A new leak gives us what could be a first look at the Google Pixel 7 Pro, the rumored successor to the acclaimed Pixel 6 Pro. On Wednesday, reliable leaker @OnLeaks tweeted that he sent renders of the upcoming phone to Indian tech site Smartprix. 

With a curved OLED display around 6.8 inches, the rumored design resembles that of Samsung's new Galaxy S22 Ultra. The images show a punchhole front camera and three back cameras. 

Read More: Google Pixel 6 Vs. 6 Pro Vs. Pixel 5 Vs. 5A

The rumor from Smartprix puts the Pixel Pro 7's thickness at 8.7mm, which is just below the S22 Ultra's 8.9mm and above the iPhone 13 Pro's 7.65mm. However, the back cameras are shown lined up on a protruding bump, which would technically bring the phone's thickness to 11.2mm. 

For now, the specs are still rumored and Google has yet to confirm the phone. It could be announced in October, when Google typically announces its new Pixels.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

I recently lost two 14-year-old girls. We were at Sakura-Con, an anime convention in Seattle, and two of the three teens in our group went, with permission, to buy food. They didn't come back. And the Seattle Convention Center was packed with tens of thousands of people, most dressed like characters from Demon Slayer, it seemed. 

It was a frantic hour-plus before they returned, apologetically (phone had no data; convention center had no Wi-Fi; lost track of time) after I already had played through every hellish scenario in my mind. Were they abducted? Hit by a car? Forgot where we said to meet? Slain by a demon?

So it was with the memory of that lingering panic that I settled in to watch Old Enough on Netflix. It's a long-running Japanese documentary series where television cameras follow kids as young as 2 while their parents send them off on their first ever errand away from home.  

The program is called Hajimete no Otsukai (My First Errand) in Japan, where it's been running for decades. A few of the tots we see on the Netflix episodes can probably drive by now.

Some of the errands are pretty simple -- in one, a 2-year-old toddled a few houses away to a dry cleaners to drop off his sushi chef dad's work whites. It took him a while, but he got the job done.

But in another, a boy had to wander home from his grandpa's mandarin-orange fields, make a container full of mandarin-orange juice from scratch by himself, and bring the juice back to his thirsty family. I'm a Gen Xer, from the age group famous for being left alone pretty much from birth, and even I can't imagine myself managing that as a preschooler.

Netflix has 20 episodes, and they're each around 10-20 minutes long. The show is subtitled, which is a dealbreaker for some, but I think it lends extra charm. The narrator is the saucy, sassy type I'm used to from Japanese shows. He tells it like it is, narrating "Are you sure this is a good idea, Mom?" as a mother waves off her youngster, and snarking, "The doors have opened, but the circuits haven't linked up yet" when the kid gets distracted by capsule-toy machines. 

Hearing the parents speak to the kids directly without being dubbed adds to the drama. Even if you don't speak any Japanese, you can hear the worry and wonder in their tones as they try and direct their child on a task. They're not sure Little Hiroki can do it, but they can't let him know that.

Of course, there's been social uproar about whether this is safe. One kid had to travel a full kilometer (over half a mile) alongside a busy street, using a homemade traffic flag to cross traffic. And yes, it's Japan, not the less kid-friendly and more crime-wary US. But I'm a half-century older than that kid, and I got horribly lost in Japan once. Watching Old Enough, you'll almost certainly remember your own first ventures out of the house, and maybe think about how much responsibility you give (or don't give) your own kids, if you have them.

Bad things can happen anywhere and to anybody, but the show's producers say they check out the routes ahead of time, and you can see the camera operators following along (sometimes frantically racing to keep up with 2-year-old legs). Once, when a little girl dawdled and it grew dark, the film crew turned on their car headlights to light her way home. With that kind of adult supervision, I never felt the kids were really in danger.  

And it's hard to argue with the sense of satisfaction the kids develop in themselves just running these errands. The chores are nothing to adults, but they're huge to the little ones. 

