Benjamin Mayo

Ever since Apple unveiled the iPhone Air, calling it its most durable iPhone ever, it feels like all of the Apple YouTube community has been waiting to see the JerryRigEverything hands-on test.

Sure, enough, he delivered. And the iPhone Air held up to Apple’s claims. Despite using all his force, the iPhone Air would not break from bending; the phone simply flexes under strain and returns to its normal flat shape. But it wasn’t just the bend resistance, the scratch resistance of the front screen also impressed thanks to the new second generation of Apple’s Ceramic Shield cover glass.

It’s iPhone 17 release day, and that means the internet is ready to start the next drama about the redesigned phones. One early concern is about the superficial durability of the iPhone 17 Pro aluminum chassis, especially on the darker color Deep Blue model. If this worries you, it’s a good time to buy a case.

Because anodized aluminum still has the raw silver metal color underneath, any light nicks or scratches are much more visible to the eye, compared to similar wear and tear to the iPhone 16 Pro’s titanium sides or back glass. Bloomberg reported that some buyers were finding visible scuffs and imperfections on the iPhone 17 Pro demo units when they went into Apple retail stores today.

The new iOS 26 software update for iPhone introduces a new full-screen preview experience when taking a screenshot. This includes some new visual lookup functionality, but it also can be a bit annoying if you just want to capture something for later and get on with what are you doing.

iOS 18 and earlier would simply show a small unobtrusive thumbnail of the screenshot in the corner of the screen. Thankfully, this behavior is still possible on iOS 26 as well. Here’s how to change it back.

Your AirPods and AirPods Pro are getting even better with iOS 26. As well as new features like camera remote and sleep detection to pause media, Apple is also improving the charging experience.

With the new update, your iPhone can automatically remind you when your AirPods are running out of juice. These alerts can show even when your AirPods are not currently in your ears, but stored in their case, that is running low on battery. This is perhaps relevant for the new AirPods Pro 3, which have a smaller case battery size than the previous generation.

Apple TV+ is staying in the Ben Stiller business. After reeling in the success of Severance, which Stiller was intimately involved with in the first two seasons, the streamer has managed to sign up Stiller in a rare acting capacity. He will star, alongside Jessica Chastain, in a new eight-part limited series called “The Off Weeks”.

The series follows a writing professor (Stiller) who is going through a messy divorce, and engages in a romance with the mysterious Stella West (Chastain). For her part, Chastain is just about to premiere her first TV+ project, The Savant, debuting September 26.

Apple is apparently preparing its supply chain for an uptick in new iPhone sales next year, according to a new report by Nikkei. The company has apparently targeted sales of about 95 million iPhone 18 models in 2026, noting that the new lineup won’t arrive until the fall.

While the new foldable model will draw interest, Apple is expecting sales to be up across all iPhone 18 models. The company seems to be indicating that it expects a halo effect, where people are enticed into upgrading based on the flashiness of the shiny new folding iPhone, but some will ultimately opt to upgrade to a traditional slab iPhone 18 regardless.

We’ve got our first battery life shootout results for the new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air lineup, courtesy of The Tech Chap. At least in this test comprising continuous streaming YouTube video playback on Wi-Fi and cellular, all the new iPhone models perform well, and are a lot closer together in terms of longevity than you might expect.

The benchmark comparison is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which achieved 7 hours and 29 minutes. The iPhone 17 Pro Max now takes the crown, lasting 7 hours 58 minutes. But even the smaller iPhone 17 Pro beat the 16 Pro Max, showing the tangible year-over-year gains in the Pro models …

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reported that Apple’s plans for touch screen Macs are advancing in the supply chain. He expects that the OLED MacBook Pro, due to go into production in late 2026, will also feature a touch screen panel.

This schedule was first predicted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman two years ago. It is currently unclear whether the OLED MacBook Pro will ship in 2026, or whether it will be an early 2027 release.

So, Apple has just released the next major version of its iPhone operating system, called iOS 26. If you have an iPhone model newer than the XS, you can update to iOS 26 for free right now.

But the previous version number of iOS was iOS 18. So what happened to iOS 19? Why did Apple jump to 26?

The iOS 26 Safari browser on iPhone evokes the new design system featuring Liquid Glass, with floating toolbars and buttons that shine through the web page content behind them as you scroll. But Apple has also taken the opportunity to revamp the design of the toolbar UI.

