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There aren’t AirPods with cameras yet and I hope it stays that way

AirPods Pro 3 on some colorful notebooks.
New AirPods Pro with cameras were thankfully not announced at the September Apple event. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

September Apple events are always a swirl of information and new, exciting products, and today's was no different. Apple announced its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max; active noise cancellation (ANC) is now on the cheapest AirPods model, the AirPods 5; and a Siri Recap feature comes to the Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4. But missing were the AirPods Pro with cameras that have been rumored throughout the year and, according to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, are delayed until 2027. I'm happy about that and I hope we never get them.

I have too many concerns about a company - any company - putting cameras a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The black iPhone Pro returns

Black is back. | Photo: Nilay Patel / The Verge

Apple has seen reason: It has a black model in the iPhone Pro lineup again.

Last year, Apple went bold with its colors for the iPhone 17 Pro, offering a flashy orange, a shiny silver, and a dark blue. Don't get me wrong, they looked nice. But there was no black (or dark gray) for the first time since the start of the iPhone Pro lineup, which Apple first introduced in September 2019 with the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.

I care about this because I always buy the black phone. I learned my lesson with the iPhone 6: I got it in gold to mix things up and came to regret it. I don't need something flashy - I need a phone that blends into the backg …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The incomplete history of Duo devices

Microsoft’s dual-screen Surface Duo handset

Apple announced the company's first device with a folding screen today, the iPhone Duo, but that's where the firsts end. The Duo is not only far from the first foldable on the market thanks to the efforts of Samsung and Google, but it's also not the first product to be called the Duo.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs popularized the saying "good artists copy, great artists steal," but will the iPhone Duo's folding screen, which features a custom nano-texture display material to help minimize the visibility of its crease, be enough to make us forget these other Duos that have come before it? Only time, or how aggressively Apple plans to market i …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg placed on leave

A photo of Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of WordPress.com owner Automattic, has been placed on a paid leave of absence, as reported earlier by 404 Media. In an internal message by the outlet, Mullenweg claims Automattic chief financial officer Mark Davies "conspired" with board members to place him on leave.

"They voted to put me on a paid leave of absence. I voted against that," Mullenweg wrote, referring to Davies, along with Automattic board members Ann Dunwoody, Toni Schneider, and Sue Decker, 404 Media reports.

Mullenweg, who also co-founded WordPress.org, has headed up Automattic since 2014. In 2024, Mullenweg waged a public pressure campaign agains …

Read the full story at The Verge.

It’s the year of smartphone price hikes

Paying more for a new phone seems almost unavoidable after Apple's event today. The new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max start at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively - a $100 price hike over their predecessors. You can't dodge the price hike by opting for an older iPhone, either, because Apple raised prices on those by $100, too. And it's not just Apple. This year, the $100 price hike has been a trend across the industry.

Google and Samsung followed the same formula as Apple when they each launched new phones over the past few months. The Pixel 11 starts at $899, up from $799 for last year's Pixel 10. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra launched at $2,099, $10 …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Suno releases its first AI music model made with record industry help

Suno v6 ai music model logo.

Suno's new v6 AI music model is its first made with support from the record industry. Suno's Jack Brody told The Verge that v6 was "trained from the ground up, with a new set of data that does not include the same data that our previous models were trained on." The data includes content licensed from partners Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe, as well as "user data." It's unclear whether that means v6 training data is completely free of dubiously obtained content.

One of the big changes in v6 is that there are actually three different models: v6, v6-wild, and v6-mini. Mini is the model available for free to all. It's focused on fast, res …

Read the full story at The Verge.

OpenAI’s sly mathematical breakthrough sends a chill through academia

Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the G20 Innovation Ministerial. | (Photo by Matt RAMEY / AFP via Getty Images)

OpenAI's announcement Tuesday that it has solved one of mathematics' legendary Millennium Prize problems should have been a moment of triumph. The result is both an undeniable achievement and a striking demonstration of just how rapidly AI is transforming mathematics. But before it was even formally announced, the breakthrough had been complicated by the unusual circumstances that prompted OpenAI to pursue the problem: After hearing other researchers were making progress, it seems to have thrown its considerable resources into a last-minute effort to beat them to the punch. The ensuing controversy has surfaced allegations of scooping, spying …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Read the Apple document explaining how new listening features still protect your privacy

An iPhone and Apple Watch showing an Audio Intelligence Siri Recap summary

At Wednesday's iPhone Duo launch event, Apple announced a handful of new Siri AI Audio Intelligence features, including Siri Recap, Live Rewind, Sound Recognition, and Music Recognition. Alongside its announcement, Apple released a document laying out how it plans to balance AI "ambient listening" and users' privacy. It says the raw audio from the new features "is handled within dedicated hardware, is not saved as a file, and is not accessible to the operating system, apps, or Apple."

