Hondas potential merger with Nissan would represent one of the largest shake-ups to the industry since the creation of Stellantis in 2021. But there are huge risks involved, too. On Tuesday in Las Vegas, during a roundtable discussion with select media, Honda executives offered some more insight into the merger, including how combining resources and factories could help the companies stay competitive in the increasingly costly fight with China.Honda is concerned about Chinas meteoric rise as a dominant and highly competitive player in the EV and autonomous driving space. In late December, when Honda and Nissan announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to create an automotive company worth around $50 billion, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said that the rise of Chinese automakers and new players has changed the car industry quite a lot... We have to build up capabilities to fight with them by 2030, otherwise well be beaten.Honda executives offered some more insight into the mergerThe stakes are high, too. According to a recent report by S&P Global Mobility, the global EV market will grow nearly 30 percent year over year, with 89.6 million new EVs expected to be sold this year. According to Allied Market Research, the global autonomous vehicle market is expected to reach around $60.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $448.6 billion by 2035. If the Japanese automakers want to continue to dominate the market as they have since the 1960s, they have to iterate quickly and get products into consumers hands.Since the beginning of last year, weve been in conversation with Nissan, Noriya Kaihara, director and executive vice president at Honda, said through a translator following the companys debut of two production prototypes, the Honda 0 Saloon and the Honda 0 SUV at CES. Nothing has been decided but weve been discussing how to proceed.The Honda 0 Saloon at CES. Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The VergeHonda wants Nissans large SUVs and underutilized factoriesDuring the roundtable, Kaihara said that Honda is looking at Nissan as a way to reduce costs around future software-defined vehicles (SDV).We have significant labor and development costs, and if there are operations we could share, that would be good for us, he said. Developing brand-new software, he continued, including advanced driving systems that move closer to autonomous vehicles and battery-electric vehicles, is both increasingly important for the longevity of established automakers and increasingly expensive.Honda also said that Nissans large SUVs like the Armadaand Pathfinder make it an attractive partner. Toshihiro Akiwa, VP and head of Hondas BEV development center, said through a translator that Hondas hybrid technology is solid but only currently exists in its midsize vehicles like the CR-V and the Accord. The company is interested in Nissans larger vehicles because Hondas motor and battery capacity can be adapted to the larger vehicle.The Honda Prologue. Image: HondaThe Nissan Armada. Image: NissanWhile Honda does have the Prologue, that vehicle was part of a $5 billion joint venture with GM that only lasted through the development of two vehicles. The Prologue has been a surprise EV hit, selling over 33,000 in 2024 and outselling the larger gas-powered Honda Passport. Since the partnership with GM went south, its not likely that the Prologue will be in production long, though Honda has made no announcements about its plans for the vehicle. Honda does not currently offer an all-electric crossover outside of the Prologue, though fans of the brand have been asking for an all-electric CR-V for years.Nissan, on the other hand, saw its earnings decline by as much as 90 percent last year, forcing it to lay off thousands of employees. The company has been struggling since the arrest of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2018 for financial misconduct. Unsurprisingly, Ghosn isnt pleased about the news, telling Bloomberg that Nissan was in panic mode, calling the deala desperate move and noting that the synergies between the two companies are difficult to find.But as Honda executives at the roundtable noted, Nissans struggle could pose an opportunity for Honda, too. Thats because Honda plants that serve the US are currently running at maximum capacity, and they could use the excess capacity at Nissans factories to meet customer demand. Im not in a position to make comment [on Nissan], but they have capacity, Kaihara said.Hondas factory in Ontario, Canada. Photo by PETER POWER / AFP via Getty ImagesTrumps tariff threats and loss of EV incentivesPresident-elect Donald Trumps threats to impose tariffs on foreign imports and eliminate federal subsidies that have helped save Americans billions in EV costs also came up in the conversation.If Trump impacts future government strategy we have to be very flexible when the subsidies are cut or stopped, Kaihara said.That includes where Honda builds and produces its most popular vehicles like the CR-V and Civic. Each factory in Canada and Mexico is almost to full production level, Kaihara said. Its not so easy to change that direction, but depending on the tariff situation, we might have to change the production location to Japan or somewhere else. A significant move like that would be costly and could translate to increased prices for consumers when they go to buy their next Honda.In spite of all this, Honda is not wavering on its commitment to electrification.For the time being, we will have new EVs in the next year for the Zero series, Kaihara said. For the long term, I think, considering the environmental issues, EVs will be the solution for the future, and that will not be changed.

