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You may recall the "batterygate" controversy from 2017, where iPhone users reported that their iPhones noticeably slowed down as the batteries aged. Apple clarified that this was by design as a way to intentionally manage performance on devices with degraded batteries to keep them from unexpectedly shutting down. Lots of understandable criticism followed, which led to Apple introducing the Battery Health metric and a toggle to override the performance management feature. 

Then the iPhone 15 series was the first to display the battery's cycle count in addition to its health. A device completes one charge cycle when it uses 100 percent of its battery capacity, though this doesn't need to be all from one charge. For instance, if your phone goes from 100 to 50 percent, then you charge it back up to 100 percent, a full cycle is completed when the level hits 50 percent again. 

The higher your cycle count, the more your iPhone's battery will have chemically aged. Apple says the iPhone 14 series and older models are designed to retain 80 percent of their original battery capacity at 500 charge cycles. The iPhone 15 models and newer double that figure, with their batteries designed to complete 1,000 charge cycles before battery health drops below 80 percent.

Well, my iPhone 15 Pro Max recently hit 1,000 charge cycles and currently reports a battery health of 81 percent. Its battery technically hasn't depleted enough to warrant the "battery service warning" notification in iOS, but I'm noticing the effects of nearly three years of battery wear. The battery capacity of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is rated at 4,422 mAh. I recall it being nearly a two-day battery champ when my phone was still brand new, reaching screen-on times of over 12 hours. These days, though, I'm lucky to make it to the evening without needing to reach for a charger.

Two sloppy iOS releases made the situation worse

Adnan Ahmed for Engadget

The iPhone 15 series came with iOS 17. As a lifelong Android user, I found switching to the iPhone 15 Pro Max refreshing, given how smooth everything was. The charging speed maxing out around 27W wasn't very impressive, but at least the phone lasted me all day. That changed with iOS 18. Plenty of people complained about lackluster performance, bugs and poor battery life. Apple Intelligence features heated the device up and drained the battery even quicker.

Apple eventually ironed out most bugs, but then came iOS 26 in all its Liquid Glass glory. The first few beta builds struggled to run smoothly, but I kept my hopes up that it would improve by the time the stable release rolled around. As it turns out, we had to endure a whole year of iOS 26 slowing down our iPhones and negatively impacting battery life. At this point, I didn't even care about preserving my iPhone's battery health — I just wanted a software experience that didn't suck.

Apple was clearly aware of how poorly iOS 26 ran, because a good chunk of what's new in iOS 27 focuses on performance and stability improvements. App launch times are up to 30 percent faster, photos load up to 70 percent quicker and AirDrop transfers are up to 80 percent faster. Even the first developer beta build I tried was significantly smoother than any stable release of iOS 26 I'd used. My iPhone 15 Pro Max now runs like an entirely different phone. 

I still need to plug it in at least twice a day, and it still takes obnoxiously long to top up from 80 to 100 percent, but at least the software is no longer a buggy mess.

The phone is built like a tank

Adnan Ahmed for Engadget

It's kind of a running joke in tech communities how the iPhone looks nearly the same year after year, but Apple does switch bits up, even if that doesn't always involve a complete redesign. With the iPhone 15 Pro series in 2023, it was the move from stainless steel to titanium. Not only did the material look different, but it was also noticeably lighter than before. Apple switched back to a unibody aluminum chassis with the iPhone 17 Pro, citing better thermal performance as one of the main reasons for moving away from titanium.

The new Pro phones may run cooler, but they're also significantly easier to scratch and dent. There are reports of brand-new iPhone 18 Pro devices getting scratched within a few days of regular use. By comparison, the body of my iPhone 15 Pro Max doesn't have a single scratch — and I've mostly used it without a case. Yes, the screen has developed minor scratches over time, but I'm impressed by how the titanium frame and the glass back look nearly brand-new.

The rest of the hardware has aged well, too. The triple-camera system still takes great photos and videos, the buttons are as clicky as ever and the speakers are some of the best I've heard on a smartphone. Even some of the hardware's limitations that Apple cleverly worked around, like the Dynamic Island, have grown into useful parts of the iOS experience.

