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Image: Hello Games

The developers at Hello Games are back with yet another update for No Man’s Sky. Starting today, a select number of users will have the ability to play around in their NMS universe across a collection of platforms with the new cross-save functionality. According to the announcement, adding cross-saving was a bit of an undertaking for the development team.
“It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves,” the announcement reads. “Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them.”
No Man’s Sky now supports cross-saves across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series S/X, Xbox Game Pass, PC, Steam Deck, PSVR 1 / 2, PCVR, GOG, and Nintendo Switch. Players can visit this site to link their different platform accounts and read the cross-save FAQ. However, only a select few players will be able to play their saves across different platforms with Hello Games rolling out the functionality to more players in the coming days.
November 7th is known in the BioWare fandom as N7 Day (get it, November 7th) — a semi-official community holiday celebrating all things Mass Effect. In 2021, Hello Games introduced Mass Effect’s famous starship, the SSV Normandy SR-1 as a collectible ship. For this year’s N7 Day, the Normandy is back for players to claim for a limited time.
In addition to cross-saves and cool ships, to coincide with the launch of the PS5 Pro, No Man’s Sky is also getting an enhanced version compatible with the souped up console. Updated features include 4K resolution at 60fps, support for 8K resolution at 30fps, and improved lighting.
All three updates are available now and are completely free.

Image: Hello Games

The developers at Hello Games are back with yet another update for No Man’s Sky. Starting today, a select number of users will have the ability to play around in their NMS universe across a collection of platforms with the new cross-save functionality. According to the announcement, adding cross-saving was a bit of an undertaking for the development team.

“It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves,” the announcement reads. “Adding cross-save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them.”

No Man’s Sky now supports cross-saves across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Series S/X, Xbox Game Pass, PC, Steam Deck, PSVR 1 / 2, PCVR, GOG, and Nintendo Switch. Players can visit this site to link their different platform accounts and read the cross-save FAQ. However, only a select few players will be able to play their saves across different platforms with Hello Games rolling out the functionality to more players in the coming days.

November 7th is known in the BioWare fandom as N7 Day (get it, November 7th) — a semi-official community holiday celebrating all things Mass Effect. In 2021, Hello Games introduced Mass Effect’s famous starship, the SSV Normandy SR-1 as a collectible ship. For this year’s N7 Day, the Normandy is back for players to claim for a limited time.

In addition to cross-saves and cool ships, to coincide with the launch of the PS5 Pro, No Man’s Sky is also getting an enhanced version compatible with the souped up console. Updated features include 4K resolution at 60fps, support for 8K resolution at 30fps, and improved lighting.

All three updates are available now and are completely free.

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The Nikon Z50II uses the same APS-C sensor as the original, but upgraded with a faster image processing engine. | Image: Nikon

Nikon has announced a new version of its entry-level Z50 mirrorless camera. The Z50II offers improved shooting capabilities thanks to a new image processing engine, and a selection of 31 “film-inspired looks” quickly accessible through a dedicated button. It will be available starting in late November for $909.95 for the camera body alone, but can also be bundled with lenses. Adding a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens will boost the price to $1049.95, while a bundle with both a 16-50mm and a 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR lens will be $1,299.95.
That dedicated Picture Control button — the first on any Nikon camera — is the Z50II’s most exciting upgrade. Pressing it enables a real-time preview of “up to 31 built-in color presets” so you can see how each style affects the “color, tone, and feeling of the scene” before you press the shutter. The button is similar to the film simulation dial on top of the Fujifilm X-T50, and the Z50II’s styles can be expanded by downloading “Imaging Recipes” to the camera through Nikon’s cloud services that have been developed by “notable creators,” says the company.

Image: Nikon
The Z50II’s 3.2-inch vari-angle screen can be flipped to face forward for shooting selfies.

The Nikon Z50II features the same 20.9-megapixel CMOS crop-sensor as the original Z50, but with improved shooting capabilities as it’s the first APS-C camera from the company to use the Expeed 7 image processor found in the $4,000 Nikon Z8 and the $5,500 Z9. That allows the Z50II to shoot at up to 30 fps using its electronic shutter, or up to 11 fps with its mechanical one.
The upgraded processor also boosts the Z50II’s autofocus capabilities with the ability to detect and track nine different subjects including people, animals like dogs and cats, cars, trains, and even planes.

Image: Nikon
The Z50II carries over the pop-up flash from the original Z50.

Improved video capabilities boost 4K video captures to 60 fps, up from 4K at 30 fps with the original Z50, and add the ability to record in the N-Log format at 10-bit offering more flexibility when color grading footage in post-production. The Z50II also adds a waveform monitor, a “Product Review Mode” that will prioritize the focus on subjects placed in the foreground, and a continuous record time of 125 minutes.
Other upgrades include an electronic viewfinder that’s nearly twice as bright as the one in the Z50, pre-release capture that can record up to 30 JPEG images before the camera’s shutter button is fully pressed, a tally light indicating when video is being captured, and the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack. The camera still relies on digital stabilization over in-body stabilization, but that has helped keep its starting price under $1,000.

The Nikon Z50II uses the same APS-C sensor as the original, but upgraded with a faster image processing engine. | Image: Nikon

Nikon has announced a new version of its entry-level Z50 mirrorless camera. The Z50II offers improved shooting capabilities thanks to a new image processing engine, and a selection of 31 “film-inspired looks” quickly accessible through a dedicated button. It will be available starting in late November for $909.95 for the camera body alone, but can also be bundled with lenses. Adding a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens will boost the price to $1049.95, while a bundle with both a 16-50mm and a 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR lens will be $1,299.95.

That dedicated Picture Control button — the first on any Nikon camera — is the Z50II’s most exciting upgrade. Pressing it enables a real-time preview of “up to 31 built-in color presets” so you can see how each style affects the “color, tone, and feeling of the scene” before you press the shutter. The button is similar to the film simulation dial on top of the Fujifilm X-T50, and the Z50II’s styles can be expanded by downloading “Imaging Recipes” to the camera through Nikon’s cloud services that have been developed by “notable creators,” says the company.

Image: Nikon
The Z50II’s 3.2-inch vari-angle screen can be flipped to face forward for shooting selfies.

The Nikon Z50II features the same 20.9-megapixel CMOS crop-sensor as the original Z50, but with improved shooting capabilities as it’s the first APS-C camera from the company to use the Expeed 7 image processor found in the $4,000 Nikon Z8 and the $5,500 Z9. That allows the Z50II to shoot at up to 30 fps using its electronic shutter, or up to 11 fps with its mechanical one.

The upgraded processor also boosts the Z50II’s autofocus capabilities with the ability to detect and track nine different subjects including people, animals like dogs and cats, cars, trains, and even planes.

