Technologies

New iPhone 17 or Air on Your Radar? Get Ready for These Prices Today

The newest iPhone lineup drops today, but tariffs aren’t to blame for the premium price; that’s just Apple’s MO.

As the newest iPhones hit the shelves today, the Apple faithful can count their blessings that they aren’t paying more for the new phones. iPhones have never been cheap, but it was pretty clear when the prices for the new iPhone 17 lineup were revealed at Apple’s fall iPhone event earlier this month that they could have gotten worse, considering the year of tariffs and other economic turmoil.

CNET senior editor James Bricknell wasn’t surprised by the iPhone prices.

«Given the tariffs and all the other stuff that’s happened in the past year, the prices are good,» he said. «They match what you would expect in terms of inflation rather than the leap I was expecting.»

Apple unveiled three models during the event: the iPhone 17, the iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 Pro. That’s right — the skinny new iPhone Air doesn’t have «17» in its name. The full lineup also includes the low-end iPhone 16E, released earlier this year.

iPhone 16E, from $599

CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland reviewed the iPhone 16E, which is Apple’s most affordable iPhone, and noted that some compromises had to be made to get the price down. There’s no Dynamic Island cutout for one thing, and it only comes in black and white.

iPhone 17, from $799

The standard iPhone 17 has some small upgrades over past models, namely a new chip, a brighter and sharper screen, better cameras and an improved selfie camera. With the introduction of the super-thin iPhone Air, this phone is now Apple’s entry-level flagship.

iPhone Air, from $999

The new iPhone Air made headlines for its slim shape, weighing in at just 165 grams. Apple called the Air the «most power-efficient iPhone we have ever made» and says it has all-day battery life. It clocks in at just under $1,000 as its starting price.

iPhone 17 Pro, from $1,099

The priciest iPhones are the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which pack a range of camera upgrades plus a new orange color. While the iPhone 16 Pro was slightly cheaper at a $999 starting price last year, CNET Editor-at-Large Andrew Lanxon notes, «It’s now got double the storage and actually costs the same as the equivalent 256GB iPhone 16 Pro.»

If you’re rolling in cash, the iPhone 17 Pro Max with 2TB of storage will happily take more of your money. It’s priced at $1,999.

How to order the new iPhone

Sold on the new iPhone lineup? Preorders begin on Friday, and launch day is Sept. 19.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Feb. 28

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 28.

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.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? As is usual for Saturday, it’s pretty long, and should take you longer than the normal Mini. A bunch of three-initial terms are used in this one. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

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 to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Rock’s ___ Leppard
Answer: DEF

4A clue: Cry a river
Answer: SOB

7A clue: Clean Air Act org.
Answer: EPA

8A clue: Org. that pays the Bills?
Answer: NFL

9A clue: Nintendo console with motion sensors
Answer: WII

10A clue: ___-quoted (frequently said)
Answer: OFT

11A clue: With 13-Across, narrow gap between the underside of a house and the ground
Answer: CRAWL

13A clue: See 11-Across
Answer: SPACE

14A clue: Young lady
Answer: GAL

15A clue: Ooh and ___
Answer: AAH

17A clue: Sports org. for Scottie Scheffler
Answer: PGA

18A clue: «Hey, just an F.Y.I. …,» informally
Answer: PSA

19A clue: When doubled, nickname for singer Swift
Answer: TAY

20A clue: Socially timid
Answer: SHY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Morning moisture
Answer: DEW

2D clue: «Game of Thrones» or Homer’s «Odyssey»
Answer: EPICSAGA

3D clue: Good sportsmanship
Answer: FAIRPLAY

4D clue: White mountain toppers
Answer: SNOWCAPS

5D clue: Unrestrained, as a dog at a park
Answer: OFFLEASH

6D clue: Sandwich that might be served «triple-decker»
Answer: BLT

12D clue: Common battery type
Answer: AA

14D clue: Chat___
Answer: GPT

16D clue: It’s for horses, in a classic joke punchline
Answer: HAY

Technologies

Ultrahuman Ring Pro Brings Better Battery Life, More Action and Analysis

The company’s new flagship smart ring stores more data, too. But that doesn’t really help Americans.

Sick of your smart ring’s battery not holding up? Ultrahuman’s new $479 Ring Pro smart ring, unveiled on Friday, offers up to 15 days of battery life on a single charge. The Ring Pro joins the company’s $349 Ring Air, which boosts health tracking, thanks to longer battery life, increased data storage, improved speed and accuracy and a new heart-rate sensing architecture. The ring works in conjunction with the latest Pro charging case.

Ultrahuman also launched its Jade AI, which can act as an agent based on analysis of current and historical health data. Jade can synthesize data from across the company’s products and is compatible with its Rings.

«With industry-leading hardware paired with Jade biointelligence AI, users can now take real-time actionable interventions towards their health than ever before,» said Mohit Kumar, CEO of Ultrahuman.

No US sales

That hardware isn’t available in the US, though, thanks to the ongoing ban on Ultrahuman’s Rings sales here, stemming from a patent dispute with its competitor, Oura Ring. It’s available for preorder now everywhere else and is slated to ship in March. Jade’s available globally.

Ultrahuman says the Ring Pro boosts battery life to about 15 days in Chill mode — up to 12 days in Turbo — compared to a maximum of six days for the Air. The Pro charger’s battery stores enough for another 45 days, which you top off with Qi-compatible wireless charging. In addition, the case incorporates locator technology via the app and a speaker, as well as usability features such as haptic notifications and a power LED.

The ring can also retain up to 250 days of data versus less than a week for the cheaper model. Ultrahuman redesigned the heart-rate sensor for better signal quality. An upgraded processor improves the accuracy of the local machine learning and overall speed.

It’s offered in gold, silver, black and titanium finishes, with available sizes ranging from 5 to 14.

Jade’s Deep Research Mode is the cross-ecosystem analysis feature, which aggregates data from Ring and Blood Vision and the company’s subscription services, Home and M1 CGM, to provide historical trends, offer current recommendations and flag potential issues, as well as trigger activities such as A-fib detection. Ultrahuman plans to expand its capabilities to include health-adjacent activities, such as ordering food.

Some new apps are also available for the company’s PowerPlug add-on platform, including capabilities such as tracking GLP-1 effects, snoring and respiratory analysis and migraine management tools.