Category Archives: Blog

TikTok is a unique social media network known for inspiring creativity (and memes) to a global community of over one billion users, including more than 8.5 million Australians. TikTok serves as a platform for forging connections, offering entertainment, fostering business growth, and enabling creative exploration with people from around the globe. TikTok’s appeal also extends beyond everyday users, having also become the preferred platform for over 350,000 businesses seeking to discover their audience and leverage it for real-world success.

More: Expert tips on how to use TikTok for Business

If you haven’t made an account by now, it’s likely a few people in your life have had their eyes glued to the app at some point in the past few years. With those eyeballs comes opportunity. According to TikTok’s surveys, 81% of users list “discovering new products and brands” as a reason to log in to the platform. And one in two Gen Z TikTok users say they’re likely to buy something while using TikTok.

Growing from what was once considered a fringe video, TikTok has managed to build a strong platform to facilitate e-commerce, and an effective advertising model that provides businesses with an easy path to sell their products and services on the platform. These days, businesses need a solid social media strategy to cut through the noise and stand out in a crowded marketplace, especially when reaching Gen Z. TikTok provides some easy tools to allow you to not only make creative ads on a budget, but also use trending topics and sounds to boost the visibility of your business and stay relevant.

If you’re still holding off on promoting your business on TikTok, you could be missing out on a well of untapped potential sales. If you are completely new to TikTok, or even an avid user who hasn’t looked into the business side of the app, we’ve put together this guide on everything you need to know.

What is TikTok?

TikTok is a video-sharing social media platform that allows users to create, discover and share visually powerful content with millions of people across the globe. TikTok specialises in short-form, 60-second video content, and is renowned for its simple and highly personalised content delivery feed. The TikTok audience is hyper-engaged, while maintaining a diverse mix across its +1 billion userbase, and 8.5 million people in Australia.

What is TikTok for Business?

TikTok for Business is a centralised platform for advertisers on TikTok. It aims to create a straightforward portal to guide businesses through the whole process of creating ads, finding the right audience, setting budgets, and analysing campaign data. If your goal is to reach new or dormant customers, grow sales, or just showcase what your business is all about, TikTok can make it happen.

Creating a TikTok Business Account is completely free, and the custom tools and features that are provided with a TikTok for Business account are custom made for small and growing businesses. In the brave new world of TikTok advertising, small businesses and sole operators aren’t overshadowed by larger corporations with massive marketing budgets. As long as your advertising is creative, resonant, and well-targeted, you could see your own business become the bigger fish in the pond.

TikTok for Business key features

• Creative ad formats and automation tools – Get creative and distinguish your business from others, while saving time by having the hard work done for you.

• Targeting tools – Enhance your reach or hone in on particular customer profiles or demographics. Even create your own customer segments to personalise your ads as much as possible.

• Royalty-free music – Capture your audience’s attention with trending tunes and create a viral buzz around your brand.

• Video scheduler – Strategise, manage and time your posts for highest impact.

• Ad performance tracking and custom report creation – Keep your finger on the pulse and stay agile.

What advertising options are available on TikTok?

A TikTok Business account provides you with access to a wide range of ad solutions through your Ads Manager. There are a number of popular ad formats available on the platform, some of these include:

• In-Feed Ads – These appear the same as any other video on the audience’s feed. There is also an included button with a call to action that can lead to an external landing page.

• TopView Ads – TopView ads first appear as full page ad, and then transition to a standard TikTok video, this guarantees the advertiser at least a few seconds of attention from the audience.

• Spark Ads – These are similar to in-feed ads, but allows advertisers to turn existing videos into ads, and drives traffic to the brand’s TikTok profile.

• Brand Takeover Ads – A brand takeover is the most ambitious and expensive of the available ad formats. These display a full page ad for five seconds as soon as users open the app.

How much do ads cost on TikTok?

Advertising on TikTok is priced dynamically, with vastly different prices depending on the format of your advertisement, the time of day you want your ad to run, and how many people you want to see it. Typically speaking however, TikTok ads cost around AU$10-$50 per thousand views.

How do TikTok ads perform?

TikTok ads perform incredibly well for the investment. TikTok provides your business with legitimate cut through to a highly engaged market – 70% of TikTok users say they have found new products and brands on the platform (and that’s users as a whole, not those intentionally looking to shop). Some e-commerce business users rely on TikTok alone for their advertising, not feeling the need to go elsewhere.

