The first developer beta of iOS 18.4 features significant changes to Apple Intelligence and Apple News+. Here's what you need to know.


On Friday, Apple released the first developer beta of iOS 18.4, with build number 22E5200s. The software update comes more than a week after the iPhone maker released iOS 18.3.1 to the general public.

The iOS 18.4 update was widely rumored to contain improvements for Siri, it appears as though the planned upgrades for Apple's virtual assistant have been delayed. Instead, the software update includes some useful enhancements for Apple Intelligence and its associated features, among other changes.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple has finally released the first betas for the next release cycle, and visionOS 2.4 includes support for Apple Intelligence on Apple Vision Pro. Here's how it works.


Unsurprisingly, Apple Intelligence has rolled out on Apple Vision Pro without much left out. Some parts get the visionOS UI flair, but everything that is here is at feature parity in the first beta.

Apple Intelligence has rolled out in waves since it was revealed during WWDC 2024. Writing Tools and notification summaries were first, then second Image Playground and ChatGPT, and finally Visual Intelligence was released for iPhone 16.


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Apple just dropped visionOS 2.4 Beta, packing powerful new tools, a new guest experience, a fresh Spatial Gallery app, and the debut of Apple Intelligence on Vision Pro.


Apple is kicking off 2025 with a bang, unveiling the visionOS 2.4 Beta packed with exciting features that set the stage for the upcoming public release in April.

The company is finally bringing its suite of generative artificial intelligence tools with Apple Intelligence. The update brings Image Playground, allowing users to create playful images, Genmoji for crafting custom emojis, and Writing Tools, which is poised to become a favorite for content creators.


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Do Not Buy: NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti GPU Absurdity (Benchmarks & Review)jimmy_thang February 21, 2025

We review the 5070 Ti’s value, gaming performance, ray tracing, efficiency, thermals, acoustics, and more

The Highlights

• The 5080 performs generally 9% to 16% better than the 5070 Ti
• The 5070 Ti is selling upwards of $1,000+ and performs similarly to a 4080
• We think you should not buy a 5070 Ti right now
• Original MSRP: $750
• Release Date: February 20, 2025

Table of Contents

• AutoTOC

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Intro

You should not buy the NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti (beware of scalped prices), or really, probably not any of the high-end cards right now. The market is in chaos and conditions are at an all time low for consumers. It benefits this entire industry, including us, if everyone mindlessly consumes, but we’re telling you not to be a part of that cycle. This is not the time to buy an NVIDIA video card. The company says the 5070 Ti (beware of scalped prices) will be $750, but we don’t believe it. In fact, some partner models have already been spotted at $1,000, with plenty of others coming in at $850 to $900. We heard of one that’ll have an MSRP above $1,000. That’s more than a 4080 (watch our review), which is insane. 
NVIDIA calls it the RTX 5070 Ti, but it’s really more like an RTX 4080 (beware of scalped prices) V3 -- or V4 if you count the unlaunched 4070 Ti which was a 4080 12GB.

Editor's note: This was originally published on February 19, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.

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Credits

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Test Lead, Host, Writing

Steve Burke

Testing

Patrick Lathan

Testing, Editing

Mike Gaglione

Testing

Jeremy Clayton

Camera, Video Editing

Vitalii Makhnovets

Writing, Web Editing

Jimmy Thang

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The TLDW up front is that the 5080 (beware of scalped prices) is about 12-16% ahead of the 5070 Ti in some of the 4K gaming scenarios we tested, the 5070 Ti is about 28-35% ahead of the 4070 Ti at 4K, but down in the 20-28% range commonly at 1440p. The lead of the 5070 Ti over the 4070 Ti Super, which is the closest recent price neighbor, is only 7.8% to 20% in a lot of 4K situations, or commonly 12-16%. One of the worst scenarios we saw was an impressively bad 3.9% uplift from the 4070 Ti Super to the 5070 Ti at 1440p.

You should not buy this video card. You shouldn’t even read this article. We’ll save you the time: NVIDIA has become fat and monopolistic and AMD has decided it won’t compete in the high-end, and Intel is not there yet, leaving everyone with a worse ecosystem.

The 5080 (beware of scalped prices) to the 4070 is a difference that has now been subdivided several times. Like the 4080 (beware of scalped prices) and 4070 Ti (watch our review), which was a 4080 12GB originally, already subdivided it. Likewise, the 4080 Super subdivided it further. The 4070 Ti Super (read our review) subdivided that again, and now, the 5070 Ti subdivides it once more.

There are so many subdivisions in this block that it’ll have an HOA by next week... 

In one of our tests, we saw an average gap between cards in this upper-end of 6.7 to 8 FPS card-to-card, depending which you want to count. That really means that the only relevant factor is price (except for maybe VRAM in the few places it diverges, where that’ll matter for professional users). But even VRAM has mostly been split into the 90-class and everything else.

The 5070 Ti is often the same performance as the 4080, which is the same as the 4080 Super. The improvement on the 4070 Ti Super, which was close to the same MSRP, is hardly meaningful. This aligns with NVIDIA’s launch strategy of either leveraging its monopolistic positioning or boring the ever-living f*** out of people with stagnated change. Meanwhile, it appears that AMD is sticking to its failed strategy of MSRP = NVIDIA - $50. Let’s get into the rest of the review.

RTX 5070 Ti Overview

We’re taking a look at the ASUS RTX 5070 Ti Prime model, which we assume is named like that because ASUS is trying to get Logan Paul’s attention. Or maybe it has electrolytes, which is what the gamers crave.

The RTX 5070 Ti has 8960 CUDA Cores, 16GB of GDDR7, and a 256-bit bus. The memory spec is identical to the RTX 5080 (read our review), with the 5080 having more CUDA cores but being a significant cut-down from the 5090 (read our review), which is more than what we’ve typically seen. 

We have the full specs in a separate article here. 

RTX 5070 Ti Pricing

Pricing is going to be the biggest problem for this GPU. Supply has been non-existent for the 5090 and 5080 and prices have skyrocketed into true FOMO targeting territory. We posted a video about the fake prices just a few days ago.

And in time for that, the 5070 Ti will launch with its own glut of pricing issues. We know one board partner has an actual MSRP north of $1,000 for one of its models. This gets worse considering the lower overall price of $750, which means that the proportional hike over expectation becomes untenable.

There’s really not a lot of ground to cover here that we didn’t in the intro, so let’s just get into the data.

RTX 5070 Ti Game Benchmarks

For the testing here, we had to remove a couple of cards from the charts to make space. Specifically, we removed the 3090 (watch our review) and 3090 Ti (watch our review). If you want the data for those cards, check our 5080 review as it has all that.  