My own teen daughter just came home from a school trip to the East Coast. Although it was carefully chaperoned, there were still moments when she had to feel like she was stepping out into the big world for the first time, on her own in Manhattan, able to go into any store within a reasonable distance without an adult nearby. It's a freedom that can't be explained, it has to be experienced.

Anyone can get lost anywhere -- I'm still unnerved when I think of our brief anime-convention disappearance. But Old Enough offers plenty of intriguing issues to discuss, and it's unadulterated, family-friendly entertainment, too. The world is waiting, kids.

There are many ways to observe the universe. There's been much fanfare around the first image and data releases from the next-gen James Webb Space Telescope. On Wednesday, NASA gave space fans a new way to experience Webb's observations with a series of audio tracks.

The soundscapes -- including translations of images of the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula -- use sonification to turn imagery and data into audio experiences. "Music taps into our emotional centers," said musician Matt Russo, a physics professor at the University of Toronto who worked on the project. "Our goal is to make Webb's images and data understandable through sound -- helping listeners create their own mental images."  

The "Cosmic Cliffs" of the Carina Nebula, a stunning celestial object full of stars, gas and dust, becomes a sparkling, symphonic palate of sound. The gas and dust have drone-like tones. The orange and red lower part of the image is melodic. Points of bright light are higher in tone.

The Southern Ring Nebula takes on an eerie sound, like experimental electronic music made in a tunnel with string players tuning up. This sonification comes in two parts to represent the different infrared observations Webb made of the nebula. The bright stars make distinct noises, like plucked piano strings.

It's not just images the team of scientists and musicians turned into audio. Webb's data on the atmosphere of gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b became a sci-fi-esque soundscape filled with descending tones and an effect like dripping water. Those droplets represent water signatures in the atmosphere.

The sonifications bring a new dimension to Webb's discoveries, and they make the telescope's work more accessible to blind and low-vision space enthusiasts. "When I first heard a sonification, it struck me in a visceral, emotional way that I imagine sighted people experience when they look up at the night sky," said Christine Malec, a member of the blind and low-vision community who worked on the Webb sound project.

The Webb audio experiences are both otherworldly and familiar. They show there are broader ways to explore the cosmos beyond what we can see with our eyes.

How's the home office these days? Are you tired of hunching over a 13-inch laptop screen? Or maybe feeling like a second screen would help your productivity?

Presto: For a limited time, and while supplies last, Best Buy has the HP 27f FreeSync Monitor for $150, with free shipping or curbside pickup (where available). The regular price is $250, and while this briefly dipped to $120 during a holiday flash sale, it's still a solid discount.

The 27f is a 27-inch monitor with a 1,920x1,080-pixel native resolution, 5-millisecond response time and 75Hz refresh rate. If you don't speak monitor, those are all good numbers -- with a possible caveat.

See, I'd always suspected that a monitor of this size might actually feel "too big" given that resolution, that it wouldn't prove as useful as one that could run at, say, 2,560x1,440 or even 4K. More pixels would produce a sharper image and let you fit more windows onscreen at a time.

But then I conducted a quick Twitter survey and found that lots of folks really like this size and don't find the resolution limiting at all:

Meanwhile, some 4,400 Best Buy customers collectively rated this monitor 4.7 stars out of 5. And based on the above Twitter feedback, I actually bought this model a little while ago. Verdict: It's terrific. Zero complaints.

The only bummer is the warranty: Just one year, versus two or three years on some other brands.

Your thoughts?

First published last year. Updated to reflect new pricing. Removed expired bonus deal.

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CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up for deal texts delivered right to your phone. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and check out our CNET Coupons page for the latest Walmart discount codes, eBay coupons, Samsung promo codes and even more from hundreds of other online stores. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Answers live on our FAQ page.

