The Morning After: The next iPhone could have been port-free

The iPhone 17 Air (even the name is a rumor) is reportedly arriving this fall. As that Air suffix suggests, it could be Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever.

However, while thin is all good, an arguably more intriguing change didn’t quite make it through the design process. In the latest Power On newsletter (we love a newsletter), Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple had planned to ditch the USB-C port, making “Apple’s first completely port-free iPhone.” The notion was ditched in the face of more EU regulator issues, but it could appear in subsequent iPhones.

Don’t worry, though, Apple has plenty of incoming phones to distract you. We’re expecting Apple to release another four iPhones this year, with the one currently nicknamed the iPhone 17 Air roughly 2 millimeters thinner than the rest. It could replace the Plus iPhone, with the family running from an entry-level iPhone 17 through to two higher-end Pro models. The new iPhone Air would nestle somewhere in the middle, for around $900.

Rumors about the iPhone Air’s specs are still coalescing and shifting, but many reports suggest a single-camera system, the Dynamic Island and the Camera Control button.

Alas, no iPhone mini. Thinner, not smaller.

— Mat Smith

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What to expect at NVIDIA’s annual GTC conference with CEO Jensen Huang

Quantum computing, AI, AI and AI.

NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference has kicked off, with CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote due in a few hours, at 1PM ET.

Last year, NVIDIA used the event to unveil its Blackwell line of GPUs for faster and less demanding computations. We’re guessing Huang will introduce another iteration of Blackwell GPUs with even better specs. Many observers are looking for a strong showing, following the emergence of DeepSeek’s cheaper, lighter AI models, which shook up NVIDIA’s share price.

Meanwhile, there have been many issues related to its latest RTX product launches — so will the company have a solution?

Continue reading.

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The Pixel 9a has leaked so hard that YouTubers are reviewing it

We don’t have our own review models yet.

The Mobile Central

At least two YouTubers have reviewed Google’s next entry-level Pixel phone. Both The Mobile Central and Sahil Karoul have Google’s new phone, confirming a lot of the stuff we knew about the Pixel 9a already. Seriously, there are few surprises — and at this point, it looks like leaking everything to do with its phones is part of Google’s PR strategy. Prove me wrong!

After all that thin iPhone chat, the Pixel 9a doesn’t have Google’s trademark camera bump. Instead, the cameras are almost flush with the plastic back of the phone. The Pixel 9a also has a Google-made Tensor G4 chip, with a 48-megapixel wide and 13-megapixel ultrawide for photos and video.

Continue reading.

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Boeing Starliner astronauts finally head home, nine months later

The President and Elon Musk turned a routine mission into a political circus.

Boeing Starliner’s mission — its first flight test with crew aboard — was supposed to take only eight days. However, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have, instead, spent the past nine and a half months aboard the International Space Station.

Finally, they’re heading home, later today, according to NASA. We unravel why it took this long and what went wrong.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-112230540.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-112230540.html?src=rss