Google is in the process of purging Assistant across its products, and the next target is Google Maps. Starting today, Gemini will begin rolling out in Maps, powering new experiences for navigation, location info, and more. This update will eventually completely usurp Google Assistant’s hands-free role in Maps, but the rollout will take time. So for now, the smart assistant in Google Maps will still depend on how you’re running the app.

Across all Gemini’s incarnations, Google stresses its conversational abilities. Whereas Assistant was hard-pressed to keep one or two balls in the air, you can theoretically give Gemini much more complex instructions. Google’s demo includes someone asking for nearby restaurants with cheap vegan food, but instead of just providing a list, it suggests something based on the user’s input. Gemini can also offer more information about the location.

Maps will also get its own Gemini-infused version of Lens for after you park. You will be able to point the camera at a landmark, restaurant, or other business to get instant answers to your questions. This experience will be distinct from the version of Lens available in the Google app, focused on giving you location-based information. Maybe you want to know about the menu at a restaurant or what it’s like inside. Sure, you could open the door… but AI!

While Google has recently been forced to acknowledge that hallucinations are inevitable, the Maps team says it does not expect that to be a problem with this version of Gemini. The suggestions coming from the generative AI bot are grounded in Google’s billions of place listings and Street View photos. This will, allegedly, make the robot less likely to make up a location. Google also says in no uncertain terms that Gemini is not responsible for choosing your route.

How far is 500 feet?

The robot will, however, get involved with the spoken directions. Currently, Google Maps and other navigation systems use vague instructions like “turn in 500 feet.” However, these announcements often arrive far too late to be useful, and can people accurately gauge 500 feet while driving? The Gemini-based solution is to give instructions with landmarks.

Instead of only using distances for turns, Gemini might use a gas station, restaurant, or recognizable sign to help you find your turn. Again, Google says its database of hundreds of millions of locations with accompanying Street View images helps ensure the directions are accurate. Gemini can also alert you to possible slowdowns along your route even if you don’t have Maps open.

Google’s driving alerts for accidents and other traffic complications will also be tied into Gemini. So you’ll be able to just say “there’s an accident” or “traffic jam ahead,” and Gemini will make the report as if you used the multi-step reporting process manually. Gemini in Maps can also connect to other Google services, like adding events to your calendar. And that request can be lumped in with navigation or map-oriented instructions.

If you’re running Google Maps on your phone, Gemini could arrive in the coming days. For those using Android Auto or Google built-in, the rollout will begin “soon.” No, Google doesn’t have anything more specific on that, but that group will get Gemini sooner than Apple Car Play Maps users. Google says it’s still evaluating how to integrate Gemini’s hands-free features with Apple’s more limited platform.

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Posted Thursday 6 November 2025 at 2:59 am AEST (my time).

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I’ve been as much of a thin phone skeptic as anyone. Why would I give up on camera specs and battery life just to shave a couple of millimeters off a phone’s waistline? I asked pretty much exactly that when I first saw Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this year.

But the Motorola Edge 70 may have made me a convert. It’s a cheaper take on the S25 Edge or iPhone Air, out now in the UK and Europe for £699 / €799 (around $920), but it “will not be a US device,” according to Nicole Hagen, Motorola’s head of global product marketing.

It’s just a third of a millimeter thicker than the Air — an all but imperceptible difference — but meets some of that phone’s failings head-on by offering a bigger battery and more durable design. It introduces a few new flaws of its own, but as a blueprint for where thin phones go next, this makes more sense to me than Apple’s and Samsung’s offerings.

We are truly in silicon-carbon battery season, because this is the second time in as many weeks that I’ve found myself praising a manufacturer for fitting a high-capacity battery into a small space. While the Oppo Find X9 Pro uses the novel battery tech to cram an unusually large 7,500mAh cell into a regular-sized phone, Motorola has instead employed it to fit a regular-sized battery into an unusually thin phone.

The Edge 70’s 4,800mAh battery is as big as many flagships’, breezing past the iPhone Air’s “all-day battery life” to last well into a second day. It won’t last a full two days unless you use it lightly, but heavier users will struggle to run the phone dry in a single day.

The silicon-carbon battery fixes the single biggest fear most prospective buyers have about this year’s wave of thin phones, comfortably outclassing the 3,149mAh battery in Apple’s Air or the 3,900mAh cell in Samsung’s Edge. Those phones force buyers to give up battery life. Motorola’s does not.

The Edge 70 tops up quickly with 68W wired charging, and 15W Qi wireless is also available. There isn’t Qi2 support, though Motorola includes a magnetic plastic case with the phone in EMEA if you’re jealous of the Qi2-enabled Pixel 10 phones.

The camera bump isn’t too thick, and I like the way it slopes out of the body.

 

It’s six credit cards thick, if that helps any.

 

That blue button is a shortcut for (you guessed it!) AI stuff.

 

Slim as the case is, it inevitably detracts from just how thin the Edge 70 feels. I’ve only used Samsung and Apple’s thin phones in passing, and after sticking with this phone for a week, I was surprised to find that thin feeling never really got old. I marvel at the phone every time I pick it up, that it can be so thin, so light, so comfortable in the hand.

I’m sure the Air and S25 Edge feel much the same. Where Motorola diverges is in how it built the Edge 70, with an aluminum frame and textured silicone rear that feels less vulnerable than the glass backs of its rivals. This is the only phone of the three to have both an IP68 rating and meet the tougher IP69 standard, and it also meets the MIL-STD-810H military testing standard for durability.

That’s not to say the Edge 70 is indestructible — far from it, especially since the Gorilla Glass 7i used on the screen is more vulnerable than the ceramic-hardened versions on those other phones. But free of the fear of shattering the back, I’ve found myself more carefree about using the phone as is, rather than trapping that thin design in a bulky case.

The camera accents match the AI button.

So that’s that; the Edge 70 has solved thin phones for good. If only, eh? It may have improved on some of Samsung and Apple’s failings, but not all of them — and it introduces a few of its own.

The cameras are the most obvious compromise, though less than you might think. The 50-megapixel main camera isn’t bad, even doing a decent job in dim conditions, though the combination of dark skies and bright lights at an evening soccer game proved too much for it to process perfectly. Unlike the iPhone Air, you get an ultrawide lens alongside it, though there’s still no telephoto — what looks like a third camera is really only a light sensor. You can get a half-decent telephoto for less in the likes of the Galaxy S25 FE or Xiaomi 15T Pro.

Simple photos in bright light come out well from the main camera.

 

The room was dimmer here, but there’s still plenty of detail.

 

This market scene is mostly well lit, but some of the lights are blown out.

 

It handled this restaurant lighting well.

 

And did a great job capturing the various colored lights here.

 

This, however, is… not what my cat’s face looks like.

 

The main camera struggles with the stadium lights at this Arsenal game.

 

And the ultrawide does even worse.

 

Simple photos in bright light come out well from the main camera.

Spec-heads might also take umbrage with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset inside. It’s not a bad chip, but you’ll find flagship silicon in similarly priced devices. It’s plenty of power for most people, but on paper it’s less capable than other phones at this price, even if competitive gamers are likely the only ones who’ll notice.

Expect lots of preinstalled apps.

 

And a few ads for apps you haven’t installed.

 

This looks like my lockscreen, but it’s an ad too.

 

Motorola’s take on Android is the bigger problem, and it’s probably the only version of the operating system getting worse.

Quite simply, a £699 phone — hell, any phone — shouldn’t ship packed to the rafters with ads and bloatware. There are at least 14 Motorola-branded apps preinstalled, and other apps including Candy Crush Saga, Microsoft Copilot, Monopoly Go, Pinterest, and something called Toon Blast.