FFXIV 4K

In Final Fantasy 14 at 4K, the RTX 5070 Ti landed at 97 FPS AVG with lows at 83 and 80. That’s the same as an RTX 4080 which, under normal conditions, might sound like a generational improvement on the arbitrarily named GPUs. Instead what we have is total generational stagnation because the 5070 Ti will regularly sell at prices, at least for now, approaching what the 4080 was. Even at only a slight elevation to $850, the card is simply too close to the last generation performance equivalent.

The 7900 XTX outperforms the 5070 Ti by 7.4%, with the 5080 16% ahead and the 5090 at 87% ahead. As for the 7900 XT Hellhound, which was the cheapest partner model for a while, that’s at 82 FPS.

Generationally by name, the 5070 Ti improves on the 4070 Ti by 34%, but the 4070 Ti Super is the more recent price replacement. The lead over the 4070 Ti Super is just 13%. That’s stagnation. We have the RTX 2070 Super (watch our review) in a future test, but the 1070 (watch our review) is here if you want something older. The improvement is 332% over Pascal, now 9 years old. 

FFXIV 1440p

At 1440p, the 5070 Ti ran at 187 FPS AVG. 1% and 0.1% lows are where they should be based on other results, so there’s nothing exceptional here. The 5070 Ti outranks the 4070 Ti Super by just 15 FPS, or only 9%. Sadly, this is one of the better ones, but that’s still brutal and is one of the most boring improvements possible when considering the MSRP similarity -- and that’s before you go get ripped off for more.

As for other 70-class cards: The 5070 Ti’s uplift over the 4070 Ti is 24%, then 72% on the 3070 Ti (watch our review), 94% on the 3070 non-Ti (watch our review), and 307% on the 1070. The uplift has diminished for each of these as resolution came down to 1440p, despite the 5070 Ti not being anywhere close to a CPU ceiling.

AMD’s RX 7900 XTX (watch our review) leads the 5070 Ti by 13%, up from 7% at 4K. The 5070 Ti also leads the 7900 XT by just 9% here.

FFXIV 1080p

At 1080p, things get even worse. The 5070 Ti leads the 4070 Ti Super by only 6%, or just 15 FPS average. Over the 4070 Ti non-Super (watch our review), which remains an absurd distinction, we’re only seeing a 16% advantage on the 5070 Ti. No wonder NVIDIA wants everyone to type the framerate into a calculator and multiply it artificiality by MFG.

The new card is just 10% over the 7900 XT, then 74% over the 3070 Ti.

Black Myth: Wukong - 4K

Black Myth: Wukong is up now, tested at 4K. We’re removing the experimental chart labeling and feel that this test has had enough public visibility to clear that bar.

The 5070 Ti ran at the exact same framerate as the RTX 4080. NVIDIA has basically re-released the 4080, and the price isn’t even that different -- and in some cases, not different at all. In other words, NVIDIA has now released three RTX 4080s. This is the third one. At some point, it just seems like this is too much.

The 7900 XTX matches the 5070 Ti here. The difference is irrelevant and unnoticeable. 

Against the 4070 Ti Super’s 45 FPS AVG, the 5070 Ti leads by 13%, or 27% over the 4070 Ti non-Super and similarly over the 7900 XT. The lead over the 3070 Ti is 81%.

Black Myth: Wukong - 1440p

At 1440p, the “RTX 4080 v3” ran at 87.2 FPS AVG, with lows at 74.9 and 70.3. The third iteration of the 4080 isn’t the best one, though: The first version of the 4080 and second version of the 4080 are within error of each other and technically ahead of v3. But on the v3, aka the 5070 Ti, NVIDIA has enabled Multi-Fiat Generation to make it more interesting, though.

The RX 7900 XTX is about the same as the 5070 Ti here, with the 4070 Ti Super just below it. The 5070 Ti is only 10% ahead of the 4070 Ti Super and 20% ahead of the 4070 Ti, with a similar lead over the 7900 XT. 

Black Myth: Wukong - 1080p

At 1080p, the 5070 Ti is again roughly tied with the 7900 XTX, although credit to NVIDIA for having improved 0.1% lows -- just not by an amount anyone would notice in play. The frametime pacing is still good on both.

The 4080 Super (read our review) and 4080 are again within error of each other and, although they’re outside of error vs. the 5070 Ti, the real error is the GPUs we launched along the way.

The 5070 Ti ends up leading the 105 FPS 4070 Ti Super result by a staggering, mind-blowing 9.7%, made only more impressive by the fact that this was already functionally the same as the 4070 Ti’s 100 FPS.

The 7900 XT (read our revisit) sits just below this.

Starfield - 4K

Starfield is up now. At 4K, The RTX 5070 Ti ran at 68 FPS AVG, this time allowing the RTX 4080 the important distinction of... being technically better.

The 5080 only leads the 5070 Ti by 12% here as well.

Troublingly for the 5070 Ti in this test, the 7900 XT nearly matches the RTX 5070 Ti, with the 7900 XTX ahead of it by 13%.

The 4070 Ti Super and 4070 Ti aren’t that different from each other in this one, either.

Starfield - 1440p

At 1440p, the 4080 Super and 4080 are exactly tied, with the 4080 Sub-Super, or as NVIDIA calls it, the “5070 Ti,” at 101 FPS AVG. 

The 5070 Ti ends up basically tied with the 7900 XT. The 7900 XTX holds an advantage at 11% ahead. The 5070 Ti’s improvement, if you can call it that, over the 4070 Ti Super is an impressively boring 3.9%, with the lead over the 4070 Ti at 11%. That’s impressive -- mostly because we’re impressed NVIDIA could make something so impressively stagnant.

Starfield - 1080p

At 1080p, Starfield has the 5070 Ti below the XTX, which has a slight lead at 6%. More impressively, the 4070 Ti Super ran at 120 FPS AVG. Between the 5080, the 4080s, the 5070 Ti, and the 4070 Ti Super and 4070 Ti, NVIDIA has managed to make a video card for seemingly every individual framerate between 110 FPS and 132 FPS. Why they’d do this, we have absolutely no idea.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 - 4K

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is up now. This one has the ASUS RTX 5070 Ti Electrolyte, which is what the games crave, at 73.6 FPS AVG. That’s right between the 4080 Super and 7900 XTX, making the 5070 Ti the first NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super-Super on the market. We won’t be impressed until they launch the triple-S-tier.

The 5080’s lead over the 5070 Ti is just 15%. That small of an uplift is going to weigh on NVIDIA.

The 5070 Ti leads the 4070 Ti Super by 18% and the 4070 Ti by 35%. The 7900 XT sits between the two 4070 Ti variants.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 - 1440p

1440p reduces the 5070 Ti’s relative ranking, pushing it below the 4080 and 4080 Super, the two of which are tied and within error of each other. The 4070 Ti Super’s 106 FPS AVG result also makes for a boring positioning of the 5070 Ti. Again, we’re back to a card for every couple FPS. More than ever, this means price matters more.

