Ahead of the return to District Court for the continued appeals process in the Apple-Epic legal fight, the two companies have made a schedule to discuss a change in App Store fees for outbound links.

The May 6 decision by the Supreme Court to decline Apple’s request for a stay on a mandate to meet Epic Games to negotiate a new commission rate means more legal action in the coming months. In preparation, the two sides have agreed on a few ground rules for that meeting.

In a joint filing to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 15, there is a multi-point schedule of actions and activities for the two companies.

The list starts with Apple being given 45 days to file with the court a “proffer,” namely a good-faith offer of evidence, testimony, documents, or some form of evidence to the court. This proffer will propose commissions for any “linked-out purchases,” along with supportive evidence, in a document that’s up to 30 pages long.

Up to ten days after the proffer, Apple will hand Epic all non-privileged documents about the decision-making process to create the proffer’s proposal. This includes fee proposals and a privilege log.

Within five days of that action, Apple will meet with Epic to discuss the privilege log and whether Epic needs any extra material to evaluate the Apple proposal. Epic can then designate up to 10% of the documents on that privilege log for further review by a third party.

Within 60 days from the latter of Apple’s proffer filing or Apple’s completion of document production, Epic will then file its own response to Apple’s proffer to the court. This too can be up to 30 pages in length, and if Epic makes an objection, it must include evidence supporting that move.

Once that has been filed, Apple has another 30 days to file its reply, though with a 15-page limit. After all that, the court can then hold a status conference or decide any further proceedings.

Based on all parties taking the last possible moments to complete each stage in the schedule, it could be 150 days or five months before the court schedules another meeting.

How Apple got here

Apple and Epic have endured a six-year legal battle that started with “Fortnite” allowing players to make in-app purchases using a third-party payment processor. Epic also made demands, including allowing alternate app storefronts in iOS and a change in the commission structure.

For the most part, Apple succeeded against Epic, but the court found against Apple’s anti-steering measures, which prevented developers from directing users to other ways to pay. Apple was ordered to make changes, and it claimed it did.

Epic responded, arguing Apple didn’t follow the spirit of the law, convincing a court in April 2025 to its viewpoint. The court viewed Apple’s moves as a “gross miscalculation” of acceptability.

Across the country, thousands of students are waving goodbye to high school and preparing to head off to college. If you know one such student, and want to gift them a gadget to send them off in style, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve rounded up what I think are the best high school graduation gifts you can buy, at a range of different budgets.

All of these gifts will come in handy in college, whether for work, play or general student life. I’ve included noise-cancelling headphones to block out distractions while studying, robust Bluetooth speakers for when it’s time to bring the party, and budget-friendly coffee makers for an instant boost in time for morning seminars.

The GameSir G8+ MFi is the controller that the G8 Galileo probably should have been from the start. It takes the same full-size grips, Hall effect thumbsticks and triggers, and programmable back buttons that made the original one of the best mobile grips going, then layers on MFi certification for iPhone and iPad Mini, swappable ABXY button caps, dual vibration motors, and crucially, improved case compatibility.

Best of all? It’s still the same $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$129.99 asking price.

Short battery life frustrates many smartwatch owners more than anything else. Prices for decent models climb higher every year. CMF by Nothing Watch 3 Pro, priced at $69 (was $99), changes that equation completely. A 47-millimeter case sits comfortably on most wrists at just 51 grams. Liquid silicone straps attach easily with standard 22-millimeter pins so swapping colors takes seconds. Brushed details around the rotating crown add a subtle finish that feels more expensive than the asking price suggests.

The screen size increases to a pocket-sized 1.43 inches, with a square 466 by 466 pixel AMOLED panel that produces sharp text and silky smooth swipes because the refresh rate remains at a steady 60 Hz. Even in harsh sunshine, the maximum brightness of 670 nits allows you to keep track of the time. And if you want to save battery life, the always-on display remains visible – just don’t expect deep blacks; that’s the price you pay for this function.

