Technology

• Google Threat Intelligence Group is replacing its inherited Mandiant and TAG identifiers with two-word cryptonyms, starting with several dozen of its most-tracked groups
• The second word encodes attribution or motive, with CASTLE for China, ION for Iran, NEPTUNE for North Korea, RELIC for Russia, and COMET for criminal crews not visibly tied to a particular country
• The scheme standardizes naming inside Google but adds another convention to an industry that agreed on a shared alias mapping only last year

The Russian military intelligence crew that most of the security industry knows as Sandworm has picked up another name - it is Sandworm Relic, at least when Google is doing the talking.

Google Threat Intelligence Group has announced plans to retire the tangle of identifiers it inherited from two separate teams and replacing them with two-word cryptonyms, starting with several dozen of the groups it tracks most closely and continuing on a rolling basis.

Google has recently argued against its old approach of using sequential identifiers like APT1, on the grounds that a number tells a defender nothing about who they are dealing with. It has begun replacing them with a schema it says is more intuitive and makes it easier to determine where an attack comes from and what motivates it.

Rationalizing Google's need to change an already-established order

The mechanics are simple enough. Every tracked actor gets a pair of words. The first is meant to be distinctive and memorable, and where the security community has already settled on a moniker, Google says it will keep it. Where no such term exists, the word is generated at random to remove bias, then checked by analysts before it goes into use.

The second word does the categorizing, sorting clusters by motivation, attribution or activity type. The sample table Google published maps CASTLE to groups tied to the People's Republic of China, ION to Iran, NEPTUNE to North Korea, RELIC to Russia and COMET to financially motivated criminals.

The approach, as CyberScoop points out, closely echoes CrowdStrike's long-running practice of pairing a unique term with an animal keyed to country or motive: PANDA for China, BEAR for Russia, SPIDER for criminals, JACKAL for hacktivists. Google has simply swapped the animals for words like CASTLE and NEPTUNE.

The move is the latest step after Google announced its $5.4 billion acquisition of Mandiant in 2022, which it eventually combined with its in-house Threat Analysis Group to form GTIG.

The merger brought together two tracking systems that had evolved independently for years, meaning the same activity could appear under two different Google labels depending on which team wrote the report.

For now, Russia-linked Sandworm Relic is the only new name to have surfaced publicly, and Google is hardly the first to attempt this.

Microsoft has settled on weather, and countries such as China have publicly disputed the attributions sitting behind those labels. Google's move to "streamline" threat names could still make things simpler if it catches on with the rest of the world.

Alternatively, it could just add to the confusion in an industry where no standards are yet completely agreed upon. Google and Mandiant signed on to a Microsoft and CrowdStrike alias-mapping effort in June 2025, and The Register reported that sources at the time indicated both were keen to adopt the Microsoft-led scheme. Last week's announcement makes no mention of it. However good Google's intentions, defenders are still being handed one more system to learn.

Microsoft bet big on agentic AI, and it seems to be attracting users.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #1647).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1648) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1648) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #1648) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1648) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1648) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• M

• I

• C

• L

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1648) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1648, are…

• MODAL
• IDLER
• CHUMP
• LUMPY

After a long run of easy games I am now on back to back days where I came very close to losing.

Today, I had to take the game very slowly in order to get three words in three guesses and fortunately it paid off with the letter M in MODAL unlocking the final two words.

Daily Sequence today (game #1648) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1648, are…

• KAYAK
• NERDY
• STINK
• LOFTY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1647, Wednesday, 29 July: GAWKY, ALLOY, AUDIT, LATCH
• Quordle #1646, Tuesday, 28 July: SMITE, ROACH, RUDDY, GLOBE
• Quordle #1645, Monday, 27 July: TAFFY, FIGHT, GUILD, WAGER
• Quordle #1644, Sunday, 26 July: STOMP, LIMIT, FUNKY, STEAD
• Quordle #1643, Saturday, 25 July: SALON, SHEEN, BURST, GOURD
• Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
• Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
• Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
• Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
• Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
• Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
• Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
• Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #1144).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• JUGGLING
• CARNIVAL
• DOT
• FAIR
• BINGO
• RIGHT
• POOL
• NOSE
• MONEY
• GOOD
• BEER PONG
• CELEBRITY
• VIKING
• MARK
• PRINCESS
• JUST

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Doing the correct thing
• GREEN: Many spherical objects are involved
• BLUE: Big ship fleets
• PURPLE: Expressions meaning exact

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE"

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1145) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1145, are…

• YELLOW: VIRTUOUS: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT
• GREEN: ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL
• BLUE: CRUISE LINES: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING
• PURPLE: ON THE __, TO MEAN "PRECISE": DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Apart from CRUISE LINES, which I saw immediately, this was a game where I sort of knew what the groups were about, but also sort of didn’t.

My mistake came in collecting VIRTUOUS and thinking that this was all about alignment and making something measure up correctly — so I had RIGHT, JUST, GOOD, and NOSE, as in “on the NOSE”, which I never considered could be a group.

Then I collected the four ACTIVITIES WITH MULTIPLE BALLS, but thought they were something about games that happen at parties; not that I have ever been to a party where a game of BINGO broke out.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, July 29, 2026, game #1144)

• YELLOW: FASTENERS: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE
• GREEN: NONDESCRIPT: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA
• BLUE: UNITS OF WISDOM: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD
• PURPLE: ____BOARDS IN A CLASSROOM: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #878).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Trade names

NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• WART
• RAVE
• MAST
• STOP
• TROOPER
• PASTE

NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #879) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 1st row

• Last side: right, 1st row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #879) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #879, are…

• SMITH
• MASON
• JOINER
• TANNER
• COOPER
• WEAVER
• SPANGRAM: ARTISANS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

As I was working around the board collecting “trade names” I could not help but wonder how many of today’s trades would be considered the work of ARTISANS in the future — programmer, writer, barista?

