If you’ve been weighing up whether to spend a small fortune on the iPhone Duo, you’re probably already aware of the software-related criticism surrounding it.

At the time of writing, several high-profile non-Apple apps (including LinkedIn, Google Calendar, and Duolingo) still haven’t been optimized to take advantage of the Duo’s dual-screen form factor (read: they look awful). Still, less has been written about the apps and games that have received a Duo-specific facelift.

I’ve been using the Duo for a few weeks now, and in this guide, I’ve highlighted seven fully optimized (and free) apps whose slick performance bodes well for the future of Apple’s first foldable.

PianoFold

PianoFold is, hands down, my favorite iPhone Duo game so far. It’s basically Guitar Hero, but for the piano — musical tiles glide down from the top of the screen, and you have to tap the appropriate tile as it reaches the bottom of the screen to play the correct melody.

PianoFold works in every iPhone Duo orientation. If you fold it like a laptop, the notes fall from the upright half and strike just below the hinge. If you hold it open flat, the notes strike halfway down the screen. And if you use the Duo closed, the game functions as it would on any single-screen iPhone.

I prefer to play in the unfolded landscape mode, but the half-folded mode looks exceptionally cool if you enable ‘Room view’, which uses the Duo’s camera to make the notes appear as if they’re floating through your surroundings.

The full version of PianoFold costs money, but the free version is great in its own right. You get access to seven classical songs — including “Ode to Joy” (easy), “The Entertainer” (hard), and “Can-Can” (impossible) — but once you clear the first five, one song from the full game is made free each day until midnight.

Battlefleet Duo

Battlefleet Duo reinvents the classic two-player strategy game, Battleship, for the 21st-century iPhone Duo-owning consumer.

Tabletop mode lets your Duo double as the traditional Battleship box — your fleet on one side, your enemy’s (hidden) fleet on the other — while unfolded mode fills the screen with enhanced 3D graphics; fires rage, ships sink, and the weather changes on a dime. There’s even a Classic mode, which switches out these modern frills for the game’s original plastic board, ships, and pegs.

As with PianoFold, Battlefleet Duo is only partially free, but the unpaid version gives you two free games per day against the AI, a friend, or online players. And if you have the patience to play more than two games of Battleship per day, more power to you.

Art of Flora

Art of Flora is as simple as iPhone games come: you piece together puzzles depicting botanical illustrations, and you’re rewarded with a description of the plant in question.

This slower-paced game is designed to relax and educate, and the iPhone Duo-specific version supports big-screen puzzle-completing in both landscape and portrait orientations.

The first 10 puzzles in Art of Flora are free — the other 100 can be purchased via packs and bundles — but in my experience, that’s enough to see you through a train journey or kill some time on a flight. Once you’ve completed the lot, jump straight into the Duo’s Books app to make yourself feel like a regular Charles Darwin.

Pools

Pools is described by its developer as “slow, reflective, and intentionally uneventful,” but don’t download this game thinking it’s going to relax you.

This Duo-optimized title is a psychological horror walking simulator inspired by The Backrooms internet lore and, specifically, Jared Pike’s "Dream Pools" 3D renderings. Pools has no puzzles, no user interface (UI), and no enemies — you’re just dropped into its liminal spaces and left to explore at your own pace/risk (delete as appropriate).

This game is also my favorite showcase for the power of Apple’s A20 Pro chipset. It looks absolutely gorgeous in all graphics presets (Quality, Performance, or Ultra), offering genuinely console-quality light and water physics. You’ll get similar performance from Pools on the iPhone 18 Pro, but the Duo’s larger inner screen makes it both easier to play and more enjoyable to gawk at.

Lo and behold, the free version of Pools features just one chapter (or map) — the other six require a one-time purchase — but it’s big enough to show what Apple’s first foldable is made of.

Spotify

I don’t need to tell you what Spotify is, but if you’re an existing Spotify user who’s worried about the experience of using Spotify on the iPhone Duo, don’t be: it’s awesome.

Well, it’s awesome when using the Duo unfolded. When closed, you still get that jarring black bar on the right-hand side of the screen, but in unfolded mode, Spotify splits the screen in half to show your playlist on one side and your currently playing song on the other.

This split-screen works in both landscape and portrait orientations, and while Spotify still needs to make better use of Apple’s vertical nav bar even in unfolded mode, I’ve been enjoying my time with the world’s most popular music streaming app on the iPhone Duo.

Slack

Here’s one for the workers: Slack on the iPhone Duo works like a dream.

This is one of the few third-party apps (at the time of writing) that uses the Duo’s larger inner canvas and Apple’s vertical nav bar, so you can access channels, direct message chats, and menu options in a single view.

Slack on the iPhone Duo basically puts the Slack desktop experience in the palm(s) of your hand, and while it’s obviously less usable in folded form, it’s still been optimized for the Duo’s outer screen in a way that 90% of apps just aren’t right now. Working 24/7 has never looked so good!

TfL Go

If you’re reading this from the US, Australia, or anywhere in the UK that isn’t London, I’m sorry to disappoint or bore you, but the official TfL (Transport for London) app is a sight to behold on the iPhone Duo.

This is one of the last apps I expected to be optimized for Apple’s first folding phone, but to my surprise, it was one of the first. There’s no split-screen functionality, but the London Underground map looks glorious when plastered across all 7.6 inches of the Duo’s nano-texture display, and it’s great fun to traverse the 272-station network while, erm, stuck on the London Underground.

So there you have it: seven of the best free, fully optimized iPhone Duo apps I've come across so far.

Of course, plenty more apps have been optimized for Apple’s first foldable than those I've mentioned here (my colleague, Lance, has highlighted one of his favorites on TikTok, as have we on YouTube), and plenty more will become optimized in the coming weeks as developers roll out Duo-specific updates.

You probably saw that Best Buy's gone early for Black Friday, but what about Amazon — any decent Black Friday deals around there?

Actually, yes, and this one's a biggie. Right now, you can get the superb Sony WH-1000XM6 noise-canceling over-ear headphones for just $378 (was $459) at Amazon!

• Shop Amazon's full list of deals live today

A quick note on the deal: this time last year, we saw these excellent class-leading headphones drop to $398, which was pretty special at the time. But this? This is next-level good and it's not even Black Friday week (or weekend!) yet.

Will the price drop even further? I doubt it, honestly — if anything, retailers have in the past been known to actually boost prices a touch, just before discounting them on Black Friday. To me, it seems more likely that retailers are simply following suit with this particular discount because, as you'll see below, the deal is also live at a big competing online store… 

(Not in the US? See today's best deals in your region below)

Today's best Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones early Black Friday deal

Or, the same deal is live at Walmart… 

You only need a quick glance over our Sony WH-1000XM6 review to see how highly we rate these Sony flagship headphones.

