Technology

• Borderlands 4 won't cost $80, despite Gearbox CEO's previous comments
• It will cost $69.99, meeting the recent standard for most games
• It comes after a plethora of comments from users suggesting they won't purchase the game

Gearbox Software's fourth installment in the Borderlands franchise is just months away from launch on September 12, and concerns of an $80 (or more specifically, $79.99) price tag have been put to bed.

Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford, announced on X that Borderlands 4 will not cost $80 but the current industry standard of $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$119.95 (or AU$109.95 on PC) – and it's available for pre-order now for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via Steam).

It comes after Pitchford's comments on the game's potential price tag; gamers were told that if they were "real fans," they would find a way to buy Borderlands 4 if it were priced at $80, considering Nintendo and Microsoft's shift to a $80 game price tag.

Unsurprisingly, that was met with a barrage of criticisms, and if I'm honest, those comments from a CEO weren't a pretty sight, to say the least (although not very surprising to see).

However, this is a prime example of what happens when consumers voice frustrations and essentially vote with their wallets; in this case, long before the game has even launched, as a significant portion of the criticisms were gamers promising not to purchase the game due to Pitchford's comments

Just don't buy it. Talk with your money. If you're a true fan, you won't accept them pricing people out. This one's 80 the next game will be 100 and continue to rise. Say no.May 20, 2025

While there wasn't a price tag set in stone, Pitchford's comments alone suggested that Borderlands 4 would follow the new $80 trend – and it appears as though the backlash has convinced 2K, Take-Two Interactive, and the seniors involved to stick with $69.99.

Unfortunately, that may not be the case with other games priced at $80, and Nintendo's Mario Kart World is the best example. However, the Nintendo Switch 2's launch is likely a significant factor in the new title's high sales.

Analysis: Stop saying 'there's nothing that can be done' and keep your voices heard

(Image credit: Gearbox / 2K)

Even if there are future cases like Mario Kart World selling well at $80, at the very least, ensuring that CEOs and senior management of game companies are aware of complaints regarding egregious pricing is incredibly vital.

Like I've seen over the years, if there's enough backlash and rejection of a move that fans don't like, change is more often the answer from game companies.

I can almost guarantee that the response to the Gearbox CEO's comments was a major factor in the $69.99 price tag – and frankly, some gamers could likely still turn away from a purchase as $69.99 is still frowned upon (and rightly so).

Nintendo's move has already set the dangerous precedent I feared, but Borderlands 4's case should be enough of an indication that the more you vote with your wallet by stating displeasure and actively avoiding $80 games, the more we'll see game companies take a step back...

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• Microsoft Teams working on adding noise suppression for calls
• Should cut out background noise like traffic or typing
• All Microsoft Teams users should benefit upon launch

One of the most painful issues when dialing into a Microsoft Teams call could seen be a thing of the past thanks to a new update.

The video conferencing platform has revealed it is working on adding noise suppression for participants dialing in to a call.

Once included, this should spell an end to potentially ear-splitting call interruptions, or participants being deafened by background noise from another person on the call.

Microsoft Teams noise suppression

Microsoft says as well as improving the user experience for everyone on a call, the new addition will also "enhance clarity and reduce distraction for all meeting participants".

In a Microsoft 365 roadmap post, it noted the feature will automatically filter out background noise (such as traffic, typing) for users who join meetings via phone (PSTN).

The feature is listed as being "in development" for the time being, with an expected rollout start date of September 2025.

When launched, Microsoft says it will be available for users across the world using Teams on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS - as well as Teams and Surface devices, and Teams on Web.

The launch is the latest in a series of recent improvements to Microsoft Teams announced by the company as it looks to improve the experience for users.

This includes a tweak that will allow multiple people to control slides being presented in a meeting or call.

Microsoft says the addition will mean that presenters are able to maintain "a smooth flow during meetings or webinars" - hopefully meaning the end of manual slide changes - and hopefully, the phrase "next slide please".

It also recently launched of real-time text (RTT) capabilities, allowing participants to type a message while someone else's speech is being transcribed, giving users who prefer typing to speaking another way to make sure their voices get out there.

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• EA games have arrived on Amazon Luna
• Titles include EA Sports FC 25, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• You can play them for free if you already own them on PC and have Amazon Prime

Amazon Luna is a criminally underappreciated cloud gaming service, offering the chance to play loads of demanding games without the need for any expensive PC hardware.

If you have access to a basic laptop, old phone, compatible smart TV, or spare tablet, then you can its large library of titles straight from your browser window. You need a strong internet connection for it to work well, but that's still much cheaper than splurging out for fully fledged gaming laptop or PC that will be out of date in a few years anyway.

The biggest reason I love it is the fact that a brilliant free tier is included with your Amazon Prime subscription - letting you play loads of great games at no extra cost. You can link your Luna account to your GOG or Ubisoft libraries, allowing you to play select games that you already own wherever and whenever you want to.

To give you an example of what this means, I already own Far Cry 5 on PC so I can play it straight from my phone using Amazon Luna while I'm out and about. It runs via Amazon's servers, so no installation is required and I can play it even if my PC is turned off at home.

