cnocbui

apple ][ said:

Apple should put some money into funding a revolution and the collapse of the EU. Call it an investment for the future. One that will save them lots of money.

It is in Apple's best interest that the EU dies a quick death.

I think you are really Donald Trump.  I don't think you appreciate what the common market is or why businesses love it or that a piddling few billion Apple might have to fork over is a trifle compared to the massive financial benefits they derive from such a large single market vs the alternative.

ChampionPower said:

ALL:

Perhaps this is yet another good reason (that of national sovereignty) to leave the EU!     If this realstionship and deal is good enough for Ireland the Apple then that should be the end of the matter.   The EU does not provide Ireland with 6,000 jobs like Apple does, so if I were Ireland I'd simply refuse to abide by their decision!  What the hell can they do?  Expel Ireland from the EU?  That would be a blessing and a death warrant to the lazy bureaucrats in the EU in Brussels.

Ireland receives a lot of money from the EU in the form of payments for certain farm schemes, business assistance, research grants and so on.  If Ireland were to not comply with an EU directive, they would simply withhold payments to Ireland of the same value.

If the EU expelled Ireland, Apple and all the other US companies located here would then be outside the EU.  Brilliant strategy you have there.

jungmark said:

Bullshit. Apple paid the taxes as legally required. The EU can't change the rules after the fact. 

The EU is not changing any rules, this is all about enforcing rules that were broken.

sog35 said:

Apple will not pay anything close to $1 billion.

This will go to appeal and be stuck for at least 3 years.
Then the US government will pass a law to bring back the cash to the USA.
There will be no cash in the EU for them to collect.

Eventually they will settle for about $200 million.

It will go to appeal but the money will have to be held in escrow.

The most likely use of the two lenses, it seems to me, would be as a way to virtually increase the sensor size by integrating two near identical images from small sensors and processing their output so as to reduce noise in low light situations.  This would be to get around the problem that the larger the sensor, the larger and deeper the lens stack needed to illuminate it.  Given the trend to unnecessary thinness, this would be a way to increase low light performance without making the phone thicker.  So I doubt the lenses will have different focal lengths.