Android

TL;DR The Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a wider, passport-style 5.5-inch cover display (10:16 aspect ratio) and a 7.6-inch inner display (4:3 aspect ratio) with up to 3,000 nits brightness. Weighing 201g and using Flex Titanium tech, it is Samsung’s lightest Fold yet, though it drops S Pen support on both screens. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it ships with One UI 9 (Android 17) and Gemini Intelligence and app automation, and has a starting price of $1,899.99. At Samsung Unpacked today, Samsung is taking the next step in the evolution of the Fold lineup, rebranding the successor to the “tall” Fold 7 as the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra, and releasing a “wide” Galaxy Z Fold 8 that better positions the brand against Apple’s impending wide-bodied iPhone Ultra foldable. There’s also the Galaxy Z Flip 8, the Galaxy Watch 9, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 rounding up the launch event. Galaxy Z Fold 8 design and display: Samsung is trying out a new aspect ratio

Samsung debuted the first Galaxy Z Flip back in 2020, and these devices remain among the most popular foldable phones globally. The company launched the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Flip 7 FE last year, and it’s now back with the newly announced Galaxy Z Flip 8. From specs and pricing to availability and more, here’s what you need to know about the new Flip phone. Galaxy Z Flip 8 release date, price, and availability

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Latest crowdsourced reports from Ookla and Opensignal establish T-Mobile as the fastest and the most reliable major network in the US. AT&T posted the highest growth in terms of download and upload speeds. Verizon dominated with the widest network coverage in the US. Telecom industry analysis firms Opensignal and Ookla have released their half-yearly reports detailing the performance of various carriers across the US, and there’s a clear winner. Both reports once again hail “the un-carrier” T-Mobile as the leader across various performance parameters based on crowdsourced data. Ookla held T-Mobile as the “Best Mobile Network overall,” offering the fastest median download speeds, including 314.38 Mbps on 5G and 275.55 Mbps across different network protocols. Verizon was second in both categories after T-Mobile. T-Mobile also dominated multiple categories in Ookla’s previous half-yearly report, with the fastest download speeds in a similar fashion.

TL;DR Philips Hue could be planning to launch an outdoor table called the Philips Hue Go XXL. The table was originally teased as an April Fool’s joke last year. It could be a large outdoor table, and the company could launch it in September. Philips Hue is gearing up to launch a bunch of new lighting products, most likely at IFA Berlin in September. We’ve already reported on a possible camera to sync Hue lights to media playing on a TV, and now it seems the company could be launching some other new products as well. According to a report from Hueblog, the company accidentally leaked the Hue Go XXL in a video recording that has since been edited. The Hue Go XXL is an outdoor table with a built-in light and was originally teased as an April Fool’s prank last year. Since then, however, an icon for the table has been spotted in the Hue app, and today’s leak hints that the company could launch it sooner rather than later.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Verizon is experiencing an international roaming outage, leaving travelers outside the US without mobile service and causing phones to drop into SOS or satellite mode. Users across Reddit, X, and Facebook have reported the disruption, which Verizon support has seemingly confirmed is linked to an active issue with international partner networks. No official timeline has been given for when services will be restored. With the recent changes at T-Mobile, Verizon has emerged as the frontrunner for people looking to switch. However, as most telecom carriers do, Verizon also faces its fair share of hiccups. We’re now hearing reports from Verizon users about an international roaming outage, with their phones dropping to SOS/emergency/satellite mode. Many users worldwide on Reddit, X, and Facebook who use Verizon’s international roaming services are complaining that their phones aren’t getting cell service right now.

I daily drive two smartphones — an Android phone and an iPhone — and use a Mac for work. I also have a Windows laptop that I use sporadically to keep up with the latest updates, and an iPad for consuming content. With that many multi-ecosystem devices, using the built-in or platform-exclusive apps would be a recipe for disaster. All of my data would be scattered across different apps and devices, which means I’d need to have all my devices with me at all times to access any data whenever I need it.

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority TL;DR Google is testing new features in the Play Store, including support for third-party app stores. Along with this, we see a new option called Play Labs being tested here. We’ve also seen the two-row search bar being prepared for a rollout. Earlier this week, Google rolled out a massive Play Store update with an improved search experience and the ability to try out widgets while an app was being installed. But in addition to these changes, a few more could be in line, as we’ve spotted them being tested in the latest version of the Play Store. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

It’s shocking to think that it’s been more than a decade since the first Android smartwatch launched, and yet, we still don’t have a universal charging system. Even within a single company’s smartwatch lineup, we often see new charging systems introduced every few years, and often the new system isn’t backward-compatible. This can be highly frustrating, as it effectively renders your older chargers and accessories redundant when it’s time to upgrade. Google, unfortunately, is not exactly helping this cause when you look at its own Pixel Watch series. In a span of just four generations, we’ve had three different charging systems for the Pixel Watch (four, if you count the new Fitbit Air).

