I’ve been meaning to write something about how pervasive it has become for “smart TVs” to be sold for cheap, because manufacturers realized they can sell the hardware at a loss and make their profits by selling their customers’ viewing data to advertisers. This story, originally reported by a YouTube channel called Gamers Nexus but summarized by Dominic Preston at The Verge reminded me that I never did so.

LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when offline or on standby mode, according to a new report from YouTube channel Gamers Nexus. The company’s TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from across the TV inputs.

Gamers Nexus partnered with fellow YouTubers Level1Techs and independent security researchers for the investigation, which involved testing retail LG OLEDs. Packet captures showed the TVs scanning the local area network for nearby hardware like phones or smartwatches, as well as logging location data and details of nearby Wi-Fi networks, and feeding the information back to LG Ad Solutions. Perhaps more concerningly, the TVs were capable of recording microphone audio when in standby; this continued even after the TV was disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection was restored.

What’s not to love?

To be sure, this is not just a problem with LG; other TV brands like Samsung, TCL, Vizio, Hisense, Onn, and others have been engaging in similarly shocking invasions of their customers’ privacy for years.

Below is an excerpt I meant to link to years ago from a 2019 piece by Geoffrey A. Fowler for The Washington Post, giving a little more background on why this has become a standard practice in the industry:

Ever wondered why TV sets are getting so cheap? Manufacturing efficiency plays a role. But to paraphrase political commentator James Carville, it’s the data, stupid. TVs have joined the ranks of websites, apps and credit cards in the lucrative business of harvesting and sharing your information. Americans spend an average of 3½ hours in front of a TV each day, according to eMarketer, the market research company. Your TV records may not contain sensitive search queries or financial data, but that history is a window to your interests, personality, joys and embarrassments.

[…]

Many TV makers say tracking what we watch helps them provide helpful personalized recommendations. Right, and people read Playboy for the articles.

If you have a smart TV, I implore you never connect it to the internet so that these manufacturers can’t do this. And if you already have connected it to your wifi, disconnect and change your wifi password. Then get an Apple TV or other streaming box/plug-in that you trust and get your content that way. To be clear, the Apple TV is the only such device I personally trust. It is more expensive than other options, but that’s because you’re actually paying what the hardware is worth, rather than paying a low price at the cash register and subsidizing the cost by allowing manufacturers to track and monetize everything you watch.

When Taylor Swift’s profile pictures across social media platforms turned from color to black and white on the day of the 2024 Grammys, every Swiftie in the world freaked the fuck out because we knew exactly what was coming: reputation (Taylor’s Version).

The Eras Tour was at the peak of its cultural dominance, the rerecording project was firing on all cylinders, and we had been teasing apart Taylor’s every move, outfit choice, surprise song combo, instagram post, etc. for any hint or easter egg that “rep TV” was on its way. Every Swiftie in the world was then understandably flabbergasted when Taylor hopped up on the Grammys stage to accept the award for Pop Vocal Album of the Year for Midnights, and announced that she had spent the last two years creating an entirely new album called The Tortured Poets Department.

We were flabbergasted again when, two hours after the album’s release, an entire second half of the album dropped with 15 additional songs, which Taylor called The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. She dropped 31 new songs when we weren’t even expecting a new album in the first place. We still didn’t know where reputation (Taylor’s Version) was, but we Swifties were eating well.

General Thoughts

This album quickly became one of my favorites and remains in my top three. It was, and may forever be, as close as it’s going to get to the sophisticated, grown-up, sleek/sexy pop album with a black-and-white aesthetic that I had been wanting Taylor to make for years.

The Anthology is clearly the weaker half of the double album, but I sort of treat those songs like bonus songs: the good ones serve to make the main album better while its lesser songs don’t detract from how much I like the album generally. Perhaps that’s a little too generous for a work billed as a double album rather than a standard version plus bonus material, but oh well.

I’ve given each song two ratings on a scale of zero to ten: the first rating is how I felt about it after the first time I listened to it, and the second is how I feel about it now, two and a half years and dozens of listens later.

Song by Song:

“Fortnight” (feat. Post Malone): 6.5/10, 7.5/10

A very fun song, and Post Malone is, unexpectedly, a great addition to it. I didn’t expect them to work so well together, but this song is a great time.

