The latest Apple Watch SE is matching its lowest price to date this weekend

The latest Apple Watch SE is matching its lowest price to date this weekend

Pssh. Who needs an SpO2 sensor, anyway? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Lately, it seems like all the talk regarding the Apple Watch seems to revolve around Apple’s ongoing patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo — a legal battle that has resulted in Apple recently removing the blood oxygen features found on the Series 9 and Ultra 2. Sales have continued uninterrupted for the latest Apple Watch SE given it lacks the SpO2 sensor, however, and now the second-gen smartwatch can be had for as little as $179 ($50 off) at Walmart.

To be honest, most healthy individuals are not missing out on the SpO2 sensor, nor are first-time smartwatch buyers likely to complain about the SE’s lack of an always-on display or some of the fancier health tracking features found on the Series 9. Apple’s latest entry-level watch is still plenty fast, after all, and it can still take advantage of widgets and the bulk of watchOS 10 features. It can also track your sleeping habits and all your basic fitness activities — running, biking, swimming, etc. — making it a solid choice for anyone who doesn’t want to spring for one of Apple’s pricier models.

Read our Apple Watch SE (2022) review.

The Pro Controller for Nintendo Switch is great and all, but if you’re someone who finds PlayStation-style controllers to be more enjoyable, you can’t go wrong with 8BitDo’s Pro 2 Controller. And right now, the excellent gamepad is on sale at Amazon for an all-time low of $39.99 ($10 off) when you clip the on-page coupon for 20 percent off.

Despite its retro vibes, the Pro 2 is built to work with a variety of modern platforms, including macOS, Android, Windows, Valve’s Steam Deck, and — of course — the Nintendo Switch. The well-rounded controller doesn’t offer HD rumble or Amiibo support, though, in exchange, you get a comfier set of grips, an improved D-pad, and a pair of customizable back paddles that let you easily enter commands without taking your thumbs off the sticks. The fact you can also set up to three controller schemes and adjust the sensitivity of the triggers and analog sticks to suit your playstyle is really just a plus.

Read our hands-on impressions of the 8BitDo Pro 2.

More deals and discounts

• TP-Link’s RE315 Wi-Fi extender is currently on sale at Amazon for $26.99 ($23 off), which is a paltry $2 shy of its all-time low. I’m not saying it’s going to alleviate your networking woes in the same way a dedicated mesh network might, but I’ve found it to be a good fix for any room with spotty Wi-Fi, especially since it allows you to add a 100Mbps ethernet port to any room. It’s also mesh-compatible with TP-Link routers, if you want even more reliable speeds.
• If you’re looking for a Windows laptop that can also double as a capable tablet, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9 is down to $999.99 ($540 off) at Best Buy with an Intel i5-1235U processor, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The Intel laptop is a pretty slick machine overall, with sturdy hardware, a sharp 120Hz display, and a handy stylus garage. What’s more, Best Buy is currently throwing in a Surface Pro Keyboard, which would normally run you $139. Read our review.
• Amazon and Elgato are both selling the Elgato Stream Deck Plus for $179.99 ($20 off). It’s a pretty small discount that only applies to the white model, however, it remains one of the better prices we’ve seen on the well-built macro controller, which offers fewer buttons than your standard Stream Deck but includes four programmable dials and an LCD touchscreen for viewing a variety of info at a glance. Read our review.
• Samsung’s 27-inch M8 Smart Monitor is on sale for a limited time at Amazon starting at $479.99 ($170 off), matching its all-time low. The newer 4K display is pretty similar to the last-gen model we tested in that it can moonlight as a smart TV with a host of built-in streaming apps, except the latest model also touts a new “welcome screen” that automatically showcases photos, calendar entries, and other personalized info when it detects your phone nearby.
• You can currently save 50 percent on a two-pack of Blink’s last-gen outdoor cameras, which are now going for just $89.99 ($90 off) a pair at Best Buy. The 1080p security cameras can last up to two years on two AA batteries, support essentials like motion detection, and work perfectly with Alexa as an Amazon-backed product. That said, you will need to pay extra to store clips and photos.

I really hope Asus didn’t ruin the Zephyrus G14

I really hope Asus didn’t ruin the Zephyrus G14

The Asus Zephyrus G14 and G16 are chunky and funky no more. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

[Editor’s note: Monica Chin is The Verge’s former senior laptop reviewer, currently taking a break from tech journalism. But some things are hard to quit.]

Once upon a time, in the olden days of March 2020, a little company called Asus released a spritely whippersnapper of a gaming laptop called the ROG Zephyrus G14. It weighed just over 3.5 pounds, and it was powered by a truly monstrous AMD processor, the likes of which had never been seen in a 14-inch form factor.

I still remember reviewing that laptop, almost four years ago, like it was yesterday. I remember running the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark — the ultimate test at that time — over and over again, poring over the game settings, trying desperately to figure out what I’d messed up to make the egregiously high frame rates I was seeing make sense. (The best Intel had to offer at the time, remember, was Comet Lake. And, well, we don’t talk about Comet Lake in this household.)

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The G14 as it was.

And then there was the design. The G14 sported a retro aesthetic, spaceship-y in nature with large, luxuriously comfortable keycaps and a keyboard font that evoked Johnny Rockets. The lid eschewed the smooth and sleek aesthetic around which laptops were just beginning to converge at that time, opting instead to be covered with a curious but totally unique dot matrix. If you paid a bit (okay, a lot) of extra money, those dots became animated LEDs that you could do all kinds of funky things with, from raising a virtual pet to making a dude’s head continuously explode. Since then, there’s been a G14 model that doubles as a DJ deck and another covered in obscure shapes with “BLACK HOLES IN THE NOW” scrawled across the bottom. It has never been a laptop concerned with blending in.

Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Ain’t nobody mistaking this for a MacBook.

I remember emailing Asus to ask if the $1,449 price they’d sent me was a typo — shouldn’t something this exceptional be $1,000 more? And I viscerally remember the feeling I got when Asus’ representative replied that no, believe it or not, that was the real price. It was a realization that this computer was something new — that this computer was something different.

The G14 went on to create what was essentially a new category of gaming laptop over the next few years. The product’s popularity made it basically impossible to buy for quite some time. It’s been a huge product for Asus, a near-consistent presence on Best Buy’s bestseller lists, and, anecdotally, one of the gaming laptops I most often saw in the wild.

