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Tag: Apple
Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025) review: the best small laptop ever
Apple MacBook Air 13
MSRP $999.00
“The Apple MacBook Air is tiny, fast, and lasts forever. Just buy it.”
Pros
- Superior build quality
- Elegant aesthetic
- Excellent keyboard and touchpad
- Incredibly thin
- Fast productivity performance
- Class-leading battery life
- Attractive base price
In our previous reviews of the Apple MacBook Air, we’ve rated it as the best 13-inch laptop but stopped short of giving it a perfect score. With the advent of Apple’s M4 chipset, which isn’t a sea change over the M3 but is nevertheless significantly stronger, I don’t see any reason to hold back.
We can dispute if a laptop with a 13.6-inch display is officially in the 13-inch category or better belongs to the 14-inch laptop segment. But who really cares? The MacBook Air 13 is incredibly thin, light enough to be highly portable, very fast, and oh-so-efficient. It’s a remarkable accomplishment in terms of making hardware that’s sheer genius, and it doesn’t hurt that the entry level price of $1,000 now applies to the current chipset and includes a more reasonable 16GB of RAM.
Specs and pricing
MacBook Air 13 (M4) Dimensions 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches Weight 2.7 pounds Processor Apple M4 (10 core) Graphics 8 core GPU
10 core GPURAM 16GB unified memory
24GB unified memory
32GB unified memoryDisplay 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 LED IPS display at 60Hz Storage 256GB SSD
512GB SSD
1TB SSD
2TB SSDTouch No Ports 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
1 x MagSafe 3 for charging
1 x 3.5mm audio jackWireless Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 Webcam 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View Operating system macOS Sequoia Battery 53.8 watt-hour battery Price $999+ It used to be that Apple would release a new MacBook Air and keep the previous generation around at the lowest $1,000 price. With this generation, Apple is offering an 10-core CPU/8-core GPU M4 chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB, and the sole display option, a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, for that same $1,000. That also alleviates one of the primary gripes with Apple’s previous base models that were limited to just 8GB of RAM. While $1,000 isn’t a budget price, this is most definitely not a budget laptop. That’s a very attractive price for a machine with so much going for it.
From there, the price follows Apple’s typical pattern. You can upgrade to a slightly faster 10-core CPU/10-core GPU M4 for $100. Upgrading to 24GB RAM costs $200, and there’s now a 32GB RAM option for an extra $400. Storage upgrades range from 512GB for $200 up to 2TB for $800. A fully configured MacBook Air 13 with the faster chipset, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD is $2,199.
That’s expensive compared to some of the Windows competition. For example, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10 costs $1,835 with an Intel Lunar Lake chipset, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14.0-inch 4K+ OLED display. That’s an attractive laptop as well, but it’s not nearly as fast and its battery life doesn’t come close. If it were me, I’d buy the MacBook Air 13 base model with an upgrade to 512GB for $1,299 and call it a day.
Design
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends I’ve had plenty of hands-on time with the modern MacBook Air 13 design, with a construction that’s remained almost exactly the same since the introduction of the M2 chipset. And really, I can’t find any reason to fault Apple’s design here. The MacBook Air 13 is probably the thinnest 13-inch laptop available today at 0.44 inches, and it’s reasonably light at 2.7 pounds. In fact, the weight actually makes such a thin laptop avoid feeling flimsy thanks to an impression of density. And that makes sense, given that the MacBook Air 13 is CNC-machined from a single block of aluminum. It exudes quality, and while some Windows laptops are all well-made — like the Yoga Slim 9i 14 I mentioned above — none have quite the same feel. Note as well that I would fault Apple for making the MacBook Air 13 so thin if the battery life weren’t so incredibly good. While the display bezels aren’t the smallest around (and yes, there’s still a webcam notch), they’re small enough that the overall size feels tiny enough.
Aesthetically, the MacBook Air 13 clearly belongs to a distinct family of laptops. It has the same simple, blocky look with rounded sides and sharp edges that’s immediately recognizable. I like the look as being elegant and minimalist, and while HP’s OmniBook and Lenovo’s various Yoga machines are more complex, I tend to prefer Apple’s understated design. There’s a new Sky Blue color way to go with the Silver, Starlight, and Midnight colors, and it’s a nice edition. That’s my review unit, and while I’d probably go for the Midnight model, I could certainly live with this one.
Of course, build quality is perfect. I dinged the previous couple of MacBook Air 13 generations because the lid was a little more flexible than I like, while the chassis and keyboard deck were as solid as always with Apple products. This time, though, Apple seems to have addressed that concern, because there’s zero give anywhere. This is a very well-built laptop that really makes you appreciate your investment. You can feel the quality with the hinge that opens smoothly with one hand, something you’ll do all the time and feels great. And, I mentioned its density above, which makes the MacBook Air feel like a solid chunk of metal that will last forever.
Keyboard and touchpad
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends I’ve been a huge fan of Apple’s Magic Keyboard since they went away from the flawed butterfly switches. The MacBook Air 13 does nothing to change that. It’s a comfortable layout with copious key spacing and large keycaps, and the switches are perfectly light and snappy. I can type faster on this keyboard than I can any other. Somehow, Apple managed to make it just as easy to type on the MacBook Air 13 as it is on the much larger 16-inch MacBook Pro model. For a writer, that’s incredibly important.
And I like the Force Touch haptic touchpad just as much. It’s as large as you’ll find on a 13-inch laptop, and it works better than any other I’ve used. The haptics are perfect, it’s super quick, and the Force Click feature adds useful functionality. I usually like touch displays on Windows laptops, but I don’t really miss it when I’m using MacBooks. The touchpad is just that great.
Webcam and connectivity
Most 13-inch laptops have minimal connectivity lately. The MacBook Air 13 maintains that trend, with just two Thunderbolt 4 ports. However, unlike the Dell XPS 13, Apple kept the 3.5mm audio jack, and the MacBook Air 13 has Apple’s MagSafe 3 connector that keeps both Thunderbolt 4 ports available while charging. You’ll need a dongle, just like with most diminutive laptops. Wireless connectivity is a generation behind, which will matter more when Wi-Fi 7 rolls out to more devices — which will take a few years to happen.
The webcam has received a significant upgrade. It’s now a 12MP version, and it features Apple’s Center Stage functionality that keeps the user perfectly placed even as they move around during a videoconference. It works incredibly well, and the image is excellent with great low-light performance. The Desk View feature also works well enough, giving a top-down view of the user’s desktop that’s shared to participants, along with a picture-in-picture video. It’s more niche, but if you need it, you’ll appreciate it. Of course, the MacBook Air 13 M4 still has the controversial notch, but frankly, I’ve kind of forgotten all about it at this point.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends The M4 chipset has a new, much faster Neural Engine that now runs at 38 tera operations per second (TOPS), an improvement over the M3 Neural Engine that ran at 18 TOPS. It’s now closer to contemporary Windows laptops that start out at 40 TOPS and go up from there. However, if Apple has stumbled lately, it’s in its rollout of Apple Intelligence, which is well behind the competition and doesn’t really take advantage of that extra on-device AI processing performance. Whenever Apple catches up, though, the MacBook Air 13 will be better equipped to take advantage.
Performance
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends Maybe the biggest news with the MacBook Air M3 is the M4 chipset. It’s received a meaningful upgrade, which includes a base of 10 CPU cores compered to the M3’s eight CPU cores. The GPU options remain eight and 10 cores, and they’ve been upgraded as well with second-generation hardware-accelerated ray tracing and the same mesh shading and Dynamic Caching as before. I mentioned the faster Neural Engine above.
The result is a laptop that’s significantly faster, especially in single-core tasks where each M4 core is considerably faster than the M3 equivalent. In fact, the singe-core advantage over any Windows chipset is pretty amazing. If you’re doing typical productivity tasks that don’t utilize a bunch of cores, then the MacBook Air will be noticeably quicker — which is saying a lot given that modern laptops are generally fast enough across the board.
The M4 doesn’t break new ground in multi-core performance, but it still beats out the latest Windows competition of thin-and-light laptops. And remarkably, there’s no fan, so the MacBook Air 13 runs completely silent. That might induce a penalty when running really long, demanding tasks, but given this laptop’s productivity focus and its overall speed advantage, that’s probably not going to be too much of a concern. And the chassis never got more than warm to the touch.
The M4 is also faster in GPU performance, enough so that the 8-core GPU on my MacBook Air 13 was only 3% slower than the 10-core GPU on the MacBook Air 13 M3. If you choose the 10-core GPU version, you’ll get a 13% upgrade. It’s not huge, but it’s enough to extend the MacBook Air’s advantage over its Windows competition.
The MacBook Air 13 M4 is a fast little laptop for even the most demanding productivity users. It will also do some light gaming, something that Apple is focusing on more lately, and the M4 chipset has some optimizations that make the laptop surprisingly capable for more intensive tasks like video editing.
Cinebench R24
(single/multi)Geekbench 6
(single/multi)Handbrake
(seconds)3DMark
Wild Life ExtremeMacBook Air 13
(M4 10/8)172 / 854 3751 / 14801 87 7827 MacBook Air 15
(M4 10/10)172 / 853 3770 / 14798 87 9154 MacBook Air 13
(M3 8/10)141 / 601 3102 / 12078 109 8098 Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10
(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)121 / 649 2723 / 10884 91 5397 Acer Swift 14 AI
(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)121 / 525 2755 / 11138 92 5294 HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)116 / 598 2483 / 10725 99 7573 Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition
(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)109 / 630 2485 / 10569 88 5217 Asus Zenbook S 14
(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)112 / 452 2738 / 10734 113 7514 HP OmniBook X
(Snapdragon X Elite / Adreno)101 / 749 2377 / 13490 N/A 6165 Battery life
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends Apple Silicon introduced groundbreaking efficiency. No matter which size laptop, MacBooks have led the way. In fact, it’s pushed Windows laptop makers, along with Intel and Qualcomm, to change architectures to try to keep up.
I did run into a bit of a snag running our web browsing test. Google deprecated the previous tool we used to create the script to run through our test web sites, and the version I found to replace it might not be working quite the same way. Although the M4 model lasted an hour longer than the M3 in our video looping test, it didn’t last as long in web browsing. I have to imagine that’s down to the tool and not the laptop, something I’ll be testing more as I move forward.
Note that the M4 chipset does just as well with intensive tasks, going for the longest we’ve seen when running the demanding Cinebench R14 multi-core benchmark. Not only does it last a long time, but it maintains fast performance. And, it’s slightly up from the M3, meaning the chipset got more efficient and faster, which is impressive.
The bottom line is that while Intel’s Lunar Lake chipset and, to a lesser degree, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipsets, have narrowed the gap between Windows and MacBooks in terms of battery life, Apple Silicon is still incredibly strong. The Acer Swift 14 AI actually did better in our tests, which is a great result for Acer. However, the Swift 14 AI’s performance wasn’t nearly as fast, and it needed a 75 watt-hour battery to match the MacBook Air 13’s 53.8 watt-hour capacity.
You’ll get multi-day battery life out of the MacBook Air 13. That’s impressive given the size and performance.
Web browsing Video Cinebench R24 MacBook Air 13
(M4 10/8)16 hours, 30 minutes 20 hours, 31 minutes 3 hours, 47 minutes MacBook Air 15
(M4 10/10)17 hours, 13 minutes 22 hours, 33 minutes 4 hours, 28 minutes Apple MacBook 13
(Apple M3)19 hours, 39 minutes 19 hours, 39 minutes 3 hours, 27 minutes Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10
(Core Ultra 7 258V)N/A 13 hours, 45 minutes 1 hour, 55 minutes Acer Swift 14 AI
(Core Ultra 7 258V)17 hours, 22 minutes 24 hours, 10 minutes 2 hours, 7 minutes HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
(Core Ultra 7 258V)11 hours, 5 minutes 15 hours, 46 minutes 2 hours, 14 minutes Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition
(Core Ultra 7 258V)14 hours, 16 minutes 17 hours, 31 minutes 2 hours, 15 minutes HP Omnibook X
(Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100)13 hours, 37 minutes 22 hours, 4 minutes 1 hour, 52 minutes Display and audio
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends The MacBook Air 13 uses a 13.4-inch display in a (roughly) 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2560 x 1664. That’s very sharp, and the display looks great out of the box. It’s the same Liquid Retina IPS display that Apple’s used on its MacBook Airs for several generations.
