Gadgets News.
Phones, wearables and the consumer hardware worth your attention, tested against the marketing. We cover the launches that matter, the specs that are real, and whether the upgrade is actually worth it.
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Inter's Payment Ring Bets on Screenless Banking
Inter launched the Inter Ring and Inter Wristband in the US on July 13, contactless payment accessories with no screen, no battery and no phone required. They extend an existing Inter credit card rather than acting as separate accounts, which is the design decision that makes them work.
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Samsung's Galaxy Able: Its First Clip-On, Bone-Conduction Buds
Samsung's Galaxy Wearable app revealed Galaxy Able, its first clip-on wireless earbuds, reportedly using bone conduction to leave the ear canal open, a play for the open-ear category, though reports say the launch may slip past the July 22 Unpacked event.
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Garmin's Screen-Free CIRQA Takes Aim at Whoop
Garmin's upcoming CIRQA is a screen-free recovery band focused on stress, sleep, alertness and readiness rather than workouts, positioning it directly against Whoop, and if it ships without Whoop's mandatory subscription it becomes the obvious alternative.
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Surface Laptop 8, Surface Pro Get Snapdragon X2
Microsoft refreshed the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2, claiming up to 58% more graphics performance and 20-hour battery, but with familiar designs and pricier Surface Pro base models.
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DJI Osmo 360 Is DJI's First Shot at Insta360's Crown
DJI is launching the Osmo 360, its first-ever 360-degree camera, on July 15, directly challenging Insta360's dominance of the spherical-camera market. It anchors a July blitz that also includes the Osmo Nano and the DJI Mic 3.
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Galaxy Z Flip 8 Grows Its Cover Screen and Adds Qi2 Charging
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 8, expected at Unpacked on July 22 in London, stretches the cover display to 4.1 inches and adds first-ever Qi2.2 wireless charging, while the 4,300mAh battery and camera hardware carry over from the Flip 7.
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Amazfit Balance 3 Pushes 21-Day Battery and Sapphire
The Amazfit Balance 3 targets hybrid fitness athletes with a 1.5-inch sapphire-glass AMOLED at up to 3,000 nits, offline maps, and a claimed 21 days of battery, undercutting Apple and Garmin on endurance where flagship watches still struggle.
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Oppo Reno 16 Lands as Memory Costs Squeeze Mid-Range Phones
Oppo is unveiling its Reno 16 mid-range lineup in July 2026, but the more important story is the backdrop: rising memory prices and a chip crunch are quietly squeezing the mid-range segment, where value phones live or die on the component bill.
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Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: Bigger Battery, Smarter Health
The rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 leads with a roughly 784 mAh battery, far larger than the Watch 9 lineup, targeting the multi-day endurance and health-AI sensing that now decide the smartwatch race.
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Garmin Forerunner 70 and 170 Rework the Budget Runner
Garmin's new Forerunner 70 and 170 replace the aging Forerunner 55 and 165 with a shared 43mm case, a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, and five physical buttons, pushing better screens into the budget running tier.
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Coros Balance 3: a $370 watch with 21-day battery life
Coros's Balance 3 pairs a 3,000-nit sapphire AMOLED and offline maps with up to 21 days of battery, undercutting Garmin and Apple on the one spec smartwatch buyers complain about most: uptime.
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TCL's 2026 flagship TV hits 10,000 nits and 20,000 zones
TCL’s 2026 flagship Mini-LED TV pushes measured peak brightness near 10,000 nits with more than 20,000 local dimming zones, the most of any consumer TV tested, running Google TV with Gemini built in.
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Sennheiser Momentum 5 makes its battery user-replaceable
Sennheiser's new Momentum 5 Wireless flagship keeps the familiar look but adds a user-replaceable battery you can swap with a screwdriver, plus higher-resolution audio and Dolby Atmos with head-tracking, a rare repairability win in premium headphones.
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UBTech's U1 Puts a Silicone-Skinned Humanoid in the Home
UBTech has launched the U1, a consumer humanoid built for companionship with lifelike silicone skin, 88 servo joints, and an emotional-AI model that runs locally on the device. Priced from about $17,650 with 10,000+ preorders, it moves humanoids from the factory to the living room.
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Xiaomi Watch S5 pairs a 21-day battery with bright AMOLED
The Xiaomi Watch S5 leans on the two things that matter most in a smartwatch: a 1.48-inch AMOLED that hits 2,500 nits with a 40% slimmer bezel, and an 815mAh battery that lasts up to 21 days on light use, a 68% jump over the Watch S4.
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Nothing Phone (4b) Brings Glyph Design to a Budget Price
Nothing launched the Phone (4b) on July 7, its first b-series handset, pushing its transparent design and glyph identity below the a-series with a 6.77-inch AMOLED, Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, and a 5,400mAh battery.