Many in the search are jobs that are now quite niche, yet we only need think of how many people are named SMITH or COOPER to realize how commonplace they once were.

Not so commonplace, however, to prevent me from needing a hint, although in my case it was laziness that prompted me to take the shortcut, thus demonstrating my inevitable replacement by a far more capable AI version.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 29, game #878)

• DOLL
• PUPPET
• DUMMY
• MANNEQUIN
• FIGURINE
• STATUE
• SPANGRAM: FABRICATED

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Dolby Atmos gets plaudits as the more popular immersive 3D sound format, but a lot of its love from home theater enthusiasts isn't about the spatial audio, but is more about the lossless audio quality you get on 4K Blu-ray. It's not the only game in town for this, however: there's also DTS-HD Master Audio (MA).

I’ve been testing new 4K Blu-rays as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, my monthly feature where I review the best new 4K releases for sound and visual quality, and tons of them use DTS-HD MA — especially older titles.

While DTS isn’t supported as widely in hardware as Dolby Atmos (new-release LG and Samsung TVs don't support DTS, for example), it’s an excellent sound format that can still deliver an immersive surround sound experience, especially in 5.1 surround systems.

While DTS-HD MA may not utilize height channels like Dolby Atmos does, there are a few 4K Blu-rays I’ve tested whose DTS-HD MA soundtracks sound so good, they had me asking who needs Dolby Atmos height effects anyway.

Below, I’ve picked seven of my favorite 4K discs that feature brilliant DTS soundtracks — most are 5.1 surround sound, but one is actually stereo (as the creator intended).

What do you think of Dolby Atmos vs DTS? Any other DTS 4K discs you think people should check out? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Chungking Express

(Image credit: Criterion / Future)

Chungking Express follows the separate stories of two policemen in Hong Kong, both of whom are going through breakups and meet new strangers.

Where the DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack shines here is capturing the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. During one scene where Ah Wu (Cop 223) enters a night market, the sound of raised voices, goods being exchanged and the general chaos of a busy market sounds realistic and detailed.

The surround channels are used to full effect and sound is accurately mapped to them. The movement of sound had me double-checking the room, the sounds of the market are so convincing and tactile.

A later scene where Cop 663 visits a restaurant, the conversation of the patrons, clinking glasses and cutlery being used are given ample room to breathe, and the sound placement is precise. Again, the scene had that immersive feel that I’d found during the aforementioned night market scene. Throughout, the jazzy score is well balanced with other elements in the mix.

Tombstone

(Image credit: Disney / Future )

Tombstone follows the story of Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), a retired lawman who moves to the titular town with his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), and along with Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) they must defend the town from a group of outlaws.

As you’d expect from a Western, there’s plenty of gunfights that demonstrate excellent surround sound and dynamic range. The DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack here accurately maps ricocheting bullets to rear channels, while also following their trajectory. There’s good impact from said bullets too, showing some nice power from the front channels.

Elsewhere, other effects such as the clinking of spurs have a bright, clear sound and again sound realistic, with a clear connection between the sound and the action. Whenever horses gallop, there’s some meaty bass that delivers a solid rumble. The subwoofer of the system I use delivered plenty of oomph that even made our testing lab shake. Crucially though, despite bass volume, it’s well controlled and balanced within the mix.

Dunkirk

(Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future )

Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan, follows the events of the Dunkirk evacuation in WWII, told from three different perspectives of people in the land, sea and air. It stars an ensemble cast that includes Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy.

Christopher Nolan notably never uses Dolby Atmos with his movies, and Dunkirk is no different. While any Nolan movie could make this list (and this isn’t the only one), Dunkirk is easily one of the most impressive.

In the opening scenes, as the British soldiers attempt to outrun the gunfire, the mapping and directionality of the bullets was pinpoint accurate, coming from behind my head and ramping up the anxiety. These bullets also had plenty of impact and punch, delivering some serious power with every hit.

This is another DTS mix that despite a lack of height channels, delivers enough immersion that it feels like there’s height. Anytime a plane flies overhead, there’s absolutely perceived height, and the drone of the plane's engines has a clear sense of direction. Throughout the movie, bass levels are powerful but well controlled and dynamic, really giving a subwoofer a workout.

Interstellar

(Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future )

Interstellar is the story of Coop (Matthew McConaughey), a NASA pilot who joins an expedition to find a new home for humans, as Earth succumbs to famine and crisis. The movie also stars Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine among its cast list.

Christopher Nolan’s second movie on the list, Interstellar delivers an impressive showcase for DTS-HD 5.1 MA. As the Endurance navigates the Gargantua wormhole, bass levels are strong, but there’s an added (intentional) sense of direction to the low frequencies as well, as the sound moves from the front to the rear speakers to create a fully immersive and engaging sense of reality bending around you. The roar of the ship’s engines delivers a seriously powerful rumble too, showing what your subwoofer can do.

There’s some fantastic detail within the sound mix too. During Coop’s daring docking sequence with the out-of-control Endurance, the sound of debris crunching into the ship and the directionality of the spinning ships are all intricate, audible and precise. There’s an excellent balance between every element, even with the powerful, organ-led score over the top of it — this is a really tough scene for speakers to drive, and is a great showcase for why Blu-ray is superior to streaming: it sounds so much weaker from any streaming source, but is brilliantly overwhelming here.

As Coop encouncters the black hole, the rattling sound of the dust again scrapes along the outside of the ship convincingly and sharply, really putting me inside the Ranger ship myself.

Minority Report

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios / Future )

Minority Report, loosely based on Philip K Dick’s novella The Minority Report, stars Tom Cruise as John Anderton, the chief of the Precrime unit, which uses clairvoyant people to predict homicides before they happen. When the clairvoyant ‘precogs’ predict that Anderton will commit a homicide, he must go on the run.

