Category: Technologies

  • Usyk vs. Dubois Livestream: When It Starts and How to Watch Heavyweight Boxing Fight

    Britain’s Daniel Dubois will be aiming to pull off a major shock on Saturday as he takes on Oleksandr Usyk in Wrocław, Poland, as the mandatory challenger for the undefeated Ukrainian’s World Heavyweight Championships.

    Usyk will be putting his WBO, WBA and IBF titles on the line at the Tarczyński Arena, with this fight marking his long-awaited return to the ring. The 36-year-old has not fought since his split decision rematch victory over Anthony Joshua this time last year, but remains the clear favorite to defend his titles for the second time.

    Dubois’ bid to get his promising career back on track following his damaging knockout defeat to fellow Brit Joe Joyce three years ago has seen him go on a four-fight winning streak.

    The 25-year-old holder of the “regular” version of the WBA title, however, was less than convincing in his last appearance in the ring, with Kevin Lerena managing to knock the Londoner down three times before Dubois prevailed in the third round of their clash last December.

    Here are all the details of tonight’s big fight, including start time, how to watch it and more.

    A composite promotional image for the heavyweight boxing fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.

    Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois date and start times

    Usyk vs. Dubois takes place tonight, Aug. 26, at the Tarczyński Arena in Wrocław, Poland.

    The main card is set to start at 8 p.m. CEST local time, making it a 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. PT start in the US and Canada and a 7 p.m. BST start in the UK. Ring walks for Usyk and Dubois are expected at around 11 p.m. CEST, 5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT and 10 p.m. BST.

    Timing is subject to change for the main card based on the length of the undercard fights.

    How to watch Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois from anywhere

    If you find yourself unable to view Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois locally, you may need a different way to watch the fight — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on the day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

    With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.

    Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

    Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

    How to watch Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois in the US

    Saturday’s big fight is available to stream in the US via ESPN Plus, with no additional PPV fee to pay.

    How to watch Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Duboisin the UK

    If you live in the UK, the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois fight is a live exclusive for TNT Sports (formally BT Sport). Unlike the US, however, it’s a PPV event.

    How to watch Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois in Canada

    For Canadian fight fans, Saturday’s big title fight is available to watch via streaming service TSN Plus, with no extra PPV charge for subscribers. Existing TSN cable subscribers can meanwhile watch at no extra charge using the details of their TV provider.

    How to watch Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois in Australia

    Australian boxing fans can stream this clash via Main Event PPV on streaming service Kayo Sports, and you don’t need to be a subscriber to watch the bout. The main card should start around 3 a.m. AEST on Sunday morning.

    Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois full fight card

    In addition to the main event, there are a number of other fights taking place at the Tarczyński Arena tonight.

    • Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois: For Usyk’s WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles.
    • Denys Berinchyk vs. Anthony Yigit: Lightweight.
    • Dmytro Mytrofanov vs. Hamzah Sheeraz: Middleweight.
    • Daniel Lapin vs. Aro Schwartz: Light-heavyweight.
    • Fiodor Czerkaszyn vs. Anauel Ngamissengue: Middleweight.
    • Rafal Wolczecki vs. Roberto Arriaza: Middleweight.
    • Vasile Cebotari vs. Joel Julio: Welterweight.
    • Nursultan Amanzholov vs. Lazizbek Mullojonov: Heavyweight.
    • Oleksandr Solomennikov vs. Piotr Gudel: Featherweight.
    • Aadam Hamed vs. TBA:Super-welterweight.
    • Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Janos Penzes: Super-lightweight.
    • Bryce Mills vs. Damian Tymosz: Super-lightweight.

  • Your Smartwatch Band Might Be Covered in Harmful Bacteria. Here’s How to Clean It

    Do you regularly sanitize your smartwatch band? You’ll want to now. A scientific study published in May examined 20 different watch and fitness tracker bands and found 95% were contaminated with at least one type of harmful bacteria that can cause infections.

    The paper detailed how researchers tested bands worn by 20 random, anonymous people. The wristbands were rubber, plastic, cloth, metal and leather, with the paper pointing out that we wear our watches and fitness trackers while working out, swimming, holding pets, eating and sleeping, and yet we do not often sanitize them.