According to my colorimeter, it remains a quality panel. It’s very bright at 468 nits, well above our 300-nit standard, and its contrast is vary good at 1,150:1 (higher than our 1,000:1 threshold). Colors are wide at 100% sRGB, 83% AdobeRGB, and 94% DCI-P3, and accurate at a DeltaE of 1.34 (anything less than 2.0 is very good). The average IPS display has 100%, 75%, and 75% respectively and accuracy that’s closer to a DeltaE of 2.0.
More and more laptops are using OLED displays lately, and certainly, this one isn’t as colorful and doesn’t have the same inky blacks. But, for productivity work, all but the most demanding creativity tasks, and media consumption, this is a great display that adds the benefit of outstanding battery life. OLED is beautiful, but it’s a power hog.
In terms of external display support, you can connect two monitors to go with the internal display. That’s less than you can connect to modern Windows laptops.
The MacBook Air 13’s audio quality is the best you’ll find on a 13-inch (or 14-inch) laptop. There are four speakers, two tweeters and two force-cancelling woofers, and in terms of volume, mids and highs, and bass, there’s nothing better. This is one laptop where you won’t worry all that much about using headphones unless you want to immerse yourself in sound.
As near to perfect as I’ve seen yet
I’m going to go ahead and give the 2025 MacBook Air 13 a perfect score. It’s about time. To begin with, this might very well be the perfect 13-inch (or 14-inch) thin-and-light laptop design. It’s solid as a rock, looks great, and is eminently portable given its insane thinness. No, it doesn’t have OLED (yet), but until OLED can provide the same kind of efficiency, it’s not necessarily the best tradeoff for this class of laptop.
It’s also very fast, beating out its competition in multi-core performance and demolishing it in single-core speed. And, its battery life maintains the most attractive performance-efficiency ratio over the best Windows has to offer. With a starting price of $1,000 for a very usable configuration, the only reason to pass up the MacBook Air 13 is if you just simply can’t live without Windows. I suspect that this will be fewer and fewer people as time goes by.
Apple’s iPad and MacBook lineup just got some nice upgrades
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 74, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, sorry in advance for my terrible TV taste, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about Bybit, Walmart, and sports analytics; devouring the first season of Running Point and the seventh season of Drive to Survive; listening to Scam Inc and Tested; obsessing over my progress in Fantasy Hike; getting the hang of Tiny Wings again; and making a lot of pancakes for a toddler who suddenly won’t eat anything else.
I also have for you a couple of exciting new Apple products, some fun stuff to watch this weekend, the return of a legendary social media platform, and much more. Plus, I’m an idiot. More on that in a minute. Let’s dig in.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What are you playing / reading / watching / downloading / building / eating with toast this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)
- The new MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is probably my longest-running default recommendation. If you just want a laptop, no follow-up questions, get an Air. This one’s faster and has a better webcam, and I even like the pale blue here. And it’s cheaper! A miracle!
- The new iPad. The new iPad Air got all of Apple’s attention this week, but I think the new base model is the bigger deal. This is the iPad I’d tell most people to buy — I wish it had gotten a bigger chip bump, but this’ll still do iPad things nicely. And $349 is the right price.
- Split Fiction. I need more gamer friends, because wow does this game look like a fun co-op. It looks like Blade Runner and Tron. There’s a company called Radar. There are puzzles and fights and — seriously, who wants to play a lot of this with me? Like, right now.
- Daredevil: Born Again. I always liked the old Daredevil series and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock. As ever with Marvel TV, this one sounds a little uneven in its execution and requires an annoying amount of lore knowledge, but I still enjoy watching some kickass crime fighting. And there’s plenty of it.
- The Nothing Phone 3A. Nothing might be the most interesting company in smartphones right now. It’s doing really cool, unique stuff, and it seems to be really starting to dial in its cameras. I particularly like the new Essential Space feature that collects and organizes all the photos, screenshots, and other stuff your phone accumulates all day.
- “Technology isn’t fun anymore.” In this video, Drew Gooden puts words to what I think a lot of people are feeling about the state of technology right now. I don’t agree with all of it, but it’s a pretty solid argument — and raises a lot of questions about why we feel so disillusioned with the state of things and what better would even look like.
- Twitter: Breaking the Bird. A four-part CNN series, starting on Sunday, about how Twitter got big, changed the world, and screwed up a million ways along the journey. I know this story pretty well, but I’m still fascinated to see how this series tries to make sense of it all.
- Deli Boys. I swear I’ve been seeing ads for this show in my feeds for, like, a decade. But it seems to be funny and timely — a comedy, a crime show, and a critique of capitalism? As ever, give me more fun half-hour shows. I’m in on this one.
- Palworld for Mac. Pokémon with guns continues to be a thing, and it’s now available on any Mac with at least an M1 chip. It sounds like crossplay doesn’t work, though, so make sure you have Mac friends to play with.
- Digg. Right now, the new Digg is just a landing page and a signup list. But having spent some time with the folks bringing it back (including original creator Kevin Rose), I’m excited to see what new ideas about online community might turn into over time.
This week is Installer 74. Until about six minutes ago, I thought it was Installer 75, which meant it would have been time for me to share my own homescreen, as I do every 25 issues here. Since I am terrible at counting, I neglected to find someone else to share their homescreen in this space. (This is the kind of week I’m having. Send good vibes.)
Anyway! It turns out there are no actual rules around here, so we’re jumping the gun a week — and since so many of you liked seeing Charlie Harding’s computer screen a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to show you mine. So here is a (mostly) unfiltered look at what’s happening on my computer right now:
The computer: a base model M4 Mac Mini, which I bought last fall. It does not have enough USB-C ports, but I love it nonetheless.
The wallpaper: The 1984-era Macintosh wallpaper that comes with MacOS Sequoia. I have it in gray — I like it better in other colors, but then the screen reflection gives my face a sort of sickly hue. So it’s gray.
The apps: Mimestream, Messages, Fission, Downie, Signal, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Spotify, Things, Calendar, 1Password, Notion Calendar, Notion, Anybox, Arc, MyMind, Craft, Slack, NotePlan, App Store, Loopback, Settings, iPhone Mirroring, VLC, Apple Frames, Vocaster Hub, Quicktime, Chrome, TextEdit.
I use most of these apps on a daily basis. (I have no idea why Calendar is here. I never use Calendar.) A bunch of them — Fission, Downie, VLC, Loopback — are for various podcasting-related things. I use Notion for all my project management stuff and NotePlan for my day-to-day tasks and notes. Once a week or so, I debate switching everything into Craft just because the app is so lovely (but still just a feature or two away from what I need).
MyMind and Anybox are for storing links, images, and other stuff I might want or need later, and everything else is pretty self-explanatory. I really recommend downloading desktop versions of all your messaging apps; I am now the world’s fastest texter because I’m hardly ever texting from my phone.
I go through phases with my computer. I’ll let the desktop and downloads folder get really messy, then spend an hour organizing and deleting things. I’ll let my dock get unwieldy and then organize it all at once. Sometimes I’m a religious one-app-at-a-time person, and other times I open so many windows on my 27-inch screen that I can barely read them all.
But mostly, honestly, I live in the browser. I’ve been using Arc for years (I use Chrome because our podcast-recording software likes it better, but for nothing else) and perpetually have between three and eight windows full of tabs. It’s bonkers, but it’s the only way I know.
My most important recent upgrade has been going all-in on Raycast. I use it for opening apps, managing windows, changing settings, accessing apps, and much more. It took me a while to really start using it like a power user, and it’s still not the most user-friendly tool out there, but it has made a huge difference in how efficiently I use my computer.
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now, as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For more great recommendations, check out this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky. (But I think I’m about done with Threads, so pretty soon it’ll just be Bluesky.)
“You should check out the Feeeed app. Probably the best representation of a timeline app I’ve seen to date.” — Daniel
“Fountain pens. Who knew?! In a world full of Notions — which I use and love — I wanted an analog outlet for my brain dumps and light journaling. That led me to this TWSBI pen and this ink. The pen has a piston mechanism that makes it super easy to suck up ink. Love the feeling of the nib on paper. And don’t get me started on how cool ink bottles can be. Good times.” — Austin
“Moonbound by Robin Sloan. Highly recommend it. It’s like Ursula K. Le Guin writing about Thundarr the barbarian crossed with Narnia.” — Joe
“Working at a computer all day and reading on my phone all evening really strains my eyes. I’ve downloaded the LookAway app for Mac to actually enforce my optician’s advice of resting my eyes, and it’s worth every penny. My eyes feel a lot more comfortable at work now. For my reading, I’ve bought a Boox Palma with the FeedMe app using Feedbin as an RSS service — the verdict is still out on how much it’ll help my eyes, but it’s a really interesting device.” — Tom
“I’ve found CheapCharts, a great app to track when Apple movie prices are discounted. I’ve got myself some real bargains and reduced the low-level stress of switching streaming services off and on.” — Chris
“Five Books, if you want some non-obvious books on a subject for serious reading.” — Astrid
“I started using Bend 26 days ago after it was mentioned in The New York Times. The streak nature has me hooked, and the five-minute wake up routine is a low hurdle with a defined time limit so I know when to get on with my day. Good luck on getting more flexible!” — Sean
“I wanted to put a quick shout out for the series Six Nations: Full Contact on Netflix. Think DTS but for rugby. And for the uninitiated, rugby is often described as the NFL without pads.” — Alex
“To cope with the US’ continued descent into unitary religious authoritarianism, I’m doing what any sane person would and starting the Horus Heresy series of Warhammer 40k books!” — Luis
“SonoPhone and SonoPad. These apps blow away the Sonos app.” — Tony
“I can’t believe y’all haven’t posted anything about Pantheon, the animated series on Netflix! I actually just discovered it myself, but it’s in its third season, and it’s an amazing futuristic techy thriller. Check it out!” — Erik
A weird thing about TikTok is that the algorithm is so diverse and so specific that there aren’t a lot of shared experiences on the platform. That means that when I say the sentence, “I can’t believe how invested I got in the Zach vs. Danny cup game battle,” a few of you are going to get really excited and the vast majority are going to have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.
The short version: it’s two brothers competing to see who can win a TikTok game, in which you toss a ball into a line of cups the fastest. (This link is a complete and total spoiler of the whole thing.) It’s both incredibly boring and absolutely riveting, and I have checked TikTok for updates every single day for nearly six weeks. And now I’m wondering how many equally awesome things are happening on other corners of the internet. If there’s something online that you’re outrageously, unnecessarily, and embarrassingly invested in, I want to know about it. And good news: Zach and Danny are back at it again. And you’ve barely missed anything.
What’s in store for the iPhone 17 Pro line
Apple’s update to the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max could bring more than just a camera bump change. Here’s what the rumor mill has said could be on the way for the premium models.
Apple is expected, as usual, to introduce a new line of iPhones in September, forming part of its usual fall product catalog refresh. For 2025, that will mean the introduction of the iPhone 17 generation.
Just like in previous years, expectations are for Apple to bring out multiple models, including a premium Pro tier, consisting of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Also, as normal, there are many rumors circulating about what Apple will be bringing out in its product launches at that time. With the Pro line introducing the newest features, they draw a lot of attention from the rumor mill.
What follows is a summarization of what rumor merchants, leakers, and analysts think will be on the way this fall for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
iPhone 17 Pro displays
As usual, there are expectations that Apple will bring out two different models in its Pro lineup. While similar in specification, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will largely differ in size, and other areas where physicality changes specifications.
The current-gen iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have screens measuring 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches respectively. The Pro has a Super Retina XDR OLED display with a resolution of 2,622 by 1,206, while the Pro Max goes up to 2,868 by 1,320 pixels.