The 7900 XTX leads the 5070 Ti by about 6 FPS here.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 - 1080p

At 1080p, the RTX 5070 Ti’s 151 FPS AVG basically ties it with the 7900 XTX, which itself is tied with the 4080 (which is tied with the 4080 Super, which is a waste of chart space and so isn’t shown).

Generationally, the 5070 Ti leads the 4070 Ti Super by 10% and 4070 Ti by 18%.

Resident Evil 4 - 4K

Resident Evil 4 is up now, first rasterized. The 4K test has the 5070 Ti at 107 FPS AVG, with the 5080 at 122 and leading by 15%. Both are behind the RX 7900 XTX at 126 FPS AVG.

The 5070 Ti is ahead of the 4070 Ti Super by 20% and 4070 Ti by 34%. The 7800 XT (watch our review) is between these and the regular 4070, followed by the older 3070 Ti at 53 FPS AVG.

Resident Evil 4 - 1440p

At 1440p, the 5070 Ti is just below the 4080 FE. The 5080 leads the 5070 Ti by 13%. 

NVIDIA basically took what previously would have been a 51 FPS gap from 224 to 173 FPS between the 4070 Ti Super and 5080, then split the difference with the 5070 Ti. 

The 7900 XTX is ahead by 17%, with the XT just below the 5070 Ti.

NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti Ray Tracing Benchmarks

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We’re moving to ray tracing testing now. We’ll start with Black Myth, which is heavily NVIDIA favored. Then we’ll look at some that are mixed or lighter workloads.

Ray Tracing: Black Myth Wukong 4K

At 4K with upscaling as defined in the chart header, the 5070 Ti ran at 52 FPS AVG and tied the RTX 4080 and 4080 Super. The 5080’s 59 FPS result had it 13% ahead. Over the 4070 Ti Super, we see a 15% lead for the 5070 Ti. AMD gets absolutely crushed in this test.

Ray Tracing: Black Myth Wukong 1080p

At 1080p and still ray traced, the RTX 5070 Ti ran at 112 FPS AVG and led the 4080. The 5080 is improved on the 5070 Ti by 9%. The proximity of cards from the 4070 through the 5080 is crazy, though: We have the 4070 at 80 FPS, then the Ti at 92, then the Ti Super at 95, then the 4080 at 106, then the 4080 Super which isn’t shown but the same, then 5070 Ti at 112, then the 5080 at 122 FPS.

Ray Tracing: Dragon’s Dogma 2 4K

Dragon’s Dogma 2 at 4K with ray tracing is next. 

In this one, the 7900 XTX is more competitive and lands at 66 FPS AVG, which is between the 5080 and 5070 Ti. It’s unfortunate that AMD gets crushed so hard in some of the other games, like Black Myth: Wukong because it does OK in the ones that are less crazy intensive. The 5070 Ti ends up basically tied with the 4080 Super, which is basically tied with the 4080. The jump over the 4070 Ti Super’s 54 FPS AVG is 18% here.

Ray Tracing: Dragon’s Dogma 2 1440p

1440p positions the 5070 Ti between the 4070 Ti Super and 4080. It’s not clear why this card needs to exist, but it does. The improvement against the 4070 Ti Super is just 10.8%. The 7900 XTX runs at 108 FPS AVG and is between the 4080s and the 5080. 

Ray Tracing: Dragon’s Dogma 2 1080p

At 1080p, the 5070 Ti ran at 131 FPS AVG and was roughly tied with the 7900 XTX. The 4080 leads the 5070 Ti here by a few percent. The 5070 Ti leads the 4070 Ti Super by 9%, followed by the 7900 XT in the middle, then the 4070 Ti at 16%.

Ray Tracing: Resident Evil 4 4K

In Resident Evil 4 at 4K with ray tracing and upscaling, the RTX 5070 Ti ran at 118 FPS AVG and tied the 4080 and 4080 Super exactly. It’s within run-to-run variance and error. The 7900 XTX leads in this lightweight RT workload with a 14% advantage, posting a big difference from the heavier Cyberpunk and Black Myth workloads that we run.

Ray Tracing: Resident Evil 4 1440p

At 1440p with the same settings, we see a similar lineup. The 5070 Ti is again within error of the 4080 and 4080 Super, which are the same. The 7900 XTX is slightly improved. The 4070 Ti Super is slightly behind. This is uninteresting.

RTX 5070 Ti Efficiency Benchmarks

Efficiency remains a relatively new test for us to include in each review, so we haven’t re-run the 4070 cards for efficiency yet.

Efficiency: FFXIV 4K

In Final Fantasy 14 at 4K, the 5070 Ti landed at 0.37 FPS/W. It pulled 264W in this test, approaching its TDP spec. The 5080 ends up slightly more efficient, with the 4080 Super equivalent. The 7900 XTX is at a large disadvantage here due to its power consumption.

Efficiency: FFXIV 1440p

In Final Fantasy 14 at 1440p, the 5070 Ti ended up at 0.73 FPS/W, which has it just below the 4080 and 5080. The 5070 Ti improves on the 4060-class cards, but also is significantly more efficient than the 7900 XTX.

Efficiency: Black Myth: Wukong 1080p

In Black Myth Wukong at 1080p, we found the 5070 Ti to be between the 4080 Super and 5080 for efficiency. The 7900 XTX shows again that this is its weakness, but its particular performance deficiency in Black Myth in general is hurting it disproportionately.

Efficiency: F1 24 4K

In ray tracing performance with F1 24, we found the 5070 Ti to perform about the same as the 4080. The 7900 XTX scores significantly lower. Overall, here you’re seeing much lower numbers than in some of the other charts and that’s because this is a heavy ray tracing workload tested at a higher resolution.

RTX 5070 Ti DLSS4/MFG

All of this means that NVIDIA is basically just selling you an RTX 40 series card, maintaining elevated prices, and doing so while pushing DLSS4 and MFG as the only real differentiating factor on the 50-series cards. 

We already have a piece up talking about the new Transformer model versus the prior CNN model for DLSS, which you can check out for a deep dive. We also have a video with an image quality comparison, including a frame-by-fake-frame break-down of MFG, where we analyze the AI or synthetic frames against the keyframes, or the native frames. We do this at 2X and with MFG 4X.

