TechRadar News

Only Murders in the Building season 5: key information

- Officially renewed for season 5
- No confirmed release date or trailer yet
- Show’s main cast to return
- No new guest stars unveiled, but very likely to appear
- Plot details scarce, bar speculation on season 4’s finale
- Co-creator John Hoffman hopes for more seasons

While the murder-solving, podcast-making trio of Only Murders in the Building may be hoping for a moment’s peace, they’ve got no such luck. The luck is granted instead to fans of the show as the incredibly popular murder mystery will be returning for season 5. With the backdrop of the luxurious apartment complex, The Arconia, and fronted by Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, it’s the perfect recipe for one of the best Hulu shows.

In Only Murders in the Building season 4, the show that’s about a podcast, became about said podcast becoming a movie. But, that wasn’t the most puzzling thing about it - instead, it was the onslaught of murders that kept occurring, notably of Charles' beloved stunt double, Sazz Pataki. You’d think, given the trio's success rate at solving these heinous crimes, that the offenders would pick a different place. But, as Only Murders in the Building season 5 is lined up, the killing spree is far from over. Here's everything you need to know, including cast, plot, and when it could be released on Hulu (US) and Disney Plus (internationally).

Full spoilers follow for Only Murders in the Building seasons 1-4.

Only Murders in the Building season 5 release date prediction

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Only Murders in the Building season 5 is officially on the way. During an exclusive interview with TheWrap in September 2024, showrunner John Hoffman revealed: “We’ve been keeping a secret for about a week and a half now. It’s very exciting. We’ve been in the writers room for season 5 for two weeks now. So it’s pretty fast and we’re already in.” We also know that it’ll be a ten-episode run, like the rest.

The renewal came only a week after the season 4 premiere and the leading trio headed to Instagram to divulge more. Quipping, Steve says: “So, when would that be on? It would be 2025.” To which Selena replies: “Well, we don’t know. We don’t have the date. We’ve got to shoot it.”

2025 seems quite likely though. Given the Hulu show’s previous release schedule, we’ve had a summer release date every year since 2021. So, to solve our very own mystery, we predict that season 5 will follow suit with a summer 2025 release date.

Only Murders in the Building season 5 trailer: is there one?

Only Murders in the Building season 4 only wrapped at the end of October, and the cast were discussing in September that they hadn’t started filming season 5 yet, so there’s no trailer to share. We’ll update this section once the trailer drops, which historically has come out mere weeks before the show’s return. So, hold tight until we’re solidly into 2025.

Only Murders in the Building season 5 confirmed cast

(Image credit: Disney)

It wouldn’t be Only Murders in the Building without the charismatic and endearing trio of Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin, who will all be returning. We also have a confirmed guest star for season 5 - Téa Leoni - who appeared in the season 4 finale, which we'll discuss more in the plot speculation below.

Despite already having a star-studded main cast to lead the show, Only Murders in the Building has proven that it will always bring in an incredible list of guest stars - from Tina Fey in season 1 to Meryl Streep in season 3. Although Streep has since become a recurring cast member. Not forgetting, there’s the Charles, Mabel, and Oliver of the season 4 movie adaptation, played by Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifinakis.

While only the trio and Téa Leoni are confirmed, here’s who we expect will appear in Only Murders in the Building season 5:

• Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
• Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
• Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
• Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin-Putnam
• Téa Leoni as Sofia Caccimelio
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Detective Donna Williams
• Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
• Ryan Boussard as Will Putnam
• Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris

Only Murders in the Building season 5 story rumors

(Image credit: Hulu/Disney Plus)

Major spoilers follow for Only Murders in the Building season 4.

While we don’t know the Only Murders in the Building season 5 story synopsis yet, there’s a lot to unpack from season 4 that should give us some idea. While the trio successfully solved yet another murder - this time of Charles’ stunt double, Sazz Pataki - it felt once again like they’d finally be free to relax. But, it wouldn’t be a show without another murder.

As the trio enjoyed the fact that Oliver’s wedding day to Loretta (Meryl Streep) had gone unspoiled, they’re quickly brought back to reality as they find Lester, The Arconia’s doorman and beloved recurring star of the show, dead in the fountain. As has been the case with previous seasons, this cliffhanger ending sets up the tale for the next investigation - and season 5.

But, that’s not the only investigation hinted at as season 4 wrapped up. A mysterious woman, who introduces herself as Sofia (Téa Leoni), asks Charles and Mabel to find her husband, Nicky ‘The Neck’ Caccimelio. Now, we heard this name on a news report in episode nine saying Nicky, the dry-cleaning King of Brooklyn with links to the Caputo crime family, had disappeared. A report that Mabel reacts to. Sofia says she’ll pay them well to help her, to which they explain they only investigate murders in the building. Her reply, his disappearance has everything to do with the building. Though they turn her away, she leaves her card and the hint that her story will very much be intertwined in season 5.

A hint that has since been confirmed by co-creator John Hoffman to Deadline: "I think she's the great tease at the end of the finale and a little bit of an intriguing bump forward." Adding: "But beyond that, it's a world opened up potentially that we haven't talked about too much yet in New York, so she holds a lot of intrigue."

There’s even more to discuss though - murders aside. The finale saw Oliver and Loretta wed, though Loretta’s TV show has relocated to New Zealand, and so did she. Leaving Oliver behind at The Arconia with his friends, they agree that they’ll make their unconventional relationship work, even with distance. Given this, we’d assume this won’t be the last we see of the newlywed, Loretta Durkin-Putnam.

Then, there’s the shocking return of Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan), who despite being imprisoned in season 1, saves the trio by shooting and killing Marshall P. Pope, aka Rex Bailey, aka Sazz’s killer. Though she appeared earlier in the season, Charles was also hallucinating Sazz, so it wasn’t clear whether he had imagined Jan, too. Fortunately, she wasn’t a pigment of his imagination and consequently killed to avenge Sazz, her friend after a visit in prison in season 2, and save Charles (and Mabel and Oliver). But, as the police took her away in handcuffs, Jan said: “It’s not goodbye, Charles. It never is with us. We’re endgame.” To this, we’d predict, that we haven’t said farewell to Jan after all.

Only Murders in the Building season 4 also concluded with the movie still filming. So, a return of Eva Longoria, Zach Galifinakis, and Eugene Levy could well be on the cards for season 5. Plus, with another murder in the building, we’d expect the return of the usual stalwart Arconia residents (who haven’t been murdered, yet) returning to aid in whatever way they can, especially now it involves a man who has helped them all before.

While we also met some of the unusual residents of the West Tower in season 4, it’s not clear whether they’ll be returning to help with Lester’s death, or return to their lesser-known side of The Arconia.

And when it comes to the recurring role of Paul Rudd - first as actor Ben Glenroy in seasons 2 and 3, and then as Ben’s stunt double, Glen Stubbins in season 4, co-creator John Hoffman told TVLine: “ The fact that he likes the show as much as he does, and keeps at it with us, moves me to the point of making terrible choices. Dramatically, I can’t take anything off the table for him or for Jane Lynch. Or anyone else, frankly.”