So far, it seems that the display sizes won’t necessarily change in the iPhone 17 generation. But that doesn’t mean other factors will remain static.
The Dynamic Island could end up smaller on the new modelsFor a start, a rumor in February claimed that the iPhone 17 series will use the same Samsung M14 OLED panel material set for all models, both Pro and non-Pro. This, it turns out, is the same material mix as used in the iPhone 16 Pro models.
This isn’t the only claim of display homogeneity, as in December, a Weibo leaker claimed that all iPhone 17 models will get ProMotion support. This is a somewhat unusual claim to make, as ProMotion has traditionally been a Pro-only feature, helping to differentiate between the two iPhone tiers.
That display could also be better in other ways for the iPhone 17 generation. Another Weibo leak in March 2024 insisted that the glass on the front will be even harder than before, making it more scratch resistant.
When it comes to Dynamic Island, the hardware feature aided by UI camouflage, there is a difference in opinion on if it will change this year. In January, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that there shouldn’t be any change to the size of the Dynamic Island at all.
Weibo leakers, however, said in February that the Dynamic Island could shrink down in the iPhone 17 Pro Max. By using a “metal meta-lens” to integrate the receiver and transmitter in the TrueDepth camera array, this would reduce the apertures down by one to save space, shrinking the element.
The iPhone 16 Pro generation uses a titanium chassis with a glass front and back, while the non-Pro uses aluminum and glass. This may not be the case for the iPhone 17 Pro.
In November, a report said that Apple was going to change the design up from the glass sandwich and a titanium filling, to using an aluminum frame. The change could mean a change in weight for end users to manage.
The change won’t necessarily just affect the sandwich filling. The same report added that the rear could use a “part-aluminum, part-glass design,” instead of an all-glass back.
iPhone 17 Pro camera bumps
An oddity of the rumors this time is an increased focus on the camera bump on the back of the device. Something that may also explain the rumors about material changes.
Early rumors from December via Weibo introduced the idea of Apple bringing in a new design of camera bump. Rather than a square, Apple could instead use a bar, that stretches across the back of the device, spreading the cameras out in a row.
A second camera bump interpretation – Image Credit: Jon Prosser/Asher DippreyBy February 14, Jon Prosser posted a video insisting that the larger bump will happen, but while it does stretch across the back, the three cameras will stay in their left-hand triangular arrangement. The flash and LiDAR elements would be on the right-hand side.
This was then backed up by renders from a case manufacturer shared by Sonny Dickson. The images used the same general wide bump design, albeit slightly obscured by a transparent case.
Supposed CAD renders of the iPhone 17 lineup then emerged in February via serial leaker Majin Bu. This had the Pro models using the wide bump and left-side camera triangle arrangement, alongside a largely untouched iPhone 17 and what could be the iPhone 17 Slim.
Barely a few days later, Sonny Dickson followed up with more renders, again showing the Pro models with the wide bump motif.
AppleInsider’s own renders of the new potential bump on the iPhone 17 Pro rangeThe change to a much wider bump could have many different design reasons, and one of them could be the challenge of making an extremely thin device with better cameras. Space is at a premium inside an iPhone, and a wider camera bump generates a fair amount that could be used for better camera sensors and other tech, without impacting other hardware too much.
It’s also entirely plausible that the seeming empty space on the camera bar-bump could be used in other ways. For example, the Xiaomi Mi 11 had a small display in the camera bar, which could be used for notifications and other elements.
iPhone 17 Pro cameras
With the inclusion of a massive camera bump, you’d expect there to be massive changes to the cameras themselves. If the rumor mill is right, it’s not going to be a seismic change in tech.
At the rear, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have 48-megapixel Fusion and Ultra Wide cameras, as well as a Telephoto using a 12MP sensor and the Tetraprism lens system.
A July 2024 claim from TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the Tetraprism lens on the Pro Max will be improved to gain on both zoom and picture quality. Part of this would include switching the Telephoto sensor to a 48-megapixel version.
Months later, on January 10, Weibo leaker “Digital Chat Station” said all three cameras on the Pro models will be 48MP in resolution.
There are expectations of a higher-resolution Telephoto sensor for the iPhone 17 ProWhile not massively earth-shattering at the back, the front could give some users a bit of a surprise.
An August 24 claim from Haitong Securities analyst Jeff Pu said the 12-megapixel TrueDepth camera array would be improved to a 24-megapixel version. Furthermore, the lens system will be improved from a five-element to a six-element version.
This claim was later doubled down on by Digital Chat Station in January, reiterating the resolution change.
Apple may also make more of a push to capture the video market, by stressing improvements to video recording during its presentation. According to Mark Gurman on February 23, this will be an attempt to tempt vloggers and content creators to use the iPhone instead of standalone cameras.
iPhone 17 Pro A19 and memory
A new year introduces a new chip line, and for 2025, that should be no different. Following the A18 and A18 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro line should use the A19 family of chips, and possibly the A19 Pro.
In July 2024, TSMC was reportedly starting the trial production of the A19, using a 2-nanometer fabrication process. This would be the first time the process was used for a commercial product by the Apple chip partner.
The A19 is practically guaranteed for the next iPhone generation.TSMC had previously announced it would be making 2-nanometer chips by 2025 all the way back in 2022. Apple could end up using the process for the next generation again, with an enhanced form potentially arriving in the iPhone 18 Pro.
Analyst Jeff Pu reckoned in May 2024 that the iPhone 17 Pro line would get 12GB of memory to play with. By August, Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Pro Max would get 12GB and the other models, including the non-Max Pro, would have 8GB.
Pu reiterated his double-device 12GB claim in February 2025.
iPhone 17 Pro cooling
To go with the new chip process, Apple could potentially add a better cooling system into the mix. At least, for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Going back to January 2021, Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple had considered the use of vapor chamber thermal systems for use in an iPhone. By August 2024, Kuo believed Apple was looking to add more exclusive features to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, including vapor chamber cooling.
Vapor chambers use liquid inside a contained system, which is heated at a source, with the liquid evaporating and spreading throughout the chamber. This spreads the heat around, reducing the thermals around the heat source, which in this case would be the chip die.
The vapor condenses, returning to a wick structure and circulated to the heat source again. To consumers, this would result in a chip that stays cooler for longer, because thermal management shifts heat away from the chip quickly.
Whether it will be a Pro Max-only feature remains to be seen. In January, a report claimed that all of the iPhone 17 range will use the technique.
While it is possible for Apple to do so for the entire iPhone 17 range, it seems more plausible for the technique to be used on the Pro models alone, or even just the Pro Max. A disadvantage of the system is that it requires a bit more space to function, and the Pro model’s camera bump rumor may give just enough room for it to be a reality.
Release date, rumors, features, A19, price, Slim option
With the iPhone 16 now available, rumors focus on the upcoming iPhone 17. This model is expected to be released in the second half of 2025. One of the highlights of this generation could be an iPhone Slim, as it seems Apple will no longer bet on a Plus model. Apple executives are calling upcoming new models their “most ambitious” iPhones ever. Here’s what we know about this future phone so far.
Release date
If Apple follows the trend, the new iPhone 17 lineup should be released in September 2025. According to The Information, Apple has started the manufacturing process to make the regular iPhone 17 models in India. This is the first time Cupertino began a New Production Introduction of an iPhone outside China.
In this early manufacturing phase, Apple needs to tweak the iPhone design and experiment with new materials and equipment to ensure that “millions of iPhones can be produced a day across different locations with minimal defects.” This phase will last until early this year.
Apple is already making iPhone 17 Air models in China as they entered the new product introduction phase. The NPI phase is responsible for bringing this iPhone’s concept to life with design validation and prototype testing.
iPhone 17 Slim/Air: Underpowered and overpriced?
Since Apple introduced the iPhone 12 mini, it has struggled to find a market for the unique variations of its regular iPhone models. The company has seen low sales of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Plus, and iPhone 15 Plus. While we need to know how the iPhone 16 Plus will sell, Cupertino might be planning a different approach for the iPhone 17.
At first, rumors believed Apple would charge around $1,299 for this device—the most expensive iPhone to date. However, it seems Apple will offer this device at a similar price to the iPhone Plus. Despite its ultra-thin form factor, it would have the A19 chip, 8 GB of RAM, two main cameras, and ProMotion technology. How Apple will maintain a good battery life with an ultra-thin form factor is still unknown. However, the company might learn from Huawei’s latest triple-fold phone.
BGR has a full guide on the iPhone 17 Air.
iPhone 17e: A new addition to the lineup in 2026
Since Apple introduced the iPhone 16e, users have wondered if this could be a one-time thing with a longer upgrade cycle or an annual release. According to researchers at CIRP, the “iPhone e” is here to stay, as Apple is expected to launch an iPhone 17e in 2026.
The research indicates that while the “iPhone 16e might not be a critical player in the lineup, based on the iPhone SE’s history, it might do better at the expense of other iPhone models.
“It appears that ‘e’ phones may be part of the program going forward. Following the core iPhone 17 model launches in September, we expect Apple to announce an iPhone 17e around this time next year. That would mimic Google’s introduction of ‘a’ model in its Pixel line months after the annual Spring launch of their flagship and Pro models in recent years.
We’ll update this section as we learn more about its upcoming rumors and features.
Display size and design
The iPhone 15 Plus’s Dynamic Island. Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR For the 2025 iPhone lineup, display analyst Ross Young believes Apple will offer a pill-shaped cutout on every model (regular and Pros). While he previously reported that under-panel Face ID technology would be available on Pro models, he now says it has been delayed to the iPhone 18. A rumor says Apple wants to ditch the titanium frame for aluminum for all iPhone models.
With that, a leaker expects the back of the iPhone to transition from aluminum to glass without the user realizing it. Here’s what this change could mean for future Pro models. In addition, Apple might change the camera module design for the first time since the iPhone 11 Pro model was announced. All iPhone 17 models will have this new look besides the regular version.
The regular iPhone 17 models are rumored to finally feature Always-On Display and ProMotion technology, as Young expects the company to add a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide display to all 2025 models. ETNews says Samsung and LG could be the main beneficiaries of Apple’s OLED panel orders with these technologies in 2025.
Besides that, every iPhone 17 is expected to have the same display size as its predecessor: 6.3 inches for the smaller versions and 6.9 inches for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. While a Plus iteration isn’t expected to be released, there are rumors about an iPhone Slim.
According to a DigiTime report, this iPhone could use a new OLED display technology. The Touch and Display Driver Integration tech is expected to debut as early as the second quarter of 2025, and Apple is “expected” to be Novatek’s first customer. This technology could make the iPhone display even thinner.
Analyst Jeff Pu says Apple could add a narrow Dynamic Island to the iPhone 17 Pro versions. Ming-Chi Kuo disagrees, but Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station says at least the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have this smaller Dynamic Island.
iPhone 17 colors
At the moment, we don’t know about rumors related to the iPhone 17 possible colors. Still, Apple will likely stick with “boring” options for the Pro models and “fun” ones for the base models.
Here’s what we expect:
iPhone 17 colors:
- Black
- White
- Three new different options
iPhone 17 Pro colors:
- Black Titanium
- Natural Titanium
- White Titanium
- Desert Titanium
Cameras
iPhone 15 Pro Max camera system. Image source: Christian de Looper for BGR With the iPhone 17 Pro lineup, Apple will finally add a 48MP lens to all primary cameras. While the iPhone 16 Pro was rumored to add a 48MP ultra-wide lens, the 17 Pro will add the same resolution for the telephoto lens, in addition to an upgraded tetra prism zoom camera exclusive to the Pro Max.
Kuo details Apple’s tetraprism zoom upgrade plans for the coming years, with 2025 set to bring a big change. Apple wants to upgrade from the current 12-megapixel zoom sensor to a 48-megapixel tetraprism lens this year. But the analyst says it’s still unclear whether Apple will use the new zoom camera on every Pro model:
(1) The high-end iPhone 17 model is expected to feature an upgraded tetraprism camera, with key specification changes from a 1/3.1″ 12MP CIS in the iPhone 16 Pro series to a 1/2.6″ 48MP CIS. This upgrade will enhance photo quality and zoom functionality.
