Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

Here are the best Apple Watch deals right now

The Apple Watch Series 9 isn’t a massive step up from the prior model, but it does offer a few new features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Editor’s note: Amazon’s October Prime Day is set to kick off on October 10th. Luckily, if you’re someone who likes to shop ahead of time, we’ve rounded up the best early Prime Day deals you can already get.

Less than a month ago, Apple launched its latest batch of smartwatches, introducing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($799) alongside the new Apple Watch Series 9 ($399). Each wearable has its own pros and cons, as does the second-gen Apple Watch SE ($249), but the introduction of the new wearables also means there are now more Apple Watch models on the market than ever before — and a lot more deals to be had.

But with all of those options, which one should you pick? Generally speaking, you want to buy the newest watch you can afford so that it continues to receive software updates from Apple. The latest update, watchOS 10, just launched on the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer, though no one can say with certainty whether the Series 4 will get the next big software update or whether it will be exclusive to newer watches.

Picking up a watch from the latest (or a recent) generation ensures you’re getting a smartwatch with an updated design, a robust number of features, and plenty of sensors. Now, let’s get into the deals.

The best Apple Watch Series 9 deals

The Apple Watch Series 9 represents the latest wearable in Apple’s flagship Series lineup. It introduces a slightly faster S9 SiP chip and a second-gen ultra wideband chip, which allow for onboard Siri processing and precision finding with your iPhone. It also offers a brighter, 2,000-nit display and works with Apple’s new “double-tap,” a feature that lets you tap your thumb and index finger together to carry out various actions. While the improvements are welcome, the Series 8 isn’t a vast departure from the prior model, the Series 8.

The Apple Watch Series 9 only just arrived, however, the GPS-equipped model is already on sale at Amazon in the 41mm sizing for $389.99 ($9 off), or in the larger 45mm configuration for $419.99 ($9 off). Both sizes are also available at Best Buy and Target, though, you’ll have to pay the full price in both instances. As for the LTE model with cellular connectivity, it’s currently available at Amazon starting at $489.99 ($9 off), or at Best Buy and Target for its full retail price.

Read our Apple Watch Series 9 review.

The best Apple Watch Series 8 deals

Last year, Apple introduced the flagship Series 8, which brought an updated processor, new temperature sensors that enable menstrual tracking and Crash Detection, and a host of other refinements that made it a minor upgrade over the Series 7. While it’s no longer the latest model, it’s still readily available — often at a discounted price. In fact, the deals we’re seeing on the Series 8 right now are some of the best we’ve ever seen, likely as a result of the Series 9’s arrival.

Although the stock is a bit limited at the moment, you can still pick up the 41mm Series 8 with GPS at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart for $319 ($80 off), which remains one of its lowest prices to date. The better deal, however, is on the larger 45mm configuration, which is available at Amazon in select styles for $254.99 ($174 off) when you clip the on-page coupon.

If you’re looking to snag a cellular model, the 41mm configuration is currently available in select styles at Amazon and Walmart for $399 ($100 off). Walmart is also selling the 45mm variant starting at $399 ($130 off), which marks its lowest price to date.

Read our Apple Watch Series 8 review.

The best Apple Watch SE deals

The Apple Watch SE received a refresh in late 2022. It has the same chipset as the Series 8, which is great, but with fewer sensors, no always-on display, and a slightly outdated design compared to the Series 8 and Series 9. Those omissions might take this out of the running for some people, but it still may be exactly what you’re after. Best of all, it starts at $249 for the 40mm Wi-Fi / GPS model, which is $30 less than the previous generation’s baseline cost. Opting for cellular connectivity bumps up the starting price to $299 for the 40mm size (44mm adds $20 to each configuration).

Right now, the 40mm Apple Watch SE with GPS is available for $219.99 ($30 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon; it’s also on sale for the same price at Target if you belong to the retailer’s free-to-join Target Circle program. The GPS-only model is also available at Amazon and Target in the 44mm sizing for $249.99 ($30 off) — either with a coupon or as part of Target’s Circle program — or in the LTE configuration at Amazon starting at $269.99 ($30 off).

If you’re cool with getting the last-gen model, which lacks an always-on display and some of the more advanced bells and whistles found on the newer Apple Watch models, Walmart is still selling it in the 44mm base configuration for $159, a total of $150 off.

Read our Apple Watch SE (second-gen) review.

The best Apple Watch Ultra 2 deals

Apple’s latest Apple Watch Ultra launched at $799 last month with GPS and LTE support, much like the original model. The ultra-capable smartwatch has the most features, sensors, and ruggedness of any Apple Watch model available thus far, along with a display that’s 50 percent brighter than the first Ultra. The 49mm smartwatch also packs Apple’s new S9 SiP and second-gen ultra wideband chips, just like the Apple Watch Series 9, while maintaining long-lasting battery life, precise GPS tracking, and a bevy of diving-friendly sensors.

While we haven’t seen any significant discounts on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 given how new it is, it’s currently on sale at Amazon in select styles starting at $774 ($25 off). You can also pick up the second-gen wearable at Best Buy and Target, where it’s available for its full retail price of $799.

Read our Apple Watch Ultra 2 review.

The best Apple Watch Ultra deals

Apple released the first-gen Apple Watch Ultra at the tail end of 2022. It was the most capable watch the company had ever released at the time, one buoyed by a host of advanced sensors, a more rugged build, and a number of features squarely aimed at outdoorsy types (including a programmable Action button). While newer, the second-gen model is a pretty incremental update overall, making the last-gen Ultra a pretty attractive deal when you can find it at the right price.

In May, we saw select Apple Watch Ultra configurations plummet to an all-time low of around $702 ($97 off). Although it’s currently not available at that price, Apple’s premium wearable is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy in select configurations starting at $719 ($80 off), its second-best price to date.

Read our Apple Watch Ultra review.

A note on the more premium models

While all of the Apple Watch models and colorways covered here are encased in aluminum (except the Ultras, which have a titanium build), Apple does make a more premium range built out of stainless steel and titanium. These offerings are functionally and aesthetically similar to their aluminum counterparts, with slightly refined colors and finishings — polished for the stainless steel and brushed for the titanium. However, they start at much steeper prices of $749 and above. They, too, can often be found on sale, but they’re never discounted as low as the standard base models, so we don’t include them here.

Sony confirms server security breaches that exposed employee data

Sony confirms server security breaches that exposed employee data

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Sony is sending out notices to some current and former Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) employees warning that their personal information was compromised in a system breach that occurred in May. The letters went out to about 6,800 affected individuals, as reported by Bleeping Computer. The publication also received confirmation from Sony that another breach occurred in September.