Getting started with TikTok for Business

It’s easy to get started, simply create an account on the TikTok for Business website using an email address or phone number, determine your business goals, audience and budget, and then get creating! Your account will be verified within 24 hours, and you’ll then have access to dedicated support and tutorials to help you along the way.

TikTok For Business provides a robust set of tools to help businesses promote their products and services on the TikTok platform. With creative ideas and usage of the platform’s analytics tools, any business can make a real impression on TikTok.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for April 19’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

Tweet may have been deleted

Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

Tweet may have been deleted

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Gorilla glue something

• Green: Publishing

• Blue: Making diamonds

• Purple: Types of A’s

Here are today’s Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Attach with Adhesive

• Green: Published Lines

• Blue: Diamond Qualities

• Purple: A-___

Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to Connections #313 is…

What is the answer to Connections today

• Attach with Adhesive: ADHERE, GLUE, PASTE, STICK

• Published Lines: COPY, TEXT, WORDS, WRITING

• Diamond Qualities: CARAT, CLARITY, COLOR, CUT

• A-___: LIST, OK, PLUS, ROD

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday’s Connections.

How to watch ‘The Jinx: Part Two’ at a glance:

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The ethics of true crime may be questionable, but the documentaries, podcasts, and books keep on coming. One of the most compelling and popular true crime documentary shows, The Jinx, captivated audiences back in 2015, and now it’s back for another round. That means more Robert Durst is on its way to a screen near you.

HBO’s The Jinx: Part Two premieres on April 21. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch it.

What is The Jinx about?

Nearly a decade ago, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst unraveled the crimes of Robert Durst in an Emmy-winning HBO docuseries directed and produced by Andrew Jarecki. Now, in The Jinx: Part Two, the story continues.

The original series ended with Durst’s bombshell admission, “Killed them all, of course.” Part Two will tell the story of what happened after he muttered those five words, which led to his arrest in 2015 — just hours before the finale aired. The team behind The Jinx continued their investigation over the next eight years as Durst awaited and sat trial, and they uncovered new information as the case unfolded. The six-part series picks up right where the original series left off, and if the trailer is any indication, viewers can expect the same aesthetics and true crime cinema as the original.

When is The Jinx: Part Two streaming?

The first episode of The Jinx: Part Two premieres on HBO and Max simultaneously on April 21, 2024 at 10 p.m. ET. The HBO Original six-part documentary series will then air new episodes weekly on Sundays at the same time, with the finale falling on May 26.

Is there a Max free trial?

Unfortunately, there’s currently no active free trial for Max through HBO or through third parties like Prime Video or Hulu. We do recommend keeping an eye out, as we’ve seen free trials pop up sporadically in the past (then disappear just as quickly). Max does offer limited free episodes through its Watch Free portal. You can check out single episodes of HBO originals like White Lotus, Succession, The Last of Us, and Euphoria before committing to a subscription.

The best Max streaming deals

Before you sign up for a Max subscription, you might want to double check that you don’t already have access to Max through a previous subscription, a third party, or a cable, internet, or wireless provider. It’s worth a shot, right? If you do still need to sign up for access, check out the two streaming deals below.

Best Max deal for most people: Save up to 20% on an annual plan

Instead of paying a monthly fee, you can opt for a Max annual plan and save up to 22%. Max With Ads typically costs $9.99 per month, which adds up to about $119.88. You’ll pay just $99.99 for a yearly plan — that’s about 17% in savings. The Ad-Free annual plan goes for $149.99 per year, which saves you 22% on the regular price of $191.88 (the biggest savings of all three plans), and the Ultimate plan goes for $199.99 per year (regularly $239.88), which saves you about 17%. Sure, it’s more to pay up front, but it’ll keep more dollars in your wallet in the long run.

Best Max deal for Cricket customers: Free Max with ads for customers on the $60/month unlimited plan

If you’re lucky enough to be a Cricket Wireless customer on the $60 per month unlimited plan, then you get access to Max With Ads for free (as long as your account remains in good standing). Head over to the Max app or navigate to Max on a browser, then sign in using Cricket as your provider. Your Cricket login details will unlock full access to Max With Ads (typically a $99.99 per year value) for free. If you’re a Cricket customer, but on a different plan, you can upgrade or switch over to secure the deal at any time. Learn more about the terms and conditions on the Cricket website.

