What to expect from Apple’s iPhone 15 event

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Apple is holding its next big event in September to take the wraps off the iPhone 15, new Apple Watches, and more.

Here, we’ll go over how and when you can watch the event, along with the new product announcements we’re expecting to see from Apple.

When is the iPhone 15 showcase?

The iPhone 15 event will take place on September 12th, 2023, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. As shown in the invite sent out by Apple, the company has named the event “Wonderlust.” It will take place live from Apple Park in Cupertino, California.

How to watch Apple’s iPhone 15 event

As is the case with past events, Apple will likely stream the iPhone 15 showcase on its website and YouTube channel. You can also watch it from the livestream embedded at the top of this...

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The best wireless earbuds to buy right now

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The best from Apple, Bose, Samsung, Sony, Beats, Google, and more

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Google’s latest Android feature updates come with a refreshed logo

That’s Android with a capital A, sir. | Image: Google

Google is releasing a grab bag of updates to its mobile apps and services, including an At a Glance Google Assistant widget, enhancements to its Lookout visual accessibility app, and Zoom calls in Android Auto. This comes with a side of branding updates designed to remind us that Android is fun but also a serious Google product. It all arrives as we anticipate Android 14’s imminent release, which is a slightly less exciting milestone when you realize that most new Android features come throughout the year in updates like this rather than in one big OS platform upgrade.

Image: Google

At a Glance surfaces useful things like current weather updates and travel info.

The new At a Glance widget takes a useful Pixel...

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Final Fantasy XVI just received a free content update and is now $20 off

Clive, much like this deal, is on fire. | Image: Square Enix

With so many major game releases happening this year — and even this week — you could almost forget that a new mainline Final Fantasy dropped just a couple of months back. Well now, it’s already on a sizable sale. Final Fantasy XVI is selling for $49.99 ($20 off) at both Amazon and Best Buy, its lowest price yet.

Final Fantasy XVI is the most gritty and blood-soaked installment of the series to date, taking a chapter or three from George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones when it comes to sex and political intrigue. It may be rote to describe it as “this ain’t your daddy’s Final Fantasy,” but once you hear main protagonist Clive drop some f-bombs, it will be clear. The game also brings some interesting new twists on series mainstays, like...

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Volkswagen’s electric GTI concept teases the future of hot hatches

Image: VW

How do you tweak a classic hot hatch for the electric era? If you’re Volkswagen, you simply announce that the “I” in GTI now stands for “intelligence” instead of “injection” and call it a day.

Just kidding. Obviously, VW went much further in unveiling the new GTI concept, or ID.GTI, which had its official debut at IAA Mobility in Munich this weekend. The reinterpretation of the 1976 original GTI has a lot more state-of-the-art tech and an electrified powertrain. But moreover, it could signal the future of this particular form of quick-footed hatchback.

The VW ID.GTI is just a concept, but a production version will be coming to Europe at some future date. The US market may be part of the mix as well, but time will tell.

The VW ID.GTI...

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The multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3 sorely needs a dungeon master

Not our finest moment. | Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Baldur’s Gate 3 sounds like a fantastic single-player experience. I wish I’d tried that instead of playing with my closest friends!

This isn’t about difficulty: I fully expected to be beaten, shot, stabbed, and otherwise destroyed for taking on enemies too fast. I just wish developer Larian had designed a multiplayer experience that gave me the first freaking clue what’s going on.

Want to make sure you don’t miss an important conversation that might determine the course of the game? Better make sure you’re watching your companions’ character portraits on the left of the screen like a hawk! At any moment, they might click on something or walk somewhere that triggers a cutscene, and a tiny conversation indicator is the difference...

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How Afripods is trying to grow the podcast market in Africa

“Sincerely Accra” is a part of the Gold Coast Report podcast network. | Image: GCR

This is Hot Pod_,_ The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.