(2) It is currently uncertain whether only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the upgraded tetraprism camera. If so, the 2H26 iPhone 18 Pro will also feature the upgraded tetraprism camera.Besides that, The Information reports that Apple is planning a mechanical aperture for the iPhone Pro. With it, users could manually add a shallow depth-of-field effect to their photos. Currently, Apple artificially generates a bokeh effect with Portrait Mode.
Regarding the front-facing camera, Jeff Pu believes Apple could add a 24MP sensor to improve selfies. In addition, Apple will continue to offer the Camera Control feature, even though I wish the company would remove it.
After The Information said Apple was working on a camera module with an “elongated oval shape” — and since we saw leaked iPhone 17 Pro components that seemingly confirmed that report — it seems the company might stick with the current triangular design we’ve seen on the past few generations of Pro iPhones.
At least, this is what Chinese leaker ‘Instant Digital’ posted on Weibo. This leaker has a mixed track record, but they have been right about the yellow iPhone 14, the frosted back glass of the iPhone 15, spatial video capture, and many other features that indeed arrived on Apple devices. This new design might come for the iPhone 17 Air.
A19 processor will power the iPhone 17
If Apple follows its familiar trend, the A19 family of chips will power the iPhone 17 lineup. The Information says Apple is developing two new chips, the A19 and A19 Pro, with the latter using a new TSMC technology for improved efficiency. It seems these chips will continue to use a 3nm manufacturing process.
It’s unclear how much faster they will be, although Neural Engine cores will likely be a priority as Apple plans to improve Apple Intelligence features. However, these devices should get 12GB of RAM for the Pro models and 8GB for the regular ones. A rumor says 12GB of RAM will be exclusive to the Pro Max model.
Wi-Fi 7 support and connectivity
The iPhone 16 features Wi-Fi 7 support, and Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 will likely use this technology. For the iPhone 15, Apple offered Wi-Fi 6E support, which improves wireless performance, lower latency, and lower power consumption. Wi-Fi 7, meanwhile, boasts faster speeds, even lower latency, and better connectivity experiences in areas with high device density.
Analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu believe Apple will use a proprietary Wi-Fi modem, as the company wants to rely less on Broadcom and, eventually, create a chip that will feature cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth technologies in a single silicon.
The Information says the iPhone 17 will use Mediatek 5G modems instead of Apple’s C1 chip or Qualcomm’s option.
Battery
We don’t know if Apple will increase, maintain, or decrease the battery capacity of these upcoming iPhones. Still, a rumor believes that the entire iPhone 17 lineup will feature the same battery glue tech that Apple used for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
As shown by iFixit, all you need to do to remove the battery from the chassis is apply a low-voltage current. The battery will come off like magic. The procedure further improves the repairability of the iPhone 16, making battery replacements even easier. The process only works in one direction, allowing you to detach the battery from the frame. Each new battery will feature its own glue strip, and no current will be needed during installation.
While we believe battery life will be a concern for the iPhone 17 Air, a new display component might help Apple improve the battery life of the iPhone 17 Pro models while increasing durability. In addition, the iPhone 17 Pro Max might be thicker to feature a larger battery.
iOS 19 and Apple Intelligence features will be key for iPhone 17
Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro. Image source: José Adorno for BGR So far, we only know that Apple has started developing iOS 19, which has a codename of Luck. It’s unclear what features will be included in iOS 19. However, Apple Intelligence will continue to play a big part in iOS for the foreseeable future.
By 2025, we’ll get the all-new Siri with the ability to understand context. These are some of the features expected to be available on the iPhone 17 models regarding Apple Intelligence and that are coming in iOS 18:
- Writing Tools: Users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps;
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app;
- Memories in Photos: Users can create stories they want to see just by typing a description. Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc;
- Clean Up tool: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject;
- Siri: Users type to Siri and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment.
- ChatGPT integration: When you feel Apple Intelligence isn’t enough, you can allow ChatGPT to access Writing Tools and other features for a better response.
More recently, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said iOS 19 will make Siri AI more like ChatGPT. However, this might take longer to occur. He said that Siri will have new abilities to access user data for contextual information about the user and control third-party apps via the new App Intents software. However, Gurman points out that Siri isn’t getting a ChatGPT-like model for these tasks:
These upcoming upgrades will make Siri easier to use on a day-to-day basis, but it’s not the brain transplant that the service really needs. Siri is still based on an outdated infrastructure — AI models that have been overtaken by the technology used by ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Siri hasn’t yet been rebuilt for the generative AI age, even if Apple is trying to create the impression that it has.
Price and storage
Rumors say Apple might be planning to add a 2TB tier for the iPhone Pro models, starting with the iPhone 17. That said, these could be the possible storage options:
- iPhone 17: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB
- iPhone 17 Air: 256GB and 512GB
- iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB
A rumor says Apple could charge more for the iPhone 17 models. So far, we have only heard that the company wanted to charge way more for the future Air model, most likely, $1,299. However, new rumors state that it won’t be more expensive than the Pro models. Still, there’s a possibility that Trump’s tariffs might make the iPhone 17 lineup 9% more expensive.
Here are the current storage options and prices for the iPhone 16 lineup:
iPhone 16
- 128GB: $799
- 256GB: $899
- 512GB: $1,099
iPhone 16 Plus
- 128GB: $899
- 256GB: $999
- 512GB: $1,199
iPhone 16 Pro
- 128GB: $999
- 256GB: $1,099
- 512GB: $1,299
- 1 TB: $1,499
iPhone 16 Pro Max
- 256GB: $1,199
- 512GB: $1,399
- 1 TB: $1,599
This is the best iPhone 16 to get if you’re waiting for the 2025 models.
Wrap up
This is everything we know about the iPhone 17 so far. We’ll keep updating this article.
iPhone Fold rumors release date, crease, features
Apple’s long-rumored iPhone Fold has yet to arrive, but the rumor mill still believes it is on the way. Here’s all the latest rumors on release year, the screen, and other features.
While other device manufacturers have embraced the idea of foldable smartphones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip ranges, Apple has steered clear of making its own version. All of its iPhones and iPads continue to be solid, flat devices with fixed screens that won’t bend.
That’s not to say that Apple hasn’t been working on one in the background. Development of a foldable iPhone, often referred to as the iPhone Fold, has been speculated about for years, and leaks certainly put forward the idea that Apple’s actually going through with it.
With the very real possibility of a foldable smartphone on the horizon, this is what the rumor mill says to expect from the iPhone Fold, if it actually arrives.
iPhone Fold release schedule
Apple obviously hasn’t hinted at any potential release date for the iPhone Fold, and it won’t until it’s ready to do so. That hasn’t stopped analysts from predicting when they think the model will ship.
When it comes to the iPhone Fold, one of the earliest examples goes back to September 2021, when analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted a release by 2024. Obviously, that was a bit optimistic, but more recent speculation offers the same years-away forecasts.
In 2024, those claims insisted that it could arrive by 2027 at the earliest. A plausible timeframe, and one that will take a long time to disprove.
Some of the rumors of a 2027 launch even claim that Apple intended for a late 2026 release, but it got delayed into the following year. Again, this is entirely plausible from a manufacturing standpoint, as Apple can always delay releases for many different reasons.
A February leaker proposed that, based on the current sampling process, manufacturing of the model could start in early 2026. Given Apple’s lengthy production schedules and other rumors, this rumor may lend itself to a 2027 release for the model.
However, ETNews in late February said in its rumor report that some production will begin in the second half of 2025 with a release later in the second half of 2026. This is somewhat earlier than the 2027 predictions, but with such a complicated device, Apple could be more cautious than normal and take more time to fine-tune manufacturing ahead of the release.
Ultimately, no-one really knows when it will be launched, except that there is a consensus that it’s a few years away from becoming a reality.
iPhone Fold display
The main buying reason for the iPhone Fold is to have a flexible display. By having an iPhone that unfolds to a larger screen, users can enjoy more screen space for apps, games, and so on.
However, it’s quite a challenge to create a folding screen that’s reliable for consumers. That sort of work relies on getting assistance from key partners in the supply chain.
Back in April 2022, reports were surfacing that LG Display was working with Apple on the display. However, those reports dealt with it from a standpoint of a foldable iPad or a MacBook OLED display, not an iPhone.
One month later, the reports about the iPhone display started to flood in.
An unfolded iPhone Fold could offer iPad mini-style screen estateIn September of the same year, Apple was reportedly working with LG Display and Samsung Display on screens that won’t crumple. This apparently involved developing hybrid OLED panels that combine the inflexible sections of glass with flexible plastic substrate panels for the bending bits.
This is entirely likely to have happened, as Apple has to work with its key supply chain partners to develop new screens for its products.
The use of both glass and flexible plastic substrates is also highly plausible. The glass elements will provide the usual rigid iPhone display consumers know and love, while the plastic fulfills the bending requirements for a foldable device.
A February 2025 leaker claimed the display for the iPhone Fold could be “comparable to two 6.1-inch iPhones folded together, resulting in a total size of over 12 inches.”
The mathematics of that supposed measurement is somewhat wrong, as it would realistically be a screen size in the ballpark of 7.5 inches, which is similar to the 8.3-inch iPad mini.
That leaker also insisted that the display would be exclusively developed by Samsung, which contradicts the earlier LG Display claims, and a January report that Apple was still working to decide on a foldable display supplier.
The same month, Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station claimed the large folding screen would have a 5.49-inch outer screen to allow it to work like a normal smartphone. The inner screen, to make it look more like an iPad, measures a somewhat realistic 7.74 inches diagonally.
iPhone Fold versus creases
A foldable smartphone has to not only be sturdy for everyday use, but it also has to deal with extra fatigue. The process of folding and unfolding can cause wear on a display, especially in an area where the fold can develop into a crease, which can eventually deteriorate.
Apple, like other folding phone companies, has to design the iPhone Fold to counter this weakness.
Patent speculation from 2022 introduced one concept of a folding iPhone that puts the display on the outside, instead of the screen being on the inside of the fold. This is one way to beat the problem, as the screen doesn’t have to deal with the typically tight radius of an internal fold, and instead has to deal with being permanently exposed to the elements.
Folding the iPhone Fold could stress the screen with a creaseAnalysts have also cottoned on to the external display idea, proposing it as a possibility at least once.
Apple has also considered internal screen fold designs too, but with very complicated hinge mechanisms. The idea was for there to be added supports for the display at its most vulnerable point, so it would be OK for users to press down on flexible sections.
Patents have also proposed the idea of using stretchable displays. However, it seems unlikely for Apple to go down that route for the iPhone Fold for the moment.
An ETNews report from late February 2025 said that Apple’s folding iPhone may not be plagued by a crease at all. A source doubled down on claims Apple was working hard to avoid wrinkles in the display, which can emerge over time.
iPhone Fold or folding iPad
The nature of a folding smartphone is that it will create a larger viewable area when unfolded, if designed like a book rather than a clamshell. That size increase could make it a very large iPhone, or possibly something more.
If the size of the unfolded display is sufficient enough, it could feasibly be considered similar in size to an iPad mini. That could make the iPhone Fold a two-in-one device, switching between a smartphone and a tablet.
The iPhone Fold could be really compact when folded, compared to an iPad miniSamsung actually offered a confident prediction that Apple’s first foldable device in 2024 would be a tablet. This was quite believable at the time, due to Samsung being a key display partner for Apple.
Ming-Chi Kuo also offered that a foldable iPad could arrive by 2024, just one year later. But, others at the time insisted that a foldable iPad-style design wasn’t on the way that year, including Ross Young of DSCC.
We at least know that a 2024 launch didn’t happen.
A lot of guesswork
The problem with rumors about a brand new device category from Apple is that there really is no guarantee that any of the rumors are actually correct. Part of this can be down to some fanciful leakers working from iffy data or wanting to make a splash from a big prediction.