A ransomware group known as Cl0p claimed responsibility for breaking into a Sony server in June. The breach occurred via a vulnerability in the file-sending MOVEit Transfer platform that SIE was using. Sony is one of many organizations that have been affected by MOVEit cyberattacks.

Progress Software, the creator of MOVEit Transfer, told its clients (including Sony) about a vulnerability in its platform on May 31st, Sony says in the letter. After the warning, SIE discovered that a breach occurred on May 28th and that hackers downloaded data off the server.

The server included personally identifiable information of US-based employees, and Sony is providing credit monitoring services to those affected. Sony says it has since fixed the vulnerability.

Sony launched an investigation last month into a second breach in which hackers acquired 3.14GB of data. Sony confirms this server is located in Japan and is used for internal testing for its Entertainment, Technology and Services business, according to a statement sent to Bleeping Computer. Sony is investigating this incident and has taken the server down. Hackers that were responsible leaked files that included data from the SonarQube platform, certificates, a license generator, Creators’ Cloud, and more. Sony said that this latest incident had “no adverse impact on Sony’s operations.”

Comcast and Charter have begun rolling out the first Xumo streaming box

Comcast and Charter have begun rolling out the first Xumo streaming box

Image: Charter / Comcast

In April 2022, cable operators Comcast and Charter announced a partnership that the companies said would produce “a next-generation streaming platform on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.” A few months later, we learned that this joint effort would be called Xumo, and now the first hardware device is making its way to customers. It’s called the Xumo Stream Box, and at the outset, it’s available within Spectrum’s service footprint — with availability for Comcast’s Xfinity customers to follow.

As the consumer exodus from traditional cable continues, the Stream Box is meant to be an end-all, be-all solution that combines inexpensive subscription bundles with an avalanche of FAST (free ad-supported television) programming. It’ll also include plenty of preinstalled third-party streaming apps — yes, including Disney Plus — making the device a competitor to Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and other devices. The Stream Box uses Comcast’s Entertainment OS platform as its foundation and comes with a voice remote for universal search.

Live TV is definitely the focal point: according to a press release, when you start up the Stream Box, the first thing you’ll see is “live video playing from the device’s primary video service app such as Spectrum TV, Xfinity Stream, or Xumo Play” with a guide for easy channel surfing. But if you’re not in the mood for live content, there’s “a curated, content-forward viewing experience that blends AI-driven personalization and human-led editorial recommendations to help customers find something to watch without having to jump in and out of apps.” Each member of a household can also make their own personalized “My List” with shows and movies they want to watch across numerous streaming services.

Image: Charter / Comcast

Yep, looks like your typical nondescript streaming device to me.

None of that stands out as particularly unique when contrasted with any number of streaming devices. Take a quick glance at the Stream Box’s homescreen, and it almost looks like Android TV. And I’d argue the company’s stated goal of developing “a complete entertainment experience that breaks down the streaming silos and makes TV easy again” is the same north star that guides much of the competition. But for the two partners, this is really about adapting to the reality that traditional linear viewership is in a state of decline, with on-demand streaming continuing to surge.

Charter and Comcast are taking slightly different approaches in how they’ll offer Stream Box to their respective customers. Charter cable subscribers can get one free box at no extra charge for the first year; additional units are available at an added cost. (You can either buy them outright for $60 or pay a monthly $5 service fee.) Meanwhile, Comcast will target the Stream Box at new Xfinity internet customers when it begins rolling out the hardware in its own markets sometime in the next few months. This is only the starting point for the 50/50 Xumo partnership, with other devices and Xumo TVs to follow as two influential cable providers try to maintain their foothold amid major shifts in how people seek out entertainment.

Hyundai’s future EVs will also have Tesla’s EV charging port

Hyundai’s future EVs will also have Tesla’s EV charging port

Did they just tape it on there? | Image: Hyundai

Another major automaker is jumping on the Tesla bandwagon. Hyundai announced today its plans to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS), aka the “Tesla plug,” for its future electric vehicles.

Hyundai models compatible with Tesla’s NACS plug will start arriving in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the automaker will also provide adapters to its current customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations. Hyundai’s current EV lineup, which includes the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, both have charging ports that are compatible with the Combined Charging Standard, or CCS, for DC fast charging.

So let’s just look at the scoreboard really quick

NACS adoptees include Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and Fisker. The holdouts are two of the biggest automakers in the world: Volkswagen and Toyota. And no word on Hyundai’s sibling company, Kia.

Hyundai and Kia are both involved in a joint venture with BMW, GM, Stellantis, and Mercedes-Benz to build out a nationwide network of fast EV charging stations. The plan is to install at least 30,000 high-speed EV chargers by 2030, with the first ones to open summer 2024 in the US.

Tesla’s Supercharger network is widely recognized as superior to many of the third-party EV charging stations, most of which feature CCS plugs and the less utilized CHAdeMO charging standard. The company says it has 45,000 Superchargers worldwide, 12,000 of which are located in the US.

And while other EV charging stations struggle with software glitches and faulty chargers, Tesla says its Superchargers are nearly perfect in their reliability. The company says that the average uptime of Supercharger sites last year amounted to 99.95 percent, down marginally from 99.96 percent in 2021.

Until recently, Tesla Superchargers were exclusive to Tesla owners, but that began to change several years ago when the company started offering access to non-Tesla EVs. Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced that Tesla would begin to do the same in the US as a prerequisite to tap into some of the $7.5 billion for EV charging in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Unlike in Europe, Tesla Superchargers in the US use a proprietary connector — this was Tesla’s “competitive moat,” the thing that initially offered protection from other automakers. In order to allow non-Tesla vehicles to access the chargers, the company installed a device called the “Magic Dock,” in which a CCS adapter is applied to the connector.

Adobe teases new AI photo editing tool that will ‘revolutionize’ its products

Adobe teases new AI photo editing tool that will ‘revolutionize’ its products

Even Adobe is sick of using the lasso tool to manually separate objects from photographs. | Image: Adobe

Adobe is set to announce a new AI-powered photo editing tool at the Adobe Max event next week that makes it much easier to alter images without prior editing experience. According to a promotional video (seen via Techspot), the new “object-aware editing engine” — dubbed Project Stardust — automatically identifies individual objects in regular photographs, allowing them to be easily moved around and changed. It’s similar to Google’s Magic Editor announced yesterday for its new Pixel phones, but presumably more powerful.

