Apple introduced its iPhone 17 series in September last year and rumours surrounding its upcoming lineup have already started doing rounds on the internet. In a latest, a tipster has claimed that the Pro models in the iPhone 18 series could have a Dynamic Island that is approximately 35% smaller in size in comparison with the latest iPhone 17 Pro models.

Much Smaller Dynamic Island For iPhone 18 Pro Models

In an X post, tipster Ice Universe suggested that the Cupertino-based tech giant might reduce the Dynamic Island cutout width from 20.76 mm in iPhone 17 Pro models to just 13.49 mm for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max smartphones.

“The Dynamic Island cutout width on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max has been reduced from 20.76 mm to 13.49 mm, representing a reduction of approximately 35%,” read the social media post from Ice Universe, who also shared a mockup image to highlgiht how it might look like in the upcoming devices.

The Dynamic Island cutout width on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max has been reduced from 20.76 mm to 13.49 mm, representing a reduction of approximately 35%. pic.twitter.com/dLnUdCts7z

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) January 23, 2026

Earlier, reports suggested that Apple could feature under-display Face ID for the iPhone 18 Pro models, which could further contribute towards downsizing the notch.

Apple first introduced the pill-shaped cutout with the Pro models in its iPhone 14 lineup in 2022. At that time, it replaced the wide notch found on the previous models. Besides the sensors for Face ID and front camera, the notch also supports other key features, including notifications and real-time tracking.

A report from The Information recently claimed that iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max might come with only a small hole in the top-left corner of the screen that will accommodate the front-facing camera, while all Face ID hardware will be moved under the screen. This meant that the upcoming models will no longer feature the pill-shaped cutout at the top of the screen.

However, a tipster later claimed that the same was unlikely to happen. 

LTPO+ Display, Price And More Details

Recently, it came out that Apple is preparing to use LTPO+ (Low Temperature Crystal Silicon Oxide) display panels for the iPhone 18 range. 

A report from South Korean outlet ETNews suggested that the company has lined up Samsung Display and LG Display as key suppliers for the screens. Besides the iPhone 18 models, it is also expected to be used for the highly anticipated foldable iPhone. 

When it comes to price, leaks from Korean tipster yeux1122 suggest that Apple might increase the price for iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max versions due to surging costs for DRAM and NAND memory. However, the company is anticipated to maintain the price for base iPhone 18 model as its predecessor.

ALSO READ: Apple iPhone 18 Pro Models May Be Pricier; No Hike For iPhone 18 — But There’s A Catch

Apple Inc.’s iPhone exports from India jumped by a third in the six months through September, underscoring its push to expand manufacturing in the country and reduce dependence on China.

The US company exported nearly $6 billion of India-made iPhones, an increase of a third in value terms from a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the information is private. That puts annual exports on track to surpass the about $10 billion of fiscal 2024.

Apple is expanding its manufacturing network in India at a rapid clip, taking advantage of local subsidies, a skilled workforce and advances in the country’s technological capabilities. India is a crucial part of the company’s effort to lessen its reliance on China, where risks have grown along with Beijing’s tensions with the US.

Three of Apple’s suppliers – Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp., and homegrown Tata Electronics – assemble iPhones in southern India. Foxconn’s local unit, based on the outskirts of Chennai, is the top supplier in India and accounts for half of the country’s iPhone exports.

Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group’s electronics manufacturing arm exported about $1.7 billion in iPhones from its factory in Karnataka state from April to September, the people said. Tata acquired this unit from Wistron Corp. last year, becoming the first Indian assembler of Apple’s bestselling product.

The dollar figure refers to the devices’ estimated factory gate value, not the retail price. Representatives for Apple declined to comment. Pegatron also declined to comment, while Foxconn and Tata spokespersons didn’t respond to requests for comment.

iPhones account for the bulk of India’s smartphone exports and helped the product category become the top export to the US at $2.88 billion in the first five months of this fiscal year, according to federal trade ministry data. Five years ago, before Apple expanded manufacturing in India, the country’s annual smartphone exports to the US were a meager $5.2 million.

Still, Apple accounts for just under 7% of India’s smartphone market, which is dominated by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. And while still a small market for iPhones globally, Apple is making big bets.