The improvements in the Transformer model over the older CNN model for image quality are apparent; meanwhile, the generated frames serve their purpose of smoothing, but sometimes look bad. What they don’t do is turn a low frame rate like 20 FPS into something that is instantly playable. But as far as image quality, it’s highly situational; in some situations, DLSS ends up better than native because game developers have decided to ruin their games with terrible default options, which shouldn’t happen, but there are also a lot of scenarios where it looks awful. We also found bugs in the driver override features that NVIDIA has pushed to the public. This includes sometimes it incorrectly running the generated frames in the wrong places.

RTX 5070 Ti Thermals

This quick thermal chart at steady state during a looping 4K Port Royal workload and it shows the GPU and memory results. We don’t have other 5070 Ti cards to compare, so we can’t produce a like-for-like comparison. The 5080s are only here for reference.

The 5070 Ti came in 2 dBA quieter than the Zotac 5080 Solid (read our review) and was warmer while operating at a significantly lower reported board power during the test. The ASUS cooler is favoring noise here, but is also just not particularly effective. Overall, the performance is fine -- this is more than acceptable and well below throttle territory -- but this does seem to be one of the lower cost coolers for its size.

RTX 5070 Ti Acoustics

Acoustic testing is up next. We’ll keep this brief. As a quick positive, our chamber is about to get way better for future testing -- or more accurately, our microphone equipment. We’ve recently learned that with a microphone upgrade, we can bring down the noise floor closer to 5dBA, which is crazy exciting. Currently though, we’re on our more economical equipment.

With the current noise floor of 14-14.5 dBA, we measured the ASUS 5070 Ti Prime at 29.2 dBA with this frequency spectrum plot. We observed one spike at around 300 Hz. Otherwise, it follows what we have seen in other cards. The falloff begins at 2000 Hz, levels briefly at 3500 to 5000, then continues the path. The loudest range is 1000 Hz to 1800 Hz, aside from the 300 Hz spike.

These two added lines show the Zotac 5080 and NVIDIA 5090 FE (beware of scalped prices). The coolers should track about the same as long as the fan RPM is the same between the other 5080 and 5090 alternatives by the same vendor. The NVIDIA card had a spike around 180 Hz and another at around 380. The Zotac card had one in the 430 Hz range. Broadly, the NVIDIA FE is louder than both of these.

RTX 5070 Ti Conclusion 

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This will change in the future as prices move, hopefully, but for now, we don’t recommend buying this card. Honestly, it’s probably just a good idea to wait in general right now. But let’s just recap why that is as quickly as possible:

Broadly speaking, we found that the 5080 performs in the range of 9% to 16% better than the 5070 Ti, depending on the resolution and game. The 7900 XTX is often better than the 5070 Ti in rasterized testing, with the range in our games spanning equivalence to 17% at the high end, but more commonly 6% to 13%. There were some instances of regression for the 7900 XTX vs the 5070 Ti, but as has been the case, it only got really crushed in Black Myth or Cyberpunk-type ray tracing. The 5070 Ti only improves on the 4070 Ti Super by a range of 2.2% to 20%, often 12-16% if you’re looking at the heavier resolutions. That is not a good improvement for a generational jump and the actual street price we expect as compared to the 4070 Ti Super’s original street pricing, especially with the instances below 10% performance. It’s an awful value. Remember that the Super series was regularly in stock for its actual MSRP.

As we’re reviewing this, we can’t see the actual street price of the 5070 Ti in advance and we don’t review the future as we don’t know where the prices will land at launch, but based on what we’ve seen from the 5080 and 5090, our strongest recommendation right now is to just generally wait to buy a video card and let the market calm down.  

Finally, the 5070 Ti is equal to the 4080 Super. We don’t care what the 4080 MSRP was, because the 4080 Super effectively overwrote it. That was $1,000 and was actually available at around $950 to $1,050 for much of its recent life.

For AMD’s part, it really needs to not screw its new GPUs up. Typically, whatever AMD says its price is, it comes down in about 1 quarter, because they usually push it way too high. It’s really disappointing that AMD said it’s not going to be targeting high-end GPUs this generation. 

Overall, we think it’s not a good time to buy a GPU and wouldn’t recommend buying a 5070 Ti.

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Dell UltraSharp 40 Curved Thunderbolt Hub Monitor U4025QW: MSRP $1919, Currently $1489 The Dell UltraSharp 40 U4025QW is a big, beautiful, curved Thunderbolt-enabled 5K2K resolution monitor featuring IPS Black technology. It's ideal for creators and productivity workers who need excellent color fidelity and a ton of high resolution screen...

The darkFlash DY470 manages to pack a no-frills, functional dual-chamber case layout into a cool looking, asymmetrical exterior shell which helps it stand out in the already crowded segment. As such, while it commands a higher price tag than classic variants, it certainly has plenty of justification to do so.

Apple's subscription news service is expanding in iOS 18.4 to bring Apple News+ Food, a curated collection including tens of thousands of recipes.


While iOS 18.4 has only just entered developer beta, Apple has already publicly announced a new feature that will debut when the update is made public in the next few weeks. Apple News+ Food is made in collaboration with worldwide publishers including Good Food, and Allrecipes.

Already available in the beta, Apple News+ Food offer recipes in what Apple calls a Cook mode. Having selected a recipe, users can tap on it to take the instructions full screen.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple continues to go all-in on Apple Intelligence, as the company announces it will bring its suite of AI-powered features to the Apple Vision Pro in visionOS 2.4.


On Friday, Apple announced the features it soon plans to roll out to the Apple Vision Pro. The update is quite significant and will add numerous new features.

"Apple Vision Pro is helping users communicate, collaborate, and experience entertainment in entirely new ways — and we're continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible in spatial computing with visionOS 2.4," said Mike Rockwell, Apple's vice president of the Vision Products Group.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

For its 20th anniversary, Apple Trafford Center is to close down and reopen in a larger and more prominent part of the same mall.


Following a similar October 2024 move for Apple Belfast in Northern Ireland, Apple has confirmed that it is relocating and expanding its Manchester Apple Trafford Center store. While Apple has not detailed where in the center it will be moving, it has revealed when it will be happening.

The current Apple Trafford Center will begin its move starting on Monday, February 24, 2025, when staff will close the store at 8pm local time instead of the regular 10pm. That will continue on the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, when the store will close permanently.


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Apple has started a new round of developer betas, complete with fresh builds of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, tvOS 18.4, watchOS 11.4, and visionOS 2.4 that will ultimately deliver Apple Intelligence to the headset.


Apple released updates for iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, macOS 15.3, tvOS 18.3, watchOS 11.3, and visionOS 2.3 on January 27. The release freed up its developer beta programs for the next update, which Apple has now started to test.

The first iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 developer betas share build number 22E5200s, with macOS Sequoia 15.4 using build number 24E5206s. The first tvOS 18.4 build is 22L5218l, the first watchOS 11.4 build is 22T5212l, and the first visionOS 2.4 build is 22O5199o.