Despite the lack of height channels in the DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack featured on the Minority Report 4K Blu-ray, there are plenty of scenes where a sense of height is created. During the jetpack fight scene, the movement of sound and the spatial elements within the scene are enough to create the feeling of height to the mix.

The same is true in another scene where John escapes along a magnetic car freeway. Cars over John’s head, as he scales up the automated lanes of traffic, sound like they’re coming overhead, even with the missing height channels in the mix.

The detail in this disc’s soundtrack is just excellent. Other elements such as punches during fight scenes deliver solid impact and heft, with some meaty bass as well.

Fight Club

(Image credit: Future / 20th Century Studios)

Fight Club is the story of an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton), who's an insurance agent who meets a mysterious soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and starts an underground fight club for disillusioned people.

As you’d hope from a movie as gritty as this, there’s plenty to like about the 4K disc’s DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack. During fight scenes, punches and collisions have real impact, feeling every bit as gruelling as the scenes themselves. More visceral sounds, such as the bag of fat splitting open, are gruesome and realistic, sounding worryingly detailed. The narrator’s speech is crystal clear throughout most of the movie too, balancing well with the score and other effects.

Again, this is another mix with a real immersive feel in some scenes, delivering perceived height effects. During the opening, as the camera drops down through the building where the narrator is held at gunpoint, to the parking garage below, the sound of the breeze accurately follows the trajectory of the camera, creating that sense of height despite the lack of height channels.

Blow Out

(Image credit: Criterion Collection / Future )

Blow Out follows Jack Terry (John Travolta), a sound technician who is embroiled in a murder/assassination plot when he inadvertently captures evidence of the assassination while recording audio for a low-budget slasher film he’s involved in.

What makes this disc’s soundtrack so interesting is that rather than DTS-HD 5.1 MA surround, which the other entries in this list have been, this uses a DTS-HD 2.0 surround mix, preserving the original presentation, but in the best-quality mix we can deliver today.

While stereo may sound limited, some excellent sound design means the movie absolutely feels immersive. This is best demonstrated during a scene where Jack records audio in the park near the opening of the movie.

As he aims his microphone to capture audio, the sound of the wind and distant traffic fills the space with subtlety. When louder audio comes in, such as the hooting of an owl, the other effects don’t go away. As the car swerves off the bridge, the sound of the screeching tyres moves from side to side, again utilizing the surround channels well. There’s still some good impact as the car crashes through the fence into the river, too.

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• Hidden AI debts are attracting fresh scrutiny across America's biggest technology companies
• Massive data centre spending is testing investor confidence like never before
• Meta reportedly carries the largest off-balance-sheet obligations among the five companies

An investigation by Nikkei Asia has claimed five of America's largest tech companies are reportedly concealing huge debts outside their official financial statements.

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle together account for roughly $1.65 trillion in liabilities missing from their public balance sheets.

That figure exceeds the $1.35 trillion these firms officially disclosed last quarter, with Meta alone holding roughly $420 billion off-balance-sheet.

Echoes of Enron

Analysts have begun drawing direct parallels to Enron, the energy trading company whose 2001 collapse remains a cautionary tale in corporate finance.

Like Enron once did, these tech giants rely on special purpose vehicles, essentially legally separate subsidiaries, to keep debt off their books.

Such arrangements can make a company's financial reporting appear far healthier than the underlying reality actually supports at any given moment.

This accounting structure remains legal when applied correctly, although critics argue it can complicate efforts by investors to measure overall financial exposure accurately.

“The accounting treatment itself is in fashion,” technical accounting consultant Tom Selling told Bloomberg.

“But what if one of these companies was a house of cards and was propping itself up with this accounting treatment? To me, that’s the risk.”

The warning has encouraged renewed scrutiny of corporate reporting practices across the technology sector, particularly among the companies named in the investigation.

This scrutiny comes as firms continue spending heavily to expand the computing capacity required for increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems.

Mounting financial pressure

To remain competitive in the AI race, these companies are committing enormous sums toward massive, long-term data center construction projects.

The scale of planned data center spending across the entire industry has reached levels rarely seen in corporate history.

Whether these massive infrastructure bets eventually pay off financially remains genuinely uncertain, given how quickly the technology and market keep shifting.

Nikkei Asia notes many of these firms are also issuing new shares to raise additional funds - but issuing new equity in this manner risks diluting existing shareholders and could gradually erode investor confidence over the coming months.

Such dilution could also leave these companies even more exposed should the broader AI bubble eventually deflate or burst suddenly.

Investor unease could deepen further if the industry fails to generate enough real demand to justify this data center spending spree.

Notably, four of the five companies named in the investigation are scheduled to report second quarter earnings within the coming weeks.

Given how much rides on these coming disclosures, markets and analysts alike will be watching each earnings report closely.

Whether these tech giants ultimately resemble Enron or simply pursue an aggressive yet financially sound growth strategy remains genuinely unclear for now.

The planet parade is happening around the same time as Perseids and the upcoming solar eclipse.

There’s no word yet about when or where the food delivery service will begin air operations.

While Apple TV first showed that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max could handle the demands of a live professional sports broadcast during Friday Night Baseball, the company has since expanded their role into Major League Soccer, using the smartphones to capture angles traditional broadcast cameras simply can't.

Nearly a year after Apple first put iPhone 17 Pro Max units into a live sports broadcast workflow, the cameras are back for 2026 MLS All-Star Week in Charlotte, North Carolina. During the July 28 Skills Challenge and the July 29 MLS All-Star Game, iPhone 17 Pro Max can be mounted behind goals, attached to Magic Arms — articulated mounts commonly used in film and broadcast production — and carried on Ronin gimbals by roaming camera operators. If a penalty kick happens, one could even end up just feet behind the player taking the shot, delivering an even more immersive perspective.