Twelve years ago, I could have told you exactly what happened at my first CES and what happened at my third. Each was a chapter with a beginning, middle, and end; the lines between them drawn clearly. But now, 15 years since I attended my first CES, its a lot fuzzier. I know I missed my flight home at that first show. I know I saw a lot of cameras at first, and then progressively fewer cameras over the years. I know there were team dinners and early meetings, but I couldnt tell you what happened when.What I do know about my first CESes is that I had and I cannot stress this enough no clue what I was doing. The same went for CES two, three, and four, to varying degrees. I think I had a Pentax DSLR loaned to me by a colleague. I had a work-issued BlackBerry and, Im pretty sure, insisted on wearing nice dresses and impractical shoes to evening events. There was no Uber at the beginning, and you could spend an hour waiting in a cab line at the airport. We stayed at the MGM Grand, which housed live lions at the time.I broke an 11-year streak of not going to CES this year, which gave me a rare opportunity. Its not often in life that we get to step back and see something that has become routine with fresh eyes. But thats more or less been my assignment at CES 2025. Theres not much for me here on the smartphone beat, so my job is to just walk the show floor, find cool stuff, and put it on the site. Ive taken this remit extremely seriously by scheduling very few meetings, loading The Verges CMS on my phones browser, and wearing sensible shoes for the miles of walking I will embark on.The journey starts on day one in the West Hall. Theres a Dunkin with a line that moves quickly, plenty of seating, and electrical outlets built into the booths. None of it tracks with my memories of deteriorating seating areas so small and crowded I frequently ate lunch sitting on the floor. Later, I realized thats because this entire hall just wasnt there the last time I was at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). I tell myself Ill do a quick lap around the place and then head to Central Hall to see the big booths, but then I spot them: Big Tractors.This was not here in 2014.Theyre enormous, and only some of them are tractors. The first one I spotted is an autonomous, articulated dump truck, a John Deere representative informs me. I have no real reason to be here, but it is cool as hell. Forty minutes later, I have pictures of myself in front of all the tractors, a garbage truck, and an electric fire truck. I wind up right back where I started an hour later and head toward the Central Hall searching for robots.CES always has A Thing. I remember the days of sitting through demos of 3D TVs. This year, its robots: both the hardware kind and the ones embedded in software. Robots picking up socks, walking up stairs, offering companionship, or just being cute lil guys. And of course, robots in the form of AI. Everything has AI in it, from TVs to glasses, whether it has any business being there or not.Robots arent new to CES, of course, but this crop seems capable of actually doing things for us, though reliability varies. I watched one small, adorable robot dive off a table unexpectedly as it dashed toward my colleague. Its durable, the robots handler said as she picked it up and set it back on its perch. I dont think we have anything to fear from the current crop of robots, you know, overlord-wise.We love our cute robots this year.Getting around Las Vegas during the show the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) says about 140,000 people are attending this year remains a major obstacle. A decades worth of transportation innovation has done nothing to improve the situation. I still find myself walking between venues to avoid the gridlock on the streets and in the rideshare pickup zones. At one point, I climb into a Tesla with two other attendees and descend into the Vegas Loop. It feels like a short, slightly futuristic Uber ride and saves me a long walk between the West and Central halls. Cool, I guess? But theres still no good way to get from the LVCC to The Venetian, and I sit on a bus that creeps forward for 15 minutes through a half dozen traffic light cycles waiting to make one last left turn into the expo drop-off.1/9 Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge1/9 Photo by Allison Johnson / The VergeOutside of the convention center, I take in the ways that Vegas has changed and not over the last decade. Tourists still line the banks of the gondola route through The Venetian as the gondoliers voice echoes in a slightly mournful tone, reverberating from a Banana Republic storefront. There are still men standing along the street handing out cards for seedy entertainment, slapping the pieces of paper to get your attention. A woman standing at the front desk outside of a restaurant exclaims, Allison! Is that you? as I hustle by on my way to an appointment. I fell for that tactic one or two times in previous years, but I know enough now to remember that shes just read the name on my badge and I dont break my stride. In Vegas, your attention is a currency thats second only to actual currency.Afeela like somebodys watching me. Thats a CES joke, people.Theres one new fixture on the strip thats impossible to ignore: the Sphere. One of my meetings in a hotel suite overlooking the Sphere comes to a halt so we can watch an animation of what looks like an alien breaking the glass and climbing out of it. The biggest item on my agenda on day two of the show is Deltas keynote at the Sphere (its Sphere, not the Sphere, Deltas media communications remind us). This isnt the first time its been used as a CES venue, but it is the first keynote presentation in the space. And the keynote is quite the show. Delta uses the Spheres massive interior screen and other experiential effects in all the ways youd imagine. A plane rolls toward the audience, and as it turns to taxi, a wind whips up as if from the jets engines. The simulated plane lands later and our seats rumble to mimic the impact of touching down on the runway. At one point, a syrupy sweet smell is pumped into the space, revealed to be hazelnut coffee, as delivered by an Uber Eats driver on a moped. Tom Brady made an appearance that I didnt understand, but overall, it promised a spectacle and delivered.Toward the end of the presentation, the lights dim and the screen shows an image of the Earth as a giant, floating glass ball, rotating in front of stained glass. The light seems to catch and reflect in the three-dimensional object, and