Technologies

The iPhone Air Reminds Me That I’m Just Not a Skinny Phone Girl

Commentary: Thin is not in for me.

One of the biggest announcements of Apple’s «awe dropping» special event takes up the smallest amount of space. After months of rumors, the company unveiled the iPhone Air, touted as the slimmest iPhone to date. At 5.6mm thin, it is also one of the slimmest phones in the world, measuring less than the 5.8mm Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.

Despite its slender profile, the iPhone Air packs a punch. Its 6.5-inch display is slightly bigger than the 6.3-inch displays of the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. It has a ProMotion display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a titanium design and Apple’s new high-end A19 Pro processor.

At $999, Apple is clearly positioning the iPhone Air as a stopgap between the $799 iPhone 17 and the $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro. Yet, despite its features, I’m not vibing the iPhone Air. Here’s why.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

One rear camera is just not enough

Apple made some hardware trade-offs with the iPhone Air to slim down the device. The iPhone Air only has one rear camera instead of two, which is less than the baseline iPhone and would match the $599 iPhone 16E. It’s not a bad camera by any means; it has a 48-megapixel Fusion camera system that enables 28mm and 35mm focal lengths, as well as 2x telephoto shots.

Despite Apple’s claim that this single camera can do the work of two, I remain unconvinced.

Since 2017, I’ve had a dual-camera iPhone, and I don’t think I can go back to just a single lens now. I understand that the iPhone Air offers intelligent sensor cropping that mimics the look of a 2x zoom.

But in everyday use, I think I would miss the ultrawide camera, especially when taking macro shots. I take a lot of photos of food (don’t judge me), and it’s just something I’ve grown accustomed to. I’m not sure if a single-camera iPhone would get me the same level of detail, and it’s a compromise I’d rather not make just for a thinner shape.

Battery life concerns

The other major concern I have with the iPhone Air is its battery life. A potential major downside of a skinnier phone is a slightly smaller battery. According to Apple, the iPhone Air features advanced Apple silicon that delivers «all-day battery life.» The company also says that the Adaptive Power feature in iOS 26 could help adjust the iPhone’s performance based on usage patterns, thus conserving battery life.

Yet, none of that helps reduce my overall battery anxiety with a skinnier phone. I’m the kind of person who likes keeping my phone battery topped up as much as possible (even though I know that’s not always the best practice for battery longevity), and I would rather not carry around an extra power bank if it’s unnecessary.

For me, a slightly chunkier phone is worth the peace of mind of additional battery life. If the iPhone Air’s battery life is about the same as the baseline iPhone, then I might change my tune, but for now, color me skeptical.

The fact that Apple is already selling a slim MagSafe battery for $99 to accompany the iPhone Air is telling. That sort of kills the point of having a thin phone to begin with.

I’m just not a skinny phone girl

I’m sorry, but 5.6mm is just too thin. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of playing around with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and even that was too slight for my tastes. Skinny handsets seem much too fragile to me, even if they’re supposedly quite durable. I always feel like I’m about to snap it in half. On top of that, that big camera bump at the top of the iPhone Air just looks kinda ugly in contrast to the rest of the slim profile.

No matter how skinny a phone is, I tend to slap a case on it anyway, thus negating its slimness. I even add to my phone’s heft by attaching a PopSocket, which increases its thickness and provides me with an additional sense of security that the phone is not going to fly out of my hands. To be fair, I tend to carry my phone in a bag, not in a pants pocket, so I don’t feel the need for a thinner phone. Honestly, I’m not even sure if anyone even really asked for this.

It all comes down to price

The iPhone Air is priced at $999, which is more expensive than the $799 iPhone 17 and cheaper than the $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro. Sure, the iPhone Air has a slightly bigger screen and a faster processor, but in almost every other respect, the base iPhone 17 is a better deal. It has two cameras versus one, a bigger battery and, again, is priced $200 less. It doesn’t make sense to me why I wouldn’t just get the basic model.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro is only $100 more but brings significant benefits, like a third camera and a much bigger battery. If you can afford it, the iPhone 17 Pro might actually be worth the higher price tag.