A quick demonstration of the new software shows how objects in a photograph — such as the yellow suitcase and its shadow in the example image — are automatically identified and selected as if they had been separated using Photoshop’s lasso tool. The clip then demonstrates how objects can be moved, deleted, or otherwise manipulated as if they were stored on a separate layer, with the missing space behind them being automatically filled in to match the rest of their surroundings.

Project Stardust includes something simliar to the “Contextual Task Bar” that debuted in Photoshop earlier this year, which can automatically detect the next steps in your design process and allow you to make quick edits. In the demo video, selecting a crowd of blurred people in the background of the image prompts a “remove distractors” button to appear on the taskbar, which automatically deletes the crowd when clicked.

The new editing engine features some of the same generative AI capabilities as Adobe’s Firefly-powered Photoshop tools. Adobe’s project manager Aya Philémon can be seen selecting an area of the photograph and inputting text into a floating taskbar prompt to fill the selected space with AI-generated flowers. In another clip, the same feature is used to replace individual items of clothing on a model by selecting the item (for example, a jacket or sneakers) and then describing a new piece of clothing to drop in.

Image: Adobe

Project Stardust removes the need to manually separate objects onto a new layer.

Image: Adobe

And this taskbar recognizes what step you’re likely to take next and provides users with a one-click button to action it.

These automated design tools are becoming more commonplace alongside advances in generative AI. Canva has similar editing tools available for automatically removing or altering objects in images, as does Google Photo’s Magic Editor tool that’s shipping with Pixel 8 devices. Still, details for Project Stardust are slim, and Philémon claims the features teased so far are “just a fraction” of its capabilities, promising that the new engine is going to “revolutionize how we interact with Adobe products.” We’ll find out more about Adobe’s incoming AI releases at Adobe Max next week, which kicks off on October 10th.

Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony

Details of Apple’s talks to replace Google with Bing and even DuckDuckGo revealed in unsealed court testimony

Image: The Verge

While Google’s search engine has for years been the default on Apple’s devices, newly unsealed court testimonies reveal that Apple held talks with both Microsoft and DuckDuckGo to use their search engines across Apple devices, and in Microsoft’s case even potentially buying Bing, The Washington Post and Bloomberg report. The potential of a Microsoft deal also served as a useful bargaining chip for Apple when negotiating its lucrative search deal with Google.

The details came to light as part of the Department of Justice’s landmark antitrust case against Google which accuses the search giant of abusing its dominance of the search market. A key element of this trial is an agreement that sees Google pay Apple billions of dollars a year in a revenue sharing deal to make Google search the default across Apple’s devices. Apple has defended the deal, saying that there wasn’t a viable alternative search engine available.

News that Apple considered purchasing Bing emerged in a report from Bloomberg last week, but the newly unsealed testimony of Apple senior vice president John Giannandrea sheds more light on the discussions. Apple met with Microsoft in 2018, and later in 2020 to discuss a potential Bing acquisition or joint venture, Bloomberg reports. The company even studied the quality of Bing’s search results compared with Google, but found Bing generally performed worse except for desktop searches in English.

Apple has used Bing as the default search service for some of its products in the past (between 2013 and 2017, Microsoft’s search engine provided answers for searches made through Siri and Spotlight), but it ultimately decided to stick with Google in a deal estimated to be worth around $19 billion to Apple annually.

Although Apple appeared to be considering a deal with Microsoft, one internal Apple email surfaced as part of the trial suggests the company was — at least partially — using Bing as a negotiating tactic to extract more money from Google. “We build them [Microsoft] up, create incremental negotiating leverage to keep the take rate from Google, and further our optionality to replace Google down the line,” Apple vice president Adrian Perica wrote, The Washington Post reports. For its part, Microsoft was aware that it was being used for leverage. “It is no secret that Apple is making more money on Bing existing than Bing does,’’ Microsoft’s chief of advertising and web services Mikhail Parakhin testified as part of the court hearing.

Apple also had around 20 meetings and phone calls with DuckDuckGo to discuss making the search engine the default for Safari’s private browsing mode, according to newly unsealed testimony from DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg. DuckDuckGo markets itself as a more privacy focussed alternative to the major search engines. Although Weinberg says he “thought [Apple] would launch it,” Apple’s Giannandrea says he wasn’t aware that the company had considered a switch, and even called DuckDuckGo’s privacy claims into question, Bloomberg notes.

According to Giannandrea, DuckDuckGo’s reliance on Bing for search information risks sharing user information with Microsoft. “I would probably insist on doing a lot more due diligence with DuckDuckGo” if Apple were to seriously consider switching, Giannandrea said.

Microsoft and Amazon face UK regulator investigation over cloud services

Microsoft and Amazon face UK regulator investigation over cloud services

Illustration: The Verge

The clouds are gathering over Microsoft’s Azure operations in the EU and now the UK, with the launch of a new investigation into major cloud service providers that also includes Amazon. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is just about to wrap up its concerns over cloud gaming with Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, but it will soon turn its attention to Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

It’s part of a fresh investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, after telecoms regulator Ofcom “identified a number of features in the supply of cloud services that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple cloud suppliers.”

Ofcom found issues with charges that cloud customers have to pay to move their data out of the cloud, discounts to only use one cloud provider, and technical barriers to switching between cloud providers. The CMA specifically calls out Microsoft, too. “Ofcom’s report also outlines concerns it has heard about the software licensing practices of some cloud providers, in particular Microsoft,” says the CMA in its press release today.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom found issues with cloud services in the UK

“The CMA’s independent inquiry group will now carry out an investigation to determine whether competition in this market is working well and if not, what action should be taken to address any issues it finds,” says Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA.

Although the CMA doesn’t specifically name Amazon, Ofcom’s market study identified that both Microsoft and Amazon control around 70-80 percent of the public cloud infrastructure in the UK and that it was “particularly concerned about the practices of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft because of their market position.”

Ofcom and the CMA aren’t alone in their concerns over cloud market competition, either. The Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) trade group, which includes Amazon, filed an antitrust complaint with the EU last year. The group argues “Microsoft uses its dominance in productivity software to direct European customers to its own Azure cloud infrastructure to the detriment of European cloud infrastructure providers and users of IT services.”

Microsoft offered some licensing concessions more than a year ago, but they haven’t been enough to address the ongoing complaints. Google even publicly called out Microsoft’s cloud software licensing “tax” earlier this year, arguing that businesses have to pay extra when they want to run software like Office on other cloud networks.