    Of the 20 watch bands, researchers found that 85% had Staphylococcus aureus (Staph aureus), 60% had Escherichia coli (E. coli) and 30% had Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) bacteria present. Rubber and plastic bands had the highest rates of harmful bacteria on them, while metallic gold and silver bands had the lowest, as published earlier by 9to5Mac.

    The researchers labelled the issue as being “of public health significance,” adding that infections could be avoided if we sanitized our watch bands more often (or at all).

    Luckily for us, they also researched how to clean the bacteria off.

    How to sanitize your smartwatch band

    Here’s how to clean your germ-ridden fitness tracker and smartwatch wristbands:

    1. Take your slimy watch off your wrist.
    2. Grab either Lysol Disinfectant Spray or a 70% Ethanol cleaner, like those little alcohol wipes. The researchers also tested apple cider vinegar, but found it was not effective on Staph aureus, even after 5 minutes of cleaning.
    3. Wipe your watch band. Then keep wiping. Lysol and 70% alcohol killed 99.99% of E. coli, Staph aureus and P. aeruginosa after 30 seconds of contact.
    4. If you’ve got a plastic wristband, keep wiping for 2 minutes. The researchers found that 30 seconds of exposure to Lysol or 70% Ethanol was not enough to kill harmful bacteria on plastic bands.

    How often do you need to do this? The paper didn’t specify, beyond saying it should be “regular.”

    Or you could just switch to a metal band, in particular one made of gold. And do not wear a plastic one if you’re germ conscious.

  • Get 25% Off Rokform Phone Cases and More With This Exclusive Offer

    Our phones are integral to our daily lives, but they can also be a huge investment. If you’re going to be shelling out for a top-notch smartphone, getting a protective case to help keep it safe from scratches, dings and falls is a good idea. Rokform makes some of our favorite cases for iPhone and Samsung devices, and right now CNET readers can get 25% off sitewide when they use promo code CNET25 at checkout.

    Rokform has rugged cases to fit current flagship lineups, from base models all the way to the larger iPhone 14 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. They usually go for $70 each, but this discount drops the cost to just $53. You’ll also find cases that’ll fit older models as well as select iPads. You’ll find other discounts too. You can grab a MagSafe sport ring to serve as both a stand and a grip for $30 (a $10 savings), a magnetic windshield suction mount for $45 (a $15 savings) and even motorcycle and bike mounts, as well as plenty of other accessories.

  • Licenses to Microsoft Office 2021 for Windows or Mac Are Back Down to $35 Right Now

    Microsoft’s popular suite of productivity apps remain the go-to for schools and businesses around the world. But trying to get access to programs like Word and Excel on your own can cost you a pretty penny. If you’re looking for an affordable avenue to score a license to Microsoft Office 2021 for yourself, StackSocial is offering a stellar deal for both Windows and Mac users that you won’t want to miss.

    A license to Microsoft Office 2021 costs as much as $440 when purchased through Microsoft directly, but right now StackSocial is offering lifetime access to the suite for just $35. It’s worth noting that Mac users will only get the basic Home and Business suite, while Windows users will get the Professional suite, which includes Office Publisher and Office Access as well. However, this limited-time offer is only available now through Sept. 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT (2:59 a.m. ET), so be sure to get your order in before then if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

    Microsoft Office 2021

    StackSocial’s deal is a great bargain when compared with the online Microsoft 365 subscription suite, which starts at $7 a month or $70 a year for individuals. There’s a free online version of Microsoft Office that you can use as well, but it isn’t nearly as feature complete. (Separately — and notably — Apple users should note that Outlook is now a free app for the Mac.)

    Now, a deal this good comes with some caveats. First, this key is good only for a single computer, so you won’t be able to install it on various machines in your home, and if your current computer happens to die, you could run into a snag when trying to transfer it. Likewise, you’re passing up on other benefits you’d get as a 365 subscriber. You won’t get any OneDrive Cloud Storage, nor will you get the fancy new cloud-based AI features like Microsoft Copilot. And while the apps should continue to work as long as your computer does, Microsoft’s support for this version of Office ends on Oct. 13, 2026.