The trio doing what they do best, returning guest stars, new guest stars, a deeper look into New York and The Arconia's history, and hopefully the resolution for poor Lester appear then to be the enticing construct for Only Murders in the Building season 5.

Only Murders in the Building: future seasons?

(Image credit: Hulu)

Back in season 3, showrunner John Hoffman told Screen Rant he was very eager to return for many seasons: “This is one of those shows where everyone involved in it is so happy doing it – and I know I speak for the trio and everyone else.” Continuing: “I hope it gives it a good long life.” While three seasons have now turned into five, we can only hope for more.

Hoffman certainly has ambition for more, if Hulu wants it. During an interview with Variety, he said: “Once you get over the hump of how many murders can happen in one building, you’re really stepping back and looking ultimately at the true original concept, which is three lonely people in New York City brought together by a common interest in true crime. Hopefully, we’ve tethered out our stories and hit reflections of things that we all recognize about life and death — and being that close to it and examining and investigating and following that, and then reflecting back. All of that feels very fertile always, so I’ll go as long as they’ll have us.”

There’s no official news past season 5 though. With a swift renewal in the midst of season 4, if we’re going to hear more, we imagine it’ll be nearer the time of season 5’s release in - we predict like Steve Martin himself - 2025.

For more Hulu and Disney Plus-related coverage, read our guides on The Bear season 4, Shōgun season 2, and X-Men 97 season 2.

• US DOE seeks to purchase 20MW super computer to maintain its nuclear stockpile better
• ATS-5 is expected to launch in 2027 and will take over HPE Intel's based ATS-3
• It will have at least 10PB of compute memory, the largest amount ever seen in a single device

The US Department of Energy is preparing to deploy a massive supercomputer called ATS-5 in 2027.

The system, which is designed to advance national security efforts by supporting nuclear stockpile management, marks a shift into what the DOE describes as the “post-exascale” computing era.

It will be installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and replace the existing 30-petaflop Crossroads (ATS-3) supercomputer. The Cray HPE Crossroads debuted at number 24 in the Top500 list in November 2023, but is now ranked 43.

Hero simulations

ATS-5 will be capable of handling massive 3D simulations essential for the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) stockpile stewardship program, and help to manage the US nuclear arsenal - hopefully with a better sense of caution than WarGames' WOPR supercomputer.

The system will feature a staggering 10 petabytes of compute memory in a single machine, and is projected to run within a 20-megawatt power envelope.

Designed as a mixed-architecture machine, ATS-5 will feature a combination of CPUs and GPUs, with the DOE pushing for architectural diversity. Flexibility is reportedly central to its design, with a modular architecture enabling hot-swappable compute modules, memory, and accelerators to keep up with ever-evolving technologies during the machine's lifetime.

A key goal for ATS-5 is reducing "time-to-solution," the time required for complex simulations to deliver meaningful insights. The system will tackle some of the largest-scale 3D simulations, known as "hero" simulations, reducing the completion time for tasks that previously took months to just days.

ATS-5 will also have the capacity to run multiple such hero simulations simultaneously, improving efficiency for critical defense analysis tasks such as modeling aging warhead materials, production techniques, and flight dynamics.

The DOE has already set performance milestones for ATS-5, reportedly seeking a 10x improvement over Crossroads in both single-node and system-wide scaling for critical workloads. This does not mean raw power but rather faster simulation scaling and greater efficiency. Memory performance, in particular, is a key focus, with the system aiming to overcome the "memory wall" by improving bandwidth and latency.

ATS-5 will be delivered in late 2026, with full benchmarking expected by the third quarter of 2027. It will run a Linux-based operating system with open-source software at its core, although HPCWire reports support for CUDA will be considered if Nvidia is selected as the vendor.

Other potential contenders to help build ATS-5 include HPE, which has experience in supercomputing projects with its Slingshot interconnect technology, used in Frontier and El Capitan, and Intel, which has an ongoing quantum project at Argonne National Laboratory.

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• iFixit gives the Beoplay Eleven one out of ten
• Says the batteries are no more replaceable than AirPods'
• Beoplay Eleven are "far behind" Apple in terms of tech

One of the big selling points of Bang & Olufsen's gorgeous Beoplay Eleven earbuds was their replaceable batteries, which promised a longer lifespan.

As we noted at the time, that replacement was only via service techs, and now iFixit has taken a look and concluded that they're going to need to be very special service techs.

Giving the earbuds a "dismal" one out of 10 for repairability, iFixit says that "these earbuds are so unrepairable, in fact, we don't even think they'll meet the upcoming 2027 EU Battery Regulation" – and B&O gave meeting sustainability rules as a key reason it offered the battery replacement service.

So what's the problem?

Why iFixit is slamming B&O's "replaceable" batteries

According to iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari, you won't just be able to take your buds down to the local electronics shop to get the batteries swapped out. And you definitely won't be able to do it yourself.

"The batteries are serviceable only at B&O centers, and the design makes DIY repair nearly impossible", iFixit says. Replacement requires "specialized jigs, heating, prying, and tackling soldered and welded components."

Not only that, but "our teardown shows that the Beoplay Eleven is nearly identical to the three-year-old Beoplay EX, with minor microphone and software updates". Some interior components are even labeled 'Beoplay EX'.

To say that the iFixit article is scathing would be an understatement. And there's one bit in particular that B&O is going to be really unhappy about: iFixit suggests that the Beoplay Eleven are not premium earbuds. "From the control board to the wiring, a side by side comparison of the Beoplay Eleven buds and the AirPods 4 buds show how far behind the Beoplay Eleven is in terms of hardware design."

TechRadar has contacted Bang & Olufsen for comment, and we'll update the story when we hear back.

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• TikTok wasn't the only Bytedance app to be banned
• CapCut was taken down, and Meta out of nowhere announced Edits
• Edits sounds a lot like CapCut as a free editing tool for smartphones

TikTok’s short-lived (for now) US ban might have ended but several other apps that were caught in the crossfire are still yet to make a comeback at the time of writing due to their Bytedance affiliation. Marvel Snap was taken out, to everyone’s surprise, popular TikTok alternative Lemon8 was removed, and video-editing software CapCut also got cut. And in completely unrelated news, Meta took the opportunity to announce Edits, its own CapCut clone.

For the uninitiated, CapCut is a free photo and video editor from Bytedance that you can use on your phone, tablet or PC to edit your content. While it’s ideal for cutting together shortform content for platforms like TikTok, you can also use its tools and AI features to create longer-form videos complete with captions and effects.

With that in mind, let's look at the Edits announcement from Adam Mosseri, and Meta’s head of Instagram. Taking to Threads Mosseri calls Edits a free smartphone video editor for Instagram and other platforms – sounds kinda similar right? Well there are a few differences.

For one it sounds like Edits will be entirely focused on the smartphone experience rather than also having a PC launch. For another, Mosseri paints Edits as a place to not only edit content but as a one-stop shop for creatives to draft and store ideas, to capture video using an improved camera app, and to get access to info on trends to help inform your next short.

