🍎 iPhone 16 date confirmed, 🎮 Asus ROG Ally X review, 💻 New Macs, 🤫 PS5 Pro an 'open secret'

10 tech stories in the quickest format possible

Monday’s 10-story newsletter ends with discount codes below ⤵️
Get a FREE premium subscription by referring friends to The Shortcut

🍎 1. Apple's iPhone 16 launch event is September 9, one day earlier than expected

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, seen here, may get their titanium sequels in exactly two weeks (Image credit: Kevin Lee / The Shortcut)

• 🍎 Apple’s launch event is Monday, September 9 at 1pm ET / 10am PT

• 📆 It’s one day earlier than expected, but steers clear of the US politics

• 🙅‍♂️ The Presidential debate would’ve been just 8 hours later on the 10th

• 📱 Four new iPhones are expected – 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro & 16 Pro Max

• ⌚ An Apple Watch 10 redesign and Apple Watch Ultra 3 upgrade, too

• 🎧 AirPods 4 and another affordable set of AirPods may also show up

It dawned on me over the weekend that if Apple stuck to the rumored (and natural) Tuesday, September 10 launch event date, it would ride a wave of press for less than a day, then run smack into the Presidential debate on ABC that night.

Here’s how I see it unfolding date-by-date. Prep your trade-in devices now:

• 🚀 Monday, September 9: Apple launch event (confirmed)

• 🛍️ Friday, September 13: Apple pre-order date (estimated)

• 📆 Friday, September 20: Apple iPhone 16 release date (estimated)

There’s no way Apple wanted to go head-to-head with the Trump-Harris debate on the 10th, just eight hours later, and it has never held an iPhone launch event on September 11 for obvious reasons (as a New Yorker, I respect that). Note: This doesn’t change the iPhone 16 release date, which is estimated to be Friday, September 20.

Ask Matt Swider on Twitter or Instagram for hand-picked deals from Walmart / Best Buy / Amazon / B&H / Samsung / Google / GameStop / Xbox / Microsoft Office (PC) deal / MS Office (Mac) deal

---

👑 2. Asus ROG Ally X review: king of the handhelds

Asus ROG Ally X is a second-gen PC gaming handheld with lots of improvements (Image credit: Kevin Lee / The Shortcut)

🏆 Review score: 4.5 out of 5

🏅Editor’s Choice

Pros:

• ✅ 🏃‍♂️Slightly higher FPS performance in multiple games

• ✅ 🪭 Improved cooling makes the Ally X run noticeably cooler

• ✅ 🔋 Larger battery delivers 3-7 hours of battery life

• ✅ 🕹️ Tighter thumbsticks & a more accurate D-Pad

• ✅ ⚖️ Weight and thickness has hardly changed

• ​​✅ 🧠 2x more storage and 24GB of faster memory

Cons

• ❌ 💰 $100 more than the original Asus ROG Ally

• ❌ ​​📺 Display has bigger bezels and is more washed out than other handhelds

• ❌ ⚙️ No direct tweaks to the Z1 Extreme chip to make the Ally X faster

---

🔪 3. Sony's PSP 2 handheld can dethrone the Asus ROG Ally X

PSP 2 handheld concept (Image credit Dall-E)

• 🎮 PSP 2 could shake up gaming handhelds in 2025

• 💿 Sony’s secret sauce: its vast library of game franchises

• 🕹️ Imagine God of War, Uncharted & Spider-Man on PSP 2

• 🏆 Asus wins on specs but doesn’t have beloved 1st party games

• 📆 Just don’t expect a PSP 2 release date until 2025

Things may change next year when it comes to modern-day handhelds. I wrote how Sony’s PSP 2 handheld can dethrone the Asus ROG Ally X solely on PlayStation’s established game library. Think: on-the-go God of War, Uncharted, Spider-Man without the limitations of the PlayStation Portal, which can’t play games offline.

However, PSP 2 is only heavily rumored (a year out from the PS5 Pro). So it’s Asus’ crown for now (leaks of a Lenovo Legion Go Lite do intrigue The Shortcut’s crowning committee 👑).

---

🥽 4. Meta Quest Pro 2 canceled and won't face off with Apple Vision Pro

Meta Quest Pro 2 might not see the light of day – yet (Image credit: Meta)

• ❌ Meta reportedly canceled its high-end VR headset codenamed “La Jolla”

• 🛑 This $1,000+ Quest Pro 2 saw rising costs & low demand, says The Information

• 📆 It was reportedly in development for 8 months (ceasing 2 weeks ago)

• 🥽 Its microOLED displays could have rivaled the Apple Vision Pro

I continue to use my Apple Vision Pro during travel and have others experience the mind-blowing tech. At $3,500, it’s obviously not for everyone, and it sounds like Meta pulled the plug on its competitor weeks before its Meta Connect conference, where we may see much cheaper VR headsets instead of more expensive ones.