I've been on the ground in Charlotte this week and caught up once again with Royce Dickerson, Executive Producer, Live Sports on Apple TV, to see how the company's approach has evolved over the past year. For Dickerson, the mission is no longer proving the iPhone belongs in a live broadcast — it's figuring out what broadcasters can do with it that they couldn't before.

"We’re always looking for ways to innovate and bring fans closer to the action," Dickerson told me. "How do we continue to be creative with the spaces that we have? Where can we stick iPhones that we haven't thought about before?... We're always striving for... what is that perfect shot? I don't think we've found it yet."

That shift in mindset is perhaps the biggest takeaway one year later. Apple is no longer asking whether the iPhone can work as a broadcast camera — it's asking how many more it can deploy and where they can go next.

'Just like another camera'

(Image credit: Apple)

A year in, nobody on Dickerson's crew treats the iPhone as a novelty act anymore. He pointed back to that first Friday Night Baseball broadcast, when veteran director John Moore ended up cutting to the iPhone shot more often than he expected once he saw the picture quality for himself. Camera operators reached the same place, Dickerson told me that once they're familiar with the iPhone, "it's just like another camera to them."

That comfort is why Apple is running the setup weekly across both MLS and Friday Night Baseball now, rather than treating it as a special event. "I don't think we'd be doing it week-over-week in MLS right now and in Friday Night Baseball if everybody wasn't 100% comfortable with the camera," he said.

The hardware has diversified slightly, too — alongside the now-recognizable Cosmic Orange units, Apple has mixed in some silver iPhone 17 Pro Max cameras as well.

From four iPhones to 15 — and eventually 30?

Ask Dickerson what he took away from that first Fenway broadcast and applied directly to MLS, and his answer is immediate: they needed more iPhones.

That first game ran four units total — one on the Pesky Foul Pole, one tucked into the Green Monster, one on a Ronin gimbal, and one in the dugout. Seeing how unobtrusively that small footprint could be worked into a stadium convinced him the ceiling was much higher than four.

"We need more of them," he told me. "The small-scale size of that just showed me we can put iPhones anywhere. We need to be able to say, like, let's put 20 — what can we do that's crazy in a stadium that just provides full 360 coverage inside of a venue?"

That thinking has already become reality. For a dedicated MLS match shot almost entirely on iPhone, Apple deployed 15 iPhone 17 Pro Max cameras throughout the stadium — and Dickerson doesn't see that as a ceiling.

"I see a world where we have 20 iPhones. I see a world where we have like 30," he said. "With the confidence that everybody has in them now, the envelope's going to start getting pushed a little bit further out."

The workflow has caught up with that ambition. What used to take a full day of rigging and connectivity checks is now, in Dickerson's words, roughly a tenth of the time it took a year ago — purely a result of doing it week after week and building familiarity with the process.

Crews are still using Beastgrip rigs for mounting, but the iPad-based control setup I saw a year ago is gone: camera input and shading are now integrated directly into the truck's standard broadcast system, no separate tablet required.

Geometry is a key difference between capturing MLB and MLS

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

The biggest difference between MLB and MLS comes down to something surprisingly simple: geometry.

A pitch is the same size in Charlotte as it is in LA, Miami, or New York, and in many soccer stadiums, the stands run right up to the touchline — meaning a Ronin-mounted iPhone can get shockingly close to the run of play.

Baseball doesn't offer that flexibility. The foul lines are a hard boundary, and once you cross onto the field of play, that's it — no matter which park you're in, and no matter how the dimensions shift from stadium to stadium. Soccer's more consistent footprint, paired with sideline access, is letting Apple push cameras nearer to the action than it could at a ballpark.

That proximity has led to placements you wouldn't get near a diamond: a Ronin at the touchline for tight shots, an iPhone on the team benches (Dickerson mentioned catching LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney's face as he made notes on an iPad during a match), cameras tucked into the goal net, in the tunnel, and mounted on field-level advertising boards. None of it blocks a fan's sightline, and all of it is small enough that it goes unnoticed until a broadcast cuts to it.

Dickerson also pointed to a subtler benefit: players, coaches, and managers react differently to an iPhone than they do to a traditional broadcast camera.

"Usually there's a big broadcast camera being shoved in their face, and they immediately kind of retreat within themselves," he said. "But all of a sudden there's just an iPhone 17 Pro Max on a gimbal... and it kind of eases them."

That reaction is helping Apple capture more intimate, unguarded moments without disrupting play or fans' sightlines.

What to watch for in Charlotte

Tuesday's Skills Challenge leaned heavily on mobility with Ronins at the stadium, two of them on RF for full remote control, plus two more mounted on Magic Arms positioned for organic, up-close angles of balls in flight and players running by.

Wednesday's All-Star Game mixes in two Ronins pushed toward the sidelines, alongside iPhones positioned around the halftime stage for Ciara's performance (produced by a separate crew that Apple's broadcast will ingest as a feed).

Dickerson's dream shot for the All-Star Game: a Ronin-mounted iPhone getting a tight angle from behind a player on a penalty kick — a shot that's essentially impossible with a traditional camera rig.

I'll be keeping an eye out for that moment during the match, because if Apple can pull it off, it may be one of the clearest examples yet of why these tiny cameras are changing what's possible in a live broadcast.

Still searching for the perfect shot

(Image credit: Apple)

Twenty years into a broadcast career, Dickerson isn't interested in declaring victory. He pointed to a home run from Phillies outfielder Bryson Stott, shot from a low third-base angle, as one of the closest things to a perfect shot his team has captured with the iPhone so far — but he's clear it's not the finish line.

The goal, as he put it, is finding angles nobody's thought to try yet, in stadiums that all start to look the same until you walk them looking for a spot nobody's used before.