That being said, if you really need more fully-fledged odes and comparison pieces for these excellent headphones, there's plenty you can sift through. You can, for instance, check out how the Sony WH-1000XM6 stack up against the Apple AirPods Max 2. Or, read up on what they're like against the Sony WH-1000XM5, or perhaps how they compare to the excellent Sonos Ace Ultra.

In fact, my colleague Harry Padoan has made it his mission to even pit these Sonys against five top-tier rivals from heavy-hitters such as Bose and Bowers & Wilkins. But if that's all a bit TLDR, know this: the Sony cans you came here to read about come off very well indeed, across the board.

Personally, I adore the little things about the design here. Despite being lovely large over-ears, the XM6 fold up for easier transport in their hard-shell case — it's a small thing, but the XM5 didn't do it and these do. For me, it matters.

Sony's ambient sound mode also doesn't get the recognition it deserves, but if you suddenly need to hear noises around you, no cans I've tried do better. Finally, we need to talk about Sony's ANC. It's very, very good indeed and never colors your music unnecessarily. Oh, and by all means, here's our Sony WH-1000XM6 review again, if you need to know more on any of this.

After all, there's a bit of time before Black Friday, so these cans probably won't sell out at this super-low price. Not much time, you understand. But some… 

Shop more of today's best Black Friday sales

• Amazon: savings on TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks seeing early discounts
• Best Buy: early deals on TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals and more
• Home Depot: savings on appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: early price cuts on laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: check for savings on appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: some discounts on appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: Christmas decor, clothing & furniture early savings
• T-Mobile: price cuts on iPhone and more
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs

Black Friday is almost upon us, unofficially heralding the start of the festive season — and before you know it, all the gifts will have been wrapped and given, and another year will have flown by!

The good news is that, simply by being here, you're already ahead of the Black Friday deals curve, especially if you're looking for noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds (and why wouldn't you be? With prices starting at just £19, they're excellent stocking fillers).

This roundup isn't like the others. Why? Because, unlike other publications, I've linked a full, no-holds-barred TechRadar review of each pick in the product description box, along with a rating of the deal, and whether it's a new lowest-seen offer, a return to its lowest-ever price, or merely close to it.

So, you know exactly what you're getting, and you know about the price you're paying — that's why you stick with me.

Top of the pile for me? I adored the CMF Headphone Pro when I reviewed them, and now they're just £49 (was £79). However, if you really need to save that extra tenner, the slightly older but beautifully teardrop-shaped JLab JBuds Lux ANC have absolutely no business being £39 (was £79) and they'll look and sound so much pricier than that.

Came here for buds? Simple: JLab's Pop ANC are literally £19.99 (was £24.99) in one of the best colourways I've ever seen — or there's the Nothing Ear (3), Nothing's flagship buds that landed just over a year ago, not to be confused with the newer, in-call recording Ear (3a). I loved the 'Super Mic' function there and only knocked the audio quality for the money, although of course, that's not nearly so much of an issue now…

Want the newest of the new in this roundup? That would be the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro, launched on September 28, 2026 and reviewed by yours truly. This is also their first ever discount — to clarify, the also-featured Nothing Headphone (1) are the company's inaugural model, launched on July 15, 2025.

Which pair is the best of the two? Oh, the newer pair without a doubt — apart from the case, which sadly is bulky, plastic and more of a fashion statement. If taking care of your listening gear is of paramount importance, I might still pick the originals, which is why I've listed them here.

Want something from a trusted name in audio? You can't get much more tried and true than Sennheiser's Accentum True Wireless, although these are also the oldest earbuds pick in the roundup, having arrived in May 2024. That said, they're oh-so-tiny and stuffed with features. And if you want a cheap set of buds with a nifty dial for volume on the case, the CMF Buds 2 are a great shout for this money.

Lastly, don't sleep on the Anker Soundcore Space One, despite their 2023 release date. We called them a "bargain Beats alternative with ANC" under intense review, and at this new-low price, there's an awful lot there for £64 (was £89)…

The best early Black Friday headphones and earbuds deals

• Samsung is reportedly testing a paid Galaxy AI Premium service
• It's said to add Gen Video, Bixby Action, and Daily Briefing to Samsung's suite of AI tools
• It will also apparently give you higher usage limits for free tools

It was inevitable that Samsung would start charging for some of its AI tools sooner or later, and lo and behold, the company is reportedly now testing a paid premium version of Galaxy AI.

SammyGuru has found evidence of a Galaxy AI Premium subscription service, which the company looks set to launch into early access soon, and which will seemingly give users access to new AI features, along with four times higher usage limits on existing ones.

Those new features reportedly include Gen Video, which is described as letting you “generate AI videos from your photos,” Bixby Action, which will “automate tasks across your apps,” and Daily Briefing, which doesn’t include a description.

Based on code strings it discovered, SammyGuru expects Galaxy AI Premium to be priced at $4.99 (roughly £3.75 / AU$7.25) per month or $47.99 (around £35 / AU$70) annually, and the service might at least initially be exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S27 series.

Your existing tools should remain free

The site reports that Browsing Assist, Now Brief, Creative Studio, Smart Capture, Samsung Keyboard, Photo Assist, and Personal Agent are listed within the Galaxy AI Premium interface as tools that will remain free — albeit with usage limits that you’ll have to pay to increase.

But for what it’s worth, Samsung has previously said that all the Galaxy AI features that are "on your phone by default" will always be available for free, and that’s a longer list, which you can find on Samsung’s site. It includes Live Translate, Note Assist, Zoom Nightography, Writing Assist, Chat Assist, Drawing Assist, AI Select, Now Brief, Now Bar, Audio Eraser, Photo Assist, AI Enhanced Wallpaper, Browsing Assist, Voice Recorder, Transcript Assist, Health Assist, Auto Zoom, Auto Framing, and Suggested Replies.

So, assuming Samsung sticks to its word, all of those features will remain free despite the launch of Galaxy AI Premium — though added usage limits could degrade the experience for free users.

Unsurprisingly, this news of a premium subscription hasn’t been met with much fanfare, especially as it sounds like it only adds a few features. On Reddit, comments include “good luck with that,” “not a single one of their AI features [is] worth paying for,” “ewwww, no thanks,” and “dead on arrival,” among other similar sentiments.

Of course, one Reddit thread doesn’t represent the wider world, so it will be interesting to see whether there’s actually much interest in Galaxy AI Premium if and when it launches.

Apple has touted the addition of a variable aperture main camera on the new iPhone 18 Pro, claiming it delivers an improvement in low-light photos and video, and more control over depth of field when composing shots.

But with an almost identical design and spec sheet to the excellent iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro begs the question: are these camera upgrades incremental, or worth the extra investment?

I received my iPhone 18 Pro review sample on September 21, two days before flying to New Zealand for a month-long trip to see family and friends. The country's dramatic scenery proved the perfect place to put the iPhone 18 Pro through its paces, and I ended up shooting more than 750 still images to see if Apple's much-hyped photography upgrades cut the mustard.

