While some teenagers still wouldn’t be caught dead with their parents at a gig, there’s been a marked number of multigenerational gatherings of parents, kids, uncles and aunts at recent tours such as Pulp, Bruce Springsteen and the Oasis reunion. We spoke to four families about why they enjoy watching bands together.
‘It felt like a multi-generational event’
Mark Taubert, his seven-year-old son and his 12-year-old daughter were one of many families in attendance at Stevie Wonder’s Cardiff concert in Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, in July. “He came on to the stage and lit the place up with his charisma and magnetism. I was surprised to see quite a few different age groups in the crowd. Then Stevie Wonder brought two of his own children on stage, and it felt even more like a multigenerational event,” he says.
“My son Idris even had a brief restorative snooze during Living for the City, but then woke up for Sir Duke – one of his favourites.”
Even if Idris didn’t fully appreciate the whole show, Mark hopes his son will in future. “In 80 years’ time, Stevie Wonder will just be this sort of legendary figure of the past, and my son will be able to say that he saw him.”
It was quite the contrast to the gigs of his youth, Mark says. “My worst was Guns N’ Roses in Mannheim when I was 16. There was a riot at that show. It wasn’t necessarily something I’d take my kids to.”
‘We combined Jesus and Mary Chain with a trip to the skatepark’
James Cooper and his daughter Astrid. Photograph: Guardian Community
Before the Oasis reunion tour commenced in July, The Jesus and Mary Chain played Tramshed in Cardiff in June. The gig was a bonding experience for James Cooper and his daughter Astrid.
“As a fan of the Jesus and Mary Chain since I was 15, I was delighted that my daughter Astrid declared that they were her favourite band too,” he says. “I recalled to Astrid that JAMC were the precursors to Oasis – being warring brothers on the same label and paving the way for Oasis in many ways – but loads better! We are both skateboarders, so we combined the day with a trip to the skatepark. I considered ourselves very lucky that we got to see the far superior band in a small venue.
“My daughter loved the day and the experience. She didn’t get emotional like I did, though. It was maybe more significant for me, as she is almost same age as I was when I first saw them at 15. These experiences with one’s daughter don’t happen very often.”
‘It’s the best concert I had seen since Sting in 1990s’
Alice Witter and her son at a Billie Eilish concert. Photograph: Guardian Community
Alice Witter and her 18-year-old son travelled 200 miles to see Billie Eilish play Co-Op Live in Manchester last month. “We both like her albums equally. I told him there’s not one song we won’t be able to sing along to,” she says.
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“The crowd was amazing. It was all mixed generations, but mostly my son’s age or a bit older, and everybody was dancing and singing. My son took some videos, so we came home with a whole visual record of what we saw, and played it through the car stereo on the way home down the motorway, on high volume. It’s the best concert I had seen since Sting in 1990s.”
‘We never did this with our parents’
Jo Ortlieb and her family at an Asian Dub Foundation gig in Lille, France. Photograph: Guardian Community
“You definitely notice more and more families at concerts nowadays,” says Jo Ortlieb, 58, an English teacher who lives near Lille in France. “Our parents didn’t go to concerts, whereas we did, so I guess it’s the age we live in. It’s really nice to see.”
Her family’s first gig was Dizzee Rascal at Sziget festival in Budapest in 2013, when her sons were 11 and 13. “It was such a great feeling to be dancing and singing along to all our favourite songs, although there was a lot of swearing. A young Hungarian couple even came up to me at the end to say they thought I was cool.”
More recently, Jo, her sons, now 23 and 25, and her husband have seen Nick Cave at the O2 in London and Asian Dub Foundation in Lille. “My husband and I are big fans of Nick Cave, so the kids grew up listening to him at home. I get quite emotional when they play songs that we all used to sing together in the car or in the kitchen. We like to think we’ve given them an eclectic taste in music. We never did that sort of thing with our parents, so it’s really nice to be able to do it now.”
US President Donald Trump said he would move two nuclear submarines closer to Russia last week but didn’t specify if they are nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed. The sub pictured above is a US ballistic missile submarine called the USS Kentucky.
The Kremlin has played down Donald Trump’s orders to move two nuclear submarines closer to Russia, saying Moscow did not want to be involved in polemics.
