Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 56, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
Technology
This three-person robotics startup is working with designer Yves Béhar to bring humanoids home
It’s hard to know where to focus when speaking to Christoph Kohstall. The contents of his packed Palo Alto garage compete for attention. To his immediate right stands a tower of electrical components, dotted with flashing lights. To his left is a workbench and the tops of machining tools.
A red industrial girder runs along the ceiling above. For those who’ve spent time in robotics labs, the element is immediately identifiable as a gantry system, used to stabilize robots during the testing phase.
Indeed, at its far end, the top of a robot head is barely visible, peeking over Kohstall’s shoulder as he logs into the meeting. I inquire as to whether the ceiling-mounted system is being used to test his system’s bipedal robot. He answers in the affirmative, before adding that the team has moved on to another, less conventional system: an $80 coat rack.
One thing you can say for certain peering into Kind Humanoid’s chaotic workspace: The spirit of Silicon Valley’s dormant home-brew computing scene may have been mostly priced out, but it isn’t altogether dead.
Videos posted by the robotics startup are infused with the same charm. Kind’s earliest Mona prototypes appear Frankensteined together, like a prop from an ’80s movie about two kids building a robot for the science fair.
It’s hard to know what to make of it all at first glance. Kohstall has a Silicon Valley pedigree that would seem to bely the chaotic scene, including, most recently, a year spent working on robotics as part of the now-defunct Google Brain team.
Kind Humanoid’s three-person team recently gained a champion in Yves Béhar. The highly sought-after designer says he first visited Kohstall’s garage in late 2022/early 2023.
“I was immediately fascinated by two things,” he says. “One: To literally see robots emerge out of a small laboratory, to see body parts come out of the 3D printer, and to see motors and actuators and these elements be fitted inside of those parts. The other was a sense of efficiency and speed that I found really exciting.”
Earlier this month, Kind showcased Béhar’s renderings for a humanoid robot. It’s an alien mix of angles and shapes that are every bit as whimsical as the home-brewed robot underneath. The robot is clad in a soft white, with rounded edges to match. It’s as though someone was challenged to construct a human-shaped figure from a collaborative industrial arm.
The robot’s end effectors are recognizable as an analogue to human hands. Its feet, however, are more hoof-like. On closer inspection, they appear to be a pair of actuated joints stabilizing the bipedal bot. A diamond-shaped head is mounted atop an impossibly skinny neck. Adding to the render’s dreamlike quality, a small visor-like screen displays a cloudy blue sky.
It’s surreal by design. Béhar borrowed aesthetic cues from Belgian painter René Magritte.
“We use these background images of clouds to start to find ways that we can communicate the robot’s intent, or what it’s going through at the moment. Is it thinking? Is it reflecting? Is it going to give me an interesting or funny answer? This is why a face is important. The way it orients itself gives you a sense of intent and connection.”
The team intentionally avoided making a robot that looks too human, to avoid being tripped up by the uncanny valley effect. The system also offers a marked contrast from the stark, stormtrooper design employed by the likes of Tesla and Figure. In this sense, form follows function. Kind envisions Mona as a home caretaker.
Most humanoid manufacturers are targeting the industrial setting first, with eventual plans to bring the technology into a home setting. There are a number of reasons for this, with many boiling down to simple economics. Carmakers tend to have deeper pockets than caretakers. Corporations can invest these technologies to help them scale toward mass production.
It’s precisely because other humanoid manufacturers aren’t tackling the home in the near term that Kind’s three-person team is investing its efforts here. “We do not intend to compete in the industrial market, because it is very crowded,” Kohstall says. “Ironically, the argument to build a humanoid is not the strongest in the industrial market. The industrial market is pretty well served in many ways by specialized robots. The humanoid becomes so beautifully potent in a setting where [there’s] diverse locomotion across stairs and cluttered environments.”
Initial customers could include care facilities and homes for older adults looking to maintain independence. Aging in place is a largely untapped market for advanced robotics; most commercial work is focused on bringing humanoids to warehouses and factory floors.
All of this feels almost impossibly far off. Perhaps it’s Kind’s indifference to fundraising, a passive act of defiance as alien to Silicon Valley as rent protection.