Don't expect to pay for your Amazon purchases with bitcoin in the near future. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC on Thursday that the e-commerce giant isn't poised to accept cryptocurrency as payment soon. However, Amazon may get involved in the sale of NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, another popular blockchain-powered technology, he said.

Jassy doesn't own bitcoin, he said, but acknowledged cryptocurrency's potential.

"We're not probably close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business," he said, "but I do believe over time that you'll see crypto become bigger."

Amazon appears more focused on keeping its retail business profitable amid rising costs than on accepting new forms of payment. The company has been saying since October that logistics costs are increasingly eating at Amazon's profits. Jassy reiterated those points Thursday and added that the war in Ukraine has increased fuel costs, putting even greater pressure on Amazon's business model. On Wednesday, Amazon added a 5% inflation and fuel surcharge to a fee charged to merchants who the company's Fulfillment By Amazon service, a cost that experts expect to be passed on to some extent to shoppers.

While Amazon may not be taking cryptocurrency, it is becoming easier for regular consumers to access and use. Mainstream payment apps including PayPal, Cash App and Venmo have introduced features for buying and selling cryptocurrency, and in some cases using it as payment.

Jassy didn't give a timeline for Amazon adding features for buying or selling NFTs. "I think it's possible down the road on the platform," he said.

With the annual Apple September event rumored to be as little as two weeks away, we likely don't have too long to wait until Apple unveils the Apple Watch Series 8. With that device on the horizon, Amazon is clearing house on existing Apple Watch stock by offering some of the best Apple Watch deals we've seen to date on the current generation smartwatches, the Apple Watch Series 7 and Apple Watch SE. Prices have been cut by as much as $109, taking the Apple Watch SE down to just $210 and the Series 7 as low as $290. The discounts apply to various styles and sizes so be sure to click through the options to find your preferred configuration.

Take charge of your well-being and your day with the Apple Watch Series 7. With premium features like a 20% bigger screen than previous models and an always-on Retina Display, the latest Apple Watch is more durable while still providing the same health and fitness data you've come to trust. Track your exercise, blood oxygen levels, sleep and much more. You can even take an ECG to check your heart rhythm. Plus, you can sync music and get calls and texts right to your wrist to stay productive and connected when you're out and about. 

Larger buttons in apps and a new QWERTY keyboard make the Series 7 easier to use than its predecessors. The battery lasts up to 18 hours on a single charge, and it also features 33% faster charging so you can top off and get back to what matters without missing a beat. 

The Apple Watch SE is Apple's midrange smartwatch, offering just the essential activity-tracking and notification features while eschewing the bells and whistles of the top-of-the-line Series 7. It's still a huge leap over the entry-level Apple Watch Series 3 -- a device that won't get the next WatchOS 9 software update this fall -- thanks to its larger screen, more modern processor and improved array of sensors.

Buying a home -- especially for the first time -- is a complicated process. One of the first and most significant steps of buying a home is getting your mortgage preapproval. It's proof that you've lined up the financing you need to close on the home. Without a preapproval letter, most sellers aren't going to take your offer seriously.

Although some lenders have tightened their standards due to the pandemic, it's usually not too difficult or complicated to get a home-loan preapproval. Let's look at how it works.

What does it mean to be preapproved for a mortgage? 

A mortgage preapproval is a letter from a lender indicating that you are tentatively approved for a loan. It typically includes a maximum loan amount, interest rate and any other relevant terms or information. 

Significantly, getting preapproved for a mortgage doesn't guarantee you will actually get a loan -- or the specific rate and terms on offer. Rather, it's a statement from the lender stating its intention to lend and the terms involved, assuming the information you've provided about your income, employment and financial situation is accurate. It also assumes that there will be no significant changes to your financial situation or credit score -- losing your job or taking out another loan, for instance -- as these could impact the terms or even disqualify you.