These days, innovative 14-inch rigs abound. Asus’ wasn’t the first ultraportable gaming notebook — that honor, of course, belongs to the Razer Blade — but the Zephyrus G14 still proved to everyone that not only could heavy-duty games run well on a 14-inch laptop with all-day battery life and a funky, bold design, but also that such a machine did not need to cost an arm and a leg.

It redefined the category, in other words, by being the exact opposite of a MacBook in basically every way.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

RIP to the dot matrix exploding head thing.

Fast-forward to CES 2024. The G14, which has largely retained a facsimile of its 2020 chassis since release, was unveiled with a major redesign. It is much thinner and much lighter. The spaceship vibe is no more. Gone is the dot matrix, as are the exploding heads and virtual fauna that it wrought. The lid is now sleek and professional, with a — I don’t know, is it a slash? — across the center as the sole decoration. Everything about it is rounder, more polished, and prestige. As reports from the show have pointed out, it suddenly looks, feels, and seems a heck of a lot like a MacBook.

The G14 is far from the only CES release that’s blatantly chasing the Mac line when it comes to design. Dell has swapped out its 15-inch and 17-inch XPS configurations for a 14-incher and 16-incher, respectively (sound familiar?). The models have lost not only their full-sized SD slot (sigh), but also their physical function row in favor of haptic touch buttons (another thing a certain Cupertino company tried). Everyone and their mother is grumpy about it. And it’s emblematic of a larger trend we’ve been seeing throughout the computing space in recent years, in which 13-inchers and 14-inchers are converging on a boardroom aesthetic while getting thinner and lighter at all costs.

Now, I understand the desire to emulate the MacBook. It’s a phenomenal line of computers. It’s on top of Best Laptop pages all across the internet, and there’s little disagreement as to its value.

But there are a few things I really hope manufacturers will keep in mind as they mull over whether to scrap designs that were unique and different in pursuit of the MacBook’s look and feel. The first is that the MacBook is not just its look and feel. It’s much more.

I would argue that the reason Apple computers have become the machine that, like, every professional has is, moreso than anything else, their performance. It’s the category-topping power of both their chips and their battery life — it’s the combination of strength and efficiency that they offer. After all, the early-2020 MacBook Pro 13 and the late-2020 MacBook Pro 13 had very similar chassis, but only the latter had both category-topping performance and category-topping battery life, and it only took a few months to totally eclipse its Intel counterpart’s sales. Category-topping performance and category-topping battery life, incidentally, are also what the G14 has had for several years.

I don’t mean to imply that design is unimportant. I am saying that the pursuit of thinness, sleekness, suaveness, whatever you want to call it, often comes with costs.

We’ve seen that play out time and time again. You can look to the transition from the Dell XPS 13, an all-around exceptional laptop that was topping Best pages in the pre-M1 era, to the Dell XPS 13 Plus, a flaming fireball of an ultrabook with about five minutes of battery life, a shallow touchpad, disappointing performance, and a frustrating keyboard that got middling reviews from pretty much everyone. (Tom’s Guide, noted fans of the XPS line, slammed it as “a stunning step backwards.”)

You can look to the ThinkPad Z-series, which had to leave out most of the features that make ThinkPads world renowned in order to maintain a slim frame. The Razer Blade has been doing the thin-and-sleek thing for years on end, and it has consistently been louder, hotter, pricier, and worse in the battery life department than the G14. Heck, you can even look to Apple. After all, the thin-at-all-costs mindset is what subjected us to five years of butterfly keyboard.

I hope this isn’t what’s happening to the G14, the XPS 13, and other major laptops that received redesigns at CES this year. But I’m seeing some warning signs. Last year’s G14 could accommodate up to an RTX 4090 — Nvidia’s top guns — while this year’s caps out at an RTX 4070. I can’t be certain that this is due to the thinner chassis’s reduced cooling capacity, but that seems a likely explanation.

And then there’s battery life, which has long been one of the G14’s most outstanding features. Not only does the 2024 G14 have a smaller battery than its predecessor, but it has a higher-resolution OLED screen. Don’t get me wrong: I love me an OLED screen, especially for gaming, and the Zephyrus’ looks great. But last year’s QHD Mini LED panel was already stunning, with some reviewers reporting that it was basically as good as an OLED. And high-resolution OLED screens combined with H-series processors are rarely a recipe for exceptional battery life. I’ll point you, again, to the XPS 13 Plus. The Acer Swift 3. The HP Pavilion Plus 14. The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED. The HP Spectre x360 13.5. I mean, literally, just take your pick.

I understand the impulse to follow the cool kids to their cafeteria table. Truly, I do. But the Zephyrus G14 had a good thing going. It wasn’t for everyone, but it was wholly and unapologetically itself. It would be a shame, as Windows machines across the market race to catch the MacBook, if such bold products disappeared.

Vision Pro cover glass repairs will set you back $799 without AppleCare Plus

Vision Pro cover glass repairs will set you back $799 without AppleCare Plus

Apple’s Vision Pro headset. | Image: Apple

The Apple Vision Pro headset’s sticker price of $3,499 is nothing to sneeze at. But if you choose not to pay the additional $24.99 per month or $499 for two years of AppleCare Plus coverage, be sure to handle your new headset with kid gloves. For users without a coverage plan, repairing a cracked cover glass will cost $799, according to Apple’s updated support page for the Vision Pro.

If you are covered under AppleCare Plus, repairing either a cracked cover glass or other accidental damage will cost $299. At these rates, paying for two years of AppleCare Plus and the reduced cover glass repair fee costs a combined $798 — an entire $1 less than the repair costs without the service plan.

The terms and conditions (pdf) explain the coverage includes any “unexpected and unintentional external event,” including spilling liquid or dropping the device. If you’re unusually clumsy, rest assured that an AppleCare Plus plan covers an “unlimited” number of events during its two-year duration, as long as you come up with the $299 each time.

Image: Apple.com

Apple’s Vision Pro service request page

More advanced repairs may be where Apple’s extended coverage is truly required for the Vision Pro. Repairing other damage could cost you up to $2,399 — more than two-thirds the cost of a brand-new Vision Pro, while the extended coverage is in place even if the damage requires replacing the device. Apple wasn’t specific about what level of harm could require a full replacement, but your local fix-it place probably doesn’t have a 23 million pixel Micro-OLED display lying around in the back.

The increased availability of DIY and third-party repair services have sometimes provided a cheaper alternative to Apple’s official avenues for repairs of other devices. Last year, as right-to-repair laws passed in states like a number of U.S. states like California, Minnesota, and New York, Apple committed to making parts, tools, and information available for DIY repairs of its devices.