The subsidies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration helped Apple assemble its pricey iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models, with better cameras and titanium bodies, in India this year. It’s also seeking to open new retail stores, including in the southern tech hub of Bangalore and western city of Pune.

Last year, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook launched Apple’s first shops in the financial hub of Mumbai and capital New Delhi.

The grand openings, the marketing blitz around the new stores, an aggressive online sales push as well as a rapidly growing middle class that aspires to own Apple products boosted its annual India revenue to a record of $8 billion in the year through March.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

India sales could reach $33 billion by 2030, we calculate, fueled primarily by rising middle-class purchasing power and a greater use of payment plans.

– Anurag Rana & Andrew Girard, analysts 

Apple’s rising star in India contrasts with its flagging fortunes in China, whose economy has stuttered following harsh Covid-19 lockdowns and a property crisis. To be sure, Apple relies on China for a bulk of its manufacturing and sales, and India’s unlikely to become its top market anytime soon.

Apple assembled $14 billion of iPhones in India in the fiscal year through March 2024, doubling production and accelerating its drive to diversify beyond China. Of that, it exported roughly $10 billion worth of iPhones.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Apple chief Tim Cook is visiting China. This is the second time that Cook has visited the Asian giant this year. 

Apple operates at the frontiers of technology to create electronic products that are so well-crafted and aspirational that die-hard fans turn sidewalks near Apple stores into campsites ahead of new product arrivals. They have catapulted it to become the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $3.5 trillion, the same as India’s GDP in 2023. 

Cook’s visit is intriguing and important because Apple is an American native. And the US-China rivalry, especially in cutting-edge science and technology, is irrevocably shaping the 21st century. Bloomberg reported China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong asking Cook to invest in innovation, a sensitive subject in Washington, which wants to slow Beijing’s tech march. The superpower competition is so intense that analysts sometimes speculate that it could spiral into war. Yet, the Apple chief vowed to “continue to grow its investments in China and help the high-quality development of the supply chain”. 

China Remains Un-Bypassable

Apple’s overtures show how China, unlike India, remains an un-bypassable economy for global corporations. Which is why it is Apple that is wooing China, not the other way round. How the latter built itself up into a global manufacturing hub is well-documented and India is trying to emulate it in its own way. However, its ability to leverage market and production capacity access to learn and grow with the best in the world is severely limited. 

For instance, Cook considered China so important, both as a manufacturing hub and market, that the company signed a secret deal in 2016 to invest $275 billion locally, including billion-dollar infusions in Chinese startups such as Didi. The Chinese government barely gave any concessions as Apple was fighting off a regulatory onslaught with the olive branch of investment. The pact was an unqualified success. Apple raked in the moolah as it rode the country’s economic boom and citizens’ prosperity. It became the phonemaker’s largest market outside the US, bringing in $378 billion in revenues between 2016 and 2022 even as it helped Chinese companies upgrade their technological capabilities.

In comparison, India bent over backwards to woo iPhone and iPad makers to set up shop here. It slashed import duties on components while keeping out finished products with high levies. This has now led to a situation where an iPhone made in India is cheaper in Dubai compared to Delhi. An iPhone 16 with a memory of 128GB costs about Rs 78,000 in a Dubai Mal,  while it costs Rs 89,000 at the shiny Apple retail store in Delhi that Cook personally flew down to last year and flagged off. It took no time for the arbitrage to spawn a smuggling racket. 

India’s Tortuous Duty Structures

iPhone smuggling may not cause much damage to the exchequer, but warped duty structures and perverse incentives distort the market so much that larger national objectives and development agenda are crumbling. Protectionist tariffs have stunted the growth and innovation in the solar industry. As this three-part series shows, India’s renewable energy programme is weighing heavily on the finances of electricity distribution companies, ordinary consumers, and, ultimately, taxpayers. State-owned public distribution companies have accumulated losses of Rs 6.77 lakh crore. 

Indian solar energy firms find it more profitable to import photovoltaic cells from China and assemble modules to ship to other markets as well as sell to local users. High import duties on modules but low levies on cells ensure wide margins for module makers and high costs for power distributors and end consumers.  