"Many housing markets across the country are struggling with inventory, increasing demand substantially," said Jefferson Watters, a loan originator for AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation. "A preapproval demonstrates a commitment from the buyer and tells sellers that the buyer is completely qualified to purchase their home. In most cases, if a seller has two equal offers on the table, with the only difference being that one buyer is preapproved, the seller will almost always choose the preapproved offer."

Preapproval vs. prequalification: What's the difference?

When you start looking for a mortgage, another term you might come across is "prequalification." Though home loan preapproval and prequalification are often used interchangeably, the process and terminology varies among lenders. 

In some cases, prequalification is based on your answers to a few initial questions and a soft credit check (where a lender checks your score but doesn't pull a full report that could impact your credit). It usually doesn't include details about loan amount, interest rate or terms. As such, it's less authoritative than a preapproval -- but it's a good way to get an initial idea of whether you're in good enough financial shape to qualify for a mortgage.

"A true preapproval will verify assets, income and the ability to repay the loan," Watters said. "Some lenders will offer a preliminary prequalification letter, but this only shows a borrower qualifying based off of the information they submitted in their application."

When you're ready to make an offer on a home, you'll want to have an official statement from a lender -- or, better yet, multiple lenders -- that you can get the financing and terms you need to close on the deal. Whichever term your lender uses, make sure you have it before you make an offer.

When should you get preapproved?

When you apply for preapproval, your lender will first gather some basic financial information from you and pull your credit report. In most cases, that means a hard inquiry on your credit, which could affect your credit score. Given this, you shouldn't apply for preapproval until you're serious about buying a home. This will both protect you from impairing your credit score unnecessarily and ensure that your preapproval is valid when you're ready to make an offer; a home-loan preapproval letter is typically only good for 30 to 60 days.

Having multiple preapproval letters from a few different lenders will only strengthen your hand. And if you get multiple inquiries for the same type of credit within a short period of time, the credit bureaus will usually treat those as one inquiry and avoid knocking your credit score.

How to get preapproved for a mortgage 

The process for getting a mortgage preapproval is fairly straightforward, and the better prepared you are, the more smoothly and quickly it will go.

Step 1: Review your financial situation

Before you apply for preapproval, it's a good idea to assess your current financial situation. 

Pull your credit report: Under normal circumstances, you're entitled to one free report from each bureau every 12 months, but you can now get a free credit report every week through April 2021. (Note that pulling your own report doesn't impact your score.) Review your credit history to make sure everything is accurate; you can reach out to lenders and the credit bureaus to make corrections if need be. 

Calculate your debt-to-income ratio: A key factor in getting prequalified for a mortgage, your DTI ratio represents your total monthly debt payments as a percentage of your monthly income. Most lenders won't offer a loan that will put your DTI above 43%. So, if you currently have an auto payment of $300, monthly minimum credit card payments of $65 and a monthly income of $5,000, your lender will only approve you for a mortgage with a monthly payment of $1,785.

Step 2: Submit your documents

For an official prequalification, lenders won't simply take your word for it when it comes to your income and liabilities. You need to show proof. Each lender may have different requirements, but here are some documents and information you will usually need to submit for yourself and anyone else on the loan application:

• Your employment history (and contacts for verification)
• Pay stubs from the last 30 days
• Bank statements from the last two months
• W-2s and possibly tax returns from the last two years
• Insurance agent contact information and declarations
• Outstanding debt information (your lender can usually just pull this from your credit report)
• Business financial statements and tax returns (if you're self-employed)
• Expected down payment (this affects your loan terms, interest rate and potential private mortgage insurance)

Self-employed individuals may have to provide additional paperwork to demonstrate proof of long-term income. Additional documents required often include:

• Profit and loss statements
• Business licenses
• Tax returns and bank statements from the past two years
• Balance statements

Not all lenders will require all of this information for preapproval, but you'll need to provide it at some point before your loan becomes official. And having all of it prepared may speed up the process.

