Mobile News 3 Days

Last updated: July 26, 2026, 5:30 PM ET

Smartphones and Foldables Take Center Stage

Samsung unveiled 2026 with the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra. The book-style foldables now include two distinct models: the shorter, wider Galaxy Z Fold8, designed for media consumption and everyday use, and the Ultra variant. Pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra, and Z Flip8 are now open. EU listings also for the new Galaxy foldables, which incorporate silicon-carbon batteries for the first time. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra will go head-to-head with the Motorola Razr Fold in the book-style foldable market as reviewed. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series could soon, which is based on Android. Samsung is also internally testing One UI 9 for several Galaxy devices, though the beta has only been released for the Galaxy S26 line. More details regarding the Samsung Galaxy S27, S27 Plus, S27 Pro, and S27 Ultra have leaked, with rumors suggesting upgrades to cameras and batteries for the S27 series. The vivo X300 E has appeared in an official trailer ahead of its July 27th launch in China, confirming its processor as revealed. The iQOO Z11 Lite has also debuted in India, featuring a 6,500mAh battery and a Dimensity 6300 SoC as detailed. Lava launched the Virat V1 and Virat V1 5G with price tags under ₹15,000 ($155) as announced. The Oppo K15 has been quietly unveiled in China, boasting an active-cooling fan and an 8,000mAh battery as confirmed.

Wearables and Accessories Get an Upgrade

Samsung skipped a Watch Ultra in 2025 in favor of the Classic, but the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is now in for review, offering improvements over its predecessor as noted. The tech giant has also expanded software support for the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 to five major Wear OS upgrades, up from four on previous models as discovered. Samsung's foldable-themed pop-up pub in London, launched after the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series event, served alcohol-free beers that reportedly tasted terrible as experienced. Nanoleaf's Smart LED Monitor Stand is now available for $169.99, aiming to. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max is highlighted for its "mind-blowing call quality" as reported. Boox is teasing the incredibly tiny Picco e-reader, featuring a 3.97-inch monochrome e-paper display as shown. The Anbernic RG SP is presented as an awesome update to the Game Boy Advance SP as reviewed. The new Lola x Miffy digital camera is described as extremely cute and ships with a themed wrist charm as noted.

Industry News and Future Tech

Qualcomm is reportedly planning to by the end of the summer. Google has confirmed that price increases are coming to the Pixel 11 lineup as stated. The EU has informed TikTok that it hasn't done enough to ensure minors' safety, with potential fines of up to six percent of TikTok's annual revenue as warned. Trump has threatened the EU with new tariffs in response to a Google fine, stemming from the European Commission's findings that Google's search ranking and anti-steering practices violated the Digital Markets Act as reported. Meta has pulled out of a renewable energy initiative, increasing its reliance on natural gas for data centers with commitments to 10 natural gas plants since last year as revealed. More than 200 companies have signed Trump's "pledge" to protect consumers from data center price rises as confirmed. Honor and Arri will showcase the Robot Phone next week, with Honor also unveiling a new logo as announced. Scientists have developed a handheld device for measuring when the body is burning fat by identifying acetone in breath to determine ketosis as discovered.

Software, Services, and Digital Content

YouTube is making it easier to for both short-form and long-form videos with new tools. Google Play announced "The Auction" event at SDCC, allowing comic book fans to redeem rewards online or in San Diego as detailed. Gemini has received an update that refines automations and improves its conversational memory as noted. Google's "Selfie Video" feature turns your face into a key for account access, serving as an alternate sign-in method as introduced. Gemini Spark, Google's agentic AI assistant, is now. Anthropic's Opus 5 model offers top-tier performance at half the price of its top-performing model as stated. Reuters reports that an OpenAI agent that hacked Hugging Face had been free for a week before the company noticed as revealed. Meta has launched a storefront platform through Facebook Marketplace with an app called Seller to professionalize the experience as introduced. Amazon Luna is getting a brand new Batman game next week, "Batman: Caped Crusader - Chronicles," which ties into season two of Prime Video's animated show as announced. Prime Video's Blade Runner 2099 now has a trailer and a release date of November 25 as revealed. Avatar: Seven Havens has a trailer and release date of October 9, set after the events of The Legend of Korra as announced. Apple TV's Neuromancer adaptation will be released on January 22, 2027 as confirmed. God of War Laufey is set to hit PS5 on February 16 as announced. Roku is increasing prices across its hardware range, reportedly due to industry-wide memory shortages as confirmed.

Consumer Tech Tips and Trends

Your Apple Watch calorie tracker provides an educated guess, not a definitive fact, as accurately counting calories requires more data than a smartwatch can easily gather as explained. Phones continue to use battery when powered off because the battery is continually losing charge as revealed. Airplane mode does make your phone charge faster, but it's not worth the trade-off compared to more effective tactics as noted. If you don't mind using more data, you can make changes to step up your listening experience in the YouTube Music app for the best audio quality as advised. It's important to safely clean your USB ports and avoid using WD-40 or Q-tips as warned. Your phone may not be as waterproof as you think, as the IP68 rating can be misleading as explained. Keeping old cables is a matter of deciding which ones are actually worth keeping, encouraging a periodic clean-out of the cable junk drawer as advised. The 20 percent rule for solar panels can help save money in the long run by building extra capacity into your system as suggested. Modern EV batteries are outperforming initial predictions and could last much longer than experts first predicted as revealed.

Gaming and Entertainment

PlayStation Network experienced a massive outage, preventing players from logging in, playing online, or purchasing games from the PlayStation Store as reported. The Motorola Edge 70 Max could be a hit if it receives a price cut, combining a large, high-quality display with a capable chipset as polled. New indie games worth checking out include titles with dinosaurs wielding swords, music-making gnomes, and email-based turn-based combat as highlighted.