“The Tortured Poets Department”: 6/10, 6.5/10

Title tracks are always interesting. I think this one was a good one to name the album after, but the song itself is a little weaker than the album as a whole. It’s not bad at all, though.

“My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”: 6.5/10, 8/10

This is a great pop song, one of the best on the album and one of her strongest in the three pop albums since Lover. I really love this one.

“Down Bad”: 7.5/10, 5.5/10

I’m going against the grain here, but this song doesn’t do as much for me as it does for a lot of Swifties. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t strike much of a chord with me.

“So Long, London”: 5/10, 9/10

This one aged like fine wine. In retrospect, this may be one of the only songs about Joe Alwyn in an album we thought would be entirely focused on him. It’s a beautiful, bitter goodbye to an element of your past, filled with excellent imagery and metaphors. “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues?/I died on the altar waiting for the proof/You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days/And I’m just getting color back into my face/I’m just mad as hell ‘cause I loved this place/For so long, London” — incredible. A track five tour de force.

“But Daddy I Love Him”: 7/10, 7.5/10

The best part of this song is when Taylor calls out her own fans for overstepping in their parasocial relationships with her, to the extent that they felt entitled to issue wild, virtue-signaling criticisms of Taylor for her personal relationships that had absolutely nothing to do with said fans. They really went too far, and she let them know. Suddenly, some Swifties were acting like the snakes.

“Fresh Out The Slammer”: 6/10, 5/10

Track sevens have a tendency to be slower and a little less impressive overall; that trend continues on TTPD.

“Florida!!!” (feat. Florence + the Machine): 6.5/10, 8/10

Another great pop song, this time about killing a lover and burying him in a swamp. What’s not to love?

“Guilty as Sin?”: 6.5/10, 6/10

I’m not the biggest fan of this one; I find it just okay. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not really my cup of tea, I suppose.

“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”: 8/10, 9/10

I really like this song a lot. She’s pissed off and the lyrics she uses are extremely vivid, and that combination results in an absolutely scathing track about the unfair criticisms she’s received throughout her career. Top three on the album for me.

“I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”: 6/10, 4/10

You can’t have highs without lows, so… Taylor gave us this song. It sounds like it belongs on evermore, and that’s not exactly a good thing for a song on a pop album. It’s slow and dreary and the lyrics are a bit clunky as well. Not a huge fan.

“loml”: 7/10, 5.5/10

This one is also slow, and just a little too sonically bleak to be much fun. That said, the trademark Taylor Swift lyric/perspective shift at the end of the song is a good one.

“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”: 7/10, 8/10

This one is a bit specific to Taylor’s experience as an artist, but it’s a very fun song, and the Eras Tour performance of it was terrific. Thematically, it’s a pretty obvious precursor to her next album.

“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”: 8/10, 9/10

Sonically, this song starts as a lament or ballad, but at the bridge it turns into a loud, angry march. It’s one of her angriest songs since reputation, and the bridge is a 15/10.

“The Alchemy”: 5/10, 5.5/10

Again, no highs without lows. This sounds way too similar to the terrible songs featuring corny football lyrics that people made after Taylor started dating Travis Kelce.

“Clara Bow”: 7/10, 6.5/10

Another song about Taylor’s experience with fame and how the music industry treats young artists as a commodity to use and sooner or later discard. It’s a good song, but not terribly relatable for most non-pop stars. It is a treat to hear her sing her own name at the end, though.

“The Black Dog”: 8.5/10, 9/10

She really opens The Anthology on a high note. “The Black Dog” is another of my recent favorites, and it has an incredible bridge. Since it came out, I have acquired several pieces of non-Taylor-related merchandise that reference black dogs just because of how great this is.

“imgonnagetyouback”: 6/10, 8/10

This is a terrific pop song, made better by the fact that it plays right into the stereotype of Taylor being completely boy-crazy and insane. The whole time, you’re not sure if she wants reconciliation or revenge, and maybe she isn’t sure either. It’s great.

“The Albatross”: 6/10, 7.5/10

This song is basically “don’t judge a book by its cover” turned into a song. That said, I don’t expect every Taylor song to be a completely original thought, and the message she’s conveying lends itself well to the aforementioned tendency of hers to flip the perspective of a song towards the end. It’s a good one.

“Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus”: 5.5/10, 5/10

Not a huge fan, personally. It’s a bit wordy and a little too melancholy.

“How Did It End?”: 6.5/10, 6.5/10

This is one of the slower, quieter songs on the album, but that’s not always a bad thing.

“So High School”: 9/10, 6/10

This one didn’t age well for me. It’s upbeat and fun, it just doesn't have a ton of replay value in my opinion. I think its initial 9/10 was heavily influenced by the inclusion of the line “Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto”.

“I Hate It Here”: 5.5/10, 6.5/10

This isn’t a song I come back to often, unless I’m in a relatively dark mental space. But in those moments, its a salve.

“thanK you aIMee”: 6/10, 4.5/10

It really feels like we should be done making songs about Kanye and Kim at this point. She remains as vapid as ever and he’s proven himself to be a literal Nazi, so I feel like Taylor could afford to stop beating this horse.

“I Look in People’s Windows”: 5.5/10, 7.5/10

I quite like this song. I’ve heard that it’s supposed to be a metaphor for keeping up with someone you haven’t gotten over via social media, which is all too relatable these days. At least, it would be for the deranged weirdos with unhealthy attachment styles. 🥴

“The Prophecy”: 5.5/10, 5/10

Eh. It’s fine. Pining for love and whatnot. You’ve heard this one before.

“Cassandra”: 6/10, 5/10

Not her best. If The Anthology was just a selection of bonus tracks or an EP rather than a second album, I don’t think this one makes the cut.

“Peter”: 5/10, 8/10

I think this song is about a former lover who never grew up and therefore a later-in-life rekindling of the relationship was destined to fail, but I like it a lot better through a different lens. Consider that it could be a message (or a final goodbye) to one’s wide-eyed, optimistic younger self whose grand plans for the future never materialized. I like the idea that it’s from one’s older, present self who at some point had to part ways with their youthful innocence and dreams, but hoped that they would find their way back to them in a finally realized material form in their adulthood, but is now mourning the fact that it never happened. This doesn’t fit as neatly because I don’t think that’s what the song is about, but I like it better.

“The Bolter”: 6/10, 8.5/10

A song about someone afraid of commitment? Revolutionary. But actually, this time the girl is the one who can’t commit, and that is a bit more rare. In any case, it’s still a great song.

“Robin”: 5.5/10, 2.5/10

This is one of her worst songs in a hot minute. File it away with “Ronan”.

“The Manuscript”: 7.5/10, 8.5/10

I really love this song. The general consensus seems to be that it’s a retelling of “All Too Well” that gives a little more behind-the-scenes info, and acknowledges the broader meaning that song has taken on for fans around the world in the twelve years (at the time) since it was released. But I think you can also read more into it and see echoes of several of Taylor’s other past relationships. It’s just so good. It’s the reason I own a French press.

Final Thoughts

This should’ve been the album that won Taylor her record-breaking Album of the Year Grammy. No shade to Midnights, but this album is simply superior. Midnights will remain middle-of-the-pack as far as her discography goes, but I firmly believe that in time, this one will rise to the upper echelon for most people.

I won’t go too deep here, as I think the discourse surrounding the proliferation of Flock cameras is already overwhelmingly in line with my position on them, but I do want to document my own personal experience with them for posterity’s sake.

In January, I was rear-ended on my drive home from work. The guy driving the other car had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel and didn’t realize he was approaching a line of cars at a dead standstill waiting at a red light. He hit me at a fairly substantial speed, causing notable damage to my rear bumper and lift gate. The driver was a young Ecuadorian guy and it was unclear if he was in the country legally, and as this was at the height of the ICE raids and immigration crackdown in Chicago, the police ended up taking him in rather than just giving him a citation. All that to say, it seemed fairly unlikely that he was properly insured, so I ended up filing a claim to repair the damage through my own insurance policy at the time, which was through Progressive.

A few weeks after submitting the claim, I was contacted by Progressive and told that they couldn’t fix the damage to my bumper and lift gate because there was significant preexisting damage to the rear of my vehicle that I would need to submit an additional claim to repair first. I asked what damage they were referring to, because I haven’t had any other accidents, and the damage that now existed was a clear result of the January accident. They told me that they had photos showing the alleged damage (I had never sent them any photos of the vehicle before this accident), but when I asked to see them, they told me that they were the property of Progressive and they were not obligated to show them to me.