In addition to that variable aperture feature, Apple also added ‘pro’ manual controls to the iPhone 18 Pro's camera app for the first time, as well as more customization options for Photographic Styles, including a film effect and film grain effect.

Cumulatively, these granular control options are quite un-Apple, putting much more control in the hands of an iPhone photographer who might be used to a simpler point-and-shoot experience.

In doing so, Apple is asking for its latest iPhone to be held to a higher standard. And the bottom line is that, while the iPhone 18 Pro has the best and most versatile camera setup of any iPhone to date, there are more capable alternatives available just a short hop over the tech fence in Android land for platform-agnostic mobile photographers who want the very best available.

Variable aperture

The variable aperture is a physically moving mechanism that can be manually changed between four different f-stops — the smaller the f-stop number, the more light is allowed to reach the lens, and vice versa.

The iPhone 18 Pro’s main camera is a 48MP sensor that can switch between f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4.0. This makes it the most flexible iPhone camera lens to date, but Apple only allows those four settings — unlike a real camera, you can’t adjust to incremental f-stops between those numbers.

Changing the aperture on the iPhone 18 Pro subtly changes how much background blur a shot has when there's a subject in focus in the foreground. This is how cameras work, but usually, the small sensor on a phone requires software-enabled portrait modes to achieve this bokeh effect.

The iPhone 18 Pro can do it with hardware only, though the difference between the four settings is quite minimal, as seen here:

You can change the aperture manually, but it’ll also change automatically by default. And after a month of using the iPhone 18 Pro as my main camera, I feel this is still how Apple's latest flagship should be used: as a point-and-shoot camera with its default settings enabled. As you can see from many of my favorite images, the iPhone chooses the main lens at f/1.8 frequently, and it'll usually be spot on.

As mentioned, this variable aperture is the headline feature of the iPhone 18 Pro, but the subtlety with which it changes the photography experience versus the iPhone 17 Pro suggests there’s not much more Apple can do with its flagship camera system.

That said, the addition of customizable ‘pro’ controls within the camera app is a nice touch. I set my control panel to show shutter speed, white balance, and aperture, and they were fun to play around with to achieve better shots in low light, for instance. But unless you're invested in wringing the best possible results from the iPhone 18 Pro's lenses, you’ll likely forget about these new controls after a while.

The good news is that, if you're a more casual shooter, Tap to Focus continues to work well on the iPhone 18 Pro. I was impressed with the main lens' ability to capture the two images below. Tapping on the background and foreground, respectively, quickly focused on the part of the scene I wanted to highlight, with strong results.

I’ve managed shots like this on phones like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, but that handset has a much larger 1-inch sensor. It's a testament to Apple's hardware and software prowess that the iPhone 18 Pro’s smaller 1/1.28" sensor can be this capable.

Android phones have long had more technically capable camera systems than iPhones, and while that is still the case, the iPhone 18 Pro represents yet another small shuffle forward for Apple.

Photographic Styles

Apple has also updated the Photographic Styles on offer for the iPhone 18 Pro, and they're much more varied than before.

Below, I've included the same shot taken in succession with several different filters (in their default setting) applied, and noted each filter name in the caption. To my eye, some are tastefully done, others less so:

Handily, if you don't love the look of a particular filter, you can dive into each one and tweak both ‘palette’ and ‘texture’ granularly (though the little dot matrix Apple offers to do this is fiddly, and doesn't explain what you're actually changing).

Within ‘texture’, you can add a film effect and then even extra film grain over that. It’s a bit heavy-handed for my liking, but I did get some cool shots from it:

4x telephoto

While Apple has advertised the variable aperture on the iPhone 18 Pro's main lens more than any other feature, I still really enjoy shooting with its 48MP 4x optical telephoto lens, which has no such capability.

It's the best-looking telephoto I’ve used on an iPhone to date, with optical image stabilization resulting in crisp and well-rendered shots. Some of these were captured on the move while pushing a pram, so a hat tip to the iPhone's ability to eliminate blur (or my steady hands — you decide).

All were taken in the iPhone 18 Pro's default shooting mode, with the Standard filter:

Admittedly, this telephoto lens is still not as capable as those you'll find on phones like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which boasts a formidable 200MP sensor and continuous optical zoom, or the Vivo X300 Ultra, whose own 200MP lens offers exceptional detail and tone. But it is stellar for an iPhone, and that's notable given Apple has long lagged behind the Android competition when it comes to imaging performance.

It's significant, too, that these small hardware improvements are paired with Apple's excellent iOS software. I love the Vivo X300 Ultra’s camera, but I find it hard to enjoy using Vivo phones for long periods given their comparatively unpolished Android software. Apple continues to rank at the top of the pile for software slickness.

Verdict

This was the first time I’d tested a Pro iPhone for an extended period of time since the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and compared to that phone, the 18 Pro feels like a sizable step forward in both hardware and software.

But that's a three-year evolution that I’ve been able to experience. The 18 Pro is certainly only a tiny step forward versus the 17 Pro, and it's not too far ahead of the 16 Pro, either.

So for iPhone fans who want a substantial camera upgrade over their current device, I'd only recommend upgrading to the iPhone 18 Pro if you've got an iPhone 15 Pro or older. You’ll certainly notice the step up in overall quality.

And although Apple sings the praises of the 18 Pro’s variable aperture feature in its wall-to-wall marketing of its new phone, in truth, it’s the cumulative effect of several years of iteration that make an iPhone’s camera system feel like a true upgrade.

That's the best praise I can give these excellent cameras, along with the simple fact that they're incredibly fun to shoot with, which I haven't always found while reviewing iPhones over the past decade.

To finish, here are some more of my favorite New Zealand-shot photos that I feel showcase the iPhone 18 Pro's versatility:

Android die-hard pixel peepers will understandably stick to their superior hardware. But as far as iPhones go, the 18 Pro will surely please all who carry it as their main camera.

• iOS bans certain terms from auto-complete and swipe-to-type
• They include references to politics and drugs, researchers report
• The list could include more than 100,000 entries, apparently

Try and type out phrases like "sleepy Joe", "dictator Trump", or "Tibetan independence" on your iPhone, and you'll notice that you don't get auto-complete suggestions for them, and you can't swipe-type them — evidence of a 'gray list' of terms that has been discovered hidden in iOS.

The so-called gray list was discovered by researcher Derek Kauffman and reported by Reuters, and verified by an independent cybersecurity engineer. It's thought that there are at least 100,000 words and phrases in the list.

Other entries on the gray list, as reported by The Guardian, include "NSA spies", "question your sexuality", and even "Australia is a very bad place". References to drug use also seem to be unavailable through auto-complete or swipe typing.

There's no issue with typing out any of these terms and including them in any kind of message — but the point is that iOS won't try and auto-complete them like it will with other words and phrases, or let you type them through swiping.