Hope everyone has had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. For today’s issue of Hot Pod, I have a Q&A I conducted with Afripod’s chief content officer and head of strategy, Kevin Y. Brown. The African podcasting platform — headquartered in Kenya — is considered the largest in the continent and is in the middle of an interesting partnership with radio stations. I got to hear Brown’s thoughts on the new initiative and — as well as how Afripods is spreading awareness of podcasting as a medium throughout Africa. I also have a lightning round of deals and announcements for today’s issue.

Since I’ll be off for the rest of the week, Hot Pod will...

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Sand mining is a huge problem, a new global map shows

A dredger shoots sand onto a beach in France. The boat pumps sand from offshore sand bars before shooting it back onto beaches in an effort to fight erosion. | Image: NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP via Getty Images

People are dredging an alarming amount of sand from the seafloor, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned today. An average of 6 billion tons of sand are taken from marine environments every year, according to a new global data platform from UNEP.

That comes out to more than 1 million dump trucks of sand extracted per day to make concrete and glass, build new artificial beaches, or replenish eroding coastlines. The pace is getting even more untenable, putting increasing pressure on marine life and coastal communities.

“It’s not sustainable.”

“It’s not sustainable. The amount of sand that we are withdrawing from the environment is considerable and has large impacts,” Pascal Peduzzi, director of a UNEP center for analytics...

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Stray is being turned into a movie

Image: Annapurna Interactive

Stray, the hit Annapurna Interactive game starring a cat, is getting a “feature adaptation” from Annapurna Animation, according to a press release. Annapurna didn’t share much else about the movie — we still don’t know when it might come out or what it might look like — but if you were a fan of the game and looking for another way to experience the game’s universe, now you can look forward to this upcoming film.

In the press release, Annapurna also said that it plans to adapt more Annapurna Interactive titles in the future, though it didn’t specify which games might be turned into movies or shows. Scrolling through the studio’s list of games, there are a lot of good candidates, though; perhaps a Kentucky Route Zero miniseries? A Donut...

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Nomad’s new 3-in-1 MagSafe charger is a metal slab for your Apple device trio

I, too, charge my devices in a blank void of solitude. | Image: Nomad

After toying with lower-cost magnetic Qi wireless charging for a minute, Nomad is back on its proper MagSafe charger kick. The premium accessory maker is announcing a new multi-charger that’s meant to charge your iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once and look good doing it.

Nomad’s Base One Max 3-in-1 is a $170 MagSafe charger that can simultaneously fast-charge a compatible iPhone at 15W (hey, it’s fast for an iPhone, okay?), an Apple Watch, and a set of AirPods or other wireless earbuds with Qi charging built into their case. The 3-in-1 weighs a hefty 1.7 pounds (755 grams), comes with a detachable 6.6ft / 2m USB-C cable, requires a 30W power adapter (not included), and comes in black or silver colors that can both be ordered...

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The best instant cameras you can buy right now

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge

We found the best cameras for your budget and needs.

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Niantic’s new AR experiment is a ho-hum Pikmin mobile browser game

Oh, hey, a strawberry. | Photo by Wes Davis / The Verge

Niantic has a new Pikmin AR experiment for your mobile browser, called Pikmin Finder, that lets you pluck pikmin from any old place and send them off to collect treasure for you (via Nintendo Life). It’s basically a cute, distilled version of 2021’s Pikmin Bloom, and unless you’re just hopelessly charmed by Shigeru Miyamoto’s imaginary garden creatures, it’s only good for a couple minutes of diversion. And the only official acknowledgment that it exists appears to be a support article.

Niantic has had trouble lately, so it’s not a surprise this was released so quietly. Between summer layoffs, a studio closure, and a lawsuit alleging internal sexual bias, the beleaguered company hasn’t put its best foot forward lately. Niantic has a lot...

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New Xbox update includes game streaming to Discord friends and VRR improvements

New Discord update for Xbox. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is rolling out a new Xbox dashboard for September that includes the ability to stream your Xbox gameplay to Discord friends and variable refresh rate (VRR) improvements for the Xbox Series S / X consoles. The dashboard update also includes the new Xbox voice reporting feature and a new way to pair accessories to Xbox consoles.