If all that wasn't enough, earlier this month the service received a massive upgrade with a robust slate of games added from the catalog of publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA). This includes EA Sports FC 25, Need for Speed Unbound, Dead Space, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

I'd recommend each any every one, and if you have Prime, and already own them on PC, you can access them right now for at no additional cost. Just head to the Luna homepage to sign in and link your accounts.

But what if you don't own these games on PC and still want to play? They're also part of the Luna+ subscription service, which costs $9.99 / £8.99 per month and includes access to loads of other games.

You can also buy the titles outright on Amazon Luna itself, which also nets you a PC copy. They're currently subject to some pretty generous discounts, so this option is definitely worth checking out.

If you want to learn even more about how Amazon Luna works, and see how it stacked up in my testing, check out my detailed Amazon Luna review.

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• Xbox president Sarah Bond has formally announced the next generation of Xbox
• Xbox maintains its 'play anywhere' mantra with new consoles, handhelds and accessories
• The company is partnering with AMD for its next generation hardware

Xbox is beginning to talk about its next generation hardware in earnest now, as president Sarah Bond has announced a "strategic multi-year partnership" with tech giant AMD.

In a video uploaded to Xbox's official YouTube channel, Bond accentuates the 'play anywhere' mantra that's formed the nucleus of the Xbox brand for the past few years.

"At Xbox, our vision is for you to play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want," explains Bond, adding that Xbox is now "investing in our next-generation hardware lineup across console, handheld, PC, cloud, and accessories."

Bond says that by partnering with AMD, Xbox promises to "deliver the next generation of graphics innovation to unlock a deeper level of visual quality and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI".

'AI' is a buzzword that Microsoft likes to throw around a lot, and it's understandable if the notion of it prevailing on Xbox has you feeling a little uneasy given the rise of generative AI content in recent years.

In truth, the use of AI here will likely boil down to helpful technologies, such as resolution upscaling (like we see with PS5 Pro's bespoke PSSR) and frame generation for smoother performance overall. As such, we could see something similar to PSSR implemented on next-generation Xbox consoles.

As for handhelds, we've already seen the announcement of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, two gaming handhelds designed around playing Xbox Game Pass games on the go. Both are set to launch sometime in 2025, as per last week's Xbox Games Showcase.

In better news, Bond also seems to confirm full backwards compatibility with Xbox's next generation, stating that new hardware will maintain "compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games." It's reasonably safe to assume that counts Xbox Series X|S games, though the jury remains out on Xbox One and classic Xbox and Xbox 360 titles.

Lastly, it seems that Xbox will be sticking to the Windows ecosystem for its next generation of hardware. Bond confirms Xbox is "working closely with the Windows team, to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming." So don't be expecting a return to the iconic Xbox 360 'blades' dashboard that millions have a fondness for.

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• The ICO has issued 23andMe with £2.31 million ($3.1 million) fine
• Fine is punishment for failings following 2023 data breach
• An investigation found 'serious security failings'

The British data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a £2.31 million fine to 23andMe for “failing to implement appropriate security measures to protect the personal information of UK users”

This follows a 2023 cyberattack in which hackers accessed 23andMe personal user data.

The breach only affected 0.1% of the company's customer base, roughly 14,000 individuals, but thanks to the sensitive nature of the information 23andMe holds, hackers were able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry that such users chose to share.”

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Keeping secure

The joint investigation, carried out between the ICO and Canadian Privacy Commissioner revealed ‘serious security failings’ after the breach, calling 23andMe’s actions ‘inadequate’.

After the hackers carried out their credential stuffing attack, the company waited months until starting a full investigation, only confirming the breach after an employee discovered stolen data advertised for sale on Reddit.

This breach put those affected at risk, not just for the typical identity theft and fraud, but also for seriously sophisticated social engineering attacks. If your genetic or family history is sold to a criminal, it could be leveraged against you.

“This was a profoundly damaging breach that exposed sensitive personal information, family histories, and even health conditions of thousands of people in the UK,” confirmed John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner.

“As one of those impacted told us: once this information is out there, it cannot be changed or reissued like a password or credit card number.”

An example of this could be a “family member” reaching out and asking for more information about yourself, or a “medical company” contacting you about an existing genetic health condition. If you’re affected by this breach, be sure to be extra vigilant and cautious about any unexpected communications you receive.

“23andMe failed to take basic steps to protect this information. Their security systems were inadequate, the warning signs were there, and the company was slow to respond. This left people’s most sensitive data vulnerable to exploitation and harm,” Edwards confirmed.

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• DC Studios has found the lead star for its Clayface movie
• Surprisingly, the Batman villain won't be played by Alan Tudyk
• Tudyk voiced Clayface in season 1 of Creature Commandos

DC Studios has revealed which actor will star in its forthcoming Clayface movie – and, surprisingly, it won't be Alan Tudyk.

First reported by Deadline and later confirmed by studio co-chief James Gunn, the budget horror film's titular character will be portrayed by Tom Rhys Harries. Taking to Instagram, Gunn said it had been a "long and exhaustive search" to find the right person to play the shapeshifter, but he and fellow producer Matt Reeves eventually settled on Harries after they were "blown away" by his auditions.

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn)

A photo posted by on

Clayface will be the third film released as part of the DC Universe's (DCU) first line-up of movies and TV shows. Currently, it's set to be released on September 11, 2026, so it'll arrive three months after Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow – or, as Gunn recently confirmed, the DCU's second movie that's now known by its much simpler title in Supergirl.