After the iPhone 15 launched last fall, Apple expanded its self-service repair offerings to cover the new phones about a month later, and if it follows that for the Vision Pro, then DIY and third-party repairs may be another option to take care of anything that breaks. But for now, Vision Pro buyers can consider tacking the cost of AppleCare Plus onto an already high price — and be extra careful roaming around in their new eyewear.

Microsoft Executives’ Emails Hacked by Group Tied to Russian Intelligence

Microsoft Executives’ Emails Hacked by Group Tied to Russian Intelligence The hackers appeared to be trying to learn what the company knew about them, a regulatory filing said.

Microsoft ‘senior leadership’ emails accessed by Russian SolarWinds hackers

Microsoft ‘senior leadership’ emails accessed by Russian SolarWinds hackers

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft is revealing today that it has discovered a nation-state attack on its corporate systems from the same Russian state-sponsored group of hackers that were responsible for the sophisticated SolarWinds attack. Microsoft says the hackers, known as Nobelium, were able to access email accounts of some members of its senior leadership team late last year.

“Beginning in late November 2023, the threat actor used a password spray attack to compromise a legacy non-production test tenant account and gain a foothold, and then used the account’s permissions to access a very small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including members of our senior leadership team and employees in our cybersecurity, legal, and other functions, and exfiltrated some emails and attached documents,” says the Microsoft Security Response Center in a blog post filed late on Friday.

Microsoft says the group was “initially targeting email accounts” for information about themselves, but it’s not clear what other emails and documents have been stolen in the process. Microsoft only discovered the attack last week on January 12th, and the company hasn’t disclosed how long the attackers were able to access its systems.

“The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services. To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems,” says Microsoft.

The attack took place just days after Microsoft announced its plan to overhaul its software security following major Azure cloud attacks. While Microsoft customers don’t appear to have been impacted in this new incident and this wasn’t the result of a Microsoft vulnerability, this is still the latest in a line of cybersecurity incidents for Microsoft. It found itself at the center of the SolarWinds attack nearly three years ago, then 30,000 organizations’ email servers were hacked in 2021 due to a Microsoft Exchange Server flaw, and Chinese hackers breached US government emails via a Microsoft cloud exploit last year.

Microsoft is now changing the way it designs, builds, tests, and operates its software and services. It’s the biggest change to its security approach since the company announced its Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) in 2004 after huge Windows XP flaws knocked PCs offline.

You won’t be able to use the YouTube app on Vision Pro

You won’t be able to use the YouTube app on Vision Pro

Nilay Patel

Just like Netflix, YouTube also isn’t building a native app for the Vision Pro. Its iPad app won’t support the $3,499 headset, either, as YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby tells The Verge, “YouTube users will be able to use YouTube in Safari on the Vision Pro.”

Those aren’t the only major services that won’t have dedicated apps on the Vision Pro. A source familiar with the situation tells Bloomberg that Spotify isn’t planning to create a new app for the Vision Pro and “doesn’t expect to enable its iPad app to run on the device,” potentially forcing users to access Spotify in a web browser.

Spotify spokesperson Grey Munford tells The Verge that the company can’t confirm this report and that Spotify has “made no announcement concerning plans for the Vision Pro.”

Out of the 46 most popular apps on the App Store, none of them will have a native visionOS app at launch, according to findings from MacStories. This list could always change — and some of the apps will still offer Vision Pro support through their existing apps on iPhone and iPad — but the lack of native apps just weeks away from the Vision Pro launch isn’t particularly encouraging.

The Verge reached out to Google and Spotify with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

The Apple Vision Pro will launch with 3D movies from Disney Plus as well as support for several other streaming apps, like Amazon Prime Video, Max, Paramount Plus, Pluto TV, Peacock, and others. While Spotify doesn’t seem like a massive omission from a mixed-reality headset, the absence of dedicated Netflix and YouTube apps could certainly make the device less attractive for users who are expecting to use the headset as their own immersive media player.

Update January 18th, 6:06PM ET: Added a comment from Spotify.

The Rabbit R1 will receive live info from Perplexity’s AI ‘answer engine’

The Rabbit R1 will receive live info from Perplexity’s AI ‘answer engine’

Rabbit

CES 2024 darling Rabbit has announced a partnership with Perplexity that will link the “conversational AI-powered answer engine” to the R1, a $199 Teenage Engineering-designed AI gadget that’s already sold through 50,000 preorders. Unlike LLMs that can only reference data up to a certain date in the past, what they’re pitching for the R1 is a built-in search engine with “live up to date answers without any knowledge cutoff.”

According to Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas, who announced the deal in a live Spaces broadcast with Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu, the first 100,000 Rabbit R1 purchases will also come with one year of its Perplexity Pro subscription. The plan includes access to newer LLMs like GPT-4 and normally costs $20 per month.

In a post on X, Rabbit said that Perplexity will work behind the scenes on its device “along with other leading LLMs” that are so far unnamed, all without a subscription.

Featuring a 2.88-inch touchscreen, scrolling navigation wheel, and a rotating camera, the R1 is pitched as a pocket-sized universal controller for your various apps, capable of everything from sending messages to selecting songs to making online orders thanks to “Large Action Model” AI.

Perplexity AI, meanwhile, combines search with LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 to face off with Google, Bing, and all of the other new AI-powered challengers.

Delighted for Perplexity to enable Rabbit holes! Perplexity's pplx-online LLM APIs, will power Rabbit R1 for providing live up to date answers without any knowledge cutoff! And, the first 100K Rabbit R1 purchases will get 1 year of Perplexity Pro! pic.twitter.com/nqGp1iJSvz

— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) January 18, 2024

At rabbit, we’re always on the hunt for top AI services and partners to help our users accomplish tasks quickly and accurately.

So we’re excited to announce our partnership with @perplexity_ai to enhance the natural language search capabilities of rabbit OS.

Perplexity, along… pic.twitter.com/kX7K0CIECb

— rabbit inc. (@rabbit_hmi) January 18, 2024

EA is finally launching Plants vs. Zombies 3

EA is finally launching Plants vs. Zombies 3

Image: EA

It’s been almost five years since EA announced the third installment of the popular Plants vs. Zombie mobile game, and now it’s nearly here. EA has revealed that Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia (PvZ3) has soft-launched in select countries, including the UK, Netherlands, Australia, Philippines, and Ireland.

