SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has reportedly axed plans to invest $100 million in Android founder Andy Rubin’s smartphone startup, reportedly because of SoftBank’s close business ties to Apple.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple’s decline in Chinese iPhone shipments during 2016 can be blamed on the company refusing to adapt its tactics to the local market out of fear of risking its business elsewhere, according to Duan Yongping, the founder of Chinese smartphone brands Oppo and Vivo.

Source:: Apple Insider

With speculation about an imminent release of new hardware growing, Apple has issued its third macOS Sierra 10.2 beta release in a week, and another version of the watchOS 3.2 beta for developers.

Source:: Apple Insider

Microsoft continues aggressively promoting its own services in Task Bar notifications when using third party browsers, and most recently has been caught injecting advertisements to sign up for paid OneDrive subscriptions in the Windows 10 — but the File Explorer ad can be disabled.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple’s updated system status page now discloses upcoming maintenance for the company’s website, revealing that there is a planned outage scheduled for early Tuesday morning, potentially in anticipation of a new 128-gigabyte iPhone SE and more.

Source:: Apple Insider

While Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8+ will nominally compete with Apple’s rumored “iPhone 7s” and “iPhone 8” phones, they may sit in a middleground in terms of price, a well-known leak source suggested over the weekend.

Source:: Apple Insider

Shoppers this week can save $80 on Apple’s 13″ MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in Space Gray. Or pick up a $100 iTunes code for $85 ($15 off). Samsung’s 55″ 4K Curved LED TV is also $2,900 off today only, and PDF Expert 2.2 is $24.99 with coupon.

Source:: Apple Insider

WebMD has relaunched its Pregnancy app for the iPhone, and has integrated Apple’s ResearchKit into the app to advance research on what contributes to healthy pregnancies and positive pregnancy outcomes.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple has not paid any income tax in New Zealand for the last ten years, a new report reveals , with the iPhone producer said to have paid out only $37 million from sales generated in the country, paying the due tax to the Australian Tax Office instead of New Zealand’s Inland Revenue.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple chip supplier TSMC is examining all its options for a 3nm chip foundry location, but still on the table is a U.S. plant worth $16 billion, with an estimated completion of 2022.

Source:: Apple Insider