Technology

A great-sounding display, but Apple seems out of touch for the touchscreen.

Tech workers have become increasingly vocal when their employers’ business deals clash with their values.

• TikTok could require 4 gigawatts of computing capacity by the early 2030s
• Oracle remains TikTok's primary American cloud provider despite expansion plans
• TikTok's growing AI ambitions could increase demand for computing infrastructure

A potential requirement for 4 gigawatts of computing power has prompted TikTok's American business to investigate additional infrastructure arrangements beyond its current resources.

The company has reportedly contacted potential suppliers about future capacity, although its existing partnership with Oracle remains central to American operations.

TikTok has denied any suggestion of an impending replacement, maintaining that its principal cloud services remain the same.

A massive computing requirement raises supplier questions

“Oracle will continue to be our primary cloud infrastructure provider,” said a TikTok spokesperson.

However, the company did not disclose whether it intends to obtain the additional computing capacity from other providers.

The proposed expansion concerns computing resources that TikTok might need during the early 2030s, rather than capacity already secured through contractual agreements.

According to CNBC, two sources familiar with TikTok's infrastructure discussions confirmed that the company was exploring opportunities to secure additional computing capacity.

One source estimated that TikTok could require approximately 4 gigawatts by the early 2030s, although potential suppliers and agreements remain undisclosed.

The reported scale comes amid increasing demand for electricity and computing equipment as companies develop more resource-intensive artificial intelligence systems.

TikTok's American business already depends heavily on Oracle, whose cloud operations generally use data center buildings leased from third parties.

That arrangement allows Oracle to provide computing services without necessarily owning the physical facilities containing the servers and supporting electrical equipment.

Machine learning ambitions add another dimension

Beyond operating its social media platform, TikTok is recruiting specialists to develop artificial intelligence applications that could require additional processing infrastructure.

Several vacancies advertised by its American organization concern machine learning, while another describes work involving sophisticated AI models and automated content creation.

The latter position concerns a commercial AI offering designed for business customers, involving model inference and software capable of generating creative material.

These recruitment activities establish ongoing technical development, although the company has not connected individual projects to its reported multigigawatt infrastructure requirement.

TikTok's American operations also face specific computing responsibilities arising from changes to the platform's ownership and handling of domestic user information.

Established in 2026, TikTok USDS Joint Venture followed an executive order from President Donald Trump requiring changes to ByteDance's American ownership arrangements.

ByteDance retained 19.9% of the resulting enterprise, while Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX became managing investors with individual ownership stakes of 15%.

Additional financial backing came from Michael Dell's family investment office, which joined the ownership arrangement following the restructuring of TikTok's American business.

In January, the company announced that its recommendation algorithm would undergo domestic training and evaluation using information collected from users in America.

Oracle was designated to host the algorithm within its American cloud infrastructure, giving the provider an established role in handling TikTok's recommendation technology.

The company has not specified whether its potential 4-gigawatt expansion would support these algorithmic operations, commercial AI development, or other computing requirements.

Apple has unveiled its first OLED MacBook Pro laptops, and that means we've got a new bit of display branding: PROLED XDR. You can have the laptop in 14-inch or 16-inch variants, pre-orders are open now for shipping on or after the 6th of November — and we've gone hands-on with them. Literally, because they're also the first touchscreen Macs.

The name 'PROLED XDR' is a new piece of jargon that Apple's debuting with this machine. So what actually is it?

The short answer is that it's a 'Tandem OLED' panel, which means that it uses multiple layers of organic light-emitting diodes — in this case, two layers. Two OLED layers are better than one because the result is considerably brighter than a single-layer OLED: you literally have two OLEDs firing per pixel. It also boosts longevity, because each of the two layers doesn't have to work as hard, so they have a longer lifespan and are more likely to avoid burn-in.

Apple has stayed away from OLED for its MacBook Pro displays in the past, and clearly that's changed. According to Apple that's because PROLED XDR "finally" overcomes the traditional limitations of OLED: low and variable brightness, off-axis color shift and the risk of burn-in from displaying the same interface elements, such as toolbars and palettes, whenever the screen is on.

The confusing thing, however, is that this isn't Apple's first use of Tandem OLED. It used the technology in its shift to OLED in the iPad Pro, but those aren't branded as PROLED XDR. Those are called 'Ultra Retina XDR' displays.

So let's look at the performance differences listed by Apple that put the 'pro' in PROLED.

(Image credit: Apple)What's so special about PROLED XDR displays

The Tandem OLED inside the new MacBook Pros is very bright, delivering up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness (ie, in a small area of the screen for a short time) and up to 1,000 nits of sustained fullscreen brightness (ie, across the entire screen at once, without having to dim quickly).

The iPad Pro (2025)'s display is also capable of 1,000 nits of fullscreen brightness, but has a rated peak brightness of 1,600 nits — so the MacBook Pro is 25% brighter. That will bring a nice extra boost to clarity in bright HDR scenes, but won't make a huge difference really — the fullscreen brightness is the most important factor, and that's the same on both.

Because it's OLED, it gives you the blackest of black tones — there's no backlight to leak light into areas it shouldn't go — and a very high contrast ratio, in this case 10,000,000:1. That again is an interesting difference from the iPad Pro, which has a claimed contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

Why a 5x difference if the brightness is only 25% different? Apple hasn't explicitly said, but it must come down the lowest level of brightness that can be measured on the screen. Doing the math on the iPad's 1,600-nit display with a 2,000,000:1 ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0008 nits. On the PROLED XDR's display, a 2,000-nit panel with a 10,000,000 contrast ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0002 nits.

We can assume this is down to the new panel design, aimed at "minimizing internal reflections common in traditional OLED designs" — so less light is reflected within the panel itself, which could be the difference between those two different black levels.

But if you're looking at 0.0008 nits and 0.0002 nits and thinking the difference must be indistinguishable, then… yes, correct. They will both appear totally black to the human eye when they're supposed to. But it produces a big difference in contrast ratio, because multiplication is overdramatic.

How much more black could this be? The answer is none (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

There are other indications that the MacBook Pro's PROLED XDR display might beat the iPad Pro's in other areas. Apple says it can achieve over 80% of the BT.2020 color gamut, which suggest it's likely to hit close to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut — the iPad Pro was measured by our lab at around 82% of DCI-P3, so that would be a clear jump here.

The screen is powered by a display engine that's been built into the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which Apple says "continuously compensates each pixel for content, usage, temperature, and ambient conditions".

Refresh rates are variable from 10Hz to 120Hz (with discrete options for film-makers: 47.95Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, and 59.94Hz), and as we've seen with other Apple products there's a nano-texture glass option for people who'll be working in overly bright environments.

The big selling point here is reference monitor accuracy that you can take wherever you go, making these MacBook Pros ideal for video pros and mobile creatives of all kinds.

So do you need it? If you're making the next Wildwood — go see this movie, it's incredible — or working with high-res, high-quality video then these are by far the best Mac mobile laptops that Apple has ever made. But I suspect most of them will end up with people who aren't video pros, but who really like really good displays. I'd love to see Cyberpunk 2077 on one of these.

If you're technically minded Apple has put together a full technical paper on the new displays, and you can read it right here.

Apple has unveiled its first OLED MacBook Pro laptops, and that means we've got a new bit of display branding: PROLED XDR. You can have the laptop in 14-inch or 16-inch variants, pre-orders are open now for shipping on or after the 6th of November — and we've gone hands-on with them. Literally, because they're also the first touchscreen Macs.

