The foldable phone category began in 2019 with Royole's FlexPai, an awkward but functional first commercial device using flexible OLED. Samsung's Galaxy Fold followed the same year but suffered widespread screen failures tied to a misunderstood protective layer, forcing a delay and redesign. Huawei took a different approach with the outward-folding Mate X, which looked elegant but left its display exposed to scratches and was never sold in the US due to sanctions.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-18
Following Samsung's July Unpacked launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, some buyers say apps don't properly scale to the device's 4:3 internal screen despite the phone's App Continuity feature meant to ease transitions between displays. Users have been discussing workarounds on online forums to address the sizing glitches.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-18
Samsung has confirmed that several Galaxy Tab lines are receiving their last major OS upgrades. The Tab S9, S9+, S9 Ultra, S9 FE and S9 FE+ will get One UI 9 (Android 17) as their final update, with security patches continuing to around 2028. The Tab S8 series and the budget Tab A9 line have already received their final OS upgrade, One UI 8 (Android 16), with security support ending in 2027 for the S8 models and about a year from now for the A9 series.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-17
Android Auto, the Google interface normally projected onto a car's dashboard display, can be run on an old Android tablet using third-party receiver apps instead of an actual vehicle. The phone handles all the processing, so even an aging tablet that struggles with regular apps can display Android Auto's simplified maps, music and messaging layout.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-17
Samsung Galaxy phones running One UI 6.1.1 or later come with Auto Blocker enabled automatically, a feature that filters risky apps, USB commands and messages in the background. It blocks sideloaded apps and installs from outside the Google Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store unless users manually adjust the setting. Epic Games previously sued Samsung, arguing the feature made installing third-party apps like its own store unnecessarily difficult.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-17
Astronomers studying three faint galaxies—DF2, DF4, and DF9, located about 65 million light-years away—found they contain almost no dark matter, unlike most galaxies. A paper published in The Astrophysical Journal in June 2026 proposes these galaxies formed when two ordinary galaxies collided, with their gas and dust clumping together while dark matter passed through largely undisturbed, leaving behind dark-matter-poor remnants.
quantamagazine.org
· 2026-10-17
Amazon is selling the Samsung Galaxy Book 6, a 16-inch touchscreen laptop, for $1,360, a price cut described as 50% off its usual cost. The device includes Copilot+ AI features and is rated for up to 24 hours of battery life.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-10-16
Apple opened preorders for the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, on Friday at 5 a.m. PT. Preordered units are now backordered until January 29, even though the phone officially launches October 23 and will be available in stores that day. The device starts at $1,999 and features a 7.6-inch inner display, a 5.4-inch outer screen, dual 48-megapixel cameras, and Apple Pencil support.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-16
Apple opened pre-orders for its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, on Friday, and delivery estimates quickly slipped to roughly three months out. The $1,999 device features a 7.6-inch folding display and an A20 Pro chip, and competes with Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold line.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-16
Apple has entered the foldables market with the iPhone Duo, adopting a shorter, wider form factor similar to Samsung's Galaxy Fold 8 and Google's Pixel Fold rather than taller folding designs. CNET's hands-on coverage notes the device is priced near $2,000 and offers Apple's typical build quality, though it lacks the camera and battery upgrades found in the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-15
Apple has published out-of-warranty repair pricing for its new foldable iPhone Duo, which starts at $1,999 for 256GB and reaches $3,199 for 2TB. Repairs range from $49 for cover layer damage to $999 for inner display replacement and $1,499 for unspecified 'other damage,' according to Apple's support documentation.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-14
A developer known as keepvaibin has released an unofficial, native PC port of Super Mario Galaxy, built with help from Anthropic's Claude AI but containing no Nintendo code or assets. The port runs on Windows 10 and up, needs only 8GB of RAM, supports ultrawide aspect ratios, upscaling and multiple controller types, and requires users to supply their own copy of the original game. It remains a work in progress, with some known bugs including frame drops in certain areas and audio skipping under heavy CPU load.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-14