“Our team is focused on the innovation part,” Kohstall says, “and that’s not something you just solve by throwing money at it. That just requires experimentation, being capital efficient, and thoughtful.”
He adds that Kind is working on building an initial dozen Mona robots, destined for field tests early next year. It’s a statement that seems every bit as surreal as Béhar’s product design. I gesture to the robot behind Kohstall, noting that there’s still a tremendous amount of daylight between the DIY frankenbots on display in early videos and the Magritte-inspired renders.
He notes that the sinewy robots that frequent Kind’s videos are the first prototype. He moves the conference call outside, where pieces of the robot are being spray-painted on the ground. These form the robot’s outer shell, bringing the design more in line with the one Béhar dreamed up.
“Most parts are injection moldable,” says Kohstall. “So it can be mass manufactured and built cheaply.”
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The first look of Nubia Z70 Ultra has leaked online, revealing ultra-thin bezels. Nubia launched the Z60 Ultra last December in China with a delayed international launch. But the Nubia Z70 Ultra could launch in multiple markets simultaneously.
Nubia Z70 Ultra features a 1220p resolution display with ultra-thin bezels
Nubia launched the Z60 Ultra Leading Version and the Nubia Z60S Pro in July this year. The Nubia Z60 Ultra Leading Version is an upgraded version of the Z60 Ultra launched in December last year.
Nubia is expected to launch the Nubia Z70 Ultra in December this year. Nubia might not be a well-known brand compared to Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, or other Chinese brands. However, the company manages to design and build smartphones with cutting-edge hardware and the latest Android OS.
The Nubia Z70 Ultra too could follow the same trend. Although the launch of the smartphone is nearing, its specifications haven’t leaked. Still, reliable tipster Digital Chat Station posted a video on Weibo.
Upcoming Nubia Z70 Ultra specifications:
– BOE display sports ultra-thin bezels
– under-display camera. #nubia #nubiaz70ultra pic.twitter.com/dIqppjw3nF— yogesh yadav (@yogeshyaa) October 12, 2024
The tipster reportedly claims the device shown in the brief video shows the upcoming Nubia Z70 Ultra. As the video reveals, the device appears to have incredibly thin bezels. DCS has also mentioned that Nubia has embedded a 1220p resolution screen in the phone. The only other specification the tipster mentioned is that the Nubia Z70 Ultra will not have a punch-hole or notch for the front-facing camera. Needless to say, Nubia has been hiding the selfie camera under the display for quite a few generations of its smartphones.
When will Nubia launch its latest flagship smartphone outside China?
Nubia has traditionally launched flagship smartphones with top-end hardware only. The company’s devices often target gamers. Hence, Nubia has embedded active cooling in some of its smartphones, but the Z70 Ultra would be a premium flagship device similar to the Xiaomi 15 Pro.
Several reports suggest the Nubia Z70 Ultra will launch this December in China. However, unlike the Z60 series, Nubia might launch its upcoming flagship smartphones in multiple markets at the same time.
Although the specs of the Nubia Z70 Ultra haven’t leaked, it would be safe to assume that the smartphone would pack the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. The company might not opt for the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 as it still can’t beat Qualcomm’s flagship chipset.
Marriott International is being taken to task after the hotel chain suffered multiple data breaches that exposed sensitive information for more than 344 million customers around the world. First, Marriott agreed to a settlement of with a group of 50 US attorneys general. According to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, 131.5 million hotel customers in the states had their information compromised in the attacks on the hotels.
Second, a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission will require Marriott and its Starwood Hotels & Resorts subsidiary to implement a new information security system to protect against future data exposures. The FTC agreement includes measures such as data minimization, account review tools for its loyalty rewards programs and a link for guests to request deletion of their personal information.
Today’s settlements center on three separate data breaches at Marriott and Starwood between 2014 and 2020 that allowed malicious actors to access passport information, payment card numbers, loyalty numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and other personal information. But cybersecurity issues have been an ongoing concern for these two businesses over the past decade. Hackers used “social engineering techniques” to access an employee computer and steal about . Marriott was also part of a larger attack in 2019. Starwood was victim of discovered in 2018; the company faced a fine of about in the UK for that incident.
