One of Apple's biggest fans laid into the company's tax affairs during its iPhone 7 event

Stephen Fry, a self-confessed Apple fan, thinks that Apple should be paying more tax than it has been.

Speaking to the BBC at Apple's iPhone launch event on Wednesday, Fry said it "definitely should" be paying more tax, before adding that he didn't know every detail.

"I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said tax is the price we pay for civilisation and if people are not paying tax then civilisation falters," said Fry. "Our streets don't get lit. There's more crime. Everything gets worse. I have absolutely no patience for any of these large companies getting away with such minuscule rates of taxation."

The Cupertino company has been ordered to pay €13 billion (£11.1 billion) to the Irish government in back taxes by the European Commission, which last week concluded that the world's most valuable company has not been paying its fair share.

Apple and the Irish government plan to appeal the European Commission's decision.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told an Irish newspaper that the EU tax ruling is "total political crap," saying that anti-US bias is "one reason why we may have been targeted."