Technologies

iPhone 17 Rumors and Leaks Unpacked. Here Are the Features We’re Most Excited About

Tariffs could potentially raise the price of the new iPhone, but we have the scoop on what else to expect.

President Donald Trump’s potential 25% tariff on iPhones could mean a price hike for the rumored iPhone 17 before it’s even released.

Prices could play a big part when the new iPhone is announced, but plenty of other rumors and leaks have fans anticipating what new features an iPhone 17 could bring, including better video capabilities and a new color.

Battery power could be the features to keep your eye on. The rumored iPhone 17 Air could have a thin design balanced by improved battery technology, and the iPhone Pro Max allegedly may be getting thicker to make room for more battery power.

With potential tariffs still looming and Apple’s WWDC announcement coming soon, we’re tracking all the biggest rumors and leaks and sharing what we know so you can have an idea of what’s coming next with the iPhone.

iPhone 17 release date: When is the next iPhone coming out?

Over the last several years, Apple has consistently announced its new phones in the first half of September. This will likely be the case with the full iPhone 17 lineup, with the exception of the iPhone 17E, which could arrive in early 2026, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and a report from The Information.

The iPhone 17 lineup may be the last to follow this fall-release model. Starting with the iPhone 18, Apple will reportedly split its phone releases so that lower-cost iPhones launch in the first half of the year and the higher-end Pro models become available later in the year. But that isn’t expected to happen until 2026, so you can likely still expect the iPhone 17 Pro to become available this fall.

Preorders for a new iPhone typically begin the Friday after the announcement, with the phone shipping a week later.

iPhone 17 Price: Will tariffs increase the cost of the next iPhone?

President Donald Trump has raised, lowered and paused tariffs a dizzying number of times since February, all of which could potentially affect the cost of the iPhone 17.

Apple, which could move much of US iPhone production from China to India, has escaped many of the tariff hikes thanks to a reciprocal tariff exemption list that includes many phones, laptops and other electronics that Apple produces.

But all the reprieves appear to be temporary, so reciprocal tariffs could still potentially affect prices by the time of the iPhone 17 release.

Trump threatened Apple with a 25% tariff on all iPhones made outside the in a social media post on May 23. Later that day, he said that all smartphones — not just iPhones — would be hit with the 25% tariff by the end of June if they don’t move operations to the US.

Regardless of how tariffs play out, Apple has plans to raise iPhone prices later this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Apple apparently plans to ascribe the price increase to better features and design costs so it can avoid pointing the finger at tariffs and incurring the wrath of Trump (like Amazon temporarily did).

CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland, who’s been reviewing phones for CNET since 2016, points out that the iPhone is overdue for a price bump. He noted that Apple has never increased the price for an iPhone Pro ($999) since the iPhone X was first introduced in 2017.

So yes, you should expect to pay more for the iPhone 17, regardless of tariffs.

New iPhone 17 colors

Rumors of a new color for the iPhone started in April, when Twitter user and leaker Majin Bu (not the Dragon Ball Z character) posted that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max could get a sky blue option. The latest MacBook Air models come in sky blue, which could give you some idea of the soft hue we’ll see on the iPhone if it goes in the same direction.

For reference, the iPhone 16 and Plus made a splash last year when they debuted pink, teal and ultramarine color options, alongside the standard white and black. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max introduced a new color, desert titanium — a restrained shade of peach — alongside the classic natural titanium, white titanium and black titanium options.

iPhone 17 Pro camera bump redesign

The iPhone 17 Pro’s camera has been the subject of multiple rumored changes, most notably that Apple could add a horizontal camera bar that spreads across the width of the phone. The front-facing «selfie camera» could also be getting an upgrade.

Back in January, Bu posted a leaked image on X suggesting that the phone could feature a pill-shaped camera bar that looks a lot like the camera bar on Google’s Pixel 9 phone.

That raised the question of whether the iPhone 17 Pro would align the three camera lenses in a single row or leave them stacked in a pyramid design, as it did with the iPhone 16 Pro.

In February, Bu posted CAD renders of what could be the iPhone 17 lineup, and Front Page Tech also shared iPhone 17 Pro renders in a video. Both showed horizontal camera bars for the iPhone 17 Pro models that keep the stacked lens layout.

