Technology

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If you’ve been humming and hawing over whether or not to buy the iPhone 16, the latest intel from the iPhone 17 rumor mill suggests that waiting for next year’s model could be the best course of action.

According to Korean news site ET News (which cites “industry sources”), every model in the iPhone 17 lineup will come equipped with an LTPO screen. Why is this a big deal? Well, LTPO panels support variable refresh rates of up to 120Hz, meaning Apple’s 2025 standard models could finally ditch their predecessors' 60Hz refresh rates in favor of Apple’s ProMotion and always-on display technology (these features have been exclusive to Pro and Pro Max models since their introduction in the iPhone 13 Pro).

Indeed, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this rumor. Another Korean news site, the Elec, also reported that the entire iPhone 17 line could get LTPO panels back in February, while more recently, well-known industry analyst Ross Young likewise claimed that the standard iPhone 17 will be getting a ProMotion display. By all accounts, then, this feature is a shoo-in for next year’s iPhone lineup – and we couldn’t be more relieved. 

Apple’s continued commitment to 60Hz displays on its non-Pro iPhones has proved a major bugbear for both Apple fans and industry commentators. “I really hope this iPhone 15 rumor isn't true, you deserve better,” TechRadar’s former Senior Phones Editor, Alex Walker-Todd, wrote ahead of the iPhone 15 launch back in 2022, while our Managing Editor for Mobile Computing, Roland Moore-Coyler, echoed a similar sentiment in August 2023: “Please, Apple – don’t do this to the iPhone 15.” Both pieces referred to the lack of a 120Hz refresh rate on Apple's 2023 standard model.

The disappointment continued this year, too. Staff Writer Jamie Richards recently described the omission of a ProMotion display on the iPhone 16 as “another example of Apple’s worst habit.” He continued: “In the world of Android, 120Hz is the new normal for flagship and high-end phone displays, while budget options are commonly equipped with 120Hz or 90Hz displays. These days, 60Hz displays are the preserve of tablets and the cheapest budget phones. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are, by modern standards, complete oddballs.”

For those unfamiliar, refresh rate refers to the number of times per second your phone can display a new image. A 120Hz display feels smoother and more responsive than a 60Hz display, and the improved efficiency of the former brings battery life improvements. too.

Tactical gatekeeping

Refresh rate refers to the number of times per second your phone can display a new image (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

There is, of course, a big reason why Apple has continued to keep its standard models in the display-related dark ages. As a company, it makes business sense to equip your best iPhones with the best features, irrespective of whether those features are deemed the bare minimum by others in the industry. If you want an iPhone with a 120Hz refresh rate, Apple's more expensive Pro models are ready and waiting to be bought (indeed, the Pro Max models are regular best-sellers).

There’s an argument to be made, too, that 60Hz-using iPhone users don’t care all that much about the supposed benefits of a smoother display (though that sentiment likely stems from a lack of exposure to the other side).

In any case, it seems Apple’s position on this controversial subject has finally changed. Every iPhone 17 looks set to arrive with a 120Hz display, which you can bet your bottom dollar means that Apple has a plan in place to differentiate the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in other ways. That’s right: expect more than an extra camera lens next year.

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The weekend before the election, one Pennsylvania pastor told congregants that hosting Elon Musk weeks earlier was “phenomenal.” In Nevada, another dressed as a garbageman while urging his flock to vote Trump.

The UK Government has announced plans to help high street retailers by applying a higher rate of tax to large distribution warehouses used by ecommerce retailers such as Amazon.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the plans in the recent budget, targeting properties with a ‘rateable value’ of over £500,000, which is based on an assessment of the property’s annual rent estimate.

The intention of the plan is to introduce permanently lower multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties.

Small businesses will still struggle

Physical shops have seen a steady decline since COVID, with the equivalent of 38 stores per day closing so far in 2024, so this tax aims to ‘level the playing field’ by easing the burden of business rates on property-intensive sectors.

The reaction from the retail sector has largely been one of disappointment, with many pointing to the new 40% relief to RHL properties, which is actually a cut from the current 75% rate.

“Freezing the small business rates multiplier was a sensible move but the loss of the retail, hospitality and leisure relief will still see bills for shopkeepers rising. Business rates remain intolerably high for shops and the multiplier must be lowered to an affordable rate for all.” said Chair of the Shopkeepers Campaign Vivienne King.