It does seem like the iPhone Air is Apple’s look into the future. It’s clearly setting the stage for a world where physical SIMs will be eliminated entirely, and it is potentially a harbinger of a folding iPhone.

But that doesn’t mean I need to buy into it, at least, not now.

Google’s New Pixel Studio Is Weirdly Obsessed With the iPhone

+43 More

See all photos

Technologies

OpenAI Needs Data Centers So Much, It Signed a $300B Deal With Oracle

The ChatGPT maker has a big appetite for expensive data center capacity.

Here’s an eye-popping new price tag for generative AI’s booming demand for energy and computing power for data centers: $300 billion. That’s how much ChatGPT maker OpenAI has reportedly committed to spend with Oracle over a five-year span to continue its run of early success.

The deal, which would be one of the largest contracts for cloud computing, was announced by both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times on Wednesday.

The contract with Oracle would entail delivery of as much as 4.5 gigawatts of power capacity, which the Journal says is roughly equivalent to two Hoover Dams or the amount used by 4 million homes. The deal would go into effect in 2027, the reports said.

OpenAI didn’t respond to our request for comment. Oracle declined to comment.

According to research reports, the number of data centers in the US nearly doubled from 2021 to 2024, and the demand for more data centers will rise 9% yearly through 2030. Those facilities are expected to consume twice as much electricity by 2035 as they do today.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Previously, OpenAI relied exclusively on Microsoft Azure, but has begun to diversify its cloud portfolio.

In January, OpenAI announced the formation of the Stargate Project, a new company that would invest $500 billion over four years to build AI infrastructure — that is, data centers — with partners including Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia and Softbank. In July, OpenAI and Oracle announced an agreement to develop 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity for Stargate, beyond the 10 gigawatts promised in the January announcement.

The Stargate facility is under construction at a sprawling site in Abilene, Texas.

ChatGPT is the world’s most used chatbot, amid intense competition with Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity’s namesake software.

The rapid growth of generative AI products and services has even led OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to worry that we’re in an AI bubble.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 12, #824

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Sept. 12, #824.

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

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is tricky — it contains one of those purple categories where you have to mentally subtract a letter from four related words to see how they connect. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: I beg you!

Green group hint: How to reach me.

Blue group hint: Take a photo.

Purple group hint: Time to swim?

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Entreaty.

Green group: Contact info.

Blue group: Kinds of camera lenses.

Purple group: Bodies of water plus starting letter.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is entreaty. The four answers are appeal, bid, call and petition.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is contact info. The four answers are address, email, name and number.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of camera lenses. The four answers are fisheye,macro, telephoto and zoom.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is bodies of water plus starting letter. The four answers are driver, ebay, finlet and flake.

Technologies

How to Get Free Marvel Rivals Skins With the College Perks Program in Season 4

Crush your fall classes and style on your Marvel Rivals opponents at the same time. Here’s how the noble pursuit of higher education can net you free skins.

You might be subsisting off ramen noodles and Red Bull, but that doesn’t mean you need to look broke while you’re playing your games. NetEase has introduced Marvel Rivalsperks for college and university students that let them wear some of the coolest in-game costumes for free.

All you need is a valid student email and the know-how to navigate the in-game menus. Linking your NetEase account with your college’s domain is a simple process that doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Most US schools should be on NetEase’s list, qualifying their students for the program, but keep reading to see how others can petition for their own skins.

The currently available college perk lets you get free loaner costumes and MVP animations, but there are no details about how the program will evolve in the future. This is a good way to earn some free loot outside of events, Twitch drops and other promotions.

Here’s all the information about how to join NetEase’s college perks program — and what skins you’ll be able to wear throughout Marvel Rivals season 4.

What Marvel Rivals college perks are available right now?