And as for your selfies: The front-facing camera will reportedly be upgraded from the iPhone 16’s 12 megapixels to 24 megapixels on all iPhone 17 models, according to analyst Jeff Pu.

Pu wrote in March that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will feature a 48-megapixel telephoto rear camera, up from 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16 Pro models. That would mean all three cameras on the iPhone 17 Pro models — Fusion, ultrawide and telephoto — would be 48 megapixels.

Leaked Specs: iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 17 Pro vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max

Specs for the iPhone 17 are more grist for the rumor mill.

Display

After the backlash over Apple not updating the 60Hz display on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, rumors of a 120Hz display (Pro Motion) on all iPhone 17 models could be welcome news, along with possibly adding the always-on display to the baseline model.

One feature you likely won’t see with the new iPhone 17 Pro models is an antireflective display, which CNET’s Patrick Holland called one of the best attributes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. A source told MacRumors that Apple had to scrap plans for a more scratch-resistant display because of scaling issues with the coating process.

Additionally, Pu said the iPhone 17 Pro Max may reduce the size of its Face ID sensor, so it could have a narrower Dynamic Island, but the other iPhone 17 models would likely stay the same size.

Memory

Apple Intelligence and AI are likely to play more prominent roles with the iPhone 17. To support the new features, all the iPhone 17 models will step up to 12GB of RAM, tipster Digital Chat Station reported in April. Kuo has also suggested this could happen, according to Digital Trends.

Considering that the iPhone 16 lineup had 8GB of RAM across all models, this could be a big upgrade for the iPhone 17.

Frame

There’s been plenty of discussion about whether the iPhone 17 Pro will ditch its titanium alloy frame for an aluminum one. The most recent rumors predict the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all have aluminum frames, according to Pu.

iPhone 17 battery life

The iPhone 17 Air might have to scale back on battery life to make a thinner design possible, although the latest rumor from AppleInsider is that it might use a silicon-anode battery that could help extend the battery life. However, rumors are that the iPhone 17 Pro will likely get a battery boost.

In May, Pu said the baseline iPhone 17 will likely feature Apple’s in-house A19 chip, while the Pro could have the A19 Pro chip. The iPhone 16 is powered by an A18 chip, which offers improved efficiency for better battery life. According to a report by 9to5Mac this month, the iPhone 17 Pro Max may be 8.725mm thick, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which clocks in at 8.25mm thick. That larger size could potentially make room for more battery.

Are new iPhone rumors and leaks to be trusted?

Here’s the part where I come in and say: Everything’s a rumor until Apple officially releases the next iPhone. Rumors and speculation leading up to the iPhone’s release are often based on insider knowledge or leaked information from teams working on the iPhone’s designs, but those designs are works in progress — not necessarily the final product.

Technologies

The Best Strategy Mobile Game I Ever Played Just Came Back After a Decade

Battle Nations is a hybrid base builder and grid-based combat game that feels just as fresh now as it did 10 years ago.

Battle Nations, a free-to-play turn-based military strategy game for phones developed by studio Z2Live, was taken from us too soon on Sept. 28, 2016. And I’m obviously not the only person who feels like the game didn’t have enough time in the sun, because a new version of the game came back to mobile game stores on May 30, 2025 — nearly a decade after the servers shut down for the last time.

I formed a Battle Nations guild with my friends back in middle school to take on some of the game’s raids, but we were always severely under-leveled and outnumbered by our enemies. Battle Nations was released during the heyday of mobile gaming, completely revolutionizing what I believed the platform could do. Endless runners like Jetpack Joyride and Subway Surfers gave way to Battle Nations afternoons, filled with planning our group conquests, and it was glorious.

The new iteration of the game, called Battle Nations Rewritten, was completely remade by a group of fans who came together to form their own game studio, Madrona Games. This team of developers has spent the last several years ironing out legal proceedings with the game’s original publisher, King, to gain the rights to use the Battle Nations trademark. Madrona’s developers honed their skills with the release of another game, Tank Tactics, while publishing beta builds for their Patreon subscribers.

A tight-knit community of Battle Nations fans approached a major corporation with their own take on an old property and didn’t have their fan project taken down. Z2Live was acquired by King in 2015, which is a company that was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016, which itself was later acquired by Microsoft in 2023 — and despite this, Madrona Games was able to make peace with Battle Nations’ parent company regardless of large gaming corporations’ penchant for suing fan projects using their IP.