Worse, the first slot in the app drawer is taken up by a games “folder” that actually just suggests more time-killers I should download, including gems like Block Blast! and Stack Ball. Above that, a suggestions row dynamically recommends three of my own apps I’m likely to need at that moment in time based on my past behavior (which is useful enough), along with a fourth app I don’t have and never want, ranging from payment app MoneyGram to the musical Simply Guitar.

I’m not done yet! The Live Lock Screen is the most egregious of all. Suggested during setup, this replaces your lock screen with a cycling stream of images paired with links to articles from the web on a predefined set of broad interests like “food” or “tech.” These are ads in disguise, but every three or four, you’re rewarded with something more overt — usually a full-screen banner advertising Temu.

It’s easy to turn all of this off and uninstall the apps, but it shouldn’t be there in the first place. Motorola is embarrassing itself by including it.

All the phones’ colors come with a small Pantone swatch on the back.

 

I’m not sure if the way its compromises shake out make the Edge 70 a better phone than the iPhone Air. But as I look forward to where this form factor might go next, Motorola’s phone feels like a better blueprint than Apple’s, and suggests that adopting a silicon-carbon battery is what’s required to elevate the Air’s second generation.

The Edge 70 preserves battery life while shaving down the bulk, and feels just tough enough to risk going case-free so all that hardware R&D doesn’t go wasted. The cameras are basic, but so are the iPhone’s, and it may be underpowered, but who’s buying the year’s third-thinnest phone and hoping for a powerhouse? You want it to feel great and last all day, and on that count, the Edge 70 has nailed it.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge

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Posted Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 6:22 pm AEST (my time).

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• Your Android phone may be lying to you about signal strength, showing more network bars than it actually should.
• Telecom providers can exploit a hidden Android feature to show you an “inflated” signal strength.
• AT&T and Verizon have already been spotted using this tactic.

Source

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Posted Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 4:33 am AEST (my time).

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Apple is working on a low-cost Mac laptop powered by an iPhone chip that it plans to launch in the first half of 2026, according to Bloomberg. The laptop will also have a “a lower-end LCD display” and a screen size that’s “slightly below” the 13.6-inch screen on the current MacBook Air. The laptop will be sold for “well under $1,000,” Bloomberg reports, and the laptop’s price will “fall in a similar range” as the approximately $600 cost for an entry-level iPad and a Magic Keyboard Folio.

So far, laptops with Apple Silicon have used M-series chips. But Apple’s tests have found that the iPhone chip “can perform better than the Mac-optimized M1 used in laptops as recently as a few years ago,” Bloomberg says. The new laptop will have an “entirely new design” and will be aimed at more casual users, students, and businesses.

Earlier this year, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo similarly reported that Apple was developing a more affordable MacBook with an A-series chip. Kuo said that the laptop would be powered by the A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro lineup and would come in a range of colors including silver, blue, pink, and yellow.

The company has also “finished work” on a MacBook Air powered by its recently-introduced M5 chip that it plans to release early next year, Bloomberg reports. MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max are in the works, too.

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Posted Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 4:05 am AEST (my time).

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ZDNET key takeaways

• Spyware can secretly track, record, and steal data from your phone.
• Watch for strange behavior, data spikes, or unknown apps as warning signs.
• Use antivirus tools, update often, and avoid untrusted app sources.

Spyware is a threat to your personal security and privacy that you may not know is on your smartphone.

But what is spyware? It's a form of malware, often packaged as a legitimate mobile application, that may steal your information, track your location, record your conversations, monitor your social media activity, screenshot your actions, and more. It may land on your handset through phishing, as a fake mobile application, or via a once-trustworthy app updated over the air to become an information stealer.

Similarly, a remote monitoring app promoted for parental use or work purposes could be abused to become a privacy invader rather than a legitimate service.

Our guide will run through different forms of malicious software that could end up on your iOS or Android handset, the warning signs of infection, and how to remove spyware from your smartphone. We will also discuss stalkerware and other ways threats closer to home may spy on you -- and what you can do about it.

What is spyware?

Spyware comes in many forms, and it's helpful to know the basic differences before you tackle infections on your handset.

Nuisanceware is often bundled with legitimate apps. It interrupts your web browsing with pop-ups, changes your homepage or search engine settings, and may also gather your browsing data to sell to advertising agencies and networks.

Although considered malvertising, nuisanceware is generally not dangerous or a threat to your core security. Instead, these malware packages focus on generating revenue by forcing ad views or clicks.

There's also generic mobile spyware. These forms of malware steal operating system and clipboard data, as well as anything of potential value, such as cryptocurrency wallet data or account credentials. Spyware isn't always targeted and may be used in spray-and-pray phishing attacks.

Spyware may land on your device through phishing, malicious email attachments, social media links, fraudulent SMS messages, or physical device tampering.

Advanced spyware, sometimes also classified as stalkerware, is a step up from basic spyware. Unethical and often dangerous, this malware is sometimes found on desktop systems but is now more commonly installed on phones.

Spyware and stalkerware may be used for the following purposes:

•     To monitor emails, SMS, MMS messages, and other forms of communication sent and received
•     To intercept live calls to eavesdrop across standard telephone lines or Voice over IP (VoIP) applications
•     To record environmental noise
•     To hijack camera functions to take photos and videos
•     To screenshot mobile device activities and send them to a controller
•     To track victims via GPS
•     To hijack social media apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp
•     For keylogging, account compromise, and data theft

Stalkerware is typically used to spy on an individual and monitor what they do, say, and where they go. Stalkerware is commonly linked to cases of domestic abuse.

Finally, there's government-grade commercial spyware. Pegasus is one of the most well-known variants, sold to governments as a tool for combating terrorism and for law enforcement purposes. Pegasus was ultimately found on smartphones belonging to journalists, activists, political dissidents, and lawyers. Unless you're part of a group of specific interest to ethically challenged governments, it's unlikely that commercial-grade spyware will impact you due to its high cost and the expense of individually selecting and targeting victims.

What are the warning signs of someone trying to install spyware?

There are signs to watch for that might indicate a spyware or stalkerware operator is targeting you.

Finding yourself the recipient of odd or unusual social media messages or emails might be part of a spyware infection attempt. You should delete these without clicking on any links or downloading any files.

The same is true for SMS messages, which may contain links to trick you into unwittingly downloading malware. For example, you could receive an SMS failed delivery notice or a payment "request" that's masked to appear to come from a well-known service. Sometimes these will just be phishing attempts or spam, but they may also have a darker purpose.

To catch you unaware, phishing messages will lure you into clicking a link or running software that hosts a spyware or stalkerware payload. If the malware is being loaded remotely, user interaction is required, and so these messages might try to panic you -- for example, by demanding payment to a tax office or bank. Messages could also use spoofed addresses from a contact you trust.

When it comes to stalkerware, initial infection messages may be more personal and tailored to the victim. Physical access to a handset may be necessary. Unfortunately, installing some variants of stalkerware or advanced spyware can take nothing more than a few seconds.

If your phone goes missing or is out of your possession for a period of time and then reappears with settings or changes you do not recognize, this may indicate that your device has been tampered with.

What are the signs that spyware is on my phone?

Depending on the type of mobile malware, there are signs you can watch out for that may indicate your smartphone has been compromised.

You may experience unexpected handset battery drain, overheating, and strange behavior from your handset's operating system or apps. Settings such as GPS and location functions may turn on and off unexpectedly, or you may experience random reboots and unexplained crashes.

If you suddenly are using far more cellular data than usual, this could also indicate that information is being sent from your smartphone without your knowledge or that remote connections are active.

