Apple iPhone 14 launch event confirmed and Sony PS5 DualSense Edge controller revealed

Also: PSVR 2 release window teased and Amazon's Alexa Game Control will let you play Dead Island 2 with your voice

Your friendly neighborhood Swider-Man here in NYC 🕸️,

There’s a ton of tech and gaming news on The Shortcut today, and enough happening to break it all down in an email alert. ⬇️

I’ll help you trade in that old iPhone for a new iPhone 14 starting September 7

🍎 Coming soon: I’ll personally help you get the best iPhone 14/Apple Watch 8 trade-in deals

Like I’ve done with each PS5 restock and I’ve continued to do for the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 / Flip 4, I’ll point you to the best new iPhone and Apple Watch prices & trade-in deals during Apple’s event on Wednesday, September 7.

Apple’s trade-in offers have gotten stronger in recent years and its main competition, Samsung, has given Apple every reason to increase iPhone Upgrade values. There’s no reason you should pay full price, yet have a drawer of old iPhones.

Trade-in deals from Samsung are still available until Thursday night:

• 📱 As low as $99 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 (🏆 proven to be the most popular)

• 📱 As low as $799 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (🎮 great for gaming)

• ⌚ As low as $144 Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro

• 🎧 As low as $154 Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro

• 📱 As low as $299 Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

• 📱 As low as $99 Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus

I’ll do the same when the iPhone and Apple Watch launch

• More deals from today:

• 🏷️ Best Buy Deal of the Day: $150 off a Dyson Vacuum

• 🌟 Walmart deal of the day: $98 Chromebook mini laptop

• 💻 $100 off MacBook Air at B&H Photo, $300 MacBook Pro

• 🎮 PlayStation Plus discount code and Xbox Game Pass deals

📧 I usually get 60 to 70 people replying to me daily (via email and Twitter DMs). I try to get back to as many subscribers as possible. I’m here to help. Don’t be shy.

Also, 120+ people replied to this tweet about the new PS5 DualSense Edge controller, and while Sony is likely to charge a lot more for this “pro” gamepad, I’ll show you a way to save money when it does in fact launch. Most people want it for $100 to $120 😅 when Sony is likely to charge at least $179 (maybe $199) 😮, in my opinion (and Adam’s opinion too).

Cue: more trade-ins soon – I’ll try to take the sting 🐝 out of the price.

Matt Swider (tracking PS5 / Xbox / GPU restock) @mattswider

🤔How much would you pay for PS5 DualSense Edge, Sony's new Pro ultra-customizable controller? Worth it? Details on TheShortcut.com theshortcut.com/p/meet-the-dua… Easily get PS5 from Walmart & Sony right now mttswdr.co/walmart-ps5-di… Requires Walmart+ mttswdr.co/walmart-plus

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It’s going to be a busy September… 😅

Apple event confirmed for September 7 – iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 expected

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Apple event

• 🚀 Launch event: Wed, Sept 7 at 1pm ET / 10am PT for phones & watches

• 🛍️ Pre-order date: likely Fri, September 9 at 8am ET for pre-orders

• 📆 Delivery date: likely Fri, September 16 for shipments/store pick-ups

• 📱 iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max

• ⌚ Apple Watch 8, Apple Watch SE 2, Apple Watch 8 Rugged Edition

What’s happening on September 7 at 1pm ET

At 1pm ET / 10am PT, the confirmed Apple Event will likely give us our first official look at the iPhone 14 series and Apple Watch Series 8 (and Watch SE 2). In total, 7 new Apple devices are expected to be unveiled at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino.

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PS5 DualSense Edge Controller price analysis: how much will Sony's pro controller cost?

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: DualSense Edge

• 🆕 Sony’s PS5 DualSense Edge is a new ultra-customizable controller

• 🤓 Change the stick caps, back buttons, deactivate specific buttons & more

• 😲 You can also save multiple control profiles, adjust your setups while in-game, and even replace each individual stick module

• 📆 Release date: No timing yet, we suspect before the holidays

• 💰 Price: Could cost between $179 and $249 (explained in the full story)

• 🤔 A price point of $199 seems likely, considering its features

• 😟 Anything higher might put people off, even pro gamers

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PSVR 2 release window is 'early 2023', Sony confirms

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: PSVR 2 news

• 📆 Sony says its PlayStation VR 2 headset is ‘coming in early 2023’

• 🥽 This means Sony’s PSVR 2 headset will miss the holidays

• 💿 But it’ll improve supply and launch with more virtual reality games

• 💰 No word on the PSVR 2 pre-order date or price yet

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Alexa Game Control is Amazon's new voice tool for gamers – and it works with Dead Island 2

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Alexa Game Control

• 🗣️ Alexa Game Control is a new voice tool from Amazon that lets you play games using Alexa

• 🔊 The technology promises to let you perform in-game actions like swapping weapons using your voice

• 🎙️ You can use any microphone or headset, and you don’t need to say the wake word “Alexa”

• 🧟 The feature was announced at Gamescom 2022 and is supported by Dead Island 2 on PC and Xbox Series X|S

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Gamescom 2022: everything announced at Opening Night Live

• 🙌 Too many games announced to name, but the full story has a games list

• 🏆 Gamescom award 2022 winners and nominees listed too

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Pixy, the Snapchat selfie drone, will do what Snap does best – vanish

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Pixy RIP

• 🚁 Snap launched a cute yellow Snapchat selfie drone in April 2022

• 📸 It takes silent selfie videos & pictures 10 seconds at a time

• 💰 Despite being $229 and lighter than any DJI drone, it didn’t sell well

• 🙅‍♂️ Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is sidelining further drone development

• 😬 Remind me to take my drone out of the recycle bin after this photo