    To that last point: Though this is listed as a “lifetime license” — that is, the lifetime of the computer you installed it on — it’s worth noting there’s always a risk that Microsoft could terminate the license. But versions of StackSocial’s deal have been running for more than a year — the one we bought in early 2022, for instance, still works fine. At this cost, it takes a little over four months for you to get a full return on the investment compared with buying the subscription, so the risk factor isn’t super high here.

  • Save Big on Contact Lenses From Warby Parker, ContactsDirect and More

    Glasses are great but sometimes, they’re not ideal. On those days when you want to get a little fancy or if you’d just prefer to ditch the spectacles, contacts are usually a convenient option. And right now, you can stock up on as many boxes as you need at a discounted rate. Several top-tier brands are currently offering sales and discounts on prescription lenses — including Warby Parker, EZContacts and ContactsDirect, all of which are on our list of best online contacts vendors. So, what are you waiting for?

    Looking for more discounts? CNET has the best promo code offers from Warby Parker, EZ Contacts, ContactsDirect, and more. All deals are updated and verified daily.

    Welcome to CNET Coupons, the first stop before you shop, featuring a multitude of deals and discounts from top online retailers. Simply head over to our coupon page and type in your favorite store or brands to find all the deals available for the week.

  • Qualcomm’s ‘Holy Grail’: Generative AI Is Coming to Phones Soon

    Generative AI like ChatGPT and Midjourney have dazzled imaginations and disrupted industries, but their debut has mostly been limited to browser windows on desktop computers. Next year, you’ll be able to make use of generative AI on the go once premium phones launch with Qualcomm’s top-tier chips inside.

    Phones have used AI for years to touch up photos and improve autocorrect, but generative AI tools could bring the next level of enhancements to the mobile experience. Qualcomm is building generative AI into its next generation of premium chips, which are set to debut at its annual Qualcomm Summit in Hawaii in late October.

    Summit attendees will get to experience firsthand what generative AI will bring to phones, but Qualcomm senior vice president of product management Ziad Asghar described to CNET why users should get excited for on-device AI. For one, having access to a user’s data — driving patterns, restaurant searches, photos and more — all in one place will make solutions generated by AI in your phone much more customized and helpful than general responses from cloud-based generative AI.

    “I think that’s going to be the holy grail,” Asghar said. “That’s the true promise that makes us really excited about where this technology can go.”

    There are other advantages to having generative AI on-device. Most importantly, queries and personal data searched are kept private and not relayed through a distant server. Using local AI is also faster than waiting for cloud computation, and it can work while traveling on airplanes or in other areas that lack cell service.

    But an on-device solution also makes business and efficiency sense. As machine learning models have gotten more complex (from hundreds of thousands of parameters to billions, Asghar said), it’s more expensive to run servers answering queries, as Qualcomm explained in a white paper published last month. Back in April, OpenAI was estimated to spend around $700,000 per day getting ChatGPT to answer prompts, and that cost prediction was based on the older GPT-3 model, not the newer GPT-4 that is more complex and likely to be costlier to maintain at scale. Instead of needing an entire server farm, Qualcomm’s solution is to have a device’s existing silicon brain do all the thinking needed — at no extra cost.

    “Running AI on your phone is effectively free — you paid for the computing power up front,” Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart told CNET over email.

    Greengart saw Qualcomm’s on-device generative AI in action when the chipmaker had it on display at Mobile World Congress in February, using a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered Android phone to run the image generating software Stable Diffusion. Despite being an early demo, he found it “tremendously exciting.”

    Qualcomm Museum exhibits

    What on-device generative AI provides users

    Qualcomm has ideas for what people could do with phone-based generative AI, improving everything from productivity tasks to watching entertainment to creating content.

    As the Stable Diffusion demo showcased, on-device generative AI could allow people to tweak images on command, like asking it to change the background to put you in front of the Venice canals, Asghar said. Or they could have it generate a completely new image — but that’s just the beginning, as text and visual large learning models could work in succession to flow from an idea to a ready output.

