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Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max could be easily its most expensive ever, according to numerous reports. A number of analysts have suggested that Apple could push the price of the more expensive phones up by $200, partly as a response to inflation but also because of a new strategy. Rumours have suggested that Apple is looking to offer new options at the very expensive end of its line-up, in an attempt to encourage growth of its profits. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, appeared to confirmed that strategy during an earnings call earlier this year in which he said that he thought “people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category”. Apple has already seemingly attempted that strategy with the Apple Watch Ultra, a new and more expensive version of the wearable, which was released last year. It was a marked change from previous releases, which have seen Apple offer cheaper “SE” versions of the Watch and iPhone, as well as much smaller handsets. Various reports have suggested that Apple is planning to do the same with its iPhone line-up. That could eventually bring an “Ultra” version of the iPhone, reports have suggested, presumably with premium features and other changes intended to encourage customers to buy it. This time around, however, Apple will offer the same line-up as it did with the iPhone 14: a smaller and larger version of both the normal iPhone 15 and the premium iPhone 15 Pro. The larger version of the latter – the iPhone 15 Pro Max – will be the most expensive. This year, the iPhone 15 Pro Max could have even more features that set it apart from the rest of the line-up. Rumours have indicated that Apple is adding a “periscope lens” to the larger phone, which would allow it to offer more zoom without taking up more space. Numerous analysts and reports have suggested that those changes could bring additional cost to the price of the iPhone. The iPhone 14 Pro Max currently costs $1,099 and the new model could be $200 more than that, analysts have indicated. The changes are also set to raise the average selling price of an iPhone, according to a new report from analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush and reported by 9to5mac. It would take the average selling price to $900-$925, he suggested. Apple will reveal the new iPhones – and their price – at an event on Tuesday, 12 September. They are expected to go on sale the following week. The base iPhone 15 is expected to largely be brought in line with the current iPhone 14 Pro, borrowing its chip and the “Dynamic Island” at the top of the display. The iPhone 15 Pro is expected to get a new, more powerful chip, thinner bezels around the display, and an “action button” on the side of the phone. Apple is also expected to move the port at the bottom of of all the new phones from the current Lightning to USB-C. Read More Could China be about to take a big bite out of Apple’s iPhone business? Update your iPhone immediately Apple is dropping leather from iPhone cases and Watch bands, report claims

Meta will launch a paid-for, subscription-based version of Facebook and Instagram. The company will allow people to pay up to €13 to have no ads appear on those apps. The change has been made to comply with European Union regulations, it said. As such, it will only be available to people in the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland. The monthly subscription plans for users in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland, will cost 9.99 euros ($10.58) for web users, while iOS and Android users will have to shell out 12.99 euros a month. The difference is to account for the fees taken by Apple and Google for payments on its platforms, Meta said – a move that follows a similar price difference for Twitter’s premium offering. The EU regulations threaten to curb Meta’s ability to personalize ads for users without their consent and hurt its major revenue source. Users across the world will continue to be able to use the site for free, and will see no change to their experience as a result, Meta said. But offering the paid-for subscription version allows Meta to comply with “the requirements of European regulators”, the company said, after a recent ruling. Having the option of paying for a version of Facebook and Instagram with no ads means that people will have more clearly consented to having their data used for marketing, Meta suggested it in its announcement. That in turn means it will better comply with European regulations, it said. The world’s most popular social media network has been under antitrust pressure in the EU. In July, it lost its fight against a German data curb order as Europe’s top court backed the German antitrust watchdog’s power to also investigate privacy breaches. Offering a choice between a free, ad-supported plan and an ad-free paid subscription might lead to users opting for the former, helping Meta to comply with the regulations without affecting its ad business. Meta was fined 390 million euros earlier this year by Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner, and was told it cannot use the so-called “contract” as a legal basis to send users ads based on their online activity. The company later said it intended to ask users in the EU for their consent before allowing businesses to target ads in order to address evolving regulatory requirements in the region. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Threads is not dying, Mark Zuckerberg insists Letitia James and 32 other attorneys general sue Meta for ‘harming youth’ People’s Instagram posts are showing where they are not expected

WhatsApp will finally stop ruining people’s photos. The messaging app is a hugely popular way of sharing images and videos with friends. But it also shrinks those photos and clips down into a much smaller size, meaning that they are lower quality when they arrive on people’s phones. Now WhatsApp says it is rolling out an update that will let people send pictures in “HD quality” and “high resolution”. The update is coming for images in the “next few weeks”, WhatsApp said. HD videos will be “coming soon”, presumably on a longer timescale. All of the images will be protected with end-to-end encryption, as with messages sent on the app. WhatsApp will still make standard quality the default option when people are sending photos. It said that remains the way to “ensure sharing photos over WhatsApp remains fast and reliable”. Users will also have the option to receive images in standard definition – even if it has been sent in HD. If a person is being sent pictures but have a bad connection, they will receive it in standard quality and be given the option to upgrade it to full resolution. WhatsApp has long offered the option to change the quality that images are sent in, or to have the phone automatically choose between sending better images or saving data, depending on the connection. But even choosing the “best quality” option means that they are heavily compressed, and will lose the details and resolution of the original picture. Until now, users have been forced to use a complicated workaround to get images to send in full quality. That meant using WhatsApp’s options for sharing documents, and then sending an image through that – a fix that will no longer be required. WhatsApp has required some notoriety for shrinking down and compressing the images that are sent through it. Most other messaging platforms – including those made by Meta, such as Instagram and Messenger – are much better at preserving the quality of images sent through them. Read More WhatsApp rolls out AI tool for creating custom art iPhone 15: Global smartphone demand collapses as Apple aims to take top spot World’s first ‘superfast’ battery offers 400km range from 10 mins charge

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Conspiracy theorist and right-wing comedian Owen Benjamin is now claiming that nuclear bombs do not exist because there is evidence of cameras filming nuclear blasts. “It’s weird that the nuclear blasts vaporised brick houses but not the old times camera recording it. It’s because nukes are fake.” Benjamin claims. “Hiroshima and Nagasaki never had any fall out radiation. The whole narrative and all the evidence is absurd.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Twitter was quick to add context through community notes saying: “the cameras were in bunkers 5 miles away from ground zero with telescopic lenses allowing for the camera’s to record the nuclear explosion.” In regards to Benjamin’s claim regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they write that they “have no fallout radiation today as the atomic bombs were detonated at an altitude of about 600m.” His tweet has over 10,000 likes. Benjamin follows up his false claims by saying “there are no nuclear bombs with fallout radiation.” And that the whole world is “in on it”. He adds that people have been “tricked” saying “stop being afraid. It’s fake.” Most disagreed and pushed back against Benjamin’s claim. One user asked for his explanation for what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He replied by saying they were “bombed with conventional firebombs” and told another user that it was “just large amounts of TNT.” Others tried to explain why Benjamin was wrong: But there were some who defended and agreed with Benjamin: Benjamin also claims that the video in his tweet is of a toy model, and that those explaining how the camera was filmed from far away and protected are lying. He replied to a comment from a user saying they “learned something from the community notes”, sarcastically saying, “yeah you can record inside a house from 5 miles away in 1945.” When asked flat out by a user “are nuclear weapons real?” Benjamin replies: “No. Zero evidence they exist outside of Hollywood movies. Remember hiding under your desk? Looking back does that make sense?” This isn’t the first time Benjamin has spread conspiracy theories on Twitter, he has previously engaged in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial as well as spreading misinformation about Covid. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.