Plus glimpses of the updated Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 8.
Enlarge/ The 2022 Apple Watch lineup. From left to right: Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch SE. (credit: Samuel Axon)
CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple's Watch lineup doesn't often see a big shake-up or significant new features, but that wasn't the case at Apple's September product launch event today. In addition to modest updates to the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch SE, the company introduced the Apple Watch Ultra, a rugged, more full-featured step up from the Series 8.
We had an opportunity to hold and photograph all three Watch models briefly at the Steve Jobs Theater. While there wasn't an opportunity to try out the major new features, even an eyes-on experience with the Ultra reveals it's a new kind of Apple Watch.
It's not the first rugged smartwatch on the market, of course, and depending on your needs, it may not even be the best. But it's the first foray into that world from a company that has otherwise dominated the smartwatch market for years.
The iPhone 14 looks the same, but the 14 Pro offers an alternative to the notch.
Enlarge/ The iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max. (credit: Samuel Axon)
CUPERTINO, Calif.—Today, Apple revealed its 2022 flagship iPhone lineup, including the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. While there were few surprises after months of accurate leaks, and the fundamental design hasn't changed yearly, there are some interesting new things to see—particularly with the Pro phones.
We spent a few minutes handling the new devices and taking photos at a showroom within Apple's Steve Jobs Theater. While we only had a few moments with each device, we walked away with the impression that at least as much as things change, they ultimately stay the same. The phones feel the same in your hands and offer most of the same features as other recent flagship iPhones.
To that point, here are our photos of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The 6.7-inch Plus phone replaces the 5.4-inch mini in the iPhone 14 lineup, while the iPhone 14 has pretty much the same dimensions as the iPhone 13.
The once dominant e-cig company faces yet more legal challenges and FDA scrutiny.
Enlarge/ A young man wears a shirt that reads DITCHJUUL while James Monsees, co-founder and chief product officer at JUUL Labs Inc., testifies before the House Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, which is examining JUUL's role in the youth nicotine epidemic, on July 25, 2019, in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Mark Wilson)
Disgraced e-cigarette maker Juul has agreed to pay $438.5 million to 33 states and Puerto Rico to settle an investigation into whether the vaping giant deceptively marketed its products and intentionally targeted children and teens, who are most vulnerable to nicotine addiction.
The mammoth settlement comes as the company continues its fight for survival with the US Food and Drug Administration. In June, the FDA made the dramatic move of denying marketing authorization for all Juul products, effectively forcing the e-cigarette maker off the US market. Juul quickly won administrative stays, though, and the FDA announced in July that it would re-review Juul's products. In the meantime, the company is allowed to continue selling its products, but its ultimate fate remains precarious.
The legal settlement and regulatory uncertainty are the latest fallout from Juul's alleged role in fueling a nationwide "epidemic" of youth vaping, which peaked in 2019. Juul became notorious for appealing to children and teens as vaping among middle and high school students skyrocketed.
Today was Apple's big day for product announcements, but some of Labor Day's best deals continue to roll on. Though not from the product families Apple spoke about today, discounts on MacBook Pros are among the top values right now. The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are on sale for the lowest prices we've seen ($1,599 and $2,099, respectively), discounted at $400 less than their typical starting prices. In our guide, we noted the 14-inch MacBook as the best in Apple's stable for software developers, engineers, and researchers, while the 16-inch MacBook is best for designers, artists, and other visual creatives. Both offer more ports than a MacBook Air.
The Google Pixel 6 lineup is also on sale, matching the lowest prices we've seen on these already value-stuffed phones. The entire lineup is seeing temporary price cuts, including the Pixel 6 ($499$580), Pixel 6 Pro ($649$855), and more entry-level Pixel 6a ($399($445). We're fans of the entire lineup. Our Reviews Editor, Ron Amadeo, called the Pixel 6 a "great flagship smartphone," later noting in a separate review that the Pixel 6a pares down this formula "to perfection."
Elsewhere around the web, there's still a sale on Apple's AirPods Max over-the-ear ANC headphones (unfortunately, there haven't been any further discounts on the first-generation AirPods Pro since today's announcement of the second generation), a handful of Google Nest Hub devices, a hefty discount on NBC's Peacock streaming service, and some free video games for Amazon Prime members. Below is the full, curated list of today's best deals on the web.