The name 'PROLED XDR' is a new piece of jargon that Apple's debuting with this machine. So what actually is it?

The short answer is that it's a 'Tandem OLED' panel, which means that it uses multiple layers of organic light-emitting diodes — in this case, two layers. Two OLED layers are better than one because the result is considerably brighter than a single-layer OLED: you literally have two OLEDs firing per pixel. It also boosts longevity, because each of the two layers doesn't have to work as hard, so they have a longer lifespan and are more likely to avoid burn-in.

Apple has stayed away from OLED for its MacBook Pro displays in the past, and clearly that's changed. According to Apple that's because PROLED XDR "finally" overcomes the traditional limitations of OLED: low and variable brightness, off-axis color shift and the risk of burn-in from displaying the same interface elements, such as toolbars and palettes, whenever the screen is on.

The confusing thing, however, is that this isn't Apple's first use of Tandem OLED. It used the technology in its shift to OLED in the iPad Pro, but those aren't branded as PROLED XDR. Those are called 'Ultra Retina XDR' displays.

So let's look at the performance differences listed by Apple that put the 'pro' in PROLED.

(Image credit: Apple)What's so special about PROLED XDR displays

The Tandem OLED inside the new MacBook Pros is very bright, delivering up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness (ie, in a small area of the screen for a short time) and up to 1,000 nits of sustained fullscreen brightness (ie, across the entire screen at once, without having to dim quickly).

The iPad Pro (2025)'s display is also capable of 1,000 nits of fullscreen brightness, but has a rated peak brightness of 1,600 nits — so the MacBook Pro is 25% brighter. That will bring a nice extra boost to clarity in bright HDR scenes, but won't make a huge difference really — the fullscreen brightness is the most important factor, and that's the same on both.

Because it's OLED, it gives you the blackest of black tones — there's no backlight to leak light into areas it shouldn't go — and a very high contrast ratio, in this case 10,000,000:1. That again is an interesting difference from the iPad Pro, which has a claimed contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

Why a 5x difference if the brightness is only 25% different? Apple hasn't explicitly said, but it must come down the lowest level of brightness that can be measured on the screen. Doing the math on the iPad's 1,600-nit display with a 2,000,000:1 ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0008 nits. On the PROLED XDR's display, a 2,000-nit panel with a 10,000,000 contrast ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0002 nits.

We can assume this is down to the new panel design, aimed at "minimizing internal reflections common in traditional OLED designs" — so less light is reflected within the panel itself, which could be the difference between those two different black levels.

But if you're looking at 0.0008 nits and 0.0002 nits and thinking the difference must be indistinguishable, then… yes, correct. They will both appear totally black to the human eye when they're supposed to. But it produces a big difference in contrast ratio, because multiplication is overdramatic.

How much more black could this be? The answer is none (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

There are other indications that the MacBook Pro's PROLED XDR display might beat the iPad Pro's in other areas. Apple says it can achieve over 80% of the BT.2020 color gamut, which suggest it's likely to hit close to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut — the iPad Pro was measured by our lab at around 82% of DCI-P3, so that would be a clear jump here.

The screen is powered by a display engine that's been built into the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which Apple says "continuously compensates each pixel for content, usage, temperature, and ambient conditions".

Refresh rates are variable from 10Hz to 120Hz (with discrete options for film-makers: 47.95Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, and 59.94Hz), and as we've seen with other Apple products there's a nano-texture glass option for people who'll be working in overly bright environments.

The big selling point here is reference monitor accuracy that you can take wherever you go, making these MacBook Pros ideal for video pros and mobile creatives of all kinds.

So do you need it? If you're making the next Wildwood — go see this movie, it's incredible — or working with high-res, high-quality video then these are by far the best Mac mobile laptops that Apple has ever made. But I suspect most of them will end up with people who aren't video pros, but who really like really good displays. I'd love to see Cyberpunk 2077 on one of these.

If you're technically minded Apple has put together a full technical paper on the new displays, and you can read it right here.

It’s available online and in select stores, so you can check out the smart ring in person.

What you need to know

• Engineered for users 5'10" to 6'7"
• Reinforced frame with weight load up to 399 lbs
• Motorized lumbar support and bionic FlexFit backrest
• Built-in fan and OmniStretch massager
• Controlled recline with Dynamic Support

I get it. Most people won’t need the LiberNovo Maxis. Most people will see the price, baulk, and close the website. It’s expensive, its headline features run on a rechargeable battery, and it’s more chair than your everyday hybrid or remote worker needs.

But it’s also ergonomic, stunningly designed, cleverly engineered, and built for big and tall users without the usual flabby, foamy designs that I see for half or even a quarter of the price of the Maxis. It’s also one of the best office chairs I’ve tested. If you're over 5'10", you'll want to check this out.

On top of that, the model I’m reviewing here - the Maxis Airflow - includes a cooling fan in the seat, electric lumbar adjustments, and a back massager called the OmniStretch designed for relieving tension.

So, this is not your everyday office chair. It’s an elite seat for professionals who prize all-day comfort, a stylish ergonomic design, supportive top-end features, and don’t mind paying a fair chunk of change for that.

LiberNovo Maxis: Price & availability

The LiberNovo Maxis is available direct from the maker, and I’m also seeing it at online retailers including Amazon and Best Buy.

I’ve danced around that price tag enough. In the US, the LiberNovo Maxis has a list price of $1299; from the UK site, it’s £1099. At the time of review, both are discounted to $1119 / £1002.

And that’s for the base manual model. The Maxis Electric, which includes the electric adjustments to the lower back support sends the price to $1799 / £1579, while the Maxis Airflow reviewed here is priced at $1859 / £1699 (although again, at time of review, they are discounted by around two-hundred bucks).

On top of that, you can buy the chair in three different bundles: the standalone chair, the Standard pack which comes with a footrest, and the Premium Bundle which also adds a spare rechargeable battery. Unless you’re using the electric features constantly, I’d recommend either the Basic or Standard bundle.

All in all, the Maxis is firmly in the premium price bracket, alongside top-tier brands in the office furniture world like Herman Miller and Steelcase. I can understand why, in terms of build quality and design.

Seat depth

20.47in / 52cm

Backrest shoulder span

16.93in / 43cm

Backrest waist span

20.47in / 52cm

Headrest vertical range

5.51in / 14cm

Headrest horizontal range

4.72in / 12cm

Weight limit

Up to 399 lbs

User height

5'10" - 6'7"

• Value: 4 / 5

LiberNovo Maxis: Assembly

(Image credit: Future)

This beast of a chair came in two massive boxes (three, if you count the footrest).

As ever, I recommend building this in the room you’ll use it in because this one is heavy and unwieldy to move. The gouges and marks on my wall as I struggled to move it upstairs are evidence of that.

All told, it took me around 40 minutes from unboxing to fully built chair. That’s on the longer side, but LiberNovo makes assembly as easy as possible. Forget your little instruction manuals with walls of text. This one comes with a massive sheet of card that pictorially guides you through each and every step.

It’s also the first office chair I’ve ever tested that includes white gloves for handling it. Maybe that’s over the top, but can bet I pulled them on and wore them throughout the assembly process.

