Mark Zuckerberg’s AI hiring spree is costing a lot of money. His investors don’t care.
Meta’s stock price shot up over 10 percent on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. Revenue generated in the second quarter was $47.5 billion, up 22 percent from a year ago. Daily users across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp grew to almost 3.5 billion. Meta also warned Wall Street that it would spend more on data centers and hiring next year. In response to all this, the company’s valuation increased by over $175 billion, or more than 12 Scale AI deals.
”Our business continues to perform very well, which enables us to invest heavily in our AI efforts,” Zuckerberg said during today’s earnings call. Meta’s cash cannon is now fully pointed at his new moonshot of achieving superintelligence, or as he puts it, AI that “surpasses human intelligence in every way.” He bragged about providing the richly compensated members of his new superintelligence lab “access to unparalleled compute” for training new models that will “push the next frontier in a year or so.”
Zuckerberg’s last moonshot was the metaverse, which came up only once at the very end of today’s earnings call. It’s too early to compare the two projects, but they share a key similarity: they need the kind of funding that only a company like Meta can provide.
Where AI differs from the metaverse, however, is that it appears to be already improving Meta’s ads business. A new AI model for delivering ads has driven approximately five percent more conversions on Facebook and three percent more conversions on Instagram, according to CFO Susan Li. Large language models are also starting to power how posts are ranked in feeds across the company’s apps, including Threads.
While Meta is still spending heavily on the metaverse (it’s on track to spend a total of $100 billion on its Reality Labs division this year), there’s no mistaking the fact that AI is officially Zuckerberg’s top priority. This time, though, he’s playing catch-up in a heated race, not trying to invent a new platform from scratch. The stakes are much higher, even if he’s playing the game with house money.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that will suspend the de minimis exemption — which allows packages with goods valued less than $800 to enter the US duty-free — for all countries. Earlier this year, Trump ended the de minimis exemption for goods from China and Hong Kong.
The White House says the change goes into effect on August 29th. Per the executive order, for the next six months, goods shipped through the international postal system will either be charged the flat tariff rate based on country of origin (an ad valorem duty) or a specific duty ranging from $80 to $200 per item. After six months, all duties will be calculated as ad valorem duties.
The White House’s argument for ending the exemption is that packages using it are “subject to less scrutiny than traditional imports” and could “pose health, safety, national and economic security risks.” The White House claims that 98 percent of narcotics seizures (by “number of cases”) are from de minimis shipments. It also says that low-value packages from China and Hong Kong accounted for “the majority of de minimis shipments to the United States.”
Have you ever wondered what bops powerful figures are listening to on Spotify? You'd be amazed what you can get with a profile search - but just in case you want them all in one place, there's the Panama Playlists, a newly published collection of data on the musical listening habits of politicians, journalists, and tech figures, as curated by an anonymous figure.
The site appears to have data for a number of notables, including Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Late Night host Seth Meyers. Five people featured on the website confirmed to The Verge that data for them is accurate: "T …
Microsoft just posted the fourth and final quarter of its 2025 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $76.4 billion in revenue and a net income of $27.2 billion during Q4. Revenue is up 18 percent, and net income has increased by 24 percent.
Like clockwork, cloud services are the strong point of Microsoft’s revenue this quarter. Azure revenue grew 39 percent year-over-year, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says “Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue” for the entire financial year, up 34 percent.
The impressive cloud earnings come just weeks after the software maker laid off as many as 9,000 employees earlier this month. Microsoft says it employed 228,000 people on a full-time basis as of June 30th, the same amount as 2024 before the most recent layoffs.
Windows and Surface revenue
The PC market is still feeling the effects of the Trump tariffs and consumer spending, while businesses look to refresh PCs ahead of Windows 10’s end of support in October. As a result, Windows OEM and devices revenue is up3 percent year over year, driven by growth in Windows OEM revenue.