In the first official reaction since the US president’s comments last Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said American submarines were on combat duty anyway and dismissed the idea that there had been an escalation.
“Very complex, very sensitive issues are being discussed, which, of course, many perceive very emotionally,” Peskov said – though he added that everyone should be “very cautious” with nuclear rhetoric.
US envoy Steve Witkoff is due to visit Russia on Wednesday, according to Russian media.
Last week President Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to “be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to what he called “highly provocative” comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Trump did not say whether they were nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines.
Medvedev – who in recent years has espoused increasingly extreme rhetoric online – had accused Trump of “playing the ultimatum game” with Russia after the US president set a new deadline for Vladimir Putin to end the war with Ukraine.
Without referencing the Medvedev spat directly, Peskov said on Monday that while “in every country members of the leadership… have different points of view”, Russian foreign policy was dictated by Putin alone.
Medvedev did not react to Trump’s response and has not been active on X since sending the offending post.
Relations between the US and Russia improved significantly after Trump took office in January – although in recent months the US president has signalled he suspects Putin may not be truly committed to ending the war in Ukraine, which began when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Now Trump has brought forward a deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal, threatening Moscow with severe tariffs targeting its oil and other exports if a ceasefire is not agreed by Friday 8 August.
Still, Washington and Moscow remain in contact and Peskov welcomed Witkoff’s trip later this week.
Reuters
“Everyone should be ‘very cautious’ with nuclear rhetoric,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
“We are always happy to see Mr Witkoff in Moscow… We consider such contact important, meaningful and useful,” he said, adding that Witkoff and Putin may meet.
Should a ceasefire not be reached by Friday, Trump has said he would impose sanctions and secondary tariffs on Moscow to discourage other countries from trading with it.
But he has also admitted Russia – now the most sanctioned country in the world – was “pretty good at avoiding sanctions”.
Three rounds of talks between Russian and Ukraine since the spring have failed to bring an end to the conflict any closer.
Only last week Putin reiterated that Russia’s main goal in the war was to “eradicate the reasons for the crisis in Ukraine and ensure Russia’s security”.
Moscow’s maximalist military and political preconditions for peace – including Ukraine becoming a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military and abandoning its Nato aspirations – remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners.
As early humans migrated from lush African forests to open grasslands, they needed new, reliable energy sources. This shift spurred a taste for grassy plants – especially grains – and for starchy plant tissues hidden underground.
A new Dartmouth-led study, published in Science, reveals that hominins began eating these carbohydrate-rich foods long before their teeth evolved to handle them efficiently. The research provides the first human fossil evidence of “behavioral drive,” where survival-driven behaviors emerge well before the physical adaptations that support them.
Early diet before dental adaptation
To investigate, the team analyzed carbon and oxygen isotopes in fossilized hominin teeth, reflecting diets heavy in graminoids – a group that includes grasses and sedges. Surprisingly, early humans were consuming these plants far earlier than their teeth were suited to grinding them down.
Hominins
Hominins are the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors. They are distinguished from other apes by characteristics such as bipedalism and a larger brain relative to body size.
Yet, it wasn’t until roughly 700,000 years later that evolution produced the longer molars necessary for efficiently chewing tough plant fibers.
This delayed adaptation underscores how early humans thrived despite their physical limitations.
“We can definitively say that hominins were quite flexible when it came to behavior, and this was their advantage,” said Dr. Luke Fannin, a postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth and the study’s lead author.
“As anthropologists, we talk about behavioral and morphological change as evolving in lockstep. But we found that behavior could be a force of evolution in its own right, with major repercussions for the morphological and dietary trajectory of hominins,” he continued.
Dr. Nathaniel Dominy, the Charles Hansen Professor of Anthropology and senior author, emphasized the value of isotope analysis in uncovering ancient behavior: “Anthropologists often assume behaviors based on morphological traits, but these traits can take a long time – a half-million years or more – to appear in the fossil record. But these chemical signatures are an unmistakable remnant of grass-eating that is independent of morphology. They show a significant lag between this novel feeding behavior and the need for longer molar teeth to meet the physical challenge of chewing and digesting tough plant tissues.”
Tracking ancient diets
The researchers analyzed teeth from several hominin species, beginning with Australopithecus afarensis, and compared them to fossilized teeth from two contemporaneous primates: giant ground-dwelling, baboon-like monkeys called theropiths and smaller, leaf-eating colobines.
