OpenAI has unveiled its latest artificial intelligence model called o1, which, the company claims, can perform complex reasoning tasks more effectively than its predecessors. The release comes as OpenAI faces increasing competition in the race to develop more sophisticated AI systems.
O1 was trained to "spend more time thinking through problems before they respond, much like a person would," OpenAI said on its website. "Through training, [the models] learn to refine their thinking process, try different strategies, and recognize their mistakes." OpenAI envisions the new model being used by healthcare researchers to annotate cell sequencing data, by physicists to generate mathematical formulas and software developers.
Current AI systems are essentially fancier versions of autocomplete, generating responses through statistics instead of actually "thinking" through a question, which means that they are less "intelligent" than they appear to be. When Engadget tried to get ChatGPT and other AI chatbots to solve the New York Times Spelling Bee, for instance, they fumbled and produced nonsensical results.
With o1, the company claims that it is "resetting the counter back to 1" with a new kind of AI model designed to actually engage in complex problem-solving and logical thinking. In a blog post detailing the new model, OpenAI said that it performs similarly to PhD students on challenging benchmark tasks in physics, chemistry and biology, and excels in math and coding. For example, its current flagship model, GPT-4o, correctly solved only 13 percent of problems in a qualifying exam for the International Mathematics Olympiad compared to o1, which solved 83 percent.
The new model, however, doesn't include capabilities like web browsing or the ability to upload files and images. And, according to The Verge, it's significantly slower at processing prompts compared to GPT-4o. Despite having longer to consider its outputs, o1 hasn't solved the problem of "hallucinations" — a term for AI models making up information. "We can't say we solved hallucinations," the company's chief research officer Bob McGrew told The Verge.
O1 is still at a nascent stage. OpenAI calls it a "preview" and is making it available only to paying ChatGPT customers starting today with restrictions on how many questions they can ask it per week. In addition, OpenAI is also launching o1-mini, a slimmed-down version that the company says is particularly effective for coding.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-new-o1-model-is-slower-on-purpose-185711459.html?src=rss
The Apple event on Monday revealed the newest selection of iPhones, which includes the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. If you're looking into upgrading to one of the latest models but are unsure of the differences between the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro (other than the price tag), we can help you decide which one is right for you.
Now that we've officially seen the iPhone 16 lineup – and the bells and whistles included – we know that all versions will run iOS 18 and will have access to Apple Intelligence when those features begin to become available in October. But there are some extra perks you get if you spend the extra couple hundred bucks for an iPhone 16 Pro – for instance, better camera features and a slightly larger display.
When it comes to screen size, the iPhone 16 Pro's display is only slightly larger than the iPhone 16. The 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch ProMotion technology and Always-On display (just like last year's iPhone 15 Pro), while the iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display. What all that means is that the Pro model offers a faster refresh rate up to 120Hz, delivering smoother video than the standard iPhone 16, which tops out at TKHz.
Otherwise, the screen technology between the two models is very evenly matched. Both sport a Super Retina XDR display with the same HDR, brightness, P3 color gamut and True Tone specs.
As for the actual phone sizes, there's really not that much of a difference between the two. The iPhone 16 is 5.81 inches tall, 2.82 inches wide and weighs six ounces, while the 16 Pro is 5.89 inches tall, 2.81 inches wide and weighs just over seven ounces.
The resolution is also slightly different – the iPhone 16 has 2,556 x 1,179 pixels, while the 16 Pro has 2,622 x 1,206 pixels.
Both phones have the latest-generation Ceramic Shield screen, which should make for good protection against drops and scratches. They also both offer the Dynamic Island (first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro), which replaces the notch found on older iPhones.
Camera and microphone differences
As with previous models, two cameras sit on the back of the iPhone 16: the 48-megapixel Fusion main camera and the 12-megapixel ultra wide camera. That combo allows you to “zoom out” for wide angle shots (0.5x) and zoom in up to 2x.
