TechRadar News

• Battery life is reportedly a priority for the folding iPhone
• Apple could also make use of a liquid metal hinge
• The device isn't expected to appear until 2026 at the earliest

The more foldable iPhone rumors we come across, the more convinced we become that such a device is indeed going to see the light of day in the next year or two – and there are a couple of fresh leaks to report.

First up, well-known tipster Yeux1122 (via MacRumors) says that battery life is a priority for Apple when it comes to the folding iPhone. Apparently, DDI components – the key display chip technologies – will be improved to boost battery life as much as possible.

As foldable phones are essentially two phones stacked together, manufacturers try and ensure they're as thin as possible. That can have a negative impact on battery capacity and battery life, and it seems that's something Apple is trying to overcome.

This isn't the first time we've heard that battery life is important to Apple and its folding smartphone. Just a few days ago we heard about other tweaks Apple is making to the display technology to increase the time between recharges.

Liquid metal

Dongguan EonTec is poised to benefit significantly from the widespread adoption of liquid metal in the hinges of the upcoming foldable iPhone. According to recent industry research, Apple is focused on improving durability, enhancing screen flatness, and minimizing crease marks… https://t.co/KsGu49JXkPMarch 21, 2025

Our second leak comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is usually accurate when it comes to Apple predictions. He says Apple is thinking about using a liquid metal hinge in the construction of the folding iPhone, to improve durability and make the crease less visible.

The move, which would also improve the flatness of the main screen when it's unfolded, could be something that's followed by Android phone makers too, Kuo says – so stay up to date with our best foldable phones guide for any changes.

It speaks to the care with which Apple seems to be developing this device: earlier rumors have suggested one of the reasons that we've been waiting so long for a foldable iPhone is that Apple isn't happy with the current state of display creases.

With so much unofficial chatter around the folding iPhone now, it seems certain that it's something Apple is now working on. Most rumors point towards a launch sometime next year, though we should be prepared for a steep asking price.

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• Data privacy concerns limit AI’s role in ecommerce, survey finds
• AI-driven customer service still needs improvement
• AI in ecommerce must prioritize solving real problems

An Omnisend survey of 1,026 US respondents reveals while AI-powered assistants are becoming more common, most shoppers still prefer making purchasing decisions themselves.

The study found about 34% of consumers would allow AI tools to make purchases on their behalf, but this means that 2/3 of shoppers wouldn’t, even if it meant securing a better deal. This reluctance highlights a gap between AI’s growing presence in ecommerce and the trust consumers place in it.

Despite their hesitation, consumers acknowledge AI’s ability to improve shopping experiences, with 38% finding personalized product recommendations helpful and 31% saying it speeds up the process.

AI’s growing role in shopping

However, concerns over data security shape consumer attitudes toward AI shopping assistants, with over half worrying about data mishandling and 28% expressing complete distrust in businesses' data practices.

Beyond data privacy concerns, doubts about AI’s effectiveness in shopping persist, with 39% of consumers abandoning purchases due to frustrating interactions like inaccurate recommendations and poor AI chatbot for business experiences.

Additionally, 40% of shoppers are frustrated by the lack of human support in AI-driven customer service, while 21% find AI recommendations unreliable, reinforcing the need for the best live chat software and a human presence.

Nearly half of the respondents favored enhanced service quality over automation, believing that AI should prioritize assisting with customer support over making aggressive sales recommendations and purchasing decisions.

"Consumers are open to AI enhancing their shopping experience, but there’s a big difference between receiving personalized recommendations and handing over full purchasing control,” said Greg Zakowicz, Sr. Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend.

“Large-scale adoption of AI-driven purchasing requires a fundamental shift in consumer behavior — and that’s not happening anytime soon," they said. "Shoppers want to know exactly what they’re buying, whether it’s a size, color, or brand. Trusting an AI to make those decisions autonomously is a tough sell."

Retailers must bridge the trust gap between AI technology and consumer expectations by prioritizing transparency through providing clear information on data processing and still allowing customers to retain some degree of control.

Leveraging the best email marketing service and best social media management tools can also help brands communicate AI’s benefits while ensuring a more personalized, consumer-friendly approach.

“AI is a tool that’s only as good as the problems it solves," said Zakowicz. "As companies race to integrate AI into their customers’ shopping experiences, they need to be more focused on its problem-solving qualities versus its potential. Providing poor experiences, whether by AI or a human, will result in lost sales.”

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Severance season 3: key information

- Officially announced in mid-March
- No release date confirmed yet
- Director/producer Ben Stiller says script work is underway
- Gemma/Ms. Casey actor Dichen Lachman doesn't know when filming might begin
- Stiller hopes to reveal the plan for season 3 "very soon"
- Main cast expected to return
- No official story synopsis revealed
- Season 2 finale offers clues about its follow-up's plot
- Unclear if a fourth season will be made

Severance season 3 might be the first and last thing on fans' minds after the hugely popular Apple show's season 2 finale. On the one hand, I suspect we need a day or seven to process what went down in the series' last episode. On the other, we're all desperate to learn what'll happen next

Thankfully, the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series will return (read more about that in this article's release date speculation section). I can't say where the story goes from here but, darn it, if I'm not going to try and answer those questions anyway!

Below, you'll find the latest information and rumors on Severance's third season. That includes my thoughts on when it'll be released, its likely cast, story possibilities, and more. Full spoilers follow for Severance season 2, so ensure your 'outie' and 'innie' proceed with equal levels of caution.

Severance season 3 release date: what we know

Season 3 of Severance is available upon request. - Tim C. https://t.co/bNig41qs9t pic.twitter.com/cnctZIRDNFMarch 21, 2025

Severance season 3 hasn't entered full production yet, but Apple officially announced another season of Severance just hours after its forebear's finale.

Before Apple renewed it, director/executive producer Ben Stiller revealed work was underway on season 3's scripts. Considering it's the show that everyone's been talking about so far in 2025, I would've been stunned if it got canceled.

Even with season 3 being announced, there's no word on when filming may begin. Ahead of the season 2 finale, Dichen Lachman, who plays Gemma/Ms. Casey, provided a disappointing filming update on Severance season 3 by telling me she was "in the dark" over a possible start date.

When will we see Mark and Helly again? (Image credit: Apple TV+)

However, with the main cast and crew assembling for a post-season 2 finale event in LA on March 22, we may learn more very soon. Indeed, speaking on the New Heights podcast, Stiller suggested the plan for season 3 would be revealed in the near future, so here's hoping an official announcement and filming start date are confirmed shortly.

So, when might season 3 launch on one of the world's best streaming services? Stiller hopes that, unlike season 2, which was shot amid the pandemic and 2023 Hollywood strikes, it won't take three years to make. Even with the best intentions – i.e., everyone's calendars lining up perfectly, principal photography starting sometime in 2025, etc – though, I can't see it arriving until early to mid-2027.

Severance season 3 trailer: is there one?

"You won't find a trailer for season 3 here, Mister Milchick!" (Image credit: Apple TV+)

No. There won't be a trailer for Severance season 3 for a while yet. I'll update this section when one is released.

Severance season 3 cast: likely and rumored

Dichen Lachman will surely return as Gemma next season (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Full spoilers follow for Severance season 2.