Little is known about Clayface's story. However, it'll be directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and its original script was penned by horror auteur Mike Flanagan. According to Deadline, Hossein Amini conducted some rewrites for the DCU Chapter One film, but Gunn has confirmed (via Threads) that the vast majority of Flanagan's initial screenplay has been retained.

Principal photography is set to begin this October, according to The Wrap's Umberto Gonzalez. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn and company are looking to make it for a modest $40 million, too.

Why isn't Alan Tudyk playing Clayface in his live-action DC comic book movie?

Alan Tudyk voiced Clayface in Creature Commandos season 1 (Image credit: Max)

Harries' hiring has certainly raised some eyebrows among DC fans.

There's no question that the Welsh actor is a talented up-and-comer – indeed, he's proved as much in Apple TV+ series Suspicion, Netflix show White Lies, and Guy Ritchie's 2019 crime comedy flick The Gentlemen. More recently, Harries portrayed Ricky September in Doctor Who episode 'Dot and Bubble', which, per its 94% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is one of the highest-rated installments of the Ncuti Gatwa era.

Nonetheless, fans have expressed surprised that prolific actor Alan Tudyk, who voiced Clayface in season 1 of Creature Commandos, aka the DCU's first TV series, on Max, wasn't tapped to portray Clayface's titular character. After all, some people have pointed out that Gunn previously said actors who are cast in the DCU would play their character in live-action and animated projects.

Gunn, though, has tried to clear up any confusion about Harries' casting. Responding to a fan on Threads about why Tudyk wasn't chosen, Gunn wrote: "I said we would plan on using primary actors whenever we can. I've also never said if the two characters are the same. (I've also never said they're not)."

It's the final part of his response that's most telling. There have been eight incarnations of Clayface in DC Comics, so it's entirely possible that Tudyk and Harries will portray different versions of the villainous metahuman in the DCU. We'll learn if that's the case once Clayface has taken shape and landed in theaters next year.

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Even multinational corporations used to run effectively and efficiently without a screen or a mouse or a keyboard in sight – other than a typewriter keyboard, of course. No data storage issues, no input errors, no backup problems, no memory losses or system failures, let alone cyberattacks.

Today – barely forty years since computers started appearing in workplaces – we can scarcely imagine life without them. In little more than a generation, all business processes have been completely altered, and a whole array of risks and threats and dangers have appeared that we could hardly even have dreamed of back then.

Despite these growing threats, myths continue to prevail that prevent business owners from being effectively equipped to defend themselves against attack or to deal with the consequences of an attack, should it happen. In this article, I debunk five of the biggest myths to ensure all business owners recognize the importance of cybersecurity.

1. Cybercrime only happens to others

It is a trait of most humans, to think that bad things will only happen to others. That can’t happen to you. But at some point, it hits you. You become the unlucky other. Since 2021, cyberattacks have risen over 300% according to the latest Microsoft Digital Defense Report – a threefold rise.

None of the companies that were hit by ransomware over the last decade thought they were chosen or deserved to be attacked. None. This is no different to saying that a car accident will never happen to you. That can only be true if you are not going out of your house. Even as a pedestrian, it can happen to you. If you have a business and you are using some kind of technology and, God forbid, if you are making money, then yes, you are a potential target.

Following an encounter I once had with a dairy farmer, I came up with a question that I now often ask in my presentations: do you believe that a cow requires cybersecurity? The crowd usually answers that of course they don’t. I then explain to them that the latest development in AgTech (agricultural technologies) means that a team of two farmers can milk 1,000 cows.

This amazing advancement allows us to break the physical limitations that used to plague farms. All these devices are connected to the internet in order for sensor data to be collected. I asked one of its makers if they secured the connections. He answered there was no need as it was only sensor data, not interesting to any cybercriminals.

There was the door – the way in for a cybercriminal who will do anything to get to their goal, which is bullying you into giving them your money.

Hence, a bad actor, thousands of kilometers away, can stop all the farm’s robots cold. Stop the cows from being milked and send a nice email for a ransom. With no milk, the dairy farm would be out of revenue for months and would probably collapse.

What if this attack is executed on 100 farms? They could all be stopped at once. We are talking about millions in lost revenues, all because cows don’t require cybersecurity, and the magic thinking that these things only happen to others.

2. We’re too small to be attacked

The root of this myth is the assumption that cybercriminals are like fishermen: that they carefully choose their spots and then cast a line into the water to catch a particular fish. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Cybercriminals today operate in networks, constantly offering services to new members to make them more efficient and sharing their profits throughout the network. They are no longer individuals in hoodies in basements; this is the age of dark corporations with objectives and quotas, of ‘ransomware as a service’. Not lone fishermen, but fleets of trawlers capturing all they can, by the ton.

When they send out a phishing email with the aim of infiltrating a company, months before the actual attack, they do not send ten or twenty; they send between 100,000 and 500,000.

What does that say about small and medium businesses? It says that you make up the greatest volume of fish – you are the largest group in the sea. For each large corporation, there are thousands of small and medium businesses. As an example, according to the renowned data site Statista, there were, in 2021, 8,365 companies with over 1,000 employees, compared to the total of 16,435,439 companies below that number.