What are the different Max subscription tiers?

Just like the former HBO Max streaming service offered three tiers, Max offers three unique subscription plans: With Ads, Ad-Free, and Ultimate Ad-Free. Here’s a breakdown of the different tiers.

Max With Ads — The most affordable tier, Max With Ads includes two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, and 5.1 surround sound quality. You’ll have to endure some light ads and there are no offline downloads. It costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

Max Ad-Free — The middle tier cuts out the ads and offers 30 offline downloads, but otherwise features the same resolution and sound quality. It costs $15.99 per month or $149.99 per year.

Max Ultimate Ad-Free — The most expensive of the three tiers, Ultimate Ad-Free includes four concurrent streams, up to 4K UHD resolution, Dolby Atmos sound quality, 100 offline downloads, and of course, ad-free viewing. It’ll run you $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year.

Alex Garland’s much-debated Civil War continues to spark controversy, this time over the release of AI-generated promotional images.

On April 17, Civil War distributor A24 released six posters to advertise the film, each depicting a different American city marked by war. New York City’s Washington Square Park is overrun by military vehicles, the Las Vegas Sphere lies in ruins, and gunmen advance towards San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

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However, viewers online were quick to note that these posters appeared to be AI-generated. Tells that these are AI include a car with three doors on the Miami poster and impossible architectural elements like missing or misshapen windows.

One of the most egregious giveaways lies in the Chicago poster, which shows a view of the Chicago River and the corncob-shaped towers that make up the Marina City apartment complex. In real life, the towers are next to each other. However the poster separates them, showing one on a (non-existent) island in the middle of the river.

The backlash to A24’s Instagram post of the AI-generated posters was swift. “This sucks! AI sucks!” one commenter said. Another wrote, “For a company that seemingly values artistry, using AI-generated works for advertising is a real bummer.”

A source close to Civil War confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the images were indeed AI-generated. “These are AI images inspired by the movie,” they told The Hollywood Reporter. “The entire movie is a big ‘what if’ and so we wanted to continue that thought on social — powerful imagery of iconic landmarks with that dystopian realism.” Mashable has reached out to A24 for further comment.

The Civil War posters are just the latest in a string of movie and TV-related AI controversies, including Late Night with the Devil‘s AI-generated interstitial images, True Detective: Night Country’s allegedly AI-generated background posters, and Secret Invasion‘s opening credit sequence. Notably, Civil War‘s posters are marketing materials and not actually used in the film itself, meaning the decision to make them would not have fallen to Garland.

AI use in media has become a hot button topic among audiences, especially following 2023’s WGA and SAG strikes, during which both unions fought for protections against AI being used to replace their work. The disappointed — and often angry — reactions to instances such as the Civil War posters point to a wider audience rejection of AI technology in film and TV overall.

Oh hey there! If you’re here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we’re serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today’s answer.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for April 18’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

One side of something many-sided.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no letters that appear twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter F.

What’s the answer to Wordle today?

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to Wordle #1034 is…

FACET.

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Reporting by Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for April 18’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

Tweet may have been deleted

Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

Tweet may have been deleted

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Things you’d see in a suburb

• Green: Planning something

• Blue: Units of measurement

• Purple: Golden things

Here are today’s Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Sidewalk Sights

• Green: Have in Mind

• Blue: Unit Abbreviations

• Purple: Golden___

Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to Connections #312 is…

What is the answer to Connections today

• Sidewalk Sights: CURB, GRATE, GUTTER, MANHOLE

• Have in Mind: AIM, INTEND, MEAN, PLAN

• Unit Abbreviations: CAL, GAL, IN, OZ

• Golden___: FLEECE, GIRLS, PARACHUTE, RULE

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday’s Connections.

Around this time just one week ago, iPhone users in 92 counties received a bizarre notification on their device.

“Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID,” read the notification. “This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it’s never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning — please take it seriously.”

Apple posted an announcement on its website giving basic details for why the company would generally send out a notification warning like this. However, the company has been relatively mum on the situation since. And it never quite disclosed the exact threat that spurred Apple to send out that notification to those users at that specific time.

Now, a new report appears to have solved the mystery.