However, a lot of it is down to Apple itself. Leaks for new hardware types don’t tend to come out from Apple, but they do tend to solidify and accelerate the closer it gets to actually shipping the hardware.
The problem is that we’re nowhere near that point. We are still in the very early stages, when Apple has yet to solidify its plans properly.
Another issue is the nature of production, and Apple’s long development and production schedules. Each annual upgrade to the iPhone family takes two years to produce, and there can be a lot of changes in those early stages that can impact what happens later.
The iPhone Fold will be catching up to competitors already offering foldable devices to the publicIt’s also so early that no-one can really pin down what the other specifications for the iPhone Fold could be. While it’s likely to be a copying of the premium components inside a Pro-tier iPhone, we can’t say those details with any precision.
A dubious leak from February 2025 from social media sharer Jukanlosreve, formerly TechReve, had a stab at the specs. The list seemingly included a 5,000mAh “3D Stacked” battery cell system, a new ultra-thin Meta Lens front camera, and rear Main and Ultra-Wide cameras.
It would theoretically be 4.6mm when unfolded or 9.2mm when folded, making it thinner than the M4 iPad Pro.
However, the account has a very patchy track record when it comes to leaks. Add in the supposed timeframe for release of 2027, and it becomes quite dubious.
Timeframes and core specifications will remain fluid for the moment. Until Apple gets close to releasing the iPhone Fold, we won’t know what’s actually inside it.
Yoto Mini review: specs, performance, cost
Yoto Mini is a tiny, pocketable music player for kids and toddlers that shuns screens. While staying kid-friendly, it adds a surprising amount of tech for endless entertainment.
As music lovers, we want our children to experience it as we did. But options are a bit limited.
You can go with a smart speaker, but that isn’t easily controllable for little ones. You can go vintage with a cassette or CD player to stay more low-tech, but they’re breakable and also not kid-friendly.
The two common choices are music players designed for kids or parents just giving kids their phones. The Yoto Mini fits more into the former.
There’s no touchscreen. No ads. No camera. No mic. Just a simple, small, music player designed for kids of all ages.
Yoto Mini review: Music player design
The Yoto Mini is a tiny box, roughly two and a half by two and a half inches square. There’s a speaker in the lower-left corner, a small pixelated screen, and two controls.
Users twist the large, easily grabbed knobs to control the playback. The left one adjusts the volume while the right navigates through the tracks.
There’s also a power button on the right side to turn it off. On the left, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting wired headphones.
It charges up over USB-C and a color-matched orange USB cable is included in the box. More on this in a few.
Yoto Mini review: The Yoto Mini is very durable, even with grubby kiddo handsThe way it works is you insert one of the Yoto cards into the top slot. The box reads an NFC chip embedded in the card.
Your Yoto Mini will then recognize the card and start downloading the playlist of tracks from the Yoto servers via Wi-Fi. The box has a total of 32GB of storage available on it.
Yoto Mini review: App control and settings
Setup, as well as checking the status, is all done in the Yoto app. You’ll want to have it because aside from adjusting settings, it also is home to plenty of free content.
Yoto Mini review: Playing Queen on the Yoto Mini, adding various content and timers to our library, and our library of Yoto cardsYoto offers stories, songs, white noise, and more that you can play from the app to the player. There are also various timers, which is a nice touch.
These timers can be for homework for brushing teeth and play sounds, music, or stories for that duration.
Yoto Mini review: There are a lot of settings to tinker with in the Yoto appOutside of setup and free content, you can also see your library. It’s broken down between your playlists, your purchased cards, sleep sounds, podcasts, and radio.
Podcasts are added via RSS feeds and there are almost two dozen radio stations that can be tuned into too. The Now Playing screen has music controls, volume, and a sleep timer.
When you dig into settings, you’ll be shocked at how much control you have over such a little player. Yoto has gotten very granular.
For example, you can set up completely separate day and night profiles for the player. You can choose when they go into effect, the display brightness, the volume limit, and even the button shortcuts.
Advanced settings let you adjust the battery-saver timer, auto-off timer, Bluetooth pairing, headphone volume limit, and more.
Yoto Mini review: Playing music and stories
Similar to how the popular Tonie box works via NFC and little hand-painted characters, the Yoto Mini works with NFC plastic cards. They’re credit card-sized with fun artwork on the front and color-coded on the back based on if they’re stories or music.
Every kid is going to be different. Whether they connect with stories or music and then the various genres within each of those.
It’s important for Yoto to have a fairly massive library for buyers to choose from. Without content, it makes it a lot harder to convince people to buy into the ecosystem.
Not only that, but the cards have to be a recurring source of revenue versus the one-time purchase of the boxes themselves.
After several months with the Yoto Mini and multiple new card purchases, we’re both impressed and underwhelmed at the same time.
Our test subject, Harrison, was much more interested in the music cards. While he loves reading books, he doesn’t have the desire to sit through a book or story being read to him via a speaker.
Yoto Mini review: Just some of the Yoto cards we have on handSo most all the cards we listen to are the music ones and Yoto offers a diverse selection from Queen, to Sesame Street, to Disney.
There are also a lot of other cards, possibly produced by Yoto, that were just collections of songs, nursery rhymes, or covers of popular songs.
The issue we ran into was there weren’t many actual artists. You have Elton John Diamonds, Spice Girls’ greatest hits, Queen Vol. 1, Beatles 1962-1966, and Beatles 1967-1970.
It would seem there are a lot of other widely popular musicians out there that would be perfect here. Even of the ones available, we wish that there was an option for a Queen Vol. 2 or a third Beatles card.
Harrison’s favorite cards have so far been the first volume of Beatles, the Queen card, and Elmo. Quite the selections!
We’re sure this catalog will grow and it has to be hard for Yoto to nail down licensing for bigger artists, but we’re crossing all our fingers that they do.
Yoto Mini review: Tinker, tinker, tinker…
One of the things that drew us to the Yoto Mini was, on one hand, it’s decidedly low-tech. Yet on the other, it was ripe for tinkering.
It’s a Bluetooth speaker with an NFC reader that can download tracks from the internet. We had to see what we could do with it.
Yoto Mini review: We created playlists for Elvis songs and our own cardsYoto does offer blank cards where you can create your own. This is a great starting point.
We took some of our own music, like a bunch of Elvis songs, and created a playlist with them through the app. We saved the songs on our Mac into iCloud, then opened them from the Files app via the Yoto app.
Just like that, we had a custom card with our own music on it. To go further, we found out you could create your own graphics for the tracks.
Yoto Mini review: We used Yotoicons to create graphics for our playlistsWe played around making some low-res artwork in Affinity Photo, which worked well enough. Not long after, we ended up stumbling on a whole website dedicated to already-created Yoto icons.
This made our card look even better when Harrison played it. But we were sure we could do more…
Buying the blank cards from Yoto was $14.99 for a five-pack. Since they just seemed to be NFC cards, we wondered what would prevent us from buying generic blank NFC cards and programming them ourselves.
After a bit of research, we found some compatible cards on Amazon that we snatched up for $8.99. And that was for a 10-pack — less than a dollar per card.
They weren’t as easy as we hoped to create, but using NFC Tools and some Google knowledge, we got there. We created additional blank cards with us talking, more songs, and anything else we wanted.
In reality, this was way too much work. It’s not feasible for your average person to do this, but for a techy bunch like us, it was just a fun experiment to see if we could, not necessarily that we should.
Still, if you want to experiment with yourself or even something to try with your older kid, it may be worth learning some new skills.
Yoto Mini review: Durability and playtime
We can wholeheartedly confirm that our tester has put the Yoto Mini through its paces. It has been tossed, dragged, kicked, and dropped.
Repeatedly.
It has largely faired extremely well. There are two failure points that we’ve isolated though in our testing.
Yoto Mini review: The USB port is one of the few points of failure for this boxFirst is the USB-C port. Having an exposed port on a child’s toy should be a no-no.
Dirt, dust, debris, food, and who knows what else can easily get on this port as children aren’t particularly known for their cleanliness. Shockingly, Harrison did not damage the port.
It ended up breaking on its own after a couple of months of use just when being plugged in. We could see with a flashlight that the pins on the inside of the port had gotten bent and when plugging it in to charge, it pushed them back more until it no longer drew power.
For the next iteration of the Yoto box, we implore them to go with something like Qi2 on the bottom. According to our power meter, the Yoto Mini only draws 5W of power so Qi2 would easily be enough.
Plus, the magnetic alignment would make it more kid-friendly. And of course, you’d have one less point of failure.
Yoto did replace the box under warranty and we’ve had no issues with the second one.
Yoto Mini review: The edges of the cards have started to peel up after lots of useThe second issue we saw was with the cards themselves. They are plastic cards with the artwork on the front and colors on the back.
They aren’t printed directly onto the card, but are some sort of matte lamination. After copious use, the artwork is starting to peel off the cards for us.
Maybe this is just superficial and obviously wouldn’t impact playback at all, but if they all peel off, we’ll have to start labeling the blank cards with Sharpie.
Yoto Mini review: Big versus small
Aside from the Yoto Mini, there is also a full-sized Yoto player. Besides just being bigger, it has a few other benefits to it.
The larger size allows for louder, stereo sound versus mono. It can also be used as a nightlight with a soft glow around the screen when tilted.
Yoto Mini review: The full size Yoto boxIt has longer battery life, up to 24 hours, and even supports wireless charging. As an extra touch, it can monitor room temperature, which some parents may like to use.
In our testing, the larger model just felt awkward. Perhaps it’s better suited for even older children, but Harrison was never drawn to it like the mini.
It’s hard to carry around and is much better placed in a fixed position. It would be perfectly at home on a nightstand or bookshelf.
For older kids who want a nightstand speaker that they can use as Bluetooth output, a nightlight, and a way to listen to stories, the big one does great.
Yoto Mini review: The small and full size Yoto playersBut for any kid who wants to run around with it, take it with them, play outside with it, or otherwise just not leave it in their bedroom, the Yoto Mini wins out. Plus, it’s cheaper.
Yoto Mini review: Should you buy the Yoto Mini?
Yes. The answer to the question “should I buy the Yoto Mini?” is an emphatic “yes.”
It has been the single most-used item that Harrison has owned. We’re aware that it won’t resonate with every child the same way, but it’s got a wide enough appeal that there’s a good chance they’ll like either.
Maybe it’s a good way to record yourself reading stories for when you’re out of town or maybe it’s a way for your kiddo to wind down at the end of the day, or maybe something to keep them busy in the car.
There are a lot of uses for it, as well as a ton of content. All the purchasable cards, the “create your own” cards, or the free content on the app.
We’ve started getting into the little “Yoto Daily” broadcast too that plays when you turn it on without a card.
Yoto Mini review: The Yoto Mini is fun, versatile, and screen-freeWireless charging would make this better, but that’s not a strong enough reason to put off buying one. Maybe just a chance to upgrade should a new model ever launch.
In a world where a lot of time is spent watching habit-forming television, this little box has brought so much joy. It’s durable, fun, and can be educational to boot.
Yoto Mini review: Pros
- Lengthy, 14-hour battery life
- Can be used as Bluetooth speaker
- Durable and easy to use for toddlers
- Expansive catalog of music, stories, & licensed content
- Cheaper and more portable than larger model
- Fun to tinker with when making your own cards
Yoto Mini review: Cons
- Even more licensed music should be added
- USB-C port can be damaged
Yoto Mini review: 4.5 out of 5
Where to buy Yoto Mini
You can find the Yoto Mini on Amazon for $62.99, as well as various other accessories like lanyards, headphones, and silicone covers.
ShiftCam SnapSeries roundup: a MagSafe ecosystem
The ShiftCam SnapSeries lineup has evolved to include a more powerful battery pack, a larger studio light, and a much taller tripod — all connected via MagSafe. Here’s how it all fits together.
