Technologies

Don’t Bother Waiting for the iPhone 18. Just Buy the iPhone 17

Commentary: If you want a new iPhone, buy the iPhone 17. The iPhone 18 is still too far away, and we don’t know enough about it to warrant waiting.

The year has barely begun, and there are already plenty of rumors about the next crop of iPhones. From a possible folding model to a brand-new iPhone 18 lineup, 2026 (and beyond) looks to be very interesting for the tech giant’s mobile division.

The iPhone 18 is rumored to have several changes from its predecessor, including variable-aperture cameras, an under-display front-facing camera for Face ID, a smaller Dynamic Island, an updated A20 chip, and new, interesting colors, including a «coffee» brown. The latest rumors suggest that the front-facing camera will be relocated to the top left corner of the screen, and the Camera Control button will be simplified to a pressure-sensing function. The Dynamic Island could also be shrunken in favor of a hole-punch cutout.

But if you’re trying to decide whether to buy an iPhone 17 now or get the iPhone 18, there is one biggest consideration: The iPhone 18 doesn’t exist. Apple hasn’t officially announced it. And rumors say the iPhone 18 won’t come out in September 2026 (to make room for the rumored iPhone Fold) and might be released in early 2027 instead.

Personally, I don’t think you should wait over a year for a new phone, especially if you’re considering an upgrade from an iPhone 14 or earlier model. Here are a few reasons why.

The iPhone 17 is great (and so is the 17 Pro)

If you’re looking to upgrade your phone, there’s a shiny new iPhone available in stores right now, and it’s a pretty good one. The iPhone 17 is a fantastic handset for iPhone devotees, especially for a base model.

Not only does the iPhone 17 offer a slightly larger 6.3-inch display (compared to the iPhone 16’s 6.1-inch screen), but it also features a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz, a first among non-Pro iPhones. This lets you enable an always-on display so you can glance at the time or current sports scores without waking your phone. And, of course, the 120Hz ProMotion display also means increased smoothness and responsiveness overall, whether scrolling through social feeds or playing video games.

Sure, the iPhone 18 might get improved cameras, but the ones on the iPhone 17 aren’t too shabby. It has two 48-megapixel cameras on the back (a wide-angle and an ultrawide), with the ultrawide being a massive upgrade over the one on the iPhone 16 that only had a 12-megapixel sensor. The 18-megapixel selfie camera (which is on the rest of the iPhone 17 line and the Air) is also a great upgrade, especially with its Center Stage feature that zooms out when more people enter the frame or switches from portrait to landscape without you rotating the phone.

On top of that, the iPhone 17 has a sturdy aluminum frame, comes in an array of lovely colors (lavender is my favorite) and has an impressive battery life. In my experience, it lasts more than a day with moderate use, and this seems to align with CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti’s experience as well.

If you want to further bridge the gap between this year’s iPhone and next year’s model, you could, of course, spend more on the iPhone 17 Pro. It has a beefier A19 Pro chip, a much better battery life (17 Pro Max) compared to the iPhone 17 and has that third camera on the back with a telephoto lens, which makes it a lot more versatile by offering a 4x magnification for zooming into distant subjects. I should note that battery life on the iPhone 17 and the regular iPhone 17 Pro are nearly identical.

The iPhone 18’s potential release date

Another significant reason not to wait to upgrade to the iPhone 18 is that it may not even be released next year. Waiting nine months until next fall is bad enough if you have an ailing phone, but there are currently rumors that Apple could be switching up its iPhone release strategy.

Bloomberg has reported that the company plans to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a new foldable in the fall of 2026. However, the iPhone 18, iPhone 18E and a potential Air 2 are set to debut closer to March 2027. That’s over a year away! You could certainly upgrade to one of the 2026 models, but chances are they won’t be as affordable as the spring 2027 releases.

The older your phone, the more reason not to wait

If you have the iPhone 15 or newer, you could get by waiting for another year for the iPhone 18. But if your phone is much older than that and you would like a new iPhone, I see no reason to wait. This is especially the case if you’re experiencing performance and battery issues.

We usually recommend upgrading if your existing model is two generations old, especially if your phone starts having issues with your day-to-day tasks. One general consensus is that if your battery’s maximum capacity has dropped below 80%, and you don’t want to replace the battery, it’s probably wise to upgrade. You can check this by going to your phone’s Settings, selecting Battery and then Battery Health.

You can certainly keep your phone for longer, and Apple often provides software and security support for the iPhone for well over five years. However, you’ll also want to keep an eye out in case there are newer features that don’t work on your device, or if a newer iPhone’s camera hardware would provide enough of an upgrade to be a noticeable improvement.

But if you are thinking that you’d like to get a new base-level iPhone anytime in the next 12 months, there’s little reason to stick it out for the iPhone 18 when the iPhone 17 offers so many features.

Technologies

Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance

Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.

Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.

The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.

Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.

Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.

Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.

The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»

Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.

Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.

At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.

Technologies

OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report

OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.

OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.

‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.

The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.

Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.

This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.

Technologies

OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift

OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.

Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.

‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.

Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.

‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’

A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.

Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’

On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.

OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.

In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.

Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.

The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know