All three species shifted away from fruits, flowers and insects to graminoids between 3.4 million and 4.8 million years ago – even though their teeth and digestive systems were ill-suited for these plants.
However, by 2.3 million years ago, isotope signatures in hominin teeth abruptly changed, diverging from the other primates. This drop in both carbon and oxygen isotopes suggests that Homo rudolfensis – the human ancestor at the time – reduced grass consumption and began accessing oxygen-depleted water.
The researchers propose three possible explanations:
Hominins drank far more water than other primates and savanna animals.
They adopted a semi-aquatic, hippopotamus-like lifestyle.
They began regularly eating underground plant organs such as tubers, bulbs and corms.
The third explanation fits best. These carbohydrate-rich underground stores, also rich in oxygen-depleted water, were plentiful, safe from herbivores and accessible year-round. With stone tools already in use, hominins could dig them up easily.
“We propose that this shift to underground foods was a signal moment in our evolution,” Fannin said. “It created a glut of carbs that were perennial – our ancestors could access them at any time of year to feed themselves and other people.”
Teeth catch up to diet
Over time, hominin teeth shrank by roughly 5% every 1,000 years, even as molars lengthened. For much of their history, their dietary reliance on graminoids outpaced dental adaptation. But around 2 million years ago, species such as Homo habilis and Homo ergaster developed teeth better suited to processing tougher and even cooked plant tissues, like roasted tubers.
Graminoids are ubiquitous in many ecosystems, meaning early humans could capitalize on their availability.
“One of the burning questions in anthropology is what did hominins do differently that other primates didn’t do? This work shows that the ability to exploit grass tissues may be our secret sauce,” Dominy said.
“Even now, our global economy turns on a few species of grass – rice, wheat, corn and barley,” he added. “Our ancestors did something completely unexpected that changed the game for the history of the species on Earth.”
Reference: Fannin LD, Seyoum CM, Venkataraman VV, et al. Behavior drives morphological change during human evolution. Science. 2025;389(6759):488-493. doi: 10.1126/science.ado2359
This article is a rework of a press release issued by Dartmouth. Material has been edited for length and content.
About 80% of new HIV infections in Nigeria are sexually transmitted from unprotected consensual intercouse. While some are diagnosed with the virus at birth, others, like Rose Gyang, 45, contracted it through rape.
Nine years ago, Zadchlo International Foundation (ZIF), a nonprofit organisation working to improve the quality of life for young people living with HIV and AIDS in Plateau State of Nigeria, conducted a medical examination on Rose. She was diagnosed as HIV-positive after being raped. It was devastating news for her as a widow. To make matters worse, she was physically disabled.
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On the day ZIF held an outreach in her community in Kuru, Rose had to crawl to the venue because she lacked a wheelchair. She had been shunned and treated as an outcast by family and friends.“After their sensitisation I realised my symptoms were similar to what we were told. I learnt about early symptoms like fatigue, headache, weight loss, and sore throat, which I experienced, are early symptoms associated with HIV.”
“They told us there isn’t a cure but you can enjoy a good life when you take your drugs and eat healthy. We were also taught to avoid sharing sharp objects with others and use protection during sex,” she recalled.
Advocates at ZIF became her family. She described the team as “intentional and consistent” because they kept in touch and provided a safe space for her. Rose and several others met monthly in groups, but each had an assigned sponsor who kept in touch daily. She could call at odd hours for “help, or just to talk,” she said. The sponsor made sure she sourced treatment and held her accountable.
Nine years later, Rose now leads Zawan, a network of 18 physically challenged women living in her community. She shares her story with women willing to listen, believing that her experience can inspire others to seek life-saving treatment and persevere. Her slogan, “Women deserve a voice,” reflects her awareness of those who died without treatment due to stigma and never had the opportunities she received.
“Society is really harsh”
In a recent briefing, Dr. Nicholas Baamlong, Plateau State Commissioner for Health, noted that the state’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is 1.6%, with 2,520 new infections recorded as of December 2024, and 46,126 people currently on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). Despite progress, people living with HIV in the state still face widespread stigma and discrimination.