Online retailers have seen a huge boom in sales since the pandemic, even continuing to see profits soar when physical stores reopened after lockdown. This has meant growth for brick and mortar stores has struggled, finding it difficult to compete with the convenience and low costs of online shopping.

Amazon, one of the UK’s largest retailers, reported a $33.6 billion revenue in 2023, and benefits from the current tax rate that favours stores with smaller physical presence, or whose land is often in cheaper areas outside of town centres.

Via Bloomberg

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• 54 games were made for the old-school click wheel iPod
• Those games have been impossible to play in recent years
• A new project aims to make the games available for any iPod fans to play

These days, the iPhone is one of the most popular gaming platforms on the planet. But before all that, there was a brief period when the iPod had its moment to shine as a gaming destination. With the death of the iPod and Apple’s draconian DRM keeping old-school iPod games trapped on ancient devices, though, those days are long gone … or are they?

Not if a determined group of iPod enthusiasts has anything to say about it. A combination of nostalgia for the long-lost games and the unique gameplay mechanics of the click wheel has led to the creation of an iPod games preservation project that aims to make these titles available for anyone with a compatible device (via Ars Technica).

For a few years, Apple partnered with firms like Sega and EA to launch iPod games specifically for clickwheel models at $7.49 a pop. But when Apple gave up on the idea in 2011 and removed the titles from the iTunes store, fans of the games started backing up the compressed IPG files to various online archives. However, the problem is that the DRM on each IPG file ties it to both the iTunes account that it was registered to and the identifier of the machine that ran that instance of iTunes.

While those games will work fine with the devices they were originally synced with, the DRM means it’s very difficult to get them working on newer hardware (or a newer iTunes installation). To get it to work, you’ll need the original IPG file and the iTunes account that made the original purchase. If your IPG file wasn’t backed up, you’ll struggle to get the game working again.

Making them click

(Image credit: Andres Urena / Unsplash)

However, a bunch of iPod enthusiasts have managed to find a workaround of sorts. If you have a clickwheel iPod loaded up with games, you can reauthorize your account through Apple’s servers, even with a secondary installation of iTunes. But if several iPod owners reauthorize their accounts to the same iTunes installation, that iTunes instance becomes a “master library” containing verified copies of the games from every account that is connected to it.

Once that’s done, the iTunes account in question can be used to distribute those games to any number of iPods. Better yet, this method doesn’t require any kind of online check with Apple’s servers, meaning people with working click wheel iPods can access the games without the painful hurdles.

Now, Reddit user Olsro has set up the iPod Clickwheel Games Preservation Project. The idea is to create a virtual machine that anyone can connect to and sync games to their iPod. Once you’ve set up the virtual machine on your computer, you should be able to access Olsro’s library of games and download them to your iPod.

It’s not without risk, though. Apple could disable its servers for reauthorizing clickwheel iPods – something that might happen at any time. While Olsro has 47 iPod games in their library, they’re a few short of the full 54 titles that Apple released. That means the clock is potentially ticking on their efforts to complete the library for other iPod gamers.

It’s a world away from the modern M4 MacBook Pro and Apple’s renewed focus on bringing games to its platforms. But if you’re interested in a curious chapter in the history of Apple’s gaming efforts – or you just want to relive the days of playing on your iPod – it’s a fascinating story.

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Apple’s MacBook Pro for next year isn’t going to be particularly groundbreaking, at least not compared to the fully revamped version due in 2026, rumored to come complete with that major OLED screen upgrade, and a serious uplift for performance with the M6 chip, too.

Mark Gurman’s latest instalment of ‘Power On’ is the source of this juicy MacBook rumor, but if you check the online newsletter at Bloomberg, you won’t see the speculation, as only subscribers get to peruse the answers to Gurman’s post game Q&A at the end of the piece.

One of the questions pitched to the leaker is: “Should I wait for next year’s MacBook Pro to upgrade?” And the short answer is that if you’re expecting a revamped model for 2025 after a relatively modest overhaul for the 14-inch and 16-inch flavors this year – mostly based on the new M4 SoC – you may be disappointed.

Gurman replies to the question to note that “the MacBook Pro probably won’t get another true overhaul until 2026,” with Apple looking at a five-year cycle for redesigns of the laptop (rather than four years as has been the case in the past).

The MacBook Pro 2026 will likely be the move to OLED (finally) and a thinner chassis.