Step 3: Lender review of credit and documentation

Next, your lender will review all of your documents, pull your credit report and seek to verify all of your information. This may include calling current and previous employers to verify your employment and wages, confirming outstanding loan amounts and investigating unusual transactions on your bank statements. Normally, this process should take no more than a few days.

Step 4: Get your home loan preapproval (or rejection) letter

Once your lender has completed its review, you'll receive the verdict. If there are no serious issues, you'll receive a preapproval letter indicating your maximum loan amount, estimated interest rate, loan type and terms. You'll want to give this letter to your real estate agent so they'll have it ready to submit with any offer.

What to do if you're declined for a preapproval

There's always a chance you won't get preapproved for a mortgage. But don't be disheartened. One rejection doesn't mean you can never get a mortgage. Especially during the pandemic, some lenders have tightened their standards for credit scores, down payments and more. But that won't last forever.

"We've been seeing these restrictions starting to soften as the market starts to recover and the economy becomes more accustomed to a completely virtual way of life," Watters said.

If you do get rejected, be sure you try applying with another lender. If one lender denied you for a credit score of 690, you can probably find a lender that's still qualifying borrowers for a conventional loan at 620 and above.

If you apply with a few lenders and still can't get preapproved, don't lose heart. Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (PDF), your lender has to tell you why your application was denied. It may have been your credit score, or it may be that you haven't been at your current job long enough. Whatever the reason is, now you know what to work on so you can get preapproved in the future.

What are the pitfalls?

Getting approved is usually pretty straightforward, but there are opportunities for things to go sideways. Here are a few things to avoid.

Applying when you're not really ready: If you already know your credit isn't great or you have too much debt, don't waste time applying for preapproval (and hurting your credit even more in the process). Make a plan to rebuild your credit to enhance your chances in six to 12 months from now.

Assuming your terms are final: Again, getting preapproved for a mortgage is not the same as officially having your loan underwritten and secured. Your terms can change. For instance, unless your rate is locked for 30 or 60 days, your final rate may vary, albeit slightly. If any information you provided wasn't accurate, that could change your final terms, too.

Taking on new debt between preapproval and underwriting: For that matter, your own financial choices can change your loan terms or derail the loan altogether. Once you're preapproved, it's time to wait on any big financial changes. That means no changing jobs, no new credit cards, no major purchases such as a new car.

Waiting too long after preapproval: Your loan preapproval is usually only good for 30 to 60 days. Once you have a letter, it's time to start house hunting and getting ready to make an offer. Otherwise, you may have to restart the process.

There are many ways to compensate for the disconnect between screen updates and gameplay frame rate, ranging from the brute force method of simply capping your game's frame rate to match your monitor's refresh rate to the more intelligent realm of variable refresh rate. VRR enables the two to sync to prevent artifacts like tearing (where it looks like parts of different screens are mixed together) and stutter (where the screen updates at perceptibly irregular intervals). These efforts range from basic in-game frame rate control to pricey hardware-based implementations like Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate and AMD FreeSync Premium.

Which do you want?

When picking a monitor, which VRR system to look for comes down to which graphics card you own -- especially now when you can't really buy a new GPU -- and which games you play, plus the monitor specs and choices available. G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium and Pro are mutually exclusive; you'll rarely (if ever) see variations of the same monitor with options for both. In other words, every other decision you make pretty much determines which VRR scheme you get.

Basic VRR

Basic VRR enables games to use their own methods of syncing the two rates, which on the PC frequently means the game just caps the frame rate it will allow. One step up from that is generic adaptive refresh rate, which uses extended system-level technologies to vary the screen update rate based on the frame rate coming out of the game. This can deliver a better result than plain VRR as long as your frame rates aren't all over the place within a short span of time.