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The stigma “did a lot to me,” Sarah, another woman who lives with HIV, said. “I couldn’t speak up and communicate the way I wanted to, so I would let other people ride over me because society made me believe that was who I was. It affected my grades, made me give up my passion for painting and drawing. I felt like a failure and blamed myself for everything bad in my life.”
As a baby, born premature, Sarah was frequently ill. Then her family got the shock of their lives when she was diagnosed with HIV at age four. This was revealed to her at age 11 when she was in her first year in secondary school. Now 24, she describes it as taking a toll on her life since. Growing up, she bore the brunt of another kind of stigma, self-stigma. At one point, she contemplated ending her life.
Self-stigmatisation happens when a person takes in the negative stereotypes about people with HIV and applies it to themselves. It can lead to feelings of shame, fear of disclosure, isolation, and despair. These feelings can keep people from getting tested and accessing HIV prevention or treatment.
“I isolated myself as much as I could. I would be in class, and I would know an answer [to a question] but I would not talk because I would feel like everybody will stigmatise or discriminate against me. I would be in the house, and I won’t be able to come out and associate with anybody.
“Society is really harsh. One time I was on a bus, and someone was talking and said over his dead body will he get married to someone who is HIV positive. He believes anyone who has HIV sleeps around and is very promiscuous. It broke me, I didn’t pick this life.”
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Image credit: Nigeria Health Watch
According to a report by the National Institute of Health, up to 48% of nurses, physicians and laboratory scientists in Nigeria still lack knowledge about the disease, increasing their negative attitudes and often refusal to treat and care for persons living with HIV.
“The worst of it is when I get discriminated against by my own HIV community, stigmatised by our own health care workers,” Sarah noted. “They use such demeaning words at us. Unless you build a very good resilience, you cannot escape it because it will happen, one way or another,” Sarah added.
Supportive community
Currently, Sarah is actively engaged in HIV advocacy while fighting against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. “I am a baby of ZIF,” Sarah said, laughing. “They practically helped raise me, helped restore my confidence and now I am pursuing my dreams with a positive mindset. Their consistency in keeping in touch and ensuring I am doing well is divine because it helped me overcome depression and self-pity.”
According to Hanatu Maiga, ZIF’s co-founder and programme officer, the network started with her late mother who was passionate about reaching out to widows in the community. It did not have a name then and was just an informal gathering of vulnerable widows, “she felt the need to create a space where vulnerable people living with HIV could be catered for and have hope for a better tomorrow.”
ZIF also deploys health workers to routinely test people for HIV at outreaches. “On one of our outreaches to widows in 2014, we conducted medical examinations and were shocked to find most of them positive to HIV,” Hanatu said. “That move gave birth to ZIF. We thought to ourselves, ‘if the older people will be carriers of HIV, what happens to the younger generation?’ Everyone, especially those living with HIV, can benefit from a solid support network. A supportive community can help improve overall quality of life as well as make it easier to stick with one’s treatment regimen.”
From a team of three, the network now has 38 members with more out on different courses in care, sponsored by ZIF. These days, the line between its clients and staff is blurred, Hantu explained. This is because many who were supported by the organisation have evolved into support givers. “The 15 widows [we counselled] are now our staff and they are all HIV positive. There are also 12 youth under us as our staff who are also HIV positive,” Hanatu explained.
Presently, 68 HIV-positive patients have been linked to care in 2024 alone, according to Hanatu. She further explained that, a total of 2,341 are currently in treatment and no death has been recorded among them so far.
Dozens of sex workers have also received help. Some have learnt a new skill and secured a job, and others have managed to accept their diagnosis and restore family ties. With help from the network, many sex workers who use drugs have managed to quit active drug use, improve adherence to life-saving HIV treatment and prevention, and reconnect with the community.
Stigma creates more barriers
Stigma and support are key factors in how HIV/AIDs is handled, Esther Turaki, the Executive Director of Plateau State AIDS Control Agency (PLACA), explained.
“HIV-related stigma and discrimination is still a serious barrier in regards to HIV services across Nigeria and in Plateau. Although there is improvement compared to two or three years back, much needs to be done in the area of awareness and sensitisation,” she said.
She further added that people are apprehensive to access ZIF’s services because of the fear, “and if that is not addressed, we will continue to have people staying in denial even when they know that they are HIV positive.”
