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Apple CEO Tim Cook to take more than 40% pay cut

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Apple CEO Tim Cook will take a more than 40% pay cut this year from a year earlier as the company adjusts how it calculates his compensation partly based on a recommendation from Cook himself.

Apple Inc. said in a regulatory filing late Thursday that Cook’s target total compensation is $49 million for 2023, with a $3 million salary, $6 million cash incentive and $40 million in equity awards.

Last March the Cupertino, California, company conducted an advisory shareholder vote on executive pay with 6.21 billion shares voting in favor of the executive pay package and 3.44 billion against. There were also abstentions and broker non-votes.

Apple said its compensation committee took into account shareholder feedback, the company’s performance and a recommendation from Cook, who was promoted to CEO in 2011, to adjust his compensation in light of the feedback received.

Apple said last year it sought feedback from shareholders about compensation and it received “overwhelming support for Mr. Cook’s exceptional leadership and the unprecedented value he has delivered for shareholders….Those shareholders we spoke with that did not support our 2022 Say on Pay proposal consistently cited the size and structure of the 2021 and 2022 equity awards granted to Mr. Cook as the primary reason for their voting decision,” the company said.

Cook has received a $3 million base salary for the past three years, but his total compensation — which includes the restricted awards — jumped from $14.8 million in 2020 to $98.7 million in 2021 and $99.4 million in 2022.

Apple said Cook supported the changes to his compensation.

The company plans to position Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to its primary peer group for future years, according to the filing.

The company will hold its annual meeting March 10.

In midday trading, Apple shares edged down to $133. The stock has declined about 23% in the past year.

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Apple mixed reality headset now expected in spring or later: Kuo

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Attendees wait for the start of the Apple World Wide Developers Conference

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple‘s long-awaited mixed reality headset could be announced in spring at the earliest, top Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on Twitter.

Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst at TF International, had initially predicted in June that Apple would announce a mixed reality headset by the end of January. But on Thursday, the widely respected analyst said he believes Apple will postpone “mass shipment” of any product to the second or third quarter of 2023, citing a combination of mechanical and software issues.

Kuo anticipates an announcement occurring in a “spring media event or WWDC based on current development progress.” WWDC is Apple’s annual developer conference, typically held in June.

Whenever it arrives, the product would create immediate competition for Meta, formerly Facebook, which is focused on building a digital world called the metaverse and sells its own Meta-branded virtual reality headsets.

Apple’s headset is expected to cost between $2,000 and $3,000 and will have more than 10 cameras on the exterior and interior of the device, according to Bloomberg. The mixed reality device will run on an operating system called xrOS, with mixed reality adaptations of Apple’s Messages, FaceTime and Maps apps, according to Bloomberg.

An announcement during WWDC makes sense if the company wants to show off the headset with the latest software tools that developers will use to build apps for it. WWDC is where Apple unveils the annual software updates and some new features for iPhones, iPads, Macs, the Apple Watch and more, and it has breakout sessions where developers can learn about the latest ways to integrate their apps into Apple’s hardware.

Kuo has broken scoops on Apple product releases before, including news on the size and design of the iPhone X in 2016 before the product launched. The Apple analyst also predicted the controversial removal of the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 series.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



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Elon Musk claims Apple has ‘threatened to withhold’ Twitter from its app store

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New York
CNN Business
 — 

Elon Musk on Monday claimed that Apple has “threatened” to pull Twitter from its iOS app store, a move that could be devastating to the company Musk just acquired for $44 billion.

“Apple

(AAPL) has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why,” Musk said in one of several tweets Monday taking aim at Apple

(AAPL) and its CEO for alleged moves that could undermine Twitter’s business.

In another tweet, Musk claimed that Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. “Do they hate free speech in America,” he said, in an apparent reference to his oft-stated desire to bolster his idea of free speech on the platform. “What’s going on here [Apple CEO Tim Cook]?” Musk added in a follow-up tweet. He also criticized Apple’s size, claimed it engages in “censorship,” and called out the 30% transaction fee Apple charges large app developers to be listed in its app store.