Here's who I expect to see again in Severance season 3:

• Adam Scott as Mark Scout/Mark S
• Britt Lower as Helena Eagan/ Helly R
• Zach Cherry as Dylan George/Dylan G
• Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick
• Jen Tullock as Devon Scout-Hale
• Dichen Lachman as Gemma Scout/Ms. Casey
• Michael Chernus as Ricken Hale
• John Turturro as Irving Bailiff
• Christopher Walken as Burt Goodman
• Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel
• Karen Aldridge as Asal Reghabi
• Michael Sibbery as Jame Eagan
• Sydney Cole Alexander as Natalie Kalen
• Robby Benson as Doctor Mauer
• Merritt Wever as Gretchen George
• Claudia Robinson as Felicia
• Gwendoline Christie as Lorne
• John Noble as Fields

Some of the above character's returns are dependent on where the story goes next. I'll discuss season 3's potential plot later, but everyone up to and including Doctor Mauer is likely to be back next season. The final quartet's appearances hinge on Severance's continuing exploration of the real world and Lumon Industries' Mammalians Nurturable and Optics & Design departments.

Mister Drummond died in the season 2 finale (Image credit: Apple TV+)

There is one season 2 character who won't be back for more and that's Ólafur Darri Ólafsson's Mr. Drummond. He was accidentally killed by Mark in season 2 episode 10.

Mark's 'outie' unexpectedly shot Drummond in the neck as they crossed the severed barrier in the elevator leading to Lumon's testing floor. He did so because Mark's 'innie' was holding Drummond hostage – at gunpoint, FYI – as they descended in the elevator. Unfortunately for Mark (and Drummond), the switchover between Mark's two personas causes the fatality. Unless Lumon has a way of bringing people back from the dead, Ólafsson's time on one of the best Apple TV+ shows is over.

Severance season 3 story speculation

Where will Helly and Mark go from here? (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Full spoilers follow for Severance season 2.

Severance season 3's plot synopsis hasn't been revealed yet. Based on what happened in the season 2 finale, though, I can speculate on where things will go next.

For a full breakdown of what happened in last season's final episode, my Severance season 2 episode 10 ending explained piece answers many of your questions. From this point on, I'll guess where the story goes from here, so here's your final warning: full spoilers immediately follow for Severance season 2's finale. Potential season 3 spoilers are also discussed.

Will Gemma try to rescue Mark in season 3? (Image credit: Apple TV+)

The biggest question on everyone's minds is what Helly and Mark S will do next. Rather than leave Lumon for good with Gemma, Mark's 'innie' decided to stay with Helly. The pair then ran off to an unknown location as a devastated Gemma watched through the exit door's tiny window.

Helly and Mark S can't leave the severed floor as their 'outies' – Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon CEO Jame, and Mark Scout – would take over. Logic would dictate, then, that they'd find somewhere to hide. However, they're on Lumon's turf, so there's not really anywhere they can hide from the all-seeing, evil-minded biotech company.

If they're found and punished, they won't be the only ones who'll face disciplinary action. Dylan G, the other remaining member of the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team, helped Helly and Mark S in the season 2 finale. He helped trap severed floor manager Seth Milchick in MDR's bathroom, so he's in line for some form of penalty, too.

Seth Milchick's time as severed floor manager could be over (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Milchick is similarly up for the proverbial chopping block. Almost everything that occurred in the season 2 finale, titled 'Cold Harbor', happened on his watch. This isn't the first time the MDR team has put a spanner in Lumon's works during Milchick's time as MDR's boss, either, so I think his time as their manager might be coming to an end.

Read our reviews of Severance's first two seasons

- Severance season 1 review
- Severance season 2 review

Outside of Lumon's walls, an emotionally crushed Gemma will likely seek out Mark's sister Devon, plus her husband Ricken, as they're the only family we know Gemma has.

If she reunites with them, she'll probably bump into former severed floor manager Harmony Cobel, too. The quartet could formulate a new plan to rescue Mark and/or find a way to permanently get the 'innies' out of Lumon, too. Could they enlist Asal Reghabi's help to reintegrate Gemma? It's certainly a possibility, especially if Cobel has any insight into what might make the procedure more successful and/or less painful.

What is Harmony Cobel's end goal in all of this? (Image credit: Apple TV+)

There are plenty of other important questions that need answering as well.

Will we see Irving Bailiff again? If so, will he ever be reunited with Burt after they parted ways in Severance season 2 episode 9? Could they be proverbial jokers in the pack in terms of bringing down Lumon if Gemma and co. ask them to return to their former employer?

Then there's Harmony Cobel herself. Season 2 episode 8 revealed four big things about her, including that she's the original creator of the severance procedure. Will she use that to her advantage to try to force Jame Eagan, Lumon's CEO, to step down? Would she replace him if he does? How would Helena Eagan react to this and/or everything that happened in last season's finale if Lumon removes Helly R from the severance floor and allows her 'outie' (that being Helena) to re-emerge?

Season 2's penultimate episode can't be the end of Irving's story, right? (Image credit: Apple TV+)

As for Lumon itself, there are numerous unsolved mysteries left to explore.

Read more of my season 2 exclusives

- Severance creator Dan Erickson reveals the funniest fan theory he's heard about the popular Apple TV+ show: 'I think that's ridiculous'
- 'They only told me': Severance actor Dichen Lachman reveals how long she's known about Cold Harbor's true purpose in the Apple TV+ show
- 'Everyone is going to be so torn': Severance star Dichen Lachman reacts to the popular Apple TV+ show's most 'intense' season 2 finale event

I imagine there'll be some that are left to viewer interpretation, but creator Dan Erickson, Stiller, and co. will need to provide answers to some of them. I wouldn't mind if some of those answers prove some big fan theories right, too. One of the five best Severance season 2 goat theories was proven correct in season 2 episode 10, after all.

So, what mysteries need to be solved? The most obvious one is why Lumon is conducting severance-based experiments and what its end goal is with them. There are plenty more, though, including the latest enigma surrounding Kier Eagan's Grand Agendum. What is it? Why have we never heard about it before? And how does it factor into Lumon's workplace-style cult?

Where can I watch Severance?

Please try to enjoy all episodes equally (Image credit: Apple TV+)

The only place you can stream Severance's first two seasons, comprising 19 episodes, is Apple TV+. It's an Apple TV Original, so it's exclusive to that streaming platform.

If you haven't seen it yet but want to catch up on one of the best shows of recent years, you can do so by signing up for an Apple TV+ account. Our Apple TV+ price guide reveals how much a subscription costs in your world region.

If you want to try before you buy, however, a seven-day Apple TV+ free trial is currently available, so you can binge-watch seasons 1 and 2 without paying a penny. Just make sure you cancel your subscription before your trial period ends!

Has Apple confirmed if Severance season 4 is on the way?

Nobody, not even Burt Goodman, knows if a fourth season will be made (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Nope. As I mentioned earlier, Severance season 3 hasn't even entered full production yet, so any talk of a fourth season is wishful thinking.

It's unclear if there'll be a fourth chapter, too. Speaking to TechRadar ahead of season 2's release, Erickson said he "has a sense" of how the show will end and how many seasons would be "ideal" to reach its conclusion. However, Erickson and the rest of the show's chief creative team want to be "flexible enough" to tell Severance's story across as many seasons as it'll take.

I'm sure Apple will want its most popular TV Original since Ted Lasso to run for as long as possible, too. Of course, nobody wants it to outstay its welcome, but Apple TV+ hasn't had many breakout hits. Ensuring shows like Severance stick around for a while and keep customers spending their cash on Apple TV+ subscriptions makes business sense for the tech giant. Don't be surprised, then, if more seasons are greenlit alongside or after Severance season 3.

For more Apple TV-based coverage, read our guides on Foundation season 3, Slow Horses season 5, Ted Lasso season 4, and Silo season 3.

• Nvidia’s DGX Spark, once called Project Digits, is a tiny AI supercomputer
• Built on GB10, is delivers 1000 TOPS and 200B parameter support
• Dell, HPE, and Asus will offer GB10-based alternatives with similar performance

Nvidia has announced DGX Spark, a Mac Mini-sized AI supercomputer designed to bring advanced model development and inferencing directly to desktops.