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Rather than comply with a UK order to make a backdoor into encrypted data, Apple has announced it will no longer offer Advanced Data Protection in that country.


In 2024, the UK revamped its UK Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 to give itself the authority to legally — and secretly — compel Apple to break the end-to-end encryption that its security and privacy depends on. Despite bipartisan protests from the US, the UK issued the order and Apple cannot continue to operate its end-to-end encryption without breaking the law.

Instead of allowing the UK backdoor access to encrypted data, however, Apple has announced that it is switching off the encryption. This technically complies with the law, but means Apple does not create a backdoor that the UK or other bad actors could use.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Apple and Qualcomm's relationship has been strained for a decade and the iPhone 16e C1 chip is Apple's first move to cut ties once and for all.


The relationship between Apple and Qualcomm has been a tech soap opera. For over 15 years, Qualcomm's modem chips powered Apple's iPhones, enabling wireless connectivity to cellular networks. And now, it's over.

Behind the scenes, the partnership between Apple and Qualcomm has seen disputes over royalties, patent fees, and personal and professional tensions. As Apple intensifies its efforts to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm, other smartphone companies are watching, according to a report by The Information.


Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Weekend monitor deals deliver up to 50% off the budget-friendly Samsung M8, S9 5K, and Apple Studio Display. Prices start at just $399.99.


Today's Samsung M8 monitor discount can be found at both Amazon.com and Samsung.com, with the 32-inch 4K display on sale for $399.99. This reflects a 43% discount off MSRP for the smart monitor that has USB-C, HDMI and USB-A ports.

Buy M8 for $399.99


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Now some hours after preorders for the iPhone 16e opened, every configuration remains in stock to deliver on February 28.


Back in September 2024, the iPhone 16 Pro Max was selling so well that within 18 minutes certain configurations were sold out. Apple will always make more, but the delivery date had immediately slipped back a week.

That's common with Apple launches, so common that it's practically the norm for the MacBook Pro as well as the iPhone. It even happened with the costly Apple Vision Pro.


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The iPhone SE 4 - no, wait, the iPhone 16e - is out and it's a huge change of direction for Apple's lowest-cost iPhone. Plus there are yet more rumors about the iPhone 17, and the Humane AI Pin bows out very badly.


We expected the new iPhone to be good, we expected it to be significantly better than the iPhone SE it replaces, but we didn't expect it to be called the iPhone 16e. There is a huge amount to like about the new iPhone, but being the lowest-cost model in the range, there are features it lacks.

Whereas according to which rumors you've heard most recently, the iPhone 17 will have everything. There are again some claims of what the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro will look like, and there are again reasons to doubt them. But until Apple unveils the next new iPhones in September, these rumors are irresistible.


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Philips is strongly committed to sustainability with the launch of its latest business monitor, the Philips 34B2U3600C. This 34-inch curved VA display is the company's first to be TCO Certified, generation 10, a globally recognised sustainability certification for IT products. This certification underscores Philips' focus on minimising environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle, from manufacturing to end-of-life disposal, addressing the growing demand for eco-conscious electronics.

Beyond its green credentials, the 34B2U3600C has impressive features designed to enhance productivity and user comfort. The curved display provides an immersive viewing experience, while the WQHD resolution 3440×1440 VA panel delivers vibrant visuals with 1.07 billion colours and a 3500:1 contrast ratio. Integrated 5W speakers offer convenient audio for video conferencing and multimedia consumption. The 120Hz refresh rate is also pretty decent for gaming and such.

Connectivity is served with a versatile USB-C port that supports 90W power delivery and an RJ45 port. Eye comfort is prioritised with TÜV Rheinland Eyesafe certification and SoftBlue Technology, which reduces harmful blue light emissions. The ergonomic stand allows for height, tilt, and swivel adjustments, ensuring the user is comfortable during extended use.

Productivity-enhancing features include SmartKVM, which enables seamless switching between multiple sources with a simple keyboard shortcut, and MultiView, which allows for simultaneous dual connection and viewing. Philips is backing the 34B2U3600C with an extended 5-year warranty, demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and product longevity. The Philips 34B2U3600C is now available for €439.00.

KitGuru says: Even if it's clearly a productivity-oriented monitor, the 120Hz refresh rate suggests it should also do its job for gaming. So, if you're looking for a new ultrawide monitor that you can use for work and play, the new 34B2U3600C could be worth checking out.

The post Philips launches eco-friendly 34B2U3600C ultrawide monitor first appeared on KitGuru.

Among Us became widely popular in its original 2D form but the development team at InnerSloth is looking to change things up soon with the release of Among Us 3D. As the name suggests, this is the same social deduction game we all know and love, but in a 3D environment instead. 

Among Us 3D isn't an entirely new game. InnerSloth already had the game running in a 3D environment in Among Us VR. However, with the majority of gamers having no access to a VR headset, creating a new version of the game to run on ‘pancake displays' was imperative for improving reach and accessibility.

As Among Us 3D is based on Among Us VR, the two versions of the game do have crossplay. As you would expect though, the 3D version is not compatible with the original 2D version, so there will be no crossplay with those who own the original version of the game.

There is unfortunately no release date yet for Among Us 3D, and we do not know if this version of the game will release on consoles. For now, it is just a PC release, but we'd be surprised if it didn't pop up on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch next year. For now though, PC gamers can get an early look at the game when the demo drops during Steam Next Fest.

KitGuru Says: Will you be picking up Among Us 3D once it arrives? 

The post Among Us 3D announced with free PC demo for Steam Next Fest first appeared on KitGuru.

After three years of additional development, CD Projekt Red managed to transform Cyberpunk 2077 from a widely disappointing release into one of the best action RPGs on the market. One of the big focuses for improving the game was enhancing NPC AI, particularly for crowds and police chases. Now as development for Cyberpunk 2 gets underway, CD Projekt Red is looking to enhance its simulation systems to untold heights. 

CD Projekt Red is hiring, seeking developers to help craft “the most realistic crowds ever seen in a video game”. This is an ambitious starting point for the sequel, and it gives us an idea of where CDPR's priorities are for the sequel.

The specific job listing in question here is for a lead encounter designer, who will “work in close collaboration with the systems design team to create the most realistic and reactive crowd system in any game to date”. That is certainly an ambitious goal to set, particularly with Grand Theft Auto 6 set to release later this year, which will no doubt have some of the most intricate open-world systems seen to date.

After years of extra development, Cyberpunk 2077 became far more immersive. Based on what we're seeing from job listings for Cyberpunk 2, immersion is going to be a big point of focus for the sequel, hopefully to the point where we can class it as a true ‘immersive sim', like Deus Ex, Prey etc.