The tweetstorm highlights the tenuous relationship between Musk and Apple, which along with Google serves as the major gatekeepers for mobile applications. Long before taking over Twitter, the Tesla CEO said that when the car company was struggling, he considered selling the company to Apple, but that Cook refused to take a meeting with him.

Removal from Apple’s app store, or that of Google, would be detrimental to Twitter’s business, which is already struggling with a loss of advertisers following Musk’s takeover and a rocky initial attempt at expanding its subscription business.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s tweets. The company has previously shown it’s willing to remove apps from its app store over concerns about their ability to moderate harmful content or if they attempt to circumvent the cut Apple takes from in-app purchases and subscriptions.

In January 2021, Apple removed Parler, an app popular with conservatives, including some members of the far right, from its app store following the US Capitol attack over concerns about the platform’s ability to detect and moderate hate speech and incitement. Parler was returned to Apple’s app store three months later after updating its content moderation practices.

In its official app store review guidelines, Apple lists various safety parameters that apps must adhere to in order to be included in the store, including an ability to prevent “content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy” such as hate speech, pornography and terrorism. “If you’re looking to shock and offend people, the App Store isn’t the right place for your app,” the guidelines state.

Various civil society groups, researchers and other industry watchers have raised concerns about Twitter’s ability to effectively moderate harmful content and maintain the platform’s safety following widespread layoffs and mass employee exits at the company. Musk has also claimed he wants to amplify “free speech” on the platform and has begun to restore some accounts that were previously banned or suspended for repeatedly violating Twitter’s rules. Musk himself has shared a conspiracy theory and several other controversial tweets since taking over as Twitter’s owner.

Musk, long a prolific and antagonistic tweeter, has not let up at all since taking over the company. And what it may have lost in revenue, he has claimed it has made up for in engagement. Part of the strategy appears to be relentlessly taking aim at enemies, either of him personally or of “free speech.”

In an interview with CBS earlier this month, Cook was asked whether there are any ways in which Twitter could change that would cause Apple to remove it from the app store. “They say that they’re going to continue to moderate and so … I count on them to do that,” Cook responded. “Because I don’t think that anybody really wants hate speech on their platform. So I’m counting on them to continue to do that.”

In an op-ed published in the New York Times last week, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, who left the company earlier this month, suggested that Twitter had already begun to receive calls from app store operators following Musk’s takeover. Roth said the company’s failure to adhere to Google and Apple’s app store rules could be “catastrophic.”

And last weekend, the head of Apple’s app store, Phil Schiller, deleted his Twitter account.

While the state of Apple and Twitter’s relationship is unclear, the iPhone maker was running Black Friday ads on the platform as recently as last Thursday, according to posts viewed by CNN.

Many companies have pulled back on digital ad spending in recent months as the economy declined, and Twitter has likely always only been a small portion of Apple’s ad budget. Apple’s impact on Twitter, however, could be much more significant, including if Musk succeeds in shifting its core business to being more reliant on subscription revenue, and potentially has to pay a 30% cut to Apple.

In one tweet Monday, Musk asked his nearly 120 million followers if they know “Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store?” In another tweet, he posted a picture of a highway exit: one lane headed toward “pay 30%,” the other pointed toward “go to war.” An old car labeled “Elon” skidded toward the latter.



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Apple’s top designer is leaving three years after taking over from Ive

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An aerial view of Apple Park is seen in Cupertino, California, United States on October 28, 2021.

Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Apple’s vice president of industrial design, Evans Hankey, is leaving the company, Apple confirmed to CNBC on Friday.

Hankey took over for former Apple design chief Jony Ive three years ago when he left to start his own independent firm. Hankey has been responsible for much of Apple’s industrial design work, from the look and feel of the company’s hardware to the methods used to produce them in large volumes.

Hankey was never as recognized as Ive, who is known in Apple lore as one of the key minds behind the introduction of the iMac, iPod and iPhone. Still, she was often quoted in the media after new products were launched, discussing specific design decisions and the way Apple’s design team works.