In addition, you may hear unusual noises or distortion during phone calls -- although this could simply be due to poor reception, it may also be a sign of interception.

You may also have trouble completely turning off your device.

Specific forms of spyware designed to generate fraudulent revenue may be able to obtain sufficient permissions to affect your bank balance. If you are signed up for services or premium SMS plans and you know you didn't consent to them, this could be a sign that spyware is on your device.

Keep an eye on your credit cards for any signs of suspicious payments, as well as any cryptocurrency wallets you own.

An important point to mention is that sometimes spyware or other forms of malicious software might end up on your device via an initially benign app. There have been cases of developers releasing a genuine, useful app in official repositories, such as a currency converter or weather app, and then -- after a large user base has been gathered -- the developers twist the app's functions through a software update.

Unfortunately, there's little that the average user can do if an app is updated with data-stealing and other malicious functions. However, if you recently downloaded a mobile app and now your phone is displaying odd behavior, consider removing it and running a malware scan.

What other signs of spyware might I see on my devices?

Surveillance software is becoming more sophisticated and can be difficult to detect. However, not all forms of spyware and stalkerware are invisible, and it is possible, in many cases, to find out if you are being monitored.

Android

One telltale sign on an Android device is a setting that allows apps to be downloaded and installed outside of the official Google Play Store.

If this setting is enabled, it may indicate tampering and jailbreaking without your consent. Not every form of spyware and stalkerware requires a jailbroken device, though.

This setting is found in most modern Android builds in Settings > Security > Allow unknown sources. (This varies depending on the device and vendor.) You can also check Apps > Menu > Special Access > Install unknown apps to see if anything appears that you do not recognize, but there is no guarantee that spyware will show up on the app list.

Some forms of spyware also use generic names and icons to avoid detection. For example, they may appear to be useful utility apps such as calendars, calculators, utilities, or currency converters. If a process or app appears in the app list that you are not familiar with, a quick online search may help you determine whether it is legitimate.

iOS

iOS devices that aren't jailbroken are generally harder to infect with malware than Android handsets, unless a spyware developer is exploiting a zero-day or unpatched vulnerability.

However, the same principles apply: with the right tool, exploit, or software, your device could be compromised either with physical access or remotely. You may be more susceptible to infection if you have not updated your iPhone's firmware to the latest version and you do not run frequent antivirus scans.

Both iOS and Android phones, however, will typically show some sign of a malware infection.

Will there always be symptoms of a spyware infection?

Unfortunately, no. Advanced spyware and stalkerware may hide themselves well, disguised as legitimate system apps or services, and may limit power usage to avoid detection. 

How can I remove spyware from my device?

By design, spyware and stalkerware are hard to detect and can be difficult to remove. It is not impossible in most cases, but it may take some drastic steps on your part. Sometimes, the last resort may be to scrap your device and start again.

When spyware is removed, especially stalkerware, operators may receive an alert indicating that the victim's device has been cleaned. Should the flow of your information suddenly stop, this would be another clear sign to the attacker that the malicious software has been removed.

Do not tamper with your device if you feel your physical safety may be in danger. Instead, reach out to the police and supporting agencies.

Now, here are some removal options:

• Run a malware scan: There are mobile antivirus solutions available that can detect and remove spyware. This is the easiest solution available, but it may not be effective in every case. Cybersecurity vendors including Malwarebytes, Avast, and Bitdefender all offer mobile spyware-scanning tools. This is the easiest option for run-of-the-mill infections.
• Use a dedicated spyware removal tool: You can also try using software specifically designed to detect and remove spyware. However, be careful to download tools only from reputable firms and official sources, as one of the most common ways to distribute malware is to disguise it as antivirus software.
• Delete suspicious apps: Examine the list of installed apps on your handset and remove any you don't recognize, as well as any you don't use anymore.
• Check device administration: Found within advanced security settings, you can check to see if any suspicious apps have administration permission levels. If so, you can try to remove them, although this could mean you need to restore your handset to factory settings.
• Reboot in Safe mode: Restarting your smartphone in Safe mode will prevent third-party software from operating. On Android handsets, you can usually do this by long-pressing the power-off button and selecting Safe mode. This can allow you to safely uninstall apps -- but it is not a failsafe solution against advanced spyware variants.
• Update your operating system: It may seem obvious, but when an operating system releases a new version, which often comes with security patches and upgrades, it can -- if you're lucky -- cause conflict and problems with spyware. Keep this updated.

If you have found suspicious software on your handset, consider the following:

• Change your passwords, enable biometrics: If you suspect account compromise, change the passwords of every important account you have. Many of us have one or two central "hub" accounts, such as an email address linked to all of our other services. Remove access to any such hub services you use from a compromised device. For added security, consider changing your account passwords on a PC and forcing a logout on other devices, and enabling biometric authentication to prevent physical handset tampering.
• Create a new email address: Known only to you, the new email becomes tethered to your main accounts. If stalkerware is involved, this should be an option you consider if it is safe. It can help you wrestle back control of your accounts in a discreet and quiet way without alerting anyone.

What can I do about advanced, commercial spyware?

Government-grade spyware can be more difficult to detect. However, as noted in a guide on Pegasus and other forms of commercial-grade malware published by Kaspersky, there are some actions you can take to mitigate the risk of being subject to such surveillance, based on current research and findings:

• Reboots: Reboot your device daily to prevent persistence from taking hold. The majority of infections appear to be based on zero-day exploits with little persistence; therefore, rebooting can hamper attackers.
• Disable iMessage and FaceTime (iOS): As features enabled by default, iMessage and FaceTime are attractive avenues for exploitation. A number of new Safari and iMessage exploits have been developed in recent years.
• Use an alternative browser other than Safari or default Chrome: Some exploits do not work well on alternatives such as Firefox Focus or the Tor Browser.
• Use a trusted, paid VPN service and install an app that warns when your device has been jailbroken. Some AV apps will also perform this check.
• GrapheneOS: It is also recommended that individuals who suspect a Pegasus infection make use of a secondary device, preferably running the Android-based GrapheneOS, for secure communication.

How do I keep spyware and stalkerware off my device?

Unfortunately, no mobile device is completely protected against the scourge of spyware. However, we have provided some tips below to mitigate the risk of future infections:

• Protect your device physically: Your first line of defense is to maintain adequate physical controls. Modern smartphones allow you to set PIN codes and patterns or use biometrics, including fingerprints or retina scans, to prevent your handset from being physically tampered with.
• Update your operating system: When updates are available, install them promptly. They contain security fixes and patches and are one of the most important defenses against malware.
• Use antivirus software: Mobile antivirus solutions can detect and remove spyware. Running frequent scans will help protect your handset.
• Only download apps from official sources: Most spyware and malware are found outside Google Play and the App Store, so be cautious about installing apps from third-party websites.
• Enable app security: Enable built-in scanners that check any new app installs. On Android, you can find this setting in Security and privacy > App security.
• Check permissions: You should monitor what permissions have been issued to what apps, and when. On Android, this can be found in Security and privacy > Permission manager. If you haven't used an app for a while that has extensive permissions, consider deleting it. If any apps appear more intrusive than necessary, remove them.
• Watch out for malicious links: Mobile malware is often spread through phishing and malicious links on platforms such as social media services. These links may urge you to download apps from outside of Google Play or the App Store and may be disguised as everything from antivirus software to streaming services.
• Do not jailbreak your device: Jailbreaking not only voids your warranty but can also allow malicious apps and software to have a deep foothold in your operating system, which may make removal extremely difficult or impossible.
• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA): When account activity and logins require further consent from a mobile device, this can also help protect individual accounts. (However, spyware may intercept the codes sent during 2FA protocols.)