More transparency

Apple is keeping its cards close to its chest: it didn't comment on the list directly in an email sent to Reuters, but did acknowledge that the iPhone keyboard was set up to avoid offering suggestions that might be inappropriate or offensive.

You may remember last year there was something of a kerfuffle over iPhones changing "Trump" to "racist" during dictation. It wasn't clear exactly what happened, but with any kind of AI-driven automation, these sorts of issues can arise.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's David Greene told Reuters that while he could see the thinking behind a gray list for the iOS keyboard, "this is something users should be really well aware of and have some ability to customize".

For Kauffman as well, a bit more transparency from Apple about exactly what's going on here, and why, would be welcome. "It's a very light-touch form of censorship," the researcher told Reuters. "But at the scale that Apple is operating, it only takes a light touch to have a big impact."

I don’t know what I’d do without Google.

I rely on its search engine for answers to all my questions; I’m writing this article up using Google Docs; its Calendar and Gmail apps help run my life; my phone and tablet are both powered by Android; Chrome is my go-to browser of choice; Google manages my passwords and is my authenticator app for 2FA, and I watch an ungodly amount of YouTube — I could go on, but you get the picture.

It’s scary if you sit and think about Google's stranglehold over our daily lives for too long, and so I’ve been desperate to try and de-Google where possible. I was glad, then, when the Fairphone 6 Plus came across my desk.

The standard Fairphone 6 Plus runs Android 16, but the model I’ve been testing for the past month comes preinstalled with /e/OS. This custom mobile OS removes all proprietary Google services, tracking, and built-in Google apps, but is still technically a fork of Android, which means it plays nice with many Android-compatible apps (solving one of the biggest hardware barriers to de-Googling).

The /e/OS Fairphone 6 Plus is available exclusively through Murena for $699.99 / £583 (around AU$1,009); that's slightly more than the standard model, which retails for $649.99 / £569 (roughly AU$1,100).

Armed with this Google-free phone and a list of apps to install, I was ready to see if I could de-couple from Google once and for all.

But after one month of trying, I’ve given up.

What is de-Googling?

This steadily growing trend is, as the name suggests, an approach to choosing software and hardware that's devoid of Google’s interference — specifically, de-Googling involves choosing options that have stronger privacy protections for users and less data-tracking services.

But this isn't just a matter of hopping over to Apple's iOS ecosystem and calling it a day (iPhones, of course, can access almost all Google services). It’s about maximizing privacy in a way that doesn't lock you into a walled garden. For some, de-Googling is also about de-Americanizing — that is, finding hardware and software produced outside of the United States.

Especially in the wake of the US government sanctioning International Criminal Court (ICC) lawyers, which left them unable to access essential online services, and previous efforts to ban non-US citizens from accessing the top-tier AI models, it's understandable that some people want to find tech alternatives produced either in their home region or by more stable allies.

In my case, I used the Fairphone 6 Plus as my day-to-day smartphone, swapped my default search engine to DuckDuckGo, and installed services like Proton to manage my mail.

Instantly, I was glad to be able to access the /e/OS and platforms like its App Lounge (its built-in app store) without a login, which kept my activity anonymous to some extent.

I also liked the neat Advanced Privacy widget, which not only lets you block in-app trackers, hide your IP address, and disguise your location on the fly, but also includes a neat graphic showing how many data leaks you've been shielded from over the last 30 days. It gamifies the experience of de-Googling in a fun way.

And while Proton offers paid tiers, I was able to trial its encrypted mail service with a free account, keeping my costs just as low as they were before I switched from my previous Android phone (albeit with a more limited service).

But for all of these early wins, I started to rub up against the more frustrating realities of de-Googling just as quickly.

/e/OS lacks some must-have Android optimizations — even simple ones, like the option to arrange apps how you want across pages (instead, it takes the Apple approach of apps automatically filling up pages; you can’t create gaps or custom arrangements beyond folders and reordering them).

Others on Reddit have also flagged the jankiness of the aforementioned App Lounge and the difficulty in finding navigation apps comparable to Google Maps. I don't live in a major city, so this hasn't been a big red flag for me, but it's true that most Google Maps alternatives lack the coverage and public transport integration to be relied upon.

Plus, while you can use a free version of services like Proton (like I did), I’d need to pay $12.99 / £10.39 / AU$20.79 a month (or equivalent to $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$15.99 if billed annually) for the experience I got from Google for free, which does add up at a time when costs are rising, and I’d ideally be tightening my purse strings. Remember, too, that this is not a cheap phone.

My frustrations also went beyond the general chore of untangling Google from my life.

I butted up against issues with the Fairphone 6 Plus specifically — its sluggish chipset and good-but-not-great cameras left me wanting to go back to my Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra on several occasions.

I do appreciate the Fairphone's modular, eco-friendly construction, and in our Fairphone 6 Plus review, we noted that its Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset "starts sluggishly" before finding its feet in general use.

I'm also lucky enough to be able to test the best Android phones (like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra) on a regular basis, so I've perhaps been spoiled by their flagship-level performance straight out of the box.

You may, therefore, not encounter the same hardware frustrations, but trying to de-Google on the Fairphone 6 Plus felt like a double-whammy of difficulty.

In for a penny…

The problem with de-Googling is that it’s full of friction points. And I’ve found that when it comes to tackling that friction, people are very binary — they either want next to none, or, if they’re willing to accept some, they’d also be willing to accept a lot to make their privacy-focused tech dreams a reality.

That is to say, if people want to go the proper de-Googling route — and my 'people', I mean the folks willing to put in the effort to find the best app alternatives, and change out their hardware — they are also likely willing (and have the technical confidence) to take the step of installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel phone.

The GrapheneOS/Pixel combination still has its drawbacks, but its privacy features are more robust than those you'll find in /e/OS, and newer Pixel models like the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10a edge out the Fairphone 6 Plus in terms of hardware (which, crucially, would be the only Google involvement in this solution).

Meanwhile, anyone wanting to take the easy route could just switch to Apple.

The Cupertino company's privacy promises are bold (even following its push into AI), and while picking up an iPhone wouldn't technically be de-Googling in purists' eyes, iPhones are slightly better options than regular Android phones for the mildly privacy-conscious.

That leaves the /e/OS Fairphone 6 Plus caught between two paths.

Its privacy features are great, and again, Fairphone deserves credit for offering a truly sustainable smartphone solution. But as someone who was genuinely excited to try to de-Google, I'm not sure whether the trade-offs in both software convenience and hardware quality are worth the hassle.

Still, with some tweaks made to /e/OS and a more flagship-level Fairphone, I'd be willing to try again.

Apple is firmly in rule-breaking mode, which has led to the introduction of the first touchscreen MacBook, and an iPhone that accepts Pencil input. These rules, as set by Apple co-founder and former CEO, the late Steve Jobs, are now quickly becoming footnotes in the tech giant's history, and consumers are the beneficiaries of this outside-the-box thinking.