Now Battle Nations is back in all its former glory, allowing a whole new generation of players to build an outpost and expand their military forces in the name of the emperor.

What is Battle Nations about?

Battle Nations was lampooning fascistic empires before Helldivers 2 made it cool. You’re the captain of the 95th Rifle Company of the Imperial Army, a once-renowned military presence that is starting to crack under siege from a rebel army.

As flames of conflict approach the capital, the teenage emperor sends your unit to a far-flung continent in search of resources to create a new superweapon. It’s your job to grow a budding outpost into a massive military complex, fighting off rebels, vicious local fauna and gas-mask clad warriors that your chauvinistic lieutenant has deemed as «raiders.»

Your allies are all pretty atrocious people, but their ignorance is constantly made the butt of the joke in Battle Nations’ narrative writing. Raiders and rebels are consistently better outfitted and more competent than your team, which forces you to work even harder to stay combat-ready as you advance further into the game.

Part city-building simulator and part grid-based tactical battler, Battle Nations appeals to many different types of strategy gamers. I personally enjoyed crafting zany units and utilizing them to defend my outpost as I grew my city-state’s economy.

Once players reach a high enough level, they’ll be able to learn from raider allies to master mammoths and raptors, conduct medical experiments to turn their basic units into zombies and even hire the Team Fortress 2 mercenaries in a bizarre crossover with Valve. (The launch trailer seems to suggest that the famed mercenaries will return in the fan version.)

These advances are only made possible through economic prosperity and strong supply lines. Players need to create warehouses, expand their borders to resource deposits and build facilities to process raw materials into stronger forms if they want to build the best units. I’ve never been gifted at planning out my builds, but the best urban planners will find a great framework to create efficient (and pretty-looking) army bases.

As your outpost grows strong enough, you’ll start to supplement your foot troops with tanks, helicopters and other heavy vehicles. I remember feeling like I was a true military power by the time Battle Nations shut down.

I can’t wait to dive back into Battle Nations’ take on turn-based combat, even if it means I have to start all over with the bog-standard riflemen.

What’s next for Battle Nations Rewritten?

The new Battle Nations isn’t shipping with every multiplayer feature included in the original game quite yet.

Madrona Games has promised that subsequent updates will restore many of the social elements missing from the launch build.

That means the friends list and guilds will be added soon. One of my favorite features from the original Battle Nations was the ability to let an ally raid resource deposits on your outpost to help them resupply materials they were low on, and it’ll be great to see that collaborative gameplay make a return.

Boss strikes are also on the docket for a swift return, allowing players to combine their military might to chip away at a boss enemy’s health bar (and earning sweet rewards if they’re able to fully defeat it).

Beyond returning features, the developers plan to add «new narrative arcs, seasonal operations, time-limited events and more to keep the world of Battle Nations evolving.»

Madrona Games’ Battle Nations Rewritten is launching on every platform that the original Battle Nations was on. That means you’re able to download the game from the App Store, Google Play Store and Steam for free now.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, May 31

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 31.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a couple of fun ocean-related clues and answers. It’s the extra-long Saturday version, of course. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: This one and that one
Answer: BOTH

5A clue: Ballet-inspired fitness class
Answer: BARRE

6A clue: Mississippi ___ (rich chocolate dessert)
Answer: MUDPIE

7A clue: Sea creature with the scientific name Monodon monoceros («one tooth, one horn»)
Answer: NARWHAL

8A clue: Like some soccer shots
Answer: ONGOAL

9A clue: Strict in tone
Answer: STERN

10A clue: Place for a «For Sale» sign
Answer: YARD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: $#!&, e.g.
Answer: BADWORD

2D clue: Harry Potter, Annie or Bruce Wayne
Answer: ORPHAN

3D clue: ___ and error
Answer: TRIAL

4D clue: Dog trainer’s «Walk next to me!»
Answer: HEEL

5D clue: Hot dog alternative
Answer: BURGER

6D clue: Relative of a stingray
Answer: MANTA

7D clue: All up in one’s business
Answer: NOSY

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for May 31, #454

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 454 for May 31.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle could be easy if you spend a lot of time in hair salons, or if you’re familiar with styling your own hair. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Next to the bobby pins.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Beauty helpers.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CRAB, CARE, CARES, STORE, TORE, TOES, SHIR, RACE, RACES

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: