All posts tagged: buyers

Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs. Ultra 4 Buyer’s Guide

Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs. Ultra 4 Buyer’s Guide

Published by skeptic

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is now available for pre-order, bringing a new health sensing system, more memory, and longer battery life over its predecessor. Here’s everything that’s new. Last year, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 introduced a larger, more efficient display, satellite connectivity, 5G, and improved battery life. The Ultra 4 retains the same basic design and display, but focuses on more detailed health and fitness insights, new Audio Intelligence features, and further battery life improvements. It launches on Friday, September 18, at the same $799 starting price as the Ultra 3. The comparison below outlines the differences between the two generations: Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple Watch Ultra 4 S10 chip (2024) S11 chip (2026) 2GB RAM 4GB RAM Electrical heart sensor “Health Sensing System” with second-generation electrical heart sensor Third-generation optical heart sensor Always-on optical heart sensor Background heart rate tracking High-frequency background heart rate tracking every five seconds, 60x more frequently HRV Recovery HRV and overall HRV, measured up to 24x more often Vitals app with heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist …

iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 18 Pro Buyer’s Guide: Worth Upgrading?

iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 18 Pro Buyer’s Guide: Worth Upgrading?

Published by skeptic

Apple last week announced the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, arriving two years after the iPhone 16 Pro and ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max. Skipping a generation means makes for a bigger upgrade, with more than 50 differences between the 2024 and 2026 models. Most of the visible change arrived in between, with the iPhone 17 Pro replacing the titanium frame and glass back with an aluminum unibody and Ceramic Shield 2, adding vapor chamber cooling, and upgrading both the telephoto and front cameras. This year’s update is largely focused on internal changes, centering on the A20 Pro chip, a variable-aperture Main camera, a smaller Dynamic Island, and a battery capacity increase that delivers the largest jump in battery life in the iPhone’s history. For ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro owners, the two sets of changes stack on top of each other. The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ starts at $1,199 for 256GB, $200 more than the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro’s $999 launch price, although the entry storage tier has doubled from 128GB. Apple no longer sells the …

U.S. seeks crypto, saying it’s from Iran oil sales to Chinese buyers

U.S. seeks crypto, saying it’s from Iran oil sales to Chinese buyers

Published by Sam Flores

Stablecoin Tether and Circle’s USDC dominate the market. Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images The U.S. has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against $61 million in cryptocurrency that it alleges proceeds from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The complaint, brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, alleged Tehran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These proceeds were intended to finance the Iranian government and military components. “Today we are seizing and seeking to forfeit more than $61 million of the Government of Iran’s money, which otherwise would have promoted hostile military action and terrorist attacks against the U.S. and our allies,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said in a statement. Two Chinese companies, named Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, allegedly used trading accounts at the Binance crypto exchange “to launder the proceeds of black-market sales of …

Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Series 12 Buyer’s Guide: 25+ Upgrades Compared

Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Series 12 Buyer’s Guide: 25+ Upgrades Compared

Published by skeptic

The Apple Watch Series 12 is now available for pre-order, and unlike last year’s model, it brings a substantial list of changes over its predecessor. Here’s everything that’s new. Last year, the Series 11 introduced just four changes over the Series 10, making it perhaps the smallest generational upgrade in the device’s history. The Series 12 is a far more meaningful refresh, even though it essentially retains the same design for a third consecutive year. It launches on Friday, September 18, at the same $399 starting price as the Series 11, which Apple has now discontinued. This guide lists all of the differences between the Series 11 and Series 12 models to help you understand the changes: Apple Watch Series 11 Apple Watch Series 12 S10 chip (2024) S11 chip (2026) 2GB RAM 4GB RAM Electrical heart sensor “Health Sensing System” with second-generation electrical heart sensor Third-generation optical heart sensor Fourth-generation, always-on optical heart sensor Heart rate tracking High-frequency background heart rate tracking (every five seconds) HRV Recovery HRV and overall HRV (measured up to …

The iPhone Air 2 Wasn’t Announced. Here’s Why That’s Bad for Apple Buyers

The iPhone Air 2 Wasn’t Announced. Here’s Why That’s Bad for Apple Buyers

Published by skeptic

Apple hosted its annual iPhone launch event on Wednesday, and something we didn’t see — along with base iPhone 18 models, as Apple focused purely on premium devices — was a second iteration of its lightweight iPhone Air. At just 5.6mm thick and weighing only 165 grams, last year’s $999 iPhone 17 Air gave buyers a middle-ground option between the base iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro models, and for a pretty reasonable price.  While sales of the iPhone Air were reportedly disappointing, it was arguably a first step toward launching the iPhone Duo — a demonstration that a slim, lightweight phone could be just as durable and high-functioning as a fully specced-out one. It came with just one rear 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, a smaller battery and a single speaker. The Air’s pared-back features and slim profile would have been pivotal to designing Apple’s new folding phone, since foldables must be both slim and make similar compromises on specs — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 only has two rear lenses, compared with the …