ShiftCam offers an increasingly varied range of equipment for content creators and photographers that work from iPhone. When I reviewed the original SnapGrip, I was excited by the prospect of an evolving MagSafe accessory ecosystem, and ShiftCam continues to deliver with the latest SnapSeries products.
ShiftCam also offers a lens set for iPhone called LensUltra, which I found to be a strong competitor to other attachable lens options. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is compatible with this set via a new case, so I’ll discuss the set alongside SnapSeries here in this roundup.
There’s a lot going on with ShiftCam and it seems the company is paying close attention to how people use their iPhone to create. The company has also introduced MagSafe SSDs that can snap into place alongside any SnapSeries accessory.
Everything snaps together with magnets, but you may not need or want everything, so here’s how each accessory works and fits in with the rest.
SnapGrip Pro
The SnapGrip Pro is a big update to the original model with a 5,000mAh capacity and Qi2. It’s much more efficient and lets you capture photos and record video much longer.
SnapGrip Pro is a MagSafe battery pack and shutter control for iPhoneConnect directly to the USB-C port for 20W PD charging. It’s much faster than Qi2 and handy when recording high-resolution video that’s draining the battery quickly.
The SnapGrip Pro isn’t just a MagSafe battery though, it’s a Bluetooth shutter that can control the iPhone’s camera. The grip is shaped like a traditional camera grip too, so it helps steady shots.
The iPhone 16 lineup has a dedicated button called Camera Control, but it’s not quite the same as using SnapGrip Pro’s shutter button. There are a lot of swiping and pressing gestures with Camera Control, which can be useful in some situations, but there’s nothing better than an easy-to-press shutter.
Get a better grip while shooting photos and capture with less shake with SnapGrip ProI really like Camera Control, but I tend to use it while holding the iPhone with two hands. It’s a bit fiddly too, so pressing the shutter can sometimes lead to accidentally zooming.
With SnapGrip Pro, you can easily hold the iPhone steady with one hand and press the shutter. It’s really about what function you need, as I find both can exist and have their separate uses.
Get the SnapGrip Pro for $89 from ShiftCam’s website.
SnapStand Max
The 70-inch SnapStand Max is a great portable tripod that collapses to just 11 inches long and uses MagSafe to attach an iPhone. There is a built-in rechargeable shutter button that can be removed from the handle too.
SnapStand Max folds up to fit in your bagThe MagSafe mount head can swivel 200 degrees for whatever angle you need. It’s sturdy enough to hold your iPhone aloft without worrying about sag.
The stand opens with a button at the base of the handle when it’s closed. It telescopes smoothly upwards and can be left at any length securely.
The mount still feels plenty sturdy even if you load it up with accessories like the SnapStudio Light, SnapGrip Pro, and an iPhone. However, be aware of how much weight there is as you extend the tripod, as an uneven surface could cause the entire device to tilt and fall.
The full 70-inch height can get wobbly, especially with other accessories attachedWhen extending the SnapStand Max to its tallest setting, it may be best to limit it to the iPhone and SnapLight. It remains its sturdiest to about 48 inches in length — any taller with more accessories attached, perhaps keep a person holding it steady.
I’m happy that the SnapStand Max can extend to such a tall height. It’s handy for capturing a quick photo or video in some situations. However, that extra length comes at a tradeoff to stability and a slight bump can cause everything to fall over.
Even just setting it to 55 inches increased my confidence in its ability to stand without a wobble by a lot. Like any tall stand like this, it’s important to understand its limits.
The collapsible feet don’t do much to prevent tiltingThe SnapStand Max isn’t like a traditional tripod that has three legs that extend. Instead, it’s got three feet that stay the same size while a neck is extended, which is automatically not as sturdy by design, but you do get a much smaller product when folded up.
All that said, I wouldn’t ask for the stand to be shorter. Users just need to be careful and use their best judgement when setting up.
Get the SnapStand Max for $71.10 from ShiftCam, currently discounted from $79.
SnapStudio Light
The SnapStudio Light is another battery-powered accessory from ShiftCam. It has 10 steps of brightness adjustment up to 440 lumens while on battery or 600 lumens when connected to a power source.
SnapStudio Light offers great lighting options for photos and videoUsers can also control temperature 10 steps between 2,500K and 6,000K. Buttons on the side of the light provide easy access to controls.
The MagSafe mount in the center can be rotated 180 degrees for easy switching between front and back cameras. Attach it to the SnapStand Max for a studio setup, or connect it to the SnapGrip Pro for a portable selfie or vlogging tool.
Like with any ring light, reflections are going to be a problem, especially at a close proximity. You’re going to see the square light in your glasses or even reflected in your eyes unless you’re at a certain distance or angle from the light.
The SnapStudio Light has a center MagSafe mount that can be rotatedThe nice thing about the ShiftCam ecosystem is all of the options for mounting devices. There’s a screw mount on each side that can attach to the included stand or any standard tripod mount.
The internal battery can last about 40 minutes at max brightness. Connect the SnapGrip Pro and wire it to the light to extend its time and available brightness.
Get the SnapStudio Light for $89 from ShiftCam.
ProMic Shotgun and Cold Shoe Mount
If you’re looking to add a little more versatility and universal compatibility, ShiftCam has a cold shoe mount called the SnapShoe. It’s only $29.99 from ShiftCam.
The ProMic Shotgun attaches to the MagSafe SnapShoe mountIf you buy the ShiftCam ProMic Shotgun, it can be set into the SnapShoe. Buy them as a bundle for $109.98 or get the mic alone for $79.99.
The SnapShoe is a great addition because it attaches via MagSafe but allows other accessories outside of the ShiftCam ecosystem to be attached. It’s just a standard cold shoe mount, so bring whatever light or mic you’d like.
The ProMic Shotgun does a great job picking up your voice, and it’s going to be better than your iPhone mic in some situations. That’s especially true since you have the options for different wind filters.
It’s a Super-cardioid mic with a 20Hz to 18kHz frequency response. It works over a standard audio jack and has a second port for connecting headphones.
ProMic Shotgun relies on audio jacks for interfacingYou’re going to need a USB-C to headphone jack adapter to use this mic, so it’s probably not the best choice for modern iPhones. Though, if that’s not an issue, then it’s a good mic.
Perhaps ShiftCam can work on releasing a new version with USB-C connectivity.
SnapMount Camera Case
ShiftCam let me try out its SnapMount Camera Case in addition to its SnapSeries accessories. It’s part of a complete photography or media production package, so I had to put it all together with the LensUltra set.
SnapMount Camera Case with adapters bring LensUltra to iPhone 16 Pro MaxThe new case is made from a really nice textured fabric that’s actually machine washable. It has a cutout for Camera Control and tactile covers for the other buttons.
The lens mounting system changed to something ShiftCam calls an S-mount. It was previously a 12mm thread, so this change is a bit odd considering the LensUltra system still uses that older thread style.
I assume it’s due to a shift in how they want to make lenses in the future. The 12mm mount requires a couple of turns to secure the lens completely, while the S-mount is just a simple twist mechanism that feels secure with a half turn.
The SnapMount Camera Case comes with two S-Mount adaptersThe SnapMount Camera Case ships with two of the S-mount adapters, so that should be enough for users to get by. However, for someone like me that owns the full lens set, I wish I could order more S-mount adapters separately just so I didn’t have to swap the mount between lenses.
The case supports MagSafe charging and works with all the SnapSeries accessories without issue. I like that the case has a nice design and isn’t too bulky, so it can be used as a case regularly without feeling like I need to take it off when not using the lenses.
Get the SnapMount Camera Case for $49.99 from ShiftCam. Be sure to choose your iPhone model from the list.
Using SnapSeries
If you get the SnapSeries Professional Kit and the other accessories mentioned above, they can fit together in interesting ways to accomplish different tasks. Of course, you can snap them all together into a kind of monster MagSafe tower, but it’s likely not very practical.
ShiftCam SnapSeries can be used together for a modular setupSet up to record a video with the stand, light, and microphone, and since you’re likely stationary, use an external power source instead of attaching the MagSafe battery to the already wobbly stack. Use the battery pack when you’re looking to go handheld rather than relying on the stand.
That isn’t to say you can’t connect everything together, but it’s just a little unwieldy. As I’ve said previously, use your best judgement.
I do think it’s really cool that you can pick and choose accessories to snap together for whatever you need at that moment. However, there may be some trial and error in figuring out exactly which order the pieces should go in.
The only way the SnapGrip Pro charges the iPhone is if it is directly attached, but there are situations where you’d want it anyway. For example, place the iPhone in the SnapStudio Light then attach the SnapGrip Pro so you have a grip with a shutter button for taking well-lit selfies.
Take better selfies with SnapGrip Pro and SnapStudio LightTake that setup even further by using a USB-C cable to provide power and increase the SnapStudio Light brightness, or charge the iPhone over cable at 20W.
There are lots of ways to use the SnapSeries magnetic accessories. The kits are the best way to get everything you need, but be warned, you’ll likely keep coming back for more from ShiftCam to improve the versatility of the setup.
Get the SnapSeries Professional Kit with the SnapStudio Light, SnapStand Max, and SnapGrip Pro for $231.30 from ShiftCam, a 10% discount available at publication. The SnapSeries Professional Kit Pro includes everything plus the ProMic Shotgun and SnapShoe for $311.93, also discounted by 10%.
The 25 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now (February 2025)
When it comes to originals, Netflix and Amazon have the deepest libraries of prestige movies. But ever since CODA won the Best Picture Oscar, it’s become clear that some of the best movies are on Apple TV+.
As with any streaming service, not every film on the roster is a winner, but from the Billie Eilish documentary to Sundance darlings, Apple’s streaming service is building up a strong catalog to run alongside its growing slate of beloved TV shows.
Below are WIRED’s picks for flicks you should prioritize in your queue. Once you’re done, hop over to our list of the best movies on Netflix and the best movies on Disney+. If you’re feeling a little more episodic, our guide for the best shows on Amazon might be just the ticket.
The Gorge
When the guy who made Doctor Strange and Sinister decides to make a horror movie starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver, and Miles Teller, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Taylor-Joy and Teller play military operatives tasked with guarding a freaky gorge in the wilderness. They’re stuck on opposite sides, but the menacing something deep in the chasm brings them together in a quest to survive.
Fly Me to the Moon
So, you know that conspiracy theory about Stanley Kubrick faking the Apollo 11 moon landing? If you don’t, you really should go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on that one. When you’re done, watch this Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum comedy about a marketing whiz (Johansson) who gets hired to film a mocked-up version of Neil Armstrong’s famous giant leap for mankind on the off chance the mission didn’t go off as planned. This one has been on Apple TV+ for a while now and is still one of the service’s most popular films currently. Probably with good reason. It’s wild stuff, but no less wild than looking for clues to Kubrick’s secret involvement with NASA in The Shining.
Blitz
Written and directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Blitz shows World War II through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy named George (Elliott Heffernan). Sent by his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) to the safety of the English countryside, George escapes in an attempt to be reunited with his mom and grandfather in East London. What ensues is George’s harrowing quest to be reunited with his mom, but this is a McQueen film, so that’s only part of the story.
The Last of the Sea Women
On the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island, women rule the sea. They’re called haenyeo, and for centuries they have gone diving to harvest seafood. Sue Kim’s new documentary follows these women—often referred to as real-life mermaids—as they struggle to keep their way of life in the face of societal and environmental changes. Emboldened by a new generation that wants to amplify haenyeo on social media, they may find a path after all. Produced by Malala Yousafzai, it’s a journey into cross-generational unity and the value of tradition.
Wolfs
If you heard anything about Wolfs, it probably wasn’t about its plot. Stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt were in the news a lot around its 2024 release, but mostly because of their salaries and their goofing off in Venice. But if you want to know what Wolfs is about, the short version is that Clooney and Pitt play the kind of guys who make problems go away, and when they’re both called in for the same job, they get to bicker with each other about who is losing their edge more. Might be light on substance, but it’s still a pretty good time. The movie hits theaters on September 20, and lands on Apple TV+ a week later.
