Technologies

iPhone 17 Pro: Wild Orange Color, Bigger Zoom, A19 Pro Chip for $1,099

The iPhone 17 Pro’s vibrant Cosmic Orange color isn’t the only new feature. The phone has big upgrades across the board.

The iPhone 17 Pro has been officially unveiled as part of Apple’s «awe dropping» September event, alongside the base iPhone 17 and the super-skinny new iPhone Air. While the new Cosmic Orange color is definitely the eye-catching update to the Pro line, Apple’s new flagships have upgrades across the board, including a new supercharged A19 Pro processor and a longer 8x zoom camera.

The iPhone 17 Pro will go on sale with 256 GB of storage and a starting price of $1,099 (£1,099, AU$1,999), while the larger iPhone 17 Pro Max will start at $1,199. Preorders for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are open now.

The iPhone 17 Pro has had a slight price hike from the iPhone 16 Pro’s $999 starting price last year. It now has double the storage and actually costs the same as the equivalent 256GB iPhone 16 Pro, putting to bed fears of significant price hikes due to Trump’s tariffs for the time being.

iPhone 17 Pro: Design and display

The biggest physical change is on the rear of the phone. The camera unit now stretches across the whole top of the phone rather than simply occupying a small square in the corner. The cameras themselves are still clustered in the same location as before, although Apple says the expanded space gives more room for batteries and for the updated telephoto zoom camera, which I’ll come to later.

The Pro models are now built from aluminum, instead of the titanium frames that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s a unibody construction, which should make it especially durable — as should the new «Ceramic Shield» toughened glass on the front and back, which Apple says is 3x more scratch resistant. From the front, the phones remain almost indistinguishable from previous models, with only the Dynamic Island breaking the display in the small cutout towards the top. Apple has yet to confirm the water resistance rating of the phones, but it’s pretty safe to assume they’ll continue to be IP68-rated as has been the case with pretty much all iPhones since 2018.

The new range does bring some new colors; however, the vibrant-looking orange model is my personal favorite. I’ve found the Pro iPhone range often takes itself a bit too seriously, relying on darker or more muted tones. That new life-affirming orange color looks right up my street.

iPhone 17 Pro: Cameras

The Pro’s cameras have had a series of significant upgrades. The optical zoom now goes to 8x, doubling the range of the zoom on the last model. It offers an equivalent focal length of 200mm, which will be great for photographers wanting to really get in on the action from a distance. The telephoto camera’s sensor is 56% larger than before and offers 48 megapixels of resolution.

The hardware of the other cameras is largely unchanged, however, with no physical change to the sensors in the main or ultrawide cameras, and all three cameras offer 48 megapixels. The front camera has been updated, however, with a new square-format 18-megapixel sensor that allows for cropping in either horizontal or landscape orientation and better digital stabilization in video.

Video shooters haven’t been forgotten either; the Pro phones can now shoot in Apple’s ProRes Raw codec — an update to the existing ProRes codec that captures a lot more data at the point of capture, allowing for deeper and more accurate post processing. ProRes Raw, as Apple explains, is an industry standard in professional cinematic productions and seeing it on a phone is wild. As both a photographer, video producer and YouTuber, I’m excited.

iPhone 17 Pro: A19 Pro processor

The A19 Pro processor features an improved CPU and GPU, which Apple reckons can achieve 40% better performance than the iPhone 16 Pro. Keeping things cool is a new thermal management system that includes a vapor chamber that uses de-ionized water to actively cool the phone as it gets hot. The aluminum alloy also apparently dissipates heat 20x better than the titanium design of previous models.

iPhone 17 Pro: iOS 26

The iPhone 17 range will launch with the latest iOS 26 software on board. We’ve played around with iOS 26 in its early beta form, and the biggest changes are to the software’s look. Apple’s new «Liquid Glass» design leans into glasslike transparency in its menus and notification panels to achieve a brighter, more modern look.

From the images I’ve seen so far, I’m pretty keen on the style. CNET’s Blake Stimac has tested the beta and says, «underneath it all, Liquid Glass doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and that’s a good thing.» I find that encouraging. I can’t be bothered learning my way around an entirely new operating system, but I’m happy to see any tweaks that keep things feeling fresh.

iPhone 17 Pro: Battery

Apple says the iPhone 17 Pro packs the largest battery ever on an iPhone, which, as a result, delivers the best battery life ever from any iPhone. The company hasn’t been specific about exactly how big this battery is, but as always, we’ll be keen to see how it performs.

The iPhone Pro launched alongside other new Apple products, including the skinny iPhone Air, the latest AirPods Pro 3 with live translation and the Apple Watch Series 11, SE 3 and Watch Ultra 3. Don’t fancy the Pro iPhone? Apple also took the wraps off the base iPhone 17.

This is a developing story. Follow all of CNET’s 2025 Apple Event coverage for live updates, hands-on impressions, and more announcements as they’re revealed.

Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

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.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so 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: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

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:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

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 have 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:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.