GoKawiil
Tech News
This holiday season, Americans are spending less on tech products, with average expenditures dropping from $931 to $808 compared to last year. Despite the release of new devices like the iPhone Duo and Switch 2, higher living costs and minimal innovation have led consumers to be more cautious with their budgets. Many are questioning whether new tech is worth the expense given the current economic pressures.
Rhinoshield has introduced its Impact Bumper Case designed specifically for the iPhone 18 Pro, featuring a slim profile with reinforced supports to protect the camera lenses and prevent wobbling on flat surfaces. The case is made from a single piece of hard plastic and is available in three colors matching the iPhone's palette. Some users may find the fit slightly loose and the buttons difficult to press, but overall, it offers a lightweight protective option for minimalists.
During Prime Day 2026, Amazon features discounts on various phone accessories, including cables, wallets, and portable batteries. Prices have generally increased across electronics, making some deals less competitive than in previous years, but still offering savings for shoppers in need of upgrades.
Apple is beta testing iOS 27.2 well ahead of its usual schedule, with the update expected to launch during the week of October 26. The release will add Siri support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, features Apple previously said would arrive the month after iOS 27's debut. iOS 27.1, by contrast, is reportedly limited to the new iPhone Duo launching October 23, with other iPhones skipping straight to 27.2.
Meta has expanded its agentic AI assistant Muse to iPad after weeks as the top free iPhone app in the U.S. App Store. The update also adds new business-tool connectors including Asana, Canva, Dropbox, Figma, QuickBooks, GitHub, Klaviyo, Zoom, Granola and Notion, letting Muse handle tasks like marketing plans, client pitches and product pages with user approval.
9to5Mac editors compiled a roundup of items they personally added to their carts during Amazon's fall Prime Day event, which is in its final hours. Picks span Apple products like AirPods Pro 3, Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse, along with items like a Bambu Lab 3D printer, Samsung monitor, Logitech mouse, and LEGO sets.
A tech writer reports that enabling Apple's Call Screening feature, introduced in iOS 26 with the 'Ask Reason for Calling' option, eliminated spam and scam calls impersonating their mobile carrier and fake job offers that had been arriving weekly. The feature requires callers to state their reason before the phone rings through to the user.
Amazon's fall 2026 Prime Day sale includes discounts on official Apple accessories such as AirPods Pro 3 for $179 (down from $249), AirPods Max 2 for $429, and the first-ever discount on the new 2026 Apple Magic Keyboard. Other deals include iPhone 18 Pro cases, Magic Mouse, AirTag 2 starting at $22.50, and MagSafe battery packs, alongside third-party charging gear from Anker, Belkin, Satechi, and Logitech.
Android Authority's battery benchmarks show the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's new 5,000mAh silicon-carbon cell outperforms last year's 4,400mAh lithium-polymer battery in most tests, but the improvement is smaller than the raw capacity increase suggests. The report attributes this partly to the phone's new 200MP camera and faster processor offsetting battery gains, particularly in photo-shooting endurance.
iPhone and Android devices include native spam-call filtering that can replace third-party apps like Truecaller. On iPhone, users can enable Call Filtering under Settings > Apps > Phone to send carrier-flagged junk calls to voicemail, separate Unknown Callers into their own list, and choose how to handle unrecognized numbers via the Screen Unknown Callers settings, including an option that asks callers to state their reason before the phone rings through.
Apple announced it will release its fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results, with a conference call following at 2 p.m. PT featuring new CEO John Ternus alongside CFO Kevan Parekh. Last year's Q4 saw $102.47 billion in revenue and $27.47 billion in profit, and Apple has guided for 9-11% year-over-year revenue growth this quarter despite currency headwinds and supply constraints.
iOS 27.2 beta 3 introduces several design changes to Apple's Books app, including new progress bars to track reading location and a redesigned bottom-right menu using Liquid Glass styling. The bookmark button has moved out of that menu into a standalone icon in the upper-right, while the 'X' button shifted to the upper-left and the 'Back' button moved to a larger position in the lower-left.