According to those numbers, enterprises constitute 0.051% of all companies, so they may get targeted as the bigger fish, but never as often as the largest shoal in the sea.

3. We have nothing worth stealing

If you are in business, it is unlikely that you have nothing to steal. Apart from artists and artisans, who are paid in cash for services that only their talented hands can provide, pretty much all businesses today have valuable customer and employee information. More importantly, if you are in business, you must be making money; hence, you have the one thing that cybercriminals crave above all else: money.

After a short time, they will know how much money you have. They will spend months in your systems, sniffing around for clues – in documents, emails, financial statements, human resources files or customer databases – until they have figured out two things: what is important to you and how much you are willing (and able) to pay to get it back. Yes, this can (and most likely will) include deleting or infecting your backups to solidify their claim.

Then they will send you a ransom demand. (Whether you decide to pay or not is up to you, but you should understand that as long as victims will pay ransoms – and the attackers make money – cyberattacks will continue.)

4. Our data is safe in the cloud

Don’t kid yourself. This is not how the cloud works. Although Microsoft (and most other cloud providers) are secure environments, they also have what is known as a Shared Responsibility Matrix. This means that for your data, your research and your business intelligence, to be isolated and to remain fully yours, Microsoft will not access it. They will not subject it to their own security procedures, which might alter the structure of your data and potentially disrupt your business. That would go against the reasons for offering you space in the cloud. Instead, they guarantee that the foundational, underlying systems will be secured and defended.

What do I mean by the underlying system? Picture that you are hiring a security company. They will guard the access to your lot, make sure that no one is messing with access to your house, and that you have electricity and communications, but they will not manage what happens inside your house.

Same here: you are a tenant within the cloud provider’s infrastructure. He will make sure the gate to your space is guarded and that you have everything you need, but what happens within your company, on services and servers that he is leasing you, is completely your responsibility.

5. We have adequate insurance

What would buildings and contents insurance provide you if there was a fire in your offices? It would allow you to rebuild, buy back furniture and equipment and return to a normal life in perhaps four to six months. In other words, your insurance company will send you a cheque once your premises are in ashes (if you are lucky).

Far better – and usually much cheaper – to avoid a fire than to recover from one.

Don’t misunderstand me, insurance is necessary, but it cannot be the only component of your business protection plan. You also need proactive services that will enable you to react to a ‘fire’ before it reduces everything to ashes. As I said before, having a few battery-powered smoke detectors is far from adequate.

With proper cybersecurity, you might lose a device or a server, but you will survive the attack and still have a company to run. Instead of playing phoenix, you will live to fight another day.

Conclusion

As an expert, it is my duty to ensure that those false beliefs are challenged. I hold dear my vision that within the next decade, cybercriminality can be but a distinct memory and that we, as a species, will have evolved beyond that.

I strongly believe in making cybersecurity accessible, so that all business owners are in a position to understand and support cybersecurity initiatives within their company.

With this in mind, it is vital that you, as a leader, revise your mindset and understand that all cybercriminals are after are your assets. And that, if you are in business, you most likely have some. Either money, recipes, intellectual property, or even, perhaps simply a reputation that you have built over the years. All things that cybercriminals would use against you, to get to their final goal, your money.

Please take preventive measures. Just like at home, when you leave, make sure the alarm system is armed, the front door is locked and that the alarm center will be informed if something happened.

Deploy that same logic for your company and its assets. It is worth protecting.

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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

The category of the best Bluetooth speakers has never been more congested or hotly contested, but that only makes it all the more intriguing. And thus far, 2025 has been a grrrreat year for people who like their Bluetooth speakers bold, colorful, cute or…strappy.

As you'll soon see in this missive, three of our long-term favorites were updated with fresh iterations this year. It's impossible not to kick off with the March-release JBL Flip 7, (successor to the excellent Flip 6, and indeed the splendid Flip 5 that came before it) while Bang & Olufsen finally updated its chic and unique crumpet (muffin?) shaped option, which delighted us across the board soon after making its debut in May. And to round things off, Bowers & Wilkins updated one of its most iconic wireless speakers (OK, it was the tail end of 2024, but availability for most of us wasn't until early 2025) and received nothing but praise from us in February.

We've also seen the fresh and intriguing speaker partnership between LG and will.i.am (which was announced at the end of last year) bear fruit with mixed results – but one of the models actually gives the aforementioned Flip 7 a run for its money and is very much in this roundup.

Elsewhere – and this is the 'also ran' bit – Tribit's March 2025-issue Stormbox Lava was a little rough around the edges, and the joyfully named Happy Plugs Joy (which arrived in January) sadly fell short of the mark. Ah well…

(Image credit: Future)The biggest and most successful 2025-release Bluetooth speakers thus far

Aside from the 5-star-all-day-long Flip 7, above, it's also hats off to the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Generation. Yes, bit of a mouthful, but so, so worth saying – and assuring people you want exactly this speaker. It looks and feels every inch as high-end as you'd expect from B&O, and it sounds the absolute business for the money.

(Image credit: Future)

Next up is the LG xboom Grab, which boasts dimensions very similar to the Flip 7 but a few additions, including two useful elasticated straps around its casework – see below for what they can do.