The TikTok ban affected more than one app (Image credit: Getty Images)

Though to return to the CapCut similarities, just like its rival, Edits isn’t available to download right now either – with the software currently up for preorder on iOS (an Android release is planned too) with a scheduled launch date of March 13, 2025.

It does seem a little suspect that Meta would have this announcement ready to go the day of TikTok and CapCut’s apparent demise, we’re just surprised it didn't take this opportunity to actually roll its rival out – though given the initial issues it had rolling out Threads when Twitter seemed to be on death's door, we aren’t surprised it’s taking things more slowly.

What’s up with other banned apps?

As for Bytedance’s other banned apps, TikTok is steadily making its comeback. You can now access your favorite creators via the app without using one of the best VPNs to spoof your location, though US users are still unable to install the app via app stores.

Marvel Snap will make a comeback soon (Image credit: Nuverse)

It’s unlikely that TikTok will be restored in full until Donald Trump signs the executive order he has promised that will extend the timeline within which TikTok must be sold. While he has vowed that there would be “no liability” for companies that support TikTok, and that he will sign the order on his first day in office, until he signs such an order we expect Apple and Google will hold fire in case he does yet another 180 on whether he wants to ban or save the social media platform.

Marvel Snap, the most surprising ban from over the weekend (even its own creators, Second Dinner, didn’t realize the app would be banned) is looking to return soon too. It’s still down in the US but in a post made on Sunday January 19 at 8:38pm ET / 1:38am GMT Second Dinner says it hopes to "have it back online within 24 hours.” It’s unclear if this is because it’s rejigging things on the backend so they’re no longer associated with Bytedance, or if the unbanning will be as part of the promised Trump unban but hopefully it’ll return soon so players can get back to playing the current Dark Avengers season.

Lemonade is still offline too. We expect it’ll return properly when TikTok does, though given its status in the US as simply a TikTok alternative which users only flocked to in the face of a ban, we expect it’s not Bytedance’s top priority – certainly not as much of a priority as TikTok.

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• Newly established Belsen Group is leaking a 1.6GB archive
• It contains IP addresses, passwords, and more, reportedly from FortiGate devices
• The data was pulled two years ago, using a zero-day

Sensitive information on more than 15,000 FortiGate devices has leaked online after a new threat actor, calling themselves “Belsen Group”, posted the archive on a dark web forum in an attempt to promote their operation and make a name for themselves.

The group says the data includes IP addresses, passwords, and configurations, and to make analysis easier, it categorized the targets by country names.

“At the beginning of the year, and as a positive start for us, and in order to solidify the name of our group in your memory, we are proud to announce our first official operation,” the thread on the forum reads.

Authentic, but old, data

As part of its data leak effort, the group set up a dedicated Tor site, as the archive is 1.6GB large.

“Will be published of sensitive data from over 15,000 targets worldwide (both governmental and private sectors) that have been hacked and their data extracted," it noted.

“And the biggest surprise: All this sensitive and crucial data is absolutely free, offered to you as a gift from the Belsen Group.”

Multiple security analysts confirmed the data breach is actually two years old, but was never released to the public.

The data was pulled by abusing CVE-2022–40684, while it was still a zero-day flaw. It affected FortiOS 7.0.0-7.0.6, and 7.2.0-7.2.2.

"I've done incident response on one device at a victim org, and exploitation was indeed via CVE-2022–40684 based on artefacts on the device,” one of the researchers, Kevin Beaumont, said in a blog post. “I've also been able to verify the usernames and password seen in the dump matches the details on the device.”

"The data appears to have been assembled in October 2022, as a zero day vuln. For some reason, the data dump of config has been released today, just over 2 years later."

Via BleepingComputer

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• A new rumor suggests the RTX 5090 will use 600W of power
• Comments in a Chinese forum point toward the new GPU being much louder
• PSU requirements are 1000W according to Corsair

Nvidia's RTX 5090 promises to provide a step up from the previous generation's RTX 4090, but that could come at a significant cost according to new rumors - and you might want to invest in a beefy power supply.

As reported by Tomasz Gawronski on X, discussions within Chiphell (a Chinese forum page about the latest PC hardware) suggest that Nvidia's RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU will use 600W of power while being much louder compared to the 4090. This is based on what appears to be an upcoming review with the embargo set for January 24, with a post translated from Chinese that says "The editor cursed while testing... After all, the power consumption increased, the current increased, and the screaming also increased~".

Considering the pricing of the RTX 5090 ($1,999 / £1,939 / AU$4,039) and the reported 30% performance increase (according to Blender benchmarks highlighted by VideoCardz), this rumor likely won't bode well with anyone intent on upgrading to Team Green's latest flagship GPU. The RTX 4090's power consumption is 450W, and while this is still plenty, the jump to 600W isn't very appealing either.

Both an increase in noise and PSU requirements will be costly in multiple aspects, but that's also expected if the performance ends up meeting the hype.

(Image credit: Nvidia) What does this mean in terms of PSU requirements?

It's important to note that this is just a rumor, but if it's legitimate, then RTX 5090 users will certainly have to shell out more than $1,999 / £1,939 / AU$4,039. If you don't already own a 1000W PSU, then you'll more than likely need to invest in one - the recommended PSU requirement for the RTX 5090 is 1000W according to Corsair.

This is especially the case if you've got a high-end CPU equipped, as you'll want to avoid any system malfunctions due to your PSU not wielding enough power. Once reviews arrive, we'll have to measure just how much of a jump the RTX 5000 series flagship GPU is from the previous generation. If I'm honest, even the RTX 4090 is still overkill for gamers, which will also be true of the RTX 5090 - so if you invest in a new GPU and new PSU, you might have to wait a while to really get the most out of your rig.

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• Windows 11 24H2 is rolling out automatically to eligible PCs on 22H2 or 23H2
• Persistent bugs like Asus compatibility and camera unresponsiveness may delay updates for affected PCs
• 24H2 brings performance boosts and new features but has had a history of issues for some time

If you’re currently using older versions of Windows 11 (such as 23H2 or 22H2), Microsoft has plans for you, as it has begun automatically updating PCs to the latest version, 24H2. A notification post was added to the “Windows 11, version 24H2 known issues and notifications” document on the Microsoft Learn blog to explain that Microsoft now considers Windows 11 24H2 stable enough to roll out to everyone using eligible Windows 11 PCs.

Those with qualifying PCs will be updated to the latest version of 24H2 and those using devices managed by organizations (such as work laptops) won’t be affected by this.

However, this push to upgrade older versions of Windows 11 to the 24H2 update might not go down too well, as the update itself has had a rocky start, causing problems like games not working properly and malfunctioning HDR (meant to improve colors and brightness on screens).

Because of these well-publicized problems, quite a few people have - understandably - been reluctant to upgrade.

How will this affect you?

As mentioned above, if your PC is eligible and running Windows 11 versions 22H2 or 23H2 (Pro or Home) editions, it’ll be updated automatically to Windows 11 24H2 very soon. If you would rather wait, you can apparently delay the update for up to five weeks, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. You can do this by following these steps:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Open the Windows Update section, which can be found in the left-hand menu (you may need to scroll down).