So, Gurman tells us that he believes the MacBook Pro for next year will be “mostly about the chip (again)” except in this case, we’ll obviously be looking at the M5 and its Pro and Max versions. Apparently, development of those CPUs is already nearing completion, the leaker informs us.

With the M6 chip in 2026, Apple will shift to a 2nm process, and we can expect a major boost from that, whereas the M5 will represent a modest uplift in performance compared to the M4.

In short, then, the MacBook Pro 2026 is the laptop to watch, possibly toting a full redesign, thinner body, new OLED screen, and M6 processors which are much more powerful than their predecessors.

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) Analysis: OLED and thin-for-the-win

So, if you’re not tempted by the MacBook Pro M4 models that are about to be unleashed – perhaps because you have an M3-powered laptop already, and the new flavors won’t be a huge difference – then the laptops for 2025 likely won’t persuade you to pull the trigger on an upgrade either. At least if Gurman is right – and there’s an element of caution in his writing, with qualifiers like ‘probably’ and so on – you’ll be waiting for 2026, and there’s other evidence on the grapevine that this is likely the case.

In fact, for some time now, the rumor has been that Apple is looking at 2026 to bring OLED to the MacBook Pro, and some of the regular leakers on all things Apple have recently said that they expect the 2025 model of the MacBook Pro to stick with Mini-LED. (As MacRumors points out, they include reliable display-related leaker Ross Young).

An OLED screen will help to ensure the MacBook Pro is more svelte, and so it makes sense that we’ll be getting a thinner laptop as part of this full redesign, too – especially given Apple’s renewed focus on thin-for-the-win. Gurman has already predicted that thinner MacBooks are in the works, after Apple released its ‘thinpossible’ iPad Pro (with OLED).

We should note that the MacBook Pro M4 does make improvements with the display – and some quite nifty ones – and doubtless the MacBook Pro M5 next year will not be a complete fizzle either. However, there’s already a consistent level of buzz on the grapevine to suggest that the real fireworks are coming with the MacBook Pro M6 in 2026.

The suggestion, then, is that if you can’t wait until 2026, you may as well upgrade now rather than seeing what next year brings.

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A new 'PS5 Pro Enhanced' trailer for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart emphasizes not needing to choose between fidelity and performance on the upcoming mid-generation refresh console.

The trailer, uploaded to the official PlayStation YouTube channel, features about a minute and a half of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart footage running on PS5 Pro, interspersed with commentary from staff at developer Insomniac Games.

Principle engine programmer Jahrain Jackson says: "You're basically getting both performance and fidelity in one package. There's no fear of missing out on something by choosing one or the other."

He adds that PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) "is really exciting," describing it as a "game changer for bringing our visual fidelity up to the next level." PSSR is exclusive to PS5 Pro and is Sony's proprietary upscaling tech. It acts similarly to Nvidia's DLSS or AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution - boosting resolution and image quality with seemingly little to no impact on performance.

At just over a minute and a half in length, the trailer doesn't go into particulars about what exactly playing Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PS5 Pro entails, aside from the mention of PSSR and the allowance for both high fidelity and performance in one package.

It does, however, showcase the game running in 4K resolution at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second. As such, it's looking likely that PS5 Pro will be the best way to experience the 2021 action platformer.

PS5 Pro is due to launch this Thursday, November 7 worldwide. If you've yet to put down a PS5 Pro pre-order, you can still do so with stock available at PlayStation Direct and multiple other retailers. The upgraded console will set you back a rather eye-watering $699.99 / £699.99 though, and it doesn't ship with either a disc drive or a vertical stand - worth keeping in mind if you're considering the upgrade.

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The iPhone 17 Pro probably won’t land until September 2025, but this being a high-profile handset we’re already hearing leaks and rumors about it – along with the rest of the iPhone 17 series.

The Pro will likely slot in just below the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and just above the iPhone 17 and perhaps the rumored iPhone 17 Air or iPhone 17 Slim.

And while we don’t know loads about it yet, early rumors suggest the iPhone 17 Pro will have a new button, new cameras, and a new chipset, making this a potentially major and exciting upgrade. Below, you’ll find everything we’ve heard about the iPhone 17 Pro so far.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next smaller Pro iPhone
• When is it out? Probably September 2025
• How much will it cost? Likely upwards of $999 / £999 / AU$1,849

Expect it in September

The iPhone 16 Pro (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

• Likely to land in September of 2025
• Will probably cost at least $999 / £999 / AU$1,849

We haven’t heard any iPhone 17 Pro release date leaks yet, but based on Apple’s usual patterns we can say that it will probably be announced in the first or second week of September.