even though I know I am looking at an illusion on a flat screen, my brain is convinced that theres a giant, floating orb in front of me. Even watching it back in my recorded videos, I cant believe its not there. It took 15 years, but I guess I finally got a great 3D demo at CES.What struck me more than anything at this CES was the very show-ness of it all. I know its a show. We all call it a show. We say stuff like, Have a great show! to each other when were here. After years of attending, CES can feel like an assignment, a series of to-dos as long as the Las Vegas Strip that you cross off one by one, step by step. But above all, its a show. There are no acrobatics or stunts, yet its still supposed to make us feel something. It took 15 years, but I guess I finally got a great 3D demo at CESLike a good show on the Strip, theres some sleight of hand involved. Someone behind the scenes controlling the autonomous robot. The concept car that never ships. The giant glass ball thats just an array of precisely arranged pixels on a curved screen. Like any other show, theres a beginning, middle, and end whether or not we remember them. The details of this years CES will probably fade over time like all the rest have, but Ill remember the feeling of it for much longer. And even for someone whos seen plenty of CESes come and go, it turns out you can still feel a little sense of wonder after all. But Im not holding my breath about any of those concept cars shipping.Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Heres a funny thing about the internet: It cant seem to resist a good design trend moment. For the longest time it seemed everyone was obsessed with cottagecoreso much so that TikTok started to feel like one big Calico Critters convention. (For the record, we will never tire of this cozy and layered look.) Then the grandmillennial movement, which championed chintz and storied antiques and anything needlepoint, hollyhocked its way into our hearts. Soon after, the coastal grandma aesthetic had us all wearing ivory linen pants and channeling our inner Diane Keaton. Most recently, more-is-more decor, also known as maximalism, has been dominating the design conversation with talk of pattern drenching and ornate accents. Frankly, these trends now come and go so much that they can start to feel fabricated, like theyre being pushed out by a PR team or an influencer hoping to break through.Until now. When we noticed something called the fisherman aesthetic* spiking on Pinterest, we immediately fell hook, line, and sinker for this design style that feels like a hybrid between an English country house and a cozy Maine cabin on the waterfront. After all, we have long had a soft spot for lake houses and river homes and cozy cabins, not to mention fishing collectibles, muddy earth tones, and knotty pine walls, so this look is right up our aesthetic alleyor creek, so to speak. Silver Screen Collection//Getty ImagesSteve McQueen understands the assignment.If you, too, are tempted to take the bait, weve rounded up ten staples of the Fisherman Aesthetic to help you get your sea legs. Carp Diem!*Fisherladies also welcome10 Elements of the Fisherman Aesthetic1. Waxed Canvas ColorsAli Harper for Country LivingAn earthy soft sage feels right at home in an Alabama river cottage.It likely comes as no surprise that the Fisherman Aesthetic prioritizes warm and earthy neutralsthink dark green, sage, rich brown, khaki, puttyor what we refer to as waxed canvas colors (think the colors youd find in a Barbour retail store or your favorite vintage barn jacket). Muddy undertones are key, as is an immersive and saturated feeling. Instead of, say, green walls and a crisp white ceiling, consider painting the ceiling in the same color. Enveloping a whole room with one color, like rich green, can have such a cozy, immersive effect, says designer Heather Chadduck Hillegas, who has decorated her fair share of lake houses and river houses.RELATED: The Top 100 Paint Colors For Every Room in Your House2. Copious Cable Knits Arthur Elgort//Getty ImagesOfficially adding this image to our Fisherman Aesthetic mood boardHailing from the Aran Islands of Ireland, the humble hand-knit fisherman sweater, which became an unexpected economic boon for the rural fishing community in the late 1800s, is an important element of this aesthetic. In addition to the sartorial statement, youll find cable knit pillows, cable knit blankets, and other intricate rope and cable designs outfitting homes. (Cable knit wallpaper, anyone?) Fun fact: The designs have long been rumored to carry hidden meanings, but the myths were actually dreamed up by German textile historian Heinz Edgar Kiewe in the 1930s. LL Bean Heritage Soft Cotton Fisherman Sweater$89 at L.L.BeanAelfric Eden Oversized Knit Sweater$55 at AmazonAmazon Essentials Fisherman Sweater $29 at Amazon3. Stone Finishes James R. Salomon for Country LivingA stone fireplace complete with a model boat is peak fisherman aesthetic, as is the ship wheel light fixture.Natural river rock and fieldstone materialson a fireplace, as a backsplash, on a shower surroundtake priority over sleeker tile. Stone lends a more organic look to these spaces, says Country Living Senior Homes and Style Editor Anna Logan. 4. Wood PanelingNick JohnsonWood walls reinforce a cozy cabin feel.The Fisherman Aesthetic trend happily intersects with the comeback of knotty pine walls and unpainted wood paneling. (Knotty pine is a piece or plank of pine with visible imperfections that were gained as the tree aged. Dark and oddly shaped, knots in wood are a quirky reminder of the once-living tree.) 5. Tweed and Tartan Read McKendree for Country LivingA tufted tartan ottoman lends a refined feel to a New England living space.You know those iconic wool fishermans caps? Any pattern (herringbone, tartan) or material (tweed, corduroy) youve seen in flat cap or skipper cap form is likely just right for a Fisherman Aesthetic interior. Tweed fabric can almost act as a solid when it comes to upholstery (try it on a sofa or wingback chair) while tartan makes a bolder large-scale statement (try it on a footstool or accent pillows). Tip: In either case, stick to earth tones as opposed to bolder royal blues and reds. (See Waxed Canvas Colors, above.)6. Woven TexturesBecky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingKeepin it creel: A collection of woven antiques lends texture to a planked green wall.Wicker and rattan will forever have a place in this aesthetic, and its largely because anglers have long had a soft spot for the woven intricacies