3. Find the ‘Pause updates’ option in this section and from the dropdown menu you can select the number of weeks you want to delay updates by (up to 5 weeks).

On the flip side, if you haven’t installed version 24H2 yet and would like to, you can select ‘Check for updates’ on the same Windows Update page as above and click ‘Download & install’ to get the update manually.

(Image credit: Microsoft) Some things to consider and what's on the horizon for Windows 11 24H2 users

If you have one of Microsoft’s new Copilot+ PCs, which are designed to integrate new AI-powered capabilities, then the 24H2 update will bring the hotly discussed (but not as warmly received) Windows Recall feature to all eligible PCs. Recall requires a Copilot+ PC and it’s currently being previewed with members of the Windows Insider Program. Recall is a feature intended to improve productivity for Windows 11 users by capturing snapshots of their PC activity and making them searchable to make finding past information easier. Despite the intended benefits, Recall’s been met with notable controversy due to privacy and security concerns, especially around the possibility of malicious actors getting access to the information stored by Recall.

If you’re not using a Copilot+ PC, 24H2 still promises to bring improved performance and swifter updates going forward for PCs equipped with AMD's Ryzen CPUs and running Windows 11. Those with PCs that have Intel chips will also get some special Windows 11 24H2 patches that will reportedly ensure optimal performance for its Arrow Lake processors (although it seems like this hasn’t led to noticeable improvements for the people who have already updated).

(Image credit: Microsoft)

When it comes to the steady stream of issues we’ve seen plague 24H2, it does seem like most of these have been addressed through patches released by Microsoft. Tom’s Hardware went through Microsoft’s bug log in the document listing known issues and confirmed that this seems to be the case.

However, there are apparently still some problems that persist and have yet to be resolved. For example, some Asus PCs can’t install the update, wallpaper apps might play up unexpectedly, and some PCs might experience unresponsiveness from their cameras. If your PC is affected, Microsoft will hold back the update, putting it on a ‘safeguard hold’ until it’s all good to install.

In short, the update should hopefully improve your PC’s performance (and eventually bring new features), but if you’re wary about the automatic update to 24H2, you’ve got a bit of time. If Windows 11 24H2’s track record is anything to go by so far, Microsoft will have to keep its eye on the ball, stay alert for possible issues, and release fixes as soon as it can if there’s going to be an influx of new users upgrading. Also, if you choose to delay updates, you could be opening up your PC to potential risks that go unaddressed and might come up unexpectedly, which is why we always recommend moving to the latest version of software (especially operating systems) as soon as you can.

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• Breville has launched a new Brass Accents range of kitchen appliances
• The set includes our top-rated espresso machine, the Barista Touch Impress
• It's part of a general shift away from clinical stainless steel in the kitchen

Breville has given several of its best kitchen appliances an overhaul for 2025, including our top-rated espresso machine, the Barista Touch Impress. Rather than clinical stainless steel, which has long been the standard color for coffee makers, the Barista Touch Impress is now available with warm-toned metal, paired with soft shades of blue, olive green, and off-white.

The Breville Barista Touch Impress has long held the number one spot in our guide to the best espresso machines thanks to its effortless automated dosing, grinding, tamping, and milk frothing, which helps create consistently good coffee time and again.

"Even for experienced baristas [who] are tight on time and space, the compact form and simplicity of dialling-in different coffees makes the Barista Touch Impress a highly desirable machine," wrote our reviewer Joel Burgess, who awarded the machine a full five stars.

The Brass Accents collection also includes the Breville Toast Select, the Smart Oven Air Fryer, and the Juice Fountain Cold. The range is available to buy now direct from Breville, and from Williams Sonoma in the US.

The Brass Accents collection is available in three colorways, including Sea Salt - an off-white shade (Image credit: Breville) A natural touch

Breville's new-look appliances part of a trend for warm, natural shades that we first saw last year when KitchenAid launched its enormously popular (and somewhat controversial) Design Series Evergreen stand mixer. The machine has a sage green body, brass accents, leaf decals, and a real walnut wood bowl.

Some bakers expressed concern that the bowl (which needs special care to keep it in good condition) would be impractical, but Wired writer Kat Merck found it worked just fine for everyday baking, including whipping egg whites and cream.

With its walnut wood bowl, the KitchenAid Design Series stand mixer in Evergreen caused a stir among bakers (Image credit: KitchenAid)

More recently, KitchenAid announced that its entire range of espresso machines is now available in a subtle cream shade called Porcelain White. The last coffee maker to get a new look was the KF60 bean-to-cup machine, which I'll be reviewing for TechRadar in a few weeks.

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• CISA releases new playbook for government firms and enterprises
• The guidebook addresses expanded cloud logs from Microsoft
• Microsoft expanded its cloud logs after July 2023 Outlook incident

Microsoft has recently expanded logging capabilities for its cloud services, which could mean significant changes for US government organizations.

In July 2023, a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor, found a way to access email accounts belonging to government officials working in the State Department, and the Department of Commerce. The fallout was major, and resulted in Microsoft expanding free logging capabilities for all Purview Audit Standard users, among other changes.

Now, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released its guidance, explaining to government agencies and enterprises how to take advantage of the changes.

Navigating expanded logs

The new guidance is a 60-page playbook, so the changes could be quite major.

"These capabilities also allow organizations to monitor and analyze thousands of user and admin operations performed in dozens of Microsoft services and solutions," CISA said. "These logs provide new telemetry to enhance threat-hunting capabilities for business email compromise (BEC), advanced nation-state threat activities, and possible insider-risk scenarios."

The guidance also discusses navigating the expanded logs within Microsoft 365, and using them with both Microsoft Sentinel, and Splunk Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems.

In July 2023, the Chinese cyber espionage group Storm-0558 exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's Outlook email system to gain unauthorized access to email accounts belonging to U.S. government agencies and other organizations. The attackers used a stolen Microsoft security key to forge authentication tokens, bypassing security measures.

As a result, Microsoft was forced to revoke the compromised security key, bolster its token validation systems, and enhance transparency by providing detailed incident reports and security updates to affected customers. Additionally, it faced scrutiny over its cloud security practices and was pressured to improve safeguards to prevent similar breaches in the future.

Microsoft also launched its Secure Future Initiative (SFI) in November 2023, a comprehensive cybersecurity program aimed at enhancing security resilience across its products and services. It invested heavily in advanced threat detection, prevention, and response capabilities.

Via BleepingComputer

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The first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked of 2025 is sure to be a phone-focussed event, where we're predicting to see the Samsung Galaxy S25 range, spearheaded by the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

While these phones are expected to be iterative upgrades over the Galaxy S24 lineup, their big party tricks could be a suite of new and improved features on the Galaxy AI side; a new powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset should help power these tools.

If you want to watch the event yourself then check out our guide on how to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025. But for all the news and rumors ahead of Unpacked, you're in the right place; read on.