G-Sync Compatible and FreeSync

In the bottom tier of Nvidia and AMD's VRR technologies you'll find improved versions of adaptive refresh, branded G-Sync Compatible and FreeSync. They use the GPU's hardware to improve VRR performance, but they're hardware technologies that are common to both Nvidia and AMD GPUs, which means you can use either supported by the monitor, provided one manufacturer's graphics card driver allows you to enable it for the other manufacturer's cards. Unlike FreeSync, though, G-Sync Compatible implies Nvidia has tested the monitor for an "approved" level of artifact reduction.

G-Sync and FreeSync Premium

The first serious levels of hardware-based adaptive refresh are G-Sync and FreeSync Premium. They both require manufacturer-specific hardware in the monitor that works in conjunction with their respective GPUs in order to apply more advanced algorithms, such as low-frame rate compensation (AMD) or variable overdrive (Nvidia) for better results with less performance overhead. They also have base thresholds for monitor specs that meet appropriate criteria. G-Sync still only works over a DisplayPort connection for monitors because it uses DisplayPort's Adaptive Sync, however, which is frustrating because it does work over HDMI for some TVs.

At CES 2022, Nvidia launched its next-generation 1440p G-sync Esports standard with Reflex Latency Analyzer (Nvidia's technology for minimizing lag of the combined keyboard, mouse and display)  and a 25-inch mode that can simulate that size display on a larger monitor. Normalizing high-quality 1440p 27-inch displays for esports is a great step up from 1080p and 25 inches. The initial monitors which will be supporting it (the ViewSonic Elite XG271QG, AOC Agon Pro AG274QGM, MSI MEG 271Q, all with a 300Hz refresh rate, and the Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQN) haven't shipped yet.

(Mini rant: This name scheme would make a monitor "G-Sync Compatible-compatible," so you'll see the base capability referred to as a "G-Sync Compatible monitor." That's seriously misleading, because that means you're frequently called on to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase: G-Sync Compatible is not the same as G-Sync-compatible.)

G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium Pro

At the top of the VRR food chain are G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium Pro. They both require a complete ecosystem of support -- game and monitor in addition to the GPU -- and primarily add HDR optimization in addition to further VRR-based compensation algorithms.

The hardware-based options tend to add to the price of a monitor, and whether or not you need or want them really depends upon the games you play -- if your games don't support these technologies it's kind of pointless to pay extra for them -- how sensitive you are to artifacts and how bad the disconnect is between your display and the gameplay. 

Samsung's Galaxy S9 is officially here -- and maybe you like what you see? 

Maybe you're in the market for a new phone right now, in fact. But there are two versions to choose from: the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9 Plus. 

Why would you pick one over the other? Let's discuss differences -- and afterwards, I'll describe what they have in common. 

Size

As you might expect, the Galaxy S9 Plus is larger than the vanilla Galaxy S9, which may make it a better pick if you want a bigger screen or have larger hands. While each screen has the same 2,960x1,440-pixel resolution, the S9 Plus screen is larger at 6.2 inches, compared to the 5.8-inch diagonal Galaxy S9.

And while both devices are the same thickness -- 8.5mm, or about a third of an inch -- the S9 Plus's body is larger too. It's 0.4 inches (about 10mm) taller and 0.2 inches (about 5mm) wider as well. 

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, of course. I prefer a smaller phone, and there's pixel density to consider, too -- since the Galaxy S9 crams more pixels into the same space, it's likely better for VR games where those pixels get blown up big by the Gear VR or Google Daydream View's magnifying lenses.

All of this was true of last year's Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, too -- unlike the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, where one had a curved screen and the other didn't. Things are more standardized now.

Camera

This is the big one. The Galaxy S9 Plus has two cameras on the back, and the regular Galaxy S9 doesn't.

While both phones have Samsung's fancy new 12-megapixel dual-aperture camera (which lets in more light by adjusting the size of the phone's iris, much like a DSLR), only the Galaxy S9 Plus has a second 12-megapixel camera with a 2x telephoto lens for zooming in closer to your subject.