Ive was close with Apple founder Steve Jobs and reported directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Hankey reported to Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO.

Hankey worked closely with Alan Dye, who was in charge of the look and feel of Apple’s software, and who will remain at the company, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported Hankey’s departure.

Apple hasn’t named a replacement for Hankey, according to Bloomberg News, but the company told CNBC in a statement that she will remain at the company to manage the transition.

“Apple’s design team brings together expert creatives from around the world and across many disciplines to imagine products that are undeniably Apple. The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience. Evans plans to stay on as we work through the transition, and we’d like to thank her for her leadership and contributions,” an Apple representative said in a statement.

Apple stock was largely unchanged on the news, rising less than 1% on Friday during intraday trading.

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Technology

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Laurene Powell Jobs panel interview

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Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks onstage during day 2 of Vox Media’s 2022 Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California.

Jerod Harris | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Wednesday that Apple doesn’t spend a lot of effort improving the texting experience between iPhones and Android devices because its users haven’t been asking for it.

“I don’t hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy on that, on this point,” Cook said in response to an audience question at Vox Media’s Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California. “I would love to convert you to iPhone.”

The response comes less than a month after Google kicked off an advertising campaign meant to put pressure on Apple.

Currently, texts between iPhones use iMessage, which has a much smoother experience than when an Android device texts an iPhone, in which SMS messages show up as green bubbles. Google wants Apple to adopt RCS, a kind of messaging that is meant as a next-generation SMS replacement with encryption and other modern features.

The questioner pressed Cook, saying that he can’t send videos to his mom because of the limitations of SMS messaging.

“Buy your mom an iPhone,” Cook said.

Privacy push goes back to Steve Jobs

Cook was joined by former Apple head designer Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs to discuss the legacy of Apple’s founder and announce a new Steve Jobs archive and potential documentary.

Apple’s recent privacy push is not a new goal for the company — the thinking actually goes back to founder Steve Jobs, Cook said.

“Steve really ingrained in the company in the early days in the importance of privacy and it has only grown since,” Cook said.

Cook cited a 2010 talk by Jobs where he said that privacy means that users consent to share their data. “Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English, and repeatedly. That’s what it means,” Jobs said in the talk cited by Cook.

Cook’s remarks come as the company’s privacy push has drawn increasing criticism as self-serving as the company has introduced new privacy features that make online advertising more difficult to measure as Apple reportedly plans to increase the size of its advertising business and introduces new ad units.

That’s the same philosophy behind App Tracking Transparency, a feature introduced in 2021 that has roiled the online advertising industry. iPhone owners are asked before sharing a unique device identification number with apps when they boot up — and most iPhone owners choose not to, preventing online advertisers from accurately tracking the performance of their ads.

Companies including Facebook parent Meta have blasted the change as anticompetitive. In February, Meta said it would cost it $10 billion this year.

“What we felt is that people should own their data, and they should make their own decision,” Cook said on Wednesday. “People should be empowered to be able to make that decision in a really straightforward and simple manner. Not buried 95 pages deep in a privacy policy somewhere.”

Cook elaborated that Apple follows stricter rules than advertisers and defended the company’s search ads.

“We’ve never said digital advertising is a bad thing,” Cook said. “What is not good is vacuuming up people’s data when they’re not doing so on an informed basis.”

Cook was asked if he saw Apple as a powerful company that has stepped in because regulators haven’t passed privacy laws.

“We’re not trying to be a regulator,” Cook said. “All we’re trying to do is give people the ability to make the decision for themselves.”

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Apple and Meta headsets could face a big challenge: Sticker shock

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Apple and Facebook parent Meta are expected to release mixed reality headsets in the coming year that could finally fulfill the industry’s promise to turn head-worn devices into the next big shift in personal computing.

But there’s one major potential snag: sticker shock.

The best-selling virtual reality headset, the Meta Quest 2, retails for $400 and accounted for 78% of the nascent VR market in 2021, according to IDC. Consumers who want the next-generation technology are going to have to spend multiples of that.

Meta’s forthcoming high-end headset, codenamed Cambria, is expected to cost at least $800, the company said earlier this year. Apple’s unannounced device could reportedly cost thousands of dollars. That’s a hefty load for products in a category that’s yet to go mainstream. Just 11.2 million VR units were shipped last year, IDC said. Apple sells that many iPhones every few weeks.

To expand the market, Meta and Apple will have to convince consumers that more advanced systems will be worth the investment. Both companies are reportedly betting on a new technology called passthrough mixed reality, which requires better displays and more processing power.

If passthrough mixed reality works as advertised, a VR headset would also function as a set of augmented reality glasses, enhancing the possibilities for applications and real-world use.

With existing VR devices, the experience is limited to what’s on the headset’s display. In passthrough AR, powerful cameras on the outside of a VR headset take video of the outside world and send it to two or more displays, one each in front of the user’s eyes.

This allows for developers to play with mixed reality, overlaying software or graphics on the video of the real world from just outside.

Believers in mixed reality say that we’ll eventually be able to condense the technology into a lightweight pair of glasses with transparent lenses. But that’s for the future.

The passthrough approach is emerging as the preferred near-term option because optical transparent displays are nowhere near ready for primetime. The problem for today is that passthrough mixed reality requires a lot of expensive parts and a powerful headset, limiting the size of the market.

In addition to the advanced cameras, passthrough devices need depth sensors that can take detailed video and measurements of the user’s surroundings. They also have to track the user’s eyes so as not to waste power generating graphics that will go unseen. And they need powerful processing capabilities and software to reduce latency so that what the user sees inside the headset isn’t delayed or blurred.

Most important is the high-resolution screen that needs to be much denser than a smartphone display because it’s so close to the user’s eyes. Smartphone screens average about 550 pixels per inch, but mixed reality devices require displays with about 3,500 PPI, according to CounterPoint Research.

While Meta and Apple haven’t released their headsets, a few devices currently on the market support passthrough mixed reality. The experiences tend to be limited — black and white or low-quality video — because of a lack of processing power.

A few weeks ago, I was able to test a headset from Varjo, a Finnish company co-founded by Urho Konttori, a former Microsoft and Nokia executive. Last year, Varjo released the XR-3, which offers full-color, low-latency passthrough mixed reality. It’s expensive, heavy, and aimed at businesses. It costs $6,495 to purchase or about $1,500 to rent it for a year.

In playing around with the XR-3, I felt less isolated than with other VR headsets.

Varjo’s XR-3 headset

Varjo

I could access a virtual world with the press of a single button, and I could pull up games that took over my entire field of view. I could use virtual computer monitors displaying Windows applications inside the virtual world.

I was also able to interact with the world around me through Varjo’s passthrough view. In the demo, Varjo placed a life-size car model inside the space. I was able to walk around it and inspect its interior and discuss what I was seeing with someone who wasn’t wearing a VR headset.

Most impressively, when passthrough was turned on, I could interact with the actual environment around me, carrying on a conversation with the person next to me or finding a chair and sitting in it. This isn’t possible with existing VR technology, which forces you to remove yourself from the physical world.

Konttori told me that was one of his main goals. The company wants to almost mimic “human-eye” display quality, which he calls the “holy grail” of mixed reality.

‘A single coherent scene’

The XR-3 has two 2880 by 2720 pixel displays, and the company uses eye tracking to focus its processing power to deliver better image quality where your eyes are looking.

The key is “being able to merge the physical reality around you with the virtual reality objects and make it into a single coherent scene, where you cannot tell apart what is real and what is virtual anymore,” Konttori said. “Part of this evolution is that you can see that at some point, the fidelity of this experience is equal to what you would perceive by looking at it with just your own eyes.”

However, to use the XR-3 you have to be tethered by a cable to a powerful gaming PC. Meta and Apple are focused on developing devices that don’t require attachment to a separate computer. Konttori knows it will be hard for his startup to compete with some of the biggest tech companies in the world, but he says Meta and Apple still face challenges.

That’s because developing a consumer-friendly product with the right weight and power consumption is very tricky, especially when it comes to keeping costs down and shipping millions of them.

“Companies are focusing on consumer-alike experiences, which means that they are still really driven by the size, weight, ergonomics point of view, as well as cost,” Konttori said.

An attendee wears a HTC Corp. Vive virtual reality (VR) headset during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S., on Monday, June 5, 2017.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple is notoriously secretive about its product roadmap, especially when it comes to new categories. The company has invested heavily in virtual reality research and development in its Technology Development Group and has purchased several startups specializing in mixed reality technology.

According to reports from Bloomberg and The Information, Apple is developing a mixed reality headset that resembles ski goggles with a powerful homegrown chip, similar to what powers its MacBook laptops, and higher-resolution displays than what’s currently on the market.

The headset will reportedly support passthrough video and offer games and other applications. At one point, Apple was aiming for at least resolution similar to a 4K TV per eye for its first headset, because anything less could result in users seeing individual pixels, The Information reported.

Apple hasn’t confirmed its plans to release a mixed reality headset, and the company didn’t respond to a request for comment on this story. In an interview with Chinese media earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that something is in the works.

Meta has said Project Cambria, with support of color passthrough, is scheduled to be released later this year. Based on renderings of the device that have been made public, it also looks like a pair of ski goggles. It will include pancake optics, a type of lens that doesn’t need to be calibrated as finely as other VR lenses.

Meta said in May that the price for Cambria would be “significantly higher” than $800.

While passthrough technology has yet to hit the market in a real way and will be quite pricey once it does, metaverse developers are rallying behind it. The primary alternative, optically-based mixed reality, uses transparent displays built into lenses to integrate computer graphics with the real world. Microsoft’s Hololens and Magic Leap use optical waveguides, a type of transparent display.

Transparent displays are also expensive, and they have their own sets of challenges. They’re not good when used in bright daylight, and the current offerings can suffer from poor image quality and blurry text.

Varjo is making a bet on passthrough technology and Konttori says it’s the better approach in large part because it’s completely digital, putting more control in the hands of developers.

“It becomes computable,” Konttori said. “It becomes a tool for artificial intelligence to be participating in your world, enhancing your view or your intellect, and you can distort the world in the tiniest ways or the biggest ways possible.”

He expects passthrough to be “the winning approach for a very, very long time.”

WATCH: The future of entertainment is mixed reality gaming experiences

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Tim Cook gives clearest hint yet that Apple’s building a headset

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Apple CEO Tim Cook poses for a portrait next to a line of new MacBook Airs as he enters the Steve Jobs Theater during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California on June 6, 2022 .

Chris Tuite | AFP | Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently gave the closest thing to a confirmation that Apple’s building a headset.

Cook was asked in a recent interview with China Daily USA what he thinks the key factors are for augmented reality, or AR, to succeed in the consumer market.

“I am incredibly excited about AR as you might know. And the critical thing to any technology, including AR, is putting humanity at the center of it,” he said, echoing comments he’s made in the past about how important AR is to the company.

He then described Apple’s work in the space so far, which has been focused on AR apps on the iPhone and iPad, before adding, “But I think we’re still in the very early innings of how this technology will evolve. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities we’ve seen in this space, and sort of stay tuned and you’ll see what we have to offer.”

AR or “mixed reality” describes technology that superimposes computer-generated images over views of the real world, contrasted with virtual reality, or VR, which completely immerses the viewer in a computer-generated world.

It’s one of the clearest examples yet of Cook acknowledging that Apple has something bigger in the works. While the current apps can be useful for things like mapping a room or seeing if a new piece of furniture might fit, it seems more likely that Apple has been building the library and tools for developers to build apps for something like a headset.

Bloomberg said in May that Apple recently showed its AR/VR headset to the Apple board and that the company plans to announce it as early as the end of this year, although it could slip into next year. The same report said Apple plans to sell the headset in 2023.

Apple would be playing catch-up with a number of other big tech companies, particularly Meta, which changed its name from Facebook last year to signify its revamped focus on immersing users in virtual worlds known as the “metaverse,” and Microsoft, which first introduced its Hololens AR glasses in 2016.



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Apple could gain ground against Microsoft Windows with M2 chips

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Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) looks at a newly redesigned MacBook Air laptop during the WWDC22 at Apple Park on June 06, 2022 in Cupertino, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the annual WWDC22 developer conference.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Apple’s new laptops announced on Monday, featuring the iPhone maker’s next-generation in-house chips, might pose fresh challenges to Microsoft’s lucrative Windows business.

Since Apple started selling Macs powered by its homegrown M1 processors in late 2020, the company’s computer business has been picking up momentum. Earlier this week, Apple introduced the M2, which will debut in the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The new chip will include 25% more transistors and 50% more bandwidth than M1.

Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at technology industry research company Gartner, said Apple could continue picking up market share with the M2 architecture. In 2021, Apple held 7.9% of worldwide PC shipments by operating system, while Windows controlled 81.8%, according to Gartner’s estimates. The firm expects Apple’s share to move up to 10.7% in 2026 as Windows share slips to 80.5%.

Kitagawa said an updated forecast that will likely make Apple’s performance look stronger is coming in the next few weeks.

Apple’s Mac business has been revived by new devices sporting the company’s own chips as a replacement for processors from Intel. The first was the MacBook Air released last year, followed by updated models of the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro laptop, and a new model for power users called Mac Studio.

Apple’s newer devices have longer battery lives than their older Intel-based counterparts and plenty of processing power.

Sales have been surging. Apple’s Mac business grew by 23% in fiscal 2021 to over $35 billion in sales. In the March quarter, Mac sales rose over 14%, a faster increase than any other Apple hardware category. Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts in April that “the incredible customer response to our M1-powered Macs helped propel a 15% year-over-year increase in revenue despite supply constraints.”

That isn’t great news for Microsoft.

Most of Microsoft’s Windows revenue comes from licenses it sells to Dell, HP, Lenovo and other device makers. That amounts to 7.5% of Microsoft’s total revenue and almost 11% of gross profit, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Keith Weiss wrote in a note this week.

As Microsoft loses market share, “a lot of pricing control is lost in the marketplace,” said Brad Brooks, CEO of cybersecurity start-up Censys and formerly corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Windows consumer business.

Most revenue from Windows licenses to device makers comes from commercial customers. Brooks said Apple is making headway among consumers, and he learned during his nine years at Microsoft that there’s a positive correlation between consumer use and what happens at work.

“Once they start using a different product set in their home environments, they’re more likely to adopt that environment in their professional settings,” Brooks said, speaking of the corporate leaders who make technology buying decisions.

Brooks said he switched to a Mac as his main computer in 2017, and said he’d like an M2 machine in the future. All of his company’s roughly 150 employees use Macs as their primary computers, he said.

Businesses were slow to adopt Apple’s M1 computers because of concerns that key applications wouldn’t be compatible. But Adobe, Microsoft and other developers have gradually come out with native versions of their software for the devices, said Kitagawa, who now expects corporate adoption to grow.

Patrick Moorhead, CEO of industry research company Moor Insights and Strategy, said Windows PCs could eventually have battery life and performance that match Apple’s latest Macs. Among chipmakers that they use, “it’s closer right now between Apple and AMD than it is between Apple and Intel,” Moorhead said.

Apple has other levers to pull, though, as it could offer cheaper computers. Moorhead envisions a MacBook SE that might cost $800 or $900, compared with the $1,199 starting price for Apple’s upcoming M2 MacBook Air. It would be similar to what Apple has done with the iPhone SE, a budget iPhone that lacks some of the company’s newest smartphone enhancements.

“A MacBook SE at a much lower price point would disrupt Windows in a pretty big way,” Moorhead said.

Microsoft didn’t respond to a request for comment.

— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.