Image: Nikon
The Z50II carries over the pop-up flash from the original Z50.

Improved video capabilities boost 4K video captures to 60 fps, up from 4K at 30 fps with the original Z50, and add the ability to record in the N-Log format at 10-bit offering more flexibility when color grading footage in post-production. The Z50II also adds a waveform monitor, a “Product Review Mode” that will prioritize the focus on subjects placed in the foreground, and a continuous record time of 125 minutes.

Other upgrades include an electronic viewfinder that’s nearly twice as bright as the one in the Z50, pre-release capture that can record up to 30 JPEG images before the camera’s shutter button is fully pressed, a tally light indicating when video is being captured, and the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack. The camera still relies on digital stabilization over in-body stabilization, but that has helped keep its starting price under $1,000.

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Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The latest macOS beta changes the options you’ll see when you use AirPlay to mirror your screen. As reported by MacRumors, the new beta version of macOS Sequoia 15.2 lets you select a single window or app on your Mac to display on another screen, like your TV — or maybe something else, like a Vision Pro headset or Apple’s rumored smart display.
macOS 15.2 is expected to be released publicly in early December. It also brings new Apple Intelligence features, including Image Playground and ChatGPT integration for Siri. It’s also getting a new weather menu item that can give you the outside temperature at a glance.
The new AirPlay experience includes a new menu pop-up asking “what do you want to show” on Apple TV, with three large buttons asking if you’d like to share your entire screen, a window or app, or to extend your display. You can also set one to default if you often share the same thing on a routine.

Screenshot: MacRumors
The new AirPlay menu option to share only one window or app.

In previous versions, selecting screen mirroring provided a simple dropdown menu that lets you choose whether to mirror or extend your screen through AirPlay to Apple TV (but no option for a single window). Once you select one, it suddenly appears on the TV screen with hardly a warning, which could confuse people who don’t often use AirPlay.

Screenshot: The Verge
This is the current setup for mirroring with AirPlay, and it immediately connects your entire screen to the receiving display.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The latest macOS beta changes the options you’ll see when you use AirPlay to mirror your screen. As reported by MacRumors, the new beta version of macOS Sequoia 15.2 lets you select a single window or app on your Mac to display on another screen, like your TV — or maybe something else, like a Vision Pro headset or Apple’s rumored smart display.

macOS 15.2 is expected to be released publicly in early December. It also brings new Apple Intelligence features, including Image Playground and ChatGPT integration for Siri. It’s also getting a new weather menu item that can give you the outside temperature at a glance.

The new AirPlay experience includes a new menu pop-up asking “what do you want to show” on Apple TV, with three large buttons asking if you’d like to share your entire screen, a window or app, or to extend your display. You can also set one to default if you often share the same thing on a routine.

Screenshot: MacRumors
The new AirPlay menu option to share only one window or app.

In previous versions, selecting screen mirroring provided a simple dropdown menu that lets you choose whether to mirror or extend your screen through AirPlay to Apple TV (but no option for a single window). Once you select one, it suddenly appears on the TV screen with hardly a warning, which could confuse people who don’t often use AirPlay.

Screenshot: The Verge
This is the current setup for mirroring with AirPlay, and it immediately connects your entire screen to the receiving display.

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Cath Virginia / The Verge

Max will kick off its password-sharing crackdown over the next few months with “very soft messaging” surrounding the change. During Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q3 earnings call on Thursday, chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said this initial rollout will be followed by more progress in 2025 and 2026.
Wiedenfels called password sharing “a form of price rises,” as the company is “asking members who have not signed up, or multi-household members to pay a little bit more.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Max’s interest in password sharing, but now we have more details about when — and how — it will all begin.
In March, JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of global streaming and games, said Max will start its crackdown “later this year and into ‘25.” So far, Max’s rollout sounds similar to how Disney Plus began its crackdown, as it started sending emails to customers about paid sharing months before it rolled out its “extra member” option. Netflix also started asking that members pay to share their passwords last year.
Wiedenfels didn’t rule out the possibility of a Max price increase, either. He said that the “premium nature” of the service leaves “a fair amount of room to continue to push a price we’ve been judicious about.” Max last raised prices across its ad-free plans in June.
Max added 7.2 million subscribers this quarter, bringing its total to 110.5 million globally, During the earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company is looking to bring “more consistency” to its films and games business following the “disappointing results” of Joker: Folie à Deux.

Cath Virginia / The Verge

Max will kick off its password-sharing crackdown over the next few months with “very soft messaging” surrounding the change. During Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q3 earnings call on Thursday, chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said this initial rollout will be followed by more progress in 2025 and 2026.

Wiedenfels called password sharing “a form of price rises,” as the company is “asking members who have not signed up, or multi-household members to pay a little bit more.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Max’s interest in password sharing, but now we have more details about when — and how — it will all begin.

In March, JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of global streaming and games, said Max will start its crackdown “later this year and into ‘25.” So far, Max’s rollout sounds similar to how Disney Plus began its crackdown, as it started sending emails to customers about paid sharing months before it rolled out its “extra member” option. Netflix also started asking that members pay to share their passwords last year.

Wiedenfels didn’t rule out the possibility of a Max price increase, either. He said that the “premium nature” of the service leaves “a fair amount of room to continue to push a price we’ve been judicious about.” Max last raised prices across its ad-free plans in June.

Max added 7.2 million subscribers this quarter, bringing its total to 110.5 million globally, During the earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company is looking to bring “more consistency” to its films and games business following the “disappointing results” of Joker: Folie à Deux.

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Image: Kojima Productions

It took a few years, but Sam Porter Bridges has finally trekked his way to Xbox. Kojima Productions announced today that the director’s cut of Death Stranding is now available on the Xbox Series X / S. At launch, for “a limited time,” the port will be available for 50 percent off.
Death Stranding first launched in 2019, as Hideo Kojima’s first release after going independent, following a messy split with Konami. The director’s cut — which isn’t really a director’s cut — launched two years later on the PS5, and the game has also been ported to PC, Mac, and iOS. As part of today’s announcement, the studio also launched the game on Luna, Amazon’s fledgling game streaming service.
The news comes as Kojima Productions is expanding quite a bit following the success of the original Death Stranding. A sequel is in the works, due out in 2025, as is a live-action film from A24. The studio said in a press release that “now has full ownership of the Death Stranding IP,” and that it will continue to bring it to “more platforms and audiences.”
Outside of Death Stranding, Kojima Productions has other projects in the works, including the horror game OD and a mysterious new tactical espionage game,

Image: Kojima Productions

It took a few years, but Sam Porter Bridges has finally trekked his way to Xbox. Kojima Productions announced today that the director’s cut of Death Stranding is now available on the Xbox Series X / S. At launch, for “a limited time,” the port will be available for 50 percent off.

