GoKawiil
Tech News
Motorola posted an Instagram Reel showing the history of its Razr line, ending with a silhouette of a new device that folds like a book rather than flipping vertically like past Razr phones. The teaser shows a thicker, boxier shape but offers no name, release date, or specifications. This follows Motorola's earlier 2025 launches of three clamshell Razr models and the full-sized Razr Fold.
Apple has entered the foldable phone market with its iPhone Duo, adopting the same short, wide 'passport-style' form factor that Samsung recently introduced with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Samsung, which also supplies Apple's folding display components, reported that the Z Fold 8 and its larger Z Fold 8 Ultra variant are selling 30 percent better than last year's Fold 7 in their first month on the market.
Apple confirmed its long-rumored folding phone, the iPhone Duo, at its 'Surprise and shine' event. Unlike vertical flip phones such as the Motorola Razr, the Duo opens horizontally like a book or passport, featuring a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer display, and comes in star white and night sky colors. Apple says it's the thinnest iPhone ever when unfolded.
Reports indicate Samsung is already developing a successor to its still-unreleased smart glasses, suggesting the company is planning a multi-year product roadmap before the debut device even reaches consumers. Details on the follow-up model's features remain unclear at this stage.
OpenAI Korea's general manager Harrison Kim said the company has made significant progress working with Samsung Electronics on next-generation chip development and production. This suggests OpenAI could source future AI accelerators from both Samsung Foundry and TSMC, rather than relying solely on TSMC as it does for its current Jalapeño inference chip built with Broadcom.
Samsung published a promotional message welcoming Apple to the foldable phone market just hours before Apple's anticipated launch event, where a foldable iPhone is rumored to debut. The post emphasized Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold as 'the world's lightest fold,' positioning the company as the established leader in the category.
Amazon has cut the price of Crucial's 4TB T705 SSD to $502.51, down from nearly $700 a few weeks ago and its lowest price since February. That makes it the most affordable PCIe Gen 5 drive currently available, undercutting the Samsung 990 Evo Plus by about $60 despite offering true four-lane Gen 5 performance.
Samsung R&D executive Hee-Cheul Moon publicly welcomed Apple's upcoming entry into foldable phones, framing it as validation of Samsung's early lead in the category. However, he pointedly stressed that device weight is the critical factor for customer satisfaction, an apparent dig at reports that Apple's foldable will weigh roughly 235g compared to the Galaxy Fold 8's 201g. Market analysts project Apple could capture 40% of the foldable market within a year, edging past Samsung's current 38% share.
Apple's standard iPhone 17 starts at $799, while the Google Pixel 11 and Samsung Galaxy S26 both launch at $899, a $100 gap that has flipped the usual value equation in the flagship smartphone market. Rising RAM and storage costs, plus heavier investment in on-device AI, are cited as reasons behind the higher pricing from Google and Samsung, and rumors suggest Apple may delay the iPhone 18 launch, potentially extending this pricing advantage.
Apple's Surprise and Shine event is set to reveal its first foldable phone, reportedly named iPhone Duo rather than the earlier rumored iPhone Ultra, alongside the expected iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports the device will start around $2,000 for 256GB and reach $3,000 for 2TB, launching around October with Apple Pencil support at launch.
TrendForce reports Apple's smartphone production rose 14% year-over-year to about 52 million units in Q2 2026, giving it a 19% global share behind only Samsung's 62 million units. The overall global smartphone market fell 8% to 275 million units, a smaller drop than analysts had expected, prompting TrendForce to raise its full-year 2026 forecast to 1.07 billion units.
Samsung reports that combined US purchases of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra are running 30% ahead of last year's Z Fold 7, which itself was the most pre-ordered Fold model ever. The two Fold devices now make up about 80% of total Galaxy Z8 series purchases, with the Z Flip 8 accounting for the rest. Samsung also says roughly 30% of Flip 8 buyers switched from rival brands, most of them first-time foldable owners.