Tech Roundup: Apple Gambling Ads, LinkedIn Profile Features & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Apple confirms its plans to transition to USB-C on iPhone following new E.U. rules; teases an overhauled design for the iCloud.com website in beta and reportedly planning an iPad with a 16-inch screen, the largest iPad yet.
• Apple pauses gambling ads in App Store individual product listing pages (under the "You Might Also Like" section), including those aimed at children, after developers criticise the iPhone maker of "taking Casino Game Ad Money in order to make their line go up for the shareholders" and that "the App Store has corrupted such a great company so deeply." (The latest pushback is a sign that Apple is increasingly blurring the line between actual privacy for users and leveraging privacy for profit, even as it attempts to flex its control over the App Store and increasingly monetise the service.)
• Microsoft's LinkedIn introduces new features to fight fake profiles and malicious use of the platform; adds "About this profile" to highlight verified information and a new warning to alert users of suspicious messages that "ask you to take the conversation to another platform because that can be a sign of a scam."
• Meta plans to launch the next generation of its consumer Quest headset in 2023, even as the company expects to incur more losses developing the metaverse amid shrink ad revenues stemming from Apple's iOS privacy update and increased competition from TikTok.
• China's Q3 2022 smartphone shipments fall 11% YoY to 70 million; vivo, OPPO and HONOR drop 23%, 27%, and 16% respectively, as Apple rises 36% on iPhone 14 Pro demand.
• Meta gets hit with new antitrust fines to the tune of US$ 18.6 million in Turkey for combining user data across Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram; says "by combining the data collected by [Meta] from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services [...] it causes the deterioration of competition by making it difficult for competitors with personal social networking services operating in online display advertising markets and creates barriers to entry to the market."
• Match Group plans to add profile verification to Hinge in November, asking users to take a video selfie as part of its crackdown on scammers.
• Meta's profits for Q3 2022 plummet 52% YoY to US$ 4.4 billion and revenue slips 4% YoY to US$ 27.7 billion, with its Reality Labs unit losing US$ 3.7 billion, up from US$ 2.6 billion a year ago (a total loss of US$9.4 billion so far in 2022); reports 2.93 billion daily active users across its family of products, 1.98 billion daily active users on Facebook and over two billion daily active users on WhatsApp. (The respective monthly active users stats are 3.71 billion and 2.96 billion.)
• Samsung reports Q3 2022 with operating profits of US$ 7.65 billion, down more than 31% YoY, as the tech giant reports its first quarterly profit decline in nearly three years; revenue jumps ~4% YoY to US$ 54.1 billion, as semiconductor sales drop 14% YoY.