Siri AI is also supported on the iPhone 15 Pro models and is one of the few Apple Intelligence features that makes the phone smarter than it was at launch. I'm sure a battery replacement would breathe a few more years of life into my iPhone, especially now that iOS is good again. %!s()

This isn't the first time Sony has done this for the webhead. In 2022, the company re-released Spider-Man: No Way Home with additional footage, including extended scenes featuring all three Spider-Men. Admittedly, it wasn't anything to write home about, and it was arguably a worse movie due to how these extra scenes disrupted its overall pacing. It added about 10 extra minutes to the original film, so it's possible something similar will happen here with Brand New Day.

Similarly, Avengers: Endgame is cleaning up at the box office seven years after its release thanks to a new re-release, which adds newly-shot footage that connects it to Avengers: Doomsday. All of these re-releases seem to be done with at least a partial goal of boosting the film's box office numbers; Brand New Day is currently the number one film at the domestic box office, and third globally. Avengers: Endgame's re-release is allowing it to quickly close the gap between it and the number one film, Avatar.

Is it a bit greedy? Probably. But people keep showing up and it's a good way of getting people to go support a movie theater, I suppose!

Cade Onder

Freelance Writer

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal star in director Destin Daniel Cretton‘s superhero movie that stands as the highest-grossing title ever at the domestic box office with more than $950 million. It also ranks No. 3 on the all-time worldwide chart with $2.49 billion. Hailing from Marvel Studios, Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues chugging along at the box office, collecting $4.1 million domestically over the most recent weekend.

This news follows Marvel Studios’ Avengers Endgame: Encore having topped the domestic box office over the weekend, with the rerelease of the 2019 box office smash grossing $26 million to prevail over a slew of newcomers. That rerelease was timed to drum up additional excitement for Disney’s release of Avengers: Doomsday on Dec. 18.

During a fan event in July, Dawson told the crowd that she had filmed a scene for Brand New Day as Claire Temple — the Marvel character she previously portrayed on the series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders — but that it ended up on the cutting room floor.

“My character is somewhere in that same universe, and I really love that,” Dawson said at the time. “I hope I get to be Claire again.”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is just shy of becoming the first title to surpass $1 billion at the North American box office, meaning that the rerelease could push it over the edge. Endgame stands just above Brand New Day at No. 2 on the global chart, with the former’s recent return to theaters having brought its worldwide cume to $2.885 billion.

Deadline previously reported on the rerelease.

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September 28, 2026

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School is back in session — even if you’re not a student — thanks to MasterClass.

Right now, the online learning platform offers memberships starting as low as $10 per month for its Standard plan. You can also upgrade to the Plus plan for as low as $15 per month or the Premium plan for $20 per month.

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MasterClass subscriptions deliver access to more than 200 courses. All of these courses are taught by bona fide experts — many of whom are also A-list names — and courses range from cooking lessons with Dominique Ansel to survival skills and wilderness training with Jessie Krebs. In other words, there’s something for almost every interest, and you don’t need to leave your living room to get started.

If you’re looking to pick up a new skill, change careers, or just learn something new for fun, now is a great time to do so. Peruse the platform’s course list and take advantage of the affordable plans here.

What Are the Best MasterClass Deals? Pricing, Discounts

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The best way to save on MasterClass right now is to split a membership with friends or family. At the time of this writing, the Standard plan costs $10 per month and allows one user at a time, while the Plus plan costs $15 per month and can be shared between two users. The Premium plan, meanwhile, costs $20 per month and allows up to six users at once, making it the best value per person. Split the Premium plan among six people, and you’ll pay just $3.33 per person, per month.

How Does MasterClass Work? What Courses Does It Offer?