China-linked LightSpy spyware

The Apple news outlet Apple Insider noticed a report by Blackberry — yes, the mobile phone company that was popular in the 2000s and has since pivoted into a cybersecurity firm — that appears to have gotten to the bottom of the spyware notification situation.

According to Blackberry, the spyware that iPhone users were warned about is called LightSpy, which is described in the report as a “sophisticated iOS implant.” 

The report points out that this is a concerning development because LightSpy was last seen used in a campaign during the 2020 political protests in Hong Kong. So, this latest attack appears to be a reemergence of LightSpy.

LightSpy is “a fully-featured modular surveillance toolset,” according to Blackberry. The spyware can pull targets’ private information, which includes pinpoint-accurate location data as well as data from messaging applications, text messages, phone call history, and web browser history. It can even create sound recordings from the device, including recording during VOIP calls. 

LightSpy has been used by attackers to target individuals in Southeast Asia, including India, for the most part, which explains why those notifications were mostly received by iPhone users located in that general region. The messaging apps mentioned in Blackberry’s report are among the most popular in that part of the world: QQ, WeChat, and Telegram. In addition, LightSpy can pull payment history from targets from the WeChat Pay service.

Blackberry believes this attack was once again perpetrated by China-based or native Chinese-speaking actors, as with previous LightSpy campaigns, and there’s a potential for state-sponsored involvement as well.

The report recommends that users who have reason to be targeted, whether due to their employment or activism, utilize Apple’s Lockdown Mode, which the iPhone-maker describes as a feature used to “protect devices against extremely rare and highly sophisticated cyber attacks.”

There’s a new app in town, according to Wired and Bloomberg, if you consider Silicon Valley a town. A by-invitation-only audio-based app called Airchat is reportedly being “hyped in tech circles,” with invites making the rounds among the Valley’s top brass.

The app combines elements of X (formerly Twitter) and voice notes, with a main feed populated by text transcripts of voice notes from other users, which you can play, heart, or repost.

The “hype” for AirChat has been magnified by reports from Business Insider and a contributor at Forbes, who declared that you’d have to have been “under a rock” to have avoided an invite to the app. And it’s no coincidence that Airchat cofounders Naval Ravikant (co-creator of AngelList) and Brian Norgard (former chief product officer at Tinder) are tech insiders themselves, or that investors include the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who “threw in a check, kind of blindly,” according to Ravikant.

But the numbers may tell a different story. Both Bloomberg and Business Insider cite data from Sensor Tower that claims Airchat has been downloaded just over 45,000 times since launching in mid-2023, with 30,000 of those downloads occurring only after a relaunch this month. That lackluster showing could be chalked up to the app’s current exclusivity, but Airchat is also losing steam fast. Bloomberg reported that the app was ranked no. 29 in the App Store’s ranking of top social networking apps just yesterday. As of publishing today, the app has fallen to no. 42.

If the term “social audio app” rings a bell, you may be remembering Clubhouse, which shot to fame in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was valued at $4 billion. But Clubhouse gained popularity at a lonely time, when most people were sheltering inside and desperate for human interaction, and last year, the app laid off half of its staff.

Perhaps Airchat can do what Clubhouse could not. For now, it seems like just another place tech execs can hear themselves talk.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro rumors are flooding in – and we’re curious about how it will be different from the iPhone 15.

Although it’s early days, we’re already hearing whispers about a RAM boost for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models.

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, are reportedly getting some striking upgrades to the cameras that may dazzle the masses. Here’s a compilation of everything we know so far about next year’s iPhone 16 line.

iPhone 16 release date

The iPhone 16 release date is expected to be September of next year. After Apple has its whole shebang of an event showcasing the next-generation handsets, the iPhones typically ship about a week or two later.

iPhone 15
Credit: Apple

In the past, Apple has deviated from this cadence due to reported production hindrances (e.g., supply chain issues). For example, the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 14 Plus shipped in October, but typically, get unveiled some time during the first half of September every year.

iPhone 16 design

Let’s dive into arguably the most important aspect of the iPhone’s design: the screen.

There haven’t been any significant changes to the display sizes since the iPhone 12, but according to reliable leaker Unknownz21, the upper-tier iPhone 16 models are going to be a little bit more unwieldy in your hands.

Display

The iPhone 16 Pro will reportedly have a 6.3-inch display while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will pack a 6.9-inch panel. You may be wondering, “What about the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus? Will they get a screen size bump, too?” The answer is likely no. The lower-tier models will reportedly have the same display sizes as their predecessors.