Death Stranding first launched in 2019, as Hideo Kojima’s first release after going independent, following a messy split with Konami. The director’s cut — which isn’t really a director’s cut — launched two years later on the PS5, and the game has also been ported to PC, Mac, and iOS. As part of today’s announcement, the studio also launched the game on Luna, Amazon’s fledgling game streaming service.

The news comes as Kojima Productions is expanding quite a bit following the success of the original Death Stranding. A sequel is in the works, due out in 2025, as is a live-action film from A24. The studio said in a press release that “now has full ownership of the Death Stranding IP,” and that it will continue to bring it to “more platforms and audiences.”

Outside of Death Stranding, Kojima Productions has other projects in the works, including the horror game OD and a mysterious new tactical espionage game,

Read More 

More ports, more RAM, a nicer screen, and a better webcam for a little less money. For a long time, the entry-level MacBook Pro has felt like a weird in-betweener, with the processor of a MacBook Air, the body of a MacBook Pro, and some features stripped away to keep it squarely in the middle.
Last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro was a step in the right direction, finally shedding the Touch Bar and upgrading the machine to be much closer to the other Pros. But it still followed the same formula: its processor was worse, its base RAM was lower, and it had one port fewer. It was a good machine, and a lot better than the M2 and M1 models, but it still didn’t feel like a full-throated Pro.
With the M4, Apple finally has a base MacBook Pro that’s less of a parts-bin compromise and more of an actual Pro machine. It’s a laptop you can buy and not feel like you’re caught in between anything.

The M4 MacBook Pro fixes nearly every complaint we had with the M3 version. It starts at $1,599 with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD — the same starting price as the M3 model, but with two more CPU cores, twice the RAM, and a third Thunderbolt port. That port is on the right side, just like on the “real” Pro models, so you can finally charge or connect to an external display on either side of the laptop. The Pro also benefits from Apple’s across-the-board bump to 16GB of memory. Apple Intelligence is mostly boring and useless right now, but I thank it for the gift of more RAM.
Those are already notable upgrades in what might have otherwise been just a chip bump year, but Apple also gave all three MacBook Pros new 12-megapixel webcams with Center Stage and its Desk View software feature, the option to add an anti-glare nano-texture display for $150, and the choice of a space black chassis. The M4 Pro also now supports two external displays with its lid open, one more than the M3 could.

These upgrades go a long way toward making the M4 MacBook Pro a meaningful upgrade over the MacBook Air for anyone dabbling in Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, or similar creative apps. I’ve edited many high-resolution raw files in Lightroom Classic on my work-issued M1 MacBook Air — I do it any time I shoot pictures for The Verge — and I know firsthand how capable that little machine is. But I frequently bump against the constraints of its port selection and the performance ceiling of its aging, passively cooled processor. It’s why my personal computer is a Mac Mini with M2 Pro, which was Apple’s best value for years.
While editing the pictures you see here, the M4 MacBook Pro felt more spritely than my M2 Pro Mac Mini, and its speed in displaying and processing full-res 33-megapixel raws was a pleasant surprise. I know it’s not bogged down like the Mini is by nearly two years of use and all my personal app cruft, but it felt faster even working on my usual, bloated Lightroom catalog — which I copied over from my Mac Mini — with the images stored on the same external SSD I always work from. I did all of that while not plugged into power all day. The laptop ran for just over 12 hours of moderate-to-heavy usage and stayed quiet and cool to the touch the whole time.

As for doing my edits on the nano-texture display, I know glossy screens have a slightly deeper contrast, but I love not worrying about glare. I’m not exclusively editing in a dark room with a hooded reference monitor, and I like the flexibility of working in places with less-than-ideal lighting conditions. The convenience of the nano-texture far outweighs any slight technical advantage of a glossy display. And at $150, it’s a worthwhile upgrade for visual pros.
You won’t see the same performance in grueling workloads as you would if you spent a bit more to get an M4 Pro or a lot more for an M4 Max, but the standard M4 has some marked improvements over the M3. The M4 fared about 64 percent better than the M3 in Cinebench’s standard multicore test, and it maintained around a 41 percent delta when running a longer, sustained 30-minute loop of the same benchmark. It’s got two more cores than the M3 we tested, so it makes sense for the M4 to excel here, but its single-core scores in both Cinebench and Geekbench were also over 20 percent better. The machine was up to 25 percent faster in GPU benchmarks with the same number of GPU cores, too.

Apple has a history of shipping disappointing webcams, even on its $1,599 Studio Display that costs as much as the M4 MacBook Pro and the just-released iPad Mini. But the MacBook Pro’s new 12MP camera has nice contrast even when I’m backlit by a window, and its Center Stage software that keeps you in frame works well enough without being overly aggressive on reframing. I can’t offer similar praise for Desk View, which uses some heavy cropping and software corrections to show a top-down view of your desk. It’s distorted and low-res, and there are myriad better ways to show and tell on a video call — including using your iPhone and Apple’s own Continuity Camera feature.

The cheapest M4 MacBook Pro costs $1,599 — $100 more than a 15-inch MacBook Air with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and equivalent memory and storage. (The Airs still start at 256GB; it costs $200 to upgrade to 512GB.) For the price, you get significantly better performance, more and faster Thunderbolt ports, a better-quality screen that’s higher resolution with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, two more speakers, and a better webcam. All these upgrades and quality-of-life improvements really add up — and for a lot of people, they’re worth the money.

Of course, if you want the anti-glare screen and 1TB of storage like our test unit, that puts you at $1,949, and now you’re just $50 away from the upgraded MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor, faster storage, more cores, 24GB of RAM, and Thunderbolt 5 ports — or $200 away if you want the nano-texture screen upgrade again. And then you’re squarely in Apple’s tornado of a pricing funnel, where it’s easy to talk yourself into spending a few hundred dollars more on each incremental upgrade until you’re in reach of the next model up entirely, and then the process repeats.
The biggest difference this time is that the entry-level MacBook Pro doesn’t really feel like a compromise. The base configuration has enough memory and storage to be actually worth considering, and it has all the ports and creature comforts of the higher-end Pros. Even the nano-texture screen upgrade feels worth it. For the first time in a long time, it actually feels like a Pro.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

More ports, more RAM, a nicer screen, and a better webcam for a little less money.

For a long time, the entry-level MacBook Pro has felt like a weird in-betweener, with the processor of a MacBook Air, the body of a MacBook Pro, and some features stripped away to keep it squarely in the middle.

