Apple may soon show ads in Maps app: What it means for users

Apple is reportedly planning to show ads in Maps next year. In his weekly newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that the Cupertino-based company “is focusing on Apple Maps, which will allow restaurants and other businesses to pay to have their details featured more prominently within the app’s searches.

” The concept will be similar to Search ads inside of the App Store, “where developers can pay for their software to appear in a promoted slot based on user queries.”According to Gurman, ads in Apple Maps will have a better interface “than what Google and other companies offer”. He further adds that the iPhone maker plans to leverage AI to ensure that results are relevant and useful.

Consumer backlash anticipated

The newsletter further states that the move could bring “potential” backlash from consumers.

Gurman states that some Apple fans are already unhappy that the iPhone has been turned into a digital billboard for services like AppleCare+, Apple Music, Apple TV and Fitness+. “When you consider that an iPhone can cost up to $2,000, some see this as an unseemly money grab,” Gurman writes in the newsletter. In a related news, Apple is also said to be working on a vapor chamber to improve cooling and performance in its upcoming iPad Pro. Slated to launch as early as 2027, the vapor chamber in iPad Pro will replace the need for a fan — like those found in the MacBook Pro and Vision Pro. It also enables higher performance “because there’s less throttling, where the operating system slow downs the processor to make sure it doesn’t overheat”.