Source

As Mark Gurman noted in his Power On newsletter, the new Siri “will lean on Google’s Gemini model” and aims to introduce features like AI-powered web search. Yet, it remains to be seen if Apple users would embrace an AI assistant powered by a Google model, or “that it can undo years of damage to the Siri brand.”

To prepare Siri for its launch in March next year, Apple is reportedly paying Google to develop a custom Gemini-based model to power the assistant. This model will run on Apple’s private cloud servers, but that doesn’t mean the Apple ecosystem will suddenly be filled with Google services or Gemini features already available on Android devices.

Instead, Siri will rely solely on a Google-developed AI model, which will power new AI features for Apple users within the Apple interface. Gurman added that neither company is expected to publicly discuss the partnership.

It was previously reported that Apple was in talks with Anthropic to use its Claude models to power Siri. However, given Apple’s long-standing relationship with Google over their search deal, the company ultimately decided to go with Google’s AI models instead.

While Apple’s iPhones are selling like hotcakes in the global market, the devices still lack robust built-in AI features compared to their Android counterparts.

Moreover, Gurman said the release of the revamped Siri will coincide with the launch of Apple’s new smart display, which will be available in both speaker-based and wall-mounted versions. Apple also plans to unveil the latest versions of its operating systems at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2026, while bringing major updates to Apple Intelligence.

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Posted Monday 3 November 2025 at 6:08 pm AEST (my time).

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Apple's long-delayed Siri revamp could be powered by Gemini as the Cupertino-based tech giant 'leans' on Google to power the big upgrade to its voice assistant, according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apart from the Siri upgrade, Apple is also said to power a new AI-powered web search feature using Gemini.

Reportedly, Apple had held a bake-off earlier in the year between Anthropic and Google and while it found Claude models better, Gemini made better financial sense for the company. Apple already has a search partnership in place with Google where the Gemini maker pays the company to have its search engine as default on iPhone. Apple is now said to be paying Google to create a custom Gemini-based model which can run on its private cloud servers.

Gurman, however, points out that using Gemini does not mean that iPhones would get 'flooded' with the AI features found on Android devices. Instead, Siri will be powered by a model which can provide AI features that users expect along with an Apple user interface.

As for the launch timeline, Apple is still said to be planning to roll out the new Siri revamp in March next year, which could be accompanied by the release of new smart home products.

Notably, the Siri revamp was first unveiled at Apple's WWDC 2024 conference where the company showed the voice assistant's abilities regarding on-screen awareness, personal context understanding, and cross-app actions. If this were to have materialized, it would have helped the voice assistant become a "hands-free" controller for the iPhone, as Apple intended.

Instead, Siri is now relying on ChatGPT for answering more difficult queries from users, and the voice assistant is facing growing competition from a wave of AI startups.

Meanwhile, Apple is said to unveil iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and more at the company's WWDC event next year. The new software versions are said to be accompanied by major updates to Apple Intelligence and the broader AI strategy.

On April 1, Apple will also mark 50 years of its existence, and the company is planning a number of launches to mark that milestone. Among the major launches slated for next year is the first foldable iPhone that the company could unveil at the September launch event. The phone is reported to come with the company's in-house C2 chip, ditching the Qualcomm modem instead.

Source

Despite being a vast repository of personal information, smartphones used to have little by way of security. That has thankfully changed, but companies like Cellebrite offer law enforcement tools that can bypass security on some devices. The company keeps the specifics quiet, but an anonymous individual recently logged in to a Cellebrite briefing and came away with a list of which of Google’s Pixel phones are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking.

This person, who goes by the handle rogueFed, posted screenshots from the recent Microsoft Teams meeting to the GrapheneOS forums (spotted by 404 Media). GrapheneOS is an Android-based operating system that can be installed on select phones, including Pixels. It ships with enhanced security features and no Google services. Because of its popularity among the security-conscious, Cellebrite apparently felt the need to include it in its matrix of Pixel phone support.

The screenshot includes data on the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, and Pixel 9 family. It does not list the Pixel 10 series, which launched just a few months ago. The phone support is split up into three different conditions: before first unlock, after first unlock, and unlocked. The before first unlock (BFU) state means the phone has not been unlocked since restarting, so all data is encrypted.

This is traditionally the most secure state for a phone. In the after first unlock (AFU) state, data extraction is easier. And naturally, an unlocked phone is open season on your data.

This blurry screenshot appears to list which Pixel phones Cellebrite devices can hack. Credit: rogueFed 

At least according to Cellebrite, GrapheneOS is more secure than what Google offers out of the box. The company is telling law enforcement in these briefings that its technology can extract data from Pixel 6, 7, 8, and 9 phones in unlocked, AFU, and BFU states on stock software. However, it cannot brute-force passcodes to enable full control of a device. The leaker also notes law enforcement is still unable to copy an eSIM from Pixel devices. Notably, the Pixel 10 series is moving away from physical SIM cards.

For those same phones running GrapheneOS, police can expect to have a much harder time. The Cellebrite table says that Pixels with GrapheneOS are only accessible when running software from before late 2022—both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 were launched after that. Phones in both BFU and AFU states are safe from Cellebrite on updated builds, and as of late 2024, even a fully unlocked GrapheneOS device is immune from having its data copied. An unlocked phone can be inspected in plenty of other ways, but data extraction in this case is limited to what the user can access.

The original leaker claims to have dialed into two calls so far without detection. However, rogueFed also called out the meeting organizer by name (the second screenshot, which we are not reposting). Odds are that Cellebrite will be screening meeting attendees more carefully now.

We’ve reached out to Google to inquire about why a custom ROM created by a small non-profit is more resistant to industrial phone hacking than the official Pixel OS. We’ll update this article if Google has anything to say.

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Developers can now submit additional items to App Review when their existing submission is already under review. According to the company's updated submission guidelines, developers can submit one or more In-App Events in a separate submission if they have an app version under review.

They can submit an app version addressing a critical bug, separate from the existing custom product pages under review. Developers can also submit one or more Game Center features in a separate submission from an app version under review. The items could be leaderboards, achievements, challenges, and other stuff.

Apple has doubled the number of custom product pages, and app developers can now publish up to 70 custom pages at any given time. Custom product pages showcase the features of apps or games through app previews, screenshots, and other marketing materials.

Developers can make these pages more discoverable on the App Store by adding relevant keywords to each custom product page. When people search for these keywords, the App Store will show the app's custom product page in the search results instead of its default product page, Apple said.

The iPhone-maker has also updated Offer codes to support all In-App purchase types, including consumable, non-consumable, and non-renewing subscriptions, in addition to auto-renewable subscriptions. Offer codes let developers give users a taste of their app's or game's features for a limited time, either for free or at a discount on in-app purchases.

Offer codes are built on top of another feature, promo codes, offering more customer eligibility options, expiration dates, and a limit of up to one million codes per quarter. Apple said that promo codes will stop supporting in-app purchases starting March 26 next year.

Developers will no longer be able to create promo codes for in-app purchases in App Store Connect. However, users can redeem existing promo codes until they expire. Apple added that developers can continue using promo codes to offer free app downloads.

The App Store is like a mini ecosystem in itself, but it sometimes lands the company in trouble. Being home to millions of apps and games, it's often a common target for bad actors and fraudsters. Speaking of which, Apple claims it has saved users from losing over $9 billion due to fraudulent transactions over the last five years.

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Posted Friday 31 October 2025 at 5:11 am AEST (my time).

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Besides new icons, which, interestingly, look slightly different from what Microsoft recently showcased alongside the rejected variants, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint now support Apple's new Liquid Glass design language, introduced with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. You will notice the new keyboard, an updated floating bar with Home, Create, and Browse tabs. The search button has been moved to the bottom, again, to align with Apple's new design principles.