“Microsoft publicly touts that if you run their software on Azure versus other vendors like AWS and GCP, it’s five times cheaper or it’s more expensive to run on us, basically because of the tax customers have to pay to Microsoft,” said Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud, in an interview with The Register earlier this year. “The price of the products are the same in terms of infrastructure and everything else, so the licensing cost is more expensive because of using providers other than Azure.”

Microsoft has been reportedly trying to fend off a full EU antitrust investigation, with Reuters reporting in March that it had offered to change its cloud computing practices. The EU has opened a formal antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s Teams bundling with Office, but we’re still waiting to hear if the regulator will also take up the Azure concerns.

The CMA’s market investigation could take 18 months to complete, with a statutory deadline set for April 4th, 2025. The UK regulator will outline theories of harm and any potential remedies that might address the situation. The UK regulator also has the power to “impose structural remedies which can require companies to sell parts of their business to improve competition.”

Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense even trying to win?

Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense even trying to win?

Even the defense’s opening statement was a bad look for Sam Bankman-Fried | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

The prosecution came out swinging. Oddly, Bankman-Fried’s defense didn’t.

I have never seen Sam Bankman-Fried so still as he was during the prosecution’s opening statement. The characteristic leg-jiggling was absent. He barely moved as the prosecutor listed the evidence against him: internal company files, what customers were told, the testimony of his co-conspirators and his own words.

His hair was shorn, the result of a haircut from a fellow prisoner, the Wall Street Journal reported. He wore a suit bought at a discount at Macy’s, per the Journal; it hung on him. He appeared to have lost some weight.

“All of that was built on lies.”

Bankman-Fried, at this time last year, had a luxury lifestyle as the CEO of crypto exchange FTX, said the assistant US attorney, Thane Rehn, in the cadence of a high schooler delivering his lines in a student play. Bankman-Fried hung out with Tom Brady. He was on magazine covers, lived in a $30 million penthouse, and spent time with world politicians. “All of that was built on lies,” Rehn said.

In his opening statement, Rehn dodged explaining cryptocurrency to the jury. Instead, he punched hard on Bankman-Fried lying and stealing.

Bankman-Fried sat almost motionless, occasionally glancing at Rehn, as the prosecutor told the jury that Bankman-Fried sold stock in FTX and borrowed millions from lenders by lying.

The story Rehn told is familiar to anyone following the news. In May and June of 2022, Alameda Research — the crypto trading company ostensibly helmed by Caroline Ellison — didn’t have enough to pay its bills, so it pulled customer money to repay loans. By September, the hole in the FTX balance sheet was so big that customers could never be repaid.

FTX “didn’t have a chief risk officer, which became an issue when the storm hit.”

When CoinDesk published its article in November 2022, people realized FTX was a house of cards, Rehn said. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried tweeted. “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” and “We don’t invest customer assets even in treasuries.”

Pointing at Bankman-Fried, Rehn said, “This man stole billions of dollars from thousands of people.”

So how was the defense going to follow it up? I was very curious, having learned yesterday that Bankman-Fried had never been offered a plea deal since he and his attorneys had told the government they wouldn’t negotiate. Surely there would be some manner of evidence, some something, that would have made him so confident.

There was, instead, a metaphor.

Defense attorney Mark Cohen, with the energy of a patient father telling his obnoxious children a bedtime story, assured us that working at a startup was like building a plane while flying it, and that FTX the plane had flown right into the perfect storm: the crypto crash. Except, uh, he also said this: FTX “didn’t have a chief risk officer, which became an issue when the storm hit.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing risk officer

The problem with this metaphor is that if FTX was a plane, it was a plane flying with a key component missing — namely, the risk officer, an executive whose job it is to, well, manage risk. This is sort of an important thing, as risks can be anything from reputational to regulatory to financial.

FTX was named such as it was because it was a futures exchange, which, to borrow a phrase from Bloomberg’s Matt Levine, “sits between the winners and losers of bets.” That means FTX can’t pay out what it owes the winners unless the losers pay up. Risk management is a crucial part of the business; risk officers exist to identify business’ potential risks, monitor, and mitigate them. This is to say nothing of the regulatory risks around crypto.

As Cohen droned on about airplanes, I couldn’t stop thinking about the missing risk officer. Bringing it up, I thought, was a tremendous mistake. The prosecution hadn’t mentioned it. Either Bankman-Fried is stupid — unlikely — or he deliberately didn’t hire a risk officer. Was he worried about what one might find?

Sure, as Cohen put it, Bankman-Fried was a math nerd who didn’t party. That paints a picture of someone who’s pretty deliberate, particularly since he immediately left MIT and went to work on Wall Street. If he had been a party-hardy trainwreck, I could see overlooking a risk officer in order to do another line, or a supermodel, or something else important. Why was the defense bringing this up?

But as Cohen tried to tell me that FTX’s and Alameda’s business relationships were “reasonable under the circumstances,” the lack of risk officer kept elbowing me in the ribs. “Sam acted in good faith and took reasonable business measures” is a pretty hard pill to swallow with that in mind.

Man, it’s no good when your defense lawyer has just made you sound worse than the prosecution already did. And while Cohen tried to make the common white-collar defense argument that Bankman-Fried, as CEO, was simply too busy to oversee what everyone did every day, he just made me more suspicious. That’s why you hire a risk officer and delegate! That’s the whole point! I could barely even hear Cohen blaming Caroline Ellison and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao for the debacle over the “no risk officer” ringing in my ears.

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Following the defense’s opening statements, things got still worse for Bankman-Fried. The prosecution called its first witness, Marc-Antoine Julliard, whose money got stuck on FTX. Juilliard, who was born in Paris and lives in London, testified that he trusted FTX because Bankman-Fried came across as a leading figure of the industry. When he was evaluating the exchange, he thought the sheer volume of users was important, too — at the time, FTX was among the top three biggest exchanges. Plus, major VC firms had invested, and “they don’t commit hundreds of millions without doing due diligence, checking the books, the accountancy of the firm, going through several compliance process[es], so that was a vote of confidence for me,” Juilliard said. (Evidently he had not paid attention to the Elizabeth Holmes trial.)

He also noted FTX’s glossy ads — featuring Gisele Bündchen, for instance — suggested a very high budget. It wouldn’t make sense to spend that much money unless FTX had very strong financials, Juilliard figured. He opened an account, transferred in both regular money and cryptocurrency, and used the exchange to execute his plan: buying Bitcoin to sell back in five to ten years at higher prices.