WATCH: M2 chip, Apple’s pay later service are most important announcement’s from Apple’s WWDC, says Goldman’s Hall

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iOS 16 for iPhone announced

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Apple will allow users to edit and recall iMessages

Apple has added three major features to its messaging app, Messages. If the message is an iMessage, not an SMS text, then users will be able to edit messages, recall messages sent by mistake, and snooze texts so users can handle them later. These small tweaks will change how nearly 1 billion people send texts. — Kif Leswing

Apple’s latest iPhone software iOS 16 announced

Apple iPhone lock screen

Source: Apple

Apple just announced iOS 16, the latest software for iPhones.

It’s the “biggest update ever to lockscreen, completely reimagining how it works,” Apple SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi said. It’s a brand new look that allows users to customize the lock screen with widgets — which have already been available on the home screen — by pressing and holding. Widgets are small icons that users can click on to quickly access tools like the weather app.

The new lock screen allows for more customization of the time and date font and color. It also lets users shuffle their background photos throughout the day or choose animated backgrounds.

It will also change the way users see notifications so they don’t cover up their background photo when their phone is locked. Instead of appearing at the top of the screen, notifications will appear at the bottom.

Apple iPhone Focus

Source: Apple

Apple also expanded its focus feature to the lock screen. The tool allows users to choose how to filter notifications, like to focus just on work-related or personal messages.

Apple also added big changes to its iMessage app, including options to edit messages, unsend and mark threads at unread.

iOS 16 will also expand SharePlay to iMessage, so users can watch or listen to media simultaneously so they’re able to stop and start in the same spot.

Apple iPhone SharePlay

Source: Apple

The software update will make it easier to switch between typing and dictation as well.

— Kif Leswing & Lauren Feiner

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicks off the show

Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared live-on stage to kick off the WWDC event. He spoke briefly and turned it over to software chief Craig Federighi, who led the crowd in a cheer of “go developers!” — Kif Leswing

People are beginning to take their seats ahead of the keynote

People are taking their seats ahead of the event.

Kif Leswing | CNBC

People are starting to make their way to their seats ahead of the keynote. It’s pre-recorded, so there are lots of big screens for everyone to tune in from. And I like that there’s a shaded area.

— Kif Leswing

Here’s what you can expect

Apple website displayed on a laptop screen and Apple logo displayed on a phone in this illustration photo.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is all about catering to software developers. They’re the folks who build apps for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and TV. This is usually when Apple unveils new tools for them, and big new updates for the iPhone, iPad and other platforms. Apple is reportedly gearing up to announce a big new iPad software update that adds better multitasking, so you can run more apps at the same time side-by-side. And the iPhone is expected to get new updates to the lock screen. It may also announce new MacBook Airs. However, unlike the September iPhone events, WWDC is usually more focused on software than hardware. And, typically, the software that’s announced at WWDC rolls out to everyone sometime in the fall.

–Todd Haselton

Homecoming for Apple employees after two years of remote work

WWDC is gathering Apple developers and press for the first time in two years. But the event is also a homecoming for many Apple employees who have been working remotely for the past two years because of the pandemic. Some employees are meeting their teammates in person for the first time, like those who have traveled from other major Apple offices, like its facility in Austin, Texas. Apple started requiring corporate employees to return to the office earlier this year. — Kif Leswing

Apple might announce new products today, too

Apple Store down ahead of WWDC 2022 keynote

Apple

The Apple Store website is down, which suggests that Apple might also announce new products during the WWDC 2022 event. It still seems a little early to announce the augmented reality headset, so my bet is on some sort of new Macs. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggested over the weekend that Apple may be ready to announce a redesigned MacBook Air. It will reportedly include MagSafe charging, the latest Apple processor and new colors.

— Todd Haselton

It’s a gorgeous day here in Cupertino

Walking up to the event. It’s a gorgeous day.

Kif Leswing | CNBC

We’re here for WWDC 2022. Here are a couple of pictures of the campus. It’s a gorgeous day.