Not to be confused with the slightly disappointing LG xboom Bounce, the Grab performed very well under intense review, earning a highly recommended 4.5-star rating. Not bad for a debutante…

(Image credit: Chris Rowlands)

Rounding off my 'biggest of 2025' quartet is Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro Edition.

It's big, it's bold, it still looks like it's floating above whatever you put it on, it'll use your home Wi-Fi to bring wireless streaming (as well as Bluetooth), and it's B&W's best Zep yet. It can also be paired with other members of Bowers & Wilkins’ ‘Formation’ range of wireless speakers, or in conjunction with any of the company’s current (and excellent) line-up of wireless headphones and earbuds to 'hand off' audio as you leave home.

(Image credit: Future)Bluetooth speakers 2025: what's coming later this year

We're just dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's on our full-fat JBL Charge 6 and Sony ULT Field 3 reviews, (because these things take the time that they take, and we shall not be rushed into verdicts) but one big product we thought we might see falls under Apple's remit.

For over a year now, we've been hearing strong rumors and mumblings about a HomePod mini 2, and even a HomePod Hub with full touchscreen – both slated for a 2025 release. So far, nothing; Apple's WWDC event came and went on June 9, 2025, without so much as a dicky bird on any HomePod speakers from the Cupertino giant.

Surely there's no smoke without fire, though? For now, we wait…

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• Hays study finds 78% of organizations are struggling with skills shortages
• Four in five professionals would work for a foreign company
• Physical relocation is no longer a necessity of working abroad

The global tech job market is in flux, and new research from recruitment platform Hays claims three in five tech professionals are eyeing up a change, either by switching employers or stepping back into the contracting market.

And with nearly four in five (78%) organizations already grappling with skills shortages, the gap between tech demand and supply could be about to widen.

Hays' research also illustrates how worker dissatisfaction had made prospective job-seekers more willing to consider international job opportunities.

The tech job market is changing

More professionals are open to working abroad, but relocation is no longer a must. In the UK and Australia, more than four in five say they'd consider an overseas role, echoing a growing trend of remote, cross-border employment.

However, just half of those surveyed said they'd be willing to physically relocate – suggesting the post-pandemic flexibility is reshaping traditional career movement and progression.

On the whole, 86% of permanent specialists and nearly as many (83%) contractors are open to working for companies abroad.

Although contracting (8%) is gaining in popularity, changing organizations (53%) remains the most common job change. Workers cited job security (51%) as a key concern, but career progression opportunities (42%) and staff recognition/appraisal (32%) are also motivating factors.

The report also revealed that those working across AI, ML, cybersecurity and network engineering could be among the most likely to seek a job change, with technical and solutions architects more likely to stay put – probably due to the long-term project nature of their roles.

"The findings from our study highlight the importance of effective employer branding and the need for organisations to optimise their employment proposition by truly understanding what professionals value the most in a potential employer," noted Hays Global Head of STEM James Milligan.

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In a world where enterprises now manage their unified communications (UC) platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, on a global basis, why are these same enterprises all too often still procuring and managing telecommunications services on a country-specific or regional basis?

Surely there would be material efficiencies and cost savings to consistent global management of all communications – a truly ‘unified’ approach – rather than the inconsistent and disparate management of telecoms?

The answer lies in the legacy – and indeed current – business models and chosen strategies of the big telcos. And the solution lies in a new breed of multinational cloud telephony providers.

Telecoms: a rapidly restructuring industry, post pandemic

The modern telecommunications industry has been restructuring at pace since the pandemic, as it reinvents itself to serve the demands of remote and hybrid staff and teams in the modern workplace. The big telcos may well have led the first restructuring dimension, but they have more reluctantly joined the bandwagon of the second, and their broader business model simply isn’t suited to the third.

From on premises to the cloud

To be fair, the big telcos were at the forefront of the industry’s first restructuring dimension - the shift from on premises implementations to cloud-based business phone systems. In this shift telecoms essentially became just another form of data service delivered over fiber and 4G/5G broadband network that they themselves provided. This perfectly aligned with their broader strategies as network operators.

Critically, moving services to the cloud enabled users to make and receive phone calls wherever they had internet access, be that at work, at home or on the move. Their phone numbers were able to travel with them rather than being tied to a physical desk or location. And, furthermore, enterprises were able to strip out the legacy switches and equipment from their offices and sites, thereby freeing up the time and cost of supporting, upgrading and replacing that equipment.

The rationale for users and companies alike was sufficiently strong that 71% of the telecoms market had shifted to the cloud by 2024.

From standalone to UC-integrated

The second restructuring dimension suited the big telcos far less. But, in the end, it was unavoidable due to the customer demand. This shift involved the integration of telephony into broader UC platforms, such as Microsoft Teams.

Out-of-the-box Teams is incredibly rich – messaging, channels, meetings, video calls and much more – but telephony is the missing piece that needs specific and additional integration.

More and more companies have understandably been doing this integration to achieve ‘truly unified’ communications, from both a user experience and IT management perspective. Furthermore, it also means that telephony content can be included in the enterprise’s AI data set for fast-growing agent capabilities such as Copilot.

This shift to UC-integrated Teams telephony was by no means instantly popular with the big telcos, given a significant proportion of the value added was provided by Microsoft through its cloud phone system functionality.