Another change in the updated apps is filters for templates. Now, when creating a new document using a template, you can filter and switch between different categories for quick search. For example, Flyers, Resumes, Invoices, and more. This makes finding the necessary template much faster, with no need to scroll a single long list of templates.

The Liquid Glass redesign, alongside template filters and new icons, is now publicly available on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and visionOS 26, starting with app version 2.102 and newer. You can find Microsoft's announcement post here. However, if you struggle with accessing Microsoft's services, it's because Azure is currently suffering from a massive outage, which took down plenty of companies' websites and services.

You can download Word for iOS here, Excel here, and PowerPoint here in the App Store.

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Posted Thursday 30 October 2025 at 12:10 pm AEST (my time).

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Throughout 2025, Google has been extremely busy adding new features and safety measures to Messages, and it doesn't look like they're slowing down anytime soon. We've seen everything from sensitive content warnings for images and videos arrive, to a revamped gallery picking interface, fixing group chat icons, and much more. Now, Google is reportedly working on some smaller quality-of-life upgrades.

First spotted by Android Authority, Google Messages could get a trash folder in an upcoming update, in addition to the archive feature. The outlet found several bits of new code that specifically mention a trash can, trash folder, or "trashed conversations."

This suggests that Google is preparing a trash bin that'll arrive in a future update.

It's worth mentioning that Google Messages is pretty feature-packed and already has an extremely helpful text archive option.

You can set the app to archive messages by default instead of deleting them. That way, even if you accidentally delete a message, you can jump back into your archived chats and restore it. However, these take up space, and the archive never gets deleted.

The way things work now is you can delete a message, and it's gone for good, or archive it, which will hide it but stay on your device permanently. Apparently, Google wants a middle ground between the two.

 While we're not sure how the new trash folder will work in Google Messages, it'll probably function similarly to the Trash in Gmail, where everything you delete is stored for 30 days before being automatically deleted. Google could also make it customizable with a set time limit, but we'll have to wait and see.

It's important to remember that just because we see signs of a feature in an app teardown doesn't automatically mean it'll become a new feature. Google could decide to scrap this idea entirely. That said, it sounds super helpful and will make the Archive feature truly an archive while allowing users to delete everything else without worrying that it'll be gone forever. While waiting for this to arrive, check out these 9 Google Messages features everyone should know.

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According to a new report from Korean outlet The Bell, Apple plans to increase the standard iPhone 18’s memory to 12GB. The company has reportedly asked Samsung to boost the supply of LPDDR5X memory chips for its next-generation iPhone models.

Samsung’s LPDDR5X chips are currently available only in 12GB and 16GB variants. Meanwhile, the Korean outlet reports that Apple is also in talks with SK Hynix and Micron to supply a portion of its memory chips for the iPhone 18 series.

This suggests a few potential scenarios. First, Apple may choose to keep 8GB of RAM in the base iPhone 18 while adopting faster memory chips. In this case, Samsung’s 12GB and 16GB LPDDR5X chips would remain exclusive to the Pro models. However, another scenario, based on the new report, suggests that the base iPhone 18 could finally see its memory increase to 12GB.

Given Apple’s history of differentiating iPhone models through hardware specifications, if the company decides to increase the iPhone 18’s memory to 12GB, we can likely expect the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to land with 16GB of RAM. The current iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max all come with 12GB of memory.

The demand for higher RAM in smartphones is mostly driven by power-hungry AI features. If Apple launches an AI-enabled version of Siri with the iPhone 18 series, it could justify increasing the memory.

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Posted Sunday 26 October 2025 at 4:42 am AEST (my time).

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The warning comes from Microsoft and it’s aimed at Windows 10 PCs that have now fallen off support with the OS reaching end-of-life on Oct. 14. But at most that affects 400 million users, likely a much lower number than that given an additional year’s support is freely available. Meanwhile, a billion smartphones are running that risk.

Microsoft is highlighting “the hidden dangers," where “unsupported systems aren’t just outdated, they’re unprotected. ” Windows is squarely in every hacker’s crosshairs, but we live with a mobile-first threat landscape.

Your phone is the digital key to your life — and it’s constantly at risk.

“At any given point in the year, over 50% of mobile devices are running outdated OS versions, and a significant number are compromised or infected,” Zimperium says. Half that number can update, they just haven’t. But between 25% and 33% of smartphones now in use are running outdated versions of Android or iOS and can’t update.

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The lawsuit, which was spearheaded by British academic Dr. Rachael Kent, argued that Apple holds a “100% monopoly” over app distribution on iPhones and iPads due to its exclusive control over the App Store and restrictive policies on in-app purchases. The CAT found that Apple's commission practices indeed shut out competition in the app distribution market, resulting in “exorbitant profits” at the expense of developers and consumers. Members of the claimant class were declared entitled to damages, with the exact amount to be determined in a coming hearing.

Many developers have scrutinized Apple's 30% tax over the years as monopolistic and excessive. Although the company has now modified its commission model, it continues to face legal setbacks in other regions, such as the U.S. and the EU as well.

In response to the lawsuit, Apple's spokesperson said to Reuters that the company will appeal the ruling, rejecting the tribunal’s findings as a “flawed view of the thriving and competitive app economy.” It highlighted the role of the App Store in providing a secure platform for consumers and developers alike, supporting innovation and privacy protection. Apple also added that 85% of developers pay no commission, relying on alternative arrangements or free apps, and argues that the fees are justified by the extensive services it offers developers.

If ruled against Apple, the lawsuit could set back Apple billions in the U.K. alone, with similar cases pending worldwide, which could potentially pressurize Apple to reexamine its App Store commission model.

Via Reuters

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Posted Friday 24 October 2025 at 8:12 am AEST (my time).

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Apple’s iPhone Air was the company’s most interesting new iPhone this year, at least insofar as it was the one most different from previous iPhones. We came away impressed by its size and weight in our review. But early reports suggest that its novelty might not be translating into sales success.

A note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose supply chain sources are often accurate about Apple’s future plans, said yesterday that demand for the iPhone Air “has fallen short of expectations” and that “both shipments and production capacity” were being scaled back to account for the lower-than-expected demand.

Kuo’s note is backed up by reports from other analysts at Mizuho Securities (via MacRumors) and Nikkei Asia. Both of these reports say that demand for the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro models remains strong, indicating that this is just a problem for the iPhone Air and not a wider slowdown caused by tariffs or other external factors.

The standard iPhone, the regular-sized iPhone Pro, and the big iPhone Pro have all been mainstays in Apple’s lineup, but the company has had a harder time coming up with a fourth phone that sells well enough to stick around. The small-screened iPhone mini and the large-screened iPhone Plus were each discontinued after two generations.

None of this means the iPhone Air is in immediate danger of disappearing; if Apple discontinues it instead of releasing a follow-up, it’s most likely to happen next September when the company introduces its next round of hardware updates. The engineering work Apple did to make the Air work could also be reused in other products, including a possible foldable phone that rumors have said is coming.

But if the Air is really selling as slowly as these reports indicate, it would strongly suggest what some Air skeptics believed from the beginning: that people will gladly carry around a couple extra ounces of phone if it means better battery life and a more flexible camera.

It doesn’t help the Air that both the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro are strong refreshes. The regular iPhone 17 gets a high-refresh-rate ProMotion screen for the first time while doubling the base storage from 128GB to 256GB without increasing the price. And the iPhone 17 Pro is the opposite of the iPhone Air—it’s both thicker and heavier than its immediate predecessors, but it delivers a significant camera upgrade and excellent battery life.

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Posted Friday 24 October 2025 at 3:06 am AEST (my time).

