Washington, D.C., Feb. 20, 2025 — Today, Secretary Brooke Rollins hosted a roundtable with two dozen farmers to hear their perspective on the best approaches to combat avian flu and ultimately lower egg prices. They also discussed other issues facing farmers, including the importance of disaster relief, expanding markets, reducing input costs, and decreasing regulation.

When Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, there was a lot of focus on the price tag ($599 is cheap for a new iPhone, but not that cheap), the lack of MagSafe support, and Apple’s decision to finally kill off the Home button.

But there’s an interesting discussion surrounding the 16e’s processor: the A18. At first glance, it seems like the same chip as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The phones also have the A18, which makes it sound like the iPhone 16e offers the same performance as its more expensive sibling devices, for at least $200 less. The thing is, these aren’t the same chips: The A18 in the iPhone 16e is “binned.”

What is a “binned” chip?

“Binned” chips don’t just apply to Apple products. All computer chip makers can bin their chips. It has to do with the manufacturing process: Chips are extremely complicated products, and they don’t all come out exactly the same. Samples are tested for quality assurance purposes, and the chips that aren’t quite up to snuff are separated from the ones that perform to standard. The former are then “binned,” and won’t be used as high-end chips, since they aren’t able to hit the performance levels manufacturers are looking for.

That doesn’t mean binned chips won’t be used at all, however. On the contrary, binned chips are often used, especially as mid- and lower-tier options. Manufacturers will often disable different “cores” of these chips to keep their performance in check. They’re still perfectly capable chips, especially when they have this ceiling in place. Intel does this with its line of chips, for example, which is why you have different performance variants, like i5, i7, and i9. Apple does this, too: For the iPad mini 7, the company used binned A17 Pro chips. Now, Apple is using binned A18s for the iPhone 16e.

How the iPhone 16e uses binned A18s

So, Apple makes a batch of A18 chips, originally intended to ship with the iPhone 16 series. During testing, some of these A18 chips aren’t totally up to snuff, so they’re set aside and not used for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus devices.

However, Apple has a new iPhone they want to sell for less than its flagship line—one that strips out “premium” features to keep costs down, but also offers incentives for users to actually buy their new iPhone over other options. It does have some binned A18 chips lying around: Why not use those instead?

The iPhone 16e, then, uses the “same” chip as you’d find in the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus—but we know it doesn’t perform as well, and thus can’t be pushed as far. Apple, then, disables one of the GPU cores to keep performance in check. The 16e’s CPU has the same six cores as the 16 and 16 Plus’ (two performance and four efficiency), and the NPU has the same 16 cores across all devices. But where the GPU in the 16 and 16 Plus has five cores, the GPU in the 16e only has four cores. That’s because these chips are binned.

We won’t know exactly how the binned A18 compares to the A18 found in the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus until reviewers get their hands on the iPhone 16e. However, my guess is the differences will be minimal. The CPUs and NPUs are the same, and the 16e’s GPU still has four cores, which means performance for most tasks on the iPhone is going to be high. However, where the difference might show is in graphically demanding apps, such as AAA games. Developers could push the iPhone 16 a bit further than the iPhone 16e, because it has that extra GPU core. That will likely extend to the longevity of these devices, too: As software advances and becomes more demanding, the extra GPU core on the iPhone 16 could help keep it running smoother for longer.

That said, it’s just one extra core. In all likelihood, it’s not going to amount to that great a difference. We’ll see the numbers once reviewers run their benchmarks, but I think Apple’s choice here was more about saving the company money than offering users a noticeably worse experience.

When Apple announced the iPhone 16E yesterday, it also confirmed that the new budget phone will get Apple Intelligence’s “Visual Intelligence” feature, marking the first time the AI trick will come to a phone without a “Camera Control” button. While the other iPhone 16 series phones use their Camera Control buttons to access Visual Intelligence, the iPhone 16E can instead map it to its Action Button, a simple change that raises the question: why not the iPhone 15 Pro, too?

Personally, as an iPhone 15 Pro owner, I’ve been asking that question for months now, as I’ve long suspected my phone’s internals were definitely capable of it—it can run every other Apple Intelligence feature without issue. It instead seemed to me like Apple was arbitrarily holding the feature back because it wanted to tie it to a specific button press I didn’t have. Well, with the iPhone 16E adopting the Action Button workaround, it seems like Apple’s finally listening. Apple representatives have now confirmed that Visual Intelligence will be coming to the iPhone 15 Pro as well, using the same strategy.

Speaking to Daring Fireball’s Jeff Gruber, an Apple spokesperson said that the iPhone 15 Pro will indeed get Visual Intelligence “in a future software update,” and that users could map it to the Action Button. Sweet vindication.

There’s no word on when exactly that software update will come, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll use Visual Intelligence much, but it’s encouraging to see my phone’s software not get held back by an arbitrary push for hardware cohesion anymore.

