News

Apple’s iPhone 17 Launch: Air, Pro, AirPods Pro 3, And More

Apple’s September event unveiled iPhone 17, iPhone Air, Pro models, AirPods Pro 3, and new Apple Watches. Pre-orders open September 12.

Published

11 months ago

September 9, 2025

Joanna Melki

Apple’s September showcase delivered the expected iPhone refresh — and a few surprises. The headline was the new iPhone Air, joined by the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro ranges, updated Apple Watches, and the AirPods Pro 3. All products land later this month, with pre-orders opening Friday, September 12.

iPhone 17

apple iphone 17 colors

The standard iPhone 17 line gets a 6.3-inch, 120Hz display with slimmer bezels and Ceramic Shield 2, which is now three times more scratch-resistant.

The A19 chip brings a six-core CPU, five-core GPU and upgraded neural engine. Apple claims it’s faster, more efficient, and stretches battery life by up to eight hours.

The rear system pairs a 48MP Fusion main camera with a 12MP telephoto, while the new square-sensor front camera improves stabilization and removes the need to rotate for landscape shots.

Pricing starts at $799 (256GB).

iPhone Air

The thinnest iPhone to date, the 5.6mm iPhone Air uses a titanium frame with Ceramic Shield 2 on both sides. The 6.5-inch always-on display supports ProMotion and peaks at 3,000 nits.

It runs on the A19 Pro chip and Apple’s new N1 wireless silicon, adding Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, alongside a faster C1X modem. Despite a slim design, it carries a dual-lens setup hidden behind a single housing: 48MP Fusion plus 12MP telephoto.

Adaptive Power Mode manages use patterns for longer runtimes, though Apple still frames it as an “all-day” battery. Apple has also built a thinner MagSafe pack to match.

Launch price: $999 (256GB).

iPhone 17 Pro

The 17 Pro is pitched as Apple’s most powerful iPhone to date, introducing an anodized aluminum unibody, a vapor-chamber cooling system and the largest iPhone battery so far.

The camera array sits on a raised “plateau” and includes a 48MP telephoto (up to 8x optical-quality zoom), plus 48MP wide and ultra-wide sensors. The front “center stage” camera jumps to 18MP. Display sizes are 6.3-inch (Pro) and 6.9-inch (Pro Max), both using Ceramic Shield 2. Battery life stretches to 39 hours of video playback on the Pro Max.

Pricing starts at $1,099 (256GB).

AirPods Pro 3

The third-gen AirPods Pro add heart-rate tracking, improved active noise cancellation (four times stronger than the original), foam-infused ear tips and spatial audio refinements. A headline feature is live translation, triggered by a new gesture and powered by Apple Intelligence. Battery life is rated at eight hours.

Available now for $249.

Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3 And SE

Series 11: Slimmer, more durable, 5G-enabled and with hypertension alerts via improved sensors. Battery life extends to 24 hours. From $399.
Ultra 3: Larger LTPO 3 display, satellite connectivity and Emergency SOS. From $799.
Watch SE: Gains always-on display, optional 5G and new gestures. Adds Sleep Score and sleep apnea alerts but keeps an 18-hour battery. From $249.

Availability

Pre-orders for all major devices open Friday, September 12, with general availability on September 19.

News

Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”

Instagram’s first wordmark refresh in a decade arrives with new fonts, a restrained gradient — and a Reddit verdict of sidegrade.

Published

4 days ago

August 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Although Instagram’s famous camera icon hasn’t changed, the company has refreshed the handwritten wordmark at the top of its app. This is the first redesign we’ve seen in ten years, and one the internet promptly set about renaming.

“The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on August 13, describing the new version as “cleaner and more modern” while keeping references to the original design.

Instagram says its team explored hundreds of options — all-caps lettering, camera-inspired concepts, even literal handwriting — before returning to script. “Script reflects individuality, so referencing that felt right,” Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst said in Meta’s announcement. “The new wordmark is bolder and simpler, with touches of unexpectedness. It cues individual expression, a personal voice, both of which have always been core to Instagram”.

The wordmark is part of a broader brand overhaul: an updated Instagram Sans typeface, two new fonts — the hand-drawn Instagram Pen and Instagram Mono — plus refreshed motion and layouts, and more restrained use of the signature gradient. The wordmark is rolling out globally now, with the rest arriving throughout 2026 and beyond.

Also Read: Spotify Will Now Tell You If Your Favorite Artist Isn’t Real

The design mixes cursive and print lettering, some characters connected and others floating free. That hybrid approach, combined with unusually shaped “s” and “r” characters, led some users to conclude the logo actually reads “Instagzam”. On the r/logodesign subreddit, one user said the wordmark looked “fan-made,” like something built in Canva; another called it “an unsettling mix of manuscript and cursive”; a third summarized it as a “sidegrade” — or, inevitably, a “zidegrade”.

Not everyone was hostile to the new look. Some found the half-cursive design stylish and surprisingly readable, while others called it an improvement on its predecessor, and one commenter argued Instagram was simply adopting minimalist branding later than everyone else. Either way, the platform now has a refreshed identity, three updated fonts, and an unofficial new pronunciation.