This week, I took a break from trying to figure out reasons to touch my MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display, to finally dig into the other formerly unthinkable Apple product feature: an iPhone that accepts — even welcomes — Pencil input.

Granted, the iPhone Duo is not your typical iPhone. It's a two-screen handset with a 5.4-inch display on the outside and, when you unfold the device, a 7.6-inch display with a remarkable nanotech finish that effectively hides the crease.

That big screen invites all kinds of non-traditional iPhone use cases, including big-screen content consumption, animated page turning in the Books app, and split-screen multitasking. It's also an invitation to art — a fact Apple recognized by introducing, for the first time, Pencil support to the iPhone line, albeit in a limited fashion.

Here are the limits:

• The iPhone 18 Pro and all other iPhones currently on the market do not accept Pencil input
• The only Pencil the iPhone Duo supports is the Apple Pencil (USB-C)

That second limit is a direct result of how the rest of the Apple Pencils pair with devices and charge: by being seated along the magnetic edge of any supporting iPad. Even unfolded, the iPhone Duo offers no equivalent capability.

Limits aside, I honestly could not wait to try using Apple Pencil (USB-C) on my iPhone Duo (upgraded to iOS 27.2).

Getting started and scribbling away

The Apple Pencil (USB-C) looks like other Apple Pencils, but it hides a secret. When I slide the back end back, it reveals a USB-C port. I can use that to charge the Pencil, but it's also how I connected the Pencil to my iPhone Duo: I run a USB-C cable from the phone's USB-C port to the port on the Pencil. After that, the pairing is pretty much automatic.

As you might expect, the Pencil — which is recognized on the inside and outside screens — can be used just like the tip of your finger to navigate the interface, if that's your thing.

The platform also adds Scribble, which means I can now poorly write the website names I want to see in Safari, jot down notes in Notes, and even solve simple written equations in that same app. But the show I came for, the reason we're here, is to try drawing on both screens.

Flexi-sketch

I've been drawing my whole life and doing so on digital platforms for 40 years. I drew on the first Mac with a mouse, early PCs with a Wacom tablet, my finger on the iPhone, and, in recent years, on an iPad using Procreate and (naturally) an Apple Pencil. Drawing with an Apple Pencil on an iPhone has been a long-held dream, and I was anxious to try it out.

I unfolded the iPhone Duo, launched Procreate Pocket (the iPad version does not run on an iPhone), and started putting the Apple Pencil to the nano-etched display.

One of the first things I noticed is that the digital pen works almost exactly the same as it does on the iPad. There's palm rejection, which means I can rest my hand on the 7.6-inch display while drawing.

As with an iPad, the digital ink appears to flow directly out of the Pencil tip, and it's fast, too. There's no delay between me running the tip across the display and the digital ink, paint, charcoal, or watercolor stroke appearing in its wake.

I instantly liked how the pen feels on the lightly textured surface. Glossy screens can feel a tiny bit slippery, but not this one.

As for the other big question that's probably bursting to get out: yes, if you draw back and forth over the full, unfolded display, you will feel the crease — not a lot, mind you, but it is there. Interestingly, the lines I drew did not recognize those tiny bumps and instead were straight and squiggle-free.

The iPhone Duo main screen recognizes the pen angle and speed, but not pressure. This is likely intentional; after all, I don't imagine Apple wants you putting extra force on the Pencil, and therefore the screen, to make a darker or bigger line. That adds a small wrinkle to my typical drawing flow — on the Duo, if I want to make lines taper properly, I sometimes have to shorten my line stroke, adjust the pen width to be smaller, and then continue on.

Even so, at no point did I feel like I couldn't draw naturally. Most of the time I forgot I was drawing on a flexible display and instead focused on the art in much the same way I would if I were drawing on an iPad mini.

In general, Procreate Pocket worked smoothly on the iPhone Duo, though I did notice that I sometimes had to select a tool, say Eraser or the Pen, more than once to get it to switch.

The Apple Pencil works equally well on the cover screen, though I find that smaller display a bit restrictive for drawing. There is also the matter of what I do with the Pencil when I'm not using it. Even if Apple did come up with an iPhone Duo case to hold it, the Apple Pencil (USB-C) is at least an inch taller than the folded Duo.

Overall, this is what I always wanted but also something more. It's an iPhone that I can draw on but also one that reminds me of Mr. Peabody's expandable chalkboard. Instead of one relatively cramped drawing space, I have a hidden 7.6-inch Apple Pencil-ready drawing tablet in my pocket.

Now, Apple, do the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

• The chairman of T-Mobile and CEO of its parent company has commented on Starlink Mobile
• He argues that a $200 billion investment in spectrum and infrastructure is needed for it to compete
• Despite that, he's taking it seriously and sees parallels with Tesla and the car industry

Between partnering with Qualcomm and getting the green light to operate internationally, SpaceX has taken some major steps towards making Starlink Mobile a rival to the big carriers. And that's just been acknowledged by Tim Höttges — the chairman of T-Mobile and CEO of its parent company, Deutsche Telekom — in a recent earnings call where he said that “I take his [Elon Musk] attempt serious [sic].”

In the Deutsche Telekom conference call, Höttges went on to highlight just how much work — and investment — will be required for this attempt to actually deliver a real rival.

Firstly, Starlink Mobile will likely require a lot more spectrum than it currently has, with Höttges saying “he [Musk] has now bought 76 megahertz of spectrum. By the way, we have 400 megahertz. So if you now say, okay, he can buy the spectrum prospectively, do your math. These are kind of triple digit billions, which are needed to gain the spectrum position.”

A "$200 billion" investment

And it’s not just spectrum — Starlink Mobile will also need a lot of infrastructure on the ground, with Höttges explaining that "then he has to build a network. I can tell you, we have 85,000 towers. No, he can rent towers, no question. But this is another $20 billion to $30 billion, which are required. Put antennas on it. Okay, you can buy antennas and you can get maybe even in a cheaper way or you construct it in a new way, but you need money for that."

Between all that, Höttges concludes that Starlink Mobile will need “at least minimum $200 billion” to “play” in this industry, and likely more. And even then, it’s an industry which Höttges argues T-Mobile and the other major carriers have “professionalized over the last twenty years” — suggesting that even with that investment, Starlink Mobile will lack the experience of the other carriers.

Still, it doesn’t sound like Höttges is totally counting Musk’s telecom dreams out, remarking at the end of all that “welcome to the party.” So this looks set to be a long and expensive road for SpaceX and Starlink Mobile — and experts mostly agree that becoming the fourth big mobile network in the US will be a major challenge...

Analysis: A long game, but there are Tesla parallels

From electric cars to aerospace, Elon Musk has an unrivaled track record of disrupting industries — but turning Starlink Mobile into a true rival to the network giants could be one of his biggest challenges yet.