For the uninitiated, Visual Intelligence brings AI to your iPhone’s camera. You can point your camera at a foreign language menu, for instance, to get a translation, or point it at a book to get a summary of what’s on the page, or point it at a dog to try to find out what breed it is. It can also surface information about businesses simply by looking at their storefront or signage (in the United States only), and works with Google and ChatGPT for extended search queries. In other words, it’s similar to Google Lens, but puts AI first and is built into your operating system. Again, I’ve been prevented from playing around with it much, but hey, at least I now have the option.

With Apple finally killing the Home button in today’s iPhone 16e announcement, the company’s phones have now all adopted the same general look: boring. Apple’s latest budget phone might have a bigger battery and surprising power for a follow-up to the iPhone SE, but anyone looking for something that breaks the mold will have to wait for the iPhone 17. 

That’s because Apple’s next lineup of phones finally seems to be doing something different with the iPhone’s design. For the first time since the Dynamic Island was introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro, it looks like you might finally be able to tell if someone has a new iPhone from a simple glance.

Is the iPhone 17 getting a camera bar?

According to leaks from YouTuber Jon Prosser, the iPhone 17 might be taking cues from Google, making for a significant change to its design. Notably, it’ll supposedly be ditching its camera bump for a full-on camera bar.

In a video posted to YouTube over the weekend, the leaker posted renders of what the iPhone 17 Pro might look like, based on information from a number of unnamed sources, as well as a model he has supposedly seen. 

In the render, the iPhone’s camera lenses appear to be laid out in a similar triangular fashion as on current iPhones, but the bump housing them is now extended across almost the entire phone’s back. The flash, LiDAR, and mic are also now sitting opposite the lenses, on the other side of the extended bump.

If true, the new iPhone would definitely need a new case, but it would also be aping Google’s Pixel series of phones, which adopted a “camera bar” back in 2021 that looks suspiciously similar to this leak.

Reviews, including my own, haven’t always been kind to the camera bar, which can stick out of an otherwise slick looking phone like a sore thumb, so it’s not clear at first why Apple would make this change. Some social media users have speculated that Apple might use the camera bar’s extra space to add a small display to the phone’s back to aid in taking selfies or seeing information from widgets, but these are just guesses for now.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Granted, that’s the nature of leaks in general. While Prosser claims to have seen the phone, other sources are more split on the camera bar idea. Most notably, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who has his own sources within Apple, insinuated that Prosser’s renders appear to be based on a fake CAD design from January. Leaker Majin Bu had already shown this CAD to designers, who said it was likely not real.

Prosser, however, isn’t the only one predicting a camera bar for the iPhone 17. Both supply chain analysis from technology publication The Information and assertions from Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station have hinted at a pill-shaped camera bump, which would be similar in design to the Pixel camera bar.

Both rumors have issues, though, which has led to doubt from other known leakers including Instant Digital and Ice Universe. Most notably, a pill-shaped camera bar would interfere with how the iPhone currently captures spatial video, while Prosser’s design would put the flash and LiDAR far away from the camera lenses, which could impact their usefulness.

Whatever camera layout the iPhone 17 gets, there is more to be excited about with this phone, even if it may not be as immediately visually interesting.

The iPhone 17 Air

Alongside its base iPhone 17 and two iPhone 17 Pro models (the typical Pro and Pro Max), the iPhone 17 is rumored to introduce a new, lighter version of the phone called the iPhone 17 Air. The new model would take the place of an iPhone 17 Plus, although it wouldn’t be directly comparable.

Rumors of an iPhone 17 Air started in November with Korean social media account yeux1122 and have since been repeated by Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors), The Information, and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Supposedly, the phone would roughly be between 5mm and 6mm thick, depending on which source you go with, which would still make it far thinner than Apple’s current thinnest phone, the 6.9mm iPhone 6. As for how big the phone would be, despite it not having the “Plus” branding, it will supposedly be a little taller than the 17 Pro and a little shorter than the Pro Max, with specifics again depending on which rumor you go with.

The Information also claimed a camera bar will be present on the Air, reporting it will be pill-shaped with a centered camera. It’s possible this is where the iPhone 17 line’s camera bar rumors began, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pro models skip the camera bar while the Air has one, but nobody seems to know for sure. It would make sense, though, as a way for the Air to save some thickness. Additionally, Prosser also has a render of an Air with a pill-shaped camera bar, although his model places the lens closer to the edge of the phone, once again far away from the flash and microphone.

The standard iPhone 17

While the iPhone 17 Pro and Air models might bring some new excitement to Apple’s traditional candy bar layout, current rumors put the base iPhone 17 about where you’d expect based on the past few models. No camera bar is currently rumored for this phone, although MacRumors is speculating, based on the iPhone 17 Pro’s expected size, that it might get a slightly bigger screen at 6.3-inches as opposed to 6.1-inches. Instant Digital also claims that the base iPhone 17 will get an improved OLED panel, which will allow it to hit higher frame rates using Apple’s ProMotion feature.