• Assembly: 5 / 5

LiberNovo Maxis: Design & build

(Image credit: Future)

Build quality and design are superb. The pieces feel weighty, and I experienced no creaking or squeaking as I swivelled, reclined, and generally made a nuisance of myself at my desk.

This is a premium chair across the board, right down to the wide single-piece aluminum base that feels like it will capably and confidently support anyone up to the recommended weight of 399 lbs (181kg).

Being built for big and tall users, the Maxis is designed for those between 5'10” and 6'7”. Now, I’m an inch shy of the minimum recommended height and yes, it is slightly too large for me - particularly in the broad seat, which provides ample width and depth. I had to dial down the adjustability on the headrest and armrests to its minimum settings to stay comfortable and snug. Effectively, my negative experience here is a positive for larger, taller body types.

In terms of design, I had one thought: This is like an office chair designed by HR Geiger with its Xenomorph-like exoskeleton on the tapering backrest. Unlike so many I test, it’s a real executive statement piece.

• Design & build: 5 / 5

LiberNovo Maxis: Performance & features

(Image credit: Future)

I always judge office chairs chiefly on two factors: comfort and support. Here, the LiberNovo Maxis is an easy win. I used this chair for eight hours a day while working and it stayed comfortable from first to last hour. After that, I spent a few extra hours in it, feet up on the footrest, while gaming. I still didn’t tire of the chair or feel fatigue or numbness that some cheap chairs can inflict on me.

And then, of course, there’s that back massager. Actually, I’m not sure ‘massager’ is the right word here. LiberNovo calls it the OmniStretch, billing it as a way to lean back and decompress. I’d liken it to having a couple of fists kneading deep into your lower back while the whole backrest quickly but gently vibrates. That may not sound comfortable, but I promise you it is. It runs for a set five minutes at the press of a button. My pregnant wife has been using it daily for relaxation and pain relief.

Now, I generally avoid foam and fabric office chairs. I run hot, and prefer breathable mesh. And while the seat can get warm when sitting down all day, I found the two-speed cooling fan - only available on the Airflow model - was a very good solution that actually helped maintain a cooler body temperature.

(Image credit: Future)

Adjustability is excellent on this chair, and I found it easy to fiddle around with the headrest, seat elevation, recline tension, and swivel armrests. However, the standout mechanism is the motorized lumbar support buttons located below the left armrest. So, I’m not constantly reaching under or around the chair to adjust the positioning for continued support.

What’s notable is the Dynamic Support, so when I reclined back, the seat stayed stable while the armrests dropped back with me so I could feel supported in any position. I appreciated the steady recline system in place here, too. As you lean back, it won’t suddenly fall back, but eases itself into position. The tension can be altered using the under-seat knob, while the recline can be set to lock at different angles depending on how far you want to lean back.

Where it lacks adjustments is the seat depth, which is fixed at a larger-than-average 52cm, which makes it more suitable for taller users. I would’ve also liked lockable armrests. Like a lot of office chairs, they’re directional, moving laterally and swinging in and out without much pressure. That’s fine if you’re getting up and moving around a lot, but not if you’re locking in for longer work sessions. But I appreciate this may be a me problem - I had the same complaint with the Boulies EP600 I recently reviewed.

As I say, it’s a lot of chair for the money - the only one I’ve tested that comes with a rechargeable battery. And not every professional, whether in the office or working hybrid/remote, will need a seat at this level. But I can’t fault the comfort or design at all.

• Performance & features: 5 / 5

Should I buy the LiberNovo Maxis?

(Image credit: Future)✅ Buy it if...

You’re built bigger or taller. The Maxis is specifically engineered for larger body types without compromising on style, comfort, or support.

You want all the bells and whistles. This high-quality office chair does it all. If you’re going to splurge out, it might as well be one with a massager and fan.

❌ Don't buy it if...

You don’t need the extra features. You're paying for well-designed ergonomics and features most office chairs will never have.

You’re under 5’10”. I’d recommend the LiberNovo Omni or LiberNovo Omni Pro if you want the same design ethos.

How I tested the LiberNovo Maxis

(Image credit: Future)

For two weeks, the LiberNovo Maxis Airflow became my daily driver chair. Eight hours a day, minimum, I've been sitting on it at work. And, once the work laptop was closed, I carried on using it, both while gaming and using the OmniStretch massaging feature multiple times throughout the testing period (when I could get my wife to stop using it!). During those times, I tended to pair it with LiberNovo's adjustable footrest for the added relaxation.

Confirming one of Apple's worst-kept secrets, Apple finally unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch models on Wednesday, October 28, in Los Angeles. The news comes just days after Apple unveiled M6-class MacBook Pros. Notably, the new PROLED touchscreen laptops are running M5 Pro and M5 Max Apple silicon.

Apple CEO John Ternus didn't waste much time on stage, quickly announcing the laptops and running through key innovations like the tandem OLED (PROLED) screens and relatively lightweight (3lbs for the 14-inch model and 4lbs for the 16-inch one) before leaving the stage and directing the assembled group of media, analysts, creators, and Apple execs to an adjacent space where I got my first experience ever with a touchscreen MacBook.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureYou've been waiting for this

If you read no further, know this: it felt totally natural to tap, swipe, gesture with three fingers, pinch, zoom, and more on a MacBook Pro display. It feels like I've been waiting my whole life to do this on a MacBook (or at least as long as I've been using MacBooks).

As a former Windows user, and more specifically a longtime Surface Pro fan, I'm actually quite used to touching a screen, though maybe not one quite as beautiful as this.

For those unfamiliar with tandem OLED technology, which Apple first introduced a few years ago with the iPad Pro, it sandwiches two ultra-thin, light-emitting OLEDs together. This increases the brightness while maintaining incredibly inky blacks (they're gorgeous). It also allows for a far thinner display panel because you don't need a backlight.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Though there now is a "backlight of a sort. This touchscreen MacBook Pro lineup marks the return of the glowing Apple logo on the back of the display. It lights up when you open the laptop and turns off when you close it (people at the Hollywood, California, event were cheering for that).

I played mostly with the larger, 16-inch model, which still features the expansive, backlit Magic Keyboard and a huge ForceTouch Trackpad, which honestly is gonna get a little bit less use now that a touchscreen is just inches away.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

A pair of large speaker grills sits on either side of the keyboard, though I couldn't hear them over the din of the demo room. As with previous MacBook Pros, there's still an SD Card slot, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, one USB-4 port, HDMI, and the headphone jack.

In my hands, the 4 lb, 16-inch model felt a tad lighter than previous 16-inch MacBook Pros, though the 14-inch (which might be my preference) felt lightweight at 3lbs.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureTouch it, touch it, please say you want to

Let's talk, though, about using the touchscreen.

I tried a 3D design app where I used a couple of fingers to spin a model of a guy in battle armor and then a single finger to paint gold on some of the armor.

I opened Maps and used two fingers to spin the map, then pinch-and-zoom.

I used three fingers to swipe through desktops.

I could use two fingers to grab a window, flip it to one side of the screen, and watch it instantly dock itself as a half-screen app (yes, I've done something very similar on a Surface Pro).

I played touchscreen piano with all my fingers.