"There are a wide variety of challenges and roadblocks that stand in the way of Starlink Mobile," Ookla's Lead Industry Analyst, Mike Dano, told us. "For example, it must build radios based on Qualcomm’s technology. Then it must affix those radios atop cell towers nationwide. Then it must launch thousands of new satellites that support the spectrum it’s working to purchase from EchoStar," he said.

And that's far from the end of the list. "Then it will need to sell phones that support the various spectrum bands it hopes to use in its network. Then it will need to create an effective retail strategy to entice customers away from existing cellular providers in the U.S. And there’s still an outstanding question about whether a future Starlink Mobile network will be robust enough to support users’ needs," he added.

However, Dano says that Starlink Mobile's Qualcomm agreement this week was a big step towards it becoming "a credible fourth nationwide mobile network provider in the U.S", even if that process will "take several years".

Telecoms expert Tim Farrar, President at TMF Associates, agrees that an EchoStar deal is the most likely key to unlocking the spectrum that T-Mobile's Tim Höttges referred to in the earnings call. "I think a purchase of the remaining EchoStar spectrum assets and a settlement with the tower companies is the easiest and quickest way to go about that", he said, referring to those missing pieces for Qualcomm's equipment.

Still, we can expect this story to develop quickly in 2027, and Tim Höttges is well aware of the parallels with the car industry, which Tesla disrupted with new technology. "I would compare it with let's say inventing Tesla and bringing electromobility into a kind of legacy combustion engine industry. That is the same moment we have and this moment is now here," he said.

"We have a new kind of player who is coming to the ecosystem. He has chipsets, he has data centers, he has AI, he has satellites, he wants to go for mobile services and he goes for handsets. He will go as well for maybe integrating social media or at least agent models into his service. So he is creating a new way of communication services — it's not that you can compare it 'mobile to mobile'," he added.

"That is why I'm saying I take that super serious because I was witnessing what happened to the car industry — they were ignoring it for too long and we have to face the situation." In other words, expect this to be a major theme of 2027, even if the full story could take years to play out.

When I’m searching for the best NBN deals, the main factor I’m taking note of is the monthly price. Second to that come perks which, to be honest, are becoming rarer and rarer. So when Dodo announced it’s now offering its NBN customers totally unlimited mobile data via its postpaid SIM plans, I simply had to take notice.

This offer, available to new and existing customers, works as follows — sign up for any Dodo NBN plan, and you’re eligible for the new Infinity plan, a AU$19/m SIM-only offer that includes unlimited data, capped at 50Mbps.

Unlimited 5G mobile data on the Optus network for just AU$19/m is a standout deal in itself. But combine it with Dodo’s low-cost NBN plans — now on the receiving end of an AU$30/m discount for six months — and you've got a package that's hard to ignore.

Unlimited mobile plans aren’t entirely new. While virtually all telcos will allow you to continue using data, if you exceed your monthly allowance, download speeds are usually throttled to around 2Mbps. However, Felix has been offering truly unlimited data SIM plans for some time, and while speeds are restricted, they're now available at up to 80Mbps.

Unlimited data at 80Mbps, of course, sounds great, but it'll cost you AU$50/m. Dodo's unlimited data plan, meanwhile, is capped at 50Mbps but costs just AU$19/m, making it arguably the better-value option.

Take my favourite NBN speed tier of all — NBN 500 — as an example. You'll pay just AU$62.99/m for the first six months for Dodo's plan (far less than the current AU$95/m average). Throw in the unlimited mobile data plan, and your monthly total comes to AU$81.99/m — that's cheaper than some NBN 25 plans! Once the six-month introductory period is up, your ongoing monthly total will be AU$111.99.

There's no end date to Dodo's unlimited mobile data offer, but the discounted NBN plans for Black Friday sales in Australia are time-sensitive. So, to secure the lowest possible price, you'll need to sign up before December 8.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself that not everyone is immersed in the Apple news cycle like their livelihood depends on it.

If, like me, you were paying close attention to all 24 minutes of the company’s iPhone 18 Pro announcement in September, you may already know why a small amount of pixelation is occasionally visible in the top left-hand corner of the display on Apple’s newest flagship. But if you had better things to do (and let’s be honest: you probably did), then you may have missed the memo.

In any case, don’t panic: if you occasionally spot some odd discoloration on the left side of your iPhone 18 Pro’s clock, you’re not going mad, and your iPhone isn’t faulty. What you’re actually seeing is Apple’s new under-display Face ID camera, which makes room for an upgrade elsewhere. Let me explain.

The iPhone 18 Pro has a new, better Dynamic Island — it’s smaller and can display three Live Activities at once, versus two on the original Dynamic Island. To shrink it, Apple moved the iPhone 18 Pro’s Face ID infrared (IR) camera away from the Dynamic Island and placed it under the top-left corner of the phone’s OLED panel.

As a result, this portion of the display features a modified pixel layout—there are larger gaps between pixels here than anywhere else on the iPhone 18 Pro's screen, allowing IR light to pass through and Face ID to function.

You’ll need a pretty serious zoom camera to spot these gaps with the naked eye (as this iFixit video demonstrates), but this pixel trickery does occasionally become visible, particularly when the clock is displayed (it only affects the first half of the clock, but I think that’s what gives it away).

I spotted this new under-display Face ID camera when using my iPhone 18 Pro for the first time (I mention it in my video review at 0:56, see below), but it’s too subtle to have remained distracting. And hey, maybe I went looking for it because I knew it was there.

Still, people notice it to varying degrees, as one Reddit forum suggests: “I haven’t noticed it at all. Zero difference to me,” wrote one user. Another said, “I usually only notice it when the black text of the clock is sitting directly on a solid white background, which isn't very often.”

But there are some outright negative responses to Apple’s Face ID switcheroo: “This really bothers me; I always notice it whenever I look at that part of the display,” one user wrote, while another said, “I don’t know how good people’s eyesight is, but I notice it clearly even with a passing glance. It’s actually quite distracting. I’d much rather have a larger Dynamic Island than an obvious screen disparity.”

I’m not sure I’d call the pixelation ‘obvious’, but then maybe my eyes are bad.

I did, however, feel like this iPhone 18 Pro oddity was worth explaining to those who may have noticed it and feared the worst. But honestly, it’s not a big deal — as mentioned, the trade-off is a better Dynamic Island — and at least we’re seeing Apple try new things with its long-standing iPhone features. More please.

Samsung's Galaxy FE line has always been a slightly odd proposition. In theory, these phones are cheaper alternatives to standard numbered Galaxy phones, offering Plus-sized screens at an affordable price. But they've steadily gotten more expensive over the years, and some FE phones are more well-rounded than others.

That makes choosing between a Samsung Galaxy S26 FE and a Samsung Galaxy S26 more complicated than just choosing between a pricier phone and a cheaper one.