Just like previous installments, PvZ3 is a tower defense game that tasks you with using animated plants to fend off a horde of zombies. EA says the game features “new and returning characters,” along with gameplay that reflects the “classic combat of the first game.” PvZ3 will be free to play, but it will still have microtransactions.

The original Plants vs. Zombies was released on PC and Mac in 2009 before making its way to mobile devices. The game expanded to even more platforms following the acquisition of its developer — PopCap Games — by EA in 2011. It also led to the development of Plants vs. Zombies 2, which came out in 2013. That’s also around the same time the game switched from costing a flat $2.99 fee to becoming free to play.

EA says PvZ3 will become available in more countries “at a later date” while it collects feedback during the soft launch period.

Netflix’s app won’t work on the Vision Pro

Netflix’s app won’t work on the Vision Pro

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s Vision Pro headset won’t have a dedicated Netflix app at launch, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The streaming giant reportedly doesn’t plan to launch an app specifically for Apple’s headset, nor does it want to make its iPad app compatible with the platform.

The move means users won’t be able to watch Netflix in a dedicated app — like the other streaming services that have announced support for the headset, including Disney Plus, Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Paramount Plus. Instead, users will have to watch content from Netflix in a web browser, which will make the movies or TV shows wearers are watching far less immersive. It also will prevent users from watching content offline and could put limitations on resolution, as the video quality on Netflix’s web app varies by browser.

“Our members will be able to enjoy Netflix on the web browser on the Vision Pro, similar to how our members can enjoy Netflix on Macs,” Netflix said in a statement to Bloomberg. Neither Netflix nor Apple immediately responded to The Verge’s request for comment. While Netflix ended up creating an app for Meta’s lineup of Quest headsets, the app is pretty outdated.

Netflix was notably not mentioned in Apple’s announcement yesterday that the Vision Pro will launch with 3D movies and experiences from Disney Plus and Apple TV. Netflix’s absence from the $3,499 headset might make the device less enticing for those who want to use it as a place to stream their favorite shows and movies.

Where to preorder Samsung’s new Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra

Where to preorder Samsung’s new Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra

The Galaxy S24 family arrives with new AI features to enhance photography, communication, and search. Here’s where you can preorder one. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Following a spat of leaks, Samsung has unveiled its forthcoming set of flagship phones, detailing the new Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra at its latest Unpacked event. The new smartphones officially launch on January 31st and are available for preorder beginning today, with the base model starting at $799.99, the Plus model starting at $999.99, and the high-end Ultra handset going for $1,299.99.

In our early hands-on time with them, we haven’t noticed anything groundbreaking about the Galaxy S24 family’s hardware, though each phone boasts a slightly bigger battery and display than its predecessor. The Ultra now further justifies its premium price tag with a titanium build, and all of the displays are noticeably brighter. Instead of reinventing the design wheel, Samsung has instead focused on building out a suite of AI features that rely on Google’s Gemini foundational models, many of which sound genuinely helpful, while others are meant purely for fun.

Some of these features are fully processed on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, while others require server-side processing. These phones should also age much more gracefully, as Samsung generously matches Google’s seven-year upgrade promise, guaranteeing you at least seven major Android upgrades and security updates.

For now, you’re probably wondering where you can order one ahead of their official launch later this month. Thankfully, you’ll find nice preorder incentives no matter which carrier or retailer you prefer.

Samsung Galaxy S24 preorders and offers

The Galaxy S24 starts at $799.99 for the 8GB RAM model with 128GB of storage. Higher storage tiers will cost more, but Samsung has encored its free storage upgrade promotion this year that’ll get you double the storage on all models — including a bump from 512GB to 1TB on the Ultra, which is a first. It’s widely available in black, gray, violet, and yellow, though Samsung also offers it in green, blue, and orange if you purchase it direct.

In addition to the aforementioned storage upgrade, Samsung is throwing in a $25 credit if you purchase one during the preorder window as well as up to $550 in trade credit. Best Buy, meanwhile, is currently offering a $50 gift card and up to $870 after qualifying trade-ins and factoring in the price difference for the free storage upgrade. Amazon is offering a free storage upgrade and a $50 gift card as well, but you’ll need to click the on-page coupon to redeem it.

When compared to the Ultra, the standard Galaxy S24 lacks the titanium build and S Pen, along with the 200-megapixel wide and 5x telephoto cameras, QHD resolution, and 45W charging. It’s the smallest of the three phones at 6.2 inches, but that’s a boon for those who prefer petiteness, and it should sufficiently satisfy most buyers’ needs outside of the most demanding creatives and power users.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus preorders and offers

Starting at $999.99, the Galaxy S24 Plus offers 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. You’ll also get a free bump to the larger storage model if you buy it from Samsung during the preorder period. Trading in your older phone nets you up to $650 toward your purchase, and you’ll get an additional $75 in instant credit.

As for other retailers, the same storage promo is currently available at Best Buy with a $100 gift card and any additional funds you’d get from trading in your old device. It’s the same deal at Amazon, but you’ll receive a $150 gift card instead of a $100 gift card when you redeem the on-page coupon.

The Galaxy S24 Plus is similar to the base model but has a bigger 6.7-inch screen with QHD-equivalent resolution (an upgrade over the standard S24 and last year’s S23 Plus). This is the pick for you if you value more screen real estate and a substantially larger battery.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra preorders and offers

The Galaxy S24 Ultra now starts at $1,299.99 for the 12GB RAM model with 256GB of storage, which is a $100 uptick from last year’s model. A free storage upgrade to 512GB offsets the added cost, which you can get by preordering the phone through Samsung. This year, those who opt for the 512GB model will also get a free storage upgrade to the 1TB configuration. You can also get up to $750 with a trade-in, and you’ll get a $100 instant credit that’s good toward additional purchases made at the time of sale.

As for Best Buy, you’ll get up to $870 in value after trade-ins and free storage upgrades up to 512GB, along with a $150 gift card. Amazon is offering a free storage upgrade as well, along with a $200 gift card when you redeem the on-page coupon.

The S24 Ultra enjoys more radical changes this year. It’s only slightly bigger than the S24 Plus at 6.8 inches, but it includes an integrated S Pen, a new 50-megapixel 5x telephoto camera, and a 200MP wide-angle camera that serves as the primary shooter. It’s also the only smartphone of the three that sports a titanium frame and Corning’s new Gorilla Armor, the strongest tempered glass the company makes. The S24 Ultra is currently available in gray, black, violet, and yellow, with Samsung.com offering it exclusively in blue, green, and orange.