Apple explains that Audio Intelligence relies on the Secure Exclave in the S11 chip that powers the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4:

The …

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How the new Apple Watches compare to the last-gen models

The new Apple Watches come in a variety of material and strap combinations.

Apple rolled out the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at its "Surprise and shine" event. The new watches feature sizable improvements to their health sensors and tracking, plus the ability to create brief audio transcriptions and summaries, plus a ceramic case option for the Series 12. Despite the new features, the watches start at the same base prices as their previous iterations. The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399 for the aluminum version without cellular, and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799.

The biggest differences between the models are new features powered by the S11 processor. It supports the new Apple Intell …

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Verge staffers react to the iPhone Duo: What we love and don’t love

Apple has just announced its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo. The new phone has a 5.4-inch outer screen and a 7.6-inch inner screen, two back cameras, Touch ID for authentication, an IP68 rating, and all sorts of slick software tricks to make iOS feel more at home on the new device. Preorders start on October 16th ahead of availability on October 23rd, and it starts at $1,999 for 256GB of storage.

It's a huge announcement for Apple, and we have many feelings about it. Here's our gut reactions to the phone. And let us know in the comments what you think!

A photo of the iPhone Duo, unfolded.

The Duo name is good

I think iPhone Duo is the perfect name for Apple's foldable …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Six years later, Sony revisits its legendary XM4 headphones

The white Sony WH-1000XM4C headphones next to black WH-1000XM4 headphones, an iPhone, and their black carrying case on a wooden table.
The XM4C (in white) have the exact same visual design as the XM4 (in black) from 2020. | Photo: John Higgins / The Verge

Six years ago Sony and Bose were in the middle of a noise-canceling battle, with each new model of headphones better than the last. In the fall of 2020, Sony released the WH-1000XM4 headphones to wide acclaim. They sat atop best headphones lists for years, thanks to their great sound, competitive ANC, and compact size, until they went out of stock. Now Sony has brought them back, with minor improvements, as the WH-1000XM4C.

The XM4C look identical to the original XM4 (although they now have a lavender option), with the same hinge design and ability to fold up. It's a compact design that Sony moved away from when it released the XM5 in 2022, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

EcoFlow makes the miniature power station even smaller

The River 260 Gen4 (on the table) powering a portable fridge, Starlink Mini, and charging a phone. | Image: EcoFlow

If you're in the market for a tiny power station that punches well above its size and weight then have a look at EcoFlow's new fourth-generation River series.

The River 260 Gen4 features a 256Wh capacity battery while the 520 Gen4 packs in 512Wh - storing about 2.5x and 5x the energy of the largest airline-approved power banks, respectively. Better yet, the batteries are built using longer-lasting LFP chemistry that's far less volatile. The River 260 Gen4 features four USB ports, and 300W of max continuous output delivered out its lone AC jack. The River 500 Gen4 features the same USB port selection but offers a pair of AC jacks good for 5 …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The real reason your phone is getting more expensive

When Apple debuts the next generation of iPhones this week, they're likely to come with an unwanted change: a higher price tag. A price hike from the supply-chain powerhouse would be the clearest sign yet that soaring memory costs have become unavoidable - with no end to the memory crunch in sight.

Call it "chipflation" or "RAMageddon." The shortage is reversing a decades-long decline in memory costs that helped make consumer electronics more powerful without making them dramatically more expensive. The terms "memory prices" and "memory shortage" appeared in 473 company transcripts last quarter, according to data provided by AlphaSense. The …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Bentley’s Torcal EV tries to balance authenticity with fake V8 sounds

Bentley Torcal

Thanks to their ability to provide a smooth ride and quiet powertrain with ease, electric vehicles are a true shoo-in for the high-end luxury automotive segment. Rolls-Royce has the Spectre, Cadillac's Celestiq is taking bespoke to a whole new level, and Mercedes has given the EQS the full Maybach treatment. From Volkswagen Auto Group, Bentley is just about to debut its 2027 Torcal, a spacious SUV that shares a platform with the electrified Porsche Cayenne.