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Xreal R1 Brings a 171-Inch 240Hz Display to Your Face
Xreal's R1 AR glasses, available from July 2026, put a 171-inch virtual screen at up to 240Hz in front of your eyes, aimed squarely at PC, PlayStation and Xbox gamers rather than the mixed-reality metaverse.
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Fi Ultra: first dog tracker powered by Starlink
Fi launched the Fi Ultra this morning, the first consumer wearable powered by T-Mobile's T-Satellite with Starlink. It keeps tracking a dog off the cell grid by auto-switching from LTE to low-earth-orbit satellites, and costs $199 plus a $189-a-year plan.
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Motorola's Razr 70 Ultra pushes the flip foldable
Motorola is bringing its Razr 70 and premium Razr 70 Ultra flip foldables to market, leaning on a large cover display and refined hinge to keep pressure on Samsung's Flip line just as the whole foldable segment gets its most competitive year.
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Samsung sets July 22 Unpacked for a new wide foldable
Samsung confirmed Galaxy Unpacked for July 22, 2026 in London under the tagline A New Shape Unfolds, teasing a foldable that is shorter and wider than the standard Galaxy Z Fold. Pre-reservations are already open with up to $1,230 in savings.
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Lenovo Legion 7a Gen 11 Lands in July at $2,299
Lenovo launches the 15-inch Legion 7a Gen 11 gaming laptop in July starting at $2,299, a bet that a thinner, quieter flagship beats raw wattage as gaming laptops mature.
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Google Sets August 12 for Pixel 11 and Watch 5 Reveal
Google confirmed on July 7 that Made by Google 2026 lands Wednesday, August 12 in New York City, where it will reveal the Pixel 11 lineup and Pixel Watch 5, its earliest Pixel launch ever and a month ahead of Apple.
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Logitech's Mobi Fold Is Its First Foldable Mouse
Logitech introduced the Mobi Fold, its first foldable wireless mouse, which collapses flat to slip into a pocket and pops back into a full-size ergonomic shape for travel use.
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Nothing Launches the Phone (4b) and Ear (3a) Together
Nothing unveiled the Phone (4b) and the budget Ear (3a) on July 7, pairing a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 handset with a 6.77-inch 120Hz AMOLED and 6000mAh battery alongside roughly $99 earbuds, doubling down on affordable design-led hardware.
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Fitbit Air Is a Screenless, Subscription-Free Whoop Rival
Fitbit Air is a screenless health band that tracks heart rate, SpO2, skin temperature, and motion, feeding Google's new Health app. It lasts about a week per charge and, unlike Whoop, needs no subscription.
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Valve Prices the Steam Machine at $1,049
Valve has priced its new Steam Machine at $1,049, a compact SteamOS console-PC for the living room, with reservations open and the first purchase invitations going out at the end of June, marking Valve's most serious hardware push since the Steam Deck.
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Meta Glasses: First In-House AI Eyewear at $299
Meta launched Meta Glasses, its first in-house-designed smart eyewear starting at $299, dropping the Ray-Ban and Oakley branding and running its new Muse Spark on-device AI model.
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Snap's $2,195 Specs Bet AR Glasses Beat the Phone
Snap unveiled Specs, its first consumer AR glasses, at Augmented World Expo, priced at $2,195 and shipping this fall. Running on two Qualcomm Snapdragon chips with about four hours of battery, Specs trade Vision Pro bulk for a wearable look and bet that lightweight, AI-powered glasses are the device that finally follows the smartphone.
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Sony Xperia 1 VIII Outruns the Pixel 10 Pro XL
Sony's Xperia 1 VIII runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and, per GSMArena, out-benchmarks the Pixel 10 Pro XL, giving Sony's creator-focused flagship, headphone jack, manual camera and cinematic screen intact, the raw speed it always lacked.
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Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Goes Passport-Shaped July 22
Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked on July 22 will debut the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which reportedly adopts a wider 4:3 passport-style shape influenced by Apple's first foldable, alongside a refined Galaxy Z Flip 8.
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Xreal R1 puts a 171-inch 240Hz screen on your face
The Xreal R1 is a pair of display glasses, now up for preorder with July 2026 availability, that projects a 171-inch virtual screen at up to 240Hz in front of your eyes for PC, PlayStation and Xbox gaming, positioning it as a portable big-screen rival to a gaming monitor rather than a smart-glasses assistant.
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Soundcore's Liberty 5 Pro Max Earbuds Take Meeting Notes
Soundcore's Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds pack a dedicated AI chip and an 8-microphone charging case that records up to 12 hours of in-person conversation, then auto-transcribes it with speaker labels and translation, all for around $230.