At no moment did I hesitate and wonder how I did this or that thing. It's obvious. It never felt uncomfortable, and my arm never got tired. Put another way, a touchscreen is a perfect fit for the MacBook Pro family,

Now, you cannot take the screen and flip it all the way to the back of the laptop (something many touchscreen Windows laptops can do). That might be a shame because I could also use my finger to paint and, though I haven't done it yet, draw.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

Speaking of which, there is no indication that the touchscreen MacBook Pro supports the Apple Pencil. Honestly, if it can't fold back at least flat, there's no point in this support anyway.

There is, by the way, a Dynamic Island that's basically copied from the iPhone, but I didn't see it do very much.

As I used the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I was not only reminded of my time with the Microsoft Surface Pro but of my initial weeks and even months with the MacBook after I switched platforms. Yes, I found myself touching the inert MacBook screen and had to retrain myself to stop doing it.

Point is, touch was something I reflexively used on the Surface Pro, and I am now certain I will happily use it on the touchscreen MacBook Pro. You probably will, too.

You will pay for the privilege of touch. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with touch starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 / £3,399 / $5,499. Pre-orders are live today, and the laptops ship on November 6.

Confirming one of Apple's worst-kept secrets, Apple finally unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch models on Wednesday, October 28, in Los Angeles. The news comes just days after Apple unveiled M6-class MacBook Pros. Notably, the new PROLED touchscreen laptops are running M5 Pro and M5 Max Apple silicon.

Apple CEO John Ternus didn't waste much time on stage, quickly announcing the laptops and running through key innovations like the tandem OLED (PROLED) screens and relatively lightweight (3lbs for the 14-inch model and 4lbs for the 16-inch one) before leaving the stage and directing the assembled group of media, analysts, creators, and Apple execs to an adjacent space where I got my first experience ever with a touchscreen MacBook.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureYou've been waiting for this

If you read no further, know this: it felt totally natural to tap, swipe, gesture with three fingers, pinch, zoom, and more on a MacBook Pro display. It feels like I've been waiting my whole life to do this on a MacBook (or at least as long as I've been using MacBooks).

As a former Windows user, and more specifically a longtime Surface Pro fan, I'm actually quite used to touching a screen, though maybe not one quite as beautiful as this.

For those unfamiliar with tandem OLED technology, which Apple first introduced a few years ago with the iPad Pro, it sandwiches two ultra-thin, light-emitting OLEDs together. This increases the brightness while maintaining incredibly inky blacks (they're gorgeous). It also allows for a far thinner display panel because you don't need a backlight.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Though there now is a "backlight of a sort. This touchscreen MacBook Pro lineup marks the return of the glowing Apple logo on the back of the display. It lights up when you open the laptop and turns off when you close it (people at the Hollywood, California, event were cheering for that).

I played mostly with the larger, 16-inch model, which still features the expansive, backlit Magic Keyboard and a huge ForceTouch Trackpad, which honestly is gonna get a little bit less use now that a touchscreen is just inches away.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

A pair of large speaker grills sits on either side of the keyboard, though I couldn't hear them over the din of the demo room. As with previous MacBook Pros, there's still an SD Card slot, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, one USB-4 port, HDMI, and the headphone jack.

In my hands, the 4 lb, 16-inch model felt a tad lighter than previous 16-inch MacBook Pros, though the 14-inch (which might be my preference) felt lightweight at 3lbs.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureTouch it, touch it, please say you want to

Let's talk, though, about using the touchscreen.

I tried a 3D design app where I used a couple of fingers to spin a model of a guy in battle armor and then a single finger to paint gold on some of the armor.

I opened Maps and used two fingers to spin the map, then pinch-and-zoom.

I used three fingers to swipe through desktops.

I could use two fingers to grab a window, flip it to one side of the screen, and watch it instantly dock itself as a half-screen app (yes, I've done something very similar on a Surface Pro).

I played touchscreen piano with all my fingers.

At no moment did I hesitate and wonder how I did this or that thing. It's obvious. It never felt uncomfortable, and my arm never got tired. Put another way, a touchscreen is a perfect fit for the MacBook Pro family,

Now, you cannot take the screen and flip it all the way to the back of the laptop (something many touchscreen Windows laptops can do). That might be a shame because I could also use my finger to paint and, though I haven't done it yet, draw.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

Speaking of which, there is no indication that the touchscreen MacBook Pro supports the Apple Pencil. Honestly, if it can't fold back at least flat, there's no point in this support anyway.

There is, by the way, a Dynamic Island that's basically copied from the iPhone, but I didn't see it do very much.

As I used the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I was not only reminded of my time with the Microsoft Surface Pro but of my initial weeks and even months with the MacBook after I switched platforms. Yes, I found myself touching the inert MacBook screen and had to retrain myself to stop doing it.

Point is, touch was something I reflexively used on the Surface Pro, and I am now certain I will happily use it on the touchscreen MacBook Pro. You probably will, too.

You will pay for the privilege of touch. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with touch starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 / £3,399 / $5,499. Pre-orders are live today, and the laptops ship on November 6.

• Amazon urges developers not to blindly focus on AI tool usage
• The era of the "Renaissance Developer" using all kinds of AI is here
• It also urges workers to shun tokenmaxxing, and focus on building a deeper connection with customers

Amazon has told its engineers to look beyond simply using AI to ensure their work gets done, and focus instead on the results of their labor.

In a memo sent to its workforce, the company warned against using “deeply flawed” metrics such as AI token usage or code generation as a measure of team success.

It also cautioned against workers chasing "tokenmaxxing", noting how, "our most prolific engineers have demonstrated that neither the developer role nor their output is defined by the use of AI."

The age of the "Renaissance Developer"

The memo, written by Terk Terkowitz, Amazon VP/Distinguished Engineer, Worldwide, and entitled "An update from Amazon engineering leadership on the role of the developer in the age of AI", signaled the apparent beginning of a new era in how the company defines its workers in the age of AI.

This includes the age of the "Renaissance Developer", who is able to blend AI tools with human judgment and domain expertise "to build entirely new things".

"AI is changing the work of software engineering both more quickly and more fundamentally than these previous trends," Terkowitz noted. "What it means to be a software engineer, and what software engineering even is, is changing quickly and durably."

What this means for Amazon's workers is a focus on "on what is not changing as we evolved the SDE (Software Development Engineers) roles".

This will mean a move away from "deeply flawed" metrics such as token usage or adoption of AI tools, and more focus on the impact on customers, businesses and teams.

The memo urges managers and division heads to make sure that there is "sufficient understanding" among their teams about the benefits AI tools can bring, and told workers to ensure they become "deeply connected" to their customers in order to gain a deeper knowledge of what they really need from Amazon.

"Despite the speed of change, we believe that it is still early. We all need to embrace this change and take the time to learn, or we risk being left behind," Terkowitz concluded.

“We’re just seeing the beginning of AI’s effect on software engineering. While we have a vision for what the future looks like, there’s a lot that’s still emerging. We are certain that whatever future best practices are, AI will be at the center of software engineering practice.”

A bit like VR, a bit like smart glasses, a bit like a tiny face computer.

• Researchers find Bluetooth flaws in warehouse barcode scanners that could provide a foothold into enterprise networks
• Attackers could spoof scanner input, inject keystrokes, and potentially pivot to ransomware or data theft
• Kaspersky urges stronger device authentication, network segmentation, and stricter security controls for warehouse infrastructure

Cybercriminals could use barcode scanners in warehouses to break into IT infrastructure and wreak havoc, security researchers have claimed, urging organizations to take preemptive measures and secure their warehouse grounds before it’s too late.