With Apple already talking about a "year-and-a-half" of testing and implementation behind it heading into the next MLS season and Friday Night Baseball campaign, Dickerson is promising more of what got Apple here in the first place: more iPhones, more unconventional angles, and continued insistence that the phone in your pocket can shoot alongside — and sometimes replace — a six-figure broadcast camera.

Apple TV in the United States is the broadcast home to MLS, and you get to watch for free as it’s included with one of the best streaming services. The MLS All-Star Game will kick off at 8 PM ET tonight, July 29, 2026, with a pre-show starting before it, and it’ll be easy to know when they call for a shot from the iPhone thanks to a ‘Shot on iPhone’ bug visible on the screen.

Tom Hanks is one of the most celebrated actors in the world, having starred in several iconic films throughout his career and winning two Academy Awards in the process. Like all actors, however, he's been no stranger to the rise of AI and its potential to upend the film industry.

Life after death

Hanks raised the prospect of his image being used to bring films to life far beyond his death in an episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast.

Quote of the day

This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.

The notion of using AI in film to either recreate actors that have died, or to generate performances by using the images of living actors, is highly controversial and led to industrial action at the time. Hanks said that he had first anticipated such a future during his work on 2004's 'The Polar Express', which pioneered live-action motion capture CGI.

Using technology to bring actors back from the dead, however, wasn't a new phenomenon. 'Rogue One' used technology to digitally resurrect Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, while the 'Irishman' used AI to de-age Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci so they could portray their characters over a period of decades.

The future of cinema

What's clear now is that AI in film is here to stay, with the technology being utilized in several film and television productions today.

The 2025 Oscars saw films that used AI, including 'Emilia Perez' and 'The Brutalist', win big. Netflix, meanwhile, revealed that 300 titles used generative AI in one form or another this year. Usage spanned every stage, from concepting and visualization to post-production and eventual release.

As far as audiences go, most people may not notice these subtle uses of AI in the production process, and may not object to this kind of AI usage either. But, generally, research consistently shows they reject the idea of AI-generated content.

I bought the EcoFlow Rapid strictly for travel over the summer, but it ended up living on my nightstand. The outlet in my bedroom is blocked by the headboard, so keeping this battery on the table makes it way easier to charge my iPad while reading in bed. Nothing fancy, but it solved a daily annoyance right out of the box.

It's a fantastic way to beat charging woes even at full price - as I detail below. But US and UK readers can grab it for up to half-price, with the EcoFlow Rapid Power Bank down to $60 (was $130) at Amazon, while in the UK, the Rapid is now £65 (was £100).

At 25,000mAh (roughly 90 watt-hours), it sits right under the 100Wh limit TSA and most airlines set for carry-ons. Output maxes out at 170W total across two 140W USB-C ports and a 33W USB-A port—plenty of overhead to fast-charge a laptop and phone simultaneously without throttling either.

Recharging is equally quick: feeding it 140W gets the battery to 50% in about 20 minutes, which takes the stress out of low-battery warnings before a flight. There's a small color TFT display on the front that shows battery percentage and what's flowing through each port, so you're not guessing whether it's actually charging or just warm.

EcoFlow also includes in the usual protections you'd want in something you're tossing in a bag next to your laptop: overcharge, overheat, and short-circuit protection, along with a fire-resistant housing.

I found this power bank the best way to solve my charging problems thanks to the three ports that let me fast-charge my laptop and iPad.

In the UK: now £65 (was £100)View Deal

Where it actually earns its keep

(Image credit: Future)

Bedside, mostly. I like having my iPad plugged in while I half-watch something before I drift off, and I was sick of the nightly math: is there an outlet on this side of the bed, and is the cable even going to reach? Now the bank just lives on the nightstand and takes care of both problems at once.

Vacations are the other place it's become non-negotiable. On a trip, this thing is doing the work of what used to be three separate chargers: phone, tablet, and whatever camera or laptop

I've brought along, and because it clears TSA's carry-on limit, I've never had it questioned at security. Hotel rooms are notorious for having exactly one usable outlet near the bed, usually behind a nightstand you can't move, and having a full day of charging sitting in reach solves that without rearranging furniture.

Conferences are a battery killer. At a trade show a few months ago, my phone hit 20% before noon just from taking photos and answering Slack messages. The only nearby outlet had four different cables running out of it across the floor. I stopped hunting for plugs after that. Now I just charge my phone between talks and run a cable out of my bag to my laptop when it gets low.

It's also a solid answer for anywhere a plug isn’t guaranteed: a long flight, a road trip, a power outage at home, or a coffee shop where every outlet is already taken. That's really the point of a bank this size; it's not built for one scenario, it's built for the gap between wherever you are and the nearest working outlet.

A few things worth knowing before you buy

(Image credit: Future)

At just over a pound and roughly the size of a large candy bar, it's not the smallest power bank on the market, and that's a deliberate tradeoff for the output it delivers. If you only ever need to top off a phone, something smaller and lighter will do the job with less bulk in your bag. It also doesn't do wireless charging; everything works through the USB-C or USB-A ports, so you'll need a cable regardless of what you're charging.

One more thing worth noting: that 170W is a shared pool, not per-port. Plug in a laptop, a phone, and a set of earbuds at the same time, and the bank splits that 170W across all three rather than giving each one its own full rating. I've never actually perceived a slowdown using it that way, but don't expect three devices each pulling 140W simultaneously; that math just doesn't work.

For what it's actually meant to do- keep me charged through a flight, a conference floor, or just a lazy night in bed with the iPad- it's been reliable enough that I stopped thinking about battery anxiety altogether. That's a low bar to clear on paper, but it's exactly what made me trust it enough to bring it everywhere.

For more top picks, see our guide to the best power banks we've tested.