Last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro was a step in the right direction, finally shedding the Touch Bar and upgrading the machine to be much closer to the other Pros. But it still followed the same formula: its processor was worse, its base RAM was lower, and it had one port fewer. It was a good machine, and a lot better than the M2 and M1 models, but it still didn’t feel like a full-throated Pro.

With the M4, Apple finally has a base MacBook Pro that’s less of a parts-bin compromise and more of an actual Pro machine. It’s a laptop you can buy and not feel like you’re caught in between anything.

The M4 MacBook Pro fixes nearly every complaint we had with the M3 version. It starts at $1,599 with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD — the same starting price as the M3 model, but with two more CPU cores, twice the RAM, and a third Thunderbolt port. That port is on the right side, just like on the “real” Pro models, so you can finally charge or connect to an external display on either side of the laptop. The Pro also benefits from Apple’s across-the-board bump to 16GB of memory. Apple Intelligence is mostly boring and useless right now, but I thank it for the gift of more RAM.

Those are already notable upgrades in what might have otherwise been just a chip bump year, but Apple also gave all three MacBook Pros new 12-megapixel webcams with Center Stage and its Desk View software feature, the option to add an anti-glare nano-texture display for $150, and the choice of a space black chassis. The M4 Pro also now supports two external displays with its lid open, one more than the M3 could.

These upgrades go a long way toward making the M4 MacBook Pro a meaningful upgrade over the MacBook Air for anyone dabbling in Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, or similar creative apps. I’ve edited many high-resolution raw files in Lightroom Classic on my work-issued M1 MacBook Air — I do it any time I shoot pictures for The Verge — and I know firsthand how capable that little machine is. But I frequently bump against the constraints of its port selection and the performance ceiling of its aging, passively cooled processor. It’s why my personal computer is a Mac Mini with M2 Pro, which was Apple’s best value for years.

While editing the pictures you see here, the M4 MacBook Pro felt more spritely than my M2 Pro Mac Mini, and its speed in displaying and processing full-res 33-megapixel raws was a pleasant surprise. I know it’s not bogged down like the Mini is by nearly two years of use and all my personal app cruft, but it felt faster even working on my usual, bloated Lightroom catalog — which I copied over from my Mac Mini — with the images stored on the same external SSD I always work from. I did all of that while not plugged into power all day. The laptop ran for just over 12 hours of moderate-to-heavy usage and stayed quiet and cool to the touch the whole time.

As for doing my edits on the nano-texture display, I know glossy screens have a slightly deeper contrast, but I love not worrying about glare. I’m not exclusively editing in a dark room with a hooded reference monitor, and I like the flexibility of working in places with less-than-ideal lighting conditions. The convenience of the nano-texture far outweighs any slight technical advantage of a glossy display. And at $150, it’s a worthwhile upgrade for visual pros.

You won’t see the same performance in grueling workloads as you would if you spent a bit more to get an M4 Pro or a lot more for an M4 Max, but the standard M4 has some marked improvements over the M3. The M4 fared about 64 percent better than the M3 in Cinebench’s standard multicore test, and it maintained around a 41 percent delta when running a longer, sustained 30-minute loop of the same benchmark. It’s got two more cores than the M3 we tested, so it makes sense for the M4 to excel here, but its single-core scores in both Cinebench and Geekbench were also over 20 percent better. The machine was up to 25 percent faster in GPU benchmarks with the same number of GPU cores, too.

Apple has a history of shipping disappointing webcams, even on its $1,599 Studio Display that costs as much as the M4 MacBook Pro and the just-released iPad Mini. But the MacBook Pro’s new 12MP camera has nice contrast even when I’m backlit by a window, and its Center Stage software that keeps you in frame works well enough without being overly aggressive on reframing. I can’t offer similar praise for Desk View, which uses some heavy cropping and software corrections to show a top-down view of your desk. It’s distorted and low-res, and there are myriad better ways to show and tell on a video call — including using your iPhone and Apple’s own Continuity Camera feature.

The cheapest M4 MacBook Pro costs $1,599 — $100 more than a 15-inch MacBook Air with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and equivalent memory and storage. (The Airs still start at 256GB; it costs $200 to upgrade to 512GB.) For the price, you get significantly better performance, more and faster Thunderbolt ports, a better-quality screen that’s higher resolution with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, two more speakers, and a better webcam. All these upgrades and quality-of-life improvements really add up — and for a lot of people, they’re worth the money.

Of course, if you want the anti-glare screen and 1TB of storage like our test unit, that puts you at $1,949, and now you’re just $50 away from the upgraded MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor, faster storage, more cores, 24GB of RAM, and Thunderbolt 5 ports — or $200 away if you want the nano-texture screen upgrade again. And then you’re squarely in Apple’s tornado of a pricing funnel, where it’s easy to talk yourself into spending a few hundred dollars more on each incremental upgrade until you’re in reach of the next model up entirely, and then the process repeats.

The biggest difference this time is that the entry-level MacBook Pro doesn’t really feel like a compromise. The base configuration has enough memory and storage to be actually worth considering, and it has all the ports and creature comforts of the higher-end Pros. Even the nano-texture screen upgrade feels worth it. For the first time in a long time, it actually feels like a Pro.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

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Now the best value in Apple’s lineup, the Mac Mini takes its ideal form with an impressively small design that compromises on very little. Why wouldn’t you want the new Mac Mini? Over the last several days of testing Apple’s redesigned desktop Mac, I’ve been impressed by all the power and potential crammed into this very compact machine. For a starting price of $599 and with 16GB of RAM now standard, the M4 Mac Mini has immediately become the best value in Apple’s entire Mac lineup. It’s more than capable for most computing tasks today, and if my M1 MacBook Air is anything to go by, the Mini won’t feel slow (or anything close to it) for at least the next four or five years.
Apple provided me with two very different Mac Mini units. This first review is focused on the standard M4 model, which includes a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and the default 16GB of memory. My machine has 512GB of storage, which bumps its price to $799, but everyday performance should be identical to that of the base 256GB configuration. I’ve also got a kitted-out M4 Pro model, which raises the price to a stratospheric $2,199. For that money, I’d damn well expect the M4 Pro Mini to be a powerhouse.
But most people won’t need to spend anywhere near that amount. The regular M4 edition offers a lot in its own right and would be my recommendation for anyone who wants a dependable desktop Mac — especially if you’ve already settled on a monitor and / or keyboard that you love.