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iPhone 15 screen sizes

• iPhone 15 – 6.1 inches

• iPhone 15 Plus – 6.7 inches

• iPhone 15 Pro – 6.1 inches

• iPhone 15 Pro Max – 6.7 inches

iPhone 16 screen sizes (rumored)

• iPhone 16 – 6.1 inches

• iPhone 16 Plus – 6.7 inches

• iPhone 16 Pro – 6.3 inches

• iPhone 16 Pro Max – 6.9 inches

Ross Young, a well-known display analyst and Apple leaker, was the first to claim that the iPhone 16 Pro models will have larger screens. 

Tweet may have been deleted

However, he offered slightly different numbers: 6.2 inches and 6.8 inches. What could be the reason behind the discrepancy? According to MacRumors, it’s “likely due to the difference between actual display area and viewable display area.”

Another rumor we’re hearing is that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will continue to have 60Hz refresh-rate displays. This is a little disappointing considering other phones in the market at least have 90Hz screens, making navigating through the UI smoother, zippier and seamless.

Thinner bezels

The iPhone 16 will also reportedly have slimmer bezels, according to a report from The Elec (h/t MacRumors). Apple is tipped to be using something called Border Reduction Structure (BRS) technology, which reduces the internal footprint of the circuitry inside, allowing for thinner bezels (without sacrificing anything important aspects like display performance, for example).

Thinner bezels means that the iPhone 16 series should yield more screen real estate for users.

Action Button

A report from MacRumors claims that every single model in the iPhone 16 line will feature an Action Button — not just the iPhone 15 Pro variants. The current-gen iPhone 15 Pro models’ Action Button can be programmed to launch a range of apps and functions, including Flashlight, Camera, Silent Mode, Voice Memo, Focus, Magnifier, Translate (coming to iOS 17.2), and a range of accessibility features.

When iPhone 16 drops, however, the rumor mill states that Apple will add more functionality to the Action Button.

Capture Button

The Action Button was all the rage for the iPhone 15 series, however, according to MacRumors and The Information, a new Capture Button will be one of the biggest selling points for the iPhone 16. Reportedly placed slightly under the power button, the Capture Button is a camera-focused feature that can do the following:

• Zoom in and out of photos/videos with swiping gestures

• Allows users to focus on subjects

• Activates the shutter button

While MacRumors and The Information both concur that Apple is testing a “capture button” on the iPhone 16, both aren’t on the same page on whether it’s a mechanical button or a capacitive one. MacRumors says it’s the latter, but the Information claims it’s both.

Solid-state buttons

Apple reportedly planned on introducing solid-state buttons with the iPhone 15 Pro models, but instead, we got a customizable Action Button. For the uninitiated, solid-state buttons aren’t buttons per se – they’re panels that feature haptic feedback sensations that simulate real button presses (Think of the iPhone SE series’ Home button). On the plus side, the solid-state buttons aren’t totally out of the picture. According to respected Apple leaker and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is working on debuting solid-state buttons on the iPhone 16 Pro models instead.

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Kuo added that these solid-state buttons will add two additional Taptic Engines, which will help fire off tangible feedback to users. (If this is true, the number of Taptic Engines in the iPhone 16 will increase to three — up from one.)

According to a tip from Weibo (via MacRumors), the Action Button on the iPhone 16 Pro will be a solid-state button and sit flush against the chassis. To make room for this change, Apple will reportedly move the mmWave antenna to the left of the iPhone 16 Pro as opposed to the right. This Weibo tip comes from a leaker with the moniker “Instant Digital,” a bean spiller that reportedly has an accurate track record, according to MacRumors.

iPhone 16 AI

The iPhone 16 will reportedly featured an AI-powered Siri.

Siri is about to get a whole lot smarter.
Credit: Apple

In other words, Siri is maturing into a more sophisticated digital assistant. According to Kuo, this means that Siri will bring new hardware to the iPhone 16, including updated microphones with better water resistance and an improved signal-to-noise ratio.

iPhone 16 cameras

Apple debuted a new zoom lens with a “tetra-prism” design on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which simply means that engineers found a way to “fold” the shooter so that it still has telephoto capabilities without taking up too much space. This new camera increases the Pro Max’s optical zoom from 3x to 5x.

iPhone 15 Pro
Credit: Apple

However, according to Digital Chat Station (DCS), a bean-spiller on the Chinese social media site Weibo, both the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will get the new tetra-prism telephoto camera.