• Ukraine says Russian defenses mistakenly destroyed one of Moscow's premier fighter jets
• InformNapalm claims cyber intelligence turned Russian air defenses against their own aircraft
• Russia insists a technical failure caused the reported Su-57 crash near Moscow

A Russian Su-57 fighter jet recently crashed in the Moscow region, and Ukrainian intelligence sources say it was no accident.

The international intelligence community InformNapalm claims a combined human and cyber intelligence operation manipulated a Russian air defense unit into striking its own aircraft.

The jet, valued at roughly $50 million, represents one of Russia's most advanced fighter platforms currently in active service.

How the operation reportedly unfolded

InformNapalm says the effort began earlier, when analysts processed a large volume of intercepted Russian communications and footage from a training ground.

That footage showed the BARS Moscow air defense system being trained specifically to counter Ukrainian long-range drones over the capital region.

Analysts used the material to build a detailed report covering personnel training, hardware, software, and combat algorithms tied to the system.

The report also identified specific vulnerabilities within the BARS Moscow network that outside actors could exploit.

This information was reportedly submitted to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which allegedly used the findings during the operation.

“We thank our friends — cyber specialists of the future Cyber ​​Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” InformNapalm emphasized, saying the intelligence gathered went beyond passive observation, and was instead used to influence how the specific air defense unit actually operated.

The group says this approach allowed the very system built by Russian engineers to be turned against a Russian aircraft.

The result, according to InformNapalm, was the destruction of the Su-57 by its own side's defenses, a claim that Russia vehemently denies.

Russia insists a technical failure caused the crash

The Russian Ministry of Defense attributed the crash to a technical malfunction, which is common rather than any external interference or sabotage.

InformNapalm disputes that account, noting reports of sabotage within the BARS Moscow system had already circulated in pro-Russian online spaces beforehand.

The group also points to a prior operation from 2025, called OKBMLeaks, in which it published documents from a Russian manufacturer supplying components for the aircraft.

That earlier material was translated into 13 languages and picked up by numerous international outlets covering the war.

However, there is no independent verification of InformNapalm's claim, leaving Ukraine's account directly contested by Russia.

Coincidentally, Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya lowered the maximum flight altitudes near Moscow airports and banned transit flights over the region.

Officials cited security concerns tied to a rise in Ukrainian drone activity as the reason behind these restrictions.

Whether the security concern includes the recent case cited by InformNapalm remains to be seen.

Airlines remain worried that the changes could add 20 to 30 minutes to routes that once passed directly through Moscow's airspace corridor.

Kommersant, a major Russian business newspaper, also reported that the lower altitude ceiling raises the risk of bird strikes.

Whether the crash resulted from sabotage or a genuine technical fault, the competing accounts remain unresolved for now.

Via Army Inform (originally in Ukrainian)

• Ukraine's deputy commander-in-chief says combat lasers could reach the front within two to three months
• Tryzub's own May 2026 figures, 800 to 900 meters against FPV drones and 1,500 meters against reconnaissance UAVs, are far below the three- to five-kilometer claims made by military officials in 2025
• Ukrainian forces have set themselves a 95% drone interception rate goal, with lasers being incorporated as part of their multi-layered defense plans

Ukraine could field combat lasers against aerial targets within two to three months, according to Brigadier General Andrii Lebedenko, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Teams within the Armed Forces and private Ukrainian defense companies are developing the systems, and a prototype called Tryzub, or Trident, is undergoing trials at proving grounds.

General Lebedenko said the technology can already shoot down FPV drones and is already working against Shaheds, and that within two to three months Ukraine would have systems capable of hitting aerial attack weapons better than machine guns can.

The need of the hour or a prototype that is becoming increasingly less ambitious?

Tryzub has been publicly discussed for about 19 months, and the disclosed performance has moved in an unusual direction.

In December 2024, Vadym Sukharevskyi, then commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, told Interfax that Ukraine had become roughly the fifth country in the world to possess a laser weapon and could shoot down aircraft at altitudes above two kilometers, though Ukrainian reporting of the quote notes that "aircraft" was understood to mean drones.

In April 2025, he presented the system publicly with a larger set of numbers: drones and cruise missiles engaged out to three kilometers, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to five kilometers, and sensor dazzling to ten kilometers.

Then, in May 2026, the manufacturer disclosed what the hardware actually does. Celebra Tech, the Ukrainian company behind Tryzub, said the trailer-mounted configuration destroys FPV drones at 800 to 900 meters and reconnaissance UAVs at around 1,500 meters, with work continuing toward Shahed-class interception at ranges approaching five kilometers. The company also said the system had entered final testing and that roughly 15 people were working on it.

Ten weeks later, Lebedenko said the laser was already downing FPVs and already working against Shaheds, without giving specific ranges. If Celebra Tech's stated range claims hold, they still paint a much more sobering picture of Tryzub's capabilities.

The appeal of directed energy in a war that has tilted toward cheap, expendable systems rather than expensive, high-end ones is obvious. The binding constraint, however, is atmospheric.

A laser needs a clear optical path, and fog, rain, snow, smoke, and battlefield dust all attenuate the beam. Autumn and winter in eastern Ukraine supply all of those, so a system arriving on Lebedenko's timeline would meet its least favorable operating conditions almost immediately, which could be why the specs are downplayed by the manufacturer versus those being presented in public.

Even as it continues its focus on its drone defenses, Ukraine is expanding its drone supply from domestic and foreign sources in parallel as it looks to score wins on a front line that has arguably slowed as the conflict enters its fifth year.

Just a few weeks ago, I read an interesting article on the Festival of Ludd, the world's first-ever festival dedicated to 'Neo Luddism' — a place where technology is openly eschewed, in layman's terms.

I found it interesting that a loose, somewhat broad collection of thoughts and notions around techno-pessimism seems to be coalescing into something more mainstream. We've heard TED talks and read articles on Neo Luddism well before the Summer of Ludd was a thing, but this feels new to me — something being swept into a wider generational zeitgeist.