Kaspersky researchers set out to see if there are any hidden attack vectors on warehouse infrastructure and are now claiming they found one through a barcode scanner model “from a major manufacturer”.

Opening the floodgates

In a report shared with TechRadar Pro, Kaspersky said the vulnerable device has two components: the handheld scanner, and the base station, which is then connected to a workstation, or a separate business system.

The two components communicate via Bluetooth, but apparently there are no authentication methods between the two.

So, in theory, a malicious actor could obtain the Bluetooth address of the base station through passive eavesdropping on Bluetooth traffic. Then, through the established Bluetooth connection, they could send a malicious payload to the base station which simulates keyboard strokes. The base station would “think” the keystrokes are legitimate, coming from the user of the handheld device, and forward them to the connected workstation or separate business system.

“This attack pattern was observed across devices from multiple vendors,” Kaspersky said in its report.

Through this method, a theoretical attacker could gain an initial foothold on a computer within the warehouse network. Obviously, the scanner is only the entry point and not the actual target. The target is the wider network, where malicious actors could conduct reconnaissance, exfiltrate sensitive information, or deploy malware and ransomware.

“Modern retail and logistics are profoundly digital, from enterprise-wide management platforms down to every device in a worker’s hands. This pervasive connectivity means that any technology at any tier can become an entry point for a cyberattack capable of destabilising the entire ecosystem — as our research shows, even a single barcode scanner”, said Sergey Sidorov, Head of Industrial Security Services at Kaspersky.

“The warehouse sector, and the broader retail industry, should treat cybersecurity as a top priority across every layer of their operations,”

Are other devices vulnerable, too?

Kaspersky says the same scenario can be applied to other warehouse devices like Portable Data Terminals (PDR), or thermal printers, to gain access to Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and similar infrastructure.

Therefore, the researchers are urging companies to secure their environments by verifying every new device before it connects to the network, disabling any unused Bluetooth interfaces, enforcing strong authentication mechanisms, segmenting warehouse networks so that only essential connections are permitted, applying security updates to both devices and the WMS as soon as possible, restricting account permissions to the minimum required, and regularly conducting full‑scale attack‑path exercises.

Unfortunately, we don’t know the name of the manufacturer, or how many devices in a series could be susceptible. The researchers are saying the risk is quite large, since these devices are “widely used” in warehousing, retail, and multiple other sectors.

Global e-commerce sales are expected to reach $6.88 trillion this year, making up more than a fifth (21.1%) of total retail sales worldwide.

At the same time, according to logistics research firm Interact Analysis, there are more than 180,000 warehouses in the world, so the attack surface could be significant. But warehouses are not the only sector at risk here. Barcode scanners and related handheld terminals are also widely used in retail stores, manufacturing facilities, hospitals, pharmaceutical operations, and transportation networks.

There is no reliable way to estimate how many organizations are vulnerable, but the possibility of using an everyday operational device to gain access to a connected workstation makes the findings relevant to a broad range of industries.

A brand-new iPad Mini is on the way — and preorders have started. If Apple's latest little tablet is on your shopping list and you're looking for the best place to pick one up, I've gathered together where you can buy one right here, including some of the best preorder deals and trade-in offers.

Announced earlier this week, the eighth-generation iPad mini is a much bigger upgrade than we expected. Headline new features include a sharper, brighter, and more vibrant 8.5-inch OLED Super Retina XDR screen, a powerful A20 Pro chip, improved audio, and IP67 water and dust resistance thanks to the new aluminum design.

All those upgrades do come at a more considerable cost, though, as the iPad mini starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099 for the standard WiFi version with 128GB of storage. That's $200 / £200 / AU$300 more than the launch price of the previous iPad mini. There are also 256GB and 512GB versions available if you want more room for files and applications.

With that increase in price, it's more important than ever to find a good deal if you want to preorder the new iPad Mini. Here are the best ones I've found so far from retailers, networks, and mobile operators — and I'll continue adding any new offers when I spot them.

iPad mini preorders in the US

Apple Store: from $699 — or lease from $14.99 a month with Apple Upgrade
The Apple Store is naturally one of the first places to check for new iPad Mini preorders. Without any special discounts, the tablet is simply available to buy from $699. However, if you have a device to trade in, you can get a discount of up to $915. You can also make use of the Apple Upgrade service to lease your iPad Mini from as little as $14.99 a month for 36 months.View Deal

Amazon: Pro and Air available now from $599
Amazon has added the latest Pro and Air models to its landing page dedicated to the iPad lineup. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the iPad Pro and iPad Air are now available to preorder with delivery expected on May 15. Unsurprisingly, there are no discounts yet, but Amazon has dropped the price of new Apple tech by up to $100 before launch in the past. We'll keep an eye out. Don't worry if you preorder now and a discount is added later as you'll always pay the lowest price before the release date.View Deal

Best Buy: from $399 with trade-in — plus free Best Buy gift card
Best Buy now has the new iPad Mini available for preorder, and as expected, it's got one of the strongest offers from the big retailers. On top of a discount of up to $300 when you trade in an existing iPad, you also get a $50 Best Buy gift card with your order. Not bad to put towards some accessories, or something from the retailer's upcoming Black Friday sale.View Deal

Walmart: iPad Air only from $599
Walmart only has the iPad Air 11-inch or 13-inch available to preorder, so if you want the Pro, you need to shop elsewhere. The retailer does have the new Magic Keyboard available to buy, so it's a little strange that the new iPad Pro isn't in stock too. Nevertheless, no special discounts, bundles or promotions are advertised so this is about as straightforward as it gets when it comes to preorders.

B&H Photo: preorders live from $699
Specialist electronics retailer B&H Photo has the new iPad mini ready to order before the tablets go out for shipping by November 8. I thought this could be a good place to shop, as there have been small discounts of up to $50 on some models during previous iPad launches at this retailer. However, there's no sign of anything like that right now, so full price it is.View Deal

Also check...

• Amazon: preorders TBC
• Walmart: preorders TBC

iPad mini preorders in the UK

Apple Store: from £699 or £58.25 per month – plus, save up to £840 with trade-in
Over in the UK, you can now preorder the new iPad mini at the official Apple Store. The tablet starts at the recommended price of £699, but there is also the option to pay on finance from £58.25 per month at 0% interest if that suits you better and you can keep up with the payments. If you have an existing device you want to trade in, then you can save up to £840, too. That's likely one of the highest trade-in discounts we'll see.View Deal

Amazon: preorders live from £599
Amazon's big store page for the full iPad range has now been updated with the new models with prices starting at £599 for the iPad Air and £999 for the iPad Pro. The mega-retailer doesn't tend to offer trade-in rebates on a lot of products so this likely won't be the best place to shop if you have a device to sell for an upgrade. Instead, the pre-order price guarantee means you'll always pay the lowest price even if a small discount is added before launch.View Deal

Currys: preorders live with free Apple subscriptions
The new iPad Pro or iPad Air are now available at Currys. The devices are full price, as expected, but you do get a handy freebie included with your purchase. Specifically, it's up to three months of Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple Fitness Plus for free. A decent extra to pair with your new tablet for some streaming, music or gaming.View Deal

EE: available now from £45 per month
UK mobile network EE has the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air to pre-order. You can add either product to your existing mobile contract and pay it off monthly with prices starting at £45 per month for the 11-inch iPad Air. All of these models are 5G ready so a SIM is also included in the price, with data bundles from 5GB to unlimited available to choose from for existing customers.View Deal

Also check...