The current Marvel Rivals college perk allows you to link your student email with your NetEase account to temporarily unlock 10 free costumes (and their associated MVP highlights) for use throughout Season 4.

Activating college perks right now will let you use the following skins until the end of the season:

Thor Love and Thunder
Luna Snow Mirae 2099
Spider-Man Spider-Punk 2099
Magik Eldritch Armor
Psylocke Blood Kariudo
Mantis Jade Maiden
Loki Presidential Attire
Mr. Fantastic The Maker
Peni Parker Yatsukahagi
Hela Yami No Karasu

It’s unclear whether additional college perks will be available in the future, though you’ll at least be able to unlock a rotating wardrobe of trial skins through the program during future Marvel Rivals seasonal updates.

How to unlock Marvel Rivals college perks

Accessing the college perks is fairly straightforward and doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes of your time, but it’s tucked away in a menu you probably don’t access all that often. Here’s a step-by-step guide to unlock college perks on your Marvel Rivals account:

Open Marvel Rivals and navigate to the main menu
Click the gear icon at the top right of the screen to open the game’s settings. The gear icon is located near your profile picture and player level.
Click the «community» button in the drop-down menu.
Navigate to the third tab for college perks, then click the «details» button.
Enter your student email address and get a verification code.
Find the verification code in your college email and copy and paste it into the in-game text box beneath your student email.
Click the «verify» button.

That’s all there is to it — once you’re done with this process, you should have access to the Marvel Rivals college perks, and all 10 of the loaner costumes and MVP animations should be available for you to equip.

Detailed guide: Getting free Marvel Rivals skins and MVP animations through college perks

In order to activate Marvel Rivals college perks for your NetEase account, you’ll have to verify that you’re in possession of an active student email address for a supported academic institution.

To begin this process, you need to navigate the same in-game menus that allow you to link your Discord account and become a NetEase Gamer Premium member — you’ve likely poked around here in the past to claim a handful of free units, Marvel Rivals’ premium costume-buying currency.

When you’re in the main menu, click the gear icon at the top right of the screen. It’s one of the buttons next to your account picture and profile level. Then, click the Community button that appears on screen. Navigate to the College Perks tab and click the details button to start verifying your student email.

All you need to do is enter your student email address, request a verification code to be sent to your email and then input that verification code in-game. Voila — just like that, you’ll have access to college perks on your Marvel Rivals account.

If your email doesn’t work, it might be because it isn’t on the list of domains currently supported by the college perks program. You can see which school emails work here (PDF). If you go to school in the US, you shouldn’t have a problem signing up for the program — it’s on the list of countries that have generally accepted academic email domains.

Even still, if you’re having trouble registering and it looks like your college or university is missing from the list, you’re not completely out of luck. NetEase is having the Marvel Rivals support team field requests from students to add more domains to the program.

To send in a support request to get Marvel Rivals college perks for your school, click the customer support link under the in-game settings. If you provide your country, university name and student email domain, NetEase will work to ensure that your school is added to the program. The list of supported colleges and universities is updated weekly, so don’t fret if your verification doesn’t work right away.

If you’re interested in what other free skins you can (permanently) unlock in Marvel Rivals, we have a comprehensive free skin guide too.

Reverify your email to keep college perks

Even if you signed up for the college perks reward system upon its release in season 3, you may have missed a crucial season 4 announcement that revealed that you won’t keep these benefits indefinitely. Instead, to keep the college perks and the new suite of loaner costumes, you’ll need to reverify your student email.

This isn’t especially difficult, though it is rather annoying. In order to re-up your college perks access, you just need to follow the above guide’s steps once again. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on whether or not you have access to the current perks, because NetEase retains the right to remove them from your account and ask you to reverify your email at any time.

It’s currently unclear whether or not this email reverification process will need to be completed each season, but we’ll have more information during the ramp up to Marvel Rivals season 5. Stay tuned for more information as it comes down the pipeline.