Apple's financial results reveal that it managed to pay just 2% corporation tax in overseas countries last year.
The Cupertino company paid foreign (e.g. outside the US) taxes of $713 million (£445m/ AU$689m) last year, despite making $36.8 billion overseas (£23bn / AU$35.5bn).
It's not clear how much of that was paid in each specific country over the course of the year.
Only death is certain now
Tech companies are coming under increasing scrutiny in the UK, at least, where it's possible to side-step British corporation taxes by routing payments through other countries that charge a lower rate – like Ireland.
Ireland is Apple's tax haven of choice and in 2011, the company paid £10 million in tax on £6 billion-worth of UK sales by opting for the Irish route.
This is perfectly legal, although it leaves Brits somewhat short-changed in the tax department despite Apple's significant contributions to the unavoidable national insurance and VAT coffers.
Other tech giants that have been accused of avoiding paying their fair share of tax include Amazon and Google, both of whom have been invited to discuss the matter with the Public Accounts Committee at Parliament later this month.
Apple has just posted its report for the third quarter of the year and things are looking healthy for the Cupertino-based company. The revenue was $36 billion and the net profit stood at $8.2 billion, both of those comparing very favorably to the numbers from the same period of last year ($28.3 billion and $6.6 billion).
Somewhat surprisingly Apple didn’t manage to better its achievement from the second quarter of this year, when the company made $8.8 billion in profit from just $35 billion revenue, despite the launch of the iPhone 5. The supply shortages are probably a part of the explanation as Apple is still struggling to cope with the demand for its new smartphone.
The iPhone sales were somewhat disappointing at 26.9 million units, compared to 35.1 million in Q2. The iPad shipments stood at 14 million units, compared to 17 million in the previous quarter, while Mac sales grew from 4 million to 4.9 million. Despite the refresh of the lineup, the iPod sales slid to 5.3 million units from 6.8 million in Q2.
The lowered profits, despite the higher revenue can also be explained with the fact that the iPhone accounted for a smaller percentage of the Apple revenue this quarter (the smartphone is the Apple product with the highest profit margin).
The financial markets didn’t respond very well to the posted results and the Apple Inc. shares slid to 1.43% in after hours trading (they were 1% up before the results were posted) and are close to falling below $600 after reaching . Still, the drop is pretty minor and a strong holiday quarter, fuelled by the launch of the iPad mini, the 4th generation iPad and the extended availability of the iPhone 5 will probably bring the company back to the right track.
You can find the complete Apple report by following the source link below.
Everyone expected today’s Apple event to be all about the iPad mini, but it turned out that the Cupertino-based company had a surprise for us. Apple unveiled the fourth generation of its iPad iOS-running tablet.
The Apple iPad 4 comes with a new A6X chipset, which promises twice the CPU and GPU power of the A5X that the iPad 3 used. It also packs the new Lightning connector and its LTE version has now been updated to support the Sprint network in the US, among others.
Apple iPad 4th Gen
Other than those that the Apple iPad 4 is identical to its predecessor, which was announced at the start of the year. Sporting the same 10 hour battery life and 1536 x 2048 pixel display as the iPad 3, the iPad 4 base version will cost the same $499. The LTE-enabled units start at $629.
The iPad 2 will also stick around - it will retail, starting at $399 now. Shipping of the Apple iPad 4 Wi-Fi units starts on November 2, with the LTE-packing ones coming two weeks later.
A new report once again points to Apple wanting to put more than just an arm's length between the Cupertino company and bitter rival Samsung as the firm's primary chip provider.
According to The Korea Times, Apple has already reduced its involvement with Samsung, though it's still relying on the manufacturer for the A6 chips powering its latest idevice, the iPhone 5.
"There are three kinds of chip clients," an anonymous Samsung source allegedly told The Korea Times.
"Some want us to handle everything from chip design, architecture and manufacturing. Some want us to just design and manufacture. Some want us to just make the chips. Apple is now the third type."