The iPhone 16 Pro has a more sophisticated triple camera array: a 48-megapixel Fusion main camera and a new 48-megapixel ultra wide lens, along with a 12-megapixel Telephoto camera. That third lens 16 Pro lets you zoom in up to 5x, and out up to 0.5x. The Pro phone has “second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization,” while the baseline iPhone 16 presumably only has the first-gen version of that feature. The Pro can also shoot in the Apple ProRAW file format, and offers night mode portrait shots not available in the baseline model.
On the video side, both iPhone 16 lines can shoot 4K Dolby Vision video, but the Pro model offers capture up to 120 frames per second. That enables better slow-motion video. The Pro further lives up to its name by offering the Academy Color Encoding System, log video recording and ProRes video recording on the rear and front cameras. (If you have to ask what these are, you don’t need them.)
Otherwise, the camera capabilities between the two models are pretty much the same. That includes two new-for-2024 features: Photographic Styles and the Camera Control button. Photographic Styles is akin to old-school Instagram filters, but with a major twist: you can undo or change the styles after shooting a given photo. Meanwhile, the new Camera Control button also comes equipped on both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models on the bottom right side of the phones. It offers one-click access to photo and video shooting, and includes touch-sensitive manipulation to change modes, frame shots and so forth.
New camera button on the iPhone 16 models. (Apple)
Apple
Lastly, the iPhone 16 Pro includes a “studio-quality” four-mic array which offers better audio capture during video sessions and enables the new multi-track recording option in the Memos app. (No, that feature is not available in the baseline iPhone 16 models.)
Under the hood: CPUs and RAM
The iPhone 16 comes with a new-for-2024 A18 chip, which includes a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, as well as a 16-core Neural Engine. The iPhone 16 Pro has an equally new A18 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU, along with a 16-core Neural Engine.
Both A18 chips offer the performance and power consumption advantages versus the equivalent models that appeared in the 2023 iPhone 15 models. Per Macrumors, all iPhone 16 models sport 8GB of RAM – the same as the iPhone 15 Pro models had last year. The combo of processing power and on-board memory ensure that all of the iPhone 16 models will run the upcoming Apple Intelligence features.
USB speed
While both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro have USB-C ports, the 16 Pro supports USB 3 to allow for up to 20 times faster transfers. (For reference, the iPhone 16 supports USB 2.) That extra speed is useful for creators who are transferring video, audio and photos from the iPhone Pro.
The charging speeds for these are the same, with a 50-percent charge in just 30 minutes when using a 20W adapter with the USB-C cord.
Color options and design differences
As per usual, the iPhone 16 models come in bright new colors, while the iPhone 16 Pro has more neutral colors. The iPhone 16 is made from aluminum with a glass back, and you can choose from new colors like ultramarine (periwinkle), teal, pink (but darker than last year's pink), or the standard white and black choices.
As for the iPhone 16 Pro, it's made from titanium with a textured matte glass back, and your color options are desert (gold), natural (silver), white or black.
Both phones come equipped with the Action button – only the iPhone 15 Pro currently has this – which lets you assign a litany of functions, including the ringer, flashlight or voice memo. (Remember, the camera now has its own dedicated button.)
Apple
Apple
Battery life
If you're looking for a phone with a battery that can last all day, the iPhone 16 should be a great option if it lives up to Apple’s advertised specs. The iPhone 16 offers up to 22 hours video playback, up to 18 hours of streaming and up to 80 hours of audio playback.
The 16 Pro offers up to 27 hours of video playback, up to 22 hours of streaming and up to 85 hours of audio playback.
What about the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max?
The iPhone 16 Plus is just a bigger version of the iPhone 16 with a longer battery life, and the same goes for the 16 Pro Max. They have all the same features as their smaller counterparts but here's how the battery life and sizes differ.
iPhone 16 Plus
Battery: Offers up to 27 hours of video playback, up to 24 hours of streaming and up to 100 hours of audio playback. Actually better than the 16 Pro battery span.
Size: Has a 6.7-inch display, and is 6.33 inches tall, 3.06 inches wide and weighs just over seven ounces.
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Battery: Offers up to 33 hours of video playback, up to 29 hours of streaming and up to 105 hours of audio playback.
Size: Has a 6.9-inch display, and is 6.42 inches tall, 3.06 inches wide and weighs nearly eight ounces.
But how do the new iPhone 16 and 16 Pro work in real life?