This week, I’ve been reading about Bill Lawrence’s TV shows and the massively powerful crypto lobby and the wild world of plankton, listening to Ed Helms narrate the excellent Snafu podcast, playing an alarming amount of both Balatro and Retro Goal, trying to get back in the habit of making overnight oats, and taking every single one of my phone calls with the excellent mic on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
I also have for you the coolest alarm clock I can remember, a splashy new Bitcoin documentary, a new monster-taming game people love, a tiny but amazing Google Docs update, and much more. Not the busiest and most exciting week of all time, if I’m honest, but still lots of fun stuff to get to. Let’s do it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you playing / reading / watching / baking / steeping in teapots this week? What should everyone else be into, too? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
- Alarmo. Leave it to Nintendo to build the most charming alarm clock of all time. No, it’s not the high-tech new gadget some people were hoping for. But a super configurable sleep tracking clock that uses Mario noises and retro animations to get your butt out of bed? I’m obviously sold.
- Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. Another day, another splashy reveal that “we’ve found Satoshi Nakamoto!” Color me deeply, deeply skeptical. But even that aside, this doc does a good job of arguing that Nakamoto — and Bitcoin in general — matters.
- Microsoft OneDrive. OneDrive has always been, like, fine. But if Microsoft really has made it faster, improved search, and finally shipped a more photos-focused mobile app, it might finally be a worthy competitor to Google Drive and Dropbox. (Low bar, but hey.)
- Mastodon 4.3. I’ve found it difficult in recent months to really care about Mastodon, which just seemed like it wasn’t ready to be the next big thing. But I think this update, meant to make the platform easier to use but especially meant to make it easier to find people to follow, is pretty exciting.
- Miraibo Go. People keep comparing this open-world monster-taming game to Palworld — because it appears to be super fun and bonkers and also because it doesn’t not look like Pokémon, you know? Either way, I anticipate seeing a lot of people capturing Miras this weekend.
- “Forums Are Still Alive, Active, And A Treasure Trove Of Information.” Chris Person, a writer at Aftermath and friend of The Verge, is right: if you want the real real on almost anything, the best place to go is a forum. And he put together a truly epic list of great forums, which I will be spending too much time in for the foreseeable future.
- Piece By Piece. Even if you don’t care at all about Pharrell Williams, you should watch a few minutes of this Morgan Neville-directed doc, which is entirely animated with Legos. (If you’re going to do that… maybe wait ’til it hits streaming.) The trailer alone makes me want to watch hours of this style.
- Goodnotes. If you’re the write-by-hand type, Goodnotes is one of the best apps out there. And it’s cool to see the company bring AI to the mix — it’s doing some of the same search, handwriting improvement, and equation-solving stuff that is so cool in Apple Notes.
- Dookie Demastered. The silliest, most delightful thing of the week: Green Day took its 30-year-old masterpiece of a record and tried to make it work on, like, an electric toothbrush. Am I willing to pay $79 for a Big Mouth Billy Bass that plays the song “Basket Case”? OF COURSE I AM.
- Google Docs tabs. This is one of those tiny organizational things — splitting a Google Docs doc into tabs instead of just a billion pages — that is going to make my life so much easier. Now can Google just make the mobile app good? Please?
Screen share
Out of all the people at The Verge, no one is better at introducing me to new stuff and teaching me how to use that stuff than Barbara Krasnoff. She’s a reviews editor here at The Verge and also does a ton of work on how-tos and roundups and helping tell everyone about all the best technology everywhere. (She recently turned me back onto UpNote, just to name one — and she’s right, it’s delightful.)
So Barbara tries everything, but what does she actually use? I asked her to share her homescreen to find out. Here it is, plus some info on the apps she uses and why:
The phone: It’s a Pixel 6. I know this may go against the tech enthusiast philosophy of “the latest and greatest,” but I tend to hold on to my phones as long as they work (or break — I’ve been known to drop one or two). I believe that Android 15 will be its last OS update, so I’ll probably have to bite the bullet and get a new phone next year when Android 16 shows up.
The wallpaper: This is a photo I took last year in Owego, New York, where a very close friend grew up. It’s the Susquehanna River at sunset.