As always with the Mac Mini, Apple provides the computer; you bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse. Apple is more than happy to sell you its own Studio Display and peripherals, but with the Mini now able to run up to three displays at once (up from two on the M2 model), you’ve got a ton of runway for creative, versatile desk setups. If you’ve perfected your work-from-home office, you can just add the Mini to whatever’s already there without having to rearrange everything.
And the machine itself will barely take up any of that space. Measuring 5 inches wide, 5 inches deep, and 2 inches tall, the 2024 Mac Mini’s footprint is less than half that of the previous enclosure, which was designed around the Intel platform. (Just look at how much unused space there was after the Apple Silicon transition.) It’s not quite as tiny as an Apple TV 4K, but to me, it’s the most striking example yet of what Apple can achieve with hardware that’s purpose-built for its M-series chips. Another welcome change is that the new Mini puts some ports right on the front, whereas its predecessors made me blindly plug everything into the back — or turn the whole thing around so I could actually see what I was doing.

The new M4 Mac Mini above its less mini predecessor. Since I know someone will ask, the iPhone wallpaper is by BasicAppleGuy.

Now you’ve got a pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports (USB 3) and a headphone jack up front. Around back are three Thunderbolt 4 (USB 4) ports, HDMI, and a gigabit ethernet jack that’s upgradable to 10-gigabit speeds. I do miss the SD card slot you’d find on a Mac Studio or MacBook Pro, but I haven’t once felt disappointed about the lack of USB-A. Everyone has a different accessory situation, so its absence might sting more for you, but it’s easy to just plug in a dongle if necessary. The M4 Pro Mac Mini has even faster, brand-new Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, with theoretical data transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s (three times faster than Thunderbolt 4). But that’s mostly targeted at creative professionals and intensive video work. Despite its dramatically reduced dimensions, the Mini still retains an internal power supply, so there’s no cumbersome brick to worry about.

Like the Mac Studio, the Mac Mini finally has some ports on the front.

Notice that I haven’t mentioned a power button yet. That’s because Apple made the curious decision to move it to the bottom of the machine near the rear left corner. Do I wish the button were someplace else? Sure. Pressing it requires reaching over the Mini and lifting the unit up slightly. It’s silly but hasn’t negatively affected my experience in any material way. If you’ve got an Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, you’ll be reminded of its awkward location right during setup, when you’ve got to double-press the power button to make a secure link between the fingerprint sensor and Mac. The Mini is used in a wide mix of environments including home theater systems and live event production. I could see the button’s position becoming a hassle in some of those scenarios, but if you’re using it on a desk, it’s more of a strange quirk than an annoyance. And there are always workarounds.

This is not the ideal location for a power button, but it’s workable.

Apple’s revamped thermal system for the Mini keeps the M4 model running quietly. Even when I’m deep in a Lightroom photo editing session, I don’t hear the fan. I’m certain the M4 Pro’s extra GPU cores would make those RAW edits even faster, but the regular M4 is up to the task for most photo work. Elsewhere, the machine has rarely missed a step, no matter what I throw at it. I’m no videographer, so I can’t speak to whether serious editing work would expose the M4’s limits. If there’s one use case that warrants stepping up to the M4 Pro, it’s likely that.

Everywhere else, the M4 Mini just hums along. As you can see in our benchmarks, it’s right in keeping with the M4 iMac and MacBook Pro. I’ve barely sampled any of the Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia — I don’t find them particularly compelling — but I’m already a big fan of iPhone Mirroring and the built-in window tiling that has allowed me to finally bid farewell to Moom. MacOS feels like it’s in a great place these days.

You’ll find ethernet, HDMI, and three Thunderbolt ports on the back.

With the Mini now being so charmingly small, it’s easy to dream up all sorts of hardware and software possibilities. Why not give people a choice of colors like the iMac? As for software, this thing looks more like an Apple TV than ever before, so what if it sometimes behaved like one too? Imagine a TV-optimized entertainment interface — yes, like a modern Front Row — that would kick in whenever a TV screen is connected over HDMI. The M4 is more than capable enough to juggle both macOS and a tvOS-like experience.

As I said earlier, the $599 Mini is the best value around if you haven’t yet joined the Mac side of Apple’s ecosystem. Even the $799 configuration I tested, with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, seems reasonable. But once you go beyond that in RAM or storage, Apple’s pricing smacks of greed and padding the company’s bottom line. That’s true across the line, but it’s felt more acutely on a machine that starts at only $599. Stepping up to 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM brings the price to $1,399. Yikes.

For most, the Mini will be a stationary computer, and the presence of three Thunderbolt ports means you can attach a speedy external SSD without caving to Apple’s farcical rates. Given that, the other $799 config, with 24GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, could be more worthwhile. Neither can be upgraded later, so it’s important to get the specs right when buying.

You can use Apple’s display and accessories… or get as creative as you want with third-party options.

Every time I glance over at the new Mac Mini on my desk, it feels like the Mini’s ideal form. The redesigned enclosure makes the most of Apple Silicon’s small footprint, and with Apple’s M4 chip and an ample selection of ports, the 2024 Mini should remain a zippy, reliable computer for years to come. It’s never been more mighty. Well, except for the much pricier M4 Pro version. Stay tuned for more on that soon.

Photography by Chris Welch / The VergeShot with the Nikon Z6 III and 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

Now the best value in Apple’s lineup, the Mac Mini takes its ideal form with an impressively small design that compromises on very little.

Why wouldn’t you want the new Mac Mini? Over the last several days of testing Apple’s redesigned desktop Mac, I’ve been impressed by all the power and potential crammed into this very compact machine. For a starting price of $599 and with 16GB of RAM now standard, the M4 Mac Mini has immediately become the best value in Apple’s entire Mac lineup. It’s more than capable for most computing tasks today, and if my M1 MacBook Air is anything to go by, the Mini won’t feel slow (or anything close to it) for at least the next four or five years.

Apple provided me with two very different Mac Mini units. This first review is focused on the standard M4 model, which includes a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and the default 16GB of memory. My machine has 512GB of storage, which bumps its price to $799, but everyday performance should be identical to that of the base 256GB configuration. I’ve also got a kitted-out M4 Pro model, which raises the price to a stratospheric $2,199. For that money, I’d damn well expect the M4 Pro Mini to be a powerhouse.

But most people won’t need to spend anywhere near that amount. The regular M4 edition offers a lot in its own right and would be my recommendation for anyone who wants a dependable desktop Mac — especially if you’ve already settled on a monitor and / or keyboard that you love.

As always with the Mac Mini, Apple provides the computer; you bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse. Apple is more than happy to sell you its own Studio Display and peripherals, but with the Mini now able to run up to three displays at once (up from two on the M2 model), you’ve got a ton of runway for creative, versatile desk setups. If you’ve perfected your work-from-home office, you can just add the Mini to whatever’s already there without having to rearrange everything.