Our full reviews of the new iPhones are still in the future. But our own Cherlynn Low spent some time with the new iPhones in the demo area at Apple Park on launch day. Check out her first impressions of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.
None
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Price
Starting at $799
Starting at $899
Starting at $999
Starting at $1,199
Dimensions
5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches
6.33 x 3.06 x 0.31 inches
5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches
6.422 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches
Weight
6 ounces
7.03 ounces
7.03 ounces
7.99 ounces
Screen size
6.1 inches
6.7 inches
6.3 inches
6.9 inches
Storage options
128GB, 256GB, 512GB
128GB, 256GB, 512GB
128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Colors and finish
Aluminum with glass back in colors ultramarine, teal, pink, black
Aluminum with glass back in colors ultramarine, teal, pink, black
Titanium with textured matte glass back in colors desert, natural, white, black
Titanium with textured matte glass back in colors desert, natural, white, black
Battery
Up to 22 hours video playback
Up to 27 hours video playback
Up to 27 hours video playback
Up to 33 hours video playback
Resolution
2,556 x 1,179 (460 ppi)
2,796 x 1,290 (460 ppi)
2,622 x 1,206 (460 ppi)
2,868 x 1,320 (460 ppi)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/iphone-16-vs-iphone-16-pro-specs-and-features-compared-side-by-side-182312186.html?src=rss
Apple’s recent iPhone event brought some nifty ideas, from the camera button to a reinvention of Google Lens and beyond. The company also announced that it's bringing simple multitrack recording to Voice Memos. This was particularly exciting for me since, well, I use Voice Memos a lot. I have nearly 500 of these little recordings that were made during the lifetime of my iPhone 14 Pro and thousands more in the cloud. You never know when you’ll need a random tune you hummed while waiting for the subway in 2013.
So this feature felt tailor-made for me. I write songs. I play guitar. I do everything that lady in the commercial does, including opening the fridge late at night for no real reason.
Apple
Then reality hit. This isn’t a software update that will hit all iPhone models. It’s tied to the ultra-premium iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at a cool $1,000. I don’t really want to upgrade right now, so the dream of singing over an acoustic guitar track right on the Voice Memos app is dead on arrival.
Why is this particular feature walled behind the iPhone 16 Pro? It’s a simple multitrack recording function. From the ad, it looks like the app can’t even layer more than two tracks at a time. This can’t exactly be taxing that A18 Pro chip, especially when the phone can also handle 4K/120 FPS video recording in Dolby Vision.
Pro Tools, a popular digital audio workstation, was first introduced in 1991. This was two years before Intel released the Pentium chip. Computers of that era had no trouble layering tracks. For a bit of reference, last year’s A17 Pro chip had around 19 billion transistors. An original Pentium chip had around three million. In other words, a modern smartphone chip is around 6,300 times more powerful than a 1993 Pentium-based PC.
So let us layer tracks on Voice Memos, Apple! It can't be that complicated. I’ve been using dedicated multitrack apps ever since the iPhone 3. Apple throws GarageBand in with every iPhone. Both GarageBand and third-party recording apps have a place, sure, but nothing beats the quickness and ease-of-use of Voice Memos. It’d sure be great to be able to make a quick-and-dirty acoustic demo of a song and send it out to someone without having to navigate a fairly complicated interface.
Apple
Yeah. I see the elephant in the room. There’s a part of the ad that I’ve been avoiding. The woman records the vocal layer over the guitar track without wearing headphones. She just sang into the phone while standing in front of that refrigerator. Now, that’s something old-school Pentiums could not do. There’s some microphone placement wizardry going on there, along with machine learning algorithms that reduce unwanted ambient noise. The iPhone 16 Pro has a brand-new microphone array, so I get that older models might not be able handle this particular part of the equation.
But who cares? That’s a really neat feature. It’s also completely unnecessary. If you’re reading this, you are likely already wearing earbuds/headphones or have some within reach. Record the first track without the headphones. Record the secondary layer while wearing headphones. That’s it. Problem solved. You can even do it in front of the refrigerator.