The usual improvements

In addition to new design quirks, the iPhone 17 series is also expected to get the usual lineup of improvements. The Pro models will likely upgrade from the A18 chip to an A19 chip, while the base model will possibly stick with the A18 chip instead. Similarly, we might see camera specs increase, with Jeff Pu (via MacRumors) expecting all iPhone 17 models to have a 24MP selfie camera, up from 12MP across the iPhone 16 line. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is also expecting the iPhone 17’s Pro models to upgrade all lenses to 48MP next year, which would improve the 12MP telephoto lenses from the current batch.

A report from The Information also points to a potential mechanical aperture on at least one model, which would let users control how much light their lens sees, while Chinese site MyDrivers speculates that the entire lineup will use a vapor chamber for improved cooling. These would indicate entirely new directions for Apple, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

There’s also one potential downgrade in store, with The Information’s analysis pointing to the possibility that Apple might return to an aluminum frame for its Pro models rather than the current titanium frame. This could reduce cost, but might also make the phones slightly heavier.

Price and release date

A report from the Wall Street Journal estimates that Apple will price the iPhone 17 Air somewhere between the base 17 and the 17 Pro models, but aside from that, cost is still up in the air. The base iPhone 16 costs $799 while the Pro costs $999 and the Pro Max costs $1,199, so expect to pay at least as much for these upgrades—although with tariffs inbound for Chinese parts manufacturers, there could be a slight price bump.

As for a release date, Apple usually launches new iPhone series in September, so expect the iPhone 17 line to debut sometime this fall.

Washington, D.C., February 19, 2025 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hosted a roundtable with U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters to thank them for their heroic service during the recent California fires. She also spent time hearing their perspective on ways in which the Forest Service could better support our firefighters.

Searching for a job can feel like a full time job itself. It’s easy to feel defeated when it feels like you’re sending your resume out into the void and hearing nothing back the majority of the time. Maybe you’re graduating soon, or making a career pivot, or jumping back into the workforce after some time away—the job hunt humbles us all.

An action plan is key to turning your overwhelming job search into a much more manageable process—both in terms of your sanity and to increase your chances of getting hired. Personally, I love a good spreadsheet. Whether or not you’re Team Spreadsheet, you should create some form of a career search action plan.

Why you need an action plan for your job hunt

Your career search action plan is an organization tool to keep all the elements of your job hunt in one place. This not only helps you stay on top of action items, but also visually represents your progress when you need a motivational boost after getting ghosted by Indeed.com. I’ve made a template you can use here.

Your action plan will be catered to your specific career search, but there are three main steps to get started:

1. Goal setting and preparation

2. Tracking progress

3. Evaluating and self check-ins

So, let’s get into some of the specific action plan items.

Goal setting and preparation

The first steps are always the hardest. When your career search is getting started, here are some concrete things you can do in the first major section of your action plan.

1. List out career goals. What are you looking for in your next position?

2. Research the types of roles you’re interested in, taking note of the qualifications you need to highlight in your application.

3. Identify key words to add to your resume (which you should tailor to each job posting, no matter what).

4. Search for new contacts. Spend some time on LinkedIn, Twitter, and company websites to try and find anyone who could potentially aid your search, whether that’s by their insight and expertise or their ability to put you in touch with someone else who’s hiring.

5. Clean up your social media presence, if need be.

6. Create and update an online portfolio or website for yourself, if applicable.

Tracking your progress

This tracker is the meat of your action plan. With sites like Indeed and LinkedIn, it’s easy to send off application after application without much thought. To stay on top of all the different openings out there, get creative with all the ways you monitor your job search process.

1. Organize links to job postings. Compile all the positions you’re considering, working on, or have applied to all in one place. Visualize this list with color-coded columns for your application status, interest level, potential contacts for the position, and a space for general notes about the position.

2. Compile a master list of contacts. Don’t hold back here: Brainstorm a list of family friends, former coworkers, HR managers, people in your dream job who you found on LinkedIn, and general networking opportunities as described in step four above. Not every person you reach out to will want to talk, and not every person you talk to will lead you to a job. Still, you never know what opportunities might come along from getting the conversation started.

3. Prepare for interviews. Schedule out any interviews you get and map out strategies to prep for them. Make a checklist for interview prep: Research the company, your interviewer, and script answers to common interview questions.

Evaluating and self check-ins

One of the biggest mental roadblocks to any job search is keeping up the momentum. Whenever things lag, and it feels like the job market is hopeless, this tab is where you can check in on your progress.

1. Follow up with anyone you networked with. Be reasonable—don’t keep nudging the same people over and over every week.

2. Consider learning new skills or doing volunteer work to pad your resume while you search for a permanent role.

3. Analyze your goals and identify what you might need to adjust going forward. Write down what you are willing to compromise and what is non-negotiable for you. This might lead to applying to different kinds of positions, which could give your career search another surge of motivation.

For most of us, finding a new job is a daunting and disheartening slog. Your career search action plan is an organization tool that is as important mentally as it is professionally. And if you find yourself staring at a long list of rejected applications, you can always delete this spreadsheet and start fresh.