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The battery itself has 350mAh capacity and could last up to 13 days on a single charge. If you’re a heavy user, however, and spend a lot of time tracking your heart rate or GPS route, you’ll get at least 10 days out of it, even if you’re constantly checking your watch. And if you elect to leave the always-on display on, you should be able to go about 4-5 days between top-ups, which is plenty of time between charges in my opinion. You can put the watch on the charger for a short 100 minutes, just enough time to have a coffee, and then you’re ready to go.

When it comes to health tracking, Nothing has worked harder to get the basics right: continuous heart rate monitoring with updates every few minutes, as well as the ability to check blood oxygen levels and stress levels. It’ll even tell you what stage of sleep you’re in, dividing it into neat little charts of time and quality each morning. For the females, there’s a built-in period tracker that will tell you when ovulation is due. There are also other sports modes available, over 130 in all, so whether you’re a serious athlete or just want to go for a brief jog, you should be able to find something that suits you. The dual-band GPS works great, and it even identifies when you start or end an exercise, so you don’t have to fiddle with manual start/stop times. All of that data is then synced to the Nothing X app, where you can see how you’re doing over time. I mean, if you’re a real runner, you’ll want a little more precision, but for the typical user, it’s plenty to keep you on track.

The Bluetooth 5.3 onboard allows you to take and make calls directly from the watch, as long as you have a built-in microphone and speaker. You may also receive notifications from your phone apps on the watch, which you can reject or respond to without having to reach for your phone. Additionally, you can manage your music directly from the watch, which should be a big advantage for all you runners out there.

The watch is water resistant to the tune of IP68, so a good splash in the rain or a fast hand wash should be fine, but, as with other similar watches, you should avoid deep water sports, since swimming laps are out of the question. As an extra plus, the lack of an NFC chip allows you to utilize your phone to make contactless payments.

Announced almost a year ago, the golden Trump phone will finally begin shipping this week to people who preordered it, according to Trump Mobile.

“Those who pre-ordered the T1 Phone will be receiving an update email. Phones start shipping this week!!!,” Trump Mobile said in an X (Twitter) post on Wednesday. A Community Note added to the post suggests that the long-delayed phone is a modified version of the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G, which was first released in early 2024.

The Trump phone, officially known as the Trump Mobile T1, was supposed to ship last August, but ran into production issues, the company said.

“The technology business is more difficult than some may realize, as parts must be tested for quality assurances,” Trump Mobile CEO Pat O’Brien said in a statement to CNET. “We have experienced delays during a variety of steps in getting the T1 to completion, but those delays were worth it in our minds as we are delivering an amazing product.”

CNET Director of Content Patrick Holland had put down a $100 deposit to preorder the T1 phone in June 2025 so CNET could review it, but he has yet to hear from the company about a shipping date. However, on Wednesday morning, when he logged in to his Trump Mobile account, he was notified that his payment method was outdated and needed to be updated.

Holland says his preorder was “confirmed but not processed,” and he sees a red bubble that reads, “Awaiting Sim Assignment.”

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Trump Mobile launched in June 2025 with a $47.45-a-month mobile phone plan, and announced that a Trump phone would be made in the US and launch in August 2025. But when it became obvious that domestic large-scale smartphone manufacturing would not be possible, Trump Mobile dropped the “made in the US” claim. 

Now, the site simply says it is “designed with American values in mind,” an “American-proud design” and “shaped by American innovation.”

Last month, a redesigned Trump Mobile website finally showcased a new-look T1 phone, its third redesign. It followed Trump Mobile executives showing off a handset they said was a near-production version of the T1 phone to The Verge in early February. 

The website claims it will have a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen; a 50-megapixel, front-facing camera; a camera bump featuring a 50-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel wide lens and a 50-megapixel (2X Tele) lens; a 5,000-mAh battery; a fingerprint sensor and AI face unlock; a Snapdragon mobile platform; and an Android operating system.

The site is still accepting $100 deposits on the Trump phone, which it continues to advertise as having a promotional price of $499. Trump Mobile also sells refurbished Apple and Samsung phones, ranging from $369 to $629. 