Gartner said earlier this month that PC shipments were up more than 4 percent in the recent quarter, thanks to a Windows 11 refresh cycle for desktop PCs. Microsoft primarily makes money from Windows through OEM revenue, the price that manufacturers pay to license Windows for laptops and PCs.
While this time last year Microsoft’s Surface revenue had been in decline for two years, Microsoft started combining Windows and devices revenue together during this past financial year, so it’s still not clear how Surface is performing. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood did reveal on the company’s earnings call today that devices revenue is expected to decline next quarter, alongside a Windows OEM revenue decline in the “mid to high single digits.”
Microsoft did launch two new Surface devices in the recent quarter, though: the 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop. Both devices launched midway through the quarter, so the full impact of sales on Windows OEM and devices revenue won’t be felt until next quarter.
Xbox and gaming
Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, is up by 13 percent this quarter. Microsoft still isn’t revealing any new Game Pass subscriber numbers, though, and the last time we got an update was in February 2024, when Microsoft revealed there were 34 million subscribers, including Xbox Game Pass Core (previously Xbox Live Gold) members.
While the move to bring more Xbox games to PlayStation might have angered some fans, it has proven to be a successful choice. Preorders for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5topped Sony’s own PlayStation Store earlier this year, and Circana revealed this week that Microsoft had six of the 10 top-selling games on PlayStation in the recent quarter.
“We are now the top publisher on both Xbox and PlayStation this quarter,” said Nadella on an earnings call today. Nadella also revealed “Game Pass annual revenue was nearly $5 billion for the first time,” and confirmed that Microsoft has 500 million monthly active users across gaming platforms and devices.
Xbox hardware is still struggling, though. Xbox hardware revenue is down 22 percent this quarter, despite a busy period for Game Pass. Microsoft increased the prices of its Xbox consoles and controllers worldwide in May, with the Xbox Series X bumped by $100 to $599.99.
Overall gaming revenue at Microsoft is up 10 percent year-over-year, and has increased by $2 billion for the entire fiscal year. Xbox content and services revenue has also increased by 16 percent for the fiscal year, but Xbox hardware revenue has decreased by 25 percent in the fiscal year “driven by lower volume of consoles sold.”
Looking ahead, Microsoft is also heading to the Gamescom show next month, where it will let attendees play with its new Xbox Ally handheld devices. A playable demo of the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong will also be available on the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, as well “a couple more surprises at the show from our partners too.”
In Q1 fiscal 2026, Hood expects Xbox content and services revenue to decline in the mid single digits, alongside an overall gaming revenue decline in the mid to high single digits.
Office and cloud
Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue grew by 18 percent year-over-year, driven by growth in revenue per user and in part to Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. The January price increase to Microsoft 365 consumer plans has also contributed to 20 percent of growth in Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud revenue. There are now 89 million Microsoft 365 consumer subscribers, up 8 percent year-over-year.
It’s Microsoft’s cloud growth that’s really the story this quarter once again. Azure and other cloud services grew by 39 percent, a big jump that was driven by growth across all workloads, according to Microsoft. Server products revenue declined 2 percent, a sign that Microsoft’s customers are increasingly moving to its cloud offerings.
Nadella noted on Microsoft’s earnings call that every Azure region is now AI-first, and all regions support liquid cooling.
LinkedIn revenue was also up 9 percent this quarter, with sessions also growing by 7 percent. Microsoft says it has also seen “record engagement” with LinkedIn this quarter. Even Microsoft’s search and news advertising revenue is up 21 percent, after it has overhauled Bing with AI-powered results and features.
You’ll have to wait a big longer for the Analogue 3D, but 8BitDo’s N64 controller remake is now avialable. | Image: 8BitDo
Analogue’s 4K remake of the Nintendo 64 has been delayed again and again due to the US tariff situation. But at least you can get 8BitDo’s updated take on the N64 controller, which was announced alongside the Analogue 3D, while you wait. You can get one through Amazon in white or black for $39.99 and while it’s one of 8BitDo’s more budget-friendly controllers, its functionality is limited.