• Amazon: preorders TBC
• Currys: preorders TBC
• EE: preorders TBC
• Vodafone: preorders TBC

iPad mini preorders in Australia

Apple Store: preorders live – save up to AU$1,370 with trade-in
If you're Down Under, preorders for the new iPad mini are open at the official Apple Store, with a starting price of AU$1,099. Apple AU typically doesn't offer any preorder deals, but if you have an existing device you can trade in, you could save up to AU$1,370 on your new purchase.View Deal

Amazon AU: check the latest availability
Amazon Australia has already set up a massive store page with all the new iPads listed, although each one is shown as currently unavailable. We think that those models will become available to buy from May 15. While Amazon doesn't offer trade-in options, it's typically the best place to shop for an Apple device as you could find it for the best price, even brand-new releases.View Deal

JB Hi-Fi: preorders open
Popular Aussie retailer JB Hi-Fi and kicked off its preorder campaign for the new iPad range, with shipping also commencing on May 15. There are no preorder offers to be had, but JB Hi-Fi has its own trade-in program that could see you save a little money. You can get a quote in-store or online.View Deal

In the year of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Honor Robot Phone, and recently released iPhone Duo, it feels almost blasphemous to hand TechRadar’s Phone of the Year award to the iPhone 18 Pro at the TechRadar Product of the Year Awards 2026, but there is something quietly brilliant about Apple’s latest flagship.

Contrary to those aforementioned headline-grabbers, the iPhone 18 Pro is not a flashy product in almost any way. Heck, it even swaps the Cosmic Orange excitement of the iPhone 17 Pro for a more sophisticated, wine-tasting-in-Sonoma Burgundy shade, as if it wants to emerge from your pocket with as little fanfare as possible.

And yet underneath the iPhone 18 Pro’s muted exterior is a phone so consistently competent that it’s hard to find anything to complain about. Not only is it one of the best camera phones money can buy, but it also brings market-leading performance, a gorgeous OLED display, impressive battery life, and refreshing software simplicity to the table.

The iPhone 18 Pro’s well-roundedness is what makes it a cut above the rest. Sure, you’ll find larger camera sensors on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra or bigger batteries in the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max and Xiaomi 17 Ultra. You’ll even find a variable aperture feature on a handful of Android phones from the last decade (Huawei Mate 50 Pro, anyone?). But if I had to recommend a phone that does everything at an 8/10-level or above, it’s the iPhone 18 Pro.

And I really do mean everything.

In recent years, Apple’s flagships have been excellent phones with embarrassingly limited AI capabilities compared to the competition. But following Siri’s long-awaited glow-up in iOS 27, the iPhone 18 Pro no longer feels like a hamstrung device (don’t let the naysayers fool you — Siri AI is good).

Even if you’re not fussed about AI and are wondering whether the iPhone 18 Pro is a meaningfully different device to the iPhone 17 Pro, I’m inclined to say, “no, but that’s not really the point.” Most people aren’t upgrading from a previous-generation flagship, and Apple is hardly alone in shipping iterative upgrades year after year. The iPhone 18 Pro is familiar but formidable.

Future/Jacob KrolFuture/Jacob KrolFuture/Jacob Krol

I also think the arrival of new form-factor devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and iPhone Duo will remind people not to take the iPhone 18 Pro for granted. Consumers have long berated Apple for shipping ‘boring’ new-generation iPhones, and yet critics of the Duo are lamenting its thickness, awkward button placement, and lack of Face ID and Pro camera components.

We’ve been spoiled by the consistency of Apple’s flagship phones, just as soccer star Erling Haaland — who regularly scores 30+ goals every season — is rarely mentioned in conversations surrounding the most exciting players in the world. Haaland’s excellence has been normalized so as not to be exciting anymore: he's the iPhone 18 Pro of the soccer world (Lamine Yamal is the iPhone Duo in this metaphor — I won’t be explaining further).

The question now is: where do candybar flagships go from here? It feels like we’re approaching the end of an era, not only because the margin for year-on-year improvements is as small as it's ever been, but also because foldables are finally entering the mainstream conversation.

What's more, smartphones as we know them might soon be replaced by smartphone-adjacent wearables, especially if OpenAI and Jony Ive get their way.

But if you’re asking me right here, right now, for my pick as the best smartphone of 2026, my answer is the iPhone 18 Pro. It’s the boring choice, but in my opinion, the right one. We've reached ‘peak smartphone,’ and the iPhone 18 Pro is what ‘peak smartphone’ looks like.

I now invite you to (*deep breath*) debate me in the comments.

• SK Hynix just published its Q3 2026 financial results
• These came with a prediction of the RAM crisis lasting until 2030
• After that, expect a further drain on memory supply from "physical AI such as autonomous driving and robotics"

Apologies for bringing you more negative news about the RAM crisis, but we've heard yet another prediction that supply woes are going to last for the rest of this decade.

This time it's SK Hynix (again) weighing in, a memory chip maker that has just issued its latest earnings report, as Wccftech noticed. Profits are booming, unsurprisingly, but SK Hynix also shared its most recent thinking on the RAM crisis, and how likely it is to be a protracted affair.

In the press release for its Q3 2026 results, SK Hynix announced succinctly: "Memory supply shortage to persist through 2030."

That was the title of a section briefing us on the memory shortage, where SK Hynix further observed: "The company assessed that supply … is not keeping pace with the growth of the market. Given technical difficulty of leading-edge processes and the long lead time required to build new production facilities, it expects the structure in which demand exceeds supply to persist through 2030."

The firm also predicted it will sustain its growth and revenue, which exceeded 100 trillion won in Q3 — the first time that's ever happened in a quarter by the way — thanks to enterprise and AI demand in the shorter-term, and "over the mid-to-long term, demand for physical AI such as autonomous driving and robotics."

Analysis: a 'virtuous cycle' for shareholders – a nightmare for consumers

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

It's interesting to note that SK Hynix is forecasting that longer-term demand for memory will be driven by robots or 'physical AI' even if software AI (agents) falls away somewhat as the decade rolls to a close. Micron is predicting the exact same thing, and recently went into even more precise detail in estimating that 'humanoid robots' could need 200GB (or more) of RAM and multiple terabytes of storage in every unit.

So there's similar thinking from the big memory module makers here, but we shouldn't be surprised by that. They need to talk up their future profits, after all, and reassure markets that we aren't in a bubble, so it's only natural that they'd want to make predictions of major future revenue sources to be tapped.

Still, there's clearly some substance to these predictions, and it's concerning for consumers that a growing number of analysts and big players in the tech industry are talking about the RAM crisis lasting until 2030, and that robots are apparently set to take the baton from AI data centers and push demand for more memory as we head into the next decade.

We can but hope that Micron and SK Hynix are overshooting with their expectations of the hungry robots eating all our RAM in a few years' time, although how that land lies will depend on how widely robots are adopted, as well as how much memory they'll need.

Meanwhile, SK Hynix asserts that the "virtuous cycle" which has resulted from AI-powered productivity gains driving increased investment in infrastructure (data centers) will continue, and moreover "broaden to include general enterprises and nation-level initiatives", the upshot being that the "global AI data center infrastructure market will continue to grow steadily."