The apps: Maps, Contacts, Google Voice, Slack, Chrome, Google Home, Google Photos, Google Drive, Files, Google Play Store, Phone, Messages, Gmail, Camera, Assistant.
The icon labeled “LISTEN” goes to a webpage with a recording of Bob Fosse directing Liza Minnelli in the original Broadway production of Chicago, which gives you some idea of the kind of theater nerd I am.
The second screen has all the other apps that I use on a day-to-day basis, divided into groups. (Or used to use — there are some there that I haven’t opened for a long time and really need to delete.) The Tody app was supposed to motivate me to clean my home, but unfortunately, it hasn’t worked as well as I’d hoped. Smart Tools is a bunch of handy apps (like a mirror, a ruler, and a distance calculator) in one neat package.
I’ve got one more screen that has apps I’m currently experimenting with, but that can change on a day-to-day basis, so I don’t think it counts.
I also asked Barbara to share a few things she’s into right now. Here’s what she sent back:
- Current media obsessions include Agatha All Along, The Great British Bake Off, and rewatching Doctor Who. We’re just finishing the Peter Capaldi era and haven’t yet decided whether to proceed to the Jodie Whittaker era or go back to one of the old Whos, like Tom Baker. I’m really eager to see the latest season of Slow Horses. I read the book it was based on a couple of months ago, but we don’t currently subscribe to Apple TV Plus, so I’ll have to wait.
- I’m almost finished with Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword, which is yet another retelling of the King Arthur legend. Grossman is on my long list of favorite authors, and this is a great example of his skill.
- I’m not much of a gaming person, but I have been battling two friends for several years on Words With Friends 2 — we’re pretty much equally matched. And I love crossword puzzles, Wordle, etc. So I guess I’ll have to adjust that to say I’m a word gaming person.
- Finally, I’m trying to recover my childhood fluency in Yiddish using Duolingo. Not the greatest experience, because it uses a modern Hasidic pronunciation that is much different than the older Eastern European dialect I grew up with. Still, I’m pushing ahead with it.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads.
“Reading Jason Pargin’s I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. A dark, funny commentary on modern culture.” – Matthew
“Strudel. I’ve used a lot of live-coding languages and frameworks, but so far, this one has worked the best for me. It’s a really fun and immediate way of making music compared to a traditional DAW. It has nothing to do with generative AI, it’s not just a prompt engine, it’s basically just another interface for doing what you’d normally do with Ableton or whatever.” – Tom
“I recently stopped using TickTick, as I’ve been trying to reduce my subscriptions. I wanted to try living off of Apple Reminders. I feel like it’s 90 percent of the way there. Luckily, for the last 10 percent, I think I found the perfect app with GoodTask! It’s only for Apple devices, but it basically supercharges Reminders by adding stuff like customization, a better interface, and a calendar. Best of all, it’s a one-time purchase of $10!” – John
“I picked up the Native Union (Re)Classic Case for my iPhone 16 Pro, and this thing is nice.” – Joe
“Superlocal Maps has been a lot of fun and really useful. My favorite feature is Fog of World, which keeps track of where you have and haven’t ‘discovered’ in the world, similar to discovering locations in games like Fortnite but in the real world. Outside of that, it’s got some really cool Perplexity / ChatGPT-like search capabilities for finding places near you, e.g., ‘What are some coffee shops nearby that have free Wi-Fi?’ or ‘What are some dog-friendly parks I can visit in Sydney?’” – Harry
“The new 3-in-1 Ninja Luxe espresso machine has been keeping me overcaffeinated. Weight-based dosing ensures your beans are consistently ground, it evaluates the shots you pull to recommend changes to grind size, and the automated frother makes it easy to get right, too. Great for someone like me who cares about their coffee but isn’t overly fussy about it.” – Scott
“I was looking for a good idle / incremental game to play in down moments, and Idle Iktah has totally fit the bill. I can enjoy mobile games a bit too much sometimes and have to be cautious about getting caught in addictive gameplay loops. Iktah is right in the sweet spot of engaging but not consuming, with charming PNW-inspired pixel art.” – Emmett
“Apple’s native apps have gotten good enough to be your main productivity stack. Forever Notes is an elegant and fresh look at configuring Apple Notes as a sophisticated note program. As a longtime and happy Obsidian user, I’m impressed with how well this configuration works. It’s also very well documented and supported.” – Jim
“I am an old paying Overcast user and can confirm that the new Swift version is finally working fine.” – Gabriel
Signing off
I have to admit something: I have become a spreadsheet person. I’ve avoided Excel, Google Sheets, and anything else that looks like rows and columns for as long as I can remember, but over the course of this year, I’ve worked on an unusual number of big team projects — the sort that require a lot of people to know what’s going on at any given time — and man, you just can’t beat the efficiency of a good spreadsheet. I’m barely scratching the surface, features-wise, but I’m hooked on how easy it is to build a calendar, a project tracker, or just a good ol’ budget system in a spreadsheet. Who needs awesome optimized apps! Give me rows and columns! I hate that I’ve become this person, but I fear there’s no going back.