Also, both the base-level iPhone 16 and the Pro support Audio Mix, which lets people adjust various sound levels from various sources after capturing video. This is done without the new Studio Mics on the iPhone 16 Pro and seems to reduce ambient noise in a similar way. So it could be possible that there's a software solution here to handle even that elephant in the room. After all, the company credits "powerful machine learning algorithms" for this tech — if it can erase environmental wind noise, surely it can handle music playing in the background?
So I am once again asking for Apple to let the rest of us play around with multitrack recording on Voice Memos. There’s no reason every older iPhone model couldn’t compute its way to a simple guitar/vocal two-track wav file. Pop the feature into a software update. I hear there’s one for iOS 18 coming really soon, and another for Apple Intelligence after that.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/i-dont-get-why-apples-multitrack-voice-memos-require-an-iphone-16-pro-175134621.html?src=rss
After slashing 1,900 jobs across Xbox and Activision earlier this year, Microsoft is laying off another 650 employees, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. The cuts are again related to its Activision Blizzard acquisition and will mostly affect corporate and supporting functions, Xbox head Phil Spencer told employees.
"We have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming... to organize our business for long term success," Spencer wrote. "No games, devices or experiences are being cancelled and no studios are being closed as part of these adjustments today."
Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard in October 2023, following a 21-month battle with regulators in the US and UK. To clear the deal with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft agreed to sell its cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft so that titles will appear on multiple game-streaming services.
Since then, the company has closed multiple game studios, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games and Roundhouse Games.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-lays-off-another-650-xbox-employees-as-part-of-its-activision-deal-123042523.html?src=rss
Xbox is changing its process for forming connections on the gaming platform. Its new method works like, well, just about every other social platform, where you'll send a friend request that is either accepted or denied.
That sounds like the obvious way for this feature to function, but Xbox adopted a more passive approach to friends for the recent console generation. The way it works in the current system is that anybody can add another Xbox account to their follow list. When two accounts followed each other, they were upgraded to friends.
Microsoft
The change shouldn't yield much of a difference in players' social tab. If you're already friends, you'll stay friends. If you aren't mutuals, you'll continue following the account. That means you can still keep an eye on updates from individuals, clubs and games within the Xbox ecosystem.
Xbox is also launching new privacy and notification options to help manage the return of friendship, so players can set who is able to follow them or send them friend requests. The blog post didn't give a release date for when the new friends system will get a public rollout, but it is available starting this week as a preview for people in the Xbox Insiders program.
Today's announcement is the latest in a wave of Xbox news in the past month. The company also introduced the Game Pass Standard plan and opened pre-orders for the all-digital Xbox Series X.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/friend-requests-are-returning-to-xbox-220614785.html?src=rss
On Wednesday, Adobe unveiled Firefly AI video generation tools that will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work its prized user base is paid for today. Echoing AI salesmanship found elsewhere in the tech industry, Adobe frames it all as supplementary tech that “helps take the tedium out of post-production.”
Adobe describes its new Firefly-powered text-to-video, Generative Extend (which will be available in Premiere Pro) and image-to-video AI tools as helping editors with tasks like “navigating gaps in footage, removing unwanted objects from a scene, smoothing jump cut transitions, and searching for the perfect b-roll.” The company says the tools will give video editors “more time to explore new creative ideas, the part of the job they love.” (To take Adobe at face value, you’d have to believe employers won’t simply increase their output demands from editors once the industry has fully adopted these AI tools. Or pay less. Or employ fewer people. But I digress.)
Firefly Text-to-Video lets you — you guessed it — create AI-generated videos from text prompts. But it also includes tools to control camera angle, motion and zoom. It can take a shot with gaps in its timeline and fill in the blanks. It can even use a still reference image and turn it into a convincing AI video. Adobe says its video models excel with “videos of the natural world,” helping to create establishing shots or b-rolls on the fly without much of a budget.
For an example of how convincing the tech appears to be, check out Adobe’s examples in the promo video:
Although these are samples curated by a company trying to sell you on its products, their quality is undeniable. Detailed text prompts for an establishing shot of a fiery volcano, a dog chilling in a field of wildflowers or (demonstrating it can handle the fantastical as well) miniature wool monsters having a dance party produce just that. If these results are emblematic of the tools’ typical output (hardly a guarantee), then TV, film and commercial production will soon have some powerful shortcuts at its disposal — for better or worse.