I was quite angry at this point, and I was pretty sure I knew what was going on.

I asked where they got them from and pointed out that I hadn’t provided any photos prior to the accident, and after a bit of prodding, got them to admit that they had purchased the photos from Flock cameras that had recognized my license plate as I commuted through the Chicago suburbs, presumably in an attempt to manufacture a reason to either deny my claim or extract an additional deductible from me. They were able to find what they wanted.

A few months prior, I had noticed a small dent on my car’s lift gate that looked a lot like a door ding. I’m not sure if this was caused by a rogue shopping cart or something, but it was minor enough that I never bothered getting it repaired. The dent was shallow and only as wide as a kiwi.

As it turns out, this was the “significant preexisting damage” Progressive was referring to. As I said, I had never filed any claims related to this because it was purely cosmetic, and would hardly be worth the price of the deductible to get it repaired. Nevertheless, Progressive required that I submit a second claim to repair this damage as well if I wanted my rear bumper replaced and my lift gate to be operational again. Simply put, it seems like they just wanted a second deductible paid, and thanks to Flock cameras, they could point to a small cosmetic issue in order to demand it.

There are real-world privacy implications to having surveillance cameras accessible to anyone with enough cash on every block. This time, that meant an additional $1000 deductible to repair damage from an accident that was clearly not my fault in the first place. Fuck Flock, and fuck Progressive for paying them for their stalker shots.

Click here to learn more about Flock “Safety” and how they’re doing their best to put the U.S. on a fast track to an Orwellian, surveillance state-hellscape.

Taylor Swift started something with Midnights where, from here on, each album she released instantly became the biggest of her career. The shift in her sound and writing style ushered in by folklore brought a whole new generation of Swifties into the fold, and her popularity soared to heights that were unimaginable back during the 1989 era, because everyone thought she had already conquered the world. Her return to pop following two years of indie/folk sounds was warmly received — to put it mildly — by fans and critics alike. The album was a critical darling, going on to win Taylor her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, making her the only artist in history to win it four times (the previous record of three is held only by two artists in addition to Swift: Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder).

All that said, this album has some high highs for me, but I don’t love it the way some do, and I find a good number of the tracks fairly forgettable. Let’s get into it.

Note, in prior years I’ve assigned two ratings on a scale of 0-10, with the first score being my immediate impression following the first listen and the second score being where the song had settled for me after many listens. This album only has one set, reflecting how I now rank the songs, because I no longer have my first-listen rankings (sorry this review is four years late; you get what you get).

Song by Song:

“Lavender Haze”: 5.5/10,

A good tone-setter for what the rest of the album will sound like, but nothing terribly impressive happening here.

“Maroon”: 5/10,

A good concept, but I think she stretched the color metaphor to its absolute limit. The song itself does have a fun sound, the lyrics just don’t hit for me.

“Anti-Hero”: 6.5/10,

Probably the most memed song she’s had in a while (“It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me”), with a catchy sound and a fun video. It’s not groundbreaking though.

“Snow On The Beach” (feat. Lana Del Rey): 3/10,

The version with more Lana is better; one could be forgiven for not even realizing she was on the original version. Another metaphor in this song that gets stretched thin, but with a less interesting sound than “Maroon”.

“You’re On Your Own, Kid”: 10/10,

Now we’re cookin’ with gas. I absolutely love this song. One of the very few true 10/10 ratings I’ve given to any song, Taylor or otherwise. The lyrics and message, the sound, everything about it is just incredible. This is the peak of this album, and the song is in my top ten of all time.

“Midnight Rain”: 7.5/10,

This one is good. Emotional without relying too heavily on a metaphor to get the message across. Fun, very Midnights-y sound, too.

“Question…?”: 5/10,

This one is a bit of a head scratcher. I just don’t really get the point. It’s sorta catchy and some people really like it, so I’m not sure what I’m missing.

“Vigilante Shit”: 3/10,

One of Taylor’s worst baddie tracks. It’s old after the first listen, and it doesn’t hold a candle to her work in this field from reputation.

“Bejeweled”: 7/10,

Fun! Empowering! The video has Laura Dern!