Microsoft’s ability to monetize that through license extensions effectively impaired profitability for the major telcos. In the end, however, customer demand won and now more than a hundred telcos have joined the bandwagon on Microsoft’s Operator Connect and Direct Routing programs.

From geography-specific to global

But now, a third restructuring dimension is rapidly taking hold in the multinational enterprise world. Until recently, multinationals have necessarily been working with multiple – often tens of – country-specific or regional telco vendors, each with their own contracts, tariff structures, administration portals (if indeed any at all), support services, and invoices.

But why would these multinationals want to maintain such a regional patchwork of telco vendors when they are now managing Teams on a singular, global basis? Not only do they want their telephony integrated with their UC platform, but they also want the management of the whole communications stack to be globally consistent. Why have tens of telco vendors when you can just have one?

Enter a new breed of multinational cloud telephony providers

However, global service provision simply isn’t suited to the big telcos because now, primarily as broadband providers, their businesses remain physical in nature. What was once copper wires into buildings for telecoms, is now fiber into buildings for broadband, and the physical natural of those ‘last mile’ connections simply isn’t conducive to a global strategy.

It is this defense against the big telcos, combined with the size of the market opportunity in Microsoft Teams telephony, and the compelling customer business case for multinational consolidation of vendors, that has led to a new breed of multinational cloud telephony providers.

These multinational cloud telephony providers capture all three industry restructuring dimensions: cloud-based, UC-integrated and multinational service provision. With one global vendor, multinational businesses can avoid the inefficiencies, wasted resources and fragmentation of working with multiple telcos in different regions, and move to a simplified world of one global contract, one global tariff and one global management portal.

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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

According to the latest iPhone 17 rumors, Apple is tipped to shake up its flagship smartphone lineup this year with new designs, new specs, and an entirely new model.

Indeed, the much-rumored iPhone 17 Air has been speculated by many to take the place of the iPhone 17 Plus, swapping it for a thin-and-light version of the larger non-Pro Apple phone.

However, as TechRadar readers will know, Apple has been beaten to the punch on this one – we recently covered the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which reworks parts of the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra into an impressively thin handset.

You can ead to our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review for a full breakdown – in short, it’s wonderful, but doesn’t come without compromise. The spec sheet suggests that the battery was one of the big targets – the Galaxy S25 Edge comes with a 3,900mAh battery, down from the 4,900mAh battery found in the Galaxy S25 Plus.

But as we've also covered, new rumors have made waves for predicting an iPhone 17 Air battery size that’s even smaller than tech fans might expect, at a surprisingly small 2,800mAh.

For reference, that’s almost 2,000mAh smaller than the 4,674mAh cell found in the iPhone 16 Plus – meaning the iPhone 17 Air could have just 60% of the battery capacity of the phone it’s set to replace.

Though battery life varies by usage, our iPhone 16 Plus review recorded 16 hours and 29 minutes of web browsing – 60% of which is just under 10 hours.

Add in the unavoidable fact that batteries degrade over time and use up a small amount of charge in standby, the prospect of going a full day without charging may begin to seem unlikely.

However, if you ask me there’s no need to panic. There are two specific reasons why a small battery capacity might not be such a big deal for the iPhone 17 Air.

Silicon carbon, capacity saviour

Supposedly leaked renders of the iPhone 17 Air point to a single camera system housed in a bar (Image credit: Front Page Tech / ‪@Zellzoi‬)

Firstly, the iPhone 17 Air could be the first Apple device to use a silicon-carbon battery, rather than a conventional lithium-ion battery.

Silicon-carbon batteries, as their name suggests, use silicon in the anode of the battery, enabling a much greater energy density and improved power efficiency.

That could be just what the iPhone 17 Air needs to push it over the line of true battery life usability.

I’ve tested multiple phones that use silicon-carbon batteries and been impressed with each one; my trusty Oppo Find X8 Pro is still performing admirably in the battery department.

Granted, that’s a huge phone with a 5,910mAh battery, but my point is it still outperforms expectations thanks to its silicon-carbon technology, and that’s a pattern across the handsets that make use of it.

Surprising optimizing

Even though its battery has a relatively small capacity, the iPhone 16 still pushes through a full day of use (Image credit: Future)

Next, we have to consider Apple’s history of getting great performance from smaller than average batteries.

Apple never lists the capacity of its batteries, but unofficial teardowns have revealed that the vanilla iPhone 16 sports a battery capacity of 3,561mAh.

That’s a half-decent capacity, but doesn’t quite live up to the 4,000mAh cell found in the Samsung Galaxy S25 – and both pale in comparison to the Google Pixel 9’s impressive 4,700mAh battery.

However, in our testing, Apple’s most recent baseline flagship kept up with its competitors. Our iPhone 16 review records about 13 hours of usage, while our Pixel 9 review found Google’s flagship lasted for between 13 and 14 hours. That’s not a lot of difference for a gap of more than 1,000mAh.

The key is Apple’s optimization – we don’t know the exact science, but Apple’s longstanding commitment to maintaining a closed, stable mobile ecosystem means its hardware and software are literally built for each other.

This is likely to bring some benefit to the iPhone 17 Air; I’d guess that Apple is paying even more attention than usual to its synthesis of software and hardware with this rumored all-new design.