In this guide, then, we'll walk you through the key differences between these two phones, comparing their displays, designs, performance credentials, and more.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: specs comparison

The table below provides a brief overview of how the Galaxy S26 FE and Galaxy S26 compare in terms of specs.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE was announced in late August 2026 and shipped in November, with the phone now widely available. It starts at $699.99 / £699 / AU$1,149, which gets you a model with 128GB of storage. But there’s also a 256GB model for $799.99 / £799 / AU$1,299 and a 512GB model for £949 / AU$1,599 — though this version is not available in the US.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 went on sale in March 2026 and is also available globally. It costs $999.99 / £959 / AU$1,649 for a 256GB model, rising to $1,199.99 / £1,129 / AU$1,949 for a 512GB version. It’s worth noting that the Galaxy S26 actually cost less than $999.99 / £959 / AU$1,649 at launch, but thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis, its price has since gone up, rather than down.

In any case, that makes the starting price of the Galaxy S26 FE some $300 / £260 / AU$500 less than that of the Galaxy S26, but that’s for a model with just 128GB of storage, which is less than the Galaxy S26 comes with as standard. Looking at the 256GB models of each phone, the Galaxy S26 FE costs $200 / £160 / AU$350 less.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: design

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE and Samsung Galaxy S26 have quite similar designs, with flat screens, punch-hole cameras at the top of their respective displays, and triple-lens cameras arranged vertically on their rear panels.

They also both have glass backs and aluminum frames, as well as IP68 ratings — meaning they’re dust-tight and can be submerged in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.

However, the Samsung Galaxy S26 should be slightly tougher than the FE overall, as it has Gorilla Glass 2 protection, while the FE uses Gorilla Glass+.

There are bigger differences in their colors, though, with the Galaxy S26 FE being sold in Blueberry, Graphite, and Pistachio, and the Galaxy S26 available in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, Silver Shadow, and Pink Gold.

And their weights and dimensions differ too: the Galaxy S26 FE measures 161.6 x 76.9 x 7.4mm and weighs 193g, while the Galaxy S26 measures 149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2mm and weighs 167g. So the FE is bigger, thicker, and heavier — but it does also have a larger screen.

In our Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review, we described it as “worthy of the Galaxy S name in terms of looks and durability,” while in our Samsung Galaxy S26 review, we praised “a tried-and-true design that looks great.”

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: display

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE has a 6.7-inch 1080 x 2340 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, around 385 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits.

The standard Samsung Galaxy S26 is smaller, with a 6.3-inch 1080 x 2340 AMOLED screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate, roughly 411 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits.

So these two screens use similar tech and are the same resolution, but in being smaller, the Galaxy S26’s display is also slightly crisper, and it has a higher peak brightness. Plus, while the Galaxy S26 can switch its refresh rate from 1Hz all the way to 120Hz depending on what the screen is displaying, the Galaxy S26 FE only has static 60Hz and 120Hz capabilities.

Our Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review described its screen as “big and colorful, but lacking detail,” while our Samsung Galaxy S26 review said it has “a display that hits all the marks of what you’d want in a flagship phone.”

So the standard Galaxy S26 has the better screen overall, but if you want a massive display, then the Galaxy S26 FE is the obvious choice out of these two phones.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: cameras

Both of these phones have triple-lens cameras, with the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE having a 50MP f/1.8 wide snapper, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (with a 123-degree field of view), and an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom.

The Samsung Galaxy S26, meanwhile, has a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, and a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom. Both phones also have 12MP f/2.2 front-facing cameras.

So their camera hardware isn’t drastically different, but in practice, the Galaxy S26’s lenses performed better in our tests. Our Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review noted that “the main and selfie cameras produce strong photos, but the phone’s let down by its ultra-wide and telephoto lenses,” while in our Galaxy S26 review, we said that “all three cameras take solid pics, but don’t rely on the telephoto past 3x.”

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE camera samples

Samsung Galaxy S26 camera samples

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: performance and software

With the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, you’re getting an Exynos 2500 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 has either a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (in the US) or an Exynos 2600 (in most other regions) paired with 12GB of RAM.

So, whichever region you’re in, you’re getting a faster chipset in the standard Samsung Galaxy S26, along with an extra 4GB of RAM, and that could make a real difference for AI and high-end games. But despite that, these phones both generally perform well.

Our Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review noted that its chipset is “a good performer, especially for graphics,” while acknowledging that “8GB of RAM is limiting for a premium phone in 2026.”

Of the Samsung Galaxy S26, we said it’s “quick and powerful, but the phone does get hot during intense tasks.”

What’s not so different between these two phones is their software, with both running Android 17 and Samsung’s One UI 9 overlay. Both the Galaxy S26 FE and Galaxy S26 also come with the promise of seven major Android version updates — though the latter phone has already received one of those.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: battery

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE has a 4,900mAh battery, and it supports 45W wired or 15W wireless charging, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 has a 4,300mAh battery with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. So the Galaxy S26 FE has a higher-capacity battery, with more charging power.

In practice, we found that the Samsung Galaxy S26 still had “all-day battery life,” though we lamented its slow charging speeds, while for the Galaxy S26 FE, we said the battery is “long-lasting and fairly fast-charging.” So this is one area where the FE arguably has a slight edge.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE vs Samsung Galaxy S26: verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S26 is more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, plus it has a slightly superior screen and — based on our testing — better cameras. It’s also slightly more durable, thanks to Gorilla Glass 2.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE has a bigger screen, a higher-capacity battery, faster charging, and it costs less, while offering a similar software experience.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S26 is the better phone — indeed, we scored it higher in our reviews, with the device achieving 4 stars while the Galaxy S26 FE got 3.5.

But if you want a big screen on a mid-range budget, or simply don’t want to pay what the Galaxy S26 costs, then the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is still a good option.

• Sony has launched MDR-3R, an update on its 1979 'Walkman headphones'
• The aesthetic is virtually unchanged — even down to the packaging
• Two key upgrades: USB-C (not 3.5mm termination) plus an in-line remote
• Oh, and for $20 / £20 / AU$10 more, there's a Stranger Things edition… 

Well now. 'Newtro' (a portmanteau of 'new retro') audio kit is trending, and doesn't Sony know it? The company says it sees people embracing wired, physical music products for "both functional and cultural perspectives", and it is seizing the day — just as Bose has, with its new, affordable, wired noise-canceling earbuds.

I am fortunate enough to have lived through the introduction of Sony's original Walkman in 1979, to have seen Julia Roberts singing Prince in a bath tub in Pretty Woman and to have fallen in love with Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, skateboarding with an Aiwa CassetteBoy clipped to his denim jacket pocket in Back to the Future.