The World’s a Little Blurry
When it originally came out in 2021, The World’s a Little Blurry proved to be an unprecedented look into the life of pop phenom Billie Eilish as the then-teenager recorded her debut LP When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Director R. J. Cutler got amazing access for the film, which chronicles everything from Eilish’s songwriting process with her brother Finneas to her frank talk about her Tourette’s. It also was only a small chapter of the singer’s life. Now that she’s won multiple Grammys and Oscars, started singing about eating girls for lunch, and performed at the Olympics Closing Ceremony, watching Blurry feels like opening a time capsule—in all the best ways. It’s the kind of music documentary that redefines the music documentary.
The Velvet Underground
You may think that director Todd Haynes only makes intense dramas like Carol and May December, but for this film he went deep into the art scene in New York City in the 1960s to unearth what happened when the Velvet Underground exploded a lot of people’s ideas of music. Piecing together new interviews with archive footage and even old Andy Warhol films, it captures a moment in music history that changed things forever.
Fancy Dance
Set on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, Fancy Dance follows the journey of Jax (Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone), a woman who has been caring for her niece Roki ever since her sister, Roki’s mother, went missing. After the authorities deem Jax unfit to care for her niece, Roki is sent to live with her grandfather. Looking for answers, Jax takes Roki on the road to try to find her mother and ends up trying to escape the same authorities, who aren’t putting the same effort into finding her missing sister as they are in trying to find her. An examination of life on colonized land, Fancy Dance is also a thoughtful look at protecting community.
Girls State
Do you remember the 2020 documentary Boys State, about a group of young men in Texas who attend a summer program where the are challenged to form their own government? Girls State is similar—it even comes from the same filmmaking team of Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine—but it follows a group of people who have never seen someone of their gender hold the office of US president. It’s also set in Missouri, not Texas. Expect all the same wild ambition and hearbreak—and more than a few life lessons learned.
Napoleon
OK, so Napoleon didn’t exactly get critics’ pens flying, but sometimes you’re just in the mood for a big, prestige-y Ridley Scott historical drama, you know? This one stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, following his quest to conquer, well, as much as he possibly can. Rather than being a sprint to the Battle of Waterloo, however, this pic gives attention to the French emperor’s emotionally rocky relationship with his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). What happens when a man can conquer most of Europe but not his own feelings? Watch and find out.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese’s epic film is based on David Grann’s 2017 book about a member of the Osage Nation, Mollie Burkhart, who sought to get to the bottom of the deaths in her family. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, a time when many Osage were being killed for the money made from oil on their land, Scorsese’s film follows the relationship between Mollie (played by Lily Gladstone, who won a Golden Globe for her performance) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and what happens when the FBI comes to investigate the Osage deaths. When WIRED named it one of 2023’s best movies, we called it “a feel-bad masterpiece,” and we stand by that.
Fingernails
Can technology determine whether you’ve found The One? Probably not, but in the latest from writer-director Christos Nikou, an institute run by Duncan (Luke Wilson) claims that it has found the formula for true love anyway—and Anna (Jessie Buckley) wants to figure out if it’s real. The institute, you see, has determined that Anna and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are a match, but has doubts. While working at the institute, though, she meets Amir (Riz Ahmed) and finds someone who actually might be her match.
Flora and Son
Remember Sing Street, that charming indie about a kid in Dublin who starts a band as an escape from his complicated home life? What about Once, that charming indie about a pair that spends a week in Dublin writing songs about their love? If you enjoyed either of those—or if they just sound like something you might enjoy—let us suggest Flora and Son, a charming indie about a mother in Dublin trying to connect with her son through song. Like Sing Street and Once, Flora and Son comes from director John Carney and has all of his signature moves, plus something else: Eve Hewson, who plays the movie’s titular mom. She’s a force, and she hits all of her musician notes perfectly. Makes sense; she’s Bono’s daughter.
Stephen Curry: Underrated
Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry might be one of the most beloved players in American basketball—and he is definitely one of the best players, if not the best player, in the league. He has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player twice and has won four championship rings. He also has more career three-pointers than anyone in the league. But in the late aughts, he was a kid at a small school, Davidson College, just trying to live up to the potential his coaches saw in him. Underrated, directed by Peter Nicks (Homeroom), chronicles that journey, showing how Curry bested the predictions of his own NBA draft (many said he didn’t have the size necessary for the league) to become one of the greatest to ever play the game. For basketball fans, it’s a must-watch.
Beastie Boys Story
One of the pioneering groups in hip-hop, the Beastie Boys have a story like no other. For this “live documentary,” filmmaker Spike Jonze filmed Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) as they told a crowd at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater about their rise to stardom. Complete with old footage, photos, and stories from the group’s decades-long career, the doc captures just how influential the Beasties have been since they started playing music together as kids in New York City in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It also features some wonderful memories of their third member, Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012 following a battle with cancer.
CODA
This is the one that put Apple TV+ on the map. The movie’s title is an acronym for “child of deaf adults.” It’s the story of Ruby, the only hearing person in a family that includes two deaf parents and one deaf sibling. When Ruby discovers a love of music, she’s forced to reconcile her own aspirations with those of her family, who run a small fishing business and often need her to help communicate. Warm and gripping, CODA is the kind of movie that will have you cheering and crying at the same time.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
In 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of Hollywood’s biggest names as the star of a hit TV show (Family Ties) and the year’s highest-grossing movie (Back to the Future). Just a few years later, at the age of 29, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In Still, Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim offers a poignant portrait of Fox’s personal and professional life and his journey from teen idol to advocate for a cure.
Swan Song
Mahershala Ali stars alongside, well, Mahershala Ali in this romantic-sci-fi-drama. Yes, it’s all of those things. Cameron (Ali) is a loving husband (to Naomie Harris) and father who, after learning he has a terminal illness, must decide just how far he’ll go to protect his family from having to know the truth, or deal with the devastating aftermath.
Sharper
Sharper is one of those movies where the less you know about it going in, the better. Just know that no one is what they seem or who they say they are in this neo-noir starring Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and John Lithgow. This twisty little thriller flew largely under the radar when it was released in theaters for a half-second in early 2023.
Cha Cha Real Smooth
“Sundance hit starring Dakota Johnson”s are almost a dime a dozen, but this one, about a young bar/bat mitzvah party-starter is the, ahem, real deal. It also proves that Cooper Raiff—who writes, directs, and stars in the movie—is one to keep your eye on.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Yes, most people already know the story of Macbeth—Scottish lord with an eye toward ruling his country—but not everyone has seen it through the eyes of director Joel Coen. Shot entirely in black and white and starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as his powerful wife, the film was nominated for three Oscars and brought a very new twist onto a classic Shakespearean tale.
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues
Above all else, Louis Armstrong is known as one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time. But he was also a figure in the struggle for equality in America—albeit a complicated one. As director Sacha Jenkins illustrates in this documentary, while Armstrong broke racial barriers in entertainment he also faced accusations that he didn’t stand up as much for civil rights as other performers of his era. Jenkins got access to scores of photographs, clippings, and even recordings Armstrong made of his own conversations for this documentary, and that access provides a much fuller picture of the legendary musician than the world has ever had.
Tetris
One of the most popular video games of all time, Tetris was a phenomenon for Nintendo Game Boy owners in the 1980s. But Tetris (the movie) is the story of the people who made the game and brought it from the then-Soviet Union to the rest of the world. Part historical dramedy, part espionage flick, the movie doesn’t always hit its marks, but if you’ve never heard the story of how Tetris got out from behind the Iron Curtain, it’s worth a watch.
Causeway
Causeway kind of came and went when it was released in 2022, but that’s also the sort of movie it is. Focused on a soldier (Jennifer Lawrence) who returns home after suffering a brain injury in Afghanistan, the film from director Lila Neugebauer is about trauma and how people lean on each other to get through it. A worthy watch for the times when you have your own stuff to work through.
Sidney
Sidney Poitier died in 2022, the same year Apple TV+ released this documentary looking at the actor’s long-running career—In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—and impact on American culture and politics. With interviews ranging from Spike Lee and Morgan Freeman to Harry Belafonte, the film goes beyond his time in Hollywood, starting with his upbringing in the Bahamas and ending with his massive impact on the civil rights movement and elsewhere.
How to import photos using the Image Capture app on Mac
Image Capture is Apple’s image acquisition app for grabbing pictures from your camera or scanner. Here’s how to use it in a variety of settings.
While Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and the Photos apps in iOS and macOS are the standard for image acquisition and processing today, there’s another way to get images into your Mac: Apple’s Image Capture app.
Image Capture has been around in macOS for decades and it’s fairly easy to use.
The reason to use Image Capture in macOS is for ingesting images from third-party cameras and scanners. These include DSLR and compact point-and-shoot cameras, as well as flatbed USB and WiFi scanners or multifunction printers.
macOS now supports most common drivers for these devices and setting them up is a breeze. Though you can still download and install third-party drivers and apps from device manufacturers.
Third-party cameras
macOS and its modern driver subsystem have support for most third-party cameras built-in for use over USB or WiFi. The USB standard includes a class driver for cameras (Base Class 06h Still Image). When you plug a digital camera into your Mac over USB, macOS automatically loads the class driver for you so it can communicate with the device.
A class driver is a generic software component designed to communicate with an entire class of devices. WiFi camera connections work in a similar manner, but use networking protocols or protocol bridges to connect to the device.
Some cameras may appear as composite devices since they are actually several devices in one. For example, as a camera and a card reader.
For the most part, with consumer and pro-grade cameras (and webcams), you don’t need to do anything special: just plug the device in or connect over WiFi and turn it on. For some cameras, you may need to download and install additional software from the manufacturer’s website.
It’s also a good idea to make sure your camera’s firmware is up to date.
For some camera brands, such as Canon, you must first disable WiFi on the camera in order for its USB connection to work.
All USB-compliant still imaging devices have a USB base class ID of “06h”, a subclass of “01h” and a protocol value of “01h”.
You can also use Image Capture to import videos from most cameras. There’s also a USB video device class.
Camera image acquisition
When you plug a camera into your Mac and turn it on, macOS should launch Image Capture automatically. If it doesn’t, double-click it in the /Applications folder at the root of your Mac’s Startup Disk to launch it.
On the left in Image Capture’s main window, you’ll see a “Devices” and “Shared” category. This is where connected devices appear. To access the images on a device, single-click it in the sidebar on the left.
The Image Capture window with a camera selected.When you do, Image Capture will load thumbnails of all the images on the device. You can scale the thumbnail size in Image Capture by dragging the slider control in the toolbar at the top of the window.
You can also view the thumbnails in a list or grid view by clicking the toolbar buttons. There are also controls for rotating and deleting images.
To select where to import images to on your Mac click the Import To: popup menu, then select either one of the standard destinations, a custom folder location, or select Build web page. If you select the web page option, a new folder will be created in your Pictures folder inside your user’s home folder.
To select which images to import, hold down the Command key, click individual images, and click Download or click the Download All button.
Image Capture will begin copying the images from your camera to the selected location on your Mac. When finished, navigate to the destination folder to see the downloaded image files.
Image capture from webcams and even USB-compliant microscopes is roughly the same as for consumer or pro cameras.
Scanners and multifunction printers
If you have a flatbed USB scanner or a USB or WiFi multifunction printer, you can use Image Capture to acquire its scanned images.
A little setup for printers and scanners is needed first: open the System Settings app and click Printers & Scanners->Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax
This opens the Add Printer window. Click the device you want to add from the list under Name, give the device a location name in the Location: text field, and click Add.
Adding printers and scanners works over WiFi as well if your device supports AirPlay or Apple’s Bonjour network discovery service. The device must be on the same network as your Mac.
A multifunction printer with WiFi enabled.When adding new printers or scanners, macOS will look for the matching class driver automatically and activate it for the device. If macOS doesn’t find a matching driver, you may need to download one from the device manufacturer’s website and install it, but this is rare.
Once your device has been added, it will appear in the Printers & Scanners pane in System Settings. To use a printer or scanner click it in the pane.