Also, and I mean this: Send me your awesome-est spreadsheet tips. I am going to be unstoppable.
The unofficial consensus seems to be that the iPhone SE 4 will be announced early in 2025, and a newly leaked image supposedly showing a case for the handset gives us some idea of the design choices we can expect to see.
This image comes from well-established tipster @SonnyDickson, and taken in isolation, it doesn’t look as though much is going to change from the iPhone SE 3 launched in 2022. The rear camera bump is the same size, for example, and in the same position.
The iPhone buttons are all in familiar places too – the cut-outs for the mute switch and the charging port at the bottom, and the raised areas for the volume and power buttons, are all where they should be.
However, we’ve heard from other leaks that the iPhone SE 4 will be the first in the series to ditch Touch ID and the home button, and use Face ID instead: it’s apparently going to resemble the iPhone 14, though these rather major design changes wouldn’t be revealed with a look at the case.
More iPhone SE 4 rumors
Another rumored design tweak that this case leak doesn’t confirm or contradict is an increase in screen size: the iPhone SE 4 display is apparently growing to 6.1 inches from 4.7 inches as well as adding the iconic notch up at the top, giving fans of small phones one less option to pick from.
While the case might not be hugely different from those for the current model – apart from the size – the leak is more evidence that a refresh for this model could be on the way. The iPhone SE 3 launched in March, and the iPhone SE 4 could follow suit.
We’ve also heard the next iPhone SE might have an A18 chip (matching the one inside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus), notable camera upgrades, and a 5G modem made by Apple itself (which could well mean faster speeds on cell networks).
The phone might even support Apple Intelligence, with 8GB of RAM on board enough to get the AI features running smoothly. Hopefully, Apple will still be able to hit the $429 / £419 / AU$719 launch price of the current model.
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Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup is finally here, and it’s definitely an interesting one. Not only did the base models like the iPhone 16 get features that were exclusive to the Pro models from last year, but now Apple has added the all-new Camera Control across the entire lineup while also making the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone Pro Max models more, well, pro than ever before.
But what if you already have an iPhone 15 Pro? Should you upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro? Let’s break it all down.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: specs
| iPhone 16 Pro | iPhone 15 Pro | |
| Dimensions | 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25 mm
5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches |
146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25 mm
5.77 x 2.78 x 0.32 inches |
| Weight | 199 grams
7.03 ounces |
187 grams
6.60 ounces |
| Display | 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
2622 x 1206 pixel resolution at 460 ppi 120Hz refresh rate 1,000 nits typical brightness 1,600 nits HDR brightness 2,000 nits peak outdoor brightness 1 nit minimum brightness |
6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
2556 x 1179 pixel resolution at 460 ppi 120Hz refresh rate 1,000 nits typical brightness 1,600 nits HDR brightness 2,000 nits peak outdoor brightness |
| Durability | IP68
Maximum depth of six meters up to 30 minutes |
IP68
Maximum depth up to six meters up to 30 minutes |
| Colors | Black Titanium
White Titanium Natural Titanium Desert Titanium |
Black Titanium
White Titanium Natural Titanium Blue Titanium |
| Processor | A18 Pro | A17 Pro |
| RAM | 8GB | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB
256GB 512GB 1TB |
128GB
256GB 512GB 1TB |
| Software | iOS 18 | iOS 17 |
| Updates | At least five years | At least five years |
| Apple Intelligence | Yes | Yes |
| Camera Control | Yes | No |
| Visual Intelligence | Yes | No |
| Rear cameras | 48MP Fusion camera, f/1.78
48MP ultrawide camera, f/2.2 12MP telephoto, 5x optical zoom, f/2.8 |
48MP main camera, f/1.78
12MP ultrawide camera, f/2.2 12MP telephoto, 3x optical zoom, f/2.8 |
| Front camera | 12MP TrueDepth camera | 12MP TrueDepth camera |
| Battery | Up to 27 hours of video playback | Up to 23 hours of video playback |
| Charging | 50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter
25W MagSafe wireless charging |
50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter
15W MagSafe wireless charging |
| Price | Starts at $999 | Available at authorized resellers |
| Review | Coming soon | iPhone 15 Pro review |
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: design
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro look very similar in terms of design, but there are some new hardware additions that Apple added this year. Both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro feature titanium and the flat edges that Apple has been using since the iPhone 12 line. Even the triple-lens camera layout remains the same. The Action and volume buttons are still there, too.