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This year’s iPad Pro is what you might call a “chip refresh” or an “internal refresh.” These refreshes are what Apple generally does for its products for one or two or more years after making a larger external design change. Leaving the physical design alone preserves compatibility with the accessory ecosystem.

For the Mac, chip refreshes are still pretty exciting to me, because many people who use a Mac will, very occasionally, assign it some kind of task where they need it to work as hard and fast as it can, for an extended period of time. You could be a developer compiling a large and complex app, or you could be a podcaster or streamer editing or exporting an audio or video file, or maybe you’re just playing a game. The power and flexibility of the operating system, and first- and third-party apps made to take advantage of that power and flexibility, mean that “more speed” is still exciting, even if it takes a few years for that speed to add up to something users will consistently notice and appreciate.

And then there’s the iPad Pro. Especially since Apple shifted to using the same M-series chips that it uses in Macs, most iPad Pro reviews contain some version of “this is great hardware that is much faster than it needs to be for anything the iPad does.” To wit, our review of the M4 iPad Pro from May 2024:

Still, it remains unclear why most people would spend one, two, or even three thousand dollars on a tablet that, despite its amazing hardware, does less than a comparably priced laptop—or at least does it a little more awkwardly, even if it’s impressively quick and has a gorgeous screen.

Since then, Apple has announced and released iPadOS 26, an update that makes important and mostly welcome changes to how the tablet handles windowed multitasking, file transfers, and some other kinds of background tasks. But this is the kind of thing that isn’t even going to stress out an Apple M1, let alone a chip that’s twice as powerful.

All of this is to say: A chip refresh for an iPad is nice to have. This year’s model (still starting at $999 for the 11-inch tablet and $1,299 for the 13-inch) will also come with a handy RAM increase for many buyers, the first RAM boost that the base model iPad Pro has gotten in more than four years.

But without any other design changes or other improvements to hang its hat on, the fact is that chip refresh years for the iPad Pro only really improve a part of the tablet that needs the least amount of improvement. That doesn’t make them bad; who knows what the hardware requirements will be when iPadOS 30 adds some other batch of multitasking features. But it does mean these refreshes don’t feel particularly exciting or necessary; the most exciting thing about the M5 iPad Pro means you might be able to get a good deal on an M4 model as retailers clear out their stock. You aren’t going to notice the difference.

Design: M4 iPad Pro redux

Lest we downplay this tablet’s design, the M4 version of the iPad Pro was the biggest change to the tablet since Apple introduced the modern all-screen design for the iPad Pro back in 2018. It wasn’t a huge departure, but it did introduce the iPad’s first OLED display, a thinner and lighter design, and a slightly improved Apple Pencil and updated range of accessories.

As with the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro that Apple just launched, the easiest way to know how much you’ll like the iPad Pro depends on how you feel about screen technology (the iPad is, after all, mostly screen). If you care about the 120 Hz, high-refresh-rate ProMotion screen, the option to add a nano-texture display with a matte finish, and the infinite contrast and boosted brightness of Apple’s OLED displays, those are the best reasons to buy an iPad Pro. The $299/349 Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad Pro also comes with backlit keys and a slightly larger trackpad than the equivalent $269/$319 iPad Air accessory.

If none of those things inspire passion in you, or if they’re not worth several hundred extra dollars to you—the nano-texture glass upgrade alone adds $700 to the price of the iPad Pro, because Apple only offers it on the 1TB and 2TB models—then the 11- and 13-inch iPads Air are going to give you a substantively identical experience. That includes compatibility with the same Apple Pencil accessory and support for all the same multitasking and Apple Intelligence features.

One other internal change to the new iPad Pro, aside from the M5, is mostly invisible: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread connectivity provided by the Apple N1 chip, and 5G cellular connectivity provided by the Apple C1X. Ideally, you won’t notice this swap at all, but it’s a quietly momentous change for Apple. Both of these chips cap several years of acquisitions and internal development, and further reduce Apple’s reliance on external chipmakers like Qualcomm and Broadcom, which has been one of the goals of Apple’s A- and M-series processors all along.

There’s one last change we haven’t really been able to adequately test in the handful of days we’ve had the tablet: new fast-charging support, either with Apple’s first-party Dynamic Power Adapter or any USB-C charger capable of providing 60 W or more of power. When using these chargers, Apple says the tablet’s battery can charge from 0 to 50 percent in 35 minutes. (Apple provides the same battery life estimates for the M5 iPads as the M4 models: 10 hours of Wi-Fi web usage, or nine hours of cellular web usage, for both the 13- and 11-inch versions of the tablet.)

Two Apple M5 chips, two RAM options

Apple sent us the 1TB version of the 13-inch iPad Pro to test, which means we got the fully enabled version of the M5: four high-performance CPU cores, six high-efficiency GPU cores, 10 GPU cores, a 16-core Neural Engine, and 16GB of RAM.

Apple’s Macs still offer individually configurable processor, storage, and RAM upgrades to users—generally buying one upgrade doesn’t lock you into buying a bunch of other stuff you don’t want or need (though there are exceptions for RAM configurations in some of the higher-end Macs). But for the iPads, Apple still ties the chip and the RAM you get to storage capacity. The 256GB and 512GB iPads get three high-performance CPU cores instead of four, and 12GB of RAM instead of 16GB.

For people who buy the 256GB and 512GB iPads, this amounts to a 50 percent increase in RAM capacity from the M1, M2, and M4 iPad Pro models, or the M1, M2, and M3 iPad Airs, all of which came with 8GB of RAM. High-end models stick with the same 16GB of RAM as before (no 24GB or 32GB upgrades here, though the M5 supports them in Macs). The ceiling is in the same place, but the floor has come up.

Given that iPadOS is still mostly running on tablets with 8GB or less of RAM, I don’t expect the jump from 8GB to 12GB to make a huge difference in the day-to-day experience of using the tablet, at least for now. If you connect your iPad to an external monitor that you use as an extended display, it might help keep more apps in memory at a time; it could help if you edit complex multi-track audio or video files or images, or if you’re trying to run some kind of machine learning or AI workflows locally. Future iPadOS versions could also require more than 8GB of memory for some features. But for now, the benefit exists mostly on paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for benchmarks, the M5’s gains in the iPad are somewhat more muted than they are for the M5 MacBook Pro we tested. We observed a 10 or 15 percent improvement across single- and multi-core CPU tests and graphics benchmark improvements that mostly hovered in the 15 to 30 percent range. The Geekbench 6 Compute benchmark was one outlier, pointing to a 35 percent increase in GPU performance; it’s possible that GPU or rendering-heavy workloads benefit a little more from the new neural accelerators in the M5’s GPU cores than games do.

In the MacBook review, we observed that the M5’s CPU generally had higher peak power consumption than the M4. In the fanless iPad Pro, it’s likely that Apple has reined the chip in a little bit to keep it cool, which would explain why the iPad’s M5 doesn’t see quite the same gains.

The M5 and the 12GB RAM minimum help to put a little more distance between the M3 iPad Air and the Pros. Most iPad workloads don’t benefit in an obvious user-noticeable way from the extra performance or memory right now, but it’s something you can point to that makes the Pro more “pro” than the Air.

Changed hardware that doesn’t change much

The M5 iPad Pro is nice in the sense that “getting a little more for your money today than you could get for the same money two weeks ago” is nice. But it changes essentially nothing for potential iPad buyers.

I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone who would be well-served by the M5 iPad Pro who wouldn’t have been equally well-served by the M4 version. And if the M4 iPad Pro was already overkill for you, the M5 is just a little more so. Particularly if you have an M1 or M2 ; People with an A12X or A12Z version of the iPad Pro from 2018 or 2020 will benefit more, particularly if you’re multitasking a lot or running into limitations or RAM complaints from the apps you’re using.