---

🤫 5. PS5 Pro is imminent and was an ‘open secret’ at Gamescom

“It’s coming,” says a journalist of the PS5 Pro, and game developers are spilling the beans (Image credit: Grok)

• 🎮 PS5 Pro was reportedly an ‘open secret’ at Gamescom 2024

• 💿 Developers are said to be syncing their game launches with PS5 Pro

• 📆 This backs up many rumors that PS5 Pro will be revealed in September

• 🛍️ PS5 Pro pre-orders could launch next month and ship in November

The PS5 Pro is being labeled an “open secret” by Canadian tech site Wccftech, which first spotted a revealing Twitch clip featuring journalist Lorenzo Fazio. The full video, hosted by the Italian publication Multiplayer, is more than two hours long, but the 24-second clip simply titled “PS5 Pro” tells us everything about what happened behind closed doors at Gamescom.

Apparently, at least one game developer has delayed their game to coincide with the imminent PS5 Pro launch. PS5 Pro pre-orders, in my estimation, will sell out.

---

💻 6. Waiting to buy a new Mac like me? Apple is reportedly testing M4 Macs

(Credit: Wes Davis / The Shortcut)

• 💻 New MacBook Pro, Mac Mini and iMacs are reportedly coming this year

• ⚙️ Developer logs suggest Apple’s new M4 chip is being tested in computers

• 📱 So far, only the iPad Pro from March 2024 has the M4 chip

• 📆 Apple usually announces new Mac hardware in October

As someone who regularly upgrades his tech to gain an edge, I have to say I’m happy with my MacBook Pro with Apple’s M1 Max chipset from four years ago. This thing has held up fine. But if you’re like me, you almost want to be tempted by something fresh, and that may come in two months, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Apple is reportedly testing M4 Mac computers, which means we may indeed get a new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini in October (the usual timeframe). It’s been four years since I bought the MacBook M1 Max, and I’m tempted by the AI found on all of the Snapdragon X-powered laptops, so I’ll wait until October to see what Apple has.

---

🆚 7. Google Pixel 9 Pro vs. Pixel 9: what's the $200 difference?

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is $200 more, but has a few more features not found on the Pixel 9, like a telephoto camera (Image credit: Kevin Lee / The Shortcut)

• 🆚 Google has two 6.3-inch phones with different specs to choose from

• 📱 These Pixel phones are the same size, but Pro design is a bit more premium

• 📸 A telephoto camera is on the back of the Pixel 9 Pro, not the Pixel 9

• 💰 But the Pixel 9 has most of the Pro features for $200 less

• 🛍️ Pixel 9 is $799, while Pixel 9 Pro is $999. See the pre-order bonuses below ⤵️

---

🎆 8. HP Omen 35L and HyperX QuadCast 2 S have the RGB and specs PC gamers want

(Image credit: HP)

• 🖥️ The HP Omen 35L gaming PC packs industry-standard parts and cooling

• ⌨️ HyperX Alloy Rise 75 wireless keyboard features up to 1,500-hour battery life

• 🎛️ The keyboard includes customizable top plates, switches, and badges

• 🎙️ HyperX QuadCast 2 & QuadCast 2 S record hi-fi audio and RGBs

---

🆚 9. Revolution X Unlimited is Nacon's answer to the Xbox Elite controller

• 🙌 Nacon’s new Xbox and PC controller seemingly has it all

• 🎮 The gamepad builds upon the Nacon Revolution 5 Pro

• 🖥️ It has an LCD screen, microswitch buttons, and gyro support for PC

• 👏 The controller also uses Hall effect technology to stop stick drift

---

😬 10. Xbox's biggest game of next year is off to a disappointing start

• 😣 Avowed will run at 30fps, Obsidian has confirmed

• 🤷‍♂️ The game’s art director said it allows for juicer VFX & lighting

• 😫 It’s not the first Xbox-exclusive game to launch at 30fps instead of 60fps

• ⏳ Starfield and Redfall both launched at 30fps but were eventually updated

⤴️ The upside: There’s a chance Obsidian could revisit Avowed performance and boost the frame rate, similar to Starfield, Redfall, and A Plague Tale: Requiem, which eventually received 60fps patches. However, there are no guarantees, and no new Xbox seems to be on the horizon to make things easier on the hardware side.

⬆️ Tap the 🌟 icon button on this page ⬆️

🔒 Bonus: $100 PS, $50 Nintendo & Xbox gift card deals; 50% off Game Pass

• 🟦 $100 PlayStation giftcard for $88

• 🍄 $50 Nintendo Gift Card for $41

• 🟩 $50 Xbox Gift Card for $44

• ❎ 50% off Xbox Game Pass for $29 (Microsoft’s MSRP is $51 and soon to be $60 for 3 months)

We’re expanding our discount codes for paid subscribers as a pack-in. It’s sort of like CD-ROM pack-ins for subscribers of 90s magazines.

😬 Can’t afford it? Totally fine. I’m opening up more ways to be a paid subscriber for people who can’t spare the $5/mo ($4.16/mo) to keep us going. Support us in other ways by referring your friends & family to The Shortcut. Help us grow!