The mini machine was originally called Project Digits and expected to be priced at $3000, but the change of name has caused the figure to skyrocket as it's now priced at $3999, according to Nvidia’s reservation page.

Built around the GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, DGX Spark features a Blackwell GPU with fifth-generation Tensor Cores, FP4 support, and NVLink-C2C, which enables high-bandwidth memory sharing between the GPU and Grace CPU.

(Image credit: Nvidia) OEM alternatives

The system offers up to 1,000 trillion operations per second of AI compute power and supports models with up to 200 billion parameters. It is designed to handle demanding AI workflows such as fine-tuning, inference, and prototyping without relying entirely on external infrastructure.

DGX Spark includes 128GB of LPDDR5x unified memory and up to 4TB of NVMe SSD storage, and delivers performance previously limited to data centers. It's aimed at developers, researchers, data scientists, and students working with increasingly complex AI models locally, so it’s not something most people will need.

“AI has transformed every layer of the computing stack. It stands to reason a new class of computers would emerge - designed for AI-native developers and to run AI-native applications,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.

“With these new DGX personal AI computers, AI can span from cloud services to desktop and edge applications.”

Some of Nvidia’s OEM partners are debuting desktop AI systems based on the same GB10 architecture.

Dell’s Pro Max with GB10 fits into the company’s broader AI workstation portfolio, connecting with the Dell AI Factory with Nvidia to give developers an easy path from deskside development to deployment.

HP’s ZGX Nano AI Station is another entry, offering comparable capabilities for developers who want performance and scalability without full server infrastructure.

Asus has also introduced its GB10 AI super computer, the Ascent GX10. Pricing details have not yet been confirmed, but Nvidia lists it on its DGX Spark pre-order page where it says the GX10 will cost $2999 and come with 1TB of storage.

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When it comes to staying on top of your health, there’s a wealth of technology out there that can give you a boost. The best fitness trackers can help you keep on top of your step count and exercise, while the best smart scales can help you monitor metrics like body composition.

But can you use AI to stay fit and healthy, lose weight, or build muscle? As an experienced health and fitness writer with over a decade using fitness tech like the Apple Watch, I’ve been putting ChatGPT to use as part of my health and fitness regime.

While the usual caveats about AI apply (double-check for hallucinations, etc), I have to say I’ve come away mightily impressed with it as a fitness tool. A lot of the “logistics” of fitness can often involve a lot of minutiae and data, such as calculating macros (proteins, carbs, fat) for your diet. AI is perfect for this sort of work.

So whether you want AI help developing massive workout plans for the weeks and months ahead, a full week’s worth of eating, or more granular help with day-to-day fitness needs, here’s how you can use ChatGPT to help supplement your health and fitness.

Coming up with the right prompts

Fitness and ChatGPT are a lot alike in one key aspect. You really only get out as much as you put in. If you’re half-hearted with your workouts or lax with your diet, your results will reflect that. Likewise, the more precise you are with ChatGPT, and the more effort you put into your prompts, the better the information you’ll get in return.

For example, if you ask ChatGPT, “How do I grow muscle?”, you’ll get some helpful but largely generic advice about progressive overload, reps and sets, and nutrition. None of this is wrong, and if you’re a beginner, ChatGPT can be a handy place to start collating some basic principles of health, exercise, and more.

But I’m here to tell you that ChatGPT is way more powerful than that, and it’s all about going deeper, being more specific, and really stretching the LLM’s legs. As I’ve already hinted at, ChatGPT is useful for large, comprehensive fitness and health tasks, but also for granular day-to-day stuff. Here are some of the prompts I’ve used.

1. Generate a workout plan

(Image credit: OpenAI / Future)

Can you generate an 8-week workout plan that will help me build muscle? I work out in a local gym, so can use most standard equipment, but I only have about 60 minutes a day to exercise.

ChatGPT can be used to generate a full workout plan that can last weeks or even months. This is a great example of the broader, more comprehensive approach to prompts I’m talking about. ChatGPT designed me a six-day workout plan that lasts eight weeks, with an outline of the weekly schedule and a workout breakdown by day.

There are several key components that make the prompt useful. I’ve specified the length of the plan and the goal (eight weeks, build muscle). Crucially, I’ve also specified the level of equipment I have access to, and the length of time I’d like to spend working out.

Each of these is a parameter you can tweak to your own liking, for instance, you could ask for shorter workouts, or specify that you have no equipment so you’ll need to do bodyweight exercises only.

Bonus follow-up: ChatGPT didn’t specify how much rest I should take between exercises, so this is a great follow-up question to ask.

2. Exercise help and lifting form

(Image credit: OpenAI / Future)

Can you tell me about the correct technique for doing a Romanian Deadlift?

Perhaps this is your first time lifting weights, and you’ve spotted an exercise you don’t recognize. You can ask ChatGPT for information and advice about lifting technique, specifying the correct technique to avoid any confusion. A lot of lifting technique is common sense, and I’ve not seen ChatGPT give out shoddy advice in this regard, but ChatGPT even offered me advice on several reputable fitness sources I could check out for video advice if I wanted to get a proper look.

3. Weight and progressive overload

With this workout plan - what sort of weight should I start with, and how do I lift heavier?

If you’re doing any kind of weightlifting or workout plan, especially for the first time, it’s important to know how much weight you should be lifting (and how much you shouldn’t). This is crucial to avoiding injury, but also to ensuring you’re going to make progress over time.

ChatGPT can use a prompt like this to give you general guidelines about progressive overload, but can also be used for specific examples. For instance, you could ask it to give you a progressive overload plan for bench press over a number of weeks.

4. Impromptu training

(Image credit: Future)

I'm on holiday and there's a gym in my hotel, can you generate a quick 30-minute workout for my whole body?

Perhaps you’re not looking for a comprehensive workout plan, but you’re on holiday or a work trip and want to get a quick blast in. A prompt like this can generate a full-body workout in just seconds for you to follow. All you have to specify is your time limits, the target muscle group, and the level of equipment you have access to.

5. Set your diet and nutrient benchmarks

I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 107kg, can you calculate a rough BMR for me, as well as an ideal macronutrient split for fat loss?

If you want to lose weight, pack on muscle, or maintain your physique, knowing your basal metabolic rate (how many calories your body needs each day) is crucial. With just my height and weight, ChatGPT provided a comprehensive picture of my BMR, including estimates of total daily energy expenditure based on activity levels.

Then, it suggested a calorie deficit, and a macronutrient split of protein, carbs, and fats. You can use this information to come up with your own nutrition plan or use this next prompt to get ChatGPT to do it for you.

6. Take the guesswork out of nutrition

(Image credit: Future)

I'd like you to generate a one-week meal plan targeting 2,500 kcal a day. I'd like to eat three times a day, getting 40% of my calories from protein.

If you need a diet or nutrition plan to complement your exercise, you can ask ChatGPT for a nutrition plan specifically tailored to your calorific needs. Just be sure to specify your target calories, how often you’d like to eat, and a general idea of your macronutrient split. You can be more precise too, adding in percentages for carbs and fats.

Bonus followup: ChatGPT can turn the meal plan it has generated for you into a shopping list, organized by food type to make shopping easier.

7. Day-to-day meals

I only have 600 calories left in my intake today, but need to consume around 50 grams of protein. Can you think of a good meal?

If you prefer to eyeball your nutrition or don’t want to follow a daily nutrition plan, you can also ask ChatGPT for on-the-fly meal ideas. I find it helpful to specify the number of calories left that I need, as well as any macronutrient requirements. For this prompt and the previous one, you can also specify any dietary restrictions, intolerances, or just general preferences, too.