Meanwhile, Adobe’s example of image-to-video begins with an uploaded galaxy image. A text prompt prods it to transform it into a video that zooms out from the star system to reveal the inside of a human eye. The company’s demo of Generative Extend shows a pair of people walking across a forest stream; an AI-generated segment fills in a gap in the footage. (It was convincing enough that I couldn’t tell which part of the output was AI-generated.)
Adobe
Reutersreports that the tool will only generate five-second clips, at least at first. To Adobe’s credit, it says its Firefly Video Model is designed to be commercially safe and only trains on content the company has permission to use. “We only train them on the Adobe Stock database of content that contains 400 million images, illustrations, and videos that are curated to not contain intellectual property, trademarks or recognizable characters,” Adobe’s VP of Generative AI, Alexandru Costin, told Reuters. The company also stressed that it never trains on users’ work. However, whether or not it puts its users out of work is another matter altogether.
Adobe says its new video models will be available in beta later this year. You can sign up for a waitlist to try them.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-previews-ai-video-tools-that-arrive-later-this-year-172021715.html?src=rss
Most early impressions of the Apple Watch Series 10 are quite positive. Not only does it have the biggest display yet on any Apple Watch (despite a smaller overall case size than the 49mm Ultra 2), but it weighs less and is somehow thinner than before. The display isn’t just bigger, either — it has improved brightness when viewed at an angle, and the always-on screen can refresh once a second when at rest, rather than once a minute as it did before.
Beyond the updated display and some lovely new case options (the new polished titanium and jet black aluminum look pretty fabulous), the Apple Watch is also getting a new health feature: sleep apnea detection. It’s not exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 10, as last year’s Series 9 will also get it as well, but it was still a main highlight of Apple’s presentation and another example of how they want you to wear the Watch all day and all night.
The only problem with that? Battery life is still rated for 18 hours, or 36 in battery-saver mode (half of what Apple claims for the Watch Ultra 2). That means if I get up and strap my watch on at 7AM, it’ll be dead overnight. Of course, the reality of this isn’t as extreme as I’m making it sound. While Apple has quoted an 18-hour battery since the Apple Watch was first released in 2015, recent models have easily exceeded that, despite changes like an always-on display. It’s not unreasonable to wear it all day and overnight to track your sleep, and then give it a charge in the morning to get set for the next day. Apple has focused on quick charging in the last few models to make that more feasible — the Series 10 can be charged to 80 percent in just 30 minutes.
The problem, at least in my experience, comes a year or so into an Apple Watch’s life. I had a Series 7, and its battery health had dropped to below 90 percent capacity after less than a year, and under 85 percent capacity after about 14 months. That made a noticeable difference; if I wanted to wear my watch overnight for sleep-tracking purposes, it would have needed a mid-day charge. Things were even worse if I used LTE on a run and left my phone at home, as streaming music and tracking a workout could easily use more than 25 percent of my battery. My Series 9 that I got last December, however, appears to be doing much better, with battery health still at 100 percent. Maybe my Series 7 was a lemon, but I think Apple has done some solid charging optimization to keep things fresher here.
Getting a day and change from the Apple Watch is in line with the Pixel Watch 3 that we just reviewed, though it lags behind Samsung’s Galaxy smartwatches. But the comparison gets worse when you look at Garmin’s line of fitness-focused watches, basically all of which can be used for well over a week without needing a charge. Granted, they’re different from Apple and Google wearables that are tightly integrated with all aspects of your phone’s OS, but that’s not the point. If you want to use your watch to the fullest, wear it overnight to track sleep and not have to think about it the next day, the Apple Watch is far from your best option.
That brings me back around to the Series 10. How psyched would we all be if Apple said this thing got three days of battery life? Even matching the 36-hour rating of the Apple Watch Ultra would be a win, as chances are good you’d get closer to two days in real-world use. Instead, though, Apple did what it often does and made the Series 10 thinner. Sure, comfort is crucial when you’re talking about a wearable, but I personally would have traded a 1mm reduction in thickness (about a nine percent change) for a bigger, longer-lasting battery.
