This digest compiles the latest from Apple Insider.
Today’s Apple Insider Roundup
Apple dominated 2025 smartphone market with a 20% share
The smartphone industry had a good year in 2025 with moderate growth. Apple blew the doors off the place, with the iPhone dominating the market.
According to preliminary estimates released by Counterpoint on January 12, global smartphone shipments grew 2% year-over-year compared to 2024. This is not quite as big as the year-over-year increase of 4% between 2023 and 2024, but it’s still growth.
Apple's record-breaking year for Services is a preview for earnings
A few weeks before the holiday quarter earnings report, Apple senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, has once more written a celebration of successes with Apple Music, Apple TV, and the App Store.
As Cue first did in 2023, Eddy Cue has summarized what he says is the “remarkable growth… and continuous innovation” of Apple Services in “record-breaking” 2025. Saying that the collection from the App Store through Apple Pay had been “shattering records.”
“We marked milestone anniversaries across services, including Apple Podcasts, Music, News, and more — each made possible by the artists, creators, journalists, and storytellers who bring these platforms to life,” he said in a statement. Cue backed up his claims with some specifics:
Half price iPhone 13 battery replacement is probably only for China
Apple is claimed to have announced a half-price battery replacement service for iPhone 13 users in China.
When it first came out, the iPhone 13 range and in particular the iPhone 13 Pro Max was said to be Apple’s undisputed battery life champion. According to China’s City News Service, however, there have subsequently been spurious worldwide reports of battery swelling or performance degradation.
That claim has not been verified, but the publication says that consequently Apple has announced a program to offer users in China a half-price battery replacement on any model of the iPhone 13 family of devices. The program is said to have launched on January 7, 2026, and will run until April 30, 2026.
Apple's utter silence about AI-generated child porn on X is appalling yet unsurprising
We know you’re reading, Apple. For maybe the first time in the ’20s, do the right thing by users instead of your shareholders and block the child porn factory that is X and Grok until they make changes.
Once again, Apple has chosen shareholders over users, willingly choosing to placate Elon Musk and leave X and Grok on the App Store. And all this, even as it still churns out child porn and deepfake nudes of the unwilling.
Twitter and now X has a porn problem that’s mostly gone uncorrected and unmoderated in the interest of “free speech absolutism.” And it’s gotten worse.
Inside Preview in iOS 26 – how to edit PDFs, sign documents, and scan files
Preview in iOS 26 turns your iPhone into a quick workspace when a document needs attention. Here’s how to edit your PDFs with the app.
The new Preview app fixes a long-standing gap on the iPhone. Document tools scattered across Files, Mail, and third-party apps never felt consistent or easy to manage. Preview brings everything together, which makes common tasks feel easier to handle.
The app supports PDFs, images, and scans without pushing you through separate workflows. You can correct small issues on a page, add a signature, or clean up a document before sending it back. Many routine jobs finally feel manageable on a smaller screen.
Wedbush expects monumental 2026 for Apple despite invisible AI strategy
Investment firm Wedbush says that 2026 should be a key year for Apple with a new Siri, new Google Gemini deal, and new iPhone 18 range — but definitely not a new CEO.
Back in December 2025, Wedbush raised its Apple price target to $350, chiefly over iPhone demand plus the expectation that 2026 will bring a new Siri. Now in a new note to investors seen by AppleInsider, it retains that valuation, but is doubling down on how AI, iPhone demand, and also staff turnover will make for what it calls a monumental year for Apple.
While the detail of its new note to investors remains the same as in December, this time the firm’s researchers have broken the analysis down into four key areas:
'The Studio' and 'Pluribus' win at the Golden Globes awards
Apple TV hits “The Studio” and “Pluribus” have together won three awards at the 83rd Golden Globes ceremony.
In December 2025, it was announced that Apple TV had 14 nominations for the Golden Globes, across four series plus “F1: The Movie.” Now in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in California, Apple TV took home three awards:
- Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy: The Studio
Price war: Save $300 on Apple's 1TB 14-inch MacBook Pro with 20-core GPU
Amazon and B&H are competing for your business, with a $300 discount on Apple’s upgraded M4 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro with 1TB of storage.
With the $300 discount at Amazon and B&H Photo, you can pick up Apple’s upgraded 14-inch MacBook Pro for $2,099 when ordered in Space Black.
End of today’s Apple Insider roundup.