Exercise ChatGPT

Each of these prompts is specific and useful, but can also serve as grounding for your one inspiration. For example, just as ChatGPT can create an eight-week lifting program, it can also create a running training schedule, or a plan to help you get better a cycling.

I’ve asked ChatGPT for lifting advice and techniques, but this can also be applied to other disciplines. Likewise, my nutritional goals are largely built around protein and building muscle, but you can tailor your requests to suit your needs, for instance with a focus on fat loss, or on fuelling up properly for endurance work.

Like I said, the key is to apply the principles of fitness to using ChatGPT, the more precise you are and the more effort you make with AI, the more you’ll get out of it.

You might also like...

• We asked AI chatbots Gemini and ChatGPT to design our workouts – then we tried them out
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• Here's another sign the Pixel 10 is coming
• It could be the fastest booting Pixel yet
• Expect it to appear sometime in mid-2025

The Google Pixel 9a was made official earlier this week, but we're already well into rumor season for the Pixel 10 due later this year – and the handset just popped up in Android's codebase, with a hint of a useful speed upgrade.

As spotted by Android Authority, the Pixel 10 has been namechecked in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code. That's the code on which all the various Android flavors are based, including the Pixel software and Samsung's One UI.

What's more, changes to the boot up process on the Pixel 10 are apparently leading to the handset starting up more quickly, according to a Google engineer – though of course the device will only be in the very early stages of testing right now.

It seems that's down to something called Parallel Module Loading, which basically loads up different bits of Android alongside each other, rather than one at a time – as you might have guessed from the name. The Pixel 10 is showing a 30% speed improvement in this particular part of the boot process, according to code comments.

Camera upgrades rumored

The Pixel 9a ditched the usual Pixel camera bar (Image credit: Google)

This won't be exclusive to the Pixel 10, either: Parallel Module Loading improvements should be rolling out to other recent Android handsets as well. It may well be included as part of Android 16, which is due sometime in the middle of 2025.

As for the Pixel 10, that may well make an appearance in August – which would be a neat 12 months after the launch of the Google Pixel 9 series. To date though, we haven't heard too much in the way of leaks and rumors.

We have seen some leaks in terms of model numbers and internal codenames, but they're not particularly exciting. Of more interest are rumors that the Pixel 10 could come with some camera upgrades, including an extra rear camera.

While the Pixel 9a ditched the iconic rear camera bar that we've grown accustomed to on the Pixel series, it's most probably going to make a return to the Pixel 10 phones. We can expect several different models to make an appearance again, including – perhaps – a successor to the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

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• SoftBank confirms $6.5 billion deal to acquire Arm-based chipmaker Ampere
• The deal could align Ampere with Arm and previously acquired Graphcore
• The acquisition could put Arm in direct competition with its chip partners

We previously reported that Arm is considering making its own silicon, and that the British firm’s Japanese owner, SoftBank, was considering acquiring Ampere Computing, Arm's only independent server chip vendor, to make this a reality.

Ampere, based in Santa Clara, California and backed by Oracle, designs high-performance, energy-efficient processors optimized for AI and cloud workloads using the Arm compute platform.

An acquisition by SoftBank could shift Arm from simply licensing chip designs to manufacturing its own chips - putting it in direct competition with existing customers and expanding Arm’s footprint in the growing data center space.

Complementing Arm's design strengths

Up until now, the acquisition had only been a strong rumor, but it’s now finally confirmed that SoftBank will be buying Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion (approximately ¥973.0 billion).

The deal, announced on March 19, 2025, will make Ampere a wholly owned subsidiary through SoftBank’s investment arm, Silver Bands 6.

SoftBank Group already owns a majority stake in Arm, and an affiliated company, Arm Technology Investment Ltd, also holds an 8.08% stake in Ampere.

The transaction has already been approved by SBG’s Board of Directors but as always with these things it remains subject to regulatory approvals, including U.S. antitrust clearance and review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In a statement, Softbank said, “Through this strategic alignment following the transaction, Ampere’s expertise in developing and taping out Arm-based chips can be integrated, complementing design strengths of Arm Holdings.”

It added that Ampere is expected to collaborate with “group companies, investees, and business partners.”

SoftBank said the purchase will be financed through borrowings from Mizuho Bank and others. The Raine Group is serving as financial adviser, with Morrison & Foerster providing legal counsel.

Ampere will continue operating under its current structure until the deal closes, which is expected to be in the latter half of 2025.

SoftBank previously acquired UK-based chip designer Graphcore for between $400 million and $500 million.

That company was once considered a potential rival to Nvidia and AMD, but fell on hard times after failing to capitalize on the AI boom.

It's not too much of a stretch to think that Softbank could integrate Ampere with Arm and Graphcore to build a more unified AI compute strategy across its portfolio.

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• How Ampere Computing plans to ride the AI wave
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This week was full of major announcements. Google showcased the (potentially) iPhone 16e beating Google Pixel 9a, we reviewed Assassin's Creed Shadow and loved it, and Nvidia showcased an actual Star Wars droid in real life.

To catch up on all that and more you can scroll down to see the week's seven biggest tech news stories that you don't want to have missed.

Once you're all up to speed check out our picks for the 7 new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (March 22).

1. The Google Pixel 9a broke cover

(Image credit: Google)

Google took the covers off the Pixel 9a this week, finally giving us an official look at its latest budget phone. At a quick glance, you’ll probably not notice a huge amount of difference from the Pixel 8a, but look closer, and there are some neat changes.

For starters, the phone’s design has changed with flatter sides and a larger display - which is also brighter - along with a rear camera setup that eschews the pill-shaped design of the Pixel 9 and goes for modules that sit flusher with the phone’s rear.

Under the hood, you’ll find the Google-designed Tensor G4 chip ready to power many Google Gemini activities and generative AI tools. There’s a bigger battery as well. This all comes at the same price as the Pixel 9a’s predecessor, but there’s a slight caveat in that Google has delayed the release of the phone until sometime in April due to a mystery “component quality issue”.

• Read more: Google just launched the Pixel 9a – and I reckon it embarrasses the iPhone 16e

2. We found the droid we've been looking for

Star Wars’ droids just got one step closer to reality at Nvidia's GTC 2025 keynote as Blue joined Jenson Huang on stage to show off the company’s new Newton engine. The robot bounded onto the stage after attendees watched a simulated version of the droid digitally explore the surface of a sandy planet far, far away.

This virtual landscape is what Newton is all about. Rather than needing to actually build a robot and real environments with a wide range of surface designs and materials to train your robot, with Newton, you can instead construct everything digitally, run the simulation, and the AI will gradually learn how to navigate. Once you’ve trained the model virtually, you can upload that data to a real version of the robot, and like Neo training in The Matrix Blue, other bots instantly become experts.

During the keynote, Huang also showcased a bunch of new hardware for developing AI, more humanoid robots, and autonomous vehicle tech.

• Read more: Nvidia GTC 2025 - all the news you might have missed

3. Pebble returned with two new smartwatches

(Image credit: Core Devices)

It’s a big week for retro gadget fans, as Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky’s new Core Devices company unveiled two new smartwatches running the now open-source Pebble OS. The Core 2 Duo is a low-power smartwatch with four buttons, some basic functionalities, an MIP black-and-white screen, and access to Pebble’s suite of 10,000 third-party apps.

The second watch, the Core Time 2, is an upgraded larger version with a color touchscreen and a heart rate monitor. Crucially, both watches last up to 30 days, an impressive 40 times the battery life of your average Apple Watch.

While both are limited runs, Migicovsky said he’ll “make more” if they do well. Available to pre-order now, both devices will be released in July.