More specifically, it will probably be announced on the Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of that week. Apple more often goes for the second week of September, leaving the most likely announcement dates as September 8, September 9, or September 10.

Pre-orders then typically open on the Friday of the announcement week, which would mean September 12, and the iPhone 17 Pro will most likely ship the following Friday, which would be September 19.

But it’s possible the various stages of the launch will happen a week earlier, or that Apple will break with its usual patterns.

There aren’t yet any iPhone 17 Pro price leaks either, but the iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,849, so you can expect to pay at least that much for the next model.

Can you trust these rumors?

So far there aren't any release date or price leaks, but based on past form we're almost certain that the iPhone 17 Pro will be announced in September.

A new button and a new color

The iPhone 16 Pro (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

• Might include a new button
• Expect the same screen size but possibly upgrades to the tech
• A Teal Titanium shade is possible

The biggest iPhone 17 Pro design leak we’ve heard so far is that the volume buttons and the Action button might all be replaced by a single new key that can do the job of all those things. Exactly how it would do all those things is uncertain, but it may well have a similar design to the Camera Control button, meaning it can register different strength presses as well as swipes, and respond in different ways to each.

The iPhone 17 Pro will probably also be available in at least one new shade, with one leak suggesting Apple is considering using one of the three colors pictured below. From left to right these are Dark Green Titanium, Teal Titanium, and Green Titanium, and the source says Teal Titanium is the most likely to get used.

(Image credit: Majin Bu)

We’ve also heard that the iPhone 17 Pro might use a “more complex” aluminum design, rather than the titanium of its predecessor.

As for the screen, the iPhone 17 Pro might have a 6.3-inch display, just like the iPhone 16 Pro, but it could be more anti-reflective than the current display, as well as being more scratch resistant.

Can you trust these rumors?

We fully expect the iPhone 17 Pro to have a 6.3-inch screen, since Apple only recently upped the display size with the iPhone 16 Pro. The other design and display leaks so far are worth taking with a pinch of salt though, as not many sources have weighed in.

Two upgraded cameras

The iPhone 16 Pro (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

• A 48MP telephoto upgrade is likely
• It could also have a new 24MP front-facing camera

The main camera upgrade coming to the iPhone 17 Pro could be a 48MP telephoto camera, up from 12MP on the iPhone 16 Pro. This 48MP telephoto camera has been mentioned in several iPhone 17 Pro camera leaks, so this may well happen. However, leaks suggest it will still offer the same level of zoom – namely 5x optical zoom.

The other significant camera upgrade we could see is a 24MP front-facing camera, up from 12MP on the current model.

As for the main and ultra-wide cameras, leaks so far suggest they’ll stick at 48MP like on the current model.

And while less likely there’s also talk that the iPhone 17 Pro could have a mechanical aperture, meaning you’d be able to change the aperture and therefore also the depth of field.

Can you trust these rumors? 

So many sources have talked about a 48MP telephoto camera that this upgrade seems likely. We haven't heard as much about the other cameras though, including the rumored 24MP selfie snapper upgrade, so we're less sure of those specs. We also wouldn't count on the phone having a mechanical aperture, as that seems a bit niche for how much work it might involve.

The most powerful iPhone chipset yet

The iPhone 16 Pro (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

• A top-end A19 Pro chipset
• 8GB of RAM again

One thing we can be very confident about is that the iPhone 17 Pro will have a new chipset, one that will most likely be called the A19 Pro.

Not only is an A19 Pro chipset an obvious upgrade, but it has also been mentioned by multiple sources.

Beyond that, there’s a chance that the iPhone 17 Pro will get 12GB of RAM, which would be an increase on the 8GB in the iPhone 16 Pro. However most current leaks suggest that only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will get this upgrade.

And as for the battery, Apple is reportedly considering using a thinner and lighter motherboard, which could free up additional space for a larger battery than in the current model.

Can you trust these rumors? 

One of the few things we're almost certain of is that the iPhone 17 Pro will have a new chipset, since that's a standard yearly upgrade for Apple's phones. We hope it will also get a RAM upgrade, but so far it looks more likely to stick at 8GB.

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