However, the iPhone 16 Pro adds a new hardware element this year. It’s called Camera Control, and it’s located on the bottom right side of the titanium frame. This is a physical button that sits flush with the frame, and it can be fully pressed. It also has an integrated touch sensor that allows for slide gestures for additional control.
Aside from the Camera Control, the overall look of both devices is very similar. The iPhone 15 Pro had four colors: Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium. The iPhone 16 Pro has the same colors, except Desert Titanium replaces the blue option.
However, there are also slight differences with the recycled colors, as the White and Natural Titanium are brighter, and the Black Titanium appears darker with the iPhone 16 Pro. Otherwise, these are two very similar looking and feeling smartphones.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: display
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro have the same Super Retina XDR display, which is an OLED panel. They also have always-on capabilities and ProMotion technology with a 120Hz refresh rate. Both phones have 1,000 nits typical brightness, 1,600 nits for HDR content, and 2,000 nits peak brightness for outdoor use.
However, Apple made some minor tweaks this year with the iPhone 16 Pro. While the iPhone 15 Pro had a 6.1-inch display, the iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display, so it’s a bit larger due to reduced bezels. The iPhone 16 Pro can also be set to a minimum brightness of 1 nit in low-light environments, making it more comfortable to look at in a dark room or at night.
Apple also uses the latest generation Ceramic Shield for the iPhone 16 Pro, while the iPhone 15 Pro has the previous generation. However, Apple claims both versions are “tougher than any smartphone glass,” so you should expect good drop resistance across both. However, from personal experience, small scratches may be a different story.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: cameras
Apple made some nice improvements to the camera system on the iPhone 16 Pro, making it better than its predecessor in more ways than one.
The iPhone 15 Pro has a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 12MP telephoto lens that can only achieve a 3x optical zoom. Because of size constraints, Apple could not fit its newer telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom into the iPhone 15 Pro, only the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The TrueDepth front camera is 12MP.
With the iPhone 16 Pro, you get a new 48MP Fusion camera (a new term for “wide” or “main”), a 48MP ultrawide camera, and a 12MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom. That’s right — thanks to the slightly larger physical size of the iPhone 16 Pro, it now gets the 5x optical zoom that was missing last year. The TrueDepth front camera is still just 12MP though.
The iPhone 16 Pro also has some new photography and video tricks that you won’t get on the iPhone 15 Pro. That includes 48MP macro photography, 4K Dolby Vision video recording, improved studio-quality four-mic array, wind noise reduction, audio mix, and more.
Though the iPhone 15 Pro still has a good camera system, the iPhone 16 Pro is definitely a step up. And if you tend to take more professional videos, then it’s a no-brainer to go with the iPhone 16 Pro.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: software and performance
The iPhone 15 Pro originally shipped with iOS 17 and is upgradable to iOS 18. You can expect around five or so more years of support from Apple, as the company doesn’t give specific numbers like its competitors.
The iPhone 15 Pro (and its larger sibling) meets the minimum requirement for Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18 since it has the A17 Pro chip and 8GB RAM. In daily use, the iPhone 15 Pro has held up pretty great — apps and games open up quickly, switching between apps is fast and seamless, and everything basically runs without a hitch.