KitGuru Says: Immersive Sim RPGs are amongst my favourite and Cyberpunk 2077 definitely got pretty close to earning that moniker. Would you like to see CD Projekt Red lean further into this direction with Cyberpunk 2? 

The post Cyberpunk 2 aims to have ‘the most realistic and reactive crowds’ ever seen in a video game first appeared on KitGuru.

We've known for quite some time that EA's new studio, Cliffhanger, is hard at work on a Black Panther game. Since the initial announcement in 2023, there has been very little news but now, after an extended period of development, we are finally starting to get some details. 

According to GhostOfHope, a leaker primarily known in the Call of Duty scene, Cliffhanger's Black Panther game will allow players to choose their protagonist at the start of the game. If handled well, this could open up the game to multiple playthroughs, something that can greatly extend the playtime for a single-player title without having to bloat it out Ubisoft-style.

For those who aren't caught up on Marvel lore, Black Panther isn't just one character. The Black Panther is the leader and protector of Wakanda, a fictional country in the African continent. As a result, there have been a number of Black Panthers over the years, as the moniker is passed down through the generations, or claimed through combat.

Some of the variants planned for Cliffhanger's Black Panther game supposedly include T'Challa, M'Baku, Azari, Shuri and Killmonger, and there could be more beyond that. Each will have their own unique weapons, armour and gadgets, offering a different playstyle. Gameplay-wise, we are expecting a third-person view with an over-the-shoulder camera angle, a reactive story with multiple outcomes based on key decision moments, and combat inspired by authentic African Martial Arts.

KitGuru Says: We still don't know when Cliffhanger's Black Panther will come out but it seems that the developers have a direction in mind. Hopefully that means we'll see the game in action within the next couple of years. 

The post EA’s upcoming Black Panther game to feature multiple protagonists first appeared on KitGuru.

Cougar is championing eco-conscious design with its latest PC case, the Airface Eco RGB. This mid-tower case prioritises sustainability without compromising cooling performance, offering a compelling solution for environmentally conscious builders.

At the heart of the Airface Eco RGB lies a ventilation system designed to maximise cooling efficiency while minimising energy consumption. Its unique coned vents feature a wider opening that tapers inwards and channels cool air more effectively towards internal components. This design reduces the reliance on active cooling, resulting in lower energy usage and a quieter operating environment. Two pre-installed 180 mm PWM fans enhance airflow, promising to provide enough cooling for demanding hardware. These fans come connected to the built-in RGB Hub Sync.

Fan support is quite good, allowing up to 2x 140 mm or 3x 120 mm fans on top, a 120/140 mm fan at the rear, and up to 3x 120 mm or 2x 140/180 mm fans at the front. As for radiators, there's space for up to 280/360 models at the front and top and a 120/140 model at the rear. Moreover, there's also space for up to E-ATX boards, 390-mm-long GPUs, 190-mm-long CPU coolers, and 200-mm-long PSUs. Lastly, users can add up to 2x 3.5-inch HDDs and 2.5-inch SSDs.

Dust management is also a key focus. Filters on the front, top, and bottom prevent dust buildup and protect internal components. Maintenance is simplified with a quick-slide front dust filter and a removable top panel. Moreover, a modular front I/O with a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, two USB-A 3.0 ports, a 4-pole headphone jack, and an RGB button allows versatile placement.

The Airface Eco RGB exemplifies Cougar's commitment to performance and sustainability. It offers a compelling option for gamers and PC builders who seek to minimise their environmental impact without compromising functionality or aesthetics. The Airface Eco RGB is now available in the US in black or white for $109.99, and it's coming soon to the UK for £109.99. The rest of Europe will have to wait for April to get this case for €124.99.

KitGuru says: Do you like the Arface Eco RGB aesthetics? Which model would you prefer?

The post Cougar goes all-in on airflow with ‘Airface Eco’ RGB case first appeared on KitGuru.

Much like the regular Aria II, the right-handed ergonomic, 53 g Aria II comes with PixArt's PAW3395 sensor and Huano switches for the main buttons, but on top of that, polling rates of up to 8000 Hz are supported in both wired and wireless operation, along with Bluetooth.

Scuf Gaming has launched the Valor Pro wired performance controller for Xbox and PC. This controller represents the culmination of nearly a decade of collaboration with esports professionals and content creators, packing a suite of features designed to increase the user's gaming performance.

The Valor Pro wired is engineered to deliver a high level of speed and control, giving Xbox and PC gamers a competitive edge. Every aspect of the controller reflects Scuf's dedication to excellence, from its remappable paddles and high-speed wired connection (boasting a 1000Hz polling rate on PC) to its compact, ergonomic design and signature features like anti-drift Hall Effect thumbsticks.

Available in a range of stylish colors, including grey, black, and white, to name a few, the Valor Pro wired is packed with features to enhance performance and comfort. Four seamlessly integrated back paddles are positioned for effortless access, eliminating the need to adjust your grip. These paddles offer hardware remapping across three profiles, and the inner paddles can be removed or left blank. For those who prefer a traditional controller layout, all paddles can be disabled.

The inclusion of anti-drift Hall Effect thumbsticks ensures responsiveness. These advanced thumbsticks utilize magnets to detect movement, significantly reducing the risk of drift. Scuf has carefully tuned them to provide a feel that closely mimics traditional analogue sticks. Scuf has leveraged its extensive ergonomic expertise to refine the classic Xbox form factor with a more compact and comfortable design. The shape has been optimised to accommodate the paddles naturally, and contoured bumpers allow for faster and more efficient switching between triggers and bumpers.

The wired connection guarantees a consistently fast and reliable connection, eliminating concerns about wireless interference or latency. An upcoming PC update will further enhance responsiveness with a 1000Hz polling rate. Individual audio scroll wheels provide quick access to headset volume, game/chat balance, and microphone muting. The Valor Pro wired is now available starting at £99.99/$99.99/€109.99.

KitGuru says: Although it may look expensive for a wired controller, it packs all the high-end features you expect from a flagship controller, except it's not wireless. 

The post Scuf Gaming introduces new Valor Pro controller for PC and Xbox first appeared on KitGuru.

Back in 2022, Funcom officially announced Dune: Awakening – an ambitious survival MMO set in the world created by Frank Herbert. Said to be coming some time in 2025, the team have now officially announced that Dune: Awakening is launching on PC on the 20th of May.

Making the announcement, the team at Funcom officially unveiled the release date for Dune: Awakening, saying “Your journey begins on May 20, 2025 on PC.”

Alongside this, players can also download a joint character creator / benchmarking tool right now to get their PCs ready for this Unreal Engine 5 developed open world – receiving a free Frameblade knife skin as a bonus.

While the game’s console release has yet to be determined, PC players will soon be able to pre-order Dune: Awakening for $49.99 (and will receive a pre-order bonus in the form of a free terrarium for your base).