Relying On Just Arbitrage

Such policies also have wider, unintended consequences. For instance, small manufacturers (read assemblers) use imported Chinese components in white-labelled goods and own brands to sell in regional markets. One such Maharashtra-based entrepreneur with a topline of about Rs 75 crore says that his products enjoy good margins and give bigger companies a run for their money. He keeps costs low by managing sales, operations, procurement and logistics, all by himself. Levies are fickle and an upward revision will squeeze margins and he does not want to risk raising costs by hiring specialists. That means the basis of his success is neither technological innovation nor organisational efficiency but arbitrage. It also means the duty structure intended to boost local manufacturing and job creation is merely promoting product assembly while generating few jobs. 

Earlier this month, the Tata Group-owned plant in Tamil Nadu that makes back panels for older models of the iPhone caught fire. The unit is the only producer of the critical component, forcing iPhone maker Foxconn as well as the Tata Group (it assembles older models at another unit) to source the parts from China to meet global demand in peak festival season. Bloomberg reports that business was a key factor even in achieving a breakthrough in India-China border talks.

Why China Is Pacing Ahead

When Cook signed the secret deal in 2016, Apple vowed to localise component sourcing and stitch up deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate on technology with Chinese universities and directly invest in Chinese tech companies until 2022. It also committed to building research and development centres and renewable energy projects, The Information reported in 2021.

To be sure, Apple was not the only US company to sign such a deal. Microsoft and Cisco signed similar deals that helped local R&D and innovation. The ecosystem they helped build no doubt contributed to bolstering the technological prowess of Chinese manufacturing. But, meanwhile, homegrown companies also developed their own expertise and breakthroughs. 

Chinese scientists have already built an electrolyzer that can directly split seawater to produce hydrogen. A Beijing-based energy startup Betavolt claimed in January this year that it had built a commercially viable coin-sized nuclear battery that can power a mobile phone for 50 years. In 2023, the number of SMEs producing new and unique products using special and sophisticated technologies exceeded 70,000, according to the Report on the Work of the Government presented at the 14th National People’s Congress. To compare, the number of technology SMEs in India is just over 10,000, as per Nasscom. Most of them are in software and do work for larger firms. This is not to say that there are no Indian companies doing advanced research and innovation. But they are few and far between, and are often starved of capital. Tata Sons at 207 is the only Indian company in the 2024 Patent 300 list, an annual global ranking of innovators. 

Indian Firms Need To Value Innovation

China offers liberal tax incentives to manufacturing companies and SMEs if they invest in R&D. India, too, offers tax breaks up to 150%, but it’s mainly used by Global Capacity Centres (GCC) of foreign companies because even large Indian firms rarely foster a culture of innovation. The R&D tax break is one of the reasons, apart from the availability of cheap, high-quality talent, for the mushrooming of GCCs (over 1,600 now) in India. The knowledge and patents created, however, do not belong here. 

Indian planning often tends to be short-termist. The government needs to holistically reassess its incentive structures to make the local industry truly independent and competitive in the long run. 

(Dinesh Narayanan is a Delhi-based journalist and author of ‘The RSS And The Making Of The Deep Nation’.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Apple chief Tim Cook is visiting China. This is the second time that Cook has visited the Asian giant this year. 

Apple operates at the frontiers of technology to create electronic products that are so well-crafted and aspirational that die-hard fans turn sidewalks near Apple stores into campsites ahead of new product arrivals. They have catapulted it to become the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $3.5 trillion, the same as India’s GDP in 2023. 

Cook’s visit is intriguing and important because Apple is an American native. And the US-China rivalry, especially in cutting-edge science and technology, is irrevocably shaping the 21st century. Bloomberg reported China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong asking Cook to invest in innovation, a sensitive subject in Washington, which wants to slow Beijing’s tech march. The superpower competition is so intense that analysts sometimes speculate that it could spiral into war. Yet, the Apple chief vowed to “continue to grow its investments in China and help the high-quality development of the supply chain”. 

China Remains Un-Bypassable

Apple’s overtures show how China, unlike India, remains an un-bypassable economy for global corporations. Which is why it is Apple that is wooing China, not the other way round. How the latter built itself up into a global manufacturing hub is well-documented and India is trying to emulate it in its own way. However, its ability to leverage market and production capacity access to learn and grow with the best in the world is severely limited. 

