There are nearly two million apps on App Store. Now, Apple has revealed the most downloaded ones in the UK this year – and it seems iPhone users are shunning TikTok in favour of bargain shopping apps. Among the year's success stories are fast fashion apps from China including Temu and Shein, along with the trendy'preloved marketplace' Vinted. They come ahead of social media apps including TikTok and Meta's Threads, as well as AI chatbot sensation ChatGPT, which released an app last year. As 2024 comes to a close, Apple is unveiling the most downloaded apps and games of the year in the UK,' the tech giant said in a statement.

Apple has released an update for its 27-inch iMac. The new computer is "by far the most powerful and capable iMac ever", Apple claimed, pointing to a range of spec updates. But perhaps the most surprising is the addition of a new 1080p HD camera. The webcams in Apple's computers have received sustained criticism in recent times, particularly as video calls in lockdown have revealed the low quality of the cameras found in even its more expensive Macs. In addition to the extra resolution, Apple said that the new computer will use the T2 security chip to process and improve the image that comes through the webcam. That will allow for "tone mapping, exposure control, and face detection for a much higher quality camera experience", Apple said.

Apple has finally taken the wraps off its new iPad Pro. The tech giant has completely redesigned the Pro with slimmer bezels than ever before, ditching the home button for an even bigger display. With thinner bezels, the iPad Pro features a massive screen and new features like Face ID, Apple's facial recognition technology, which lets users unlock the device with their face. An 11-inch model starts at $799, while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is priced at $999. The new iPad Pro is available starting today and the device will hit the shelves November 7th.

Apple has revealed the brand new version of the MacBook Air, entirely redesigning its most popular computer. It is what Apple is calling its "greenest ever Mac" and while borrowing from the beloved design includes a complete revamp of the way it looks. That includes Apple's decision to finally introduce the Retina Display that has been missing from the computer for years. And that display will sit in a screen that has also been redesigning, getting rid of the aluminium bezels around the side and allowing the glass to stretch all the way up to the side. The computer also has TouchID, the fingerprint sensor that has gradually been arriving in Apple's range of Macs. That allows the computer to be unlocked and things to be bought just by pressing the sensor next to the keyboard.

Boasting a 6.5inch OLED screen, the iPhone XS Max is the biggest phone Apple has ever made. While on paper the screen may seem almost too big, the curved design means that in the flesh, it's incredibly easy to pick up and handle - and absolutely stunning to look at. There is something of a jaw dropping moment the first time you load up a picture of press play on the movie. Apple's new iPhone XS Max is shown (right) beside the smaller XS That screen is sharp and incredibly bright, and the phone (and even the still present notch) are almost invisible, making this the closest thing yet to Apple's'all screen' vision. The sound has also had a huge boost, and even in the crowded scrum like experience of the hands on area at Apple's event, audio was loud enough to hear clearly - if you want to annoy the neighbours of fellow commuters, this is definitely the speaker system to do it with.

Apple has created a new robot named Daisy that can take apart a dead iPhone and recover precious materials such as silver and tungsten. The robot can rip apart a dead phone in just 18 seconds and is an update to Liam - the recycling bot the company announced back in 2016. Daisy is made from the same parts as her predecessor and is able to disassemble nine versions of the iPhone, sorting them into usable components. The Cupertino-based robot is able to break down nine different versions of the iPhone - and could get through 200 per hour. By removing and sorting components, Apple can recover high-quality materials that traditional recyclers can't get hold of.

While Apple hasn't hid its self-driving car ambitions, until now, little has been known about the mysterious project. But now, computer scientists at the firm have posted a paper online, shedding light on how the self-driving cars could work. The paper reveals that Apple's self-driving cars can better spot cyclists and pedestrians using laser sensors, in a new software approach called'VoxelNet.' While Apple hasn't hid its self-driving car ambitions, until now, little has been known about the mysterious project. Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing'LiDAR' units to recognize the world around them.

Face ID has been a bit of a thorn in Apple's side for its iPhone X, no thanks to claims the AI-powered login mechanism can be tricked by cheapish masks or relatives of handset owners. Now, this week, Apple has published a blog post describing in a fair amount of detail how its algorithms behind the Face ID authentication system work. The approach is based on OverFeat, a model developed by researchers at New York University, that teaches a deep convolutional neural network (DCN) to classify, locate and detect objects in images. It works by using a binary classifier to detect whether or not a face is present in images taken from the front-facing camera, and a feature extractor and bounding box regression network to perform the actual identification. Pictures from the camera are run through the feature extractor to break down the images into shapes and portions, and these are passed to the binary classifier and the regressor.

In mid-September, Apple unveiled its new Face ID facial recognition system, which is due to debut with the iPhone X on Nov. 3. The system lets users unlock their phones just by glancing at them, but has also raised privacy questions and some anxieties over whether someone could force you to unlock your phone by pointing it at your face. Now, Apple has revealed an in-depth explanation of how the system works - and has admitted young users may struggle. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, announces features of the new iPhone X, including Face ID, at the Steve Jobs Theater on the new Apple campus, in Cupertino The system lets users unlock their phones just by glancing at them, but have also raised privacy questions and some anxieties over the ease with which others unlock a user's phone. In a security guide published today, the tech giant also recommends that children under the age of 13, twins and even siblings who look similar do not use Face ID due to the probability of a false match being significantly higher for young children.

Apple revealed is latest smartphones, the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, at the Steve Jobs Theater Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif. The "One more thing...," which Apple save for major announcements, turned out to be much-rumored (and leaked) iPhone X. All three devices come in different sizes, prices and features. Here's how the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus differ. The 5.8-inch iPhone X will feature an edge-to-edge Super Retina display with OLED technology, ditching the physical home button.