• Read more: Pebble founder announces two new smartwatches, and they're basically the opposite of an Apple Watch in every way

4. We reviewed the LG C5 OLED TV

The LG C5 delivers bold, vibrant and dynamic colors, as shown on Disney's Elemental. (Image credit: Future)

We got our hands on one of 2025’s most anticipated TVs, the LG C5 OLED TV. The latest iteration in the ever-popular LG C-series, we spent a week with the C5, and spoiler alert; it’s fantastic.

Earning a full five out of five stars in our review, we loved the LG C5’s stunning picture quality, superb gaming performance, full suite of gaming features, and intuitive smart TV platform with some useful new AI tools. Even its built-in sound was solid!

To address the elephant in the room, no, it’s not that different from its predecessor, the LG C4, and while that’s around, the C5 looks overpriced. But, when the C4’s time is up, the C5 is a fantastic replacement and is already set to be one of the best TVs of 2025.

• Read more: I reviewed the LG C5 OLED TV for over a week, and it's one of the best TVs of the year

5. Deep Research went free to use

(Image credit: Google)

Deep Research is Google Gemini’s AI-powered research assistant. Rather than the usual search and response of the standard chatbot model, using Deep Research, Gemini puts together a full report on whatever you’ve asked it, including citations from sources that it analyzes.

It works best if you throw really meaty questions that need it to consult multiple sources, like “What percentage of dogs in the US are puppies?“, for example. It comes up with a plan for what research it’s going to undertake, which you can edit, and then produces its report. It can take a few minutes for Gemini to assemble a Deep Research report, but when it does, you get a document you can open in Google Docs that covers the subject conclusively.

Best of all, Deep Research is now free to all Gemini users.

• Read more: Gemini Deep Research is now free - here are 4 ways to get the most out of Google’s awesome AI tool

6. Assassin's Creed came out from the Shadows

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is out now and is immediately one of our favorites in the entire series. Offering the best open-world role-playing game in that line of Creed games, Shadows gets an awful lot right and not wrong. And I should know, having spent more than 40 hours in the game now.

A major part of the game’s success is the implementation and execution of some of the best combat in the series. Both protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, offer distinct styles of combat and a unique range of weapons they can use - but each can engage in seriously fluid, chunky, and hard-hitting combat. Whether you’re slashing at enemies with small blades as Naoe, or smashing them about the place with a Kanobo as Yusuke, the combat is Shadows is superb.

Ubisoft Quebec has also rethought world exploration and discovery with Shadows and implemented a much more rewarding and satisfying method of doing so. Instead of viewpoints revealing a sea of known entities in the landscape for you, Shadows only gives you a few points of interest and locations - unmarked, so you have to go and find out what they are. What results is a method of exploring the world that feels rewarding to explore and pulls you on from location to location, landscape to landscape, and region to region.

And while the main story wanes a little, and the Hideout mode that offers cozy base builders a little something can be a drain, there’s just so much to do in Shadows’ Feudal Japan setting that I’m going to be spending dozens more hours in it collecting tea sets, painting wildlife, meditating, learning new combos, carrying out contracts, and assassinating baddies.

• Read more: I’ve played Assassin’s Creed Shadows for more than 40 hours and can’t stop collecting tea sets, painting birds, and assassinating evil schemers

7. Lego and Pokémon broke the internet

(Image credit: Lego / Pokemon)

Lego and Pokémon broke the internet this week when everybody’s favorite plastic bricks announced a partnership with the world’s most valuable media franchise. For years, we’ve hoped for a Pikachu collaboration with Lego, and now our dreams look set to become a reality.

Coming in 2026, perfectly timed with the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, you’ll be able to go on “a real LEGO® Pokémon™ adventure." While we don’t know what LEGO sets will be made available, the teaser trailer showcased Pikachu’s tail, so Pokémon’s mascot is almost a certainty.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see regular releases celebrating the extensive library of Pokémon; after all, there are now over 1,000 species dating back to 1996. With Generation 10 on the horizon and new Nintendo Switch video games set for release this year, it’s definitely an exciting time to be a Pokémon fan.

• Read more: Pokemon and Lego announce the most electrifying collaboration of all time

• Distributed acoustic sensing detects disturbances in fibre optic signals to identify underwater threats
• NATO’s ‘Baltic Sentry’ mission enhances subsea security, but surveillance remains difficult
• AP Sensing’s North Sea deployment highlights fibre optics’ role in security

Subsea fibre optic cables are a crucial part of global internet infrastructure, yet recent damage incidents in the Baltic Sea have raised concerns about their security.

Per the BBC, there are now efforts to mitigate the risk of sabotage by using a decades-old technique known as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS).

This approach detects disturbances in fibre optic signals by capturing tiny reflections sent back along the strands due to pulses from light encountering vibrations or temperature changes, allowing the system to identify suspicious activity such as underwater drones, vessels dragging anchors, or divers near critical cables.

How fibre optics can 'listen' for threats

As with network security, where businesses rely on the best small business routers to prevent cyber threats, monitoring solutions for subsea infrastructure are becoming essential in safeguarding global communications.

Lane Burdette, a research analyst at TeleGeography, notes that the number of faults affecting subsea cables each year has remained steady, typically between 1 and 200. "Cables break all the time…The number of cable faults per year has really held steady over the last several years."

During tests conducted by AP Sensing, the system detected a diver patting a cable on the seabed, while further experiments demonstrated its ability to identify drones and vessels, potentially providing early warnings of sabotage attempts.

"He stops and just touches the cable lightly, you clearly see the signal...The acoustic energy which travels through the fibre is basically disturbing our signal. We can measure this disturbance," says Daniel Gerwig, global sales manager at AP Sensing, a German technology company.

Just as businesses depend on the best business smartphones for real-time alerts and security updates, early warning systems for subsea cables can provide critical intelligence to prevent disruptions.

Concerns over the vulnerability of these cables have led NATO to launch "Baltic Sentry," a mission using warships, drones, and aircraft to monitor activity in the region, but since constant surveillance is not always possible, demand for fibre optic acoustic sensing solutions is growing.

"It's good that Nato and the European Union have woken up…The question is how quickly you could establish contact with a vessel," said Thorsten Benner, co-founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute.

Maintaining secure communications in this environment requires the same level of reliability as the best network switches, ensuring smooth data flow and minimal disruption.

Companies such as Optics11 and Viavi Solutions are seeing increased interest in their monitoring technology, which can be deployed on military submarines or along key underwater infrastructure routes.

AP Sensing’s system is already in use in parts of the North Sea, but the technology has limitations, requiring signal interrogation points at regular intervals along the cable and having a sensing range of only a few hundred metres, meaning it can detect nearby threats but is not a complete security solution on its own.

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• Nvidia’s Quantum-X and Spectrum-X switches reduce reliance on traditional optical transceivers
• Silicon photonics boosts Nvidia’s network efficiency by 3.5x
• Quantum-X and Spectrum-X switches deliver up to 400Tbps throughput for hyperscale AI factories

Nvidia is advancing its networking technology by integrating co-packaged optics (CPO) into its Quantum InfiniBand and Spectrum Ethernet switch, a move expected to reduce power consumption and cost in AI data centers.

At its GTC 2025 event, Nvidia detailed its plans for deploying silicon photonics, which will enhance efficiency by reducing the need for traditional optical transceivers.

Instead of relying on traditional pluggable transceivers, Nvidia is embedding photonics directly into switch ASICs, cutting energy use and minimizing signal loss. These advancements benefit hyperscale AI, and could also improve small business routers with similar efficiency gains.

Nvidia seeks to cut AI data center power by over 50%.