For instance, Cook considered China so important, both as a manufacturing hub and market, that the company signed a secret deal in 2016 to invest $275 billion locally, including billion-dollar infusions in Chinese startups such as Didi. The Chinese government barely gave any concessions as Apple was fighting off a regulatory onslaught with the olive branch of investment. The pact was an unqualified success. Apple raked in the moolah as it rode the country’s economic boom and citizens’ prosperity. It became the phonemaker’s largest market outside the US, bringing in $378 billion in revenues between 2016 and 2022 even as it helped Chinese companies upgrade their technological capabilities.

In comparison, India bent over backwards to woo iPhone and iPad makers to set up shop here. It slashed import duties on components while keeping out finished products with high levies. This has now led to a situation where an iPhone made in India is cheaper in Dubai compared to Delhi. An iPhone 16 with a memory of 128GB costs about Rs 78,000 in a Dubai Mal,  while it costs Rs 89,000 at the shiny Apple retail store in Delhi that Cook personally flew down to last year and flagged off. It took no time for the arbitrage to spawn a smuggling racket. 

India’s Tortuous Duty Structures

iPhone smuggling may not cause much damage to the exchequer, but warped duty structures and perverse incentives distort the market so much that larger national objectives and development agenda are crumbling. Protectionist tariffs have stunted the growth and innovation in the solar industry. As this three-part series shows, India’s renewable energy programme is weighing heavily on the finances of electricity distribution companies, ordinary consumers, and, ultimately, taxpayers. State-owned public distribution companies have accumulated losses of Rs 6.77 lakh crore. 

Indian solar energy firms find it more profitable to import photovoltaic cells from China and assemble modules to ship to other markets as well as sell to local users. High import duties on modules but low levies on cells ensure wide margins for module makers and high costs for power distributors and end consumers.  

Relying On Just Arbitrage

Such policies also have wider, unintended consequences. For instance, small manufacturers (read assemblers) use imported Chinese components in white-labelled goods and own brands to sell in regional markets. One such Maharashtra-based entrepreneur with a topline of about Rs 75 crore says that his products enjoy good margins and give bigger companies a run for their money. He keeps costs low by managing sales, operations, procurement and logistics, all by himself. Levies are fickle and an upward revision will squeeze margins and he does not want to risk raising costs by hiring specialists. That means the basis of his success is neither technological innovation nor organisational efficiency but arbitrage. It also means the duty structure intended to boost local manufacturing and job creation is merely promoting product assembly while generating few jobs. 

Earlier this month, the Tata Group-owned plant in Tamil Nadu that makes back panels for older models of the iPhone caught fire. The unit is the only producer of the critical component, forcing iPhone maker Foxconn as well as the Tata Group (it assembles older models at another unit) to source the parts from China to meet global demand in peak festival season. Bloomberg reports that business was a key factor even in achieving a breakthrough in India-China border talks.

Why China Is Pacing Ahead

When Cook signed the secret deal in 2016, Apple vowed to localise component sourcing and stitch up deals with Chinese software firms, collaborate on technology with Chinese universities and directly invest in Chinese tech companies until 2022. It also committed to building research and development centres and renewable energy projects, The Information reported in 2021.

To be sure, Apple was not the only US company to sign such a deal. Microsoft and Cisco signed similar deals that helped local R&D and innovation. The ecosystem they helped build no doubt contributed to bolstering the technological prowess of Chinese manufacturing. But, meanwhile, homegrown companies also developed their own expertise and breakthroughs. 

Chinese scientists have already built an electrolyzer that can directly split seawater to produce hydrogen. A Beijing-based energy startup Betavolt claimed in January this year that it had built a commercially viable coin-sized nuclear battery that can power a mobile phone for 50 years. In 2023, the number of SMEs producing new and unique products using special and sophisticated technologies exceeded 70,000, according to the Report on the Work of the Government presented at the 14th National People’s Congress. To compare, the number of technology SMEs in India is just over 10,000, as per Nasscom. Most of them are in software and do work for larger firms. This is not to say that there are no Indian companies doing advanced research and innovation. But they are few and far between, and are often starved of capital. Tata Sons at 207 is the only Indian company in the 2024 Patent 300 list, an annual global ranking of innovators. 