The Nintendo 64, which launched in 1996, had an unusual three-prong controller design, with a single analog joystick in the center of the gamepad above the middle grip. The 8BitDo 64 offers the same buttons as the N64’s controller in a more traditional layout, but while it’s easier to hold, the lack of a second joystick limits its compatibility with modern games, which generally expect two. The 8BitDo 64 is compatible with the Switch, Switch 2 (after updating the controller’s firmware), Windows, and Android devices and connects to consoles, PCs, and mobile devices using either a Bluetooth connection or a USB cable.
It also features more durable Hall effect joysticks and shoulder buttons which should help prevent it from developing stick drift over time. But if you’re not planning to use it with the Analogue 3D (someday), the controller will potentially only be useful for playing classic N64 games through an emulator or the Nintendo Switch Online service but your GoldenEye 007 muscle memory may not perfectly transfer over to the updated button layout. Nintendo’s own wireless N64 controller is a more accurate reproduction, but you still need to be a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber to buy one.
Ziff Davis, the media conglomerate that owns outlets like CNET, ZDNet, PCMag, and Mashable is laying off 15 percent of its unionized workforce, for a total of 23 people.
The majority of layoffs are coming from CNET, where 19 people will lose their jobs — even as Ziff Davis goes on a shopping spree. The layoffs will hit CNET coverage areas like the finance, broadband, and sleep beats, as well as the outlet’s copy desk. A handful of staffers across Lifehacker, Mashable, and ZDNet will also be laid off.
“It’s very clear to us that these cuts aren’t about journalism,” Anna Iovine, unit chair of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, says. “They’re based on money and greed.” Iovine noted particular concerns about cutting copy editors and fact checkers.
“Eliminating any coverage is really devastating. These journalists, some of them have decades of experience, and we’re losing [that],” Iovine says.
Ziff Davis has acquired five other companies this year alone, most notably daily news outlet TheSkimm and health outlet Well+Good. CNET was acquired by Ziff Davis in 2024 for $100 million. Ziff Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“At a time when CNET is still building back its reputation after a damaging AI scandal under Red Ventures, Ziff’s decision to further undermine CNET’s human authority is disturbing,” a statement from the bargaining unit reads.
“Our members are so much more than dollars and cents, even as the capricious management at Ziff Davis tries to treat us as such,” the statement continues. “We won a strong collective bargaining agreement just over a year ago, and we will fight to enforce it so we can preserve our ability to continue producing high-quality work for our readers.”
Dropbox is discontinuing its password manager. The tool, Dropbox Passwords, will be discontinued on October 28th, and the company is recommending that you transfer your passwords to another app like 1Password ahead of that date.
The company will shut down Dropbox Passwords in phases. Starting August 28th, Dropbox Passwords will be view-only from both the mobile app and the browser extension, meaning you can’t add new information. At that time, Dropbox will also be deactivating autofill functionality. On September 11th, the mobile app will “stop working.” On October 28th, Dropbox Passwords will be fully shut down, meaning you can’t add or access information and everything that you had stored will be “permanently and securely deleted from our servers.”
Dropbox says it’s discontinuing Dropbox Passwords “as part of our efforts to focus on enhancing other features in our core product.” Dropbox launched Dropbox Passwords in 2020 after acquiring the password manager Valt in 2019.
Roblox and Fortnite are two of the biggest games around, and a huge part of why is because they aren't just one game: instead, they're vast platforms where you can party up with your friends, dress up in ridiculous digital outfits, and quickly jump from one experience to another. Back in the day, Fortnite copied PUBG by making a battle royale, and now, PUBG is mimicking Fortnite by trying to become more of a platform than a game.
As part of a roadmap released earlier this year, PUBG developer Krafton said that it would let players create their own modes as part of an alpha, and it revealed more details about the alpha this month. This week, …
Google will soon cast an even wider net with its AI age estimation technology. After announcing plans to find and restrict underage users on YouTube, the company now says it will start detecting whether Google users based in the US are under 18.