Galaxy S24 offers at US carriers

• Verizon will trade any older Samsung phone you have in any condition for a Galaxy S24 or S24 Plus or, for $1,000 off, a Galaxy S24 Ultra. Those discounts are administered as bill credits over a 36-month period. Verizon is also offering the same free storage upgrade as Samsung, Best Buy, and other retailers. You can also add a free Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Tab as additional lines or save up to 50 percent on a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, 25 percent on select chargers, and 15 percent on cases and screen protectors.
• AT&T is also offering a Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus or $1,000 off the S24 Ultra as monthly bill credits when you trade in a Galaxy phone in any condition. Like the other retailers, you’ll also receive a free storage upgrade if you place your preorder before January 31st.
• T-Mobile customers can get the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus for free and up to $1,000 off the Galaxy S24 Ultra (distributed as 24 equal bill credits) when trading in phones on a Go5G Plus or Go5G Next plan. You can also get the base Galaxy S24 for free (up to $800 off) without a trade-in if you’re adding a new line to either of those plans. If you make your purchase during the preorder period, you’ll get double the storage for free. New and existing customers can also get a $200 prepaid Mastercard for each new line they add (which is good for up to five lines).

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Related:

Apple Expected to Remove a Health Feature From New Apple Watches

Apple Expected to Remove a Health Feature From New Apple Watches The Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 would no longer detect people’s pulse rate, to comply with a ruling by the International Trade Commission.

How to watch Samsung’s Galaxy S24 event

 How to watch Samsung’s Galaxy S24 event

Samsung promoting Unpacked at The Sphere. | Image: Samsung

It’s almost time for Samsung’s winter Unpacked event, where we’ll see the launch of the Galaxy S24 lineup and some splashy new AI features to go along with them. The event will cap off months of leaks of the new devices — plus some teases directly from Samsung itself.

Just before Thanksgiving last year, Samsung announced a new mobile AI experience it’s calling Galaxy AI, which it said was scheduled to debut in early 2024. We should get the lowdown on Galaxy AI at this year’s event. The company is also rumored to be partnering with Google on some AI features, too.

We’ve rounded up everything else you need to know about this year’s Unpacked below:

When is Samsung Galaxy Unpacked?

Samsung will hold Galaxy Unpacked on January 17th, 2024, at 1PM ET or 10AM PT. It will take place in San Jose, California.

Where can I watch Galaxy Unpacked?

You have your pick of watching the livestream directly on Samsung’s site or catching it on Samsung’s YouTube channel. Or you can simply check out the livestream that’s embedded at the top of this article.

What devices can I expect at Galaxy Unpacked?

Samsung will announce the next generation of its flagship smartphones: the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra. The biggest changes are expected to arrive at the top of the line. According to leaked images from GSMArena and other outlets, the S24 Ultra will feature a flat screen, pivoting away from the curved design of S23 Ultra. It’s also rumored to switch to a titanium shell, like the iPhone 15 Pro.

As other leaks have noted, the inner workings of the S24 Ultra aren’t expected to be all that different from its predecessor. It also features a 6.8-inch Quad-HD screen, 120Hz refresh rate, similar storage options, 12GB of RAM, and a 5,000mAh battery. But we’ll see a new and improved 50MP 5x telephoto camera, better vapor chamber cooling to ensure your phone doesn’t heat up, and Wi-fi 7.

The S24 and S24 Plus are likely to retain an aluminum build. Hardware upgrades are also more modest, with the Plus getting a slightly larger and higher resolution 6.7-inch QHD Plus display along with more RAM and a larger battery, Android Police reported.

What’s all the fuss about Galaxy AI?

Samsung will certainly roll the red carpet out for its new AI experience. We already know that Galaxy AI will include a live translation feature for calls, with both audio and text translations appearing instantaneously as you speak. An AI photo editor is also on the way, according to recent leaks.

Apple’s App Store policies now let US developers link to outside payments

Apple’s App Store policies now let US developers link to outside payments

Illustration: The Verge

Apple has updated its App Store policies to spell out how developers can link to outside payment platforms, as reported by 9to5Mac. Developers will still owe Apple a cut if they use an outside payment platform. Apple will take a 27 percent cut (as opposed to the 30 percent in many cases) or 12 percent if a developer is part of the App Store Small Business Program, according to a support page about external purchase links.

Section 3.1.1(a) of the App Store Review Guidelines lays down more of the new rules for developers who want to link to alternative payment methods, like how they have to apply for an “entitlement” to enable them. Developers also can’t exclusively receive payments from outside Apple’s walled garden; they’ll also have to offer Apple’s in-app purchase system in their apps.

Image: Apple

Apple’s template examples for in-app links to outside payment options.

The updates follow the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Apple and Epic’s appeals over the Epic Games v. Apple ruling, which required Apple to discontinue its anti-steering rules.

Tim Sweeney, Epic’s founder and CEO, isn’t pleased with Apple’s updates to its policies. He calls the 27 percent fee “anticompetitive,” criticizes Apple’s rules for how the links appear and how they work, and highlighted what he calls the “scare screen” that users will see when they leave an app to go to an external site.

He says that Epic “will contest Apple’s bad-faith compliance plan in District Court.” I’ve replied to Sweeney and emailed Epic’s PR team to try and clarify what that means.

A quick summary of glaring problems we've found so far:

1) Apple has introduced an anticompetitive new 27% tax on web purchases. Apple has never done this before, and it kills price competition. Developers can't offer digital items more cheaply on the web after paying a… pic.twitter.com/YkHuapG7xa

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024

Update January 16th, 7:25PM ET: Added tweet from Tim Sweeney.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 preorder still comes with a $50 credit — for one more day

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 preorder still comes with a $50 credit — for one more day

The Galaxy S24 is likely launching tomorrow, and you still have time to already secure a decent bonus for pre-ordering one. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S24 series tomorrow, January 17th. If you’ve caught up on our coverage of all the rumored changes and know you’ll be upgrading upon release, you might as well reserve one. There’s no payment due today for doing so, and you’ll be rewarded with a $50 credit that’s usable toward other devices or accessories at the time of purchase.

Today is your last chance to take advantage of this deal, and there are no guarantees that we’ll see any other Galaxy S24 preorder incentives outside of Samsung’s traditional trade-in offers. You’ll only need to provide your name and email address to receive a unique link to place your order after the event.