Indian Firms Need To Value Innovation

China offers liberal tax incentives to manufacturing companies and SMEs if they invest in R&D. India, too, offers tax breaks up to 150%, but it’s mainly used by Global Capacity Centres (GCC) of foreign companies because even large Indian firms rarely foster a culture of innovation. The R&D tax break is one of the reasons, apart from the availability of cheap, high-quality talent, for the mushrooming of GCCs (over 1,600 now) in India. The knowledge and patents created, however, do not belong here. 

Indian planning often tends to be short-termist. The government needs to holistically reassess its incentive structures to make the local industry truly independent and competitive in the long run. 

(Dinesh Narayanan is a Delhi-based journalist and author of ‘The RSS And The Making Of The Deep Nation’.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

New Delhi:

iPhone maker Apple on Friday said it will open four more stores in India, located in Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

The company said it will also roll out its first-ever “made in India” iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max series devices this month.

“We’re thrilled to build our teams as we plan to open more stores in India because we’re inspired by the creativity and passion of our customers across this country. We can’t wait for them to have even more opportunities to discover and shop for our amazing products and services, and connect with our extraordinary, knowledgeable team members,” Apple’s senior Vice President of Retail, Deirdre O’Brien, said in a statement.

In April 2023, Apple opened its two stores in India, one in Delhi and the other in Mumbai.

“Future Apple Retail stores are planned in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai,” the statement said.

According to people aware of the development, the stores are likely to be opened next year.

The company announced that it will now manufacture iPhone 16 series smartphones in India.

“Apple is now manufacturing the entire iPhone 16 lineup, including iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, in India,” the statement said.

Apple began manufacturing the iPhone in India in 2017. “Manufactured in India iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will soon be available for our local customers and for export to select countries across the world,” the statement said. According to sources, supplies of the high-end, Made-in-India iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are expected to begin this month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Cupertino:

Apple on Monday announced a new iPhone built for generative artificial intelligence as it seeks to boost sales and show it is keeping up in the technology race.

The tech giant has a lot riding on what would be the iPhone 16 and will hope that customers are enticed to buy the latest models, attracted by new AI powers.

“We are thrilled to introduce the first iPhones designed from the ground up for Apple Intelligence and its breakthrough capabilities,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said at an event at the iPhone-maker’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

With $39 billion in sales last quarter, the iPhone counts for roughly 60 percent of Apple’s revenue, and remains the main entryway to the company’s services, such as the App Store or Apple TV, which are becoming a growing part of its business.

Apple is only just coming out of a long sales slump as users increasingly stick with older models longer.

“This iPhone 16 release is all about Apple Intelligence and the unleashing of the consumer AI Revolution through Cupertino,” Wedbust analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors, referring to Apple’s home city.

“In essence Cupertino will be the gatekeeper of the consumer AI Revolution.”

“Apple Intelligence” is a new suite of software features for all devices that was announced in June at the company’s annual developers conference, where it also announced a partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

“For years, artificial intelligence and machine learning have been essential in delivering so many of the features and experiences you love,” Cook said.

“In June, we launched Apple Intelligence, our powerful new personal intelligence system, which will have an incredible impact.”

In the short-term, these include AI-infused image editing, translation, and small, creative touches in messaging, but not more ambitious breakthroughs promised by other AI players, such as OpenAI or Google.

Ives expects software makers to begin cranking out apps and services tuned with generative AI capabilities, fueling sales of iPhones.

Apple is expected to tailor new AirPod ear buds and smart watches to take advantage of AI capabilities and Siri digital assistant.

The company announced new models of Apple Watch and AirPods at the event.

By adding AI capabilities, Apple is looking to “shake that expectation” that iPhone launches are “just steady improvements in hardware and software,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

Longer term, Apple could dramatically change the iPhone experience with a “super-powered Siri” working across all the apps, Greengart said.

Pixel power

Apple’s announcement closely follows Google, which last month unveiled AI-infused Pixel 9 smartphones, its challenge to the iPhone.

Pixels account for a tiny sliver of the global smartphone market dominated by Samsung and Apple, but Google argued its new line is a chance to answer what — after all the hype — AI can actually do for customers.