But even with the iPadOS 26 update, it still seems like the capabilities of the iPad’s software lags behind the capabilities of the hardware by a few years. It’s to be expected, maybe, for an operating system that has to run on this M5 iPad Pro and a 7-year-old phone processor with 3GB of RAM.

I am starting to feel the age of the M1 MacBook Air I use, especially if I’m pushing multiple monitors with it or trying to exceed its 16GB RAM limit. The M1 iPad Air I have, on the other hand, feels like it just got an operating system that unlocks some of its latent potential. That’s the biggest problem with the iPad Pro, really—not that it’s a bad tablet, but that it’s still so much more tablet than you need to do what iPadOS and its apps can currently do.

• A fast, beautiful tablet that’s a pleasure to use.
• The 120Hz ProMotion support and OLED display panel make this one of Apple’s best screens, period.
• 256GB and 512GB models get a bump from 8GB to 12GB of memory.
• Maintains compatibility with the same accessories as the M4 iPad Pro.

• More iPad than pretty much anyone needs.
• Passively cooled fanless Apple M5 can’t stretch its legs quite as much as the actively cooled Mac version.
• Expensive accessories.

• All other hardware upgrades, including the matte nano-texture display finish, require a $600 upgrade to the 1TB version of the tablet.

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Posted Wednesday 22 October 2025 at 12:42 pm AEST (my time).

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Apple’s latest iOS 26.1 beta has a new option that lets you tint Liquid Glass elements of iOS 26 so that they are more opaque. Since announcing Liquid Glass at WWDC this year, Apple has tweaked exactly how glassy Liquid Glass is — early on, there were some legibility issues — but this new setting gives you the choice of making things more transparent or more frosted.

The option is available now in the iOS 26.1 developer beta that Apple launched on Monday. You can access it from Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, where you can choose between “Clear” and “Tinted.” The latest iPadOS 26.1 and macOS 26.1 developer betas also let you tint Liquid Glass, MacRumors reports.

Here’s a few image sliders showing how things look with the clear or tinted Liquid Glass. For each one, the screenshot on the left features the app with the “Clear” Liquid Glass option while the screenshot on the right uses the “Tinted” one. The differences are subtle, but I much prefer the Tinted versions.

 

The Liquid Glass menu in settings.

 

The Verge’s homepage.

 

 

 

The Apple TV app. Apple seems to still be rolling out the Apple TV rebranding.

 

The App Store.

The Liquid Glass toggle isn’t the only handy new option Apple added with the newest iOS 26.1 beta. The update also lets you turn off the ability to swipe to the camera from the lockscreen, which might prevent people who have your phone from taking pictures even if they can’t bypass your lockscreen. You can access the toggle from Settings > Camera > Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera.

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Posted Tuesday 21 October 2025 at 12:56 pm AEST (my time).

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Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that some people at Apple testing the unreleased iOS 26.4 update have expressed "concerns" about the performance of the upgraded version of Siri, without pointing towards anything specific.

Since iOS 26.4 is expected to be released in about six months, Apple still has considerable time to fix the issues. However, it's been more than a year since Apple flaunted an upgraded version of Siri, which would make the iPhone's voice assistant smarter with features like personal context and on-screen awareness.

Apple has settled for OpenAI's ChatGPT to do the heavy lifting so far, and Elon Musk didn't miss the chance to add some drama to it. We have been hearing that Apple has been working on a revamped Siri with ChatGPT-like capabilities. But what the rumors have revealed so far are unexpected delays, and no major Siri upgrade was announced at this year's WWDC, where iOS 26 was introduced.

What adds to the pain for Apple is that its home-baked AI models have trailed behind those of its rivals. The most recent expectations are from the iOS 26.4 update, which would bring the upgraded Siri to the market around Spring 2026.

While Google has mocked Apple for its AI struggles, recent reports suggest Apple might knock on the search giant's door to use Gemini AI in the revamped Siri. On the other hand, the iPhone-maker is reportedly considering outside technology from OpenAI or Anthropic to power its voice assistant.

Apple's AI struggles have become harder amid the stream of departures, including senior AI executives. This most recent among them is Ke Yang, who jumped ship to Meta just weeks after being appointed to lead Apple's ambitious ChatGPT-like AI project. Yang was the head of the Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team, which was built for Apple's upcoming Siri revamp.

Still, Gurman notes that the AI race hasn't affected Apple's iPhone 17 sales (yet). The Cupertino giant is, in fact, planning to ramp up production for the regular, Pro, and Pro Max variants of the iPhone 17 series. We may get more clarity about its future plans as Apple is due to host its Q4 2025 earnings call at the end of the month.

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Posted Monday 20 October 2025 at 12:15 pm AEST (my time).

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As spotted by reliable leaker Tarun Vats, the image allegedly shows the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is boasting the Galaxy S25 Ultra's design and Galaxy Z Fold7's camera bump. This goes in line with previous rumors that have suggested similar changes to the next year's flagship.

The device is shown in black, which could also be one of the color options for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The three main cameras are placed inside an island, with the remaining two and the LED flashlight resting separately. Apart from this, the cameras on the phone appear to be in the same position as this year's Galaxy S25 Ultra.

While this looks like something that Samsung has done to bring symmetry to its devices, the camera island also gives Samsung some more real estate for bigger camera sensor placement. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is going to feature more rounded corners similar to the likes of the latest iPhones and Google Pixel phones.

Earlier, it was also tipped that Samsung might increase the charging speed in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It is said to feature the fastest charging speed in Samsung's history. Rumors also suggest that the battery inside the Galaxy S26 Ultra will be bigger than that of the S25 Ultra, which features a 5,000 mAh battery.

There are also reports suggesting that Samsung could bring back the variable aperture feature, which it introduced with the Galaxy S9 and S9+, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Based on current rumors, the Galaxy S26 Ultra appears to be an exciting upgrade, with a thin profile, a bigger battery, and better cameras.

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Posted Friday 17 October 2025 at 12:49 pm AEST (my time).

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The Free Software Foundation recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with a landmark event in Boston. During the celebration, FSF announced the Librephone project, their surprise entry into mobile phone software freedom.

The initiative aims to reverse-engineer and replace proprietary blobs (binary blobs) in mobile devices. Now we have more details on this mammoth undertaking.

What's Happening: The Librephone project represents FSF's most ambitious technical challenge yet. Unlike creating another Android distribution, the project focuses on understanding and liberating proprietary software blobs. These closed-source components exist in almost all mobile system-on-chips (SoCs) today.

Rob Savoye, the project's lead developer, brings decades of GNU toolchain experience to the table, with the team expected to systematically reverse-engineer the proprietary components that keep phones locked down.

The FSF states that, as far as they know, a project this ambitious hasn't been attempted before. They recognize mobile phone freedom as one of computing's biggest challenges.

Rob emphasized the project's significance by stating that:

Making fully free software for a modern commercial phone will not be quick, easy, or cheap, but our project benefits from standing on the shoulders of giants who have done most of the work. Please join us, with your efforts and/or with your donations.

What to Expect: The Librephone project's primary goal is liberating proprietary blobs, not creating another mobile OS. They won't be venturing into hardware manufacturing either. Instead, they're targeting the closed-source firmware and drivers that limit freedom.

The team plans to identify phones with the fewest freedom problems first. After that, they intend to create detailed specifications that programmers outside DMCA jurisdictions can implement.

Even popular projects like LineageOS include proprietary binary modules from phone firmware. The FSF has supported projects like Replicant, and Librephone will serve as the foundation for developers building fully free mobile systems.