MasterClass offers more than 200 courses (and counting) across a wide range of categories, from writing and music to business and branding. Just a few of the standout courses include “The New Rules of Business” with Kim Kardashian, “Dopamine” with Dr. Anne Lembke, “Designing a Home that Tells a Story” with Joanna Gaines, and creative writing with Margaret Atwood.

spotlight feature

Ringo Starr Teaches “Drumming & Creative Collaboration”

You might not have learned to play an instrument with the original Beatles at Abbey Road, but you still have the opportunity to learn from someone who was actually there. Ringo Starr teaches a MasterClass for fans that covers everything from “drum kit essentials” to his secrets for being the best in the biz. The course includes 12 classes in total.

Typically, drumming lessons can cost hundreds of dollars per month, but with MasterClass, you can learn from one of the industry’s most iconic and influential musicians for as little as $3.33 per month.

Created with beginners in mind, MasterClass courses focus on video lessons divided into short, easy-to-digest segments you can watch at your own pace. These lessons are accessible on your phone, laptop, tablet, or streaming device, so you can fit in a session whenever it works for you — whether on your lunch break or while traveling.

Beyond the video lessons, most MasterClass courses also include a workbook and opportunities for community interaction, giving you a chance to practice what you’ve learned and share your work with fellow students.

MasterClass also offers a more intensive type of course called “Sessions.” These begin on a set date, involve more hands-on work, and include more feedback from peers. Sessions’ lessons have included video production with Marques Brownlee, negotiation with Chris Voss, and photography with Petra Collins.

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Whether you’re considering MasterClass for yourself, your family, or your team, be sure to check out the platform’s best-priced plans here. %!s()

The new round would more than triple Modal’s valuation from the $4.65 billion it reached when it announced its $355 million previous fundraise just four months ago.

Modal Labs declined to comment.

The deal comes amid soaring demand for inference services, the process of running an AI model that’s already been trained to generate outputs, particularly from customers relying on open-source models. Other inference startups are also in talks to raise fresh capital at much higher valuations. Baseten is nearing an infusion of capital at a $26 billion valuation, doubling what it was worth in June, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Fireworks and Fal, a startup providing inference for video and image generation, have also talked to investors about new rounds that would significantly increase their valuations, according to The Information.

Although revenue for these companies has been growing rapidly, their margins are thin, largely because the cost of acquiring or leasing compute remains very high. Fireworks announced in July that its annualized revenue had hit $1 billion, a fivefold increase from the year before. Multiple inference-focused startups are expected to reach the same revenue milestone by year’s end, according to our source.

Modal was founded in 2021 by CEO Erik Bernhardsson and CTO Akshat Bubna. Bernhardsson, who is Swedish, spent more than 15 years building data teams at companies including Spotify, where he helped build the music-streaming service’s recommendation system, and Better.com, the online mortgage lender, where he served as chief technology officer. Bubna studied math and computer science at MIT and was an early staff engineer at Scale AI, the data-labeling startup, before co-founding Modal.

The company, which is based in New York and estimated to have roughly 150 employees, lets developers train AI models and run other compute-heavy workloads without managing their own servers. Its web page lists customers that include the coding startup Cognition, the AI music generator Suno, the fintech company Ramp, and the publishing platform Substack.

As of May, Modal had surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue, it told Reuters at the time.

The fundraising talks come two months after Modal was pulled into one of the AI industry’s most closely watched security incidents. In late July, Modal disclosed that a customer’s data had been compromised as part of the same hacking campaign carried out by a rogue OpenAI agent against Hugging Face.

Modal Chief Technology Officer Akshat Bubna said the breach traced back to a flaw in a customer’s own code, not to Modal’s systems. “We’re aware a Modal customer published an unauthenticated endpoint that allowed anyone on the internet to use their sandboxes for code execution,” Bubna said in a statement to press outlets at the time. “This was used by the rogue agent. Modal’s platform was not compromised in any way,” he’d added.

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Marina Temkin is a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she wrote about VC for PitchBook and Venture Capital Journal. Earlier in her career, Marina was a financial analyst and earned a CFA charterholder designation.

You can contact or verify outreach from Marina by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at +1 347-683-3909 on Signal.

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