Samsung will also offer separate instant credits worth $25, $75, or $100, depending on the exact model you buy. While you can’t use the reserve or the additional credit toward the cost of the device itself, you can combine the values from both offers to significantly lower the price tag on a new Galaxy Watch or a pair of Galaxy Buds, for example.

From the leaked rumors, it sounds like the Galaxy S24 might be another routine revision on the hardware front, but Samsung is teasing AI as a big central focus this year. Previous reports suggest the company is looking to bake in a new generative AI. You’ll have to tune into the event stream tomorrow for word on that and other new tricks in store.

Whether you have children to run after or your side hustles have side hustles, adult life can be maddeningly busy, and spending time cleaning is the last thing most of us want to do. If you’re not economically equipped to pay for a cleaning service, you can buy back your time and save loads of money with the Roomba Combo j7 Plus. The Combo j7 Plus debuted at $1,099 just over a year ago, and it’s sustained a discounted $699 price tag ($300 off) since Black Friday. You can find that deal at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Roomba, and Wellbots.

This robot vacuum takes two chores off your plate by combining automatic vacuuming and mopping with iRobot’s tried and tested room-mapping smarts. Like most Roombas, the j7 Plus learns your home’s layout over time, and it’s one of the most reliable vacuums you can buy in terms of coverage thoroughness and object avoidance. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, who reviewed the Roomba Combo j7 Plus for The Verge, says it didn’t need constant reorienting in her tests and will even remember individual rooms and skip them on command. Like most Roombas, it’s mostly hands-off in that it cleans your floors and returns to its home base for charging and emptying on an automated schedule. However, you’ll need to step in between each mopping job to manually refill its small water tank.

Read our iRobot Roomba Combo j7 Plus review.

Other great deals to check out

• Need a new gaming headset for your Xbox Series X or Series S? Check out the SteelSeries Arctis 9X wireless headset in black, which is available at Best Buy for $149.99, down from $199.99 ($50 off). You’ll get an additional $50 discount as a My Best Buy Plus or Total member, for a total of 50 percent off. SteelSeries headsets are some of the best out there, offering balanced game audio and great comfort thanks to its adjustable ski-goggle headband design. This midrange version is made specifically for Xbox with wireless pairing directly to your console, no dongles needed. You can also use it with any Bluetooth device.
• Apple AirTags are great for tracking down your belongings, but not everyone owns an iPhone. If you’re one of those who favor Samsung devices, you’ll want Samsung’s SmartTag 2, now just $21.99 in black and white after a 27 percent discount at Amazon (about $8 off). If you need multiples, you’ll find a better deal with this four-pack that includes two of each color for $70 ($30 off). SmartTag 2 uses ultra-wideband technology, similar to AirTags, for precise AR tracking with a compass when you’re within 10 meters of the device. That feature only works on supported Samsung devices with Android 11 or later. Otherwise, you can get periodic location updates on any Samsung smartphone with Android 8.0 or higher.
• The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 might be the toast of the town for vlogging cameras right now, but if you don’t have $500 to spend on that, the DJI Pocket 2 still holds its own with a 1 / 1.7-inch sensor that captures great color and clarity. Now down to $279 ($70 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and DJI, this pocketable recording tool is beginner friendly and has an integrated gimbal with ActiveTrack to keep your shots extremely stable and your face centered in the frame. I’ve personally graduated to the latest Pocket 3, but I’d still happily pick up the second-generation model if my budget called for something more affordable.
• At $104.99 (about $75 off) at Amazon for the 64GB model with lock screen ads, we’ve never seen the latest Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet this affordable. It’s $15 cheaper than the previously recorded all-time low. You can remove those ads later by paying Amazon a nominal fee, or you can rid yourself of them by buying the version without ads outright for $119.99, also $75 off from its original $194.99 price. You can buy them in black, lilac, or ocean colors. It’s no iPad, but this is a serviceable starter tablet for the money.

Substack’s moderation battle: all the latest news

Substack’s moderation battle: all the latest news

Illustration by The Verge

The publishing platform’s response to Nazi content is driving away some well-known writers.

Since launching in 2017, Substack has emerged as a publishing platform for writers looking to monetize their work through paid newsletters. However, as the platform has grown, so has its content. In November 2023, a report from The Atlantic revealed that while Substack’s approach to content moderation banned pornography and spam, it allowed Nazi-supporting and white supremacist newsletters on the platform, including some with paying subscribers that generated commissions for Substack.

These findings led more than 200 Substack authors to sign an open letter asking why the platform is letting those newsletters publish and monetize that kind of content.

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie wrote a response saying it wouldn’t remove or demonetize Nazi content. But after Platformer founder Casey Newton raised questions about Substack’s approach to content moderation, it ended up taking down five Nazi newsletters, all while refusing to make any changes to its policies.

Here’s the story so far.

Adobe’s new AI-powered Premiere Pro features eradicate boring audio editing tasks

Adobe’s new AI-powered Premiere Pro features eradicate boring audio editing tasks

These new Premiere Pro beta features aim to speed up audio editing tasks so users can focus on other creative projects. | Image: Adobe

Adobe is introducing new AI-powered audio editing features to Premiere Pro that aim to remove some of the tedious legwork required to complete editing tasks — such as manually locating specific tools, or cleaning up poor-quality dialogue. New workflows will be available in the Premiere Pro public beta starting today, including interactive fade handles that enable users to quickly create custom audio transitions by dragging them directly across their main editing timeline. The Enhanced Speech beta feature will also become generally available to all Premiere Pro users in the coming weeks.

Other updates to the Premiere Pro beta include AI-powered audio category tagging that automatically identifies and labels clips as dialogue, music, sound effects, or ambient noise, which will now also feature an interactive badge that’s designed to reduce the “mouse mileage” needed to find specific editing tools. Clicking the assigned category badge will open the Essential Sound panel, which provides easy one-click access to the most common tools used to edit that particular type of audio clip. Clip badges have also been redesigned to make audio effects quicker to apply, and make clips with effects already applied easier to identify from the timeline.

Image: Adobe

New interactive fade handles in the Premiere Pro beta allow editors to make quick audio transitions by simply dragging them across clips.

Additional quality-of-life improvements being added to the Premiere Pro beta include having waveforms (the graphical representation of sound patterns) automatically resize when track height is adjusted in the editing timeline, and updated colors for clips that make them easier to see. These should grant editors more control over how their timeline can be visually customized to achieve a layout that best complements their personal workflow.