“There have been so many promises, so many ‘coming soons,’ and not enough real world helpfulness when it comes to AI — which is why today we’re getting real,” Google senior vice president of devices Rick Osterloh said at the Pixel 9 launch.

Samsung has also showcased AI across a range of its consumer electronic products as it looks to extend its leadership in global smartphone sales.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Apple, the Cupertino tech giant, relies on the vast manufacturing network in China for the mass production of its iPhone and other devices. In recent times, the company has also shifted focus to other key markets, including India, to diversify its manufacturing base.

Now, days ahead of the highly-anticipated launch of the iPhone 16 series, an old video of Apple CEO Tim Cook has gained significant attention on social media. In the viral video, Cook is seen addressing the common misconception about why the US-based company has invested heavily in China for its product manufacturing.

Debunking the common belief that companies flock to China for cheap labour, Mr Cook said, “There is a confusion about China. And let me at least give you my opinion. The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labour costs. I am not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is China stopped being a low labour cost country many years ago.”

The Apple CEO elaborated on the advanced tooling and precision required to produce the products and highlighted China’s vocational expertise in these areas.

“The reason is because of the skill, the quantity of skill in one location, and the type of skill it is,” he said.

Mr Cook noted that the product it makes requires “really advanced tooling and the precision that you have to have in tooling and working with the materials that we do are state of the art.” 

“And the tooling skill is very deep here. You know, in the US, you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I am not sure we could fill the room. In China, you could fill multiple football fields. It’s that vocational expertise is very, very deep here,” he added.

The throwback clip of Tim Cook was shared on social media site X and has garnered six million views so far. It also caught the attention of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who agreed with his views.

In the comments section, Mr Musk wrote, “True”.

True

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 6, 2024

Mr Musk’s comment on the Chinese manufacturing sector came just months after his surprise visit to the Asian country where he plans to introduce Tesla’s self-driving technology to a market with ferocious competition.

On his trip, he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who praised Tesla as a “successful model” for US-China collaboration.

Meanwhile, Apple is currently gearing up for its mega event, ‘It’s Glowtime’. The tech giant will roll out its all-new iPhone 16 series, besides setting the stage for a new artificial intelligence platform.

The event will take place at 10:30 PM on September 9 in India.

New Delhi:

Tech giant Apple has issued a fresh warning to iPhone users in at least 98 countries, including in India, about a potential new mercenary spyware attack like ‘Pegasus’.

According to the Apple warning, it has detected that “you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID”.

In the warning, the iPhone maker further said that this attack is “likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do”.

“Although it’s never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning – please take it seriously,” the company added.

In October last year, the US-based technology company sent similar warnings to users in India.

In April this year, the tech giant sent threat notifications to select users in 92 countries, including some in India, who may have been targeted using ‘mercenary spyware’ like Pegasus from the NSO Group.

Since 2021, the company has sent threat notifications multiple times a year as it detected these attacks.

Recently, the Indian government warned Apple users in India about multiple vulnerabilities in their devices.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A teen from Colorado, United States, is facing up to six decades in jail for killing a family of five after setting fire to the wrong home for revenge over his stolen iPhone, as per a report in the New York Post. Kevin Bui, who is now 20-years-old, pleaded guilty this week to starting the late-night fire in a Denver neighbourhood in August 2020 after tracking his stolen phone to the vicinity using the “Find my iPhone” app. The man, who was aged 16 at that time, was seen as the mastermind behind the fire that killed the Senegalese family, which included two infant daughters.

The Diol family- a couple in their twenties, their daughter, their relative and her daughter, were all killed in the blaze. Three others broke bones while trying to escape the fire by jumping from the second floor.

The CCTV footage captured that night showed Bui and his two friends wearing face masks and hoodies when they set fire to the home. The three were named suspects after obtaining a search warrant to get Google to provide IP addresses that had searched the home’s address within 15 days of the fire. They were then arrested almost five months after the incident.

Dillon Siebert, who was 14 years old at the time, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and was given a sentence of three years in juvenile detention and seven years in a state prison programme for young inmates.

In March, Gavin Seymour, a 19-year-old who had pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder, was given a 40-year jail term.

Meanwhile, Bui was prosecuted as an adult and was given a sentence of up to 60 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.