Age estimation is rolling out over the next few weeks and will only impact a “small set” of users to start, though Google plans on expanding it more widely. The company says it will use the information a user has searched for or the types of YouTube videos they watch to determine their age. Google first announced this initiative in February.
If Google believes that a user is under 18, it will apply the same restrictions it places on users who proactively identify as underage. In addition to enabling bedtime reminders on YouTube and limiting content recommendations, Google will also turn off Timeline in Maps, disable personalized advertising, and block users from accessing apps for adults on the Play Store.
In case Google incorrectly identifies someone as under 18, users can submit a photo of their government ID or a selfie to verify their age. The move comes amid a global push for age verification, with politicians in the US pressuring tech companies to make their platforms safer for kids, and the UK widely rolling out an age verification requirement affecting platforms like Bluesky, Reddit, Discord, and even Spotify.
The Find My Skechers line keeps Apple AirTags secure and out of sight. | Screenshot: Skechers
If you’re a parent with kids in school or kids who are independently exploring their neighborhood for the first time, then there’s a good chance you’ve considered stashing a tracker somewhere on their person for added peace of mind. Skechers is making that a little easier with a new line of sneakers for kids that feature a hidden compartment in the sole, which is designed to securely hold an Apple AirTag so you can track your child without worrying about the tracker itself going missing.
There are currently several different styles and color options in the company’s new Find My Skechers line, with size options ranging from toddlers to eight-year-olds. Lifting the sneaker’s insole and a fabric web liner reveals a plastic compartment recessed into the cushioned midsole that holds and protects an AirTag without inhibiting its wireless communications.
You can already find a lot of AirTag accessories that let you attach an AirTag to an active child more securely than just slipping the tracker into their pockets, where it can potentially fall out while they’re playing. Skechers’ solution goes one step further with a lid on the compartment that’s screwed into place. That should help prevent kids from tampering with it and, given the AirTag’s compact size, make it safer for toddlers still experimenting with cramming things into their mouths.
As an added safety feature, the shoes don’t feature any branding that hint at there being an AirTag inside them. They look like every other sneaker that Skechers sells, making them one of the more covert ways to keep tabs on where your kids are.
If you need a laptop for school or work, our top recommendation is Apple’s 13-Inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip, which is at an all-time low price of $799 ($200 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The machine is thin and light, yet its M4 chip is powerful enough to handle more intense workloads, including 4K video editing, or keeping dozens of tabs open. It can even play games like Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimateand Dead Island 2 at respectable frame rates.
Apple MacBook Air 13 (2025, M4)
The M4 MacBook Air has a speedy processor, and double the RAM of previous models. It has a thin and light design, all day battery life, and still starts with 256GB of storage.
One of the biggest changes with this generation of MacBook Air is that Apple finally bumped the default amount of RAM from 8GB up to 16GB. Having double the amount of memory compared to earlier models will allow you to run more apps simultaneously without slowdown. The entry-level MacBook Air with M4 still starts with 256GB of storage, which can’t be upgraded, so you may want to pick up a configuration with a larger SSD instead if you work with a lot of large files.
The M4 chip powering the laptop is over 20 percent faster than the M3, according to tests we conducted while reviewing the machine. We don’t expect it to struggle at all during everyday tasks like streaming video, or working on spreadsheets and documents. The processor also yields great battery life, allowing you to get through a day of work or study without reaching for the charger. This is the laptop I use for my work at The Verge, and I’m able to write and go to meetings all day without worrying about the battery dying on me.
The MacBook Air’s 12-megapixel webcam is sufficient for video calls with friends or colleagues, and its speakers sound better than you might be expecting for a laptop this size. And if you need a laptop with a larger screen, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with M4 is on sale starting at $999 ($200 off) at Amazon and Best Buy.