The updated Discord functionality means you can now stream your gameplay to anyone on Discord. It’s built into the Parties & Chats section of the dashboard, and a new “stream your game” option now appears once you’re connected to a Discord server. You can customize your stream quality, and the feature arrives just in time for tomorrow’s release of Starfield.

This Discord stream feature is only one-way,...

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Nintendo’s holiday Switch bundles toss in Mario Kart or Animal Crossing for free

Image: Nintendo

It’s September, so naturally, it means it’s time to announce all the holiday video game bundles. And as inevitable as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” being the number one song in America in October, Nintendo is releasing yetanother Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holiday bundle.

This non-Switch OLED bundle comes with three months of Nintendo Switch online. But, if you want all the extra courses and characters added over the years,like Birdo, Kamek, and Petey Piranha, you’ll have to purchase the Booster Course DLC for $25 or sign up for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack at $50 for a year’s subscription.

This year, Nintendo’s also offering an _Animal Crossing: New Horizon_s bundle for the Switch Lite. (Remember that game? It...

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Sony is making a $2,950 screenless, battery-less full-frame camera for drones

The camera isn’t much bigger than the E-mount itself. | Image: Sony

Sony’s got a teeny-tiny new box camera that’s small and light enough to be sent into the sky on a drone, and it’s packing the high-resolution 61-megapixel full-frame sensor of its A7R V camera.

The Sony ILX-LR1 is a new E-mount full-frame mirrorless camera that’s only a bit larger than an average deck of playing cards and weighs just half a pound, yet it has the latest Bionz XR processor and supports 4K video up to 60 fps. That’s an incredibly small package for a lot of imaging output, but it also lacks an electronic viewfinder, a screen of any sort, a standard handgrip, and even a battery. This $2,950 camera, expected to launch in December, is tailor-made for flying on high-end drones and specialty industrial uses — like surveying and...

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This split ergonomic keyboard looks like it’s ripped right from Starfield

The gap between the keyboard’s two halves gives you so much room for activities (or a trackball). | Image: ZSA

Ever wonder what it might feel like to be an astronaut who’s concerned about avoiding carpal tunnel while working their nine-to-five desk job? Now there’s a keyboard to help you live that fantasy.

ZSA is today releasing another Space Age-looking mechanical keyboard: the $365 Voyager. Like the similarly priced Moonlander Mark I before it, the ZSA Voyager is a split ergonomic keyboard. It’s designed to relieve some wrist and shoulder stress by allowing you to type with your hands further apart than traditional boards, fine-tune the height and tenting angle of each side, and reduce the overall amount of movement necessary to type. But what’s unique to the Voyager is just how short and compact it is for an off-the-shelf keyboard.

The...

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Microsoft to stop forcing Windows 11 users into Edge in EU countries

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft will finally stop forcing Windows 11 users in Europe into Edge if they click a link from the Windows Widgets panel or from search results. The software giant has started testing the changes to Windows 11 in recent test builds of the operating system, but the changes are restricted to countries within the European Economic Area (EEA).

“In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows system components use the default browser to open links,” reads a change note from a Windows 11 test build released to Dev Channel testers last month. I asked Microsoft to comment on the changes and, in particular, why they’re only being applied to EU countries. Microsoft refused to comment.

Microsoft has been ignoring default browser choices in its...

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BMW expands its deal with Amazon Web Services to include autonomous vehicle data

Image: Roberto Baldwin for The Verge

BMW says it will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud software to manage data from its autonomous vehicles.

The company has a preexisting deal with AWS to handle data from its connected cars. Now, the German automaker is expanding that deal to include data from its next-generation advanced driver-assist system (ADAS), which is partly powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride Vision platform.

“Generative artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, machine learning, and storage capabilities”

BMW says AWS will help provide cloud storage from data related to “generative artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, machine learning, and storage capabilities to help accelerate the delivery of highly automated BMW vehicles.”

The AWS software will...

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How well does Starfield run on PC?

Image: Bethesda

Starfield needs a modern CPU for the very best settings and experience.