The Premiere Pro beta is a standalone application that’s available to anyone with a Creative Cloud subscription for the main Premiere Pro app. Users can install it from the Beta apps tab of the Creative Cloud desktop launcher, and both versions can co-exist on the same system, allowing creatives to tinker with experimental features before they’re available in the main Premiere Pro app.

Image: Adobe

The updated FX badges in the Premiere Pro beta provide a quick way to apply new audio effects to clips on your editing timeline.

For example, Enhanced Speech — a feature that automatically cleans up badly recorded dialogue by removing unwanted background noise and improving overall clarity — will soon be generally available for all Premiere Pro users sometime in February, though Adobe hasn’t specified an exact date. The feature was first introduced to the Premiere Pro beta in September 2023, where it’s still available to try out ahead of its incoming full release.

These updates aren’t intended to automate audio editing entirely, but to optimize the existing process so that editors have more time to work on other projects. “As Premiere Pro becomes the first choice for more and more professional editors, we’re seeing editors being asked to do a lot more than just cut picture. At some level, most editors have to do some amount of color work, of audio work, even titling and basic effects,” said Paul Saccone, senior director for Adobe Pro Video, to The Verge.

“Sure, there are still specialists you can hand off to depending on the project size, but the more we can enable customers to make this sort of work easier and more intuitive inside Premiere Pro, the more successful they’re going to be in their other creative endeavors.”

Apple tops Samsung for first time in global smartphone shipments

Apple tops Samsung for first time in global smartphone shipments

Apple’s latest iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

For the first time ever, Apple beat out Samsung to ship the most smartphones in a year according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Although IDC cautions that its data is preliminary and subject to change, a second research agency, Canalys, also has Apple taking its top spot for all of 2023. IDC has Apple’s total mobile shipments at 234.6 million, versus 226.6 million for Samsung. Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion round out the top five with 145.9, 103.1 and 94.9 million smartphones shipped, respectively.

IDC notes that the last time Samsung wasn’t on top of the annual board was 13 years ago in 2010. Back then Apple didn’t even feature in the top five. Instead it was Nokia in first place, Samsung in second, LG Electronics in third, ZTE in fourth, and Research in Motion (manufacturers of BlackBerry devices) in fifth. If you needed any evidence that 13 years is a long time in the smartphone industry, then this list of companies would be it.

“Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time ever,” said IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team research director Nabila Popal. “Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is in large part due to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

Although IDC notes that Apple played a key part in knocking Samsung off the top spot, the company also saw intense competition from other Android manufacturers like Huawei, OnePlus, Honor, and Google. It’s not just Samsung that is being challenged by these companies, Canalys notes that Huawei’s “improving strength” could also be a problem for Apple’s growth in the Chinese market. Last year reports emerged that Huawei had managed to overcome US sanctions and build an advanced 7nm processor from Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) into its Mate 60 Pro smartphone capable of 5G speeds.

While overall smartphone shipments declined 3.2 percent in 2023 versus 2022, there are signs that the market might be recovering from its recent slump. IDC reports that shipments grew 8.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, while Canalys has it growing 8 percent after seven straight quarters of declines.

How Group Chats Rule the World

How Group Chats Rule the World They quietly became the de facto spaces to share dumb jokes, grief or even plans for an insurrection.

Here’s OpenAI’s big plan to combat election misinformation

Here’s OpenAI’s big plan to combat election misinformation

Illustration: The Verge

Yesterday TikTok presented me with what appeared to be a deepfake of Timothee Chalamet sitting in Leonardo Dicaprio’s lap and yes, I did immediately think “if this stupid video is that good imagine how bad the election misinformation will be.” OpenAI has, by necessity, been thinking about the same thing and today updated its policies to begin to address the issue.

The Wall Street Journal noted the new change in policy which were first published to OpenAI’s blog. ChatGPT, Dall-e, and other OpenAI tool users and makers are now forbidden from using OpenAI’s tools to impersonate candidates or local governments and users cannot use OpenAI’s tools for campaigns or lobbying either. Users are also not permitted to use OpenAI tools to discourage voting or misrepresent the voting process.

In addition to being firmer in its policies on election misinformation OpenAI also plans to incorporate the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity’s (C2PA) digital credentials into images generated by Dall-E “early this year”. Currently Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, and Getty are also working with C2PA to combat misinformation through AI image generation.

The digital credential system would encode images with their provenance, effectively making it much easier to identify artificially generated image without having to look for weird hands or exceptionally swag fits.

OpenAI’s tools will also begin directing voting questions in the United States to CanIVote.org, which tends to be one of the best authorities on the internet for where and how to vote in the U.S.

But all these tools are currently only in the process of being rolled out, and heavily dependent on users reporting bad actors. Given that AI is itself a rapidly changing tool that regularly surprises us with wonderful poetry and outright lies it’s not clear how well this will work to combat misinformation in the election season. For now your best bet will continue to be embracing media literacy. That means questioning every piece of news or image that seems too good to be true and at least doing a quick Google search if your ChatGPT one turns up something utterly wild.

Microsoft’s new Copilot Pro brings AI-powered Office features to the rest of us

Microsoft’s new Copilot Pro brings AI-powered Office features to the rest of us

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft first launched its AI-powered Office features for businesses in November, but just two months later the company is already offering them to consumers. Copilot Pro is launching today as a $20 monthly subscription that provides access to AI-powered features inside Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint alongside priority access to the latest OpenAI models and the ability to build your own Copilot GPT.

If you’re already a Microsoft 365 Personal or Home subscriber then the extra $20 per month (per person) subscription will immediately unlock Copilot in Office apps on Mac, Windows, and iPad. These features include the ability to generate entire PowerPoint slide decks from a chatbot-like prompt, and inline Copilot experiences in Word to rephrase paragraphs, generate text, and summarize documents. Copilot will also appear in Outlook.com to help you reply to emails or generate new ones, and a preview version is available in Excel to analyze data, generate graphs, and much more.

Most of the features that have been available to businesses for the past couple of months will be available to consumers, with the big exception of being able to summon Copilot to generate a PowerPoint deck based on a Word document. Because the consumer version isn’t powered by Microsoft’s Graph technology, this functionality isn’t available just yet.

Beyond Office integration, Copilot Pro also includes access to the latest OpenAI models, improvements to the Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator), and the ability to build your own Copilot GPT.

If you’re not a Microsoft 365 subscriber then you could subscribe to just Copilot Pro to get priority access to GPT-4 Turbo inside Copilot. You’ll get faster performance during peak times and the ability to toggle between models soon. Image creation using OpenAI’s DALL-E models will also be improved with a new landscape image format and improved image quality with Copilot Pro. The subscription will also soon include a new Copilot GPT Builder that lets you create a custom Copilot GPT — similar to the version launched for businesses last year.