of fishing creels, which have been documented as far back as the Middle Ages but fell out of everyday use once catch-and-release laws were introduced in the 1950s. Handwoven from split willow and reinforced with leather by Oregon tanneries, baskets from the 1880s through 1930s are quite valuablethey can fetch close to $3,000 when associated with known leatherworkers such as A.E. Nelson. Fortunately, simpler creels from later decades dont skimp on charm, and can be found for between $50 and $300 each. Creels can be displayed en masse on a wall or cleverly utilized as catchalls for incoming mail or seasonal door decor.7. Porcelain Fish Plates Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingAn assortment of plates makes for an eye-catching displayWhether outfitting a wall, hutch, or table, these porcelain pretties provide a decorative foil to this aesthetics rustier and crustier elements. Youll notice trout is a particular popular motif, and for good reason. Perhaps the most popular freshwater sporting fish, trout are sought out by anglers coast to coast because they thrive in a variety of cold-water environs and put up a sporting fight when hooked on a line. (It also doesnt hurt that certain species make the catch portion of catch-and- release a beautifully speckled spectacle.) Enshrined through transferware on porcelain plates, their likeness typically fetches between $15 and $50 apiece depending on age, size, and maker, but serving platters and hand-painted pieces can ring up more than $100.RELATED: The 100 Best Places to Shop for Antiques and Vintage Online (Coastal Curiosities Included!)8. Motley MudroomsAnnie SchlechterAnother hallmark of the look: A motley and collected mudroomA mudroom has to work particularly hard in the home of an outdoorsman, which is why these spaces are a necessity, not a novelty. Similar in spirit to the English boot room, the Fishermans mudroom stays stocked with hats, jackets, waders, fishing poles, creels, and other odds and ends (binoculars, fly fishing nets, the latest copy of Field & Stream...). These spaces rarely look pristinerather, they feel piled-on and collected andgasp!may in fact have a little mud. Thats kind of their point.RELATED: 30+ Ideas for a More Stylish and Functional Mudroom, According to Designers9. Minnow Buckets Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingYou havent fully embraced the Fisherman Aesthetic until youve purchased at least one vintage minnow bucket.A natural part of the fish food chain, live minnows have helped orchestrate the perfect catch for centuries. The containers used to corral them became factory produced during the Industrial Revolution, and two-piece galvanized metal styles were de rigueur by the 1920s. Designers often employ them as rustic containers for unfussy floral centerpieces, although they can also be used to corral other odds and ends, too. Today, buckets made in the 1940s through 60s by brands such as Mit-Shel and Lucky Waters can be found between $50 and $100, depending on condition and rarity of design. 10. Rope AccentsMaura McEvoyA length of manila ship rope serves as a handrail in this Maine cottage.Just as woven textures and jute and sisal feel at home in this design aesthetic, so does utilitarian rope. Whether its used to hang lighting, employed as a stair handrail, or put to use as drawer pulls, the hardware store staple has no shortage of interior design applications.Tour These Houses That Bring the Fisherman Aesthetic to Life: Rachel BarrettRachel Barrett is the Editor-in-Chief of Country Living. She can't pass up a vintage seascape, drives an '89 Woody Wagoneer (that is, when it'll start), and hopes to buy you a lemonade at a future Country Living Fair.

The contents of the New York City apartment belonging to celebrated American designer and tastemaker Suzanne Rheinstein will be going up for sale next week. The items will be available starting January 15 at KRB NYC, the Manhattan home design shop of the late designer's daughter, Kate Rheinstein Brodsky. Ever the consummate collector, Rheinstein, who passed away in 2023, brought her effortless, edited eye to the unique pieces she sourced from across the globe and brought back home to use in projects. Her considered mix of objects old and new became a leitmotif in her decorating and she ultimately founded Hollyhock, a Los Angeles emporium showcasing her treasure trove of antiques and contemporary furnishings. Roger DaviesA pair of painted wooden columns and floral print chairs from Suzanne Rheinsteins New York City bedroom are standouts from the sale.Much of the 105 pieces of furniture and objects from the apartment (which was originally published by ELLE DECOR in November 2010) are included in this once-in-a-lifetime shopping event. Twin rough-hewn painted columns and pair of chairs upholstered in a floral chintz are highlights. She loved a pair," Kate notes. "And, she often mentioned how one could never have enough little chairs and tables. Other treasures up for sale include a pair of 18th-century Regency chairs, tiered end tables, carved wooden mirrors, artwork, and rare Gustavian pieces. Each item emanates an exceptional quality that passed the test when it came to furnishing Suzanne's own space. Suzanne always regarded antiques as vital to a room," shares Michael Boodro, who penned Suzannes last book, A Welcoming Elegance, "not as some sort of historical artifacts that had to be treated as a special, precious objects, but rather as pieces that enriched a space, and always served a function.Having been brought along on many of her mother's epic shopping trips, Kate recalls, My mother loved painted furniture, loved Italian shapes. She was always drawn to things that showcased the hand of the artist. Roger DaviesSuzanne Rheinsteins daughter Kate Rheinstein Brodskly notes, My mother would not want her apartment here to remain like a museum. Suzanne helped teach the design industry not only how to source antiques but also how to really look at objects and discover something special. And of course, as an interior designer herself, she knew innately what designers were looking for and needing regularly for their own projects and showed her audience how to use things with a certain joie de vivre (She famously cut off the spouts of antique hot water urns and sealed them to use as vases). By selling the collection in-house, so to speak, Kate can bid farewell to her mothers belongings, tell their stories, and ensure everything goes on to good homes. As she notes, Antiques and furniture are meant to be shared and loved and live on.