"Samsung's agreement with Apple is limited to manufacturing the A6 processors. Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis," the source added.
Change is in the air
Since the A6 processors used in the new iPhone were entirely designed by Apple, the firm is freed to take its production elsewhere without running into another patent face-off with Samsung.
TSMC is capable of building chips for Apple using its advanced 20 nanometer manufacturing process, which would create chips that are 30 percent faster and 25 percent more efficient than the current 28nm chips found in the iPhone 5.
Another Samsung official commented on the possible shift to TSMC chips, telling The Korea Times, "Samsung has already acknowledged that Apple has an appetite to carry out its own central processing unit (CPU) design."
Losing Apple as a client would surely mean a big loss for Samsung, but the firm reportedly isn't worried as the unnamed Samsung official went on to cite increased custom CPU orders coming in from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments.
In the meantime, Apples can't afford to completely cut Samsung out yet, forcing the two rivals to continue a deteriorating partnership.
However, when Apple is finally ready to announce its next-generation A7 processor (or whatever it will be called), don't expect to see Samsung's name anywhere near it.
A new report once again points to Apple wanting to put more than just an arm's length between the Cupertino company and bitter rival Samsung as the firm's primary chip provider.
According to The Korea Times, Apple has already reduced its involvement with Samsung, though it's still relying on the manufacturer for the A6 chips powering its latest idevice, the iPhone 5.
"There are three kinds of chip clients," an anonymous Samsung source allegedly told The Korea Times.
"Some want us to handle everything from chip design, architecture and manufacturing. Some want us to just design and manufacture. Some want us to just make the chips. Apple is now the third type."
"Samsung's agreement with Apple is limited to manufacturing the A6 processors. Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis," the source added.
Change is in the air
Since the A6 processors used in the new iPhone were entirely designed by Apple, the firm is freed to take its production elsewhere without running into another patent face-off with Samsung.
TSMC is capable of building chips for Apple using its advanced 20 nanometer manufacturing process, which would create chips that are 30 percent faster and 25 percent more efficient than the current 28nm chips.
Another Samsung official commented on the possible shift to TSMC chips, telling The Korea Times, "Samsung has already acknowledged that Apple has an appetite to carry out its own central processing unit (CPU) design."
Losing Apple as a client would surely mean a big loss for Samsung, but the firm reportedly isn't worried as the unnamed Samsung official went on to cite increased custom CPU orders coming in from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments.
In the meantime, Apples can't afford to completely cut Samsung out yet, forcing the two rivals to continue a deteriorating partnership.
However, when Apple is finally ready to announce its next-generation A7 processor (or whatever it will be called), don't expect to see Samsung's name anywhere near it.
Heck, the parties haven't even reached the epilogue yet.
In a new development, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided on Thursday to permanently reverse a California court's previous decision to grant Apple a preliminary injunction on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
The injunction, which was hard-won by Apple, prevented the phone from being sold in the U.S., but the federal appeals court's panel of judges determined that the California court "abused its discretion" in granting the ban.
What does it mean for consumers?
With the sales ban on the Galaxy Nexus officially lifted, Samsung is free to sell the flagship Android phone in the U.S. as soon as it can get the device to shelves and doorsteps.
TechRadar has reached out to Samsung to determine when it plans to do so, but so far the Korean company has yet to respond.
The reversal of the injunction is certainly a victory for Samsung, though its war with Apple rages ever onward regardless.
At the time, Koh determined that mounting pre-trial evidence against Samsung, in particular related to Apple patents concerning Siri-like search features, justified the injunction.
"Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung's only smartphone product on the market," Koh wrote in a July 5 ruling.
Samsung promised to pursue the matter with the federal circuit appeals court, and it seems that move has finally paid off.
Google, left, obscures what Apple, right, reveals (credit: The Verge)
Apple Maps has been called blurry, inaccurate, and unfinished, but there's one area in which the Cupertino company didn't skimp on the detail: high-security locations.