Instead, we’ll just have to make do with faster charging, which, don’t get me wrong, does make a difference. It’s pretty easy to imagine a world in which you wake up, drop your Apple Watch on the charger for 45 minutes while you get ready for the day and then don’t think about it again until the next morning. But that’s just another time you have to think about this thing that’s supposed to live on your wrist. Charging overnight isn’t necessarily the best option anymore, but having to charge every day without fail is still a bummer. I just wish I had an Apple Watch that I could forget about and just drop on a charger every couple days to top it up. Maybe next year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-apple-watch-series-10-deserves-more-than-18-hour-battery-life-170410297.html?src=rss
September is here and, like clockwork, so are new iPhones. Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models at an event in Cupertino today, and as expected, the iPhone 16 handsets are largely iterative of last year's models. While the smartphones, standard and Pro versions, took center stage, Apple also showed off the new Apple Watch Series 10, two new pairs of AirPods and detailed hearing aid features coming to the second-generation AirPods Pro. The company also went into detail on its latest mobile chipsets that power the new iPhones, and reminded folks what they can expect when iOS 18 launches later this month with Apple Intelligence. If you weren't able to catch the announcements live, Engadget has you covered; here's everything announced at Apple's iPhone 16 event.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
Apple
Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at the event, which feature a water- and dust-resistant design and new colors including ultramarine, teal and pink. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both of those can achieve up to 2,000 nits of brightness, and can go all the way down to 1 nit in the dark. The Action button has found its way to this series of iPhones as well, and it's just as customizable as the one we saw on last year's Pro-model iPhones.
There's also a new easy-access camera control "button" of sorts, which allows you to quickly control the camera with a slide of your finger. This tool can also tap into Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered feature coming in iOS 18 that can tell you more about anything you point your camera at. It appears similar to Google Lens, and can do things like add live event dates to your calendar after you point your camera at a flyer you see on the street. The camera array on the standard iPhone 16 models includes a 48-megapixel main Fusion camera, a 12MP telephoto lens and a new ultrawide camera with autofocus. This array will also be able to capture Spatial Photos that can be viewed on Apple's Vision Pro.
We confirmed in our hands-on text of the iPhone 16 that it has the same style of camera control button as the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. It's a physical button, but haptics add another layer of feedback for when you make a "light press" rather than fully pressing the button down.
Both standard iPhone 16 models run on the new A18 chip, which has a 16-core neural engine optimized for generative models. The internals feature a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, both of which will be crucial for powering all of the new Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18.
According to Apple, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have larger batteries than their predecessors, and when combined with the efficiencies added from the A18 chipset and iOS 18 improvements, should make for a much longer-lasting battery lives overall (although Apple did not provide an exact estimate). Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are available for pre-order today starting at $799 and $899, respectively, and will be widely available on September 20.
The Pro series of iPhones includes the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max this year, which have 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch ProMotion, always-on displays, respectively. Both are made with Grade 5 Titanium, which Apple claims to be even lighter than stainless steel. These handsets will be available in four new colors: black, white, natural and desert, the latter of which resembles a dusty gold color.
According to the company, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence, being able to take full advantage of all the new features coming in iOS 18. These handsets run on the new A18 Pro chipset, which takes advantage of 3nm transistors and is even faster and more efficient than the standard A18 chip found in the regular iPhone 16 lineup.
The rear camera array on both models includes a 48MP Fusion camera, 48MP ultrawide shooter and a 12MP telephoto lens. The main camera's improvements allow for 4K, 120fps video and slow-motion recording. Both phones also have the new camera control button that provides easier access to the camera and all of its tools, both for capture and editing. There are also four studio-quality microphones built in to both smartphones for improved audio capture, and they allow for Spatial Audio recording, too.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro series and the standard iPhone 16 handsets supports Qi2 wireless charging, and Apple will come out with new MagSafe charging cases that account for the new camera control button. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will be available for pre-order on Friday, September 13, starting at $999 and $1,199, respectively. They'll be widely available on September 20.