    Using multiple models, Asghar said, a user could have their speech translated by automatic speech recognition into text that is then fed into an image generator. Take that a step further and have your phone render a person’s face, which uses generative AI to make realistic mouth movements and text-to-speech to speak back to you, and boom, you’ve got a generative AI-powered virtual assistant you can have full conversations with.

    This specific example could be powered in part by third-party AI, like Facebook parent company Meta’s recently launched large language model Llama 2 in partnership with Microsoft as well as Qualcomm.

    “[Llama 2] will allow customers, partners and developers to build use cases, such as intelligent virtual assistants, productivity applications, content creation tools, entertainment and more,” Qualcomm said in a press release at the time. “These new on-device AI experiences, powered by Snapdragon, can work in areas with no connectivity or even in airplane mode.”

    Inside Qualcomm HQ’s Appointment-Only Museum Filled With Retro Phones

    See all photos

    Qualcomm won’t limit these features to phones. At its upcoming summit, the company plans to announce generative AI solutions for PC and auto too. That personal assistant could help you with your to-do lists, schedule meetings and shoot off emails. If you’re stuck outside the office and need to give a presentation, Asghar said, the AI could generate a new background so it doesn’t look like you’re sitting in your car and bring up a slide deck (or even help present it).

    “For those of us who grew up watching Knight Rider, well, KITT is now going to be real,” Asghar said, referring to the TV show’s iconic smart car.

    Regardless of the platform, the core generative AI solution will exist on-device. It could help with office busywork, like automatically generating notes from a call and creating a five-slide deck summarizing its key points (“This is like Clippy, but on steroids, right?” Asghar said). Or it could fabricate digital worlds from scratch in AR and VR.

    Beyond fantasy worlds, generative AI could help blind people navigate the real world. Asghar described a situation where image-to-3D-image-to-text-to-speech model handoffs could use the phone’s camera to recognize when a user is at an intersection and inform them when to stop, as well as how many cars are coming from which directions.

    On the education front — perhaps using a webcam or a phone’s camera — generative AI could gauge how well students are absorbing a teaching lesson, perhaps by tracking their expressions and body language. And then the generative AI could tailor the material to each student’s strengths and weaknesses, Asghar theorized.

    These are all Qualcomm’s predictions, but third parties will have to decide how best to harness the technology to improve their own products and services. For phones, generative AI could have a real impact once it’s integrated with mobile apps for more customized gaming experiences, social media and content creation, Techsponential’s Greengart said.

    It’s hard to tell what that means for users until app makers have generative AI tech on hand to tinker and integrate into their apps. It’s easier to extrapolate what it could do based on how AI helps people right now. Roger Entner, analyst for Recon Analytics, predicts that generative AI will help fix flaws in suboptimal photos, generate filters for social media, and refine autocorrect — problems that exist right now.

    “Generative AI here creates a quality of use improvement that soon we will take for granted,” Entner told CNET over email.

    Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform processors

    Generative AI is coming to premium phones first

    Current generative AI solutions rely on big server farms to answer queries at scale, but Qualcomm is confident that its on-device silicon can handle single-user needs. In Asghar’s labs, the company’s chips handled AI models with 7 billion parameters (aspects that evaluate data and change the tone or accuracy of its output), which is far below the 175 billion parameters of OpenAI’s GPT-3 model that powers ChatGPT, but should suit mobile searches.

    “We will actually be able to show that running on the device at the [Hawaii] summit,” Asghar said.

    The demo device will likely pack Qualcomm’s next top-tier chip, presumably the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that will end up in next year’s premium Android phones. The demo device running Stable Diffusion at MWC 2023 used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 announced at last year’s Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii.

    In an era of phones barely lasting through the day before needing to recharge, there’s also concern over whether summoning the generative AI genie throughout the day will drain your battery even faster. We’ll have to wait for real-world tests to see how phones implement and optimize the technology, but Asghar pointed out that the MWC 2023 demo was running queries for attendees all day and didn’t exhaust the battery or even warm to the touch. He believes Qualcomm’s silicon is uniquely capable, with generative AI running mostly on a Snapdragon chipset’s Hexagon processor and neural processing unit, with “very good power consumption.”