Known for its minimalist color palettes, cozy textiles, and flat-pack furniture (not to mention iconic mid-century modern design), the Scandinavian aesthetic has left a lasting mark around the world. Now there's a new generation emerging with a style all their own: the Scandi it-girls. Sweden is known for its neutral tones and raw materials, Copenhagen has colorful accents and plush furniture, and Oslo girls are really into metallics these days. This new and fresh take on traditional Scandinavian design is making major design moves, and they're influenced by the region's out-of-the-box fashion weeks, effortless cool-girl style, and modern takes on historical motifs.Thanks to social media, these Scandinavian it-girls are bridging the gap in both interior design and fashion trends, breaking Danish brands in the US and sparking buying trends for Gen-Z. Thanks to these emerging influencers, weve spotted some similarities in their interior design choices. Read on for a list of the ways the cool kids in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Helsinki are designing their homes. Related StoriesStatement Plates & Serving PiecesView full post on InstagramWhen the below-freezing temperatures in winter hit, dinners out become cozy nights in. And to make the dark and dreary season more fun, tables are set with eye-catching pieces. Interior designer Beata Heuman, whose Swedish dining room is shown above, prioritizes well-designed basics, like the Alessi espresso maker. The HAY ice cream coupes have been making waves across social media, and you can't be an it-girl without at least one piece from Gustaf Westman or Sophie Lou Jacobson.Espresso coffee maker. Induction.$145 at alessi.comHAY Italian Ice Cup dessert bowlNow 20% OffGUSTAF WESTMAN Chunky Cup65 at gustafwestman.comSophie Lou Jacobson Squiggle Tray$195 at Design Within ReachPlush SeatingView full post on InstagramElevated comfort is key, especially when you're culture revolves around being cozy. Rather than boxy sofas and metal chairs, Scandinavian furniture often prioritizes softer upholstery (think velvet, linen, and corduroy) and rounded silhouettes. The Faye Toogood armchair and TEDDY sofa are key pieces we're seeing all over our feeds. OMHU TEDDY Sofa$2,500 at teaknewyork.comHEM Faye Toogood Puffy Lounge Chair$3,479 at hem.comHAY Quilton SofaNow 20% Off$3,745 $2,996 at Design Within ReachEternity Modern Arctander Clam Chair$1,069 at eternitymodern.comCrisp BeddingView full post on InstagramThere's no doubt that the Scandinavian sleep method (two duvets, one for each person or half of the bed) has transformed the way we sleep, and these it-girls also have a penchant for crisp bedding. Whether it's stark white, butter yellow, or fun pinstripes, percale or cotton seems to be the regional consensus. HAY t Duvet CoverNow 20% Off$115 $92 at Finnish Design ShopTelka Percale Duvet CoverNow 17% Off$210 $175 at teklafabrics.comMarimekko Unikko duvet cover$126 at Finnish Design ShopParachute Home Percale Duvet Cover Set$259 at Parachute HomeDanish Design StaplesView full post on InstagramSome of the most well-known and beloved furniture silhouettes come from Scandinavia. And while the prices can be eye-watering in the United States, in Europe, examples are easily found. The Alvar Aalto stools are commonplace in every Finnish home and there is a Hans Wegner armchair for every it-girl's style. Knoll Laccio TableNow 20% Off$860 $688 at Design Within ReachCarl Hansen & Sn Wishbone Chair$1,815 at Design Within ReachArtek Aalto Stacking Stool 60$455 at MOMAIKEA PONG Armchair$99 at IKEA Follow House Beautiful on Instagram and TikTok.