Inside Apple’s Spaceship campus for WWDC 2022

Kif Leswing | CNBC

Everyone’s wondering about Apple’s headset

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during the 2018 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center on June 4, 2018 in San Jose, California.

Getty Images

Apple’s been working on a headset for years. Reports have suggested it could launch in either 2022 or 2023. It’s the one product that’s top of mind for everyone right now, since it would be an entirely new product area for Apple. It could make sense for CEO Tim Cook and the team to announce the software for the headset, reportedly called realityOS, since this is a developer-focused event with folks who would build the apps for the device. However, Bloomberg recently suggested that we may not get a look. Still, we might get hints about what Apple is planning. The company may build some tools into existing software to allow developers to make virtual or augmented reality versions of their existing applications. If that happens, we know the headset can’t be far off. Or maybe we’ll be surprised and we’ll get a teaser or full announcement.

–Todd Haselton

We’re live from Cupertino for the first time since the pandemic started

We’re live from WWDC 2022

Kif Leswing | CNBC

We’re live from the Worldwide Developers Conference for the first time since the pandemic started. Apple invited some media and developers to its headquarters in Cupertino, California, to watch the keynote. But there are a few differences from prior years. For one, we’re at the headquarters instead of the San Jose conference center where Apple held the event for several years prior to the pandemic.

We’re live from Apple’s campus for WWDC 2022

Kif Leswing | CNBC

And the keynote isn’t live like in the past. Instead, we’ll be watching a pre-recorded version just like everyone tuning in from home. Still, it shows that big tech events are starting to return to some version of normalcy. Google’s developer conference in May was also held in person but wasn’t open to much of the press.

— Kif Leswing

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Business

Silicon Valley is boycotting Russia over Ukraine invasion

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CEO Tim Cook speaks at an Apple event at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, September 10, 2019.

Stephen Lam | Reuters

Silicon Valley’s biggest technology companies have made it harder for people in Russia to access some of the most widely used technologies in the world as President Vladimir Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine.

Many of the actions have been taken in line with sanctions that have been imposed by the U.S. government.

Apple got the ball rolling on Tuesday when it announced it was halting sales in Russia on iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Macs and all other products.

“They’re leading from the front on it,” CCS Insight Chief Analyst Ben Wood told CNBC, adding that it puts pressure on rival firms to follow.

The Cupertino-headquartered firm also said that it removed Russian state-backed media outlets RT News and Sputnik News from its App Store around the world except for Russia.

Google has removed both news outlets from its Play Store in Europe too.

The Mountain View search giant told CNBC on Friday that it is also suspending all advertising in Russia.

The decision comes after Russia’s internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor, accused YouTube, a division of Google, of running large ad campaigns to misinform Russians about the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“In light of the extraordinary circumstances, we’re pausing Google ads in Russia,” a Google spokesperson said.

“The situation is evolving quickly, and we will continue to share updates when appropriate,” they added.

Meanwhile, home-sharing platform Airbnb, said it is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus.

Brian Chesky, the company’s CEO and co-founder, announced the move on Twitter late on Thursday, three days after Airbnb said it will offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Further up the West Coast in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft is also retreating from Russia.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog Friday that the company will “suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia” and stop “many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions”. Microsoft didn’t clarify how and if it plans to continue supporting existing customers in Russia.

The question now is how much further will the tech giants go?

Earlier this week, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, called on Apple CEO Tim Cook to finish the job and block App Store access in Russia.

He also urged Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation to stop supporting Russian markets and “temporarily block all Russian and Belorussian accounts.”

Meta has said it hopes to stay online in Russia so that it can help to counter the propaganda that is being shared on its platform.

“We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time,” Nick Clegg, recently named the company’s vice president of global affairs, wrote on Twitter Sunday.

Chinese tech companies, meanwhile, have been notably quiet. Companies including Huawei, Xiaomi and Alibaba declined to comment when contacted by CNBC about whether they would cut their business in Russia.

TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is one of the only Chinese companies to have taken some action. TikTok said it would restrict access to RT and Sputnik in the European Union.



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