Of course, wariness around technology isn't exactly exclusive to Gen Z, but there is evidence to suggest that younger people are increasingly turning away. Quoted in the above article is a 2025 Pew Research study that reported that 48 per cent of teenage respondents asked said social media had a negative effect on people of their age group. That's up from 32 per cent in 2022.

This somewhat correlates to a decline in social media usage. As reported by the Financial Times, overall usage is down in all adults from a historical peak back in 2022.

What's interesting to me, however, is how younger audiences are becoming more vocal in their skepticism. Before, you could argue that skepticism was mostly associated with an older generation that was resistant to change. Now, one of the first truly digital generations is leading the call online.

I do have a few niggling doubts, though, which I'll cover shortly.

What exactly is a Neo Luddite?

Workers from Kent, England burn a rural farm due to its operation of thresher machines - new tools that they thought were threatening their jobs. Engraving c1890. (Image credit: Getty Images / Universal Images Group Editorial /  Photo 12)

The original Luddites were a group that fought against industrialisation, and as the name suggests, Neo-Luddism is a movement that looks to reject the encroaching influence of technology on our lives in the twenty-first century.

If that sounds like a vague cause, that's because the movement encompasses everything from a simple affinity for older, single-use, and analog technology to more hardline stances on de-industrialization. It's not a new term or a new movement, but it's gaining traction recently within the wider sense of technology fatigue and growing fears around AI.

The Festival of Ludd, in my eyes, is the clearest example of the latest version of the wider movement. I've written about Gen Z eschewing technology before, but this really feels like a natural progression — an actual event that is dedicated to things like 'dumbphones', combating the attention economy, and in-person networking.

At a surface level, it could be seen as a simple protest or gathering of disaffected tech workers, but the festival does appear to attempt to answer the big questions and problems. At the very least, the diagnosis of the issues raised is completely valid.

So what's the issue?

A significant number of the population, including Gen Z, will be employed in services, media, or tech-adjacent roles.

While I'm broadly sympathetic to the overall movement, one thing that struck me about the Festival of Ludd in particular is that the movement seems to be coalescing around people who are effectively able to shut themselves out. I want to get fully on board, but there's a kind of idealism that always clashes with reality when I wrestle with this issue in my head.

This isn't as simple as being an indicator of class or someone's background, but to be able to 'turn off' in the first place suggests a certain level of privilege. I think if you can choose to turn off your phone, laptop, or smartwatch, then you're luckier than a lot of people right now.

There's nothing to suggest here that the movement is intentionally exclusive (in fact, it seems incredibly inclusive), but to walk away from all technology — even for a few days — is something that many cannot simply partake in.

That may sound like an excuse, but a simple analogy to make here is gas-powered cars. We know the effect of these vehicles on the environment. We know they cause harm. However, to simply opt out of these cars is not an option for some people — especially lower-income folk, in some cases.

Am I an advocate of gas-powered cars? Of course not, but the realist in me knows that people need infrastructure and affordable alternatives before they can switch to electric vehicles. In an ideal world, public transport and city infrastructure would be so good we wouldn't even need cars.

I see a similar situation unfolding for many in terms of technology. A significant number of the population, including Gen Z, will be employed in services, media, or tech-adjacent roles that require interfacing with at least some facet of potentially harmful technology.

To simply opt out, however, can severely limit your options in today's world. At best, it can be a healthy sacrifice of convenience. At worst, it can mean not having a decent job that can put food on your table.

Escaping technology

(Image credit: Alex Whitelock)

The Festival of Ludd reminds me a lot of my own experience of going to week-long festivals in my twenties. These festivals didn't outwardly eschew technology, but I see them as very much analogous to the viewpoints conveyed by those at the Festival of Ludd. Phone use was discouraged, social media was commonly derided, and you'd be bombarded with messages encouraging human connection. All good things, of course.

Now, in my thirties, however, I know I simply cannot afford to switch my phone off for a week. I have elderly parents for one, and my job requires a certain level of connection.

I wouldn't call myself perpetually online, but I obviously need to be informed about the comings and goings in my field. It would be nice to spend less time online, but I'm realistic about my uses — I am a technology journalist, after all.

You could argue that I would be able to do all of the above with a 'dumb phone' or a similar Luddite-friendly device. To an extent, that is true, and I'm certainly no advocate for AI features or similar bloat on modern smartphones.

Realistically, however, I admit that a smartphone does have several uses — a calendar, maps, emails, and so on. It effectively reduces the number of things I need to do my job dramatically. Again, it's a clash of idealism versus realism for me. I enjoy the romantic notion of throwing my smartphone away, but I know that it would just mean more devices and paperwork.

Turning off is a privilege?

I see a clash of idealism versus the reality of the situation here.

Interestingly, as a millennial, I do know people who have essentially escaped the grip of technology. People who have essentially retrained, emigrated, or even gone fully 'off-grid '. Some who have talked about a more disconnected life have effectively made it a reality.

The issue with their path, however, is that they've needed significant capital to break away. Some have even spent over a decade working in tech-adjacent roles to get to that point.

Again, I see a clash of idealism versus the reality of the situation here. These are examples where people have had to work within the wider system before they're privileged enough to make a choice whether to partake or not.

Bleakly, I can almost foresee a future where the choice of whether to 'turn off' or not is solely the reserve of the privileged. I'm somehow reminded of this report of Silicon Valley bosses sending their children to schools without computers. Most people don't have the option to send their kids to schools like this. Likewise, most people won't get to be that picky about work.

I strongly suspect that most Gen Z Neo-Luddites will face a similar path to mine in the next few decades. Some will dream of an unconnected world, but the reality may be different. The genie is unfortunately out of the bottle now, and it could take several years to actually attain a state of unconnectedness, if it is indeed possible.

Where to go from here?