If youve been eyeing Apples top-tier iPhones, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro are looking more appealing than ever especially if youre shopping in the renewed or refurbished market. With cutting-edge features, robust build quality, and long-term software support, these Pro models offer incredible value at their current price points.Why the iPhone 14 Pro still holds up in 2025The iPhone 14 Pro, launched in late 2022, introduced several features that set a new standard for flagship phones:Dynamic Island: This interactive notch replacement brings a new way to manage notifications and live activities.48MP Camera: Apples jump to a 48MP main sensor resulted in stunning photo quality, especially in ProRAW mode.A16 Bionic Chip: Even in 2025, the A16 remains a powerhouse for handling demanding apps, games, and camera tasks.Emergency SOS: Apple debuted its emergency SOS feature in the iPhone 14 series, and is still available today on this iPhoneAlways on Display: This was the first time that Apple introduced the AOD to iPhones. It allowed iPhones to display things like time, weather, and notifications by reducing the refresh rate, keeping the display dimly on, and not draining the battery.With these features, the iPhone 14 Pro remains a top contender for anyone looking to upgrade to a premium smartphone without breaking the bank on the latest models.You can often find renewed iPhone 14 Pro units at prices significantly lower than their original $999 starting price. These devices are still more than capable of handling anything you throw at them in 2025, making them a fantastic value for those wanting flagship-level performance without paying flagship prices. Right now, an unlocked iPhone 14 Pro with 128GB is $456 on Amazon. If you are ok without the USB-C port (which 99% of people seem to be) and no Apple intelligence, then this price is an absolute steal. iPhone 15 Pros unique situationThe iPhone 15 Pro introduced some game-changing updates that make it an even more compelling purchase:Titanium Frame: The shift to a titanium build makes the iPhone 15 Pro lighter and more durable. Design: Apple also slightly adjusted the design of these iPhones by giving them a more rounded-off corner as well as reducing the overall footprint of the iPhone slightly. It also reduced the bezels by a bit.USB-C Port: After years of waiting, Apple finally embraced USB-C, offering faster data transfer speeds on the Pro models.A17 Pro Chip: The new chip improves performance, especially for gaming and AI-related tasks.Apple Intelligence ready: the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the only older-generation iPhones that support Apple Intelligence. If this is important to you, then this will be the cheapest entry point (aside from the new iPad Mini). Action Button: This is the first year Apple gave us the action button which replaced the mute toggle. This button allows you to map basically any action to this new button. These improvements make the iPhone 15 Pro a great investment if you want Apples latest and greatest. The only thing that is truly missing from the 15 Pro is the 5x telephoto lens (you get a 3x lens on the 15 Pro) and the new Camera Control button. So you get 95% of the 16 Pro in this 15 Pro iPhone. But its going to cost you about $760 for the 128GB model. Still $240 cheaper than the entry-level iPhone 16 Pro. However, if youre looking for value, the iPhone 14 Pro is a strong competitor at a more budget-friendly price.Final takeThe iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro represent excellent value buys in early 2025. Whether you choose a renewed iPhone 14 Pro for its premium features at a lower cost or invest in the iPhone 15 Pro for cutting-edge upgrades, youre getting a device that will serve you well for years to come. I will also state that both of these options are more premium than the regular iPhone 16, in my opinion. With long-term software support, high resale value, and unbeatable performance, these Pro models are some of the smartest purchases you can make right now in the smartphone market.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle,the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost.Request your EXTENDED TRIALtoday and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.Apple has spent years carving out a space in the enterprise as a great PC alternative. With IT teams increasingly managing more iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Apples role as an enterprise endpoint has never been more critical. However, as Apple continues to grow, I question why its certifications for IT professionals arent free. If the company wants enterprises to use Apple, why are they charging to become certified in managing them?About Apple @ Work:Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.Recapping the 2022 updates to the programIn 2022, Apple introduced revamped professional training and certification programs for IT teams and support staff. The coursesApple Device Support and Apple Deployment and Managementare a step forward in equipping IT professionals with the tools to succeed with Apple. Self-paced, online, and accessible to anyone, these programs marked a much-needed modern update to Apples training world.While the training itself is free, the exams cost $149. For professionals seeking certifications for both courses, thats nearly $300 out of pocket. I cant imagine enough people are taking these exams for them to make a material impact in Apples revenue.Apples goal is to sell hardware and services, not examsApple isnt in the business of certification fee revenue its in the business of selling hardware and services. The enterprise market for Macs and iPhones is growing because IT teams see the value in deploying Apple devices, not because someone holds an Apple certificate. Certification programs help grow Apples footprint by ensuring IT pros can confidently deploy and troubleshoot its products.If Apples ultimate goal is to expand its enterprise reach, charging for certifications is counterintuitive. By making certification exams taken virtually free, Apple removes a barrier for professionals at small and large organizations, managed services providers, and more. IT professionals would feel encouraged to pursue certification, increasing the talent pool of Apple-trained experts. All vendor-specific training and certifications should be freeApple isnt alone here. Many tech vendors still charge for certification exams, treating them as an additional revenue stream instead of an investment in their ecosystems. But the reality is that certifications are not a product to be soldtheyre a route to customer adoption. The more professionals who know how to deploy and manage your products, the better.Apples training programs are already a step in the right direction. Now, its time for them to go a step further. By freeing certification exams, Apple can continue empowering IT teams, growing its enterprise dominance, and removing unnecessary friction for those supporting its devices daily.My advice is simple: If Apple wants to continue expanding its enterprise influence, the certifications should support that goal, not profit from it.Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle,the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost.Request your EXTENDED TRIALtoday and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Theres no limit to the promise of artificial intelligence. Or at least, theres no limit to the promises that the powerful make about AI. We're told by tech companies and their investors that AI has the capacity to transform everything, making us more productive workers and more efficient learners before eventually making us obsolete by AI agents that wont complain about work-life balance while they automate away the majority of our jobs.And of course, all these promises are steps along the path to constructing a cyber-god in the form of artificial general intelligence.But the future is a fickle thing. It can fail to materialize in the way envisioned. Our expectations for emerging tech are always at risk of being dashed against the rocks of reality. We often look to science fiction as a beacon that can help us navigate the waves of uncertainty, predict the future of tech, and discern what it means for society. However, if we want to understand what fuels the AI boom and how the bubble might burst the best analogy comes instead from childrens fantasy.In the story of "Peter Pan," the fairy Tinkerbell only exists if people believe in her and clap for her. Once we stop believing in her magic, she starts fading away. Its at this point she implores Peter Pan and the broader audience to clap as loud as they can. Tinkerbell is sustained by our attention.A new piece of emerging tech can be a lot like Tinkerbell. When it's still trying to shift from speculative ideas based on buggy demos to real material things that are normal parts of our daily lives and business practices, its existence depends on our belief in the magic of possibility. At this point, they still only exist when we believe hard enough and clap loud enough. If we stop believing and clapping, then they can start fading away, becoming more intangible by the moment until they disappear remember 3D televisions? Just like with Tinkerbell, audience participation is necessary.That faith in the eventual power of progress can buy time for emerging tech like AI and blockchain which can feel more like impressive parlor tricks desperately searching for useful purposes and business models to establish more concrete anchors in reality. Their transparency level can be set at 50 percent for a long time if there are enough people in the audience believing and clapping for them.The Tinkerbell Effect explains the extreme hype cycles in the tech sector. There's a massive industry in Silicon Valley geared at getting us to believe hard and clap loud. Rather than organic enthusiasm, the hype is a form of manufactured belief. But the difference between Silicon Valley and Tinkerbell is that while they would both like you to applaud for them, the former can sustain itself on the attention generated by both cheers and jeers, believers and skeptics. All that matters is that we keep channeling our psychic energy into the dreams of mega-corporations, tech billionaires, and venture capitalists.Of course, Silicon Valley isn't just a world of pure imagination. Promises made about AI are also built on mountains of cash amassed by internet tycoons and oceans of cheap data extracted from internet users. Tech companies have successfully turned cash and data into emerging systems that prompt even grander visions of the future. But their investments are now showing diminishing returns as they butt up against technical, financial, and social limits of fast and easy progress in AI. This has led Google CEO Sundar Pichai to admit recently that "I think the progress is going to get harder. When I look at '25, the low-hanging fruit is gone. The hill is steeper."If Silicon Valley is going to stave off another devastating AI winter let alone usher us into an AI utopia then it's going to need more than just the brute power of compute, data, and cash. It'll also need to exploit the power of belief.We have plenty of recent examples that show even investing billions of dollars into a speculative tech may not be enough to guarantee the realization of a dream if people lose interest and stop feeding it with their attention. Metaverse? A distant memory. Web3? Sorry, wrong number. Google Glass? Never heard of it.AI depends on vital support from people hard at work in the futurism factory. These are the executives, consultants, journalists, and other thought leaders whose job is the selling of things to come. They craft visions of a specific future such as ones where AI models built by companies like OpenAI or Microsoft are undeniable forces of progress and they build expectations in the public about the inevitable capabilities and irresistible outcomes of these tech products.By flooding the zone with an endless stream of new partnerships, new products, new promises, the tech industry makes us feel disoriented and overwhelmed by a future rushing at us faster than we can handle. The desire to not be left behind or taken advantage of is a powerful motivator that keeps us engaged in the AI sales pitch. The breathless hype surrounding AI is more than just a side-effect of over-eager entrepreneurs; its a load-bearing column for the tech sector. If people believe hard enough in the future manufactured by Silicon Valley, then they start acting like it already exists before it happens. Thus the impacts of technologies like AI become a self-fulfilling prophecy.We should think of AI futurism as a sophisticated form of check kiting cashing a check today and hoping the money will be in the account later. In other words, the business of expectations is based on producing scenarios about what might happen in the future and using them to extract speculative value in the present. Its our belief that these promissory notes are worth anything that allows the tech industry to keep floating until the big payday finally hits.The lesson we should take from the Tinkerbell Effect is that the power of belief its ability to fuel multi-billion dollar booms and busts also reveals the power of disbelief. When Silicon Valley implores us to please clap louder for their dreams, our response should be Sorry, I dont believe in your fairytales anymore. Youll be amazed how quickly these mighty promises start to fade away.Jathan Sadowski is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University and the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism.Share This Article