Wireless routers make life a lot easier by allowing your phones, tablets, PCs, TVs, and all sorts of other devices to connect to the internet without running a series of Ethernet cables around your house. But since these routers are basically little c…
Wireless routers make life a lot easier by allowing your phones, tablets, PCs, TVs, and all sorts of other devices to connect to the internet without running a series of Ethernet cables around your house. But since these routers are basically little computers that connect to the outside world, they’re subject to security threats just […]
Wireless routers make life a lot easier by allowing your phones, tablets, PCs, TVs, and all sorts of other devices to connect to the internet without running a series of Ethernet cables around your house. But since these routers are basically little c…
Wireless routers make life a lot easier by allowing your phones, tablets, PCs, TVs, and all sorts of other devices to connect to the internet without running a series of Ethernet cables around your house. But since these routers are basically little computers that connect to the outside world, they’re subject to security threats just […]
Gone, but probably not too soon: Apple’s weirdly old, slightly discounted Watch.
Enlarge/ Apple Watch Series 3 at Apple's announcement event, with its distinctive/divisive red-dotted crown. (credit: Ars Technica)
Like a cat trying to hide its pain, Apple's Series 3 Watch quietly disappeared Wednesday afternoon, following the company's newest Apple Watch announcements, including an ultra-premium rugged Apple Watch Ultra. There wasn't room in Apple's lineup for the S3, nor was there likely room on the S3 for WatchOS 9. Series 3 would have been 5 years old on September 22.
The Series 3 stuck around in Apple's lineup for a strangely long period, outlasting every other Series release except 7 (which it really might have tied, depending on how you time these things). It was the "discount" Apple Watch, even if it was often only $30-$50 less than the Apple Watch SE at times and often far more expensive than third-party refurbished Apple Watches. In July, Ars Technica's Corey Gaskin wrote in an Apple Watch buyers' guide that the Series 3 was "more like a little toy at this point," and was only—maybe—worth it for putting on kids who don't notice their phone ringing.
As with most lives, the Series 3's had a different, brighter look at the start. It was the first Apple Watch with an (activated) altimeter for stair-climb and elevation tracking, spoken responses from Siri, and most importantly, LTE connectivity, allowing you to use it without having a phone nearby for Bluetooth tethering. This was seen as a boon to runners, cyclists, and anybody seeking to loosen the umbilical connection they felt to their phone. It could be, Ars wrote at the time, the Watch's watershed moment.
PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan says a Microsoft offer to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation for "three years after the current agreement" was "inadequate on many levels, and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers."
In a statement provided to multiple outlets, including the Financial Times, Ryan said that "we want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience," even if Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion bid to buy Activision Blizzard is approved. "Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle," Ryan said.
Ryan's statement comes days after Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told The Verge that his company had signed a January agreement "to guarantee Call of Duty on PlayStation, with feature and content parity, for at least several more years beyond the current Sony contract, an offer that goes well beyond typical gaming industry agreements." Ryan's new statement suggests that Spencer's "several more years" would specifically cover "three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends."
Persistent reports of poor sales mean small-screened phones are vanishingly rare.
Enlarge/ The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini. Apple has discontinued the iPhone 12 mini and didn't introduce an iPhone 14 mini, leaving just the iPhone 13 mini. (credit: Apple)
As anticipated, Apple did not announce a small-screened iPhone 14 mini today.
Rumors have long held that Apple's 5.4-inch phone was its worst-selling model, despite its lower starting price and perennial "where are all the good small phones" griping from a small-but-vocal group of consumers and smartphone reviewers. In its place is a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Plus, which marries the screen size and battery life of the iPhone Pro Max phones to the lesser processor, display quality, and camera system of the standard, no-adjective iPhone 14.
Apple has also removed the iPhone 12 mini from its store. The company continues to sell the old iPhone 12 at a cheaper $599 starting price, but the mini model that you could still buy yesterday is no longer available. That means that the iPhone 13 mini is the last of Apple's small-screened iPhone X-style designs still standing.