Nvidia’s Spectrum-X and Quantum-X switches use silicon photonics to deliver higher bandwidth and lower energy consumption, supporting up to 1.6 terabits per second (Tbps) per port to efficiently connect millions of GPUs.

The Quantum-X and Spectrum-X photonics switches offer configurations ranging from 128 ports at 800Gbps to 512 ports at 800Gbps, delivering total throughputs of up to 400Tbps.

While the Spectrum-X Ethernet platform enhances multi-tenant hyperscale deployments, the Quantum-X InfiniBand switches deliver superior signal integrity and resilience, making them contenders for the best network switch.

“AI factories are a new class of data centers with extreme scale, and networking infrastructure must be reinvented to keep pace. By integrating silicon photonics directly into switches, NVIDIA is shattering the old limitations of hyperscale and enterprise networks and opening the gate to million-GPU AI factories,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

Nvidia’s new switches improve energy efficiency by a factor of 3.5, while also reducing signal degradation. In a typical AI data center with 400,000 GPUs, conventional networking setups require millions of optical transceivers, consuming significant power.

Nvidia’s approach reduces total network power from 72 megawatts to 21.6 megawatts, dramatically improving sustainability. These gains could also enhance business smartphones, enabling faster, more reliable connectivity.

While Nvidia is transitioning towards optical networking, copper remains relevant in specific configurations.

Systems like the GB200 NVL72 still use thousands of copper cables to link GPUs and CPUs via NVLink 5, offering lower power consumption at the rack level.

However, as Nvidia progresses to NVLink 6, copper’s limitations will become more apparent, reinforcing the need for photonic solutions in large-scale AI tool deployments.

Nvidia’s new switches are set for release in late 202 and 2026. The first model, the Quantum 3450-LD InfiniBand switch, launching in late 2025, will provide 144 ports of 800 Gb/sec connectivity and a total bandwidth of 115 Tb/sec.

In 2026, the Spectrum SN6810 Ethernet switch will debut with 128 ports at 800 Gb/sec and an aggregate bandwidth of 102.4 Tb/sec. A larger Spectrum SN6800 model, will also arrive in 2026, featuring 512 ports of 800 Gb/sec and a total throughput of 409.6 Tb/sec.

Via Nextplatform

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• Uperfect 23.8-inch dual foldable display offers more screen and less clutter
• Precision hinges and 360-degree folding give users control over their workspace
• Includes USB-C, HDMI, built-in speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack

Uperfect has introduced a fresh take on multi-screen monitors for programming, with its stacked dual-screen design, which opens vertically via precision hinges with a 360-degree folding capability, allowing the display to be folded, unfolded, or flipped.

Uperfect says each portable monitor with 23.8-inch panels has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, and a refresh rate of 100Hz.

The Uperfect Delta Mega saves desk space with its built-in stand, which allows for height and angle adjustments while also supporting VESA mounting for flexible setups.

Design, connectivity and ease of use

The Uperfect 23.8-inch dual foldable display supports vertical stacking of two screens, providing an ergonomic advantage and reducing the need for excessive head movements, making it one of the best monitors for trading, or for running video editing software.

The monitors don't include touch functionality, but can be adjusted. When fully extended, they function as a traditional dual-monitor setup, while folding creates a compact, book-like view suitable for presentations, or an immersive reading experience.

One of the standout features is the single-cable connection via USB-C, there's also HDMI, built-in speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone port.

The Uperfect 23.8-inch dual foldable display is currently listed at $649.99, reflecting a significant $550 discount from its original $1,199.99 price.

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• DeepSeek R1’s 671 billion parameters run smoothly on the M3 Ultra’s unified memory
• Apple’s Mac Studio proves AI workloads don’t require expensive, power-hungry GPU clusters
• M3 Ultra consumes under 200W, far less than traditional multi-GPU AI setups

Apple’s Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip has demonstrated a capability that no other personal computer can match, running the DeepSeek R1 AI tool with 671 billion parameters entirely in memory.

A test by YouTube reviewer Dave2D showed despite using a 4-bit quantized version of the model, it retained its full parameter count and performed smoothly.

The DeepSeek R1 model, a hefty 404GB of storage and high-bandwidth memory typically found in GPU VRAM, is usually run on multi-GPU setups that distribute processing across several high-end graphics cards.

A unique feat: running DeepSeek R1 in memory

However, the M3 Ultra’s unified memory system, instead of relying on external GPUs, uses its 512GB of unified memory to store and process the AI model in a way that no other personal computer can.

Although MacOS imposes a default VRAM limit, Dave Lee manually increased it through the Terminal to allocate up to 448GB for AI processing, eliminating memory bottlenecks and reducing the need for multiple components to streamline AI performance on a single system.

One of the most striking aspects of this test was the M3 Ultra's power efficiency, as it consumed less than 200W while running DeepSeek R1.

The ability to run such a demanding AI model without a multi-GPU setup challenges the industry standard, which relies on high-end Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, as the best workstations and server farms typically use GPU clusters that consume vast amounts of electricity.

Apple’s unified memory architecture enables significant power savings by sharing the M3 Ultra’s memory pool across CPU and GPU workloads, unlike conventional PC setups where VRAM is separate from system memory, maximizing bandwidth while minimizing energy use.

Apple’s Mac Studio, launched with the M3 Ultra chip, features up to a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU, making it one of the best LLM workstations and one of the best video editing computers.

Via Wccftech

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• Max added more than 120 new features to its app in 2024
• A WBD survey indicates an increase in design, stability, and personalization
• The service has been rolled out to 73 new countries in the last nine months

Max has been busy making a lot of updates to its app in the last year as part of its global expansion to more countries, but not every new feature is a welcome one.

Of the 120 new features that were added to the Max app in 2024, most are aimed at improving the content discovery journey to finding the best Max movies and best Max shows, but there have also been some less favorable ad-related updates.

These include ads that let you shop for products related to the content you're watching by clicking on a QR code, sponsored content recommendations, and commercials that target 'moments' (not to be confused with Netflix's 'moments' feature that makes sharing content on social easier).

It's an area that many of the best streaming services are increasingly doubling down on as they look for more ways to generate lost revenue from unsuccessful movies and shows. Indeed, Prime Video has also been adding a lot of the same ad features over the past year, making it slowly fill up with even more ads.

Aside from the ad onslaught, Warner Bros. Discovery has been making other changes to the Max app, including enhancements like an improved navigation design on the homepage to make your streaming life easier.

This update moved the navigation tools normally found at the top of a title to the left-side utility menu, making it much simpler to find these options (see the difference this made in the image below).

Global subscribers have also been treated to more ways to find content in the app, even while in the middle of streaming. This feature lets you browse similar titles while watching a movie or show by clicking a drop-down arrow to access the recommendation list.

Like Netflix, Max has also added similar functionality to recommend more movies and shows to watch after you've finished streaming a title. This means that after 25 seconds, if you haven't selected something else, a related genre title will automatically start playing.

Another Netflix feature that Max has added is that titles on the homepage will automatically begin playing the trailer with audio while browsing. I don't know about you, but I can't help but find this distracting while browsing for content and would rather that the audio be muted while the video plays. At least, this feature has only been rolled out to the US for now.

Other US-only features that have been added include the ability to watch five of HBO's linear channels through the app. These include HBO, HBO 2, HBO Signature, HBO Comedy, and HBO Zone.

And, of course, we can't forget the new multiview feature for 2025's NASCAR Cup Series that puts you in the driver's seat that was added to US subscribers' apps earlier this year. It's a great sports feature we're seeing being added to many streamers, such as the Apple TV app and YouTube.

These are just a small portion of the tech updates that Max's streaming app has added since September 2024, but they highlight a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that the service is doing as it looks to expand into more regions.