It's a shame you can't have both cameras on the smaller phone -- Apple's iPhone X does.

Read more about the Galaxy S9's cameras here.

Samsung Galaxy Spec Showdown

	Samsung Galaxy S9	Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus	Samsung Galaxy S8	Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus	Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Display size, resolution	5.8-inch; 2,960x1,440 pixels	6.2-inch; 2,960x1,440 pixels	5.8-inch; 2,960x1,440 pixels	6.2-inch; 2,960x1,440 pixels	6.3-inch; 2,960x1,440 pixels
Pixel density	570ppi	529ppi	570ppi	529ppi	522ppi
Dimensions (Inches)	5.81x2.70x0.33 in	6.22x2.91x0.33 in	5.9x2.9x0.31 in	6.3x2.9x0.32 in	6.4x2.9x0.34 in
Dimensions (Millimeters)	147.7x68.7x8.5 mm	158.1x73.8x 8.5 mm	148.9x68.1x8mm	159.5x73.4x8.1 mm	162.5x74.8x8.6mm
Weight (Ounces, Grams)	5.75 oz; 163g	6.66 oz; 189g	5.5 oz; 155g	6.1 oz; 173g	6.9 oz, 195g
Mobile software	Android 8.0 Oreo	Android 8.0 Oreo	Android 7.0 Nougat	Android 7.0 Nougat	Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Camera	12-megapixel	Dual 12-megapixel	12-megapixel	12-megapixel	Dual 12-megapixel
Front-facing camera	8-megapixel	8-megapixel	8-megapixel	8-megapixel	8-megapixel
Video capture	4K	4K	4K	4K	4K
Processor	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (2.8GHz+1.7GHz) or octa-core Samsung Exynos 9810	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (2.8GHz+1.7GHz) or octa-core Samsung Exynos 9810	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (2.35GHz+1.9GHz) or octa-core Samsung Exynos 8895	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (2.35GHz+1.9GHz) or octa-core Samsung Exynos 8895	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (2.35GHz+1.9GHz) or octa-core Samsung Exynos 8895
Storage	64GB, 128GB, 256GB	64GB, 128GB, 256GB	64GB	64GB	64GB
RAM	4GB	6GB	4GB	4GB	6GB
Expandable storage	Up to 400GB	Up to 400GB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB
Battery	3,000mAh	3,500mAh	3,000mAh	3,500mAh	3,300mAh
Fingerprint sensor	Back	Back	Back	Back	Back
Connector	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Special features	Dual-aperture camera, water-resistant (IP68); super slo-mo video; wireless charging; iris scanning	Dual-aperture camera, water-resistant (IP68); super slo-mo video; wireless charging; iris scanning	Water-resistant (IP68); wireless charging; Gigabit LTE-ready	Water-resistant (IP68), wireless charging, Gigabit LTE-ready	S Pen stylus, water-resistant, wireless charging, Gigabit LTE-ready
Price off-contract (USD)	Varies: $720-$800 (64GB)	Varies: $870-$930 (64GB)	AT&T: $750; Verizon: $720; T-Mobile: $750; Sprint: $750; US Cellular: $675	AT&T: $850; Verizon: $840; T-Mobile: $850; Sprint: $850; US Cellular: $785	AT&T: $950; Verizon: $960; T-Mobile: $930; Sprint: $960; US Cellular: $963
Price (GBP)	£739	£869	£689	£779	£869
Price (AUD)	AU$1,199 (64GB), AU$1,349 (256GB)	AU$1,349 (64GB), AU$1,499 (256GB)	AU$1,199	AU$1,349	AU$1,499

Battery

Want a phone that'll last all day? The Galaxy S9 Plus has the bigger battery by far -- a 3,500mAh pack, compared to the 3,000mAh pack in the regular model. 

Yes, the bigger screen eats up some of that battery, but we still got 2 extra hours of battery life when we compared the Galaxy S8 Plus and the Galaxy S8 last year. They had the same battery difference, too. 