It is a thankless task to cross-examine a customer whose money is gone

In November 2022, things went bad for Julliard. He followed Bankman-Fried on Twitter, and read aloud the “FTX is fine. Assets are fine” tweets, along with “FTX has enough to cover all client holdings. We don’t invest client assets” and a few others, which gave Julliard the impression that his money was there — the problem might have been technical (anti-spam measures) or regulatory. When he tried to get his money out on November 8th, it was too late. We saw screenshots of his withdrawal attempts: $20,000 USD and about 4 Bitcoin, which were worth about $20,000 at the time: about $100,000 money, inaccessible.

It is a thankless task to cross-examine a customer whose money is gone, but Cohen tried anyway. He noted that Julliard was a licensed commodities broker, who was trading in crypto because he didn’t have to disclose it; that Julliard knew that crypto was new and risky, and that Julliard didn’t review the terms of service agreement he’d assented to when making his FTX account.

Well, sure, but so what?

The next witness called was Bankman-Fried’s former college (and FTX) roommate, Adam Yedidia, about whom I expect I will have much more to say tomorrow.

When the jury was dismissed, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers told the judge that he wasn’t getting his full Adderall doses in prison. The defense appeared to be setting up the grounds for an appeal — it’s previously argued that the prison withholding Adderall made it difficult for Bankman-Fried to prepare his defense. Given what I saw today, setting up an appeal seems wise. It is, at minimum, risk management.

Roku’s next update focuses on sports, live TV, and easier content discovery

Roku’s next update focuses on sports, live TV, and easier content discovery

Image: Roku

Today, Roku outlined a slew of new software features that owners of its streaming devices (or Roku TVs) can expect over the coming weeks and months. The company has over 73 million active accounts globally, and as always, it’s trying to increase the amount of time each of those users spends on the platform. This time, it’s doing so with a wide range of features, with some targeted at sports fans and others at casual viewers who want yet more help finding something to watch.

Roku’s sports hub will soon let you “favorite” your chosen teams, which will make it easier to track when games are happening and faster to hop into the relevant streaming app and start watching. Highlights are also coming to the sports section, and Roku says “users will be able to watch clips from recent sporting events they may have missed or want to relive.” The company is expanding its foray into sports with the addition of motorsports in early 2024. But even before that, Roku says it will support Max’s upcoming sports content sometime in the next few weeks.

Image: Roku

Sports favoriting will make it simpler to track specific teams.

With the proliferation of FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channels across Roku and many other entertainment platforms in recent months, users have asked for easier customization and browsing options, and Roku has some solutions. It already lets you hide channels you’re not interested in, and soon, you’ll be able to go a step further and personalize the order of channels in the guide.

To help customers avoid indecision over the night’s entertainment, Roku is also refining its “What to Watch” section with new categories that drill deeper into specific categories like TV shows, movies, new and popular, and free-to-watch content. “New experiences related to a specific genre or topic such as food or home will roll out across the platform in the coming months. Within these new experiences, users can browse through a curated selection of entertainment specific to each genre,” the company said.

Image: Roku

You’ll soon be able to set Google Photos albums as the screensaver on Roku devices.

If you’re someone who uses Roku’s Photo Streams feature, the biggest news of this entire update might be the addition of Google Photos support. Now, you can link an album and have it appear as your screensaver. For owners of Roku’s smart home cameras, the company is also adding more thorough event history and instant notifications for customers with a subscription.

Image: Roku

Expert settings will allow for more extensive calibration.

This last new feature will be welcomed by picture quality nerds like myself: Roku is bringing its expert picture settings to all of its 4K-compatible devices. Previously available only via the company’s mobile app, now you’ll be able to adjust settings like color temperature, color space, gamma correction, and noise reduction right from the TV itself instead of reaching for your phone.

Rounding out the Roku OS 12.5 update is an “enhanced” music experience within The Roku Channel:

We’re enhancing the music experience in The Roku Channel to make it easier for customers to enjoy more than 250 video playlists from our partners, including Stingray, Vevo, and Warner Music Group. Whether they’re listening to “Relaxing Jazz,” watching “Iconic Music Videos,” or revisiting their favorite “Boy Bands,” users will enjoy a more immersive experience, with new controls to shuffle, skip ahead, add video playlists to their Save List for listening, receive recommendations for similar playlists, and more.

As for hardware, Roku is largely sticking with its existing product lineup this fall. The company recently announced an Amazon-exclusive bundle that pairs the Roku Express 4K with the Voice Remote Pro, but it looks like the streaming player portfolio is locked in for the remainder of the year.

Roku customers in the US can expect the 12.5 OS update to start popping up sometime over the next few weeks.

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Meta’s new AI-generated stickers are lewd, rude, and occasionally nude

Meta’s new AI-generated stickers are lewd, rude, and occasionally nude

Would you believe this was probably the safest image we could have used here? | Image: Meta / @Pioldes

Some early user tests for Meta’s new AI-generated sticker tool have resulted in some dubious (and rather hilarious) creations. After gaining access to the new AI-generated sticker tool on Facebook Messenger, X user @Pioldes was able to create a host of inappropriate sticker images — including child soldiers, gun-wielding Nintendo characters, Mickey Mouse taking a crap, and nude illustrations of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Other examples show that Meta’s AI-sticker tool will also happily slap a pair of breasts onto…well, just about anything, judging by the busty images of Sonic the Hedgehog and Karl Marx. There’s even a sticker that depicts a woman breastfeeding Pikachu.

found out that facebook messenger has ai generated stickers now and I don't think anyone involved has thought anything through pic.twitter.com/co987cRhyu

— podesbiens.bsky.social (@Pioldes) October 3, 2023

The AI-generated chat stickers were announced last week at Meta’s Connect event, alongside a new AI image editor for Instagram. Powered by Meta’s Llama 2 large language model — the company’s ChatGPT rival — AI-generated stickers allow users to create “multiple unique, high-quality stickers in seconds” using text-based prompts. AI-generated stickers are currently rolling out to “select English language users” for Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories and DMs, Messenger, and WhatsApp over this month, so it’s unclear how many users currently have access to the feature.

I'm still trying to figure out if I love this or hate this pic.twitter.com/rrm6oKyVQb

— Kazzer✘ (@kazzerx) October 4, 2023

Certain words do seem to be blocked and using them in prompts will warn the user that their description might violate Meta’s community guidelines. However, other X users have reported that you can still generate inappropriate content using typos or descriptions of restricted words. In some cases, prompts like “World Trade Center” generated problematic images without any additional descriptors at all.