And the machine itself will barely take up any of that space. Measuring 5 inches wide, 5 inches deep, and 2 inches tall, the 2024 Mac Mini’s footprint is less than half that of the previous enclosure, which was designed around the Intel platform. (Just look at how much unused space there was after the Apple Silicon transition.) It’s not quite as tiny as an Apple TV 4K, but to me, it’s the most striking example yet of what Apple can achieve with hardware that’s purpose-built for its M-series chips. Another welcome change is that the new Mini puts some ports right on the front, whereas its predecessors made me blindly plug everything into the back — or turn the whole thing around so I could actually see what I was doing.

Now you’ve got a pair of 10Gbps USB-C ports (USB 3) and a headphone jack up front. Around back are three Thunderbolt 4 (USB 4) ports, HDMI, and a gigabit ethernet jack that’s upgradable to 10-gigabit speeds. I do miss the SD card slot you’d find on a Mac Studio or MacBook Pro, but I haven’t once felt disappointed about the lack of USB-A. Everyone has a different accessory situation, so its absence might sting more for you, but it’s easy to just plug in a dongle if necessary. The M4 Pro Mac Mini has even faster, brand-new Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, with theoretical data transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s (three times faster than Thunderbolt 4). But that’s mostly targeted at creative professionals and intensive video work. Despite its dramatically reduced dimensions, the Mini still retains an internal power supply, so there’s no cumbersome brick to worry about.

Notice that I haven’t mentioned a power button yet. That’s because Apple made the curious decision to move it to the bottom of the machine near the rear left corner. Do I wish the button were someplace else? Sure. Pressing it requires reaching over the Mini and lifting the unit up slightly. It’s silly but hasn’t negatively affected my experience in any material way. If you’ve got an Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, you’ll be reminded of its awkward location right during setup, when you’ve got to double-press the power button to make a secure link between the fingerprint sensor and Mac. The Mini is used in a wide mix of environments including home theater systems and live event production. I could see the button’s position becoming a hassle in some of those scenarios, but if you’re using it on a desk, it’s more of a strange quirk than an annoyance. And there are always workarounds.

Apple’s revamped thermal system for the Mini keeps the M4 model running quietly. Even when I’m deep in a Lightroom photo editing session, I don’t hear the fan. I’m certain the M4 Pro’s extra GPU cores would make those RAW edits even faster, but the regular M4 is up to the task for most photo work. Elsewhere, the machine has rarely missed a step, no matter what I throw at it. I’m no videographer, so I can’t speak to whether serious editing work would expose the M4’s limits. If there’s one use case that warrants stepping up to the M4 Pro, it’s likely that.

Everywhere else, the M4 Mini just hums along. As you can see in our benchmarks, it’s right in keeping with the M4 iMac and MacBook Pro. I’ve barely sampled any of the Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia — I don’t find them particularly compelling — but I’m already a big fan of iPhone Mirroring and the built-in window tiling that has allowed me to finally bid farewell to Moom. MacOS feels like it’s in a great place these days.

With the Mini now being so charmingly small, it’s easy to dream up all sorts of hardware and software possibilities. Why not give people a choice of colors like the iMac? As for software, this thing looks more like an Apple TV than ever before, so what if it sometimes behaved like one too? Imagine a TV-optimized entertainment interface — yes, like a modern Front Row — that would kick in whenever a TV screen is connected over HDMI. The M4 is more than capable enough to juggle both macOS and a tvOS-like experience.

As I said earlier, the $599 Mini is the best value around if you haven’t yet joined the Mac side of Apple’s ecosystem. Even the $799 configuration I tested, with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, seems reasonable. But once you go beyond that in RAM or storage, Apple’s pricing smacks of greed and padding the company’s bottom line. That’s true across the line, but it’s felt more acutely on a machine that starts at only $599. Stepping up to 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM brings the price to $1,399. Yikes.

For most, the Mini will be a stationary computer, and the presence of three Thunderbolt ports means you can attach a speedy external SSD without caving to Apple’s farcical rates. Given that, the other $799 config, with 24GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, could be more worthwhile. Neither can be upgraded later, so it’s important to get the specs right when buying.

Every time I glance over at the new Mac Mini on my desk, it feels like the Mini’s ideal form. The redesigned enclosure makes the most of Apple Silicon’s small footprint, and with Apple’s M4 chip and an ample selection of ports, the 2024 Mini should remain a zippy, reliable computer for years to come. It’s never been more mighty. Well, except for the much pricier M4 Pro version. Stay tuned for more on that soon.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge
Shot with the Nikon Z6 III and 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Nvidia is announcing some big changes to its GeForce Now cloud streaming service today. The existing Priority membership is being renamed to Performance, with 1440p streaming, ultrawide resolution support, and the ability to save graphics settings across streaming sessions. Nvidia is also introducing a 100-hour monthly playtime cap for new Performance or Ultimate GeForce Now members starting on January 1st, 2025.
New GeForce Now members that sign up for the service from 2025 onward will have a cap on monthly playtime set at 100 hours. That works out to around three hours of usage every day of the month, and Nvidia says it’s putting the cap in place to avoid increasing membership prices “in the foreseeable future.”

Image: Nvidia
The GeForce Now membership options.

“This allows GeForce Now to continue to provide unparalleled quality and speed — as well as short to no queue times — for all paid members, without increasing membership fees,” says Nvidia in a blog post. “This change will affect less than 6 percent of members.”
While this cap will only initially impact new GeForce Now members, all active paid subscribers as of the end of this year will still lose their unlimited playtime on January 1st, 2026. After that date, all GeForce Now subscribers will be subjected to the 100-hour playtime cap.

Image: Nvidia
You’ll be able to track your playtime in Nvidia’s dashboard.

GeForce Now subscribers will be able to carry over 15 hours of unused time automatically to the next month, but if you hit the 100-hour cap, then you’ll need to purchase additional playtime or play using the Basic rigs for the remainder of the month. GeForce Now subscribers will be able to purchase 15 hours of extra playtime, with the Performance 15-hour blocks priced at $2.99 and the Ultimate 15-hour playtime priced at $5.99.
Nvidia is also offering a 25 percent discount on Ultimate and Performance day passes until November 22nd, which you can then upgrade to a monthly or six-month recurring membership to lock in a full year of unlimited playtime ahead of the 100-hour playtime caps for existing members in 2026.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Nvidia is announcing some big changes to its GeForce Now cloud streaming service today. The existing Priority membership is being renamed to Performance, with 1440p streaming, ultrawide resolution support, and the ability to save graphics settings across streaming sessions. Nvidia is also introducing a 100-hour monthly playtime cap for new Performance or Ultimate GeForce Now members starting on January 1st, 2025.

New GeForce Now members that sign up for the service from 2025 onward will have a cap on monthly playtime set at 100 hours. That works out to around three hours of usage every day of the month, and Nvidia says it’s putting the cap in place to avoid increasing membership prices “in the foreseeable future.”