Credit: Pankil Shah / Android Authority My home screen has had the same Google widgets for as long as I can remember — Search, Weather, Calendar, Keep, and Discover. It’s easy to overlook, but every one of these widgets does two jobs — one for me, one for Google. The weather widget knows where I am. The search widget knows what I’m curious about. Discover knows what keeps me scrolling. You get the idea. None of this is accidental, of course. So I decided to find out what would actually happen if I swapped all of them for privacy-focused alternatives. Spoiler: a few switches were painless, but a couple didn’t stick.

TL;DR Light’s latest minimalist device is a flip phone that’s available in six bold colors. It has a 2.8-inch OLED screen, an octa-core MediaTek chipset, a 1,800mAh battery, and a 12MP camera. It’s priced at $299 and will start shipping from April 2027. Light, the company behind minimalist phones such as the Light Phone 3, has decided to take its minimal-phone formula and apply it to flip phones. The company’s new Light Flip is its answer to customers asking for a flip phone that isn’t poorly built or packed with addictive (or useless) apps. The Light Flip will be available in six colors: Black, Navy, Red, Pink, Yellow, and Gray. What’s more, the company is using its tried-and-tested formula from the three generations of Light Phones it has built previously for its Flip phone as well. The phone will run LightOS and include tools like an alarm, calendar, directions, music, podcasts, and more. It even comes with a built-in authenticator app for two-factor authentication.

TL;DR OpenAI’s upcoming AI models exploited zero-day vulnerabilities to hack into Hugging Face servers and cheat on a benchmark, the company said. The models even figured out a way to gain internet access in a sandboxed environment. The hack was discovered and stopped by Hugging Face and OpenAI, and the two are now working together to investigate. OpenAI only recently released its new GPT-5.6 family of models, and it seems they’re already wreaking a bit of havoc. According to an OpenAI blog post, its AI models went rogue and were behind a recent hack on the model hosting platform Hugging Face. The hack was driven by a combination of OpenAI models, including GPT-5.6 Sol and a pre-release model that OpenAI says is even more capable than its latest GPT-5.6 Sol model. The company is calling it an unprecedented cyber incident, but what’s even more interesting (and slightly concerning) is how the models actually went about the hack.

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung is already testing the next major update for its Galaxy Watch lineup. An internal build of its upcoming One UI 9 Watch update has been spotted on Samsung’s test servers. The test build is reportedly for the Galaxy Watch 7, though it does not guarantee a release timeline. At the Unpacked event later today, Samsung will announce its newest generation of smartwatches. Based on rumors and leaks so far, we know we’re getting at least two models: the Galaxy Watch 9 and the Watch Ultra 2. Both of these watches are destined to receive performance upgrades over their previous respective generations, in addition to a big battery boost on the Ultra. Although leaks have largely focused on hardware upgrades, these watches are also expected to bring a new software experience with One UI 9 Watch. We have limited information about what the software experience truly brings (apart from a likely bump to the recently revealed Wear OS 7), but Samsung is seemingly already preparing to bring the latest version to older watches shortly.

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung Austria is reportedly sending emails that strongly suggest free storage upgrades are gone. The email notes that people can save up to ~$228 on a model with more storage, but there’s no mention of free storage bumps. This comes after recent rumors that Samsung could dial back or eliminate free storage upgrades altogether. Samsung is expected to launch its new foldable phones later today, but we’ve heard rumors that the company might not offer free storage upgrades this time. Now, it looks like there’s bad news for one region. Samsung Austria has apparently sent out emails (h/t: NotebookCheck) detailing its offers for the upcoming phones. Unfortunately, it looks like free storage upgrades are gone, as there’s no mention of this offer. Instead, the email notes that you can save up to €200 (~$228) on a model with larger storage. Check out the promo image below, which the outlet translated via Gemini.