    “I think there is going to be concern for those who do not have dedicated pieces of hardware to do this processing,” Asghar said.

    Asghar believes that next year’s premium Android phones powered with Qualcomm’s silicon will be able to use generative AI. But it will take some time for that to trickle down to cheaper phones. Much like how on current phones AI assistance for cleaning up images, audio and video is best at the top of the lineup and gets less effective for cheaper phones, generative AI capabilities will be lesser (but still present) the further down you go in Qualcomm’s chip catalog.

    “Maybe you can do a 10-plus billion parameter model in the premium, and the tier below that might be lesser than that, if you’re below that then it might be lesser than that,” Asghar said. “So it will be a graceful degradation of those experiences, but they will extend into the other products as well.”

    As with 5G, Qualcomm may be first to a new technology with generative AI, but it won’t be the last. Apple has quietly been improving its on-device AI, with senior vice president of software Craig Federighi noting in a post-Worldwide Developers Conference chat that they swapped in a more powerful transformer language model to improve autocorrect. Apple has even reportedly been testing its own “Apple GPT” chatbot internally. The tech giant is said to be developing its own framework to create large language models in order to compete in the AI space, which has heated up since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public late in 2022.

    Apple’s AI could enter the race against Google’s Bard AI and Microsoft’s Bing AI, both of which have had limited releases this year for public testing. Those follow the more traditional “intelligent chatbot” model of generative AI enhancing software, but it’s possible they’ll arrive on phones through apps or be accessed through a web browser. Both Google and Microsoft are already integrating generative AI into their productivity platforms, so users will likely see their efforts first in mobile versions of Google Docs or Microsoft Office.

    But for most phone owners, Qualcomm’s chip-based generative AI could be the first impactful use of a new technology. We’ll have to wait for the Snapdragon Summit to see how much our mobile experience may be changing as soon as next year.

  • Save $111 on This Ride-On Kids’ Electric Toyota Tacoma SUV and Make Their Day Today

    With the holidays coming up, it’s never too early to start shopping for gifts, especially if you’ve got kids. So now could be a good time to treat your little one to a Toyota Tacoma ride-on electric SUV with Walmart offering one for just $189.

    That price represents a $111 saving on the previous $300 asking price and you can even take advantage of free shipping as well. There’s only one color available, but thankfully it’s the best one. Walmart also offers a full 90-day return program so you can rest easy there, too.

    This Tacoma is suitable for kids between 3 and 6 years old, so long as they’re shorter than 48 inches and weigh less than 62 pounds. You don’t need to be worried about them driving off into the sunset either — this particular Tacoma comes with a handy remote control so that you can always take the wheel if you need to. (If only real Tacomas came with one of those.) Plus, it has a max speed of 2.2 mph, so you should be able to catch up.

    All kids love little electric cars and this one is particularly well equipped. The package comes with everything you need to get started and it includes storage in the back, a horn, mirrors, LED lights, an FM radio and an MP3 player so your kid can rock out while cruising the yard.

    If you’re looking for something a little more sporty, this awesome pink Lamborghini Aventador (top speed: 3 mph) is just $135, a savings of $65 right now. It even has scissor doors.

    These little EVs really could be the holiday gifts you’ve been waiting for, but be quick — Walmart hasn’t said when the deal will end and the lack of color options makes us wonder if stocks will be limited. Keep that in mind if you’re planning a purchase.

  • ‘Little Mermaid’ Remake Streaming on Disney Plus: Release Date and Time

    If you’ve waited to make Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid remake a part of your world, you’ll soon be able to catch the underwater tale on Disney Plus.

    This year’s The Little Mermaid reimagines the classic 1989 animated version and stars singer and actress Halle Bailey as Ariel; Javier Bardem as Ari’s perpetually stressed dad, King Triton; Jonah Hauer-King as dashing earth-dweller Prince Eric; and Melissa McCarthy as the scheming sea witch, Ursula.