Image: Nvidia
The GeForce Now membership options.

“This allows GeForce Now to continue to provide unparalleled quality and speed — as well as short to no queue times — for all paid members, without increasing membership fees,” says Nvidia in a blog post. “This change will affect less than 6 percent of members.”

While this cap will only initially impact new GeForce Now members, all active paid subscribers as of the end of this year will still lose their unlimited playtime on January 1st, 2026. After that date, all GeForce Now subscribers will be subjected to the 100-hour playtime cap.

Image: Nvidia
You’ll be able to track your playtime in Nvidia’s dashboard.

GeForce Now subscribers will be able to carry over 15 hours of unused time automatically to the next month, but if you hit the 100-hour cap, then you’ll need to purchase additional playtime or play using the Basic rigs for the remainder of the month. GeForce Now subscribers will be able to purchase 15 hours of extra playtime, with the Performance 15-hour blocks priced at $2.99 and the Ultimate 15-hour playtime priced at $5.99.

Nvidia is also offering a 25 percent discount on Ultimate and Performance day passes until November 22nd, which you can then upgrade to a monthly or six-month recurring membership to lock in a full year of unlimited playtime ahead of the 100-hour playtime caps for existing members in 2026.

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The Blink Sync Module XR extends the range of Blink’s flagship outdoor camera beyond Wi-Fi. | Image: Blink

Amazon’s budget smart security camera company Blink has announced the availability of its new Sync Module XR. The third generation of its system hub, the XR can extend the range of its battery-powered Blink Outdoor 4 cameras up to 400 feet, thanks to a new proprietary long-range radio embedded in its custom-built silicon. But the increase in range does come with a tradeoff in video quality.
The Sync Module XR costs $59.99 and, at launch, is being sold in a bundle with a free Outdoor 4 camera (regularly $99). A Wi-Fi bridge for Blink cameras, the module can extend coverage for new and existing Outdoor 4 cameras up to 250 feet in XR mode and 400 feet in XR Plus mode. That’s four times the range of Blink’s current Sync Module 2, Blink’s head of product, Jonathan Cohn, told The Verge. “XR is a proprietary protocol custom built on the 900MHz frequency to support our video transmission needs at ultra-low power,” he said.

Image: Blink
The Blink Outdoor 4 battery-powered camera and the new Sync Module XR. The XR uses a USB-C cable.

Based on Blink’s tests, the XR protocol can penetrate one exterior wall to cover up to 400 feet, but video quality suffers the further you go. “At 250 feet, XR delivers up to 720p and 360p at 400 feet,” says Cohn. This is down from the standard 1080p you get with a strong Wi-Fi connection.
The reduction in video quality seems likely to make the cameras less useful for security and more helpful for things like wildlife watching. Making out faces or license plates at 360p in the dark seems unlikely, but we plan to test them and find out.

Image: Blink
This graphic illustrates the potential distance a Blink Outdoor 4 camera can reach with the new Sync Module XR.

Blink’s compact, no-frills cameras are known for their long battery life and low prices. There are few bells and whistles, but the Blink Outdoor 4 can last up to two years on two AA batteries (up to four with the extension pack). This, combined with the new long-range capability, makes them handy for placement at the extreme corners of your property to monitor a shed, driveway, chicken coop, or any place Wi-Fi doesn’t reach.

Few camera companies have solved the problem of extending connectivity beyond your home’s walls. Security cameras mounted just outside your home should be able to connect to Wi-Fi, but anything further out may struggle to stream footage unless you buy an outdoor Wi-Fi extender or invest in LTE-powered cameras, which require a monthly subscription for connectivity.
Blink cameras don’t require a subscription for connectivity or recorded footage (although one is available for $3 a month); instead, the Sync Module XR can record footage locally, storing up to 256GB on a microSD card (not included). That’s up from the 128GB of storage available on the previous version of the hub, the Sync Module 2 ($49.99), which uses a USB stick, not a microSD card.
The Sync Module XR can only extend the range of the Blink Outdoor 4 camera over the XR protocol, and currently only two at a time. However, the module supports up to 10 Blink cameras running on Wi-Fi while also providing local storage for recorded video. This includes the wired Blink Mini 2, the Blink Video Doorbell, the wired Blink Floodlight Camera, and previous generations of Blink cameras.
The Blink Sync Module XR is available now at Amazon for $59.99. An introductory offer includes a free Blink Outdoor 4 when you buy a Sync Module XR. Beginning in January, the price for a bundle of a Sync Module XR with the camera will be $139.99. With Black Friday coming up, the current Sync Module 2 ($49.99), which is often sold in a bundle with Blink cameras, will likely see some steep discounts. But you’ll need the new XR module if you want the new capabilities.

The Blink Sync Module XR extends the range of Blink’s flagship outdoor camera beyond Wi-Fi. | Image: Blink

Amazon’s budget smart security camera company Blink has announced the availability of its new Sync Module XR. The third generation of its system hub, the XR can extend the range of its battery-powered Blink Outdoor 4 cameras up to 400 feet, thanks to a new proprietary long-range radio embedded in its custom-built silicon. But the increase in range does come with a tradeoff in video quality.

The Sync Module XR costs $59.99 and, at launch, is being sold in a bundle with a free Outdoor 4 camera (regularly $99). A Wi-Fi bridge for Blink cameras, the module can extend coverage for new and existing Outdoor 4 cameras up to 250 feet in XR mode and 400 feet in XR Plus mode. That’s four times the range of Blink’s current Sync Module 2, Blink’s head of product, Jonathan Cohn, told The Verge. “XR is a proprietary protocol custom built on the 900MHz frequency to support our video transmission needs at ultra-low power,” he said.

Image: Blink
The Blink Outdoor 4 battery-powered camera and the new Sync Module XR. The XR uses a USB-C cable.

Based on Blink’s tests, the XR protocol can penetrate one exterior wall to cover up to 400 feet, but video quality suffers the further you go. “At 250 feet, XR delivers up to 720p and 360p at 400 feet,” says Cohn. This is down from the standard 1080p you get with a strong Wi-Fi connection.

The reduction in video quality seems likely to make the cameras less useful for security and more helpful for things like wildlife watching. Making out faces or license plates at 360p in the dark seems unlikely, but we plan to test them and find out.

Image: Blink
This graphic illustrates the potential distance a Blink Outdoor 4 camera can reach with the new Sync Module XR.

Blink’s compact, no-frills cameras are known for their long battery life and low prices. There are few bells and whistles, but the Blink Outdoor 4 can last up to two years on two AA batteries (up to four with the extension pack). This, combined with the new long-range capability, makes them handy for placement at the extreme corners of your property to monitor a shed, driveway, chicken coop, or any place Wi-Fi doesn’t reach.