And, this goes without saying: community involvement is crucial for the project's success.

The FSF is seeking volunteers of various skill levels, not just engineers. Those interested can contribute through donations, testing, documentation, or spreading awareness. You can visit the project website at librephone.fsf.org for more information.

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The new M5 chip features a 10-core CPU, consisting of 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores. It's complemented by a 10-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core and a 16-core Neural Engine for better on-device processing.

Apple claims that the M5 MacBook Pro delivers up to 3.5x better performance for AI workflows and up to 1.6x faster graphics compared to the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro. The speed and power efficiency gains on the new M5 chip contribute to an all-day battery life of up to 24 hours.

The M5 MacBook Pro also improves SSD performance, making it almost twice as fast as the previous generation. Apple has increased the memory bandwidth from 120GB/s to 153GB/s and claims that the new CPU on the M5 delivers 20% faster multithreaded performance compared to M4 for workloads such as code sampling and up to 1.6x faster performance in "pro apps."

It's been five years since the Cupertino giant started its silicon transition, drifting away from Intel over the years. However, Apple didn't miss the opportunity to compare the M5 MacBook Pro with Intel-based counterparts, stating that it "delivers up to 86x faster AI performance, up to 30x faster GPU performance with ray tracing, and up to 5.5x faster CPU performance."

The M5 MacBook Pro is now available for pre-order in 30 countries, including the US, with the same starting price of $1,599. Available in Space Black and Silver color options, it will be up for sale on October 22. Its pricier siblings continue to pack M4 Pro and M4 Max chips; their upgraded M5 versions are expected to arrive in the coming months.

Much of the design and other specs for the base variant 14-inch MacBook Pro remain the same. It continues to feature the Liquid Retina display with 1600 nits peak HDR brightness, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a 12MP Center Stage camera with 1080p video recording.

While the maximum RAM options are limited to 32GB, the M5 MacBook Pro is now configurable up to 4TB of storage, an upgrade from the 2TB storage of previous generations. Speaking of which, Apple now charges $2,000 for the most expensive iPhone 17 model.

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Posted Thursday 16 October 2025 at 3:36 am AEST (my time).

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The new iPad Pro is available in two sizes: 11 inches and 13 inches. The biggest change in these devices is the new Apple M5 processor, which promises faster CPU, more advanced GPU, and a better Neural Engine. Apple claims the M5 is 3.5 times faster in AI performance than the M4, and up to 5.6 times faster than the M1-powered iPad Pro. In rendering, the M5 is 6.7 times faster than the M1 and 1.5 times faster than the M4. Those who render videos on their iPads in Final Cut will see up to 6 times better performance than the M1 iPad Pro and up to 1.2 times better than the M4 iPad Pro.

Besides increasing the raw power, the M5 processor enables 120Hz support for external display and Adaptive Sync support for smoother motion and fewer glitches.

Apple has also increased the memory bandwidth and storage read/write speeds. Memory now operates at 150GB/s (RAM starts at 12GB in 256GB and 512GB configurations), and storage speeds are two times higher. The new iPad Pro also received fast charging support, which now gets the tablet to 50% in 30 minutes.

Another big improvement in the M5-powered iPad Pro is connectivity. Wi-Fi + Cellular models now have the C1X chip, which promises a 50% data speed increase and a 30% lower energy consumption. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support are enabled by the Apple N1 wireless networking chip.

Other than that, the new iPad Pro is similar to its predecessor with the same Tandem OLED displays and accessory support. You can now preorder the new iPad Pro models, with sales beginning October 22. The base 256GB 11-inch iPad Pro still costs $999 ($1,299 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant), while the 13-inch 256GB variant costs $1,199 for Wi-Fi only or $1,499 for Wi-Fi + Cellular. Storage options include 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. The most expensive config will set you back $2,599.

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Posted Thursday 16 October 2025 at 3:34 am AEST (my time).

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Google might have yet another Pixel with a battery problem, and this time, affecting the brand new Pixel 10 Pro Fold. In a video published today, YouTuber JerryRigEverything, aka Zack Nelson, subjected the foldable to his usual durability tests, but as he’s filming his bend test — after having already broken the phone open — the battery expands, appears to overheat, emits enough smoke to set off a nearby fire alarm, and ultimately ends up as a charred wreckage on his testing table.

To be fair, Nelson puts an extraordinary amount of stress on the phone. He originally breaks open the phone by bending it backwards while the phone is fully unfolded, and the battery doesn’t swell up until he exerts a lot of force on the broken part of the phone in such a way that he’s essentially folding the screen behind itself.

That’s not a scenario any normal person is going to encounter day to day. But it’s still unusual even given the extreme circumstances, according to Nelson. He says he hasn’t seen anything like it during prior tests.

“Surprisingly, in the decade that I’ve been durability-testing phones, I have never had a smartphone explode before,” Nelson says. “The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first phone to go up in smoke.” And while he notes that this is an “extreme test,” he adds that “I’ve also subjected every mainstream smartphone made in the past 10 years to these exact same tests. And this is the first time I’ve ever had one fail so spectacularly to the point where my fire alarm is going off.”

Google didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. But this isn’t the first of Google’s battery issues this year: the company updated the Pixel 6A to “address a potential battery overheating risk,” and it also pushed an update to the Pixel 4A to “improve the stability of their battery’s performance.”

“As dramatic as a battery fire is, we don’t think this is necessarily a sign that something is wrong with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold design,” iFixit’s Elizabeth Chamberlain tells The Verge. “The possibility of thermal runaway is just a reality of Li-ion batteries. Looks like Zack probably didn’t discharge the battery before opening up the phone (most new phones have 60%+ charge out of the box). We usually recommend discharging a battery below 25%, but with the extreme stresses Zack places on devices, that may even be too high.

Chamberlain adds that “thermal runaway is basically a local short circuit, and it is most likely to happen when you break through the insulating layers of a jelly roll-style battery.” She also pointed to a post and a video from iFixit about batteries catching fire.

Nelson put the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s IP68 dust resistance to the test, too. While Google has called the phone its “most durable foldable yet” and highlighted the benefits of the phone’s gearless hinge, Nelson pours some dust right onto the hinge and opens and closes the phone, resulting in some sickening crunches as dust gets stuck inside. “This is kind of embarrassing,” Nelson says.

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Posted Wednesday 15 October 2025 at 12:42 pm AEST (my time).

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"The Clips app is no longer being updated, and will no longer be available for download for new users as of October 10, 2025. You can continue to use Clips on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 or earlier," Apple said in a support document.

While the Apple Clips app has been removed from the App Store, you can keep using it if you already have it installed on your iPhone or iPad. You can redownload the app from your Apple account in the App Store.

Apple Clips lets you add speech bubbles, comic book filters, full-screen animated posters, and other fun effects. It also features a catalog of music soundtracks that automatically adjust to match the length of a video. You can share these videos on Instagram, Facebook, the Messages app, or edit them further in iMovie and other third-party apps.

The support page further details the steps to save your Apple Clips videos, both with and without effects, so that you can access them later. Make sure you don't save them as projects but videos and add them to your photo library or other places like your iCloud Drive.

The video editing app has been around since 2017 and received several updates over the years, bringing HDR recording, augmented reality support, and other features. However, you shouldn't confuse it with the feature called "App Clips," which lets you use small parts of an app to complete a task without downloading the entire app.

Apple Clips is yet another addition to the Cupertino giant's graveyard. Earlier this year, Apple discontinued several devices, including the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and AirPods Pro 2, which have been replaced by a newer device lineup.

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Posted Sunday 12 October 2025 at 5:37 pm AEST (my time).

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