Max has been rolled out to 73 new countries in the space of nine months and will soon launch on Aussie shores on March 31, just in time for HBO's The Last of Us season 2, which premieres on April 13. However, for those of us in the UK, we'll have to patiently wait a bit longer until we can access all of these great features in the Max (most likely early 2026, going by reports). In the meantime, the best place to stream HBO content in the US is on Sky or Now.

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• AMD targets Nvidia’s Blackwell with upcoming Instinct MI355X accelerator
• Oracle plans massive 30,000-unit MI355X cluster for high-performance AI workloads
• That’s in addition to Stargate, Oracle’s 64,000-GPU Nvidia GB200 cluster

While AI darling Nvidia continues to dominate the AI accelerator market, with a share of over 90%, its closest rival, AMD, is hoping to challenge the Blackwell lineup with its new Instinct MI355X series of GPUs.

The MI355X, now expected to arrive by mid-2025, is manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm node and built on AMD's new CDNA 4 architecture. It will feature 288GB of HBM3E memory, bandwidth of up to 8TB/sec, and support for FP6 and FP4 low-precision computing, positioning it as a strong rival to Nvidia’s Blackwell B100 and B200.

In 2024, we reported on a number of big wins for AMD, which included shipping thousands of its MI300X AI accelerators to Vultr, a leading privately-held cloud computing platform, and to Oracle. Now, the latter has announced plans to build a cluster of 30,000 MI355X AI accelerators.

Stargate

This latest news was revealed during Oracle’s recent Q2 2025 earnings call, where Larry Ellison, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, told investors, “In Q3, we signed a multi-billion dollar contract with AMD to build a cluster of 30,000 of their latest MI355X GPUs.”

Although he didn’t go into further detail beyond that, Ellison did talk about Project Stargate, saying, “We are in the process of building a gigantic 64,000 GPU liquid-cooled Nvidia GB200 cluster for AI training.”

He later added, “Stargate looks to be the biggest AI training project out there, and we expect that will allow us to grow our RPO even higher in the coming quarters. And we do expect our first large Stargate contract fairly soon.”

When questioned further about Stargate by a Deutsche Bank analyst, Ellison gave a reply that could just as easily apply to the cluster of MI355X AI accelerators Oracle is planning to build.

"The capability we have is to build these huge AI clusters with technology that actually runs faster and more economically than our competitors. So it really is a technology advantage we have over them. If you run faster and you pay by the hour, you cost less. So that technology advantage translates to an economic advantage which allows us to win a lot of these huge deals,” he said.

Ellison also touched on Oracle’s data center strategy, saying, “So, we can start our data centers smaller than our competitors and then we grow based on demand. Building these data centers is expensive, and they’re really expensive if they’re not full or at least half full. So we tend to start small and then add capacity as demand arises.”

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• North Korea has established a new AI hacking department
• The new group will be called 'Research Center 227'
• North Korea carried out many cyber offensives in 2024, including a fake interview campaign

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) has established “Research Center 227” according to reports from Daily NK.

This research center reportedly plans to operate “around the clock” to immediately respond to real-time information from North Korean intelligence agencies.

“In late February, the Supreme Commander issued an order to the RGB under the General Staff Department to enhance overseas information warfare capabilities. This order included instructions to establish Research Center 227 for hacking technology research” a source told Daily NK.

Persistent operations

The research center is likely to be focused on "strengthening hacking capabilities” and develop hacking technologies and programs in order to neutralize western cybersecurity systems and critical infrastructure.

These offensives will primarily aim to steal information and disrupt adversary computer networks.

The center will reportedly recruit around 90 computer experts and graduates from high-profile university and doctoral programs, the source confirmed;

“These are not cyber warriors who directly carry out information warfare missions in foreign locations, but internal research staff who develop offensive programs. With the establishment of Research Center 227, the RGB’s cyber operational capabilities will be significantly strengthened in the future.”

Cyber operations in North Korea have been launched increasingly in recent times, especially from the notorious Lazarus group, which has been observed spreading malware through various large-scale attacks, and deploying infostealers to grab credentials from western organizations.

Notably, North Korean hackers have been running the ‘Contagious Interview’ campaign with fake interviews or job adverts which prompts victims to download malware disguised as video conference software.

Also included in this campaign is a series of cybercriminals faking their identities in order to take up software jobs, most likely in order to gain access to critical service systems and information from large western firms, or other fraudulent behavior.

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• Dichen Lachman has given her verdict on the Severance season 2 finale's biggest moment
• The actor believes it'll divide the hit Apple TV+ show's fanbase
• She thinks it's going to be difficult to give everyone the happy ending that they deserve

Severance star Dichen Lachman has lifted the lid on the season 2 finale moment that will divide the popular show's fanbase.

Full spoilers immediately follow for Severance season 2 episode 10. Do not proceed if you haven't seen it yet!

Does Gemma finally leave Lumon Industries with her husband Mark? Well... (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar ahead of the Apple TV Original's latest episode, Lachman said she's just as torn as everyone else will be over innie Mark's decision to choose Helly R over his outie's wife. The latter, of course, is Gemma Scout, aka the outie persona of the character that Lachman portrays.

The final installment of Severance season 2, titled 'Cold Harbor', is full of incredibly significant moments. You can read more about everything that happened in my Severance season 2 episode 10 ending explained piece.

By far the most consequential incident, though, takes place in the season 2 finale's last five minutes. After rescuing Gemma, Mark S (i.e., Mark's innie) and Ms. Casey (one of Gemma's multiple severed personas) make it to the severed floor's exit stairwell.

Gemma and Mark, together at last... for about five minutes (Image credit: Apple TV+)

There's a severance barrier installed in this doorway. So, as long as the pair leave, their outie personas will take over, and they can seemingly leave Lumon for good and get their Happily Ever After moment.

That's where things take a heart-breaking turn in the Apple TV+ series. Mark S convinces Ms. Casey to leave, which allows Gemma to take over once more. However, despite pleading with Mark S to join her in the stairwell, he hesitates just long enough for Helly R to find them.

We know Mark S loves Helly R, so we can see what's coming next. Mark S chooses Helly R over his outie's wife, and the pair flee through Lumon's labyrinthine halls as a devastated Gemma watches on through the exit door's tiny window.

I wouldn't want to be in Mark's shoes at this very moment! (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Severance fans have long been conflicted about who they want Mark to end up with. The creative team's decision to have him pick Helly over Gemma is – for the time being at least – sure to generate a fierce debate between the loyal following of one of the best Apple TV+ shows'.

For her part, Lachman admitted she was sad when she learned that, after two years apart – not to mention Mark thinking his wife had been dead all that time – Mark and Gemma's reunion is a fleeting one. Nonetheless, as a fellow fan of the sci-fi mystery-thriller series, Lachman acknowledged how tough it must have been for Mark to make the decision.

"To see him again is just like a miracle for Gemma," Lachman told me. "I think she'd pretty much given up hope [of reuniting with Mark].

"I think it's such an incredible moment for them to turn into their innies [and] for Gemma to finally leave Lumon, and then see him, as Mark S instead of her husband, choose to walk away with another woman.

Mark S (right) chooses Helly R (left) over his outie's wife Gemma (Image credit: Apple TV+)

"But, she has a moment where she realizes 'Oh my god, it's not him [her husband],'" Lachman continued. "It's so intense and I feel like the audience, even as a fan myself, everyone is going to be torn [over Mark's decision] because there's this really wild love triangle happening now. You've got Helena and Mark, Helly and Mark S, and Gemma and Mark, so it's an incredibly complicated situation.

