon 855 variant) but I've gone back to dailying it after I sold my Z Flip 3 (thing gave me the heebie jeebies, every time I closed it, it made a sound like it was gonna snap: issue with the PET film that Samsung applies on the foldable screen, which gets off and feels like it'll rip the OLED in half, that and I had it serviced twice in 6 months because of this) and picked up the 6s+ recently just to toy around with it as I felt nostalgic about the days I had my SE, and found that I still really enjoyed using it.

 

[chrcoluk]

It absolutely is a wonderful thing. Apple mobile devices are the only (relevant in size) ecosystem that is locked down. Are Macbooks less secure or worse because you can install software from anywhere? Not really. And this would be an optional thing. You don't have to go outside the App Store if you don't want/need to. But it would be nice to have that option, like you have on Android.

Like bug said, this is just Apple fighting tooth and nail to protect its cash cow and this malicious compliance is absolutely disgusting. I hope the EU doesn't let it slide.

Everyone cheered when the EU forced MS to stop shoving IE down everyone's throat, everyone should be cheering on them forcing the end of the lockdown on iOS/iPadOS as well.

I dont see store competition in the same way and I also feel browser pushing isnt much better than before either ironically.

If I was a regulator, I would be asking the likes of Epic, what benefit would you be offering consumers to justify this extra competition, I would consider all of the following as not benefits. (primarily because developers are not consumers)

Higher margins for developers.
Higher margins for Epic.
Choice of store without any advantage of using that store. (illusion of choice)
Exclusivity benefits to developers.

The problem with competition, is when it isnt there for a good reason, when its there just for the sake of been there, things can go downhill. I have seen it in multiple different sectors, and the Epic store is a shining example of how it can hurt consumers.

--

The reason I am sceptic over if the EU achieved anything on web browsers.

Use google without chrome, and it pushes you to grab chrome.
Use bing without edge and it pushes you to grab edge.
Use bing to search for stuff and MSN has dominance of page 1, youtube videos are embedded into a microsoft videos page (wtf).
Bing has got so bad lately, if you back out of a page into it, it will inject a box into the part of the page you at to push sponsored links in your face and AI chat boxes also get injected in, and Microsoft wonder why Bing isnt as popular.

If the EU want to do something useful forbid these nonsensical temporary "not now" UI options, and force devs to change to "no" or "never" instead as well as making block cookie choices permanent, not a temporary token thats forgotten in a few weeks.

 

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

Android fanbots can now get used to the fact that some of the "best" features of Android are coming to iOS!

Spyware
Viruses
Malware
Un-installable Apps
Apps that cause OS instability
Apps that open the device to 3rd parties
Apps that send private data to undisclosed 3rd parties, even after they have been removed

Hey, it's my device, and I should be able to do what I like with it, unlike crappy Apple...

I really hope that these "features" are disabled by default. It won't help stupid, but it will help many of us that don't run our business website from our phones, hack the planet from our mobile, and don't download Torrents all day long on it either, change the 10-year-old TV's channel, or any other amazing things Android users say iPhones can't do that Android can and that they would die without.

I love it when crusty, clueless and corrupt politicians think they know best and force it on everyone. Thanks EU!

Jeeeeeeezes, talk about talking nonsense. Your post reminds me of this video under.

You are pretty much spot on to what he says Apple users are in the video. Specifically from what he says at 5 mins and 25 seconds and out in the video.