M6 vs. M5 Pro Mac Mini Buyer’s Guide

M6 vs. M5 Pro Mac Mini Buyer’s Guide

Published by skeptic

Apple last week announced two new Mac mini models, one with the all-new M6 chip and one with the M5 Pro chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro earlier this year. Somewhat like the ‌MacBook Pro‌ last year, Apple has again placed its newest silicon in the entry-level machine and a previous-generation Pro chip in the high-end machine, so the more expensive ‌Mac mini‌ is not simply a faster version of the cheaper one. The M6 model starts at $899 with a 12-core CPU, 16GB of unified memory, and 256GB of storage. The M5 Pro model starts at $1,699 with a 15-core CPU, 24GB of memory, and 512GB of storage, and it can be configured with up to an 18-core CPU and a 20-core GPU. Both are the highest starting prices Apple has ever set for the ‌Mac mini‌, which makes the $800 gap between the two models more consequential than in previous generations. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two ‌Mac mini‌ models is best for …

Christie’s and Bonhams Quietly Hike Buyers’ Fees

Christie’s and Bonhams Quietly Hike Buyers’ Fees

Published by Jenni Sidey

Christie’s and Bonhams have both quietly raised the fees they charge buyers. The charges, which auction houses like to call “buyer’s premiums,” are added on top of a lot’s hammer price and are a key source of revenue for the houses.    At Christie’s, effective September 1, the house is charging 28% of the hammer price of each lot up to and including £1.5 million or $2 million; 22% of the hammer price from £1.5 million or $2 million up to and including £6 million or $8 million; and 15% of the hammer price above that threshold. The changes affect all departments except wine and were instituted “following an internal business review,” according to a press statement sent to ARTnews.  Related Articles The change brings Christie’s to parity with Sotheby’s, which hiked its fees in February.  Christie’s changed its fees as recently as September 2025, when the house began charging 27% on amounts up to £1 million ($1.5 million); 22% from £1 million ($1.5 million) to £6 million ($8 million); and 15% on amounts above that. …

Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio Has a Hidden ,300 Trap Most Buyers Miss

Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio Has a Hidden $1,300 Trap Most Buyers Miss

Published by skeptic

  Apple’s latest Mac Studio, powered by the M5 Ultra chip, represents a significant step forward in high-performance computing. With its quad-die architecture, enhanced memory bandwidth, and innovative processing capabilities, the M5 Ultra is designed for professionals tackling demanding workloads such as AI development, 3D rendering, and video production. However, the steep upgrade costs and […] The post Apple’s M5 Ultra Mac Studio Has a Hidden $1,300 Trap Most Buyers Miss appeared first on Geeky Gadgets. Source link

Mac Studio Buyer’s Guide: M5 Max vs. M5 Ultra

Mac Studio Buyer’s Guide: M5 Max vs. M5 Ultra

Published by skeptic

Apple last week announced two new Mac Studio models, with one built around the M5 Max chip and one around the all-new M5 Ultra chip, replacing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra models that had been on sale since March 2025. The gap between the two is unusually wide this time. ‌Mac Studio‌ with M5 Max starts at $2,499, holding the price Apple set when it raised Mac prices in June, while ‌Mac Studio‌ with M5 Ultra starts at $5,499, a further $200 increase on the post-June M3 Ultra price and $1,500 above what the M3 Ultra cost at launch. That makes the premium $3,000 before any configure-to-order options, and memory and storage upgrades are more expensive than usual because of the memory chip shortage. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two ‌Mac Studio‌ models is best for you. The shared features include: An identical enclosure measuring 3.7 inches tall and 7.7 inches wide Neural Accelerators built into every GPU core, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing Hardware-accelerated H.264, …

2025 vs. 2026 Mac Studio Buyer’s Guide: All Upgrades Compared

2025 vs. 2026 Mac Studio Buyer’s Guide: All Upgrades Compared

Published by skeptic

Apple this week announced a new Mac Studio with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips, discontinuing the M4 Max and M3 Ultra models that had been on sale since March 2025. The machine’s design is unchanged for a fifth consecutive year, with all of the upgrades being internal. The table below details everything that changed regardless of whether you choose a Max or an Ultra chip. The two tables that follow break down the differences within each tier. What Changed Across Both Models Here’s everything that differs between the 2025 and 2026 ‌Mac Studio‌ irrespective of configuration: ‌Mac Studio‌ (2025) ‌Mac Studio‌ (2026) Baseline SSD read and write speeds Next-generation SSD architecture built on PCIe Gen 6, with up to twice the read and write speeds Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) via the Apple-designed N1 chip Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 6 Genlock over USB-C With the latest model, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 arrive on the ‌Mac Studio‌ for the first time, facilitated by the same N1 chip Apple introduced in the iPhone 17 …