So there you have it: two reasons why a small battery isn’t the end of the world for the rumored iPhone 17 Air. Be sure to let us know whether you’re looking forward to the iPhone 17 series in the comments below.

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Commentary: The Google Gemini features on my Samsung Galaxy let me be more spontaneous in my shopping adventures.

• Google’s Veo 3 Fast generates 720p AI videos twice as fast as standard
• Gemini Pro users can create three videos per day
• Flow Pro users pay just 20 credits per clip

There's a strawberry made of glass that someone is cutting like it's made of jelly, then the same thing happens to several other berries and the Pokémon Charizard. A woman dips tongs into a platter of molten rock and takes a bite of the apparently delicious treat before spreading some on a waffle and taking a bite.

These aren't a cough-syrup-induced hallucination; it's the latest trend in ASMR videos, created with Google's Veo 3 and other AI movie generators.

You might have seen these and other bizarre videos on your TikTok algorithm. I’m not the biggest proponent of ASMR videos and their gentle whisperers, rhythmic tapping, and other soporific audio, but I understood the appeal. I'm not so sure the AI version is just as good. These aren’t your traditional low-fi lo-fi tapping-and-brushing videos.

@softcrunchai

♬ original sound - SoftCrunchAI

Google Veo is definitely the most popular choice of AI video generators for ASMR. As good as the model is at producing realistic videos (for a given value of realism in this case), it still creates videos with a sheen of artificiality, lacking the errors and imprecision that are the hallmark of human-made ASMR.

Friends of mine who are much bigger fans of ASMR claim it's not just the sounds and voices that entice them. It's the intimacy and immediacy that they like. One said that the 'tingle triggers' are there in the AI videos, but it's just not the same.

AI ASMR @impossibleais

♬ green to blue (slowed + reverbed) - daniel.mp3

That's not a universal opinion, though. These videos rack up millions of views. The comments are full of both excitement and confusion, with people unable to explain why they like the videos, or who are amazed how they can't stop watching them.

Part of the appeal might be novelty. Anything new will have a fanbase at least for a little while, and Veo’s video quality is unlike anything most people have seen before. It mimics natural lighting, shadow, and realistic camera motion. Perfect glass statues of Pokémon that can be cut in half with ease, because they're all AI-generated, are an eye-catcher for sure.

As fun as it is, I wonder if anyone seeking a pure ASMR experience will choose an AI video. The sounds may scratch that auditory itch, but I wonder how many lists of favorite ASMR videos will include them.

Not every AI trend has to make sense. Some of them very much don't. AI ASMR may have a niche place in the overall ASMR ecosystem. Still, I don't think the majority of people who fall asleep to sweet whispers will prefer the sound of simulated glass crunching under an invisible knife.

@impossibleais

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• Meta AI prompts you to choose to post publicly in the app's Discovery feed by default
• Meta has a new warning pop-up, but accidental sharing remains a possibility
• You can opt out of having your conversations go public entirely through the Meta AI app’s settings

The Meta AI app's somewhat unique contribution to the AI chatbot app space is the Discovery feed, which allows people to show off the interesting things they are doing with the AI assistant.

However, it turns out that many people were unaware that they weren't just posting those prompts and conversation snippets for themselves or their friends to see. When you tap "Share" and "Post to feed," you're sharing those chats with everyone, much like a public Facebook post.

The Discovery feed is an oddity in some ways, a graft of the AI chatbot experience on a more classic social media structure. You’ll find AI-generated images of surprisingly human robots, terribly designed inspirational quote images, and more than a few examples of the kind of prompts the average person does not want just anyone seeing.

I've scrolled past people asking Meta AI to explain their anxiety dreams, draft eulogies, and brainstorm wedding proposals. It's voyeuristic, and not in the performative way of most social media; it's real and personal.

It seems that many people assumed sharing those posts was more like saving them for later perusal, rather than offering the world a peek at whatever awkward experiments with the AI you are conducting. Meta has hastily added a new pop-up warning to the process, making it clear that anything you post is public, visible to everyone, and may even appear elsewhere on Meta platforms.

If that warning doesn't seem enough to ensure your AI privacy on the app, you can opt out of the Discovery feed completely. Here's how to ensure your chats aren’t one accidental tap away from public display.

(Image credit: Meta AI screenshot)

• Open the Meta AI app.
• Tap your profile picture or initials, whichever represents your digital self.
• Tap on "Data and Privacy" and "Manage Your Information."
• Tao on "Make all public prompts visible to only you," and then "Apply to all" in the pop-up. This will ensure that when you share a prompt, only you will be able to see it.
• If that doesn't seem like enough, you can completely erase the record of any interaction you've had with Meta AI by tapping "Delete all prompts." That includes any prompt you've written, regardless of whether it's been posted, so be certain.

Private prompts

Of course, even with the opt-out enabled and your conversations with Meta AI no longer public, Meta still retains the right to use your chats to improve its models.

It's common among all the big AI providers. That's supposedly anonymized and doesn't involve essentially publishing your private messages, but theoretically, what you and Meta AI say to each other could appear in a chat with someone else entirely in some form.

It's a paradox in that the more data AI models have, the better they perform, but people are reluctant to share too much with an algorithm. There was a minor furor when, for a brief period, ChatGPT conversations became visible to other users under certain conditions. It's the other edge of the ubiquitous “we may use your data to improve our systems” statement in every terms of service.