So, am I against the Gen Z Neo Luddites? Not at all; I think their scepticism is absolutely valid and healthy. They've correctly diagnosed a growing issue and made their frustrations known. The question is, how do they really effect change and make the cause mainstream?

When you look for an answer to this question, you seem to generate even more questions. For one, are you able to effect change when you simply opt out of a system? Doing so seems to immediately cede the floor to the technology companies that the movement rails against. Perhaps it's more effective to try and build a more collaborative relationship, as idealistic as that sounds.

For what it's worth, the Festival of Ludd does attempt to tackle many of these questions. Such subjects as offline networking and independent websites are covered, and several attendees did point out the inherent contradiction of using social media to promote the event. They are acutely aware of the contradictions and issues raised in this article, so none of this will be news to them.

Hopefully, as the festival and wider movement grow, the option to 'turn off' becomes more of a choice, rather than a sacrifice.

Claude’s status page is reporting elevated errors across all models.

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Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,867 for Thursday, July 30.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 1145 for July 30.

Apple's long-rumored product leasing program, which it calls unironically "Apple Upgrade," is finally here, and it looks like a low-cost way to slide into the Apple ecosystem whether on the shiny surface of a gleaming iPhone 17 Pro, a Snoopy-faced Apple Watch, a clamshell Apple Silicon Mac, or an ultra-slim iPad Pro.

With no upfront fee and monthly charges as low as $11.99 a month (it's only available in the US for now), your new Apple Watch might cost you far less than your daily Starbucks mocha latte.

Honestly, this sounds like a great program, especially when you can snap up a powerful MacBook Pro for as little as $38.99 a month. Naturally, most people might be looking at the Upgrade program, a leasing program actually run by Klarna, for their next iPhone and probably the popular iPhone 17 Pro Max, which starts at $34.99 a month. Still, when I asked on a pair of social media platforms (X and Threads) if people would be leasing their next iPhone, the sentiment was decidedly negative.

Will you lease your next iPhone?July 28, 2026

On Threads and with 199 votes in, 80% said no. On X, with 105 votes, 78% said nah. I was surprised, but some of the responses to my anecdotal polls offered a little insight.

One thing a few talked about was ownership. Apple Upgrade works like most other lease programs, which means ownership is not really a thing. Here are the highlights:

• You have to qualify for the program (might be a credit check)
• You pay a fixed fee for 12, 24, or 36 months
• You're not paying off the cost of the phone
• At the end of the lease term, you own nothing
• You can return the phone
• You can turn it in for an upgrade and continue paying
• A better device (upgrading from an iPhone 17 to an iPhone 17 Pro Max) will increase your monthly fee
• You can buy the leased device at the end of the lease term (it's the full price minus whatever you've paid thus far via the lease program)

Virtually every part of this resembles a typical lease program you might have with an automobile.

"I have an Apple Card for a reason… I like being able to pay it off whenever and ACTUALLY own the thing," wrote brianniesniak on Threads.

The ownership argument is the sole reason I've never leased a car. I always buy them with a substantial down payment and then pay the rest off. Of course, I tend to hold onto my cars for a decade or more. In the world of technology, like smartphones, laptops, watches, and tablets, technical advances are so rapid that it rarely makes sense to hold onto them for that long.

On the other hand, there are people who own their tech for extraordinarily long times and only upgrade when companies like Apple, Microsoft, or a necessary third-party application force them to through lack of support. These days, many companies, including Samsung and Google, tout years of OS and security updates, but in a world of leases, none of that really matters. Every two years, you could have a new device; it will always have the latest software and security protections.

Access for all

"If you can’t buy it, you can’t afford it," argues Mrmarchall on Threads. I mean, isn't that the whole point of credit and lease programs? They throw open the doors of access to these products to those who don't have the funds to cover full purchase. Yes, there is the risk of someone who unexpectedly is unable to afford the lease, and then, if they try to leave the program, they're still on the hook for the remainder of the program (they leave at 3 months and still have to pay 21 months).

Even though most in my poll respondents were anti-lease, some saw the obvious benefits. "People who picked no, you seriously have $1000 laying around?" wrote Ajvizz on Threads.

"Yeah, probably. I can't personally think of any negatives in my situation," surmised Dilpickle1 on Threads.

Others on X pointed to the excellent option of refurbished iPhones, which offer access to pre-owned iPhones (sometimes higher-end models) at far more reasonable prices. And you get the added benefit of true ownership, if that's your thing.

The endless age of subscriptions

Apple Upgrade's inherent lack of ownership and never-ending payments because you're in an endless upgrade cycle does raise some concerns and correlates to an unfortunate and rapidly growing trend.

"It is absolutely crazy that we have entered the era of leased consumer electronics. "Everything is a subscription!" should not be the new normal," wrote Tech Journalist Matthew Keys on X.

I had to agree. Last year I wrote about tech services subscription culture and how companies are now often placing key features behind subscription paywalls. At least in this instance, you're getting the whole device and all its capabilities. The lease only equates to a subscription in that there's an assumption you will jump from one leased device to another, hence the name "Apple Upgrade".

If I were asked, I think I'd look more positively on Apple Upgrade.

Smartphones, laptops, smart watches, desktop computers, and tablets are, in some ways, a fact of life. No one leaves home without a phone in their pocket. Frustration over aging iPhones that can't support the latest OS or whose battery life ends faster than a summer vacation is all too real. The knowledge that with a relatively affordable monthly payment, you're guaranteed a better phone in 24 months might be a relief.

It's an irrefutable fact that as soon as you unbox your shiny new iPhone, it's worth less than it was seconds before. Those who buy cars know that depreciation, which begins the moment you drive it off the lot, is real. It's no different with consumer electronics. Maybe ownership isn't all it's cracked up to be. So what if joining Apple Upgrade means, for the next 24 months, Apple kind of owns you?