While Trump Mobile has not said where the T1 phone is manufactured, executives told The Verge that it’s being made in a “favored nation” with “final assembly” in Florida. It’s unclear what qualifies another nation as “favored” to handle most of the assembly of the T1 phone. Meanwhile, President Trump has returned from China after a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping to discuss a potential trade deal.

Personal Tech

The Register tests Dell’s first attempt at outplaying Apple’s AirPods

Last year, The Register spotted Dell selling cloud-manageable wireless earbuds that feature the company’s famously stoic styling at a price higher than Apple charges for its latest AirPods.

Dell eventually offered your correspondent a pair of the Pro Plus Earbuds to try so we could hear what all the fuss is about – and we accepted, on condition that the company showed us the cloudy management tools that make the buds worth the big bucks.

Divya Soni, a go to market lead, showed me Dell’s cloudy Device Management Console, a tool that lets admins enroll and track the buds, send them new firmware, or do things like turn on active noise cancellation by default across a fleet of earbuds.

New firmware matters for earbuds because they’re Bluetooth devices and the wireless protocol has had its fair share of security scares over the years. The buds have already earned Microsoft’s Teams Open Office Certification – a seal of approval for being able to handle noisy offices, plus a Zoom accreditation. New firmware might help there, too.

Soni admitted earbuds aren’t the main priority for the Device Management Console, which Dell expects customers will mostly use to manage docks and displays.

Dell delivers firmware updates to those devices at least once a year, to address security issues or fix bugs. The tool can do the same for keyboards or headsets.

I can’t imagine anyone would adopt Dell’s Device Manager just to keep an eye on earbuds. I’m also not sure anyone would buy the buds for personal use.

I say that because I own two sets of wireless earbuds and in their own way both are better than the Dells.

My go-to buds are JB’s $40 Vibe Beam 2, which fit brilliantly, bring out some nice nuances in much music, boast batteries that last about six hours and only need about 15 minutes to recharge.

That makes them satisfactory for long-haul flights, during which they drop a warmly enveloping cone of silence when active noise cancelling kicks in.

My other pair are $100 Soundcore Space A40s (bought after destroying another pair). These buds have even nicer noise cancelling powers but fit terribly: I recently endured quite the scene when running to catch a bus and one dropped out of my ear and bounced into a shrub.

The Soundcores redeem themselves with impressive microphones, so I use them when Zooming or recording a podcast. I prefer them to stay home because the case is bulbous and a little conspicuous in a front jeans pocket.

The Dells are even bigger. They fit my ears well and battery life is strong at around eight hours. Active noise cancelling is poor: A high hiss persists in-flight and I perceived distracting artefacts when using them in noisy environments on the ground.

Neither of my two PCs made a Bluetooth connection with the Dell buds. Dell has a fix for that – the buds’ case houses a small USB-C dongle devoted to connecting with the buds. It works every time and delivers a more stable connection than Bluetooth and brings out some musical nuances that I can’t hear with my other buds or desktop speaker.

The dongle feels like a clue about how Dell imagines these buds will be used, because today’s laptops seldom offer more than a pair of USB-C ports and they’re commonly used for power in and video out. Dedicating a port to earbuds seems wasteful … unless you’re using a Dell dock or monitor that offers more ports.

The USB-C audio connector therefore made it hard to escape the idea that Dell expects these buds will almost always be sold as part of a corporate peripheral purchase.

I can’t imagine consumers would prefer them to Apple’s AirPods, or the many cheaper earbuds that match them for performance.

But if the boss decides your organization must have cloud-manageable earbuds it would be churlish to turn down the chance to use a pair of Pro Plus Earbuds for work and play. The experience of using them is in the name: they’re built for the office but can handle after hours activities. They’re not delightful, but they’re far from trashy, annoying, or inconvenient. And when I inevitably lose or destroy my current buds I’ll be very happy if I have the Dells on hand. ®