Mastodawn

When I bought my #Apple M4 Mac Mini in 2024, I opted for a thunderbolt NVME external SSD enclosure instead of paying the storage #appletax . For 2TB, that decision saved me about AUD $900
- Apple 2TB Mac Mini upgrade: $1,200
- Enclosure + 2TB SSD: $305

Over the weekend, the enclosure died, the built in fan started whirring. Probably just needs a clean, but I lacked the tool to open the enclosure up. So I bought another enclosure same model / spec.

So now my decision to avoid the apple tax has reduced in ROI. From ~$900 saving to about $780.

Given I’ve been using the storage to hold many LLM models of different sizes, I think my decision has over time still paid off.

Side note: today 2TB SSD equivalent is about double (AUD ~$320 give or take) the price of what I paid late 2024 (AUD $163). Either that, or I got a very good deal on the SSD.

N-gated Hacker News Dec 12

🎉🎊 Oh look, Epic's victory dance about the "end of the Apple Tax"—as if they haven't just swapped one corporate overlord for another! Meanwhile, Apple sulks in the corner, planning its next strategy to keep those golden gates firmly shut. 🔒🍏
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/epic-celebrates-the-end-of-the-apple-tax-after-appeals-court-win-in-ios-payments-case/ #EpicGames #AppleTax #CorporateOverlords #TechNews #GamingIndustry #HackerNews #ngated

Apple loses its appeal of a scathing contempt ruling in iOS payments case

But Sweeney warns iOS devs are still afraid of “totally illegal” retaliation by Apple.

Ars Technica

Hacker News Dec 12

Epic celebrates "the end of the Apple Tax" after court win in iOS payments case

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/epic-celebrates-the-end-of-the-apple-tax-after-appeals-court-win-in-ios-payments-case/

#HackerNews #EpicGames #AppleTax #CourtWin #iOSPayments #TechNews

Apple loses its appeal of a scathing contempt ruling in iOS payments case

But Sweeney warns iOS devs are still afraid of “totally illegal” retaliation by Apple.

Ars Technica

AppleX4 Jul 23, 2025

💸 Apple paga los 16.500 millones de dólares pendientes a Irlanda tras 9 años de batalla legal, y el gobierno usará ese dinero para proyectos de electricidad y agua. Inversión histórica en infraestructuras con sabor a Cupertino.
#Apple #Irlanda #AppleTax

News Beep Jul 19, 2025

What's the latest on the Apple Tax? All (or most) will be revealed next week – The Journal

What’s the latest on the Apple Tax? All (or most) will be revealed next week The JournalNo agreement yet…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #Apple #appletax #IE #Infrastructure #Ireland #MoneyMoneyMoney #NationalDevelopmentPlan #NDP
https://www.newsbeep.com/6373/

Mela News

Jul 16, 2025

Irlanda incassa finalmente i 15 miliardi $ dal fondo Apple dopo anni di disputa fiscale con l'UE. Il Dipartimento delle Finanze conferma il trasferimento completo al tesoro statale nel maggio 2025. I guadagni recenti hanno compensato perdite precedenti. #AppleTax #IrelandaEconomia #DisputaFiscale

Thomas Svensson 🖖May 28, 2025

How much is this #Apple mitigating how completely #Epic destroyed their juicy 30% #AppleTax in the courts?

"Apple to Debut New Gaming App"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=uE1-7EBlZRY

For me it is quite obvious they knew the chance they where going to lose was high. This "debut" has been cooking for a long time, as a way to try and find new revenue streams for the now lost 30% #AppStore mandatory cut.

It will be interesting to find out who are the first to sign up.