DCS also added that the iPhone 16 Pro Max specifically is getting the Sony IMX903 sensor, an upgrade from the Sony IMX803 sensor. This means that the iPhone 16 Pro Max wide lens will have a larger sensor size, allowing for more light gathering for better photos and videos in low-light conditions.

Credit: John Keeble/Getty Images

According to Jeff Pu, a tech analyst from Haitong International Securities (a Hong Kong investment firm), the ultrawide cameras are getting a boost, too.

Pu stated tthe iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models will also feature a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with better light gathering. As such, camera performance in dimmer environments should improve. As it stands now, the iPhone 15 Pro models have a 12MP ultrawide camera.

The ultrawide camera is perfect for taking landscape photos, allowing you to capture more scenery. However, compared to the main camera, the ultrawide lens tends to deliver a slight drop in crispness and sharpness. If this rumor is true, the new 48-megapixel ultrawide camera may ameliorate this minor foible.

Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple will upgrade the rear cameras on the iPhone 16 Pro models, introducing a stacked design. What will a stacked design do? According to Apple Insider, it increases light capture and provides wider dynamic range, so Night Mode should get a sweet boost.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that the iPhone 16 Pro, as we reported in April, will allegedly tackle lens flare and ghosting issues by using anti-reflective coating on the cameras.

iPhone 16 battery sizes

As we reported in early April, a Weibo leaker by the name of “OvO Baby Sauce OvO” seemingly unveiled the new new battery sizes across the iPhone 16 lineup:

• iPhone 16: 3,561mAh

• iPhone 16 Plus: 4,006mAh

• iPhone 16 Pro: 3,355mAh

• iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,676mAh

All the iPhone 16 models have some sort of increase from two to six percent except for the iPhone 16 Plus, which reportedly has a reduction of nearly nine percent compared to the iPhone 15 Plus.

Keep in mind that an increase in battery size doesn’t necessarily mean that the device will deliver longer battery life. And in the same vein, a battery size reduction doesn’t necessarily lead to shorter runtimes. There are other aspects at play (the display’s efficiency, for example). So we won’t know for sure how battery life is affected until we get the phones in our hands.

iPhone 16 specs

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are equipped with 8GB of RAM while the lower-tier models, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max, are stuck with their predecessors’ 6GB of RAM. If that bums you out, don’t worry. According to Pu, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are expected to join the 8GB of RAM bandwagon, too.

iPhone 15 lineup
Credit: Apple

Storage

According to news aggregator account “yeux1122” from Naver, a Korean blog, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will feature options that offer 2TB of storage.

That is double the current max storage capacity of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Chipset

In recent years, Apple has followed the trend of putting last year’s chip into the two entry-level models while the Pro models, the Pro and the Pro Max, get the new-generation chip. For example, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus got the A16 Bionic chip, the same inside the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. However, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max got outfitted with the new A17 Pro chips.

If this pattern continues, it should follow that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus get the A17 Pro while the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max get the A18 chips. Pu hinted that this is how it will be for the iPhone 16 line, hinting that the A17 Pro will reportedly be less efficient. In other words, the iPhone 16 models equipped with this chip may take a battery life hit. This is because the next-generation chip will offer tremendous performance gains at the expense of power efficiency.

However, another rumor tells a different story.

According to an alleged iOS 18 code leak from MacRumors, the entire iPhone 16 line will get an A18 chip. However, there’s a chance that Apple will use a “Pro” identifier name to differentiate from the standard and Pro models (e.g., A18 chip and A18 Pro).

The iPhone 16 Pro models will also reportedly support Wi-Fi 7 (current models support WiFi 6E). Wi-Fi 7 should offer zippy transfer speeds that exceed 40 Gbps, quadrupling what WiFi 6E can do.

According to Pu (via 9to5Mac), the iPhone 16 Pro will come with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 modem, which can reach a 5G download rate of up to 7.5 Gbps.

We’ll periodically update this rumor hub as new iPhone 16 leaks trickle in, so be sure to bookmark this page. 

PS5 Pro rumors have been flooding in for some time now. As such, if you haven’t gotten a PS5 yet, it might be best to wait a few months.

