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It’s the year of smartphone price hikes

Paying more for a new phone seems almost unavoidable after Apple's event today. The new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max start at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively - a $100 price hike over their predecessors. You can't dodge the price hike by opting for an older iPhone, either, because Apple raised prices on those by $100, too. And it's not just Apple. This year, the $100 price hike has been a trend across the industry. Google and Samsung followed the same formula as Apple when they each launched new phones over the past few months. The Pixel 11 starts at $899, up from $799 for last year's Pixel 10. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra launched at $2,099, $1 … Read the full story at The Verge.

Massachusetts hits data centers with new clean power rules

Massachusetts has become the third state in as many months to slap new restrictions on data center development.

Suno releases its first AI music model made with record industry help

Suno's new v6 AI music model is its first made with support from the record industry. Suno's Jack Brody told The Verge that v6 was "trained from the ground up, with a new set of data that does not include the same data that our previous models were trained on." The data includes content licensed from partners Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe, as well as "user data." It's unclear whether that means v6 training data is completely free of dubiously obtained content. One of the big changes in v6 is that there are actually three different models: v6, v6-wild, and v6-mini. Mini is the model available for free to all. It's focused on fast, res … Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple Watch’s new AI features are normalizing the idea that technology is always listening

Apple says its new watches won’t save raw audio, but features that can transcribe recent speech and summarize ambient conversations raise new questions about consent, privacy, and how people behave when they know they could always be recorded.

There are new shiny iPhones, so Apple is making you pay more for older models

Apple is raising the price of its existing iPhone models by $100, including iPhone 16, iPhone 17, and iPhone Air.

Apple’s new iPhone camera mode promises to prove your photo isn’t AI

Apple is launching a new way to prove that the picture you took isn't manipulated by AI. A new feature, called "Reference Image," will arrive with the iPhone 18 Pro lineup later this month and is supposed to use the device's new camera sensor to "sign every pixel it sees." The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will only authenticate photos when placed into Reference mode. Once the camera captures signed sensor data, Apple says its Private Cloud Compute will develop it "into an unalterable reference image" that can be viewed in the Photos app. You'll be able to compare the reference image with other versions of the photo to see if any edits were mad … Read the full story at The Verge.

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: our first hands-on impressions

The 18 Pro in burgundy is ready for fall. We've just gotten our hands on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max at Apple Park following the company's "Surprise and shine" presentation. The new phones look quite similar to the previous iPhone 17 Pro lineup, keeping the same general design, aluminum body, and screen sizes. The 18 Pro lineup comes in four colors: black, silver, "glacier" (which is blue), and burgundy, and they now have color-matched glass on the back that blends in more seamlessly with the body. Another major new feature is the variable-aperture lens for the main camera and new "pro" controls to help give you more options when taking photos. Apple has also added pro controls … Read the full story at The Verge.

The hinge for Apple’s new foldable phone was built with AI

Apple says it used AI and 3D printing in the manufacturing process for its long-awaited foldable phone.

Apple unveils its first foldable, the iPhone Duo

Apple today introduced its first foldable device, named the iPhone Duo, at its Surprise and Shine iPhone event held in Cupertino. The phone is the first marquee device launched under the company s new CEO, John Ternus. The company said that the new device was Inspired by the versatility of iPad and also showed how people [ ]

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is ready for the new Siri

Apple announced the next version of the rugged and durable Apple Watch Ultra at today's "Surprise and shine" event. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 features a design that's nearly identical to last year's Apple Watch Ultra 3 but is powered by Apple's new S11 processor, which replaces the aging S10 chip first introduced with the Apple Watch Series 10 in 2024. The S11 will bring some much-needed performance improvements to the Ultra 4 ahead of Apple's upcoming watchOS 27 release that will include the smarter and more capable Siri AI assistant announced at Apple's annual WWDC conference earlier this year. The Apple Watch Ultra 4 features an improved … Read the full story at The Verge.

iOS 27 launches on September 14th with Siri AI

Apple is launching its next iOS 27 update on Monday September 14th. The headline feature is Siri AI, the delayed AI-powered overhaul of the Siri assistant. Siri AI is rolling out with iOS 27 as a beta, available initially for English-only devices. Apple says support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish is coming in October. Siri AI isn't the only big feature in iOS 27, though. Apple is adding a new Liquid Glass opacity slider that lets you pick between a clearer UI or a more frosty one. A lot of built-in apps are also getting new icon designs, with subtle tweaks to colors. Apple is also adding extra large widgets, the abil … Read the full story at The Verge.