The 2022 UNAIDS Global AIDS report ‘In Danger’ revealed that global progress towards HIV prevention is slowing down, rather than accelerating. It also noted that “the most vulnerable and marginalised are being hit the hardest.” This has been further worsened by the defunding of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a U.S. government initiative aimed at combating the global HIV/AIDS with specilised clinics closing and treatment supplies dwindling.
“The defunding of PEPFAR has significantly impacted our organisation by limiting access to critical HIV prevention and treatment services. In response, we are working to secure alternative funding sources, strengthen local partnerships, and streamline service delivery to ensure continued support for those most affected.” Hanatu explained.
A&O Shearman advised Bavarian Nordic A/S on U.S. securities, antitrust, CFIUS, and other matters in respect of the all-cash offer valued at NOK19bn or USD3bn, from a newly formed company controlled by Nordic Capital Fund XI and funds managed and advised by Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH.
Nordic Capital and Permira announced the take-private offer on July 28, 2025 in a press release. The board of directors of Bavarian Nordic unanimously recommend that company shareholders accept the offer.
Bavarian Nordic is a global vaccine company with a mission to improve health and save lives through innovative vaccines. Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor focused on healthcare, technology and payments, financial services, and industrial tech. Permira is a global investment firm with committed capital of approximately EUR80bn that advises funds across private equity and credit.
The A&O Shearman team that counselled Bavarian Nordic was headed by U.S. securities partner Jeff Hendrickson who led the firm’s contribution on U.S. securities law with associates Qi Xie and Rose Whitlock in London, and M&A partners Daniel Litowitz, Clare O’Brien, and Derrick Lott in New York.
A&O Shearman partner Jeff Hendrickson said, “We are proud to have supported Bavarian Nordic on this landmark transaction, which showcases our ability to bring the requisite experts to support our international clients on issues of U.S. law. By leveraging our transatlantic expertise, we were able to deliver integrated advice across U.S. securities, antitrust, and CFIUS matters, ensuring a smooth and successful outcome for our client.”
Kuang Chiang and Maura Rezendes in Washington, D.C. provided CFIUS advice; Jessica Delbaum and Andrew Shaeffer in New York and Brandon Abrams and Nicholas Putz in Washington, D.C. counseled on antitrust matters; and Melisa Brower provided advice on tax and compensation.
Mozilla has discovered a phishing campaign targeting add-on developers. Malicious actors are attempting to gain access to developer accounts via fake messages claiming that accounts need to be updated. Mozilla advises extreme caution when dealing with suspicious emails.
Mozilla has shared a series of measures to protect developers from this attack. The organization strongly advises against clicking on links in suspicious emails. Developers should check whether messages actually originate from a Mozilla domain: firefox.com, mozilla.org, mozilla.com, or their subdomains.
In addition, emails must pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC verifications. Users can check this via their email provider’s documentation. Mozilla advises always validating links before opening them, or better yet, navigating directly to mozilla.org or firefox.com instead of via email links.
Fake messages imitating Mozilla
The phishing emails contain typical phrases such as “Your Mozilla Add-ons account requires an update to continue accessing developer features.” These fake messages are designed to trick developers into revealing their login details. The attack specifically targets creators of browser extensions that use Mozilla’s official distribution platform.
A crucial rule is that Mozilla usernames and passwords should only be entered on mozilla.org or firefox.com. Mozilla explicitly advises against clicking on any links. Further information on recognizing phishing is available from the US Federal Trade Commission and the UK National Cyber Security Centre.
Tip: Firefox now notifies you when you visit a hacked website
LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 4th Aug, 2025) The Police martyrs’ day was observed with solemnity and reverence across Punjab on Monday,
including in the provincial capital, to honour the ultimate sacrifices of police personnel who laid down
their lives in the line of duty.
According to a Punjab Police spokesperson, special ceremonies were held in all districts of the province, while smartly turned-out police contingents presented guard of honour at the memorials and graves of the martyrs. Wreaths were laid and Fateha was offered for the departed souls.
The spokesperson said that senior police officers visited the families of martyrs, met with their children and paid tribute to the heroes while expressing solidarity.
Rallies and special events were also organised to highlight their sacrifices.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, in his special message on the occasion, said
that August 4 was a day to renew the pledge with the martyrs of Punjab Police.
“Nations that honour their heroes never forget them,” he stated.
