The Morning After: Apple may be planning thinner iPhones, MacBooks and Watches

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s mission to make its thinnest product ever won’t stop at the iPad Pro — the company also has plans for a skinnier Macbook Pro, Apple Watch and iPhone. Gurman says the slimmed-down iPhone — also rumored by The Information — could come as early as 2025, with the introduction of the iPhone 17 line.

A thinner iPhone is likely to be more expensive than current generation devices, however. Remember 2017’s iPhone X, which ditched the home button but cost more? That, again.

Meanwhile, on Engadget, we’ve got even more Summer Game Fest news. Did the show end last week? Yes. Are there still embargoed games we’re itching to talk about? Definitely, yes!

— Mat Smith

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During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a Reuters report, the US military used fake social media accounts to discredit China’s COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines during the height of the pandemic. In one example of the US’s anti-vax messaging cited by Reuters, an account in 2020 tweeted, “COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, don’t trust China!” The campaign also pushed the narrative that China’s vaccines were “haram” — forbidden under Islamic law. In a statement to the publication, a Pentagon spokesperson brought up China’s own disinformation campaign, and said the military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks.”

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It’s an Atlus RPG, and everything but a new Persona title.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has been a long time in the making. It was announced in 2017, but we finally got to play through a three-part demo last week at Summer Game Fest. Atlus and the game’s director, Katsura Hashino, are both known more for (semi-) grounded urban fantasy/school life simulations of Persona than wizards and elves, and ReFantazio, in that sense, represents a big departure. As do all the British accents. Expect cockneys, Liverpudlians, and more, all represented in fantasy equivalents. The gameplay of battles, however, is turn-based, strategic and tied to the strength of the bonds with your allies. And yep, that sounds very Persona.

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Recovering from Apple’s WWDC daze.

In this week’s Engadget podcast, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss their final thoughts on Apple Intelligence and the company’s upcoming software teased at WWDC, and they chat about some of our coverage highlights from the pseudo-E3 Game Fest.

Listen here.