Meta’s Discovery feed simply removes the mask, inviting you to post and making it easy for others to see. AI systems are evolving faster than our understanding of them, hence the constant drumbeat about transparency. The idea is that the average user, unaware of the hidden complexities of AI, should be informed of how their data is being saved and used.

However, given how most companies typically address these kinds of issues, Meta is likely to stick to its strategy of fine-tuning its privacy options in response to user outcry. And maybe remember that if you’re going to tell your deepest dreams to an AI chatbot, make sure it’s not going to share the details with the world.

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• The Trump Organization says a new T1 Phone will launch in August
• It will apparently be "designed and built in the United States"
• But experts say the phone is more likely to have Chinese origins

The Trump Mobile T1 Phone is undoubtedly one of the strangest phones ever made, mixing odd specs (a 3.5mm headphone jack) with ones that make no sense ("5000mAh long life camera"). However, it also comes with a big claim that it'll be "designed and built in the United States."

Given that analysts recently told us that "the idea of making iPhones in the US is a stretch", is this really possible? Or will the manufacturing reality of the "sleek, gold smartphone" be a bit more complicated?

We asked smartphone supply chain experts for their verdict on the Trump Mobile T1 and whether it really can meet those lofty "made in the USA" goals.

With the T1 arriving in August for $499, it could theoretically steal some thunder from the rumored iPhone 17 – but there are good reasons to suspect that Apple won't be losing any sleep over its unexpected, gold-colored rival from Trump Mobile...

The claim

The Trump Organization has made some typically bold claims about the T1 – it's been billed as the phone that will spark a new era in US phone manufacturing.

In a press release, the Trump family business stated that the T1 is "proudly designed and built in the United States for customers who expect the best from their mobile carrier". Elsewhere, the site claims it has been "built for patriots by patriots".

(Image credit: The Trump Organization)

Expanding on the claims, Eric Trump stated on "The Benny Show" podcast that "eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America".

Yet the Trump Mobile site is short on specific details about how and where the Trump T1 phone will be made. According to experts, there are good reasons to suspect that this will be ambitious at best...

The reality

(Image credit: The Trump Organization)

• Experts agree the Trump phone won't meet its "made in the USA" claims
• It will likely be a modified Android phone from a Chinese manufacturer
• But the Trump Mobile T1 could theoretically still be assembled in the USA

The Trump Mobile T1 won't meet the strict definition of "made in the USA" for a few reasons, experts say – and these also explain why moving iPhone manufacturing to the USA is unlikely in the near future.

Firstly, "made in the USA" has a high bar. Professor Tinglong Dai, who teaches at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, told us: "The FTC [Federal Trade Commission] has a strict standard for “Made in USA”: all or almost all parts and processing must be domestic. Judging by that standard, the claim is unrealistic."

But there could be ways around that. "The Trump Organization’s “built in America” language isn’t an official designation, so there’s plenty of wiggle room for them to make that claim," Dai added.

Ben Hatton, market analyst at CCS Insight, agrees. "Our expectation is that the T1 Phone will work around this by virtue of assembly in the US using parts from elsewhere," he told us.

On that subject, TechRadar's Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, also noted: "There's just one company that builds phones in the US, Purism. Its specs don't match up. Even if it is assembled somewhere in Trump Castle, they're still almost certainly sourcing components outside the US."

So, what phone will the T1 be based on? That's still something of a mystery. "The phone will probably be a custom-modified Android smartphone from a Chinese manufacturer," Ben Hatton from CCS Insight told us. That seems highly likely – we tried putting the T1's specs into GSMArena's phone finder for existing phones, and it came up blank.

Why can't phones be made in the USA?

(Image credit: ArcGIS StoryMaps)

So what does all this mean for the grand ambition of manufacturing phones in the US? And why isn't it possible?

"The main challenge is that we don’t have an end-to-end tech supply chain, and the U.S. lacks the manufacturing capacity for several key components. Even if we do, the lack of skilled workers would be a main bottleneck," Dai explained.

Ben Hatton from CCS Insight agrees that a true "made in the USA" phone is unlikely to happen for a long time, if ever. "The US is unlikely to have enough labor with the right skills for this to be achievable in anything other than the long-term. The costs of labor would then go through the roof due to this skills shortage," he added.

"Upending 50 years of supply-chain evolution by making companies move facilities would also mean totally reshaping these chains by making the US the ‘focal point’ rather than China," he concluded. In other words, it's completely unrealistic and not compatible with the complexities of smartphones or our globalized tech world.

To sum that up, Professor Tinglong Dai concluded: "A bigger issue is that there’s really no such thing as a fully domestic supply chain.” You may have read the classical essay, “I, Pencil” – even for something as simple as a pencil, you’re talking about dozens of countries behind it, and that’s before the current global supply chain era," he noted.

To see the equivalent for an iPhone, check out the excellent 'Mapping the iPhone' infographic from ArcGIS StoryMaps, which shows just how complex smartphone supply chains are.

So while The Trump Mobile T1 may carry the "made in the USA" boast, experts agree it'll be at best "assembled in the USA" – and even that hasn't yet been officially confirmed ahead of its August launch.

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