AirPods 4 launched today during the iPhone 16 event, as rumors suggested. These have a redesigned bud shape that's suppose to fit more ear shapes and be more comfortable overall. They have the H2 chip inside, which will provide improved audio quality and enable features like Personalized Spatial Audio. The charging case has a USB-C port, and it's the smallest AirPods charging case to date.
In addition to the regular AirPods 4, there will be a second model that includes support for active noise cancellation and Transparency mode. Conversation Awareness will also automatically lower your media volume level when the buds detect you talking to someone. The standard AirPods 4 cost $129 and the AirPods 4 with ANC cost $179; both are available for pre-order today and will be widely available on September 20.
Apple didn’t reinvent the wheel with the updated AirPods Max. Instead, they’ll be available in a few new colors (midnight, blue, purple, orange and starlight) and support USB-C charging. The new colors can be pre-ordered today for $549 and will be widely available on September 20.
AirPods Pro new hearing aid features
Apple announced new features coming to the second-gen AirPods Pro that are designed to help prevent (and increase awareness around) hearing loss. A feature called "Hearing Protection" will be turned on by default, and users will be able to take a clinically-validated hearing test to see if they already have some hearing loss. On top of that, AirPods Pro will have a clinical-grade hearing aid feature built-in as well, which will work with a hearing profile created after a user takes the hearing test.
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple
Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 10 today, the natural successor to last year’s Series 9. It has the biggest display and thinnest design ever on an Apple Watch, and the wide-angle OLED display is even a bit larger than that on the Apple Watch Ultra. The case has more rounded corners and a wider aspect ratio, both of which, combined with the larger screen, should provide more space to interact with graphics and text on the Watch. Apple claims the screen is 40 percent brighter when looked at from an angle, and it'll show a second hand ticking away even when your wrist is down.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is powered by the new S10 SiP chip, which Apple claims is built for performance, power efficiency and intelligence (i.e. Apple Intelligence). One example of Apple Intelligence at work on the Series 10 is the new Photos watch face, which will curate the best photos from your library and serve them up to you automatically.
When it comes to fitness features, Apple announced that the latest version of watchOS will allow the Series 10 to detect signs of sleep apnea, provided you're wearing your Series 10 to sleep regularly. Apple claims it's awaiting FDA clearance, and it expects the sleep apnea detection feature to launch in more than 150 countries. Elsewhere in the activity sphere, the Series 10 will have scuba tracking features and it will support the new Tides app in watchOS 11.
Another new feature is the ability to play audio directly from the Watch's speaker, which could be helpful if you don't have AirPods or another pair of Bluetooth earbuds handy. The Apple Watch Series 10 be available in a new polished, jet-black aluminum finish and new polished titanium finishes. It's available for pre-order today and will be widely available on September 20.
While there have been a bunch of swirling rumors about the next iteration of the Apple Watch Ultra, the company did not reveal the third generation sportswatch today. Instead, Apple revealed a new finish for the Apple Watch Ultra 2: satin black. There are also new Hermes finishes, and a new Milanese band to accompany the new satin black finish.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/everything-apple-revealed-at-the-iphone-16-launch-event-apple-watch-series-10-airpods-4-ios-18-and-more-170346723.html?src=rss
Every year, the calculus of choosing which iPhone to get feels increasingly frustrating. Do you opt for the standard iPhone? Do you splurge for the latest and greatest Pro model, something that might take two years to pay off completely? Or should you just buy a slightly older used or refurbished model to get the best deal possible? And of course, there's always the safest bet: Save your money and keep your current phone for as long as possible.
After sitting with Apple's announcements for a day, one thing has become clear: The plain $799 iPhone 16 is a pretty solid deal, at least compared to basic iPhones from the last few years. It actually has a new processor, Apple's A18, instead of reusing an older chip. It brings over the Action button from the iPhone 15 Pro and it also has Apple's new camera button. The iPhone 16 is also relatively future-proof since it supports Apple Intelligence, something that doesn't work on the non-Pro iPhone 15 and older models.
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While the $999 iPhone 16 Pro has an additional camera and supports more powerful photography and filmmaking features, the line between that device and the standard iPhone 16 is blurrier than ever before.