Three more deals worth your time
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the best foldable phones we’ve tested, but its $2,000 starting price is steep. To make it a bit more digestible, Amazon is offering a free $200 gift card when you pick up the 256GB or 512GB configuration. The Z Fold 7 has a slim design, 8-inch screen when opened, and all-day battery life with moderate use. Its triple-lens camera array impressed us, especially the bokeh effect when taking photos in portrait mode. If you prefer flip phones, Amazon is offering a $100 gift card when you get Samsung’s $1,059.99 Galaxy Z Flip 7 with 128GB of storage , or a $200 gift card when you get the $1,219.99 model with 256GB of storage.
If you want to keep your phone charged while roadtripping this summer, Baseus’ 163 Watt Retractable Car Charger is currently $29.99 ($20 off) at Amazon. The charger has a pair of 31.5-inch retractable USB-C cables, a USB-C port, and a USB-A port. One of the USB-C cables can deliver 67 watts of power, while the others can output around 33 watts each. The charger can be rotated 180 degrees vertically or 270 degrees horizontally, so you can freely adjust its position based on which ports you’re using and the location of your devices.
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is currently $269.99 ($80 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. It’s one of our top recommendations for Android users due to its improved fitness tracking features, screen size, display brightness, and a new feature that’ll call emergency services if it stops detecting a pulse (in the US and Europe only). The smartwatch also benefits from direct integration with Google’s services, so you can check footage from your Nest security camera on your wrist, or use it as a remote for your Google TV. It’s a great watch at a good price, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the Pixel Watch 4 may be announced soon.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have railed for years against foreign regulation of US tech companies, including online safety laws. As the US fights a global tariff war, it may bring those rules under fire - just as some of them are growing teeth.
Over the past weeks, Trump has touted a blitz of trade deals, seeking concessions from countries in exchange for lower tariffs. This has coincided with the rollout of new child safety measures in the European Union and United Kingdom, most recently a new phase of the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA), which effectively age-gates porn, bullying, and self-harm promotion, as well as other ca …
Hours before Meta’s earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his vision for the future of AI: personalized super-smart AI for everyone — especially in the form of wearable glasses.
He said his vision is for everyone to have an AI tool that “helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, experience any adventure, be a better friend to those you care about, and grow to become the person you aspire to be.”
The announcement came in the form of a plain-text webpage and letter to the public espousing the importance of bringing “personal superintelligence” to everyone, even if it takes a while. Superintelligence is another term for artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a type of AI that equals or surpasses human intelligence on a wide range of tasks — a goal that most leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, are chasing right now.
“The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable,” Zuckerberg wrote of AI’s advances. “Developing superintelligence is now in sight.”
The news follows Zuckerberg’s expensive, high-profile, and often dramatic AI hiring spree after making its largest-ever external investment: paying $14.3 billion to acquire a 49 percent stake in Scale AI, an industry giant for AI training data. Zuckerberg spun up a new superintelligence lab headed by Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and since then, Meta has poached top talent for the team from competitors like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and Apple. A select few of those offers reportedly include $100 million pay packages, although many also fall in the $1-1.4 million range, The Verge has previously reported.
But not everyone can be bought. Many top AI researchers have said no to Meta offers, as many of their salaries are already so large that they could retire, meaning it’s only possible to attract or retain them with a broad mission they believe in, or alignment with their ethics or goals for AI advancement. Zuckerberg may be trying to do that with his Wednesday manifesto.
Zuckerberg also subtly cast doubt on the goals of his competitors in AI, writing that Meta’s goal “is distinct from others in the industry who believe superintelligence should be directed centrally towards automating all valuable work, and then humanity will live on a dole of its output.” For instance, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has publicly stated he believes that AI could replace many jobs in society and eventually lead to a form of universal basic income.
Zuckerberg continued his bullish stance on smart glasses, writing that above all, humanity’s “primary computing devices” will be personal devices like glasses.