Cut to around 40 years later, and the kids are watching Max fight Vecna using Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill and a Sony Walkman WM-8 as her only weapon in Stranger Things. And who could forget Peter Quill's Walkman (a Sony TPS-L2 Walkman and Headset, complete with alternate orange ear pads) given to him by his mom long before he became one of the Guardians of the Galaxy?

Want a bit of that? Yearning for a simpler time, when your copy of a musical recording actually belonged to you and Bluetooth connectivity didn't open the door to sign-ups, account creations and data capture? You're not alone — and that's why Sony has just released the MDR-3R.

You can't spell America without Erica, and you can't get this sound without wires

It's not hard to see the new 2026 Sony MDR-3R's resemblance to the Sony 1979 MDR-3 — in fact, it's incredibly difficult to tell the difference between them (and I know because I attended a briefing and saw the old and new products side by side).

It's a significant moment. Nearly half a century after the originals launched (Sony says it went back to work on the drivers using Sony's hand-drawn diagrams from the 70s), the new set is in, and one of the only real differences is that they end in a USB-C termination.

So no more 3.5mm jack, but the iconic silhouette and signature aluminium frame, look, hinges and so on are all virtually identical. There’s the trademark cheeky bend (or kink) in the aluminium frame just above the earpiece, the Sony logo, that soft plastic ‘flexible adjuster’ piece across the top of the crown, square slider hinges and the ‘sound holes’ (no, those aren’t just design flourishes). At 38g, the MDR-3R is also by far the lightest pair of overhead headphones in Sony’s lineup.

What of the sonic chops? Sony says the original MDR-3’s sound quality was "surprisingly good", but nevertheless Sony's audio engineers have taken the classic analog warmth and built on it with a few tweaks. The MDR-3R's 23mm driver is still based upon original hand drawings for the 1979 model, but Sony claims to have eked a wider frequency range out of it, particularly in the bass registers. Also, you now you get an in-line controller with a mic for hands-free calls along with the updated cable and plug.

Wondering how you’ll choose between those Guardians of the Galaxy -style orange foam pads or the MDR-3's original blue pads? Don’t stress, you get both in the box!

The in-line remote also has volume up, volume down, plus a play/stop button that can be double-pressed to skip forward or triple-pressed to skip back. You can hold it to activate your phone's voice assistant, or press it to answer and end calls. So three buttons in total, but lots of added functionality.

Things can get even Stranger…

While the packaging of the 'basic' MDR-3R is very similar to the original 1979 box (think light blue and geometric, but with modern 2026 techniques and nods to sustainability), there is another option as well.

There’s a special Stranger Things-themed edition, complete with red ear pads (you also get black in the box) and a moody black top headband. The box is black, and there’s a Stranger Things logo on the headband too.

You may want to go full Upside Down with the themed set. For me, the choice of blue or orange ear pads and a true 1979 aesthetic is the one.

Either way, for $59 / £49 / €59 / AU$89.95 for the Sony MDR-3R, or $79 / £59 / €69 / AU$99.95 for the Sony MDR-3R Stranger Things variant, someone's Christmas present just got sorted — and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in our best wired headphones guide, if I can only put them through their paces for a full review…

After teasing us with a few of its deals last month, the full Samsung Black Friday sale has now started in the UK, featuring savings on phones, TVs, appliances, tablets, wearables, and more. With some strong discounts and big trade-in savings available, here are the offers that I think are worth considering if you're looking to upgrade.

• Browse the full Samsung Black Friday sale

If there's one deal that has me tempted more than anything in the sale, it's this £300 saving on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 when you use the discount code 'NOV26'. When combined with an extra £100 off when paying with PayPal, plus a trade-in rebate of up to £713, there's an opportunity here to get the fantastic foldable for a seriously low price.

We're huge fans of the phone too, as you can see in our 4.5-star Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 review. By changing the form factor to a more portable and pocketable passport-sized design, packing in all the performance you need for daily use, and a solid battery life to match, it feels like Samsung finally worked out the ideal foldable with this release.

Elsewhere in the Black Friday sale, you can get up to £500 off several of Samsung's excellent premium TVs, or up to £500 off appliances if you're planning a kitchen refit. There are also price cuts on its latest Galaxy Watch and the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra.

All offers are backed by the Samsung Black Friday Price Promise, which means that if you find the same product for cheaper elsewhere from now until December 1, you can get a refund for the difference. A welcome bit of peace of mind during the hectic end-of-year shopping period.

Here are all of my top picks from the Samsung Black Friday sale. Just be aware that some offers end on November 17. Chances are we'll see even more deals as we get closer to Black Friday proper, too.

Samsung UK Black Friday sale — quick links

• Appliances: up to £500 off
• Audio: £50 off the Buds4 Pro
• Laptops: save up to £400
• Phones: up to £250 off
• Smartwatches: get Bupa Well+ free
• Tablets: up to £730 off with a trade-in
• TVs: VAT back + free soundbars

My top 6 deals at Samsung

• Bluetooth LE gets support for High Data Throughput (HDT)
• It boosts the standard's maximum supported bit-rate by almost four times
• That means support for hi-res audio, spatial audio and multi-channel audio

Good news for the best headphones of 2027 and beyond: the latest Bluetooth technology includes High Data Throughput technology, HDT for short, which gives Bluetooth LE a huge performance boost. It can transmit almost four times as much data as the current version, enabling it to send hi-res audio, spatial audio and multi-channel audio to other devices.

The fact that HDT is part of Bluetooth is important, because that means you aren't reliant on a proprietary technology for your hi-res music: if manufacturers choose to use HDT, which we'd expect them to do, then you'll have compatibility across a huge range of headphones, Bluetooth speakers and other home entertainment hardware.

There are other benefits too, as many current hi-res audio streams are sent via Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth. Sending them over Bluetooth LE removes that traffic from your home network, potentially cutting down on congestion, and it is likely to boost your headphones' battery life, too.

Faster data transfer means less work for your Bluetooth radio, whether you're listening to hi-res audio or lower-res streams.

What's new in the blue

HDT is an optional feature in the newly published Bluetooth Core 7.0 standard, and it ups the bitrate of Bluetooth LE connections from 2.5Mbps to 7.5Mbps. Those are headline speeds, and as ever you'll get a bit less in the real world. But it's still a huge boost.

The benefits aren't just limited to headphones and other audio equipment. Anything that currently transmits or receives data via Bluetooth could benefit from the improved throughput of HDT, whether that's a smartwatch, smart glasses or a smart home device. If HDT can make updating my Apple Watch software take less time than forever, I'm sold on it already.

The downside is that you can't buy an HDT device yet. That's because there's always a lag between a new version of Bluetooth being published and products with the latest version appearing on shelves.

Bluetooth 6.0 was released in September 2024 and the first Bluetooth 6.0 headphones arrived in June 2026, with major headphone brands such as Sennheiser updating their flagships mid-year. You can expect a similar time frame with Bluetooth 7.0, so that's a summer to look forward to.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.