But the iPhone 16 Pro takes things to another level. It has the new A18 Pro chip, which Apple claims has a 20% increase in memory bandwidth, 2x boost at hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and 20% improvement in sustained performance. It should also be more power efficient than its predecessor, though this didn’t bear out in our battery tests.
The iPhone 16 Pro was built from the ground up to get the most out of Apple Intelligence. And with the Camera Control, you’ll be able to get Visual Intelligence, which won’t be coming to the iPhone 15 Pro. Visual Intelligence is like Google Lens, but utilizes Apple Intelligence and Siri. The iPhone 15 Pro is no slouch, but we’ll have to wait until Apple Intelligence launches to judge how well the iPhone 16 Pro handles it.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: battery life and charging
The iPhone 15 Pro has a 3,274mAh battery, which equates to about 23 hours of streamed video playback, according to Apple. In our personal use with an iPhone 15 Pro for the past year, the battery life started out strong in the beginning, but nowadays it does need a charge in the middle of the day to get through the entire day.
The iPhone 16 Pro battery appears slightly bigger than the one from last year. However, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Apple claims about 27 hours of streamed video playback with the iPhone 16 Pro, but the battery regularly dropped under 20% within 12 hours during testing. If you’re looking for significantly longer battery life, you won’t find it here.
As far as charging goes, Apple did not make any improvements on the iPhone 16 Pro in regards to the wired charging speed, as it remains the same as before (50% charge in 30 minutes with 20W adapter). But for wireless charging, it can now get up to 25W wireless MagSafe charging, up from 15W previously.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: verdict
If you already have an iPhone 15 Pro, then it may be hard to recommend upgrading to the iPhone 16 Pro. After all, the iPhone 15 Pro is capable of running Apple Intelligence features with iOS 18, and it’s still a very good phone a year after its release.
However, if you want access to the new Camera Control, which unlocks Visual Intelligence, as well as the improved 48MP ultrawide lens and 5x optical zoom capabilities, then the iPhone 16 Pro may be worth upgrading to. Also, if you can take advantage of a trade-in deal that can get you up to $1,000 off the iPhone 16 Pro, it may be worth pulling the trigger for that alone. It’s not an absolutely necessary upgrade, but if you find a good deal and think you’d get a lot out of the Camera Control and new camera sensors, it’s worth considering.
The OnePlus 13 was rumored to include a 6,000mAh battery. Well, that has just been confirmed. The OnePlus 13 will ship with a beefy 6,000mAh battery pack, and upgrade to the 5,400mAh battery of its predecessor.
The OnePlus 13 will feature a beefy battery pack, a 6,000mAh unit
Just to be clear, that 5,400mAh battery was already great considering the phone it’s in. It trumped the vast majority of the competition, both in capacity and longevity. Well, this new addition should bring things to a whole new level.
The phone will likely retain the same display size as its predecessor, or at least close to it. Its chip will be more power efficient, so we’re expecting to see even better battery life this time around.
How do we know it will include a 6,000mAh battery, though? Well, thanks to a certification listing from China, China’s TAF certification, which you can see below. The phone will actually include two 2,920mAh battery packs, it seems. That comes to 5,840mAh battery, but it will be marketed as a typical battery capacity of 6,000mAh.
Using a 6,000mAh battery in a phone is not new for OnePlus, though. The OnePlus Ace 3 Pro which arrived back in June has a 6,100mAh battery pack on the inside.
The device will launch at some point this month, at least it’s expected to
The OnePlus 13 is expected to launch in OnePlus’ home market at some point this month. OnePlus still didn’t confirm anything, however, so it remains to be seen. Plenty of flagship-grade phones are coming this month as this is the launch month of the two most important mobile processors.
The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 has already launched, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite is coming soon. The OnePlus 13 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, as OnePlus always utilizes the latest Snapdragon chip.
It was confirmed recently, by a trusted tipster, that the OnePlus 13 will feature the BOE X2 quad micro-curved display. That will be the 8T LTPO panel with a 2K resolution and an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. An ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner will also be used.
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