Good afternoon or morning or evening, depending on where you are, I (Roland Moore-Colyer) am here to chat about the Galaxy S25 rumors so far and what we can expect to see at the first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025, which takes place on January 22.

(Image credit: Samsung)

So what's all the fuss about? Well as mentioned, this Unpacked is very likely be one that's fully focused on the next-generations Galaxy phones. We're not expecting much else in terms of hardware.

This could be disappointing to some as the Galaxy S25 family as a whole has been tipped to be somewhat of an iterative upgrade over the Galaxy S24 lineup, which brought in Galaxy AI.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

There's no murmur on any wearables at this Galaxy Unpacked. But as we had the Galaxy Ring launch mid last year, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, there's already enough wearables from Samsung to keep us ticking over for now.

I'd predict osme AI upgrades for the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch series, though how these will manifest isn't clear.

(Image credit: Blue Pixl Media)

Speaking of Galaxy AI, I'll buy a hat and eat it if there's no mention of new AI features for the Galaxy S25 series. I'm expecting a host of upgrades and new features, likely an improved Generative Edit being one of the first upgrades out of the gates.

I'd also like to see Galaxy AI better integrated across the One UI operating system, as my colleague and Senior Editor Philip Berne noted in his Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review, Galaxy Ai feels somewhat fiddly to access and use.

(Image credit: Samsung)

Right before I muse more on AI and other bits, first dsome new: just about every single Samsung Galaxy S25 spec has been shown up in what appears to be a new leak. Check them out in the tweet below.

25 pic.twitter.com/rW5EGZJbY9January 17, 2025

So going by those 'leaked' specs, it looks like there's not going to be a lot change with the Galaxy S25 series as a whole. 12GB or RAM for the standard S25 looks promising and should help with snappy AI workloads. And the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy would appear to be a custom version of an already powerful chipset, so there's scope for that to bring some serious performance grunt to the table,

In reference to those seemingly leaked specs, it's over to my colleague and staff writer Jamie RIchards for some context on the tipped Snapdragon chipset.

Snapdragon after all

The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

There's been some back and forth in the months leading up to Samsung Galaxy Unpacked about which chipset the Galaxy S25 lineup would make use of. Some tipsters pointed to Samsung's troubled Exynos line of chipsets for the new flagships, but production issues seem to have taken too much of a toll for these proprietary processors to make it into this year's lineup.

The latest major specs leak (courtesy of noted tipster @MysteryLupin) points to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for the Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra. As Qualcomm's flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is one of the fastest mobile platforms on the market, which bodes well for the S25 series' performance.

From my perspective, I'm hoping the new Qualcomm chipset brings in a big uptick in gaming power for the Galaxy S25, especially the Ultra. Apple's A18 Pro and the A17 Pro before it allowed for true console-quality games to be played on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro, so I'd like to see Samsung manage the same, especially since it used to work closely with Microsoft; imagine proper Xbox games on the Galaxy S25 running natively.

Throwing the ball back over to Jamie, as we take the specs conversation over to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras and their rumored upgrades.

A new Ultra ultrawide?

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (Image credit: Samsung)

Keen photographers will be looking to the Galaxy S-series Ultra's somewhat iconic quad-camera system, and if the latest rumors are anything to go by, there is one key upgrade on the way. We're expecting to see the Galaxy S25 Ultra equipped with a new 50MP ultra-wide camera, up from the 12MP ultra-wide found on the S24 Ultra.

Sure, it's not a revolutionary improvement, but this should lend well to a more consistent camera experience across the phone's four optical zoom levels.

• 1923 season 2 premieres Sunday, February 23
• The show's latest installment marks its second and final season
• Season 2 will consist of eight episodes

February just got a whole lot more exciting, because the second season of 1923, the Yellowstone prequel, will be streaming from the 23rd of February on Paramount Plus. And the newly released 1923 season 2 trailer makes it clear that it's going to be an epic.

This is the final part of the saga, and the tense, exciting trailer feels very much like Yellowstone itself – and while the fact that this is a prequel means we know some of the future, there's still plenty that we don't know about the twists and turns that will come during this second season of one of the best Paramount Plus shows.

What have we learnt from the 1923 Season 2 trailer?

At the end of the first season, the newly married Spencer Dutton and Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) had been separated from one another while Cara feared losing the ranch and Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) suffered a terrible loss.

The second season resumes from there, with Isabel May (from the other prequel series, 1883) narrating once again. Here's the official synopsis: "A cruel winter brings new challenges and unfinished business to Jacob (Ford) and Cara (Mirren) back at Dutton ranch. With harsh conditions and adversaries threatening to end the Dutton legacy, Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) embarks on an arduous journey home, racing against time to save his family in Montana. Meanwhile, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) sets off on her own harrowing trans-Atlantic journey to find Spencer and reclaim their love.”

There will be eight episodes of season 2, concluding the story. Indeed, creator Taylor Sheridan said that he needed eight more episodes to do it properly. "I can't wrap it up in two episodes and do the story justice," Sheridan told Deadline. "For [Paramount] it's great because they get more content. For me, I get more runway."

1923 season 2 will be streaming on Paramount Plus from February 23, 2025.

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• Most AI users are optimistic about the technology’s benefits, Workday report claims
• Nine in 10 have more free time to be productive
• Humans can still bring vital skills to the table, so it's not all doom and gloom

Tackling early concerns that artificial intelligence could replace human workers and take our jobs, new Workday research has claimed AI could actually act as a catalyst for a skills revolution.

Tackling the popular narrative of scepticism, Workday's report revealed 85% of active AI users report a high level of optimism surrounding the technology, a noteworthy upgrade over the 78% of non-adopters reporting similar sentiments.

It’s not just in skills where workers are seeing the benefits of AI – 93% of active users also report having more free time when using the technology, enabling them to focus on higher-level tasks like strategy and problem-solving.

Workers are optimistic about artificial intelligence

As AI becomes more embedded in everyday workflows and organizational strategies, we’re beginning to see where its roles are most appreciated, and where the value of human workers remains critical. For example, humans bring more to the table when it comes to ethical decision-making, empathy, relationship building, and conflict resolution, rendering these the least likely areas to be replaced by AI.

More than four in five (83%) believe AI will make human skills like the ones mentioned above more important to employers.

“By embracing AI for good, we can elevate what makes us uniquely human – our creativity, our empathy, our ability to connect – and build a workplace where these skills drive success," noted Workday CTO Jim Stratton.

Looking ahead, Workday calls for joint efforts by tech companies, organizations and even governments to ensure AI’s benefits are felt by everyone. The report also highlights the need for a focus on crucial human skills.

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If you’re reading this article from the comfort of your home office, you’re living a reality that, until recent years, was the exception for a small minority of workers. Now, many businesses across several industries facilitate hybrid or remote work in one way or another, making the home office a more common setup for people than it once was. However, while technology is the enabler for remote work, workers are feeling disconnected from their colleagues.