I don't think many PC owners or gamers feel that the way things have gone with memory of late is all that 'virtuous' at all, but the shareholders of SK Hynix and other big chip makers certainly won't be complaining. They can probably afford themselves a very nice PC even in the current super-inflated component climate, after all.

• Amnezia VPN has opened up Amnezia Pulse, its in-house tool for tracking internet shutdowns, to the public.
• The map uses anonymized data from Amnezia's VPN servers to flag outages by region and provider.
• Russia is the main focus for now, but the team is already spotting disruptions further afield.

Censorship-resistant provider Amnezia VPN has launched Amnezia Pulse, a public map that tracks internet outages, slowdowns, and "whitelist" restrictions as they happen.

The tool began life as an internal project, powering the company's monthly digests on Russian internet blocking. Now, anyone can check the live map to see which regions are having problems.

That's a big deal in a country where even the best VPN can struggle to stay connected. Russian authorities have spent well over a year cutting mobile internet across entire regions, often letting only a government-approved list of services load.

What is Amnezia Pulse?

Amnezia Pulse maps disruptions on both mobile and home networks, and is updated daily. In Russia, it monitors the four most popular mobile operators (MTS, MegaFon, Beeline, and T2) alongside home broadband providers Rostelecom and Dom.ru.

Each region is color-coded by severity. Green means no disruptions, yellow signals problems, and red marks a serious outage. Clicking a region opens an hour-by-hour graph of the incident.

The tool is already making headlines. Newsweek reports that Amnezia Pulse logged 80 incidents across 36 Russian regions between September 15 and October 20, 2026, with Krasnodar Krai hit hardest.

Amnezia also told the outlet it has begun seeing synchronized shutdowns hitting several regions or operators at once.

How does it work?

Rather than relying on user reports, Pulse reads the traffic passing through Amnezia's own VPN servers, each of which counts incoming and outgoing data and the number of active connections.

The system builds a 14-day baseline of "normal" activity for each region and operator, split into five-minute intervals. It flags an incident when several warning signs coincide, such as a drop lasting over an hour, multiple operators going quiet together, or several regions being hit at the same time.

Amnezia says the data is anonymized. It doesn't collect IP addresses and only processes the region, provider, and connection speed.

Coverage isn't limited to Russia, either. Amnezia has spotted traffic anomalies in Gabon linked to long-running social media restrictions, and plans to expand into Africa and Latin America.

Who benefits?

For everyday users, Pulse answers a simple question: is the problem on my end, or has the internet been cut? That could save time otherwise spent restarting routers or cycling through VPN apps.

Researchers and rights groups stand to gain even more. Amnezia plans to launch an open API for researchers, human rights organizations, and technical experts.

Maria Xynou of the censorship measurement project OONI called the tool "a valuable resource for both the Russian and global internet freedom communities."

There is a catch, though. Pulse's accuracy depends on how many Amnezia Free and Premium users are connected in a given region.

The project has also faced pushback, with Amnezia telling Newsweek it was forced to pause the tool earlier this year following what it described as an attack by Roskomnadzor. The provider has since reinforced its apps against blocking and says it will keep improving Pulse's accuracy and reach.

The update fixes some nasty bugs that could leave your iPhone inoperable or expose sensitive data.

• The European Commission is considering EU-wide anti-piracy blocking orders as part of a Copyright Package due in 2027.
• A tech industry group warns this could force VPN providers to inspect and filter their users' traffic.
• France and Spain already make VPNs block pirate sites, and the results so far have been messy.

Europe's next big copyright shake-up could change how your VPN works behind the scenes, even if you never go near a pirate stream.

The European Commission is weighing an EU-wide system of anti-piracy injunctions that would require providers to block access to websites and servers hosting infringing content.

According to the Disruptive Competition Project (DisCo), a blog run by tech industry body CCIA, that system could sweep in VPN providers, including the services on our best VPN list.

The group argues this would turn privacy tools into internet watchdogs. The plans remain on the table for the Commission's Copyright Package, which is expected in the second quarter of 2027.

From privacy tool to traffic filter

VPNs are built to be neutral. They route and encrypt your traffic without monitoring or controlling what you access, and they don't host any content themselves.

DisCo points out that blocking orders wouldn't break a VPN's encryption. However, enforcing them would require providers to check traffic against blocklists, such as destination IP addresses or DNS requests.

That shifts VPNs from passive conduits to active filters. And since the infringing content stays online, pirates can simply move to new domains or routes.

Europe has already tested VPN blocking

Several countries are already ahead of Brussels. In 2025, a Paris court ordered five major VPNs to block more than 200 illegal sports streaming sites, while Italy moved to extend its Piracy Shield system to VPN and DNS providers.

In Spain, a Córdoba court ordered NordVPN and Proton VPN to block IP addresses tied to illegal LaLiga streams in February.

The same court later refused to fine NordVPN for not complying. LaLiga has since asked the Commission to add NordVPN, Proton VPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark to its piracy watch list.

DisCo highlights the irony: Spain's national cybersecurity institute, INCIBE, actively recommends VPNs to citizens as a way to protect their personal data.

What it means for VPN users

In July, the EU's top court ruled that VPNs are lawful technical tools and that providers aren't liable when users bypass geoblocking. That ruling dealt with liability, though, not blocking orders, so it doesn't stop an EU-wide injunction system from pulling VPNs in.

If that happens, the most obvious change is that some sites could become unreachable through your VPN. Overblocking is the bigger worry. IP blocking is a blunt tool, and LaLiga's campaign in Spain has already knocked hundreds of thousands of legitimate domains offline.

There's a privacy cost, too. Even light-touch rules to monitor, filter, or retain traffic would weaken the protections that private VPNs are built to offer.

For now, nothing is final. The Commission hasn't published its proposal, so the real test will come when the Copyright Package lands next year.

In my review of Apple's iPhone Duo, I noted the engineering and build quality, how easy it is to unfold the phone, and also how solid and sure it feels when you close it. And I have opened and closed the flexible, dual-screen phone many, many times.

When a small set of iPhone Duo owners complained that their large inner screens had unexpectedly and disturbingly cracked, Apple did something unusual: it acknowledged the complaints: "We are aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units. If users experience issues with their iPhone Duo display, they should contact AppleCare for a replacement.”

That's not Apple saying there's a fundamental flaw or that the issue is found on anything more than a small number of the already popular phones.

I watched with some dismay as people started bandying about the 'crackgate' phrase. Apple has had its share of 'gates' over the years, including 'bendgate' with the iPhone 6 Plus, and Antenna Gate with the iPhone 4. On the latter, Steve Jobs memorably told customers they were holding the phone wrong (he later apologized for the issues).

The notion of '[anything]gate' comes from the Watergate Scandal, a cover-up of a crime involving the then President of the United States, Richard Nixon. Now, whenever people think there's an issue and someone is trying to obfuscate it, they slap a 'gate' on it. I've written before that I hate this.

Leaving aside the term, there is the fact that some people claim the iPhone Duo cracked when they opened it and only shortly after they brought it home. Since we can't rewind those tapes, we have to take them at their word. Still, I think it's fair to wonder if they opened it too roughly, like a strongman trying to tear a phonebook in half. We just don't know.

Inside the iPhone Duo Display

(Image credit: Apple)

Here's what I do know, though: Apple spent considerable effort building a durable folding iPhone. Seriously, how could it not?