TL;DR Nintendo has basically told its customers that it won’t give them a cut of its tariff refunds. The company hiked prices in August last year due to increased tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Gamers filed a lawsuit claiming that Nintendo should give them a share of its tariff refunds since they bought its products at hiked prices. If the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff scheme wasn’t bad enough for US consumers, Nintendo is about to make it even worse. The Switch 2 maker has basically told its customers it doesn’t owe them any refunds for the extra money they had to pay due to increased tariffs. In its response to a class action lawsuit filed by customers (via Gizmodo), Nintendo said that its customers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” when they purchased Nintendo products at hiked prices. The company further added:

TL;DR Google Meet’s redesigned web homepage brings agendas, attachments, notes, recordings, and transcripts together in one place. New week and month views make it easier to navigate upcoming meetings and revisit past discussions. The update is rolling out to all Google Workspace and Workspace Individual users over the next 15 days. If your workday revolves around Google Meet, you’ve probably experienced this at least once: a meeting starts in two minutes, you remember someone shared an important document last week, and suddenly you’re digging through Gmail and Google Drive trying to find it. By the time you finally find it, someone has already started asking questions about the agenda. Google wants to put an end to that headache with a redesigned Google Meet homepage on the web. Instead of acting as little more than a place to join calls, the homepage is becoming a central hub for everything related to your meetings.

TL;DR Anthropic’s new “Teach Claude a skill” feature lets you record your screen and narrate a task, allowing Claude to learn and reuse that workflow later. The update is designed to reduce repetitive prompting, making Claude better at handling recurring tasks like reports, spreadsheets, and file organization. The feature is rolling out now to Claude Pro, Max, and Team subscribers through the Claude desktop app’s Cowork interface. Teaching AI how you like things done isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. You can explain the same task over and over, save detailed prompts, or upload documents full of instructions, yet there’s still a good chance the AI will miss a step or do something differently the next time you ask. It’s a little like training a new coworker who keeps forgetting the workflow. That’s exactly the problem Anthropic is trying to solve with a new Claude Cowork feature called Teach Claude a skill. Instead of typing out long instructions, you simply record your screen while completing a task yourself and explain what you’re doing as you go. Claude watches the entire process, learns it, and saves it as a reusable skill that it can perform again later.

TL;DR Samsung has started rolling out a redesigned Galaxy Wearable app just hours before Galaxy Unpacked. The update introduces a cleaner interface, a revamped Home screen, improved navigation, and a redesigned watch face browser. Samsung has wasted no time bringing one of its upcoming One UI 9 Watch changes to users. Just hours before Galaxy Unpacked kicks off, the company has started rolling out a redesigned version of the Galaxy Wearable app, giving Galaxy Watch owners an early taste of what’s coming with the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. The update, which was previously spotted in leaked screenshots earlier this month, is now beginning to reach users.

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority TL;DR The specs of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 have leaked in full ahead of tomorrow’s launch. The leak details sizes, displays, memory, storage, connectivity, battery sizes, and more. European pricing reportedly starts at €409 for the Watch 9, while the Ultra 2 could cost €749. Samsung is due to unveil its next-generation smartwatches tomorrow, but at this rate, there may not be much left for the company to reveal. A new leak appears to expose the full specification sheets for the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, along with their expected European prices. Roland Quandt of WinFuture just reported the detailed information ahead of Samsung’s launch event. The fresh specs and prices follow a separate leak from tipster Evan Blass yesterday, which revealed marketing materials highlighting features such as the new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, improved health tools, and several major upgrades for the Watch Ultra 2.

Credit: Garmin TL;DR Garmin has officially launched the CIRQA Smart Band. The fitness band can last for 10 days on a single charge. The CIRQA Smart Band is available starting today for $199.99. Since the beginning of the year, it was known that Garmin was working on its first screen-free fitness band. Through several leaks, we learned various details, such as colors, sizes, capabilities, and so on. After all of that, Garmin is finally ready to make the CIRQA Smart Band official. Today, Garmin officially announced the launch of the much-anticipated CIRQA Smart Band. According to the wearable maker, this fitness tracker can last for 10 days on a single charge for around-the-clock fitness and health monitoring. That’s three days more than what Google’s Fitbit Air provides. However, the Whoop 5.0 can last for up to 14 days on a single charge. So Garmin’s new offering sits squarely between its two biggest rivals in terms of battery life.

Amazon has dropped the Apple AirTag 2nd Generation 4-pack to $89, down from its $99 recommended retail price. That is a straight $10 saving, or 10% off RRP, and it brings the pack back to its recent Prime Day price. It is also the best deal we have tracked, so this looks like a good time to grab one if you have been waiting for a price cut. See the deal at Amazon The 4-pack gives you a handy way to keep tabs on more than one item at once, whether that is keys, a bag, or other everyday gear. Apple released the second-generation AirTag in January 2026, and this newer model adds an expanded Precision Finding range to help you locate items from farther away. It also has a redesigned speaker that is 50% louder, and Apple says it can be heard up to 2x as far away as the first-gen version.