Image: Microsoft

Copilot Pro enables AI-powered features in a bunch of Office apps.

Microsoft is aiming this new Copilot Pro subscription at its Copilot power users, in much the same way that OpenAI offers its own subscription to ChatGPT with priority access and the latest models. “There’s a lot of demand from those power users and they want more rapid access to the latest models, they want faster performance, and they want creativity tools,” says Divya Kumar, global head of marketing for search and AI at Microsoft, in a discussion with The Verge.

These Copilot Pro features are likely tempting for power users, but you will need to also subscribe to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family to get any of the Office-related Copilot features across the web and in Office apps. All of these Copilot Pro features will also be available on the web, in Windows or Mac apps, and on mobile. There are also more Copilot Pro features on the way, much like how Microsoft has been continually improving Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) over the past year.

“Given that pattern we’ve been in, that rolling thunder, you can expect we’re going to do the exact same thing for Copilot Pro,” says Kumar using a metaphor for the AI bombardment we’ve seen from Microsoft in recent months. “It’s already coming in with a lot of features and functionality on top of Copilot... we want to continue to bring an additional premium value and we’re going to very quickly start to do that as well.”

Microsoft is also opening up its Copilot for Microsoft 365 offering to more businesses today. This launched with a 300-seat minimum for larger enterprise users last year, but Microsoft is removing that limitation and letting most of its business customers sign up for a $30 per user, per month subscription today. You can read more about that right here.

Do You Have ‘Bookshelf Wealth’?

Do You Have ‘Bookshelf Wealth’? A TikTok home-décor trend has irked some bibliophiles.

These are the certified Wi-Fi 7 devices you can buy now

These are the certified Wi-Fi 7 devices you can buy now

Razer’s newest gaming laptops are certified for Wi-Fi 7. | Image: Razer

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced at the beginning of CES last week that it had begun certifying Wi-Fi 7 devices. Not having the certification doesn’t mean a device won’t work, but it does mean that it’s been confirmed to work within the standard’s specification and is therefore compatible with other Wi-Fi devices. Handily, the Wi-Fi Alliance has a searchable database of what’s certified, and a few notable ones have already earned the Alliance’s stamp of approval for the new standard.

You may already have a Wi-Fi 7 smartphone if you own the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7800 network adapter, which is now certified for the new Wi-Fi standard, is included with Samsung’s 2023 flagship phone. The only trouble is, to date, Samsung hasn’t enabled the feature. It would be a significant upgrade if it did, though, even if it only gets half of the 5.8Gbps throughput that Qualcomm claims on its site (given a Wi-Fi 7 router and a fast enough internet connection, that is).

If you plan to buy a laptop this year, chances are good you’ll end up with a certified Wi-Fi 7 Wi-Fi chipset in that, too. That’s because of the Intel BE200 card that’s in laptops that were announced at CES, like the new Razer Blade 16. It will also show up in others as the year wears on. Intel claims up to 5,800Gbps throughput on the 6GHz band with the BE800, just like Qualcomm’s smartphone chip.

Of the several Wi-Fi 7 routers on the market now, TP-Link’s Deco BE85 mesh router and Archer BE800 are the only consumer-grade Wi-Fi 7 routers for sale that now appear on the Alliance’s list. The Archer BE800 is a tri-band router with dual 10Gbps ports and two 2.5Gbps ports. It’s also compatible with Wi-Fi EasyMesh, a brand-agnostic Wi-Fi mesh standard that should mean it works with any other EasyMesh router. The Deco BE85 is a dedicated mesh router that only uses TP-Link’s proprietary mesh technology. You’ll pay for either router, though — a two-pack of Decos is $999.99 while the Archer sells for $599.99.

Vision Pro demos will include scanning your glasses to identify your prescription

Vision Pro demos will include scanning your glasses to identify your prescription

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

For anyone who wants to try the Apple Vision Pro when it’s officially released on February 2nd, there’s going to be a whole procedure. We knew that, but now a report in Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg sheds light on how the in-store demos for the Vision Pro will work.

According to Gurman, the process will start with an Apple Store employee scanning users’ faces to pick out the light seal for Apple’s headset — a process he likens to configuring Face ID. For those who need vision correction, Apple will reportedly also scan their lenses with a special device to suss out the prescription. Then an employee fits a Vision Pro with one of “hundreds” of on-hand lenses and a seal and tells you how to use the device (including, apparently, how to hold it).

The demo that follows, Gurman says, will last for up to 25 minutes. It will reportedly involve viewing photos and videos (including the 3D “spatial” kind that you can take with the iPhone 15 Pro), using the Vision Pro as a computer or iPad replacement, and checking out third-party apps.

The process is a lot, though it won’t be necessary for purchase. Apple will apparently also sell the headset online. Users will still need to scan their faces with an iPhone or an iPad to get the right head strap, and they’ll need their vision prescription at the ready for the $149 optical inserts.

Gurman writes that Apple has also made a second, more comfortable strap for the headset after complaints that it’s uncomfortable after just 30 minutes of use, although he says this strap won’t be present at the demos. In addition, Belkin will have an accessory clip for the battery pack that lives outside Apple’s headset, according to the article.

Apple reportedly doesn’t expect demand to hold for the Vision Pro, and has told its stores that they’ll need “about twice as much inventory space” during the first weekend than the following ones. A recent supply chain rumor said that Apple only has up to 80,000 of them coming at launch, plus just half a million for all of 2024.

Such low numbers might not do demand for the Vision Pro any more favors than the basic problem of getting people to want an AR / VR headset in the first place. People are already less likely to use one out in a coffee shop. But even if you did see someone doing so, asking a stranger if you can check out their $3,500 head computer is very different from asking if you can toy with their iPhone — they don’t want to let you, and you probably don’t want to anyway. And most people aren’t going to buy one of these without trying it first.

But Apple has plans for its Vision headset line. Rumors have said it means to release a second, cheaper version of the headset. And eventually, the company is expected to make a set of AR glasses that look like normal glasses, at least eventually, when it gets over technical humps. Meanwhile, Meta has aggressively pursued AR glasses with its Ray-Bans partnership, and Xreal just unveiled its $699 Air 2 Ultra AR glasses that are mainly aimed at developers but show that Apple’s potential competition in the space isn’t exactly resting on its laurels.