Samsung has been doing this for a decade, and with each iteration of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold line it has improved the display panel structure and supporting hinge technology. On the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra it actually uses two titanium plates. One relatively rigid plate sits at the bottom of the stack, and is responsible for making the phone open stiffly flat. The other, for durability at the crease, is a super-thin sheet of titanium alloy.

Apple does not talk about where it sourced its iPhone Duo display technology, though most have surmised that it started with Samsung. Even so, the display and hinge architecture of the iPhone Duo is distinct from that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

It's worth digging into these details to understand the iPhone Duo's potential weak points, and because, in many of my conversations about why the Duo displays might have cracked and how it happened, people want to understand what part, exactly, is cracking. The build, as described by Apple on the Surprise and Shine launch day in September, provides some clues.

It's been more than a month since Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, but I recall Chief Hardware Officer Johny Srouji explaining in stark detail how Apple builds the iPhone Duo display and hinge (complete with images).

According to Srouji, the goal for Apple was, unsurprisingly, "to provide the high quality for viewing content without what people dislike about foldable displays: The distracting crease, the plastic feel, susceptibility to scratches and dents."

Apple started with what it knew and built something better

(Image credit: Apple)

Talking to me after the event, Srouji and Apple CEO John Ternus probably leaned a little too hard into criticisms of other foldable displays. Ternus claimed, "I think what you've seen out there are all these just kind of cheap-feeling plastic surfaces that don't feel good to the touch."

Having used most of the major foldable phones out there, I don't think Ternus was being fair. After all, Apple has built its first foldable on the shoulders of giants like Samsung, who all but perfected the display design. Did Apple take it further? Absolutely.

In the keynote, Srouji said Apple's engineers relied on "their learnings from iPad and Mac" to develop the biggest folding display innovation: the nano-texture display. This reflection-killing surface is what's primarily responsible for hiding virtually all visual remnants of the crease.

(Image credit: Apple)

I don't think the nano-texture covering (a polymer with a special anti-scratch coating, by the way) has anything to do with the possible cracks; instead, they probably relate to the multi-layered construction, and both the display and the hinges' ability to withstand thousands and thousands of folds (or, in the case of these cracked Duo screen customers, one bad unfold).

Based on the images Srouji showed off, the iPhone Duo display is composed of 10 layers. Included in them is a back panel of titanium (yes, like on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra) for straightness and stiffness when unfolded. There are also two ultra-thin flexible glass layers above and below the OLED panel.

Instead of these floating freely, Apple uses an elastic adhesive to keep the panels together while also letting them slide back and forth over each other so that, Srouji said, "the panel doesn't distort over time".

Behind the panel is the hinge, which Apple says has one hundred components, some of which are attached to carbon fiber support plates.

Watch this space

(Image credit: Apple)

My point is that Apple was about as open as a tech company could be about how and why it made the iPhone Duo display, and we have enough information to make at least one reasonable assumption: one or more of the thin glass panels cracked for a few iPhone Duo owners. After all, the OLED panel is about as flexible as a thin piece of plastic. The titanium wouldn't crack; even the nanostructured polymer is unlikely to crack. My guess is that either a manufacturing imperfection or misuse resulted in one or both of the glass panels cracking, and possibly damaging the OLED sandwiched between them.

There are other hypotheses, like some loose component inside getting sandwiched and cracking the screen or even hinge misalignment. I'm sure Apple is examining every possibility.

The iPhone Duo is the first iPhone with a significant moving part. It's the first with two displays. And the first where one is a flexible display that's expected to survive tens of thousands of folds. The complexity and quality assurance for building such a device is surely enormous. Apple is lucky to have had others like Samsung, Motorola, and Google go through a decade of perfecting the technology before it delivered the iPhone Duo. Still, that doesn't diminish its accomplishment. Nor does it lessen the risks of shipping a folding iPhone to people who don't always know when to stop unfolding. Maybe someone over-torqued it; maybe they just got a bad unit.

In the end, such issues are not entirely unexpected, but they do not, for now at least, indicate a larger issue. I think Apple did its homework here, and I'm simply not buying 'crackgate.'

• Researchers uncover critical UEFI firmware flaw that could enable remote code execution on servers
• Public release of patch code may accelerate exploit development before many vendors deploy updates
• Delayed firmware patching across hardware ecosystems leaves organizations exposed despite available fixes

Cybersecurity researchers from Anthropic and Google have discovered a critical-severity vulnerability in boot-time firmware used by practically every server in existence today.

A patch is available, but given the fragmented market of UEFI manufacturers, it could take months before most of the servers are secured. In the meantime, patch code was made publicly available, which means cybercriminals will have their work laid out for them.

Discovering the bug

Virtually all modern servers today run UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), software built into the server’s motherboard that helps start the device and load the operating system. It includes security features like Secure Boot, which helps stop unauthorized programs from running when the machine starts.

The free, open source toolkit developers use to build this firmware is called TianoCore EDK II - it serves as a common foundation for creating UEFI firmware for different types of hardware.

Alex Matrosov of Anthropic and Dan Holmes of Google recently found that EDK II contained a critical buffer overflow vulnerability. The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) describes it as a bug in BIOS “where a user may cause “Out-of-bounds Write”, Classic Buffer Overflow, and “Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size” by remote access.” “Successful exploitation of this flaw can result in remote arbitrary code execution, " it added.

Just like other UEFI vulnerability exploits, this one would be difficult to remediate in the wild. Deploying malicious code before security solutions, or even the operating system for that matter, means that whatever anti-malware or endpoint protection solutions are installed won’t be able to spot, or remove it. Reinstalling the operating system won’t help, and neither would replacing the hard drive.

The bug is now tracked as CVE-2026-97631, and was given a severity score of 9.5/10 (critical). Luckily enough, it doesn’t seem to have been exploited in the wild. However, that might change very soon, given that the security community botched the disclosure efforts.

Multiple companies and hardware manufacturers develop their own UEFI, and many rely on shared codebases such as EDK II. When a vulnerability is discovered in the code, fixing it upstream (in the codebase) is only half the work - each affected firmware vendor must patch their own product and then distribute the new firmware to their customers. This process can take time, leaving a window between the availability of the fix and its deployment across affected systems.

Discretion is advised

That is why discretion is paramount, and some participants seem to have dropped the ball, with Ars Technica claiming the two researchers who found the bug arranged for it to stay private until a coordinated disclosure that was planned for January 2027.

However, AMI - one of the manufacturers building motherboards - apparently published a pull request last month that not only detailed the vulnerability but also included a fix for the code.

Since the cat was out of the bag, TianoCore Project members then published a public advisory about the flaws, as well.

“With publicly available patch code, it will be trivial for advanced hackers to learn how the vulnerability is triggered and to build working exploits,” Ars Technica’s Dan Goodin writes. “Further compounding the urgency, patching UEFI code vulnerabilities in millions of end devices sold and used by thousands of hardware makers and cloud providers is cumbersome and time-consuming.”

Exploiting this flaw is not that easy, though. Threat actors need to have some level of access to the target device beforehand, meaning that the bug will be mostly used by state-sponsored threat actors, and large, highly organized hacking collectives.

It really is turning out to be Black October - especially since the PHP2Shell flaws were inadvertently disclosed to the public in similar fashion.