Apple

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway upped its stake in Apple in the first quarter of 2018, adding 75 million shares of the consumer tech giant’s stock. CNBC reported the news on […]

Apple said on Wednesday it would make a one-time payment of $38bn to repatriate some of its vast overseas cash holdings, one of the largest corporate spending plans announced since the passage of a tax cut signed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The company, which has faced international criticism for its tax evasion policies, also said it would spend $30bn in the US over the next five years, creating 20,000 new jobs.

Apple apologized for secretly slowing down older iPhones, a move it said was necessary to avoid unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue.

The firm said last week it ‘throttles’ phones to extend their life and stop them from shutting down as batteries age and become less effective, triggering lawsuits across the world.

Nine lawsuits have been filed against United States multinational technology company Apple for fraud, after the company said it slowed down older iPhones to compensate for poor battery performance, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Eight of the nine lawsuits have been filed in the US District Courts in California, New York and Illinois. They seek class action against Apple to represent potentially crores of iPhone users around the United States. A similar case was lodged in an Israeli court on Monday, the newspaper Haaretz reported. Apple did not respond to an email seeking comment on the filings.

Apple on MOnday reached an agreement with the European Union to begin depositing the €13 billion ($15.4 billion) in back taxes it was ordered to pay Ireland last year, following the landmark decision to crackdown on tax shelter policies and profit offshoring, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple wants to have a standalone augmented reality headset ready for use by 2019, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The company’s interest in the technology is well-established, with CEO Tim Cook stating in a recent earnings report that Apple believes “AR is going to change the way we use technology forever.” The company took a first major step into augmented reality this year with the launch of ARKit in iOS 11.

Best global brands of 2017 list was released on Monday by Interbrand, a brand consultancy based in the US. Technology companies dominated the top 20 spaces on the list with Apple Inc once again emerging as the number one brand.

The report shows technology is the dominant sector, with tech giant Apple securing the highest rank as the world’s most valuable brand for the fifth year running, while Google retains its second place for the fourth year in a row. The top 100 brands have a combined total value of $1,872bn, an increase of 4.2% from 2016.

Apple is poised to be the first company to reach a $1 trillion market cap, RBC Capital analysts said Wednesday. Apple shares have been on a tear, with the stock gaining $56 billion in market capitalization a week after it reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings expectations.

Amit Daryanani at RBC Capital Markets says Apple’s share price would have to rise from its current level to about $192 to $195, depending on the rate of the company’s stock buybacks, to reach the $1 trillion value. With Apple trading at 16 times its estimated next year’s per share profits, profits would need to increase from an estimated $9 or so in 2017 to $12 in 2019, Daryanani calculates.