In a three-way comparison of iOS 6 Maps, Google Maps, and Nokia Maps, The Verge found that Apple paints the clearest picture of military installations that are sensitive to various countries' national interests.
Turkey has the most to complain about. Its island of Imrali counts Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Öcalan among its high-risk inmates in a maximum security prison, and it's as clear as day on iOS 6.
Dutch military contractor IBL, deemed a "tank workshop" by the site, was also fully visible in Apple Maps when looking at Personeelsvereniging Tankwerkplaats, Netherlands.
The same is true for a vital military airstrip on the Japanese island of Minamitorishima.
Apple didn't make any exceptions for its home country, as the United States' Aberdeen Proving Ground hasn't been obscured in Maryland.
Likewise, the U.S.'s joint interests as part of NATO are outed in Geilenkirchen, Germany.
The Google Maps Difference
Google, which has provided its mapping service to the public since 2005, had made it a habit to obscure these perceived security risks for a number of years.
Blurring, pixelating, and overexposing are some the ways in which Google Maps and the Google Earth software hide sensitive locations.
But Google said that "it has never blurred any images," according to a statement to The Verge.
Instead, satellite images arrive blurred from its "variety of sources," even though the sources are often the same providers used by Apple and Nokia.
This birdseye view is now available in 37 U.S. and 14 international locations. Most notably, the Google Maps update shows off the Leaning Tower of Pisa and its famous 5.5 degree angle.
Look at that lean (Credit: Google)
Not forgetting about the tried-and-true aerial imagery, Google also updated the high-resolution satellite maps for 17 cities and 112 countries.
The entire city of Lancaster, Calif. no longer shows up looking like a blurry field of nothing - a technique Apple sure could borrow for military installations worldwide if Google is done with it.
With Apple set to unveil its latest iPhone on Wednesday, new images appear to confirm that the Cupertino company is about to introduce a taller, slimmer device, with a widescreen display – imagine a kind of 'stretched' iPhone.
We’re just hours away from Apple’s much-anticipated media event in San Francisco where it’s expected to reveal the latest iteration of its iPhone – but of course, until Tim Cook actually holds up the new device on stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday, the rumor mill will keep on turning.
Prior to the unveiling of a new iteration of a popular device, speculation understandably swirls around how its physical look might alter – will it be bigger, smaller, taller, shorter, thicker, thinner, heavier, lighter? Or, perhaps, pretty much the same?
With the iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple has decided to call it), the latest reports suggest the handset is about to undergo its most radical redesign since coming on the market five years ago.
More information is circulating pointing to a phone that will be both taller and slimmer. MacRumors reader Michael Rou posted a photo (below) on his site showing pre-production cases for Apple’s expected iPhone 5 and iPad Mini devices, made by case manufacturers based on leaked specifications from Foxconn factories in China, where the handset is being assembled. With the current iPhone placed inside the new case, it’s clear that the next version will be taller, though retaining its 2.31-inch width, giving the appearance of a ‘stretched’ iPhone with a widescreen display.
Different images from Know Your Mobile also show a set of cases that are markedly longer than what’s available for the existing iPhone. The photos (one shown below) were obtained from mobile accessories company Mobile Fun. “They’re genuine leather pouches – one of the images even shows the size difference compared to the iPhone 4,” Mobile Fun told KYM. “We’re highly confident that these cases show that the size of the iPhone 5 will be taller than the iPhone 4.”
With the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen starting to look a little on the small side when compared to its competitors’ offerings, there’s little doubt the next version will sport a larger display – the main question has been whether Apple would opt to push the viewable screen to the edges of the current design, or introduce a taller model. Based on all these images, it appears to be the latter.
As for its thickness, iResQ (via tech2) used received parts to build the casing of the next phone, with one of its pictures (below) showing Apple’s next handset to be marginally slimmer than its predecessor, likely due to the incorporation of a new in-cell display, which is thinner than a conventional LCD touchscreen.
Soon the Apple rumor mill will once again rest. All will be revealed shortly. Deep breaths now, Apple fans, deep breaths….