The IGP added that Punjab Police observed police martyrs day with national spirit every year to pay homage to over 1,700 brave officers and personnel who embraced martyrdom in the line of duty.
“They sacrificed their present to secure the future of the nation,” he said.
Dr Usman also paid heartfelt tribute to the mothers and families of the martyrs, stating that the department stood by them in every moment whether in joy or sorrow.
The iPhone 17 could feature a redesigned camera bump, though it may not be as drastic a difference as the Pro models.
A higher refresh rate could be coming to the full lineup, potentially enabling the baseline iPhone to have an always-on display.
Prices remain uncertain with tariffs, but they’ll likely go up, given it’s been years since Apple raised the price of the iPhone.
The anticipated reveal of Apple’s newest iPhone is just around the corner. For months now, rumors have been swirling about what the upcoming device, likely called the iPhone 17, could look like, from a redesigned camera module to fresh colors and a higher refresh rate. The phone is expected to debut in early September, although Apple hasn’t confirmed anything yet. You can also check out our rumors on the iPhone 17 Pro and the thinner iPhone 17 Air.
Perhaps the biggest looming question is whether iPhones could get pricier, especially with tariffs. President Donald Trump has said Apple will have to pay a 25% tariff on iPhones made outside the US. This would almost certainly lead to a price hike for consumers. We’ll have to wait to see how Apple responds and if shoppers really do end up shouldering that extra cost. But even without tariffs, the iPhone may be due for a markup, as it’s been years since Apple raised prices on its handsets.
Here’s everything analysts and leakers predict about the baseline iPhone 17.
See also: Thinking About Buying a New iPhone? Here’s Why You Should Wait
Camera bump redesign
James Martin/CNET
It’s not an iPhone release without a camera upgrade, and there have been plenty of rumors about what the camera module could look like on Apple’s upcoming phones. In January, a leaked image from Majin Bu on X suggested the phone could feature a pill-shaped camera bar, essentially resembling what you’d find on Google’s Pixel 9 phone. In February, Bu followed up with CAD renders of what’s said to be the iPhone 17 lineup, featuring horizontal camera bars, as well as larger rectangular bars on the iPhone 17 Pro models.
In April, Bloomberg reported the “iPhone 17 Pro will look a lot more like the 16 Pro than anticipated,” adding, “From the front, the 17 Pro will appear quite similar to the 16 Pro. It’s the back camera that will look meaningfully different.” The latest rumors suggest the iPhone 17 Pro’s three-lens camera arrangement will be maintained but will sit on a new panel that stretches across the phone’s width and is the same color as the rest of the phone.
Later in April, Bu again posted an image of the purported iPhone 17 lineup, showing those wider camera bars with the stacked lenses still configured to the left.
Not until next year, for the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, will Apple be “preparing a major shake-up” for the phone’s design, Bloomberg says. That includes a (long-rumored) foldable version and a “bold new Pro model that makes more extensive use of glass.”
Another camera-related rumor is that the selfie camera on all iPhone 17 models will be upgraded to 24 megapixels, according to analyst Jeff Pu. That’s a decent bump from the current 12-megapixel front-facing camera on the iPhone 16 lineup, although it’s important to remember that more megapixels don’t automatically mean better photos. Still, given how much people increasingly rely on their front cameras to snap selfies and record videos for TikTok and Instagram, this surely will be a welcome advancement.
Watch this: iPhone 17 Rumors: What Analysts Say Apple Is Doing Next
iPhone 17 display upgrade
Rumor has it that all models of the iPhone 17 will feature a 120Hz display, bumping the non-Pro models up from their current 60Hz refresh rate. That could be a welcome change, as the discrepancy between the Pro and non-Pro refresh rate is surprising; when Apple debuted the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus with a 60Hz display, there was a bit of an outcry from folks who expected more in 2024. This rumored update could remedy that — and possibly bring the always-on display to the baseline model.
There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about whether the latest iPhones will have a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective display. A July report from MacRumors suggests that feature will in fact be arriving on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, just not the baseline iPhone 17 or the Air. This would make the Pro models the first iPhones with an anti-reflective screen, giving them a feature that CNET’s Patrick Holland deemed one of the best attributes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
There also have been contradictory reports on whether the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 17 lineup will look any different. In May, Pu said all iPhone 17 models will use a new metalens technology for the proximity sensor, which could allow Apple to reduce the size of the Face ID sensor and the Dynamic Island, according to 9to5Mac. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, on the other hand, said in January that the Dynamic Island would remain “largely unchanged” in the iPhone 17 lineup compared to the iPhone 16. We’ll have to see what ends up being true.