This disconnect may be caused by location, as we find ourselves more physically distanced from our co-workers. Yet, amidst the growing ‘return to the office’ movement and concerns that remote and hybrid working may be detrimental to the workforce, it turns out that the feeling of disconnect between colleagues is being caused by something entirely different.

The hidden barrier to employee connection

Recent research from Workato found that only 26% of UK workers felt it was harder to connect with colleagues virtually, and even fewer said that not being in the office with colleagues hindered their ability to collaborate. The data shows that location has very little impact on our ability to feel connected with co-workers. UK workers feel distant from their colleagues for an entirely different reason; there is simply too much work to get done and not enough time.

The unachievable workload, and how it is managed, is stealing time from UK workers that could be spent connecting and building relationships with colleagues, regardless of whether they are in the same room or in an entirely different location. This lack of connection is having a knock-on-effect on employee engagement, leaving individuals feeling isolated and teams struggling to collaborate.

Administrative tasks are contributing to a significant lack of time for UK workers, particularly tasks that are highly repetitive such as internal emails and note-taking; time that could be better spent connecting with colleagues. The research found that almost half of workers felt they would need an additional 30-60 minutes each day dedicated to team building, to feel closer to colleagues. With limited resources and only a certain number of hours available in the working day, UK businesses are struggling to strike a balance between optimizing time and nurturing employee engagement – a challenge that could have a significant impact on the long-term success of their teams.

The role of automation in team connection

Creating more spare time at work doesn’t mean employees will be working less – they will be working smarter. When organizations look to deploy automation technology, they are not only improving efficiency by shaving huge amounts of time taken up by repetitive tasks but also the impact on the people responsible for those tasks. Automation paves the way for bigger-picture thinking, giving employees the headspace to consider their career goals, think about improvements within the business, and plan for future resourcing challenges or obstacles. By shifting from task-based to value-based working, organizations can instill a mutual feeling of empowerment amongst all levels of an organization, in a united effort to strengthen the business and contribute to its long-term success.

Empowering workers with smart tools

While the benefits of automation are compelling, it’s of no use if workers are not on board with the changes. So, how are workers feeling about automation? The feedback is overwhelmingly positive. UK workers are seeing the productivity benefits of automation tools, and the quality of their work is improving, too. Specifically, with the use of automation tools, more than 4 out of 5 people in the UK believe automation is part of the solution to make time for more complex work, and 85% believe it is part of the solution for improving productivity.

Implementing automation allows companies to invest in human relationships to increase efficiency and productivity amongst workers. The benefits stretch beyond just improving the bottom line; employees in the UK value automation as an essential tool to strengthen their quality of work, create stronger relationships with teammates, and put time aside for connecting with team members on a personal level.

When a business consists of a strong, happy team, it naturally creates a ripple effect that leads to happy customers; a winning solution for everyone.

Building a workplace for connection and collaboration

As organisations continue to explore what the future of work looks like, many have to take into consideration how they will foster an environment that allows UK workers to be creative, collaborative, and connected. Acknowledging automation as a path forward for elevating work, people, and culture is crucial to the success of companies, regardless of industry or size. Leaders have the opportunity now to invest meaningful time, resources, and money into their workers to better promote a sense of belonging.

We've featured the best online collaboration tool.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• A Chinese cybersecurity firm has been sanctioned by the US Treasury
• The firm allegedly has ties to hacking group Salt Typhoon
• Salt Typhoon is accused of carrying out a cyberattack on 9 telco giants

A Chinese cybersecurity firm has been sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged links to the notorious hacking group Salt Typhoon.

Salt Typhoon is perhaps best known as the group who infiltrated the networks of nine major US telecommunications companies and internet providers, including Verizon and AT&T in the largest telecoms hack in US history.

“Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD. (Sichuan Juxinhe) had direct involvement in the exploitation of these U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies. The MSS (China Ministry of State Security) has maintained strong ties with multiple computer network exploitation companies, including Sichuan Juxinhe,” the Treasury said in a statement.

A major incursion

The Salt Typhoon hack saw state-sponsored actors targeting high-level government communications through a breach of third-party tech support platform BeyondTrust. Hackers were reportedly lurking inside telecom networks for months before being eradicated.

“The Treasury Department will continue to use its authorities to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who target the American people, our companies, and the United States government, including those who have targeted the Treasury Department specifically,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Adewale O. Adeyemo.

Following the hack, the US Treasury was again hit by a further cyberattack which targeted the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), which is the department in charge of reviewing foreign investments for national security risks.

In January 2025, the Treasury similarly sanctioned a Chinese cybersecurity firm Yongxin Zhicheng Technology Group for alleged ties to Flax Typhoon, the group responsible for hijacking legally required broadband and communications backdoors which allow US law enforcement to intercept communications.

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Many action movies start with a bang. But Back In Action, the new Netflix action comedy starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, has started with a splat – multiple splats in the form of rotten tomatoes. According to the review aggregator at the time of writing, the film is far from fresh: it's got a Tomatometer rating of just 24%.

The good news is that there are plenty of much better movies with much fresher ratings, all of them streaming right now on Netflix. Here are three action movies that are among the best Netflix movies you won't regret starting.

RRR

RT critic score: 96%

This action adventure is getting rave reviews. It's the epic, action-packed tale of a fearless warrior on a perilous mission who comes face to face with a steely cop serving British forces in what one reviewer says is "one of the most entertaining films I've seen this year" – and before you go "but it's only January!" he wrote that on the film's theatrical release in mid-2023.

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, "RRR is one action crescendo after another, never dull but not exhausting either." And the San Jose Mercury News loved it too: "The bonanza with a cast of what looks to be thousands and a storyline about getting back at colonizers is a blast throughout its three-hour-plus running time." According to The Hollywood Reporter, "You won't be bored for a nanosecond."

Rebel Ridge

RT critic score: 96%

When ex-Marine Terry Richmond visits the town of Shelby Springs to post bail for his cousin, things go off the rails and he finds himself going head to head with the local cops and battling a deep-rooted conspiracy. If you've seen the same writer/director (Jeremy Saulnier)'s Blue Ruin and Green Room, you're going to want to see this modern echo of First Blood. And if you haven't, you should stream it anyway.

The movie is "as elementally satisfying as a great Western," AV Club says, while the New York Times waxed lyrical: "Our pulses are elevated by the score, a relentless tattoo of drones and drums, plus the truly sensational camera work of David Gallego which, like our leading man, moves with measured intelligence and makes tactical use of every mirror in sight." According to Empire, it's "an undeniably fun night in."

Hit Man

RT critic score: 95%

Based on an incredible true story, Richard Linklater's wild neo-noir movie stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department. As the Irish Times put it, "this old-fashioned sexy caper makes merry with unreliable narration, slapstick and the stress of remembering which lie you told."

Den of Geek says that "Linklater has long displayed a genius for riffing on and shifting between genre tones. And with Hit Man, he’s figured out how to turn a veritable film noir into a meet-cute comedy," and we think ABC News liked it too: "Oooowee," Peter Travers wrote. "What a scorchingly sexy thriller."