A dad just can't seem to figure out why his six-year-old daughter wasn't impressed by the AI toy he gave her for Christmas.Alex Volkov, a self-styled "AI evangelist" and founder of a translation service powered by the tech, tweeted about his parenting difficulties over the holidays.For better or worse, it's provided us a glimpse into the mind of the ardent techno-optimist realizing that others, especially those of uncorrupted minds, may not share in their enthusiasm for large language models."Would you like to play a game or maybe hear a fun fact?" asks the annoyingly chirpy-sounding AI in a video shared by Volkov."No," his daughter replies.Incidents like these seem to genuinely baffle Volkov. He writes that he cannot understand why his daughter disabled the dinosaur plushie's built-in AI voice opting, instead, to play with it like a regular toy, and dressing it with clothes she made."She played with this Dino, chatted with it, and then... learned to turn it off, and doesn't want it to talk anymore," Volkov wrote. "She still loves playing with it," he added, "but every time I ask her if she'd like to chat with it, she says no.""I gently asked why, and wasn't able to really understand where's the resistance,"he mused.The Dino doll, sold by Magical Toys for $200 a piece, is billed as an alternative to letting your kid get their brain fried by iPad screens and, well, fair enough. Using an app, parents can view their kid's chat history and instruct the toy's AI on what topics to talk about. It's unclear what AI model powers the toy. But whatever it is, it's not impressing Volkov's kid, no matter how many "experiments" he runs.Processing the events aloud, Volkov says he made sure to tell her that Dino "wasn't like other toys" that it "has AI in it." He also insists that his child, a wee lass of six years, does in fact understand what AI is.It took him a while to get the message. Volkov turned the AI back on several times, but on each occasion, his daughter would speak with it only momentarily before turning it off again once she got bored.Later, Volkov saw that his daughter was pretending the toy was a baby, so he asked the AI to act like it was one by crying.This, too, backfired. "It sounded weird, which made her laugh really hard," Volkov wrote. "It was basically making crying sounds like talking.""Is this uncanny valley?" he pondered.One user who said she was a psychiatrist who works with children offered an explanation for Volkov's daughter's lack of enthusiasm for the AI."I think because it takes away control from the child," she wrote. "Play is how children work through emotions, impulses and conflicts [as] well as try out new behaviors. I would think [it] would be super irritating to have the toy shape and control your play like a totally dominating playmate!"That the toy deprives the child of using their imagination is a criticism echoed by many users who weighed in some of them harshly. "This is the pinnacle of AI bros being the worst," another netizen opined. "They cannot understand the value of imagination and creativity."Whatever the implications for a child's development, there are serious questions to be asked about trusting a hallucination-prone AI model to talk with your kid.Share This Article

On December 30, a mysterious 1,100-pound object in the shape of a massive, 8-f00t metal ring was discovered in a remote Kenyan village, prompting widespread speculation it had fallen from space.As the New York Times reported"Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the Earths atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans," the agency said in a statement.But now, space tracker extraordinaire and Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell is casting doubt on the theory."It was suggested that the ring is space debris, but the evidence is marginal," he wrote in a blog on his personal website, first spotted by Ars Technica.The uncertainty highlights how difficult it can be to trace back space debris that survives its fiery descent through the Earth's atmosphere a pertinent topic given our planet's increasingly cluttered orbit, and that junk's increasing propensity to fall down to Earth.If it indeed came from space, McDowell suggested that the most likely culprit was a fairing adapter for an Ariane V rocket, which launched into space from the European Space Agency's Spaceport in French Guiana on 7 July 2008."Nevertheless I am not fully convinced that the ring is space debris at all," he added.A different space tracker, Delft Technical University lecturer Marco Langbroek, suggested that nearby material recovered several kilometers away from the metal ring, which resembled carbon wrap and isolation foil, could be evidence that the ring may have indeed fallen from space.Both Langbroek and McDowell pointed towards the possibility that the ring was installed on the Ariane V rocket to accommodate two medium-sized satellites. The SYstme de Lancement Double Ariane, or SYLDA, was designed to allow the two satellites to be stacked on top of each other and released in a geostationary transfer orbit.The primary space junk suspect was last spotted on December 23, a week before the metal ring was recovered in Kenya, as Langbroek notes in a Wednesday blog post."As this is a very low inclination orbit (1.56 degrees), it belongs to a class of objects that is ill-tracked due to a lack of tracking stations close to the equator," he wrote. "This explains the 1-week gap between the last available orbit and the reentry.""For now the verdict is: possibly the reentry of parts of the Ariane SYLDA 2008-034C, but not proven beyond doubt yet," he added.Intriguingly, as Ars reports, an anonymous Twitter account called DutchSpace, which has provided reliable information on past Ariane launches, disputed the possibility that the ring was part of the SYLDA shell.Arianespace officials also rejected the hypothesis in a statement to the French newspaper LeParisien this week.In short, the jury is still out on whether the metal ring actually came from space, but it certainly wouldn't be an outlier if it did. We've already seen a number of massive pieces of space debris dropping down on remote areas; Chinese rocket launches, in particular, have gained a reputation for raining down metal debris on unsuspectingand sometimespopulated areas.More on space junk: Boeing Satellite Exploded Into at Least 500 Pieces of DebrisShare This Article