    Also present for the fantasy and romance are Sebastian, Scuttle and Flounder, voiced by Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote lyrics for the movie’s soundtrack.

    The Little Mermaid made its theatrical premiere in May and will drift onto Disney Plus in September. Here’s more on exactly when you can watch the movie, plus how a VPN can add to your streaming experience.

    How to watch The Little Mermaid on Disney Plus

    You can watch the new version of The Little Mermaid starting Sept. 6 at 12:01 a.m. PT (3:01 a.m. ET). It’ll be available at that time in every country Disney Plus is available in, except for France and Turkey, which will get access to the movie at a later date, according to Disney.

    Disney Plus’ ad-based plan costs $8 per month and allows for streaming on up to four screens at once. The service’s ad-free plan that includes downloads costs $11 per month. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 recently became available on the platform.

    If you want to watch Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid right now, you can buy the movie for $20 from places like Amazon and Vudu.

    How to watch The Little Mermaid from anywhere with a VPN

    Perhaps you’re traveling abroad and want to stream Disney Plus while away from home. With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the movie from anywhere in the world. There are other good reasons to use a VPN for streaming too.

    A VPN is the best way to encrypt your traffic and stop your ISP from throttling your speeds. Using a VPN is also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. Streaming TV can be a bit smoother with a reliable, quality VPN that’s passed our tests and security standards.

    You can use a VPN to stream content legally as long as VPNs are allowed in your country and you have a valid subscription to the streaming service you’re using. The US and Canada are among the countries where VPNs are legal, but we advise against streaming or downloading content on illegal torrent sites. We recommend ExpressVPN, but you may opt for another provider from our best list, such as Surfshark or NordVPN.

    Follow the VPN provider’s instructions for installation and choose a country where The Little Mermaid will be streaming on Disney Plus. Before you open the streaming app, make sure you’re connected to your VPN using your selected region. If you want to stream The Little Mermaid on more than one device, it’s possible you’ll need to configure each one to ensure you’re signed in. Go to settings and check your network connections to verify you’re logged in and connected to your VPN account. Now you’re ready to open Disney Plus to stream.

    If you run into issues with streaming, first make sure your VPN is up and running on its encrypted IP address. Double-check that you’ve followed installation instructions correctly and you’ve picked the right geographical area for viewing. If you still encounter connection problems, you may need to reboot your device. Close all apps and windows, restart your device and connect to your VPN first. Note that some streaming services have restrictions on VPN access.

  • iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Rumored to Include Gray and Blue Colors

    A new iPhone 15 rumor suggests the two premium phones, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, will come in a pair of new signature colors: gray and blue.

    In addition to traditional black and silver, in most years, Apple changes out the more unique colors for its phones. Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max came in gold and purple hues; this year’s premium handsets will come in “Titan Gray” and a dark blue, unnamed sources told 9to5Mac.

    The rumor also suggested that the higher-end phones will be offered in titanium (like the Apple Watch Ultra) instead of stainless steel.

    This follows another leak earlier this week suggesting what colors Apple’s cheaper iPhones could come in. An Apple leaker who goes by @URedditor on X (formerly Twitter) posted (formerly tweeted) that this year’s baseline iPhone 15 will come in a range of colors: pink (in a rose gold or blush gold hue), green, blue, yellow, black and possibly even orange. The leaker noted that “we should see at least some of these,” suggesting that several may not make the final list.

    Last year’s iPhone 14 came in five different colors at launch — midnight (black), starlight (silver), pastel purple, light blue and a special red hue for Project Red — with yellow arriving back in March this year.

    Apple hasn’t publicly announced when its iPhone event will be, but since its fall showcase typically lands in the middle or end of September, we’re likely only weeks away from all the products about to be revealed by the tech giant. A new range of iPhones will top the event, but we also expect the Apple Watch Series 9 and possibly new models in other product families, like iPads or AirPods.

  • iPhone 15 Camera Rumors: The Biggest Sensors Ever in an iPhone

    The iPhone 15 may be just weeks away, and we’ve already seen a host of exciting rumors about Apple’s next phone. From solid-state buttons to USB-C charging, the iPhone 15 series may get a wealth of upgrades. But I’m a professional photographer, so it’s the phones’ camera skills I most care about.