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In a bid to please regulators, TikTok opens its first EU data center

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok has started transferring European user information to its newly launched data center in Ireland. In an update on Tuesday, TikTok says it’s working on opening two additional data centers in Europe, including one in Norway and another in Ireland.

TikTok’s move to open a data center in Ireland comes as the European Union clamps down on large online platforms with the Digital Services Act, a rule that has forced TikTok to make its algorithm optional for users in the EU.

TikTok says it’s working with the NCC Group, a UK-based security company, to audit its “data controls and protections, monitor data flows, provide independent verification, and report any incidents.” It adds that only “approved employees” can access the controls and...

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PowerA is adding the wrong kind of wireless to its wired Xbox controller

It’s got nice features like hair-trigger lockouts, but what is up with these cheap-o looking LED strips? | Image: PowerA

Accessory maker PowerA seems to know that RGB gamer lights are all the rage, but its new Xbox controller and LED strips have very strong “We have gamer lights at home!” vibes.

PowerA’s new RGB-infused peripheral is the Advantage Wired Controller for Xbox Series X / S with Lumectra. It’s a $44.99 wired gamepad available in black or white with some nice sounding features, like hair triggers, two customizable rear buttons, four-zone RGB lighting with three preprogrammed modes, and a detachable USB-C cable (a nice upgrade over PowerA’s cheaper models still plagued by Micro USB ports).

That all sounds well and good, but the new wired Advantage also has some wireless tech — no, it doesn’t have any official Xbox wireless connectivity like...

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Facebook’s unloved ‘News’ tab is going away in Europe

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta plans to “deprecate” the News tab in Facebook’s bookmarks section in the UK, France, and Germany. That’s typically been company speak for removing a feature. The changes are supposed to go into effect in early December, according to Meta.

“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short form video,” the company said in a press release today.

This is the latest action Facebook has taken to make news a lower priority on its platform. It’s also another step toward mimicking shortform video content on TikTok.

“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short...

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Ring’s former CEO is rebranding Latch to Door.com

Image: Latch

Latch, the commercial access company run by the founder of Ring, is expanding beyond smart locks. The company announced today that it’s rebranding to Door.com with the goal of offering an overarching platform that gives independent service workers, like drivers, housekeepers, and dog walkers, a platform to grow their businesses.

After founding Ring in 2013, Jamie Siminoff sold the company to Amazon in 2018, where he continued to work until leaving in May of this year. The next day, Latch announced that it had acquired Siminoff’s four-month-old stealth startup, Honest Day’s Work, and Siminoff became the Chief Doorman of Latch (but will soon become CEO). Honest Day’s Work aimed to create “a full-building operating system designed to help...

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It’s time to put oceans to the test in the climate fight, scientists say

A rendering of what ocean-based climate tech could look like. Caltech researchers are developing technology to filter CO2 out of seawater to allow oceans to absorb even more of the greenhouse gas. | Image: Caltech

More than 200 scientists have signed onto a letter pushing for “responsible” research into ways to trap planet-heatingcarbon dioxide in the world’s oceans. They want to take urgent action on the climate crisis, while making sure they don’t trigger any new problems by relying on oceans to help in the fight.

Polluters have trashed the world’s atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. That blanket of pollution is already warming the planet and causing more extreme weather disasters. One way to keep climate change from getting worse is to take some of those historic emissions out of the atmosphere.

Oceans already do that for us, absorbing and holding around 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere. What if humans could...

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DLSS 3 mod for Starfield has a controversial DRM paywall

Image: Bethesda Softworks

Starfield isn’t even officially out of early access yet, but one of its mods has already generated controversy within the community. The mod in question adds support for Nvidia’s DLSS 3 upscaling technology, which Bethesda omitted to include in Starfield in favor of AMD’s rival FSR 2. But users have been critical of modder PureDark’s decision to lock DLSS 3’s more advanced frame-generation features behind a subscription to their Patreon. The free version of the mod only supports DLSS 2, which offers upscaling but not frame generation.