He also included a warning about being careful about what companies choose to open-source, referencing the fact that the nature of open models makes it easier to get past built-in safeguards and potentially trick them into dangerous actions on a large scale. It’s a discussion that’s been especially relevant in light of the open-source part of President Trump’s recent AI Action Plan.
“The rest of this decade seems likely to be the decisive period for determining the path this technology will take, and whether superintelligence will be a tool for personal empowerment or a force focused on replacing large swaths of society,” Zuckerberg wrote.
The 2025 TV Shootout went down over the weekend, and the results are shocking: yes, the Sony Bravia 8 II won the overall competition and my personal award for silliest name, but the LG G5 came in last place by a huge margin. I was one of the judges, and I think I have a sense of what's going on.
If you're not familiar, the TV Shootout is an annual event hosted by Value Electronics, a boutique and high-end home theater store started by Robert and Wendy Zohn in 1998. They've been holding the event for 21 years now, and Robert proudly begins the occasion by holding up his framed registered trademarks for "TV Shootout" and "King of TV," which i …
TikTok will start giving contributors the option to write Footnotes.
TikTok is officially rolling out Footnotes, a community fact-checking program that’s supposed to add helpful context to videos. With this update, US-based users will start seeing Footnotes on videos in the coming weeks, and will also get the option to rate them.
After allowing people to join the Footnotes pilot in April, TikTok says almost 80,000 users in the US have qualified to become contributors, allowing them to write and rate notes on videos. When contributors agree that a footnote is helpful, it will appear on the video for the broader TikTok community in the US. TikTok says the Footnotes ranking system will get “smarter” over time as contributors write and rate notes on a range of different topics. It will also give users the ability to report Footnotes that may violate its community guidelines.
The feature uses a “bridging-based system” that aims to find a “consensus between people with different opinions.” It’s similar to how community notes work on X, which the platform says incorporates “diverse perspectives.” Meta has also launched community notes across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, while YouTube is piloting a crowdsourced fact-checking feature, too.
Now that the Switch 2 is out, and the console’s biggest exclusives — Mario Kart World, and Donkey Kong Bananza — are delighting fans, it’s time to see what else this thing can do. Nintendo’s hosting its next Direct presentation on Thursday July 31st bright and early at 9 AM ET. You can watch the direct on YouTube here and, of course, in the Nintendo Today app.
According to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will be a partner showcase, focusing on third-party titles for the Switch and Switch 2. (Sorry, y’all are gonna have to wait a little longer for more news on Metroid Prime 4.)
Join us for a #NintendoDirect Partner Showcase tomorrow, July 31, at 6am PT! Tune in for roughly 25 minutes of information on upcoming #NintendoSwitch2 and #NintendoSwitch games from our publishing partners.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 30, 2025
A handful of older games are finding new life (and new audiences) on the Switch 2 like Cyberpunk 2077, and I expect there will be many more announcements of studios bringing their backlogs to the console. And for new games, Silksong, the long, long awaited sequel to Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight might finally get to see the light of day.
Last month, rumors from prominent insiders and leakers swirled that a Direct would be announced for the end of the month. They also speculated about what games would be shown which included a Persona 3 Reload port and, of all things, a new Animal Crossing. But we’ll find out for sure what Nintendo will give us next when the presentation airs tomorrow at 9 AM.
Adobe is finally releasing Windows on Arm versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Media Encoder this week. All four apps are available as public beta versions, but they do lack some features or have some known issues compared to the versions available for Intel-powered systems.
The native ARM64 version of Premiere Pro won’t currently include support for third-party extensions, raw video files like ProRes, or the hardware-accelerated playback and export of H.264 and HEVC in MP4. Those are some big missing features that Adobe is looking to make available in a future release, but the company won’t deliver the Loudness Radar effect, export to Wraptor DCP, import & export of GoPro CineForm content, or the export to the P2 Movie format in beta or final versions of Premiere Pro for Windows on Arm.