By default, iOS 26 now uses a Compact layout which hides away some of the commonly used buttons. However, there’s a way to change it back if you prefer something that looked like the iOS 18 design …

As well as a refreshed new look for system components like buttons and tabbars, the Liquid Glass redesign of iOS 26 also extends to app icons. For the first time since iOS 7, Apple has redrawn all of the system apps with new artwork. That means a whole new look is coming to your iPhone home screen when you update.

In this post, we share a side-by-side of the iOS 26 app icon and its iOS 18 counterpart, so you can decide for yourself how much of a step forward the new visual style represents.

Apple today released the brand new tvOS 26 version for the Apple TV 4K set-top box. The update is available for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD users, although not all features are available on older hardware generations.

The new update includes a set of visual design changes to harmonise with Apple’s platform-wide Liquid Glass design system, new karaoke features for Apple Music Sing, a new profile switching UI, and more. Here’s everything new …

Apple TV+ set a new personal record for wins at the 2025 Emmy Awards, taking home 25 total trophies across its series. This was led by recognition for The Studio in the comedy categories, which won 13 awards including the top honors Best Comedy Series.

However, Apple was less successful on the drama side. Despite coming in to the night with a record-setting 27 nominations for Severance, HBO’s The Pitt ultimately clinched the Best Drama Series Emmy.

The iPhone 17 is resonating with Chinese consumers, with seemingly strong preorder sales volume. The South China Morning Post reports that iPhone 17 sales at JD.com (a large online Chinese retailer) within the first hour of preorders going on sale exceeded the first day of iPhone 16 preorders last year.

The base iPhone 17 with 256 GB storage was said to be the most popular model. Meanwhile, the launch of the iPhone Air is indefinitely delayed while Apple waits for eSIM-related regulatory approval.

The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air are now available to order. First deliveries ship on September 19.

You could order AirPods Pro 3 and new Apple Watch lineup as soon as the event ended, but today is the first time customers can claim their new iPhones for launch day. You can also buy new accessories, including the Crossbody Strap and the TechWoven cases.

The iPhone Air is Apple’s flashiest new iPhone model, featuring a strikingly thin industrial design. One of the ways Apple achieved this sleek profile was to maximise internal space by making all iPhones Airs rely on eSIM, with no physical SIM card slot model available.

Despite announcing at the event that the iPhone Air would be available in China through carrier China Telecom, Apple has since delayed the launch. Via The South China Morning Post, the iPhone Air will not go on sale in China today as Apple continues to work with the Chinese regulators regarding eSIM.

It’s new iPhone preorder day, which means Apple is following the usual tradition of taking down the store a few hours ahead. The store will be back up at 5 AM Pacific Time.

Today, customers can order iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air for (hopefully) launch day delivery on September 19. AirPods Pro 3 and the new Apple Watch models are already available to order.

The HomePod got short shrift at Apple’s event yesterday, which ended with barely a mention of Apple’s home speaker lineup.

While we are still waiting for a rumored HomePod mini 2 to be announced, Apple is launching a software update next week which comes with two small enhancements to the HomePod experience …

A new software feature available across the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air lineup is Dual Capture, which allows you to record from the front and rear camera at the same time.

This mode is available through a button in the Apple Camera app running on an iPhone 17. The dual video recording capability was first demoed by Apple back in 2019 as a feature of the iPhone 11 Pro, but required a third-party app to use …

The new AirPods Pro 3 have better battery life than AirPods Pro 2 on a single charge, with the buds lasting up to 2 hours longer on one charge.

But here’s a curveball. The overall battery life of AirPods Pro 3 is actually less. Including the charging case, Apple says AirPods Pro 3 are good for 24 hours of listening time, whereas AirPods Pro 2 actually last for 30 hours. That’s a surprising 20% reduction …

At Apple’s event yesterday, battery life was one of the big marketing points for the iPhone 17 Pro series. However, it turns out that the best battery life models of the Pro and Pro Max are not actually available to buy worldwide.

In the United States, Apple quotes 30 hours streaming video playback for iPhone 17 Pro and 35 hours for iPhone 17 Pro Max. But in the UK, Europe, and elsewhere, the tech specs list battery life of 28 hours and 33 hours respectively, two hours less than their US model counterparts.