Dune: Awakening looks like it has a great deal of potential, and so hopefully the game manages to be all that it is promised and more when it officially arrives on the 20th of March. We’ll have to wait and see whether the console release isn’t too far behind.

KitGuru says: Are you excited for the game? What are your grand plans for Arrakis? Let us know down below.

The post Dune: Awakening release date officially announced first appeared on KitGuru.

After months of continued success, NetEase made the odd decision to fire many of the developers working on Marvel Rivals, including the director for one of the game’s primary support studios. Following this, the publisher has now bragged that Marvel Rivals has reached a new milestone of over 40 million players.

As reported by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, during the company’s most recent fiscal earnings report NetEase revealed that “Marvel Rivals has achieved 40 million players to date” – double that of the previously-announced user base.

While 40 million players would be something worth celebrating, this announcement comes at an unfortunate time with Marvel Rivals Director Thaddeus Sasser, level designer Jack Burrows and more confirming that they have been laid off.

Unwarranted firings aside, while 40 million players is a massive achievement for such a short amount of time (2 and a half months), it is far from the fastest-growing free-to-play title, with EA’s Apex Legends amassing over 50 million players in its first month.

It’s a shame to see what was a promising new free-to-play live-service title have its reputation stained by actions from those at the top of the corporate podium.

That said, it isn’t too surprising. Hopefully NetEase won’t reward its developers with another round of layoffs.

KitGuru says: Are you one of the 40 million players? Has the recent firings impacted your opinion on the game? Will NetEase address the layoffs? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Following layoffs, Marvel Rivals announces new record player count first appeared on KitGuru.

CyberPower has packed the latest and greatest gaming hardware in their Ultra 5090 Custom Gaming PC. At the centre we have a mighty MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim SOC which is supported by an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D on an MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi motherboard. Add in 64GB of fast DDR5 Kingston memory with 4TB of Gen 5 Corsair SSD and the result is bonkers gaming performance along with the expected hefty price tag that creeps past £5k.

Time stamps
00:00 Intro
00:55 RTX 5090 – power / thermals analysis
04:13 Specs / pricing
06:31 BIOS settings / power
08:41 Cinebench 2024 Single
09:00 Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
09:07 Geekbench 6 Multi Core
09:16 AIDA 64 Memory bandwidth
09:28 3DMark Time Spy
09:42 Far Cry 6
10:46 Avatar Frontiers of Pandora
11:00 Assassins Creed Mirage
11:13 Total War Pharaoh
11:34 Leo’s thoughts
12:45 CyberPower USA GN concerns
13:59 Closing Thoughts

Specification:

• Graphics card: MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim SOC – 32GB GDDR7 – HDMI, DP – Nvidia DLSS 4 and Reflex 2
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D – 8-Core 4.70GHz, 5.20GHz Turbo – 96MB L3 Cache Processor, Pro OC Compatible w/ Radeon Graphics
• CPU Cooler: Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 5 Air Cooler
• Cooling Upgrade: Thermal Grizzly Premium Thermal Paste and Thermal Grizzly AM5 contact frame fitted as default.
• Memory: 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5/6400MT/sec Kingston Fury Renegade RGB Black/Silver Memory
• Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi: ATX w/ PCIe 5.0, WiFi 6E, USB 3.2, 4x M.2
• M.2 SSD: 4TB Corsair MP700 Pro M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD – 12,400MB/s Read & 11,800MB/s Write [+344]
• Case: Be Quiet! Shadow Base 800FX Gaming Case – Black – (features 4x ARGB 140mm fans)
• Power Supply: MSI MAG A1250GL PCIe5 1250W 80+ Gold ATX 3.0 Fully Modular Gaming Power Supply (OEM is CWT)
• Sound: On-board HD Audio
• Software: Norton 360 VPN & Security for Gamers (Full 1 Year License)
• OS: Windows 11 Home
• Warranty: 5 Years Labour, 2 Years Parts, 12 Months Collect and Return plus Life-Time Technical Support

The post CyberPowerPC Ultra 5090 Custom Gaming PC Review first appeared on KitGuru.

The first Geekbench listing for what appears to be the iPhone 16e details the difference between it and the iPhone 16, plus confirms the expected amount of RAM.


Apple would rather talk about what you can do with a device than mention specifications such as the amount of RAM in it. Consequently RAM wasn't mentioned in the launch of the iPhone 16e, but it was presumed that the new iPhone comes with 8GB RAM.

That's because at least 8GB RAM is required for Apple Intelligence. There was never any question that the iPhone 16e would include Apple Intelligence, but now the first benchmarks confirm it has 8GB RAM.


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There's been a lot of fear in the last few days that Apple left off MagSafe off the iPhone 16e because it somehow interfered with Apple's C1 cellular modem, but physics precluded that from the start. Here's how.


Obviously, the iPhone 16e lacks MagSafe. There's been a lot said about it, and it's a problem for the device.

Almost immediately, we heard whispers from case manufacturers that it may not have been cost-cutting, but instead was interfering with the C1 cellular radio.


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A few days after launch, Apple has made the iPhone 16e available to purchase online, ahead of its February 28 release.


Following a brief period of downtime, the Apple Store is back online, and that means it's now possible to preorder the iPhone 16e. Customers can also preorder from physical Apple Store locations as well.

Consumers have two color options to choose from, in either Black or White. Capacities start from $599 for 128GB, with 256GB for $699 and 512GB for $899.


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As usual for an Apple release, the online version of the Apple Store has temporarily gone offline, in preparation for preorders of the iPhone 16e.


Launched on February 19, the iPhone 16e is the latest iPhone in Apple's range. The spiritual successor to the iPhone SE, the new entry-level model will soon be available to preorder.

During the announcement, Apple said preorders for the iPhone 16e start on February 21, with availability of the model from February 28.


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A new leak about the possible iPhone Fold includes yet another release schedule, and screen sizes that disagree with previous rumors.


It has recently been reported that Apple was on the verge of choosing a manufacturer for a foldable display screen, although there are now always rumors about an iPhone fold. The latest one does back up previous claims that there won't be a folding iPhone until at least 2026, but otherwise it disagrees with the most recent rumors.

"Exclusive information, Apple's large folding, 5.49-inch outer screen is a bit like [the Otto] Find N, but it is shorter and fatter," writes "Digital Chat Station" on Weibo (in translation). "The 7.74-inch inner screen unfolds like an iPad."


Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible


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The Rogue Prince of Persia is a slick action-platformer rogue-like from one of the teams behind the equally as fun Dead Cells. Following its early access launch in May last year, the game received a bunch of updates with much more promised for 2025. Sure enough, the team have now released the latest major patch for The Rogue Prince of Persia, adding dozens of new skins, a full rework of progression and much more.