TL;DR T-Mobile has published an ad featuring the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 ahead of the phone’s official launch. This is the second bit of new official Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 imagery we’ve seen today. The phone will launch at a Galaxy Unpacked event in London tomorrow, July 22. Samsung’s next phones and wearables are set to officially launch tomorrow at Galaxy Unpacked in London, but that’s not stopping the new hardware from continuing to break cover. Samsung itself posted a teaser image showing the unannounced Galaxy Z Fold 8 earlier today, and now, T-Mobile’s apparently published an ad for the new phone ahead of schedule. Industry observer Tarun Vats posted a screenshot on X today showing what appears to be an ad published by T-Mobile for Business on Facebook. The ad shows a hand holding the “all-new” Galaxy Z Fold 8, calling it a “pocket-size powerhouse.”

Amazon has cut the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus down to $699.98, which is $300 off the $999.99 recommended retail price. That’s a 30% discount off RRP, putting this previous-gen flagship phone well below its usual asking price. It has only been cheaper during the recent Prime Day sale, so this is a deal worth a look while it lasts. See the deal at Amazon The Galaxy S25 Plus sits in the middle of Samsung’s lineup, giving you a big-screen flagship experience without stepping up to the Ultra. It has a 6.7-inch QHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, plus a slimmer and lighter build than many other large phones. Samsung also packs in its Galaxy-focused flagship chipset, with a strong focus on on-device AI tools for cross-app actions, call transcripts and summaries, writing help, and photo and audio editing.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google has announced the launch of Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber in CodeMender. 3.6 Flash is said to reduce output token usage by 17% compared to 3.5 Flash. Google says it plans to make Gemini 3.5 Pro available broadly soon, and the team has started pre-training Gemini 4. Back in May, Google released Gemini 3.5 Flash, its smartest speed model at the time. It’s been only about two months since then, but a new shiny AI model is ready to take its place. Google has announced the launch of Gemini 3.6 Flash. Along with 3.6 Flash, the company is also launching 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.5 Flash Cyber in CodeMender. Gemini 3.6 Flash: Features and highlights Gemini 3.6 Flash is billed as Google’s workhorse Flash model, delivering better coding, knowledge work, and multimodal performance than before. However, the biggest highlight appears to be the model’s efficiency. Based on data from the Artificial Analysis Index, Google says 3.6 Flash consumes 17% fewer output tokens than 3.5 Flash. It is also said to take fewer reasoning steps and tool calls to make its way through multi-step workflows.

TL;DR Apple is reportedly partnering with Klarna for new device lease plans that’ll replace its existing financing options. Customers will be able to lease hardware for 24 or 36 months, with options to return, keep, or upgrade their hardware at the end of each lease. The Apple Upgrade program is expected to launch next week. Inflation driving up prices of electronics is bad for consumers, of course, but it’s also an issue for manufacturers: you can raise sticker prices on goods like smartphones to turn a better profit on each unit, but if prices get too high, your customer base will start to shrink as shoppers are priced out. Apple’s apparently responding to a challenging economy by changing up its financing options for iPhones and other products, with new device lease options reportedly rolling out next week. As reported by Mark Gurman for Bloomberg, Apple’s gearing up to launch a new program called Apple Upgrade. Unlike Apple’s existing device financing options, Apple Upgrade will be a leasing arrangement with multi-year terms, after which customers will have options to purchase their leased device, return it, or upgrade to a new model on a new lease.

Credit: Wondershare There are few phone problems more instantly stressful than realizing important data might be gone for good. Maybe your Android phone took a swim, the screen smashed, a factory reset went wrong, or years of WhatsApp messages suddenly vanished. Whatever the cause, that quiet little panic is the same. You need those files back, and you need a recovery option that doesn’t make the situation even more complicated. That’s where Dr.Fone — Android Data Recovery comes in. It’s powerful Android data recovery software designed to help retrieve lost or deleted data from Android devices, including photos, messages, contacts, videos, call logs, documents, WhatsApp data, and more. Dr.Fone can scan your Android device for recoverable files and let you preview the results before committing to a full recovery. That’s handy when you’re trying to rescue a specific photo album or contact list, and you don’t want guesswork — you want to see what can be recovered first, then choose what you actually want to bring back.