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• AMD is purportedly struggling to iron out RX 9070 pricing with retailers
• The theory is that AMD’s original prices were too high compared to where Nvidia pitched its RTX 5000 GPUs
• AMD needs to put all this gossip and speculation to bed as soon as possible

More rumors are circulating about AMD’s RDNA 4 graphics cards, due to launch at some point in Q1 2025, and there’s some fresh info about what could potentially be going on behind the scenes.

There’s no denying that the reveal of RX 9070 models at CES 2025 was confusingly brief, though an AMD exec has since clarified why – namely the lack of time for Team Red’s presentation at that event (a flimsy excuse, yes), and an apparent admission (possible translation issues must be noted, mind) that the company wanted to wait and see how Nvidia pitched its RTX 5000 GPUs.

Fresh speculation (via VideoCardz) from a forum moderator (Pokerclock, who recently brought us gossip on Nvidia’s Blackwell stock levels) at German site PC Games Hardware throws something else into the mix.

Namely a theory that pricing for RX 9070 models has proved problematic and that MSRPs have not been officially agreed, because the price tags AMD planned originally ended up too high compared to what Nvidia announced with its next-gen Blackwell graphics cards.

Pokerclock asserts that there are difficulties in rejigging that price and working out how to balance and correct this with what retail partners already paid for these RDNA 4 products. Working out this – and we must be extremely cautious around this rumor – is what’s apparently causing some trouble for AMD, and kind of leaving its RX 9070 graphics cards in a state of launch limbo, as it were.

(Image credit: Future) Analysis: Time to take action, AMD

Could there be something in this? Well, it does make sense in some ways, by which I mean that Nvidia’s RTX 5070 and 5080 pricing was certainly surprising – it caught me off guard, and likely AMD, too, I’d imagine. Also, it does fit with what’s happened in terms of AMD’s sort of ‘half-launch’ at CES 2025, and the fact that we still haven’t got a date for the proper launch (an event that could be coming this week, if rumors are right – on January 23 or 24, but that’s very close at hand now, obviously).

Moreover, there are multiple sightings of the RX 9070 graphics cards having arrived at retailers, so that also suggests that the pieces of the launch were all fitting into place, and then suddenly an Nvidia-shaped spanner was chucked into the RDNA 4 works when Blackwell pricing was revealed.

It’s notable that Moore’s Law is Dead also spilled some RDNA 4 details in his latest video on YouTube, and there was no rumored pricing, just a comment that he’s heard a lot of different rumors – from $450 (in the US) upwards.

Again, that paints a picture of everything still being rather up in the air at this late stage for RDNA 4, though the YouTuber gives us a rough guess of $499 (in the US) for the RX 9070 and $599 for the RX 9070 XT. That would, based on some purported internal benchmarks from AMD also shared by the leaker, make for a pair of RDNA 4 graphics cards that would be RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti killers.

Interesting and potentially exciting times indeed, but AMD can’t let these rumors on its next-gen GPU launch and pricing continue to simmer and bubble for too long – it needs to make a final decision on RDNA 4 pricing, if the company hasn’t already, of course. And then those prices need to be aired very soon (which might indeed happen, as noted, if the rumor mill is right).

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• Nvidia's Bryan Catanzaro suggests older RTX 3000 GPUs could potentially get Frame Generation
• The new Frame Generation model doesn't need an Optical Flow accelerator
• Tensor Cores could be the deciding factor for the RTX 3000 series receiving Frame Generation

With Nvidia's RTX 5000 series launch on the horizon, it's easy to be tempted into buying the latest and (hopefully) the greatest, but Frame Generation could change that - it's not just being improved on RTX 4000 series GPUs and Team Green's latest Blackwell GPUs like the RTX 5090 (Multi Frame Generation), but potentially RTX 3000 GPUs as well.

Hints that older Nvidia GPUs might finally get Frame Generation, a clever feature that uses AI to generate additional frames to boost overall frame rates, comes from Digital Foundry's interview (which you can view below) with Nvidia's Applied Deep Learning Research VP, Bryan Catanzaro - as reported by Wccftech, Catanzaro mentioned Nvidia will be looking at ways to get the best out of older hardware. We know that the current model of Frame Generation will receive improvements later this month once the RTX 5080 and 5090 launch, which will utilize less VRAM while providing better performance thanks to Tensor Cores.

Catanzaro made it clear that DLSS 3 Frame Generation was built upon Nvidia's Optical Flow hardware accelerator (motion detector for objects between frames), with the RTX 4000 series GPUs maintaining a much more improved version compared to RTX 3000 GPUs - the new model of Frame Generation (and Multi Frame Generation exclusive to RTX 5000 series GPUs) won't require the Optical Flow accelerator, but rather an AI-based solution.

Since the new model will rely on a higher standard of Tensor Cores (which increases AI performance) which both RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 GPUs come with, it isn't that simple for Team Green to bring Frame Generation to the older GPUs. With Frame Generation supposedly using much less VRAM usage and not needing an Optical Flow accelerator, however, RTX 3000 users could be in luck (despite the weaker Tensor Cores).

Again, I must ask, is there a need to buy an RTX 5000 series GPU?

While this is essentially just speculation about future possibilities, there's a chance that Nvidia RTX 3000 series users could get the full package of DLSS 4 that includes Frame Generation. DLSS 3 has been available to both RTX 3000 and 2000 series users with super-resolution, DLAA, and ray reconstruction at their disposal - but Frame Generation has so far been exclusive to the RTX 4000 series.

With the requirement of an Optical Flow accelerator now gone, the chances of Frame Generation making its way to RTX 3000 GPUs are now much higher. The main hurdle that could stop this is the weaker Tensor Cores as I mentioned, but the fact that we're at least getting discussions about it with Catanzaro shouldn't be taken lightly.

For now, it's best to look forward to what improvements DLSS 4 will bring to older GPUs and stay patient for any future updates. If Frame Generation for RTX 3000 GPUs does happen, it could breathe new life into the older graphics cards, and could mean gamers that can’t afford a new RTX 5000 series GPU will continue to be able to play new PC games for a few more years.

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• Oppo has shared details about the Find N5, which is likely to be rebranded as the OnePlus Open 2 outside China
• The Oppo Find N5 will be extremely slim, with just barely enough space for a USB-C port
• It will also have an IPX9 water resistance rating, which is very rare on phones

The OnePlus Open was one of the best foldable phones of 2024, so the company could have released a similar successor and still probably seen it stand up well against the competition. Instead, it seems we’ll be getting some big upgrades.

Across various Weibo posts spotted by Android Authority, Oppo’s Product Manager, Zhou Yibao, has shared images and information about the Oppo Find N5, and based on past form, it’s likely that the OnePlus Open 2 will simply be a rebranded version of this device.

Going by this information, that’s no bad thing, as the Oppo Find N5 will be incredibly slim, with Yibao stating that “thinness is not the limit of Find N5, but the limit of the charging port.” You can see that this is the case in the images below, with only the tiniest sliver of frame on either side of the USB-C port.