Few camera companies have solved the problem of extending connectivity beyond your home’s walls. Security cameras mounted just outside your home should be able to connect to Wi-Fi, but anything further out may struggle to stream footage unless you buy an outdoor Wi-Fi extender or invest in LTE-powered cameras, which require a monthly subscription for connectivity.

Blink cameras don’t require a subscription for connectivity or recorded footage (although one is available for $3 a month); instead, the Sync Module XR can record footage locally, storing up to 256GB on a microSD card (not included). That’s up from the 128GB of storage available on the previous version of the hub, the Sync Module 2 ($49.99), which uses a USB stick, not a microSD card.

The Sync Module XR can only extend the range of the Blink Outdoor 4 camera over the XR protocol, and currently only two at a time. However, the module supports up to 10 Blink cameras running on Wi-Fi while also providing local storage for recorded video. This includes the wired Blink Mini 2, the Blink Video Doorbell, the wired Blink Floodlight Camera, and previous generations of Blink cameras.

The Blink Sync Module XR is available now at Amazon for $59.99. An introductory offer includes a free Blink Outdoor 4 when you buy a Sync Module XR. Beginning in January, the price for a bundle of a Sync Module XR with the camera will be $139.99. With Black Friday coming up, the current Sync Module 2 ($49.99), which is often sold in a bundle with Blink cameras, will likely see some steep discounts. But you’ll need the new XR module if you want the new capabilities.

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Image: Archer

Archer Aviation, a leading electric flight company based in San Jose, California, is bringing its futuristic air taxis to Japan. The company will sell 100 of its Midnight battery-powered aircraft to Soracle, a joint venture between Japan Airlines and Sumitomo Corporation, in a deal valued approximately at $500 million.
Archer says that Soracle plans on deploying its aircraft — which look like a cross between a drone and a helicopter — “in cities where existing ground transportation is constrained by traffic or geographic barriers,” the company said. Still, Archer will need to achieve “certain milestones in advanced aircraft delivery” before Soracle approves pre-delivery payments.
“in cities where existing ground transportation is constrained by traffic or geographic barriers”
The deal is the latest to buoy Archer’s prospects of launching commercial air taxi services in cities across the world, which is says it plans on doing in the years to come. Midnight is a four-seat aircraft plus one pilot, with a range of up to 100 miles (nearly 160km), though it’s designed for back-to-back flights of 20-50 miles with minimal charge time in between. It can travel at speeds of up to 150mph (241 km/h) on pure battery power. And using tilt rotors, Midnight is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then transition into forward flight like a plane.
Archer says it will work with Soracle and the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau to obtain the necessary permissions and certifications. Archer says it has already begun discussions and “intends to formally apply for concurrent type certificate validation from JCAB in the near future.” The company recently received a Part 135 air carrier certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration, which the company will need to operate an on-demand air taxi service. It is currently seeking a type certification for its Midnight air taxi, which means the aircraft meets all the FAA’s design and safety standards.
Archer came out of stealth in spring 2020 after having poached key talent from Wisk (formerly Kitty Hawk) and Airbus’ Vahana project. (Wisk later sued for alleged trade secret theft, which was finally settled late last year.) The company has a $1 billion order from United Airlines for its aircraft and a deal to mass-produce its eVTOL craft with global automaker Stellantis.
Alongside Archer, other electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) companies hope to eventually win full FAA approval. That got a boost just a few weeks ago, when the agency published highly anticipated final regulations for eVTOL vehicles that it says will chart the path for the “air travel of the future.” Archer praised the FAA for “providing clear direction on what is required for the safe operation of eVTOL aircraft in the U.S.”
Air taxis, sometimes misidentified by the mainstream media as “flying cars,” are essentially helicopters without the noisy, polluting gas motors (though they certainly have their own unique noise profile). In addition to Archer, companies like Joby Aviation, Volocopter, and Beta Technologies have claimed they are on the cusp of launching services that will eventually scale up nationwide. But others have floundered; German company Lilium recently said that two of its subsidiaries were insolvent and could cease operations.

Image: Archer

Archer Aviation, a leading electric flight company based in San Jose, California, is bringing its futuristic air taxis to Japan. The company will sell 100 of its Midnight battery-powered aircraft to Soracle, a joint venture between Japan Airlines and Sumitomo Corporation, in a deal valued approximately at $500 million.

Archer says that Soracle plans on deploying its aircraft — which look like a cross between a drone and a helicopter — “in cities where existing ground transportation is constrained by traffic or geographic barriers,” the company said. Still, Archer will need to achieve “certain milestones in advanced aircraft delivery” before Soracle approves pre-delivery payments.

The deal is the latest to buoy Archer’s prospects of launching commercial air taxi services in cities across the world, which is says it plans on doing in the years to come. Midnight is a four-seat aircraft plus one pilot, with a range of up to 100 miles (nearly 160km), though it’s designed for back-to-back flights of 20-50 miles with minimal charge time in between. It can travel at speeds of up to 150mph (241 km/h) on pure battery power. And using tilt rotors, Midnight is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then transition into forward flight like a plane.

Archer says it will work with Soracle and the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau to obtain the necessary permissions and certifications. Archer says it has already begun discussions and “intends to formally apply for concurrent type certificate validation from JCAB in the near future.” The company recently received a Part 135 air carrier certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration, which the company will need to operate an on-demand air taxi service. It is currently seeking a type certification for its Midnight air taxi, which means the aircraft meets all the FAA’s design and safety standards.

Archer came out of stealth in spring 2020 after having poached key talent from Wisk (formerly Kitty Hawk) and Airbus’ Vahana project. (Wisk later sued for alleged trade secret theft, which was finally settled late last year.) The company has a $1 billion order from United Airlines for its aircraft and a deal to mass-produce its eVTOL craft with global automaker Stellantis.

Alongside Archer, other electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) companies hope to eventually win full FAA approval. That got a boost just a few weeks ago, when the agency published highly anticipated final regulations for eVTOL vehicles that it says will chart the path for the “air travel of the future.” Archer praised the FAA for “providing clear direction on what is required for the safe operation of eVTOL aircraft in the U.S.”

Air taxis, sometimes misidentified by the mainstream media as “flying cars,” are essentially helicopters without the noisy, polluting gas motors (though they certainly have their own unique noise profile). In addition to Archer, companies like Joby Aviation, Volocopter, and Beta Technologies have claimed they are on the cusp of launching services that will eventually scale up nationwide. But others have floundered; German company Lilium recently said that two of its subsidiaries were insolvent and could cease operations.

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