LPT: typos of restricted words will eventually generate the prohibited content! pic.twitter.com/6PnrTJ3U7x

— Buttered Jorts (@ajn142) October 4, 2023

This sort of tomfoolery is common with the launch of AI tools and likely why Meta is pursuing a limited rollout of the AI-generated sticker feature. That way it can address and correct abuse before it spreads to the masses. We have reached out to Meta for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online services will shut down in April

Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS online services will shut down in April

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Next spring, Nintendo will shut down the online services behind nearly all 3DS and Wii U software, affecting both first-party titles and third-party software (with some exceptions). News of this early April 2024 shutdown follows the return of online features for the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, which had disappeared between March and August while Nintendo dealt with “vulnerability related to online play.”

One title that will continue operating, for now, is Pokémon Bank, and gaming offline is still possible. Also, this FAQ from Nintendo says that players will be able to download patches and redownload games purchased from the eShop “for the foreseeable future.” eShop sales of Wii U and 3DS games ended in March of this year.

As of early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end service for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. Thank you very much for your continued support of our products.

Find out more: https://t.co/nOyzBImHCE

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 4, 2023

SpotPass features are also going away, but Nintendo says that StreetPass between 3DS family systems will continue to work anywhere you can find someone else who has one, even after these servers go away.

This planned early April 2024 shutdown will occur just over ten years after the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service went offline, ending online services for Nintendo’s Wii and DS titles in 2014.

With 13 million or so sales since its 2012 launch, the Wii U was one of the worst-performing consoles in Nintendo’s history. After it was discontinued in 2017, the company moved on from that era with ports and sequels of its best games that made the originals seem obsolete. Earlier this year, there were reports of memory errors that may make maintaining archives of the system’s games on original hardware even more difficult.

The 3DS had a slow start when it launched in 2010 but eventually moved over 75 million units, with strong sales that continued even after the launch of the Switch before it was discontinued in 2020.

If you’re wondering what this suggests for the future of Nintendo’s other online services, this summer, its CEO Shuntaro Furukawa said the current Nintendo Account system is key to smooth its transition to a new generation of hardware after the Switch. He noted how difficult it was to rebuild customer relationships each time it launched a new network with previous systems.

The entire story of Twitter / X under Elon Musk

The entire story of Twitter / X under Elon Musk

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

Forget Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company — Elon Musk is now the owner of Twitter.

Elon Musk bought Twitter, and now he’s rebranding it as X. Signs have gone up (and back down), icons are changing, and an old plan is new.

How’d we get here?

On April 4th, 2022, we learned that Musk had purchased enough shares of Twitter to become its largest individual shareholder. Eventually, he followed up with an unsolicited offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter’s shares for $54.20 each, or about $44 billion. Twitter accepted Musk’s offer, but then things got weird because he tried to cancel the deal.

There was a lot of back-and-forth about bots and text messages, but in the end, Musk settled on buying the company rather than facing a deposition or Chancery Court trial and eventually strode into Twitter HQ carrying a sink.

Since then, there have been layoffs, more layoffs, and even more layoffs — plus drama over Substack, unpaid bills, and blue checkmarks. With ad revenue still down from previous years, Elon finally abdicated the role of CEO in May 2023, installing longtime NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino.

Read on for the latest updates about what’s going on inside Twitter right now.

X has to pay $1.1 million in legal fees for ex-Twitter execs

X has to pay $1.1 million in legal fees for ex-Twitter execs

Illustration: The Verge

A judge has ruled that X, the platform previously known as Twitter, must pay $1.1 million in legal fees associated with the investigations of the platform that unfolded during Elon Musk’s buyout of the platform last year, according to a report from Bloomberg.

As noted by Bloomberg, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled in favor of former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former lead policy officer Vijaya Gadde, and other executives, as Twitter “violated its duties to cover legal expenses generated by their work for the company.”

Elon Musk fired Agrawal and other high-level leaders once he took over the company and after Twitter sued Musk for attempting to back out of his agreement for the $44 billion acquisition.

In April, Agrawal and Gadde filed a lawsuit against X for allegedly failing to pay for their legal bills, including bills for Gadde’s appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. X has only paid around $600,000 of the amount owed, Bloomberg reports, with the company’s lawyer saying X officials got “sticker shock” after they saw the “quite excessive” $1.1 million legal bill from Gadde’s lawyers.

While Judge McCormick agreed that $1.1 million is a lot of money, she still ruled in the former Twitter executive’s favor. “I have reviewed the amount in question, and although it is high and probably higher than most humans would like to pay, it’s not unreasonable,” Judge McCormick said, according to Bloomberg.”

Microsoft makes the Windows 11 setup process less boring with an entertaining Easter egg

Microsoft makes the Windows 11 setup process less boring with an entertaining Easter egg

Microsoft’s SkiFree-like game appears when setting up a Surface Laptop Studio 2. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Microsoft is making the Windows 11 setup process a little more entertaining, at least on some laptops. I unboxed the Surface Laptop Studio 2 yesterday (read Monica Chin’s review here) and noticed that Microsoft now prompts you to play the modern version of its SkiFree game while you wait for updates to be applied.

It’s the same secret surfing game that Microsoft added to its Edge browser three years ago, a fun little Easter egg that’s very similar to the SkiFree skiing game that was released as part of Microsoft’s Entertainment Pack 3 for Windows back in 1991.

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Playing Microsoft’s surfing game.

The game appears as an option if there are outstanding Windows updates available or if you’re restoring settings using Windows Backup, as far as I can tell. I’m not entirely sure if this is limited to just new Surface devices or whether Microsoft has added the game to the Windows 11 setup process in general. I asked Microsoft for more information on this addition, but the company hasn’t responded in time for publication.

Either way, it’s a fun addition to the often boring Windows setup process. Microsoft has come a long way with its out-of-box installation process in Windows in recent years, with Windows 10 improving on the work of Windows 8 to serve up a more modern and simplified process. I’m old enough to remember how unfriendly setting up a Windows laptop was more than a decade ago, and Windows 11 is a refreshing change.

It’s also far better to be offered a game than having Cortana shout at you when you’re trying to configure a bunch of laptops.

Instacart will accept Medicare Advantage for grocery orders

Instacart will accept Medicare Advantage for grocery orders

Image: Instacart

Instacart is expanding its payment options next year to include Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and other supplement health benefits for grocery deliveries. The move comes after the company began accepting food stamps as payment earlier this year.

The program, which will be administered through Alignment Health, will allow anyone who receives health insurance through Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and other eligible programs to use their plan-sponsored funds to purchase “eligible groceries, wellness essentials, and over-the-counter medications for delivery via Instacart,” the company said.