Sony will reportedly release a powered-up “Pro” version of the console as soon as this year. To be clear, there hasn’t been a great deal of solid, reliable reporting on the topic just yet, but rumblings of a PS5 Pro have only gotten more intense as time has gone on.

But what would a PS5 Pro actually entail? Let’s dig in.

PS5 Pro release date

The PS5 Pro’s release date is reportedly some time during the 2024 holiday season, according to Insider Gaming, which cited “trusted sources.”

Serkan Toto, a gaming industry analyst from Kantan Games, told CNBC that he believes a revamped PS5 could be in the works for launch in late 2024, too. Part of the reasoning for this is that Sony cut its sales forecast for the next fiscal year, perhaps signaling that the PlayStation brand could use a boost in the near future.

Credit: Sony

Toto also mentioned the impending release of Grand Theft Auto VI in 2025 as a good reason for Sony to get new hardware in people’s entertainment centers.

These are simply the words of an analyst who doesn’t work for Sony, so it’s fair to take them with a grain of salt. However, the prediction somewhat lines up with Sony’s past activities with the PlayStation brand. For example, the PS4 Pro came out in 2016, three years after the launch of the PS4. Late 2024 will mark four years since the launch of the PS5.

As we enter the latter half of the PS5’s life cycle, 2024 may be the only year where it makes sense to launch the PS5 Pro.

PS5 Pro specs

Thanks to a leak from The Verge’s Tom Warren, the PS5 will have the following internal upgrades over the PS5:

• 10% CPU improvement

• 45% GPU improvement

Warren also added that the PS5 Pro frees up 1.2GB more system memory for developers for a total of 13.7GB (compared to the PS5’s 12.5GB).

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PS5 Pro price

This is where the lack of solid reporting on the PS5 Pro’s existence becomes difficult to deal with.

Credit: Sony

Since we don’t even know that the PS5 Pro exists, it’s impossible to say how much it would cost. All we can really do is look back on how Sony handled the PS4 Pro, which is actually somewhat encouraging. The upgraded PS4 launched at $399 — the same price the original PS4 launched at three years prior. Perhaps Sony will drop the price of the standard PS5 and release the Pro at $499, the current PS5 price in the U.S. for the model with a disc drive.

Making this a little more complicated is the fact that Sony slightly hiked the price of the PS5 in other markets in late 2022. Sony will have to figure out a way to sell the PS5 Pro at a somewhat fair price without losing a ton of money in the process.

PS5 Pro design

This is another area where all we can do is speculate.

Credit: Sony

Sony has already lightly revised the PS5 post-launch, with the release of the PS5 slim model late last year. That made the console slightly shorter and thinner, but it’s still the same basic design. In all likelihood, a PS5 Pro would go in the opposite direction and be even larger than the already very large standard PS5. That’s the price of increasing horsepower.

One way Sony could alleviate this is by getting rid of the disc drive and forcing customers to buy the separate, detachable disc drive that’s available for the PS5 Slim. That wouldn’t exactly be ideal, but it would make the console a bit smaller.

PS5 Pro ‘Ultra boost’ mode

According to The Verge, the PS5 Pro may have an “Ultra Boost” mode for games.

Sony is reportedly asking developers to create something called a “PS5 Pro-exclusive graphics mode” for their games, which uses PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to upscale to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (with ray-tracing effects in tow).

Per Insider Gaming, titles will get a “PS5 Pro Enhanced label” if they offer the following:

• PS5 Pro ray-tracing effects

• Higher target resolution for games that run a fixed resolution on the standard console

• Higher target maximum resolution for games that run at variable resolution on the standard console

• Higher target frame rate for games that target a fixed frame rate on the standard console

Sony may be working on an Ultra Boost mode for older games, too.

PS5 Pro controller

When Sony launched the PS4 Pro, it made zero changes to the PS4’s standard DualShock 4 controller. After all, it didn’t really need any. I would expect the same approach to be taken with the PS5 Pro.

Credit: Sony

The PS5 DualSense controller is excellent as is, with the exception of inevitable analog stick drift. I’ve personally gone through like three of the dang things since launch. In a perfect world, Sony would bundle the PS5 Pro with the more expensive DualSense Edge controller, which allows users to easily swap new analog sticks in and out instead of buying a whole new controller when drift develops.

That seems unlikely based on past precedent, but hey, a man can dream.