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Fitbit Air Is Google’s $99 Screenless Whoop Rival
Google launched the Fitbit Air, a $99.99 screenless pebble-shaped tracker with no mandatory subscription, 24/7 heart-rate and AFib monitoring, seven-day battery and a Gemini-powered coach, undercutting Whoop by putting subscription-free recovery tracking at a one-time price.
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Oppo's Reno16 Puts a 200MP Camera in a Mid-Ranger
Oppo's Reno16 series brings a 200MP main camera, a 6700mAh battery and 80W charging to the mid-range, with an unusual twist: the Pro runs a MediaTek Dimensity 8550 while the standard model uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. It is rolling out market by market through early July 2026.
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Samsung's Galaxy Glasses Bet AI Beats a Screen
Samsung is expected to reveal its first AI smart glasses at the July 22 Unpacked: Android XR with Gemini built in, a 12MP camera, speakers and mics, and no display, offloading all processing to a paired phone.
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Xreal's R1 Puts a 171-Inch Game Screen on Your Face
Xreal opened preorders for the R1, AR glasses that project a 171-inch virtual display at up to 240Hz for PC, PlayStation and Xbox players, priced around $850 with availability starting July 2026.
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Samsung's July 22 Unpacked Bets Big on Thinner Foldables
Samsung will host Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, 2026, in London, expected to reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and a thinner Z Flip 8, new Galaxy Watches, and its first smart glasses, as it fights to keep the foldable lead.
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Sony's ColleXion Marks 10 Years of 1000X Headphones
Sony's 1000X The ColleXion is a limited anniversary edition of its flagship noise-canceling headphones, built on the WH-1000XM6 with more premium materials, marking a decade since the original MDR-1000X reset the ANC category.
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Insta360's Luna Ultra Puts a Leica and Two Lenses in Your Pocket
Insta360 launched the Luna Ultra on June 10, 2026, its first pocket gimbal camera, co-engineered with Leica. At $769.99 it packs dual lenses, a 1-inch 8K sensor, 6x lossless zoom, and a detachable touchscreen that doubles as a remote.
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The Fitbit Air Drops the Screen, and That Is the Whole Point
Fitbit's new Air is a screenless health tracker built in the mold of Whoop. Removing the display is not a cost cut. It is a bet about what wearables are actually for.
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Sony's New Flagship Keeps the Headphone Jack and microSD. It's an Anti-Flagship on Purpose.
The Xperia 1 VIII ships with a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD slot, and a real shutter button, the features every other 2026 flagship abandoned. Sony is making a deliberate bet on the people the industry left behind.
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Smart Glasses Get Another Shot, This Time With Gemini and a Warby Parker Frame
Google's new Gemini-powered eyewear, made with Warby Parker and running Android XR, is the most credible attempt yet at smart glasses. The real product is not the glasses. It is the always-on AI behind them.
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The Quiet Brilliance of E-Ink Beyond Books
E-ink is famous for e-readers, but the technology is creeping into places that have nothing to do with reading novels, and the reasons are clever.
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Handheld Gaming PCs Are Having a Moment
A category that seemed dead has roared back, letting people play full PC games anywhere. The revival says a lot about how far mobile hardware has come.
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The Smartphone Plateau: Why Upgrades Feel Boring
Each new flagship phone is technically better than the last, yet the excitement keeps fading. The boredom is a sign of maturity, not stagnation.
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Why 'Repairable' Is the New Premium
For years, thinner and more sealed meant more premium. A growing movement is flipping that, treating the ability to fix your own device as a mark of quality.
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E-Readers Quietly Became the Best Gadget You Own
In a world of devices fighting for your attention, the humble e-reader stands out by doing the opposite, and that's exactly why people love it.
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The Underrated Power Bank: Boring, Essential, Everywhere
No gadget gets less attention while being more relied upon. The portable battery is the quiet workhorse propping up every other device you own.
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Why Smartwatches Stopped Being About Notifications
Early smartwatches sold themselves as a way to check your wrist instead of your phone. The category found its footing only when it changed the pitch entirely.
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USB-C Won. Here's What That Actually Means.
One connector to rule them all sounded like a dream after decades of incompatible cables. The reality of USB-C is a victory with an asterisk.
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Why Foldable Phones Still Haven't Gone Mainstream
Folding phones have been on sale for years and still feel like a novelty. The reasons reveal what it actually takes for a new form factor to win.
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Wireless Earbuds and the Death of the Headphone Jack
Removing the headphone jack was mocked as a cynical cash grab. Years later, the trade-off it forced looks more complicated than either side admitted.