How does anyone want this to end? It's really difficult

Dichen Lachman, Severance actor

"You feel for Helly, and Mark S, and you really believe in that beautiful connection they have. At the same time, you have Gemma and Mark. How does anyone want this to end? It's really difficult. I mean, even as a viewer, I don't know how I want to end, because there's such beautiful things about both relationships."

When I suggested the possibility of a happy ending for all parties, Lachman added: "I don't know. What is a happy ending in this situation, right? Maybe they'll have to do a timeshare! That's my personal fan theory on how things could end."

Maybe that's a story thread you can take to creator Dan Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller, Dichen? It's worth a try, especially with season 3 now officially confirmed to be in the works! For more news and exclusives on all things Severance, check out the section below.

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As much as I love my Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck, I’m not convinced the handheld gaming console exercise has been nearly perfected from-wise since Nintendo’s Game Boy.

Sure the need for batteries and the chunky build of the original model wasn’t ideal, but later models made the cosine more pocketable. And the Game Boy Advance SP took it even further with a flippable design.

Foldable phones arguably make some headway giving a bigger screen for gaming but also a device that fits into a jacket pocket. But the software and gaming experience has yet to be perfected here. And for proper modern gaming power one needs a larger console.

So what’s the solution to this? Well, I think it might be a foldable console.

Sounds a bit odd doesn’t it? But my fellow managing editor and gaming fan, Josie Watson, got a look at a foldable console concept from Samsung Display. Check the video out below.

@techradar

♬ Storytelling - Adriel

I have to say I’m rather sold on this design. Usually, I’m skeptical about such concepts; last year we saw a flexible display that could be worn as almost a sci-fi-like smartwatch and I wasn’t convinced by it.

But a foldable console that takes a Switch-style design and helps make it more pocket-sized is pretty compelling.

Obviously, there would be concerns over cooling and how much performance could be extracted from such a device. Yet mobile tech has advanced enough to cleverly split chipsets into modules and use batteries that are separated but provide a single pool of power to tap into.

So I feel that there’s more scope for a foldable games console to become a practical reality.

What’s more, I reckon Microsoft could be the one to make it happen, given it’s partnered with Samsung before on the gaming side; I just don’t expect this to happen with the rumored Xbox handheld.

If nothing else, I’m still glad to see Samsung Display coming up with intriguing concepts, especially when the mainline company is increasingly treading the path of releasing iterative products, as seen with the Samsung Galaxy S25.

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• Sirui joins the L-Mount Alliance along with Panasonic, Leica and more
• First Sirui L-Mount product will be an Aurora 85mm portrait lens
• More L-Mount lenses promised before end of 2025

The L-Mount Alliance just announced the addition of a new member – and it’s fantastic news for lovers of cheap, high-quality lenses.

Chinese lens manufacturer Sirui has become the latest company to sign up to the burgeoning technical and strategic partnership, which began in 2018 with founders Leica, Panasonic, Sigma and Ernst Leitz Wetzlar, adding DJI, Astrodesign, Samyang and Blackmagic Design to its ranks in the intervening years. In addition to dozens of lenses, there are currently around 20 L-Mount camera bodies on the market, including the Panasonic Lumix S1R II, Leica SL3, DJI Ronin 4D, Blackmagic Pyxis 6K and new Sigma BF.

Sirui’s membership means that it will now begin developing first-party lenses for the L-Mount system, starting with the Aurora 85mm f/1.4, a portrait prime with autofocus (a rarity for Sirui) and weighing just 504g.

The Sirui Aurora 85mm lens is already available for several mount systems – and L-Mount is next. (Image credit: Sirui) Affordable glass incoming

The Aurora is already available in Nikon Z, Sony E and Fujifilm X mount variants at an RRP of $499 / £456 / AU$763, which is exceedingly affordable for such a fast full-frame prime. And with most of Sirui’s lenses being relatively cheap, the company’s addition to the L-Mount Alliance looks like great news for thrifty L-Mount camera owners. In addition to still photography-focussed lenses like the Aurora, Sirui makes a wide line of cinema lenses, so L-Mount filmmakers may have some new high-quality glass available to them before too long.

Sirui disclosed the news about the imminent arrival of the L-Mount Aurora in a Facebook post, without confirming a release date. However, with the post also claiming that other Sirui autofocus lenses will join L-Mount before the end of 2025, it doesn’t sound like we’ll have too long to wait.

Now that Sirui is part of the L-mount Alliance, what L-mount versions of Sirui lenses do you hope to see? Let us know in the comments below

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• WP Ghost, a popular security plugin, carried a 9.6-severity flaw
• It allows threat actors to execute malicious code, remotely
• The developers released a patch, and users should update now

WP Ghost, a popular security WordPress plugin, was carrying a vulnerability that allowed threat actors to launch Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks and take over entire websites.

All versions of WP Ghost up to 5.4.01 are flawed, and if you’re using this plugin, make sure to update it to version 5.4.02.

“The WP Ghost plugin suffered from an unauthenticated Local File Inclusion vulnerability,” explained researchers from Patchstack. “The vulnerability occurred due to insufficient user input value via the URL path that will be included as a file. Due to the behavior of the LFI case, this vulnerability could lead to Remote Code Execution on almost all of the environment setup.”

Updating the add-ons

The bug is now tracked as CVE-2025-26909, and was given a severity score of 9.6/10 (critical). It was patched by adding extra validation on the supplied URL or path from the user.

WP Ghost is a popular website builder security plugin, with more than 200,000 installs.

The plugin’s page states that it stops 140,000 attacks and more than nine million brute-force attempts every month.

It claims to offer protection against SQL injection, script injection, vulnerability exploitation, malware dropping, file inclusion exploits, directory traversal attacks, and cross-site scripting attacks.

“When working with user-provided data for a local file inclusion process, always implement a strict check on the supplied value and only allow users to access specific or whitelisted paths or files,” Patchstack concluded.

WordPress is a major target for cybercriminals, and its platform is quite robust, but it comes with a huge repository of third-party plugins and themes, both free-to-use, and paid ones.

Many of these are vulnerable to different exploits, which is why WordPress users are advised to carefully choose their add-ons, and always make sure to keep them updated.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Trust in data handling is declining across almost all sectors, report finds
• Thales says younger consumers are less likely to trust organizations
• 96% of consumers don't trust social media companies with their data

2025 has seen a “universal decline in trust for digital services” in comparison to this time last year, new research has claimed

Of the 14,000 consumers surveyed in the Thales 2025 Digital Trust Index report, banking was the number one industry named in regards to who consumers trust most when sharing their personal information- although with only a 44% approval rate.

Close behind are Government and Healthcare, with 41% and 40% respectively, an interesting finding considering millions of users have been affected by data breaches in the healthcare industry in recent months.

Data privacy concerns

Past the top three, the results get much more concerning. Insurance companies rank fourth, with just a 24% approval rate - and at the bottom of the scale, Social media and News media organizations have just a 4% and 3% rating - meaning users overwhelmingly lack trust in their data security within those sectors.

This represents a decline, year-on-year for every industry except Government organizations, and worryingly, there is a significant difference in how older and younger consumers feel, with 51% of over 55s expressing trust, but just 32% of Gen Z consumers feeling the same.

Other recent research found over 70% of websites share your personal data with third parties, even if you don’t consent, so when paired with the seemingly constant data breaches, it can’t be too much of a surprise that consumer trust is slipping.

“Global trust in digital services is decreasing or remaining stagnant at best, even among highly regulated industries,” said Sebastien Cano, Senior Vice President, Cybersecurity Products at Thales.

“One area that does not remain stagnant is the threat landscape. Consumers are more aware than ever before of online threats, and the consequences of their data falling into the wrong hands. As cyber threats evolve so does consumer scepticism, and brands must continuously adapt their security measures to stay ahead and rebuild confidence.”

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