Making the announcement, the team at Evil Empire officially released the ‘Forgotten Skins’ update for The Rogue Prince of Persia, writing: “The team’s been cooking as always and is still on it. So let’s take a look!”

The full list of changes and additions can be found HERE, but some of the more notable patches include:

• 35 new skins (12 recolor, 14 new models, 1 old model and 8 from the Community Skin Contest)
• Overhauled XP system
• Reworked all skill trees
• New quests
• 2 new weapons and 1 new tool
• Refined level design
• Dozens of various fixes

Even at its initial Early Access launch, The Rogue Prince of Persia was a highly fun and replayable game, and so it is exciting to see the team continue to improve and refine the overall experience.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this update? Have you checked out The Rogue Prince of Persia? Will you be rocking the classic purple Prince skin? Let us know down below.

The post The Rogue Prince of Persia update brings new skins, progression overhaul and more first appeared on KitGuru.

Over the past few days, we have heard an increasing number of reports claiming that the iconic Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series is set to return with the revival of the previously-cancelled THPS 3+4. In the wake of these leaks, Activision seems to have confirmed as much, teasing an upcoming Tony Hawk announcement as part of the latest update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Season 2 Reloaded for Black Ops 6 is now live, bringing a bunch of new content including weapons; game modes; multiplayer maps and more. One of the biggest additions is the return of the fan-favourite map Grind from Black Ops 2.

Set in a skate park, eagle-eyed fans have discovered a cool easter egg in the map which seems to hint at an upcoming showcase – with a sign reading “03.04.25” underneath the recognisable THPS logo.

For the uninitiated, we first heard word of a new Pro Skater game a couple days ago, when skater Tyshawn Jones claimed via a podcast that he’s going to be in the next Tony Hawk game which is set to release soon.

Following this, well known leaker eXtas1s corroborated these comments, revealing that the game in question is a remake of Pro Skater 3+4 and is planned to arrive this June.

Based on all this, it now seems clear that Activision/Microsoft is gearing up for an official announcement in March, followed by its launch just a couple months later in June.

While the surprise was somewhat spoiled, it is always cool to see such announcements being teased in other games ahead of time – adding to the overall hype and excitement. Hopefully Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 winds up being as good as the first remake.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to this new entry in the series? What’s your favourite THPS game? Was this teaser always planned, or was it added as a result of the leaks? Let us know your thoughts down below.

The post Black Ops 6 update teases Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater first appeared on KitGuru.

Yoto Mini is a tiny, pocketable music player for kids and toddlers that shuns screens. While staying kid-friendly, it adds a surprising amount of tech for endless entertainment.


As music lovers, we want our children to experience it as we did. But options are a bit limited.

You can go with a smart speaker, but that isn't easily controllable for little ones. You can go vintage with a cassette or CD player to stay more low-tech, but they're breakable and also not kid-friendly.


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Mark S may have no idea who Jake from State Farm is, but a new ad featuring the insurance company and Apple TV+ hit "Severance" brings them together.


Apple is known for its well-shot advertisements, especially the ones that air during the holidays, but those aren't the only ads featuring Apple products. The company works with carriers and resellers to promote iPhones, its other products, and sometimes, its services.

An ad shared by State Farm on Thursday places a newly severed Jamie S with Mark S, played by Adam Scott, on the Severed Floor featured in Apple TV+ drama "Severance." She's shown a video of her "outie" reading a note saying she's been severed... from her parents' car insurance.


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Apple only just revealed the C1 modem with iPhone 16e on Wednesday, but there's already a rumor about the C2 being tested internally.


Apple has spent years trying to distance itself from Qualcomm and use its own in-house modem. The company has finally landed on the C1 modem used in iPhone 16e, calling it a "platform for generations."

According to a report from MacRumors sourced from an accurate leaker that uses a private account on X, Apple is already working on the future of the C-series platform. The leaker called it the C2 and shared it has the identifier C4020.


Rumor Score: 🤯 Likely


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The custom modem in the iPhone 16e lays the groundwork for future Apple projects, as the company intends to use its proprietary modems across future products.


On Wednesday, Apple announced the entry-level iPhone 16e, with a relatively modest design echoing the iPhone 14. One of the device's stand-out features is an all-new in-house modem. Created and designed exclusively by Apple, it replaces previously used Qualcomm technology.

Apple's long-rumored custom modem, developed under the project codename "Sinope," allows for tight integration between the iPhone software and hardware. This is why the iPhone 16e reportedly has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, according to Apple.


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The long-rumored iPhone 17 Air may be equipped with a slightly larger display than originally anticipated, according to a source with a mixed track record.


As part of its 2025 iPhone lineup, Apple is expected to replace its existing Plus model with an ultra-thin model known as the iPhone 17 Air or Slim. Though multiple analysts and leakers have all claimed the device is in the works, there seems to be a lack of consensus in terms of hardware specifications.

In 2024, display analyst Ross Young said that the iPhone 17 Air would feature a 6.55-inch display, which Apple would likely round up to 6.6 inches. Another analyst, Jeff Pu, made the same claim in October 2024.


Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible


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It's been two years since NVIDIA introduced its Ada Lovelace GPUs, kicking things off with the RTX 4090 and finishing up the initial lineup with the SUPER family At CES, the company unveiled its new RTX 50 "Blackwell" family which features a brand new architecture and several changes such as new cores, AI accelerators, new memory standards, and the latest video/display capabilities. Today, NVIDIA is releasing the second fastest card within its "RTX 50" portfolio, the GeForce RTX 5080. The GeForce RTX 5080 is a top-of-the-line graphics card, designed for enthusiast gamers, and features a price point of $999 US […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/palit-geforce-rtx-5080-gamerock-oc-16-gb-gpu-review-rocking-looks/

Apple says that you can use wireless Qi chargers with the iPhone 16e and it's true, but isn't MagSafe and that causes problems.


One of the compromises Apple made with making a lower-cost entry to the iPhone 16 range was to remove MagSafe. Apple is correct when it says you can still use wireless charging, but that's not the half of it.

If you have to use a Qi charger instead of MagSafe, it will take much longer and it will be so inefficient that it uses more power. And that's if you can be certain you have placed the iPhone 16e on exactly the right spot of the Qi charger.


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If you're confused about who the iPhone 16e is for, you're not alone — I know I won't be upgrading.


I'm going to cut right to it. I should have been an easy sell for the iPhone SE 4, but I'm vehemently against the iPhone 16e.

If you've read any of my opinion pieces here in my nearly six-year tenure at AppleInsider, you'd know that I'm not an iPhone fanatic. Unlike most of my coworkers, I've never owned a Pro-level iPhone model.


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