Image 1 of 3

The Oppo Find N5 alongside an iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Oppo)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Oppo)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Oppo)

That means this is probably the slimmest foldable yet, and that it will be impossible to make a foldable phone that’s much slimmer than this without sacrificing the charging port, or having the half without the port be a lot thinner, which could make the phone feel unbalanced.

Some of the other images also highlight just how slim this phone is, with the thickness being similar to that of four credit cards when the phone is unfolded, and much slimmer than an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Sadly, exact dimensions haven’t been provided, but the OnePlus Open 2 will almost certainly be a fair bit thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which is arguably its key rival – at least until the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 launches.

Impressively water resistant

And that’s not the only way that the Oppo Find N5 – and therefore probably also the OnePlus Open 2 – has the Galaxy Z Fold 6 beat, as Zhou Yibao also revealed that it has IPX6, IPX8, and IPX9 water resistance ratings.

It’s the number at the end that’s relevant here, and most phones at best have an ‘8’ rating, which means they can be submerged at least 1.5 meters deep in fresh water for up to 30 minutes. Having the ‘9’ rating there too means this phone is also protected from high-temperature and high-pressure water jets.

It’s not overly surprising that this level of protection could be offered, since this was also a feature of the OnePlus 13, but it’s not present on most phones – including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, which has an ‘8’ but not a ‘9’ rating.

However, the full rating on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is IP48, with the ‘4’ meaning it has protection from solid objects greater than 1mm in size. The Oppo Find N5 – and probably also the OnePlus Open 2 – has no such protection, so that’s one area where Samsung has this rumored model beat.

It will be interesting to see whether the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 can match this for thinness and water resistance, but we’re doubtful.

As for when any of these phones might launch, we’re expecting the Oppo Find N5 to be unveiled in February, but probably only for China. The OnePlus Open 2 will hopefully launch globally soon after though, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 probably won’t land before July.

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• Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported that the iPhone SE 4 could come with support for Apple Intelligence
• Due to the hardware requirements of Apple's AI toolkit, we could end up with an iPhone SE that feels like a flagship
• The current-gen iPhone SE is reportedly running out of stock, suggesting an imminent refresh

Apple could soon make Apple Intelligence much more accessible by equipping the rumored iPhone SE 4 with the company’s full set of AI features.

A report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests that the supposedly upcoming fourth-generation iPhone SE will indeed support Apple’s AI toolkit, and as such come with at least 8GB of RAM and an A17 Pro or A18 chipset (all current Apple Intelligence-enabled devices come with some combination of these specs, or better).

Gurman is a leading commentator on all things Apple and we have referred to his reports and predictions several times in the past, so there’s certainly some weight in this latest rumor.

If the refreshed iPhone SE launches with 8GB of RAM and the A18 under the hood, it’ll match the flagship iPhone 16 for internal power. We’ll likely see differences in battery capacity, and potentially cooling and heat dissipation, but otherwise, the internal hardware of each device could be remarkably similar.

And with Apple Intelligence enabled, the software experience between the two phones could be close to identical, too. We don’t expect the new iPhone SE to feature the Dynamic Island, but otherwise, iOS is likely to feel near-identical on either handset.

The current-generation iPhone SE 3 retails for $429 / £429 / AU$719. We’ve heard rumors of a possible price hike for the iPhone SE 4, but we’re still expecting it to come in below the $500 mark, which would still be substantially cheaper than the iPhone 16, which costs $799 / £799 / AU$1,399.

For some, this value proposition would be hard to ignore. The iPhone SE 4 is expected to launch with a single-camera system, and we’d be surprised to see the Camera Control button make an appearance. But it stands to reason that, for some users, missing out on these features will be worth a couple of hundred dollars in savings.

Personally, if the iPhone SE 4 is as close to the iPhone 16 as these rumors suggest, I think I’ll have trouble recommending the latter – especially considering Apple’s latest flagship is still holding on to an outdated 60Hz display and barely-useful ultra-wide camera.

Android Authority notes that iPhone SE 3 stocks are running low with no sign of replenishment, so it may not be long before we see the rumored fourth-generation model take its place. If you can’t wait until then, feel free to check out our list of the best iPhones.

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• Leaks say it won't come to the US, but don't reveal why
• Similar to how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold SE also skipped many regions

Having already had to prepare ourselves that the hotly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim likely won’t launch at Wednesday’s Galaxy Unpacked event alongside the regular Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra – instead leaks say it’ll be dropping around May – it now seems that the Slim might not even come to every market: notably skipping the US if leaks are to be believed.

The first comes via reputable tipster Evan Blass who took to his private X account to state that the S25 Slim “will almost certainly not be offered through US carriers,” with Phone Arena following up with a report from a “historically trusted source” who reached out to tell them that while the S25 Slim will come to 39 markets the US won’t be among them – however the UK and Australia are.

All leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt – especially the Phone Arena leak as we can’t name or verify the claim of the info’s source – but this wouldn’t be the first ‘Slim’ Samsung gadget to boast a limited release in recent years.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Case in point the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim, which wound up being called Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 SE (Special Edition), only released in South Korea and China when it arrived last year. The S25 Slim appears to be having a slightly wider release, but again not quite as wide as Samsung’s flagship devices.

The only question we’re left asking is why it would skip the US specifically? Given Samsung’s home market is South Korea it makes sense it might limit some releases to just that one market, or South Korea and a handful of nearby Asia territories like we saw with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 SE. However, if it is launching more widely, skipping the US – the third largest market for smartphones behind India and China – feels odd.

The only justification we can think of is Samsung is concerned about possible US tariffs that incoming President Trump has threatened to levy at various US imports – especially those coming in from China which is where plenty of smartphones are manufactured. If Samsung plans to produce the S25 Slim in a region Trump is imposing tariffs on imports from then it may decide that releasing the phone in the US won’t be worthwhile, and so while we wait and see precisely what Trump’s plans are Samsung might be taking the route of under-promising and over delivering if tariffs aren’t as impactful as expected.

A Slim by any other name would be just as thin

Beyond borrowing its more limited release the S25 Slim may also copy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim’s name – i.e. not being called Slim. That’s according to Blass who in a separate post asked why we expect the so-called Galaxy S25 Slim to be branded as such when the Z Fold 6 Slim wasn’t.

Will the Slim get a cmaera upgrade? (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

That’s not to say the S25 Slim won’t be a thin device – with leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo saying the Slim and rumored iPhone 17 Air will be around 5-6mm thick. Compared to the 7.8mm thick iPhone 16 (read our iPhone 16 review) and 7.6mm for the Samsung Galaxy S24 – but a name not focused on it simply being less thick may imply it’ll come with some additional hardware changes and upgrades over the base model.

Such an upgrade has already been teased by rumors suggesting it’ll boast a 200MP main camera instead of the 50MP expected of the base Galaxy S25 smartphone.

For now we’ll have to wait and see what Samsung has up its sleeve for the S25 Slim, but if you’re in the US you probably don’t want to hold your breath that’ll you’ll be able to get your hands on it in 2025.

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