It certainly makes more sense to invest in the iPhone 16 today, instead of the poor, beleaguered iPhone SE. That device sports an aging A15 chip, the tiny 4.7-inch screen of yore and it still costs $429 like it did in 2022. It's rumored that we'll see a new iPhone SE sometime next year, but the current model is simply a terrible option in Apple's current lineup.
If you don't care about Apple Intelligence and you'd like to replace an older device, you can currently find a refurbished iPhone 15 on Amazon and elsewhere between $500 and $600. But really, if you're willing to shell out that much money for a used device with a limited warranty, it might make more sense to grab an iPhone 16 and pay it off over time via your carrier. Trade-in deals can also shave off a significant chunk of a new phone's price. Verizon, for example, is currently offering $800 off a Pixel 9 or iPhone 15 when you swap out an older device.
To be clear, all of the preceding advice only applies if you need to replace a trashed iPhone, or you’re excited to play with Apple Intelligence. Judging from the latest rumors, we’ll likely see an ultra-thin iPhone model next year (similar to the latest iPad Pro), so it might just make sense to hold onto your existing device. And don’t forget, Apple’s AI features won’t be immediately available at launch — you’ll have to wait until an October update for the first batch of features, and Siri won’t get all of its new smarts until the first half of 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/its-a-good-year-to-buy-the-vanilla-iphone-16-and-avoid-the-se-at-all-costs-192919611.html?src=rss
Sony has officially announced the much-anticipated PS5 Pro. You'll need to dig deep into your pocket for it, though: the new console has a price tag of $700 and it will arrive on November 7. Pre-orders start on September 26. As with the PS5 Slim, if you want a disc drive or a vertical stand, you'll have to shell out extra.
The Pro offers some notable improvements on the specs of the original PS5, which was released in 2020. Sony is hoping to narrow the gap between the fidelity and performance modes that players have become accustomed to choosing between. The idea is to offer improved graphical performance at more consistent frame rates across the board. To do that, Sony focused on three core upgrades: a larger GPU, advanced ray-tracing and AI-driven upscaling.
That GPU has 67 percent more compute units and 28 percent faster RAM than the standard PS5. As such, according to the console's lead architect Mark Cerny, the new console will be able to deliver up to 45 percent faster rendering. Ray-tracing performance could be up to three times as faster than on the PS5. Meanwhile, Sony's AI-upscaling tech (i.e. its take on the likes of NVIDIA's DLSS) is called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, or PSSR.
Of course, Sony's own studios have been updating their games to take advantage of these upgrades. Cernys presentation highlighted The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as some of the games that will benefit from improved visual fidelity and/or frame rates. Third-party partners are planning to tap into the PS5 Pro's extra power too, with patches on the way for the likes of Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Demon’s Souls, Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Games that have been patched or developed for the new system will have a PS5 Pro Enhanced label.
Other features include a game boost tool that could improve or stabilize the performance of more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games, Sony says. The feature could boost the performance of PS5 games that aren't explicitly enhanced for the Pro as well. The company adds that its Enhanced Image Quality tool will improve the resolution of certain PS4 games as well. Other features include Wi-Fi 7, variable refresh rate and support for 8K resolutions.
Sony managed to make the PS5 Pro more powerful without making it larger than the colossal original model. It has the same height as the original PS5 and the same width as the discless model. Along with a DualSense controller and the brilliant Astro's Playroom, the PS5 Pro comes with 2TB of built-in storage, which is a nice upgrade from the 1TB on earlier models.
That $700 price may put many folks off of buying a PS5 Pro. But hey, at least Sony is offering gamers a tangible hardware upgrade. The newest Xbox systems either change the console's color, add some storage or remove the Series X disc drive.
It's hard to keep many secrets around new gaming hardware, so today's announcement is hardly a surprise. There have been several leaks this year, one from a YouTube channel in May and then again in August from a Dealabs user.
The PS5 has been a big seller for Sony, with 61.7 million units sold as of June 2024. With the PS5 Pro joining the original hardware and the PS5 Slim, Sony is in good shape to continue its dominance of this console cycle.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-unveils-its-ps5-pro-console-which-will-cost-you-a-whopping-700-151636487.html?src=rss