Attempting to charge users for mods is a controversial topic, as Bethesda and Valve discovered when they teamed up to let modders charge for their Skyrim mods via Steam in 2015. The move was so...

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Logitech’s latest Pro-branded gaming keyboard is wireless, RGB, and $199

The keyboard comes in a choice of black, white, or pink. | Image: Logitech

Logitech has a new mechanical gaming keyboard it’s announcing today: the Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed. It’s available now for $199 in a choice of three colors (black, white, and pink) and three switch types — linear GX Red, tactile GX Browns, and clicky GX Blues. The keyboard arrives alongside a new mouse, the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2.

As its name suggests, the Pro X TKL Lightspeed can connect to a computer using Logitech’s Lightspeed dongle, which offers a 1000Hz polling rate. That should feel far more responsive than Bluetooth, which this keyboard also supports, but typically polls at a less responsive 125Hz. There’s also the option of a wired connection via the USB-C port on the top of the Pro X TKL Lightspeed, which also...

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The new Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 gives me serious mouse envy

The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 mouse. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

I called it the real magic mouse, but I can no longer look at my award-winning Logitech G502 Lightspeed quite the same way — because I’ve just been spoiled by a new mouse that’s roughly half its weight.

Logitech has just announced the G Pro X Superlight 2, the fastest and lightest mouse the company’s ever made, and after spending a very long Labor Day weekend blasting baddies and clicking desktop files, I’m already finding it hard to go back.

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

It’s not quite ambidextrous; you still only get your Mouse 4 and Mouse 5 buttons on the left.

The $159 Superlight 2 weighs just 60 grams (2.1 ounces), down from the original 63-gram mouse and way lighter than my 114 gram G502...

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Apple and Microsoft reportedly want iMessage and Bing off the EU’s tech ‘gatekeeper’ list

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft and Apple are reportedly pushing to keep Bing and iMessage, respectively, off a list of “gatekeepers” subject to new European regulations. Financial Times reports that both companies are privately (and separately) arguing that their services aren’t large or powerful enough to justify earning the restrictions of the Digital Markets Act, a rule designed to promote competition in tech.

The European Commission is set to publish a list of designated gatekeepers on September 6th, naming overall companies as well as specific services they offer. These powerful platforms, defined based on their revenue and user numbers, will be required to meet a slew of interoperability and competition rules. Apple and Microsoft — along with Amazon,...

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Meta’s next Quest Pro might be a team-up with LG

Photo by Adi Robertson / The Verge

A Korean news report suggests Meta is partnering with LG to release a successor to its high-end Quest Pro virtual reality headset in 2025. As spotted by UploadVR, Maeil Business Newspaper writes that Meta has struck a deal for a joint venture with LG. The resulting headset is rumored to be priced at around $2,000 and use LG displays, as well as other parts from LG subsidiaries like LG Innotek. Maeil Business Newspaper furthermore claims Meta will release a low-end Quest headset in 2024 that could cost under $200.

Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge, and some of the details of the report seem unintuitive. $200 would be a major price drop for the consumer Quest; the Quest 2 sells for $299 after Meta...

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This robot vacuum mop may solve the problem of dirty docks

The SwitchBot S10 robot vacuum and mop costs $1,199.99 and comes with an auto-empty / charging dock plus a battery-powered water refill dock. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

After previewing its latest robotic invention earlier this month, SwitchBot officially launched the S10 robot vacuum and mop at IFA 2023 in Berlin last week. The $1,199.99 bot, coming to Kickstarter in October, features an automatic water refill station that does away with the bulky water tanks housed in giant auto-empty docks that have become the hallmark of top-of-the-line floor cleaners from Roborock, Ecovacs, etc.

Unlike those models that clean and dry their dirty mops in a small “sink” in the dock, the SwitchBot S10 has an internal roller brush mop that it cleans using a squeegee method as it vacuums. This means no standing water or scuzzy mop left to get smelly.

VIDEO: My hands-on demo of the new SwitchBot 10 and its automatic...

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