Click a device name in System Settings to open its sheet.You can also Control-click a device name in the pane to get a popup menu with options for removing the device, setting it as the default, and resetting the printing system.
Once your device is installed, click its name in the System Settings app pane, and a new sheet will appear with several controls:
The device sheet showing the Open Scanner button.Click Open Scanner… to launch Image Capture for the device. When Image Capture opens it will automatically select the device and start an overview scan.
This gives you a preview of what’s on the scanner’s bed.
If your device is a multifunction printer, the sheet also has buttons for seeing its supply levels and sharing it on a network, if your device supports it. If your device is using WiFi or is shared on a network, it appears under the “Shared” section in the sidebar.
When the overview scan completes, the Image Capture window shows an image of what was scanned on the flatbed. You can drag and make a selection around the image to crop what is scanned.
An overview scan showing the scanned image with handles for cropping.There are also controls in the window for switching to a document feeder, setting black and white, grayscale, or color, setting resolution, and file name, type, and location. To restart the overview scan click the Overview button.
Depending on what features your device supports you may also be able to combine multiple scanned pages into one document.
Once you’re satisfied with the settings, click the Scan button. This starts the full-resolution scan. For very high-resolution scans it may take some time as the scan head moves slowly when recording more pixels.
When the scan completes, images will be saved at the location and in the format you specified. You can now open the file to view it.
If you want a simpler interface without all the advanced controls, click the Hide Details button. This switches to a simpler UI with just a few controls: Location, Size, Show Details, and Scan.
If your device has a document feeder, there’s also a checkbox for that in simple mode.
After a scan completes, the Scan Results window appears. This window doesn’t do much except show the file, name, and a magnifier icon. If you click the magnifier the file’s location will be revealed in the Finder.
Scan Results window.Probing the bus
If you have an Apple Developer account, you can log in to the Apple Developer website and download an older tool called USB Prober. This tool allows you to peek at the USB hardware hierarchy on your Mac (part of the IORegistry) to see details about the specifics of each attached device.
To see the USB portion of the IORegistry on your Mac in USB Prober, click the IORegistry tab.
If you’re using macOS Sequoia and want to see the bus logs, you’ll need to install an additional Kernel extension which USB Prober will prompt you to install.
Each USB device listed can be a hub, a display, or a device. Each device has a company and product ID, a port number, a device descriptor, and a configuration descriptor.
Running USB Prober to see all USB devices on a Mac.The device descriptor contains most of the info about a specific device. Some USB devices can be composite devices.
To see all USB hubs and devices connected to your Mac click the Bus Probe tab.
If you have a camera connected it may be listed as a USB card reader or composite device since some cameras don’t export any USB interface other than storage.
Image Capture makes it easy to import images from a device into your Mac. Apple was wise to keep the app’s interface simple over the years and not add too much to it.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Specs, Features, Price
Amateur astronomers and beginners will find the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope useful for capturing shots of the night sky with the help of an iPhone, and get decent results very quickly.
Like photography and many other hobbies, astronomy can require both resources and knowledge. To understand what’s in the night sky, you have to know what you’re looking at, and where you should look in the first place.
The other half of the equation is the accumulation of gear. For astronomers wanting to photograph the night’s sky, buying a telescope and a camera to attach to it can get pretty expensive pretty quickly.
One solution is the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope from DwarfLab. It’s a small book-sized telescope that can be quickly set up and aimed at the sky, and can also be used to take photographs as well.
It also does so in a way that makes it reasonably easy to get the shot you want, thanks to some iPhone app assistance.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Compact size
While the usual expectation of a telescope is something resembling a tube with lenses, the Dwarf 2 goes for a much flatter approach. Measuring 8.7 inches long by 5.6 inches wide and 2.6 inches thick, it’s something that can be easily packed into a bag.
At 2.86 pounds, it’s not massively lightweight, but it’s still certainly something that can be carried around without too much effort. At least, a lot easier to move than a typically larger telescope and camera setup.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: The reasonably small carrying caseThe base includes a fixing to attach it to a tripod. You could stand it on its own, but using a tripod means it could be placed safely on uneven ground. A stool will do in a pinch.
While mostly flat, there is a tubular section at the top that will move to focus on objects. A flattened section here contains the cameras, which are used to shoot the night’s sky.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: the base includes a tripod mount holeThe intention is for the cameras to be easily angled upwards to specific points in the night’s sky. The precision needed to focus on an astronomical object being driven by the app automatically is a nice touch and mostly prevents the need to manually aim the device. More on that in a bit.
Since it’s designed for outside usage, it has a built-in 10,000mAh battery, though you can extend its usage time further with an external power bank using USB.
In our usage of it, the battery held its charge on standby for a very long time. It was still at full power after leaving it alone for a month.
Practical use time is about eight hours on a single charge. So, environmental exposure is
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: The USB-C port can be used to provide more powerIt also happens to have IP54 dust and moisture resistance, which will help during extended night sessions and to fend off the morning dew.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Cameras
The most important part of the smart telescope are its cameras, with it using a pair of shooters.
One is a Wide camera which is used for both astrophotography and for daytime usage. It’s not really a high-resolution sensor, as it can output a 1080p still image or 1080p video at 30fps, complete with a 3.4mm aperture and a 6.7mm focal length, giving a 35mm equivalent of a 44mm lens. This is sufficient for task.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: The cameras swivel on a central barrelThe Telephoto camera is much more important for astrophotography, and it has the specifications to match. It uses a Sony IMX678 Starvis 2 sensor, capable of capturing an 8.3-megapixel still image.
That sensor has a pixel size of 2 microns, 90% bigger than the Dwarf 2’s comparative sensor, increasing the light it collects. This also helps reduce the amount of noise for extended exposure shots.
That sensor is also able to capture shots with an exposure time of up to 60 seconds. Its video capabilities extend to 4K at 30fps and 1080p at 60fps.
The Tele lens arrangement includes a 35mm arrangement with a periscope mechanism, doubling the light it can gather versus its predecessor. It uses multiple extra-low dispersion lenses to minimize diffraction.
That gives the Tele lens a focal length of 150mm, or a 35mm equivalent of 737mm.
To better work for astrophotography, it has a number of included filters. Both the Wide and Tele cameras have filters for low-light astrophotography that extend into the infrared range.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Filters for the camerasThe Tele also benefits from a VIS (visible light) filter, as well as a Dual-Band filter. This latter filter excludes certain wavelengths to cut down city light pollution and moonlight, increasing the chances of better nebula shots.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: App and usage
The point of the Dwarf 3 is to make astrophotography simple for users. After setting it up, all you need to do is to connect it to the DwarfLab companion app on an iPhone, and take control of the device from the small screen.
With the app installed, connecting to the Dwarf 3 is handled by an NFC element, signified by a glowing green ring on the side. This handles setting up the Wi-Fi connection between the iPhone and it.
There is a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to the user interface. It takes about 30 minutes to get used to it, but by then, you can go to town.
Once connected, the app offers a map of the sky, including sets of daily recommended items to look at.
A lot of this is automated, including automatic detection and configuration on behalf of the user, minimizing the overall setup time. Users are also able to exert more manual control over the settings, which is useful if they have a particular photographic style in mind.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: The accompanying app with some (sometimes unhelpful) tooltipsOne thing to remember is that it has to be used in an open area, with little around it that could interfere with its sensors. One time it was set up next to a fence that was intended to be used as a wind break, but its presence meant the telescope failed its calibration.
After the initial failure, there wasn’t an apparent setting to retry the calibration after repositioning it to the middle of the field.
The app also includes a scheduling system, so that you could set up a number of shots to be taken at specific times of night. Again, this automates the process and hands off the hard work to the telescope itself.
Oddly, while it can deal with nebulas, galaxies, and individual stars, it doesn’t like taking planetary shots. The manufacturer is clear on this point, though.
The types of shot you can take are also quite varied, including solar and lunar eclipses, and an Astro Mosaic that combines multiple shots to create a larger overall image. Shots can also be taken of the Milky Way and star trails, with the latter showing how stars move across the night.
Once set up, there’s little need for the user to have more than a cursory eye on the Dwarf 3 as it does its night-time thing. The app can be minimized or closed while the Dwarf 3 is shooting, with it continuing to take its pre-configured shots.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Viewing the night sky’s subjects in the appThe auto-search tool is great, and it moves really fast. This makes the wait between requesting a shot and actually being able to take it really short.
But, I feel the interface should be forced to be used in a horizontal mode, just like Star Walk. Using it in portrait orientation was covering up tooltips, which isn’t a great exemplar of UI design.
Generally speaking, it’s best to use the recommendations from the search, then let the app find the body in space. You can manually move the camera, but it’s frustrating and time consuming for astrophotography. It is more useful for taking pictures of (relatively stationary) birds, though.
Practically, the Astro mode takes several pictures that may be adequate enough for some, but weren’t to my own liking. Switching over to Photo mode, I was able to get the shots I actually wanted.
One annoyance was discovered when searching for M45 and M42. While it did mark M45 in an album when I used Astro mode, I wish the app was able to automatically mark for a shot to be taken in Photo mode too for an alternate version.
Another instance was in searching for the constellation of Orion, as the search results didn’t appear to include constellations. Try as I might though, this may well be user error, as it seems like an obvious thing to include in searches and an odd thing to omit or obscure.
Connectivity is generally good, but could use some improvement. To actually control the Dwarf 3, I had to stand within a few feet, or otherwise it would lose connection. Remote control of the device is a great idea, but only if you can shelter from the elements and the cold while doing so.
At this short range, you’re probably not going to be in shelter until you can finish configuring it and then escape to warmth and dryness.
Onboard storage consists of 128GB eMMC memory. It doesn’t sound like that much, but bear in mind you’re going to be mostly taking photographs, not recording tons of space-hogging video. So, it works.
With that 128GB, there’s ample storage for multiple weekends worth of stargazing built into it.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: After-afterdark
While a telescope in nature, the Dwarf 3 can also be used in a few other ways that have little to do with stars and comets. There’s a few daytime uses available for it too.
Landscape photographers can take advantage of its dual-camera system and auto-stitching capability to produce gigapixel panoramas. Massive panoramic images with high amounts of detail throughout.
It’s also quite handy for ornithologists, with its far range shooting ideal for capturing easily-disturbed birds. The Dual-Camera Sync feature lets users tap on a target while looking at a wide-angle view, which then triggers the telephoto camera to automatically focus on the intended subject.
This idea is extended further with Auto-Capture Mode, with the system tracking the selected bird while it flies around. It does so automatically, even if the user’s not around to tell the Dwarf 3 to get the shot.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Neat for leisurely astrophotography
This is certainly one of the more interesting iPhone-connected devices we’ve tested here at AppleInsider. Overall, it’s cool to look at the telescope and see it working, but it’s really for folks that want photos of the night’s sky.
Despite using it in very cold weather, it was still very easy to lose track of time because it was fun to use. Eventually, playing with it on that evening ended after losing feeling in my fingers.
This experience demonstrates a few things about the Dwarf 3. For a start, it only needed a little bit of effort to learn how to use it, so it’s fairly approachable as a device.
I’m not a professional astronomer, though. Your mileage may vary.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope review: Set up and ready for shootingThere are photographers around the world hooking up their big cameras to telescopes and creating awesome works. The Dwarf 3 certainly dials back the expertise needed to get a great shot of the night’s sky, in a much more approachable format for consumers.
It’s certainly not a miniature Mauna Kea observatory you can put in a backpack, and while the lenses and sensors are good, there’s only so much you can do in a small form factor. And, urban sprawl and light pollution are a problem too.
But the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope does give you one more way to explore and appreciate the universe, connects to your iPhone, and can be had relatively inexpensively. Using it as a set of digital binoculars is just a bonus.
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope pros
- Ease of use
- Compact size
- Hands-free adjustments
Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope cons
- Mode switching isn’t fantastic
- Search is spotty
- Short-range remote control
Rating: 4 out of 5
Where to buy the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope
You can pick up the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope for $549 from DwarfLab.com or B&H Photo.