“Labyrinth”: 5/10,

As with “Question…?”, I’m a little lost on this one. (These reviews are genuine but the puns are intentional. @Men, yes, I’m single.)

“Karma”: 6/10,

A little too cute by half, but… it is cute. Although I guess this means the forgotten Karma album really isn’t coming.

“Sweet Nothing”: 7/10,

A very sweet song. Sort of the dream, really. I love the lyrics so much that they make up a little for a fairly not-exciting sound (this is the “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” of this album).

“Mastermind”: 7/10,

This one is a little self-congratulatory, but my god, for the woman who drops easter eggs for forthcoming projects years in advance, I’ll allow it. And it is a fun song.

“The Great War”: 7/10,

I like this one, but maybe that’s the middle-aged dad in me (not yet he isn’t 🫦).

“Bigger Than The Whole Sky”: 2/10,

Lame. Sucks. Boo.

“Paris”: 4.5/10,

Not her best work. She should stick to London.

“High Infidelity”: 6/10,

Fun play on words here, but ultimately still suffers from the sort of forgettable nature of this album’s mid-tier songs.

“Glitch”: 5.5/10,

Signature Midnights sound. But, it’s another forgettable bonus track, regrettably.

“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”: 8.5/10,

Okay, now we’re back to something I can work with. Messy relationships, wasted/stolen youth, lingering trauma, what’s not to like? Also, it sounds great, with a haunted vibe from the very start. Big fan of this one.

“Dear Reader”: 8/10,

It took me a while to come around on this one, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s a whole mountain of self-aware advice, addressed directly to readers, from the best writer of our generation.

“Hits Different”: 7/10,

A breakup song that sounds so upbeat and fun, even Taylor’s mom didn’t realize it was a sad song. I enjoy this one.

“You’re Losing Me”: 9/10,

The second best track from the Midnights era. A top-tier intertwining of metaphor and sound, devastating lyrics, just… everything about it. Yes. YES.

Final Thoughts

It’s kind of crazy that the album that broke the record for Album of the Year Grammy wins is a mid-tier album in that artist’s catalog, but that’s just Taylor-fucking-Swift for you.

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★ ★ ★

MIDTERM MASTERMIND

2026 / NOVEMBER 3Player

SENATE SHOWDOWN

Pick one winner per state. 3 points per correct call. Maximum: 39.

DEMOCRATS / INDEPENDENT (NE)REPUBLICANS

SENATE: WHO TAKES CONTROL?

Your race picks fill D from the left and R from the right.

43 D-caucus0 / 13 picked44 Republican

R CONTROL: 6 WINS

D CONTROL: 8 WINS

Choose all 13 races to complete your prediction.

50–50 tie: Republican control. Assumes unlisted seats hold; Osborn counts with D; current D-caucusing independents included.

HOUSE: BATTLE FOR 435

Enter either party’s total. The other updates automatically. Each bar counts from its Solid seats toward 218.

DEMOCRATIC SEATSREPUBLICAN SEATS

Enter a House prediction.

GOVERNOR SHOWDOWN

Pick one winner per state. 3 points per correct call. Maximum: 18.

DEMOCRATSREPUBLICANS

Alaska: choose the final winner after ranked-choice counting.

0 / 6 governor races picked

How to score · 100 points possible

• Senate race calls — 39 points: 3 per correct winner in the 13 races.
• Senate control — 8 points: predict the correct controlling party. A 50–50 tie means Republican control.
• Senate balance — 10 points: 10 minus seats off the final balance, minimum 0.
• Governor race calls — 18 points: 3 per correct winner in the 6 races. Alaska counts as one race; pick the final winner after ranked-choice counting.
• House control — 5 points: predict the correct controlling party. A majority requires 218 seats.
• House balance — 20 points: 20 minus seats off the final balance, minimum 0.

Count seat error once, using either party’s total. Example: predict a 220–215 House; actual result is 216–219. You are 4 seats off and earn 16 balance points.

Senate totals start at 43 D-caucus and 44 Republican seats, then add your 13 race calls. Unlisted seats are assumed to hold; Osborn counts with D. Score against final results and the resulting Senate caucus balance.

Highest total wins. Ties: most correct Senate calls, then smallest Senate balance error, then smallest House balance error, then most correct governor calls. If still tied, share the win.