The goal is to improve access to nutritious food and over-the-counter medicines for seniors, many whom experience food insecurity as a result of transportation challenges and economic instability.

“eligible groceries, wellness essentials, and over-the-counter medications”

“The new plans will give participating seniors greater independence, convenience, and the dignity of choice to select the essentials they need to support their health from Instacart’s broad selection of retail partners,” Sarah Mastrorocco, Vice President and General Manager of Instacart Health, said in a blog post.

Instacart has been working to expand payment options to people on food stamps or other welfare programs for years now. The company partnered with grocery outlet Aldi on a pilot three years ago. Earlier this year, it announced that it now accepts food stamps in all 50 states.

Most delivery platform apps aren’t equipped to accept food stamps as a universal form of payment, though that may be changing. Uber Eats announced recently it would begin to accept food stamps.

An estimated 31 million people are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, while 92 million are on Medicaid. SNAP is the biggest food assistance program in the US, with an estimated 41.2 million people receiving monthly benefits in the 2022 fiscal year, according to the Pew Research Center.

Ford’s new F-150 Lightning Flash trim will have more range, a bigger screen, and a heat pump

Ford’s new F-150 Lightning Flash trim will have more range, a bigger screen, and a heat pump

Image: Ford

Ford announced a new “Flash” trim of the model year 2024 F-150 Lighting, with a bigger screen, longer range, and a heat pump to help improve battery conditioning on those colder days. The company said it is also expecting to make more F-150 Lightning deliveries to customers later this year after a factory shutdown restricted Ford’s supply of the electric truck.

Ford says it is targeting an EPA-estimated range for Flash of 320 miles, which would fit neatly in between the automaker’s Standard Range and Long Range models. The F-150 Lightning Standard Range typically gets less than 300 miles of EPA-estimated range, while Extended Range variants can travel as far as 350 miles on a single charge.

Ford says it is targeting an EPA-estimated range for Flash of 320 miles

A heat pump will also be included with Flash, a nod to customers who have complained that cold weather tends to sap the F-150 Lightning’s battery. Heat pumps can keep batteries at a more optimal temperature during the winter months, which helps with charging times, range, and performance. More and more EVs are coming with standard heat pumps as the auto industry begins to recognize their utility.

The new tech in Flash includes a 15.5-inch touchscreen as standard, which is currently only found in the Lariat and Platinum trims. Price-wise, the F-150 Lightning Flash will sit above the XLT in the model lineup, with a $69,995 price tag and an expected delivery sometime next year.

Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s EV-focused model e division, said the goal was to put some of the features in the more expensive models that customers like the most in a more affordable profile.

“We don’t actually have a vehicle at this price point that’s equipped in this way,” Gjaja said in a briefing with reporters Monday. “So if you look at the way that Flash is equipped, it has some of the features that a Lariat has, and has some of the features that an XLT has, and not surprisingly, it lands at a price between the two of them.”

“We don’t actually have a vehicle at this price point that’s equipped in this way”

Affordability is a crucial subject for Ford, especially as it relates to the F-150 Lightning. Recent price hikes have caused some customers with pre-orders to cancel their reservations.

The new trim aside, the flow of F-150 Lightnings to customers should improve this fall now that the company’s Rogue Electric Vehicle Center reopened in August. The factory was closed for six weeks to expand and retool the plant for increased production capacity.

The first hint that Flash was coming was when Electrek spotted a trademark filing for the name earlier this year. At the time, it was assumed the name was applied to a performance version of the truck, coming on the heels of a partnership between Ford and Red Bull Powertrains on next-gen hybrid power units. But now we know that won’t be how it’s used.

The F-150 Lightning Flash won’t have the curb appeal of the new Platinum Black edition of the electric truck, with its factory-applied matte black exterior and limited production run. But the introduction of a new trim is a sure-fire sign that Ford is ramping up its hopes for the Lightning to help boost sales and slow the EV cash burn. The company has said it will lose $4.5 billion on its EV business in 2023.

“We will not rest,” Gjaja said. “Our plan is to scale production and scale demand for our EVs with a focus on profitability.”

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Nobel Prize awarded to duo who made rapid covid vaccines possible

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Katalin Karikó (left) and Drew Weissman’s (right) research into mRNA was used to develop covid-19 vaccinations. | Image: Nobel Prize

American scientists Katalin Karikó (a Hungarian-born biochemist) and Drew Weissman (an immunologist and professor of vaccine research) have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), which contributed towards the development of effective covid-19 vaccines (seen via The New York Times). mRNA vaccines have an advantage over traditional vaccines in that they can be quickly designed and safely manufactured at scale with fewer errors.

Seven years after they first met at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998, Karikó and Weissman published their findings on mRNA. The scientists found that they could add altered mRNA to cells, prompting them to create any protein they desired. These protein molecules, normally produced using a modified virus, would then stimulate an adaptive immune response to teach the body how to destroy invading pathogens. The trailblazing work was later used by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to develop competing covid vaccines in record time.

The prize is the first of six Nobel Prizes that will be awarded this year, with the remaining winners to be announced over the coming week. As the winnings — which are set at 11 million Swedish kronor (around $1 million) for 2023 — are awarded per full Nobel Prize, Karikó and Weissman will split the cash.

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Tesla rolls out an updated Model Y in China but keeps the same starting price

Tesla rolls out an updated Model Y in China but keeps the same starting price

The new Model Y for China looks a lot like the old one. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

Tesla's China arm announced in a WeChat post Sunday morning that it released a new Model Y with design and performance tweaks that keeps the same starting price as before (via Reuters). The new car follows the company’s release of the revamped "Highland" Model 3 in China, which also hit Europe early last month.

According to Tesla’s Chinese website, the Model Y now has a 0–100km/h time of 5.9 seconds, which Bloomberg notes in a report is slightly faster than before. The car gets new wheels and an ambient LED lighting strip in the dash, like the refreshed Model 3.

Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

If you squint, you can see the new LED strip along the front.

The car starts at 263,900 yuan (about $37,000), and the company offers both a long-range version for 299,900 yuan (about $42,000) and a high-performance version for 349,900 yuan (about $49,000). Tesla has not announced the updated Model Y — or the Model 3, for that matter — in the US. Here are some cropped images from Tesla’s WeChat post announcing the updated car:

Image: Tesla

The updated dashboard and wheels.

Image: Tesla

The Model Y is mostly unchanged elsewhere.