I recently got a quick ride in a heavily camouflaged preproduction Torcal as a way to experience it before its official debut toward the end of this month. Between this brute's spacious …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Huawei copies Samsung’s privacy display in its latest trifold

Huawei has released its third trifold phone in China, and the company has clearly had half an eye on Samsung during development. Not only does the Mate XT 2 adopt the inward-folding form factor used on Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold, it's also the first foldable to include a privacy-enhancing display, much like the one Samsung added to the Galaxy S26 Ultra this year.

The first Mate XT, which launched in China in late 2024 and internationally a few months later, used an accordion-esque folding design. It removed the need to include an additional cover screen on the phone, but left parts of the delicate folding display permanently exposed. The fo …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft for infringement

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a smartphone screen placed on a reflective surface on which the company's logo is projected in Creteil, France, on September 4, 2026, as OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 Astra, its most advanced model to date. (Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Seattle Times and Newsday are just the latest plaintiffs to take OpenAI to court, alleging copyright infringement. The two outlets say the company used their journalism as training data for its AI models without permission and often reproduces passages from their reporting in response to user queries. This is similar to lawsuits filed by The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica against OpenAI.

The Seattle Times and Newsday also named Microsoft as a defendant in the suit, since Copilot is built on OpenAI's technology. The publishers join a list of nearly 400 local newspapers that recently sued the two …

Read the full story at The Verge.

An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport

MIAMI, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 06: An Amazon cargo plane is seen after it crashed at Miami International Airport on September 06, 2026 in Miami, Florida. In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the runway while landing around 2 p.m. after departing from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, earlier today. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
An Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport on September 06, 2026. | Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A plane bearing an Amazon logo overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday during landing, crashing into vehicles and resulting in multiple injuries. The extent of the damage or the seriousness of the injuries was not clear at the time of publication.

In the aftermath of the incident, the FAA released a statement saying:

21 Air Flight 7598 overran the runway after landing at Miami International Airport around 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, Sept. 6. The Boeing 767-300 cargo aircraft departed from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

As a result, flights at the airport were grounded and over 60 M …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Europe has its first commercial orbital rocket

Isar Aerospace launching Spectrum.

German company Isar Aerospace has successfully launched Europe's first entirely commercial orbital rocket. It attempted to achieve the feat last March, but that lasted all of 30 seconds before the vehicle crashed into the sea and exploded. This time the company managed to get the two-stage Spectrum into low Earth orbit from a Norwegian spaceport.

CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Metzler said in a press release:

"Today, Isar Aerospace opened space from Continental Europe. Launch continues to be the largest bottleneck for the global space industry and from today on, there is a true alternative for commercial and institutional customers … Europe no …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Boox’s tiny Picco e-reader should land in November

The Boox Picco e-reader seen from the front

Boox teased the Picco, its take on the buzzy Xteink X4 e-reader, back in July, but provided almost no details. Now, thanks to some reporting out of IFA, we've got a bit more info, though sadly still no price. Unlike the Xteink devices, the Picco will not have magnets on the back for attaching to a phone. The 3.97-inch e-paper display, however, will be touchscreen, which The Verge's Andrew Liszewski called a "welcome upgrade" on the X4 Pro. The Picco has physical page-turn buttons, and they can be customized with different actions for short and long presses.

There's apparently no onboard storage, and it relies entirely on a microSD card to h …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Fairphone 6 Plus is the midrange phone we desperately needed

Fairphone 6 Plus showing modular back panels
Repairability rules.

The Fairphone 6 Plus feels like an extremely average midrange Android phone and I couldn't be more thrilled.

The mission has always been admirable. Fairphone seeks out ethically sourced materials and offers a high degree of repairability for its devices. But the phones themselves required a lot of sacrifices, like putting up with underpowered processors and bad cameras, in order to embrace the sustainability mission. The latest generations of Fairphone have inched toward closing that gap, and the 6 Plus achieves two huge milestones: It feels very much like using a middling Android phone, and it's actually on sale in the US.

The 6 Plus is a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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