    The iPhone 14 Pro is already one of the most sophisticated camera phones money can buy, with a triple camera setup capable of taking shots you might easily mistake for photos taken on a pro-level camera.

    So what camera upgrades can we expect on the iPhone 15 series? Here’s what the rumors suggest. Keep in mind that all rumors should be taken with a pinch of salt, and we won’t know the details for certain until Apple reveals its next iPhones, presumably in September.

    New image sensors on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

    With the base iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, Apple didn’t really change the camera setup all that much compared to the iPhone 13 range. But a report from industry analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors) states that the sensors on the iPhone 15 base models will get a big upgrade. New 48-megapixel sensors will replace the 12-megapixel sensors seen on the standard iPhone 14, allowing for improved image quality and better digital zoom. Apple’s Pro models are the only iPhones that currently have 48-megapixel sensors.

    apple-iphone-14-pro-cnet-promo-3

    The report also says the phones will use a stacked CMOS sensor technology that can capture more light than previous designs. The more light captured by a sensor, the better images it can produce. It’s interesting to see Apple putting so much new tech inside its base models, rather than forcing keen photographers to opt solely for the Pro models.

    And while these sensors are expected to be physically larger than the base iPhone 14 models, they reportedly won’t be as large as the image sensors found in the iPhone 14 Pro.

    iPhone 15 Ultra could get a longer zoom

    Apple is also rumored to release an even more expensive version of the iPhone potentially called the iPhone 15 Ultra. Rumors from known Twitter tipster Tech_Reve suggests that this phone would feature a periscope zoom offering optical zoom levels up to 5 or 6x. That would be a huge step up over the 3x optical zoom currently available on the iPhone 14 Pro, and it could help Apple compete with rivals Samsung and Google.

    The Google Pixel 7 Pro features a 5x optical zoom lens, making it one of my favorite cameras found on a phone. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23 Ultra packs a 10x optical zoom that allows for amazing quality close-up shots. I’d love to see Apple push the boundaries of zoom on its phones.

    an Android phone and an iPhone both flash

    The rumors also suggest that this zoom lens may even offer continuous zoom, enabling you to shift smoothly between regular and full zoom views, rather than choosing between 1x or 3x. These systems are rare on phones (the Sony Xperia 1 IV is one of the only phones that uses it) since they require extremely delicate, technical components.

    iPhone 15 Ultra might have the largest image sensor ever in an iPhone

    Meanwhile, prolific leakster IceUniverse predicts that the iPhone 15 Ultra (or Pro Max) will use a Sony IMX903 image sensor, which is reportedly 1/1.14 inches in size. That would make it the largest image sensor ever seen in an iPhone.

    The bigger a sensor is, the more light it can take in. And remember, more light means better-looking photos. Even the top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro’s camera sensor is only 1/1.28 inches, so if true, this sensor would be a big step up.

    iPhone 14 Plus

    What else to expect from the iPhone 15

    We won’t know if an iPhone Ultra truly exists until Apple announces its 2023 iPhone lineup. But otherwise, the iPhone 15 family is expected to get several upgrades. Such changes may include USB-C charging instead of Lightning (thanks largely to new laws in Europe), a new processor (likely to be called the A17 Bionic) and potentially updated titanium chassis.

    Apple is expected to announce its new iPhones in early to mid-September. Apple typically puts its products on sale within the following couple of weeks, but some rumors suggest the company is already facing delays. The Pro Max model may be delayed until October, as reports suggest Sony is struggling to meet demand for its camera sensors, according to an analyst speaking to 9to5Mac.

    As a photographer, I’m excited about the potential for the big camera sensor and the longer optical zoom. They’re both features I’ve had on my iPhone wish list for some time, but they’re also rumored features for the iPhone Ultra. And the Ultra may not even be unveiled this year and could instead be held back for a 2024 release, meaning I’ll have to wait longer for the iPhone camera I really want. Either way, I’ll be interested to see how Apple keeps photographers like me happy this September.