Rumors on what frames the iPhone 17 lineup will feature have gone back and forth. In February, Pu suggested the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all have aluminum frames. He noted that the iPhone 17 Air could be the outlier with a titanium frame.
New chipset
In May, Pu noted the iPhone 17 would have the same A18 chip used in the iPhone 16, while the iPhone 17 Air and Pro models will feature an A19 chip. It’s possible the phones could also include the Apple-developed 5G modem, called the C1 chip, which debuted on the iPhone 16E.
In February, Kuo noted Apple will swap out Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chips for in-house chips across the iPhone 17 lineup, stating this would “enhance connectivity across Apple devices.” It’s not yet clear what exactly this would mean, but it would be interesting if Apple’s C1 chip was also accompanied by its own Wi-Fi chip.
iPhone 17 battery
So far, rumors suggest only the pricer iPhone 17 Pro Max could get a bigger battery, according to Ice Universe. The leaker says the top-of-the-line phone could go from 8.25mm on the iPhone 16 Pro Max to 8.725mm on the iPhone 17 Pro Max as a result. In addition, leaker Instant Digital suggests the high-end phone could have about a 5,000 mAh battery, a notable increase over the 4,685 mAh on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, according to third-party tests.
But that doesn’t mean the baseline version won’t get any boost. Even if battery capacity stays the same (which it may not), the AI-powered Adaptive Power feature arriving with iOS 26 can help extend battery life. The feature automatically adjusts your iPhone’s performance based on how you’re using it at the moment, according to Apple. This could especially be helpful with the slimmer iPhone 17 Air, which will likely also have a thinner battery.
iOS 26 brings a fresh look
Apple has revamped its mobile operating system with iOS 26 (not iOS 19), which is named after the last two digits of the upcoming year. And with iPadOS, MacOS, WatchOS, TVOS and VisionOS following the same naming convention, the move is designed to bring more uniformity — naming-wise and appearance-wise — across the operating systems.
The new Liquid Glass interface brings a more transparent, lens-like look to the iPhone and other Apple devices. With iOS 26, the Camera app also adopts a more minimalistic design and Photos once again makes it easier to find your albums by adding separate tabs for your Library and Collections, instead of forcing you to scroll through a single cluttered screen. Updates to Messages include being able to add backgrounds to chat windows and create polls in group chats, and a new screening tool can better detect spam texts and move messages from unknown senders to a dedicated folder. You can read more about iOS 26 features here.
In April, tipster Digital Chat Station noted that given the use of Apple Intelligence and AI on a “large scale,” the iPhone 17 lineup will come with 12GB of RAM, instead of the current 8GB. Kuo noted the iPhone 17 Air and Pro models would sport that increased 12GB of RAM, but that Apple was still deciding whether to equip the baseline model with 8GB or 12GB of RAM. In May, Pu noted the baseline would remain at 8GB.
Price and release date
We expect the iPhone 17 to become available in September although it’s not yet clear exactly when, as Apple hasn’t confirmed anything.
Historically, Apple has unveiled its new iPhones on the first Tuesday of September after Labor Day. However, the first Tuesday in 2025 is the day after Labor Day so it’s possible Apple could either push its iPhone event to Wednesday, Sept. 3, or hold it the following week on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
That would mean the phones could then become available on either Sept. 12 or 19. Preorders would kick off a week before general availability, on either Sept. 5 or 12.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has said that the new iPhone announcement should come Sept. 9 or 10.
Price is also a big unknown. Jefferies analyst Edison Lee has said the iPhone 17 Air, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max will get a $50 price increase to offset tariffs and the higher cost of components, but didn’t mention the baseline iPhone 17. If that’s true, the starting prices for the full lineup could be:
iPhone 17: $829
iPhone 17 Air: $979
iPhone 17 Pro: $1,049
iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,249
Regardless of higher component costs or tariffs, the iPhone is overdue for a price increase, because the last price hike was five years ago.
The latest rumors suggest the iPhone 17 could be available in black, blue, silver, purple and green.