You might ask: Won't the S9 Plus's second camera make a difference? We doubt it, because the Note 8 also added that camera without sucking down extra juice.

Memory

The Galaxy S9 has 4GB of RAM, and the Galaxy S9 Plus has 6GB. 

That's probably not a big deal, though. As far as we're aware, Android phones mostly use RAM to keep lots of apps easily accessible when you multitask -- and unless you're a monster multitasker, 4GB is already quite a bit. That said, developers figure out ways to use more processing power and RAM each year.

For context, last year's Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus both had 4GB, and the Note 8 had 6GB.

Price

Did you expect a phone called the "Galaxy S9 Plus" would cost the same as the regular model? Of course not -- you'll pay a premium. In the US, that means at least an extra $100, though it depends on where you buy it. 

Similarities

As you can see in our comparison chart above, practically everything else about these phones is the same on paper, and also pretty similar to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus from last year. 

Both of these phones still sport a 3.5mm headphone jack, removable microSD storage, IP68 water and dust resistance, wireless charging, Gigabit LTE connectivity (if you're lucky enough to have a local Gigabit LTE network), USB-C connectors and rear-mounted fingerprint sensors. 

And, new for 2018, both phones have the same new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (or Samsung Exynos 9810) processors, 128GB and 256GB storage options (outside the US), stereo speakers and slimmer bezels, plus a better position for that fingerprint sensor where you probably won't smudge your camera. 

So really, your choice is about whether you need a slightly bigger screen and battery, and/or a second telephoto camera. Not a bad showing for the smaller phone, eh?

Samsung Galaxy S9: Our hands-on first impressions.

MWC 2018 : All of CNET's coverage of the biggest phone show on Earth.

Apple's annual fall product event is happening on Sept. 7, and we're expecting to learn about the iPhone 14 lineup, new Apple Watches and possibly other products. Apple's invitations are always vague and typically don't include details about what to expect. But that hasn't stopped us from looking for clues anyway.

There's no way to truly know whether Apple is hiding any hints in its invitation. Still, it's easy to imagine how the imagery could connect to rumors that have been circulating about the iPhone 14. At the center of the invite is an Apple logo that's seemingly made up of a constellation of stars or specks of light. The phrase "Far out" sits below it. 

Perhaps this is a reference to the camera improvements that might be coming in the rumored iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. These phones are expected to get a new 48-megapixel camera, which would be a step up from the iPhone 13 Pro's current 12-megapixel camera, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. There's a chance Apple could be teasing the increased clarity that this new camera would bring to the iPhone 14 Pro line with the "far out" tagline.

But that's not the only possibility. Remember the rumor about satellite connectivity that made the rounds last year? If that feature does end up surfacing in the iPhone 14, a starry night sky would certainly be an interesting way to tease it. TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported last year that the iPhone 13 would support satellite connectivity, enabling it to maintain a connection when typical cellular coverage isn't available, as MacRumors reported. However, that didn't end up being the case.

Then there's the rumored processor upgrades. The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are expected to be the only ones in the lineup to get a bump in speed to what would presumably be the A16 Bionic chip, according to Kuo. If Apple is planning to make that processor a major focus of this year's iPhone announcement, it might be using the phrase "far out" to indirectly reference a jump in speed.

This is all just speculation, and we won't know the details until Sept. 7 arrives. But it wouldn't be the first time Apple has made discreet nods to its upcoming product announcements in an event invite. At its Peek Performance event in March, for example, Apple announced its new M1 Ultra chip, which debuted in the Mac Studio, a new iPad Air powered by its M1 chip and the 5G-enabled 2022 iPhone SE. The common thread between these devices is that they've each gotten significant performance upgrades compared to their predecessors.

We'll be covering Apple's announcements, so be sure to follow CNET for the latest updates before, during and after the event.