There are some known issues with Adobe After Effects for Windows on Arm, too. It also lacks ProRes support, alongside the inability to import or export ARRIRAW, SWF, GoPro CinePro, JPEG20000 in MXF, and WMV. Currently, you can’t import MotionJPEG and MKV in the beta version of After Effects, and there’s also no hardware-accelerated playback and export of H.264 and HEVC in MP4. Adobe notes that third-party plug-ins for After Effects will have to be updated for this Windows on Arm version, so there’s no support for these just yet.
There are similar features missing from the native Windows on Arm version of Audition and Media Encoder, which are both also available in beta this week.
Adobe first released an Arm beta version of Photoshop for Windows in late 2020, but the company has taken far longer to get Premiere Pro and After Effects recompiled natively for ARM64. Owners of Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs have had to use the emulated version of Premiere Pro over the past year, which didn’t have enough performance for more demanding video editing tasks.
It's the flip phone paradox: if you want to be more mindful about your mobile device usage, you need more screen, not less.
I know. But I swear it's true: with a bigger cover screen, you get more than just a new way to check notifications. You can actually get shit done. Things that are annoying or even impossible to do on a smartwatch, like sending a text or reading an email, are the perfect candidates for a larger-but-still-small screen. Best of all, you can avoid opening the phone altogether, which is a win for attention spans everywhere.
That's what makes the $1,099.99 Flip 7 kind of a big deal. It finally offers a proper edge-to-edge …
I bet you didn’t notice the squircle that much here. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
If last year's Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 was tried and true, this year's Galaxy Watch 8 is a bit more like tried and fine.
This isn't overtly bad. Most smartwatch newbies will be delighted by the $349.99 Galaxy Watch 8 - provided they can stomach the new squircle design. It's more that if you've been a fan of Samsung smartwatches, it feels like Samsung has more or less been retreading safe, dependable ground with incremental tweaks since the Galaxy Watch 5. Aside from Gemini, there's not much here that moves Android smartwatches forward. Truly, on the hardware side of things, the squircle is the Galaxy Watch 8's main talking point.
This definitely looks like a magnetic wireless charger.
Evidence is mounting that Google’s Pixel 10 series will support Qi2 wireless charging, including built-in magnets, finally offering a mainstream Android alternative to Apple’s MagSafe. The latest sign is a leaked image of the Pixel 10 with what appears to be a magnetic wireless charging puck attached to the back.
The leaked image comes from the reliable leaker Evan Blass, and shows a bright blue Pixel 10 — the base model, going by other renders we’ve seen so far — with what appears to be a wireless charging puck attached magnetically to the back. It’s part of a selection of leaked images of the Pixel 10 phones, Pixel Watch 4, and Pixel Buds 2A that corroborate previous leaks.
The puck is likely part of the “PixelSnap” accessory line previously leaked by Android Authority, though we haven’t seen this specific charger before. That leak, along with a separate report of a PixelSnap phone case, left open the possibility that Google would rely on magnets included in phone cases for magnetic wireless charging, much like Samsung has in its S25, Z Fold 7, and Z Flip 7 handsets. Since this image shows the charger attaching directly to the phone, it appears Google has instead followed Apple and included magnets in the phone itself.
Factor in a separate Android Headlines leak claiming that the Pixel 10 line will be very slightly thicker and heavier than the previous generation, and there’s increasing reason to think that Google has decided to opt for full, magnetic Qi2 support.
Qi2 is an industry-wide magnetic wireless charging standard based on MagSafe, developed with Apple’s support. So far only a single Android phone includes it, the HMD Skyline, though those recent Samsung flagships are certified Qi2 Ready since they require a compatible case to supply the magnets. Qi2 was recently upgraded with up to 25W charging speeds, at which point the Wireless Power Consortium announced that “major Android smartphones will join the Qi2 ecosystem.” It looks like the Pixel 10 phones will be the first.
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