Submit picks

House Solid-seat benchmarks: Cook Political Report, Sept. 25, 2026. A rating is not a guaranteed result. Senate snapshot: Oct. 1, 2026. Sources: 270toWin; U.S. Senate; Congress; S.C. Governor; AP. Governor slate and candidates: Oct. 10, 2026; National Governors Association, Alaska Public Media, Stateside. Your draft stays in this browser. Submit sends your name and predictions to the game organizer. After submitting, you can download a PDF copy for yourself.

UPDATED: 10/10/26, 13:23 CT

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done a review of a new iPhone — I believe my last published review was for the iPhones 12 and 12 Pro — so I suppose I have a bit of catching up to do.

The iPhones 13 and 13 Pro

You still have one of these? Good lord, upgrade already.

The iPhones 14 and 14 Pro

See above.

Also, the Dynamic Island introduced on the Pro phones was a great addition to the operating system, even if it was a bit of a misdirect to keep your attention away from the fact that in order to eschew the notch, they had to go with a somewhat wide cutout in the display.

The iPhones 15 and 15 Pro

If you have an iPhone 15, see above. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro and you have any desire or impulse to upgrade, I say go for it (with carrier trade-in deals, you can almost certainly get an iPhone 18 Pro for free).

I liked that they switched to titanium for the metal body of the Pro series this year, it felt premium and was extremely tough. But, titanium doesn’t conduct heat very well, so these phones have a tendency to get fairly warm. Also, this is the year Apple decided to switch the charging port from the Lighting connector (used on every iPhone for the past 11 years at the time, introduced in 2012 with the iPhone 5) to USB-C, which has proven to be a nice upgrade since you can now use the same charger for your iPhone and your Mac, iPad, AirPods, and tons of third party devices.

The iPhones 16 and 16 Pro

It took me a minute to remember whether there was a cool addition to the iPhone was this year, and then it hit me. If you ask Apple, they’ll tout the camera control button that acts as a camera app launcher and shutter button, as well as a little touchpad to adjust photography settings on the fly without having to touch your iPhone’s display. If you were to ask me, I would tell you that the iPhone 16 lineup didn’t have an awesome new feature, because the camera control button sucks. It’s faster and far less fiddly to adjust whatever setting you need to adjust on the screen when taking a photo rather than try to do it with a one dimensional touch target that’s quite sensitive to different levels of pressure. That said, this generation of iPhones dutifully continue the march forward on things like performance and camera improvements. It’s also the first generation where every device released in this cycle, Pro and standard, support Apple Intelligence.

The iPhones 17 and 17 Pro

2025 was a great year for the iPhone. The iPhone 17 took several big steps forward this year over the previous year’s base model, and is probably the device for most people, even now. Some of the most noticeable upgrades include a much better selfie camera, improved battery life, a far more scratch resistant display, and double the storage in the base model. They also gave it the very useful always-on display and increased the refresh rate to 120hz, which is a subtle improvement but means that animations will look smoother. Finally, they made the black bezels around the screen thinner.

That said, the iPhone 17 Pro also got some great improvements this time around (including the aforementioned scratch resistance, improved front camera, improved battery life, and increased storage). They redesigned the body of the phone and switched to aluminum rather than titanium for the frame, and they finally made one in a fun color (cosmic orange). The switch to aluminum made a noticeable difference with thermals, and the addition of a vapor chamber also helped a lot; they basically solved the overheating issue that had been a problem on the prior few generations. I want to touch on the battery life improvements for this model specifically, because they really knocked it out of the park. I was noticing about 20% more battery life with the 17 Pro versus the 16 Pro. The last big thing for the 17 Pro is that all three cameras on the back now sport 48 megapixel sensors, yielding noticeably sharper images for zoomed-in shots (the telephoto lens was the last one to make the jump from 12MP to 48MP).

The iPhone Air

The iPhone Air is impressive to hold, it’s very light and incredibly thin. The one-camera situation is pretty bad, though. I also hear that thermal throttling (i.e. the processor slowing down because it gets too hot) is an issue. I like that Apple is prioritizing sleekness in the design, I just wish they had taken that impulse and applied it to the Pro line rather than creating a whole new device, because the Pros are getting increasingly thick and heavy every year.