Apple plans to upgrade the App Store’s search engine, and it might not stop there

Apple plans to upgrade the App Store’s search engine, and it might not stop there

Illustration: The Verge

Apple will soon bring its powerful internal search engine to the App Store and other apps, as Mark Gurman reports in this week’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Apple debuted upgrades to its Spotlight search feature in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, letting users search there for web results, details from apps, documents, and much more.

According to the newsletter, former Google executive John Giannandrea’s search team is working to bake the internally-named “Pegasus” search engine more deeply into iOS and macOS and could even use generative AI tools to enhance it further. Last year Apple also launched Business Connect, a tool that helped strengthen its information database with details about businesses’ hours and locations in a way that could help it compete with Google.

Gurman points out that although Apple’s Spotlight and app search engine isn’t as powerful as Google’s, it has a robust App Store ads business that serves ads to its other apps, like Apple News and Weather. Those things combined give Apple enough pieces to launch its own search engine, perhaps sooner rather than later.

Whether Apple will do that is another question. Apple executive Eddy Cue has said before that Apple doesn’t need to make its own search engine, and the company reportedly turned down an offer to buy Bing in 2020.

A leaked Google ‘Switch to Pixel’ ad highlights Pixel 8 AI features

A leaked Google ‘Switch to Pixel’ ad highlights Pixel 8 AI features

A leaked Pixel 8 “Switch to Pixel” ad posted to X by Arséne Lupin highlights Google’s AI features, including Best Take, which lets you swap faces into an image from other pictures (via 9to5Google). Google’s Pixel event is just around the corner on October 4th, but there’s seemingly very little we don’t already know about the phone, considering the steady stream of leaks.

The ad kicks off highlighting the process for transferring data to a Pixel 8, but spends most of its time on the AI features of the phone — some new, like Best Take, and some old, like Magic Eraser:

Switch to Pixel - Pixel 8 (Pro) pic.twitter.com/hGfQbFDpug

— Arsène Lupin (@MysteryLupin) September 30, 2023

9to5Google also points to a leak from Kamila Wojciechowska, who posted apparent marketing materials showing updated first-party silicone Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro cases. Wojciechowska says the Pixel 8 cases will come in Rose, Mint, Charcoal, and Hazel colors, while the Pixel 8 Pro cases will get Bay, Charcoal, Mint, and Porcelain. They look a lot like last year’s cases.

Pixel 8 official case pic.twitter.com/P1EKEAKoMG

— kamila (@Za_Raczke) September 30, 2023

The Pixel Watch exceeded expectations — now it needs to be as good as Samsung

The Pixel Watch exceeded expectations — now it needs to be as good as Samsung

The Pixel Watch 2 is a golden opportunity for Google to prove it’s serious about wearables. | Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

After I reviewed the Pixel Watch last year, skeptics kept asking me the same questions over and over again: Do you think Google’s actually going to keep this thing going? Do you think it’s going to ax the Pixel Watch if it doesn’t sell?

These are fair questions to ask. Despite being among the first to the wearable scene in 2014, it let Android Wear and then Wear OS languish for years. Plus, Google’s graveyard of abandoned projects is notoriously vast. While I was pretty confident we’d see a Pixel Watch 2, I didn’t think the Pixel Watch — a better-than-expected debut with some very first-gen flaws — would succeed to the degree it did. During Q4 2022 (aka the holiday season), Google leapfrogged Samsung to become the No. 2 bestselling wearable maker behind Apple, shipping 880,000 units.

But the question remains. Can Google keep the momentum going?

Now would be the best time to prove that it can. Apple and Samsung have already launched their 2023 flagship smartwatches — and while all are excellent, they’re the definition of iterative. Both companies are long-term players in this field, too. Each new Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch is a refinement of the last. As a newcomer, Google has a lot more room to grow.

On the flip side, the Pixel Watch’s flaws were easier to forgive because it was a debut smartwatch. It’s a rare gadget that knocks it out of the park on a first attempt. It didn’t help that last year’s Google wearable lineup was a confusing jumble of three smartwatches. To differentiate between the Pixel Watch, Fitbit Versa 4, and Fitbit Sense 2, Google nerfed the Pixel Watch’s health features and the Fitbit smartwatches’ previously available smart features. Battery life at launch was also the pits. You could only get the estimated 24 hours if you babied the battery and turned the always-on display off.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Battery life was a major complaint with the Pixel Watch. Addressing that would go a long way.

Some of this has since been addressed in subsequent software updates. But the Pixel Watch 2 is an opportunity to show that Google not only listened to feedback but also dealt with it. If it doesn’t, it’s harder to turn a blind eye to known issues on a sophomore attempt, especially since there’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to improve battery life, expand health features, and deliver a better user experience. Google has a decade’s worth of rival smartwatches to draw inspiration from. Unlike Apple or Samsung, Google doesn’t have to revolutionize smartwatches to drum up excitement around the Pixel Watch 2. It just has to be noticeably better than last year’s.

Really, it only has to deliver a similar experience to the Galaxy Watch 6. Samsung and Google have both given up on winning over iOS users because their Wear OS watches are Android only. So this is to see who reigns over the incredibly fragmented Android smartwatch market.

For the past 10 years, Samsung has been the de facto leader partly because it had solid products and partly because everyone else was a hot mess. This is in spite of the fact that some of its health features, like EKGs, are gatekept to Samsung phone users. Fossil watches, while prolific, have always been design-first, with middling smarts and health features second. Garmins served a specific niche of outdoorsy athletes. Mobvoi had a decent shot with loyal TicWatch fans until it fumbled the transition to Wear OS 3. Huawei watches, while good, have been stymied by trade bans. Montblanc watches cost $1,000.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Thinner bezels on the Pixel Watch 2 would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.

It would not take a lot for Google to own this space. It’s already succeeding in convincing third-party makers to hop aboard the Wear OS train. Xiaomi is the latest to ditch a proprietary OS for the platform with its newly announced Watch 2 Pro. The allure of the Play Store is just too strong. (Speaking of which, Google’s been hard at work getting third-party app developers to actually buy in.) So long as the Pixel Watch 2 doesn’t fall on its face, the pressure is on for Samsung to show everyone something they haven’t seen before. And that’s a lot harder to do.

For all these reasons, a lot is actually riding on the Pixel Watch 2 when it’s unveiled on October 4th. A success won’t put Samsung down for the count, but it will make my job (and many others) of picking the best Android smartwatch a lot harder. A flop... well, that just adds more fodder for Google’s reputation as a company with big ideas and no follow-through.