The iPhone 18 Pro

This year’s iPhone 18 Pro is a solid upgrade over the 17 Pro in several ways, but they are admittedly incremental and the colors are a bit less exciting.

The headlining new feature is a variable aperture on the main camera lens. In practice, most customers aren’t going to know exactly what purpose this serves, but fortunately they don’t need to. The system will automatically narrow or widen the aperture to let in more or less light without the user needing to know how to work it. That said, at it’s narrower settings, it can produce a striking starburst effect around bright lights when shooting in dark environments. This is not a filter or artificially added effect — it’s a result of the light hitting the sensor after passing through the hexagonal opening created by the aperture blades.

They improved the battery life significantly, again. If the iPhone 17 Pro felt like an additional 20% of battery on top of what the 16 Pro offered, this feels like an additional 10-15% stacked on top of that. Perhaps just as importantly, they have increased how fast the phones can charge with a high-wattage power adapter. In my testing, ten minutes of charging with a 65 watt adapter offered a 32% boost: I started with the phone at 15% battery life remaining, and after exactly ten minutes, it was at 47%. That’s incredible for those moments you realize your phone has less battery than you thought, and you’re about to leave the house.

The last area worth really diving into is thermals and performance. On the thermals front, they’ve made the vapor chamber three times larger, so cooling really hasn’t been an issue with this phone at all. The A20 Pro chip in this iPhone is an absolute beast. It is faster than the M3 chip in both single-core and multi-core benchmarks, and faster than the M4 in single-core performance. The M3 and M4 are Apple’s laptop-class chips from just a couple years ago (current MacBooks are shipping with the M5 chip).

iPhone Duo

More on this to come.

Upgrading

If you are looking to upgrade, you have two solid options aside from paying full price for a new device.

First, if you’re someone who only upgrades every 2-4 years, you should strongly consider taking advantage of carrier trade in deals. In most cases, if you trade in a phone from the last 3-4 years that’s in decent shape, they’ll give you enough trade-in credit to cover the monthly cost of the device. The only catch is that if you leave your carrier before that period is up, you’ll owe the balance (but many carriers offer switching incentives where they’ll pay off devices financed with your old carrier to reduce the friction of switching). The iPhone 17 is a great device for most people, but see how much trade in credit you can get first; there’s a real shot you can get an 18 Pro for the same $0 per month cost.

The other option is Apple’s new yearly upgrade program called Apple Upgrade. It’s a leasing program, meaning you can pay a lower monthly cost than financing options, and they give you the option to upgrade after 12 or 24 months (for iPhones and Apple Watches; iPads and Macs are available on 24 or 36 month terms). At the end of your upgrade period, you can either pay a buyout price to own the device (combined with what you’ve paid monthly, this will equal the retail price of the device), or return it and start a new lease for a new iPhone. For folks who like to upgrade their iPhone every year, this program will save you some money.

A Note On AppleCare Changes

First, I strongly recommend getting AppleCare, as repair and replacement costs with AppleCare versus without it can be hundreds of dollars cheaper. For example, a screen replacement with AppleCare is only $29 compared to $300-400 without coverage.

With that out of the way, I did mention changes. AppleCare has two new options that can be a good fit for folks looking to cover multiple devices.

AppleCare One is a new monthly subscription that covers up to three devices for $20 per month, so if you’re someone with a Mac, Apple Watch, or iPad in addition to your iPhone, you will almost certainly save money with this option.

The other option is AppleCare One Family, which offers coverage for an unlimited number of eligible devices. It costs $50 per month, and covers everyone in you Family Sharing group. For example, my family sharing group has 22 eligible devices (think multiple members with iPhones and Apple Watches, two or three with iPads, two or three with Macs, a few HomePods, a couple sets of AirPods, an Apple TV or two, etc, all covered for the same $50 per month. My family is saving about $90 a month on devices we were already paying to cover, and we got coverage automatically added to about ten products that we weren’t already covering, like the AirPods, HomePods, Apple TV, etc. Signing up is seamless, and you don’t have to do anything to enroll devices. Once you subscribe, all of your eligible devices are automatically listed under your AppleCare One Family plan. The only thing that could be seen as a catch is that your family only gets 6 repairs under this program per year. That seems reasonable to me, but if you think your family will break more devices than that in a year, you can still pay for separate AppleCare coverage for devices you think may need additional protection.