Android

TL;DR Newly leaked images show that Philips Hue could soon release an adapter to integrate Nanoleaf Shapes lights. This info comes after an icon depicting hexagonal wall lights was found in the Hue app. The adapter will purportedly cost about €40 in Europe and may go on sale in September. Back in June, a Philips Hue user spotted that the app had added a new light type icon for hexagonal panel lights that looks more than a little like lights offered by Nanoleaf. At the time, we assumed that meant that Hue was cooking up its own hexagonal panel lights — but now, it looks like the icon may actually have been Nanoleaf lights, after all. Smartlights.de has shared some information about an unannounced “wall light module” from Philips Hue. The report says that Hue will release a kind of adapter for Nanoleaf’s Shapes lights that’ll let users integrate the third-party wall lights into existing Hue setups.

The Anker Nano Power Strip is built for desks that need more charging options without turning into a cable mess, and it has a nice deal at Amazon right now. This clamp-on model is designed to stay attached to the edge of your desk, making the outlets and USB ports easier to reach during the day. See the deal at Amazon

TL;DR WhatsApp is upgrading two-step verification, replacing its six-digit PIN with a stronger password that can include letters, numbers, and special characters. Unknown callers are getting more context on the incoming call screen, including their country and any groups you have in common. The new security features are rolling out gradually. Password as two-step verification will be available to Android and iOS users. Improved caller ID is limited to Android users. WhatsApp is the most used messaging app in the world, and rightfully so. In addition to offering an ever-growing list of capable features, the app has steadily become a safe and trustworthy place to chat, call, share files, and keep up with those close to you. Now, as the Meta-owned service continues to add new functionality to the app, it is also ensuring that security doesn’t get left too far behind. WhatsApp is gaining two new account security features designed to prevent account hacking and to give you more context about incoming calls.

TL;DR Some Google Home users are facing a bug where the voice assistant refuses to add items to their Google Keep lists. While not all users appear to be facing this issue, it appears widespread enough for Google to take notice. Meanwhile, a quick look at Google Home settings suggests that access to notes & lists using a voice assistant may have been removed. It feels like we’re reporting on a Google Home bug or a fix almost every other day. Only today, users received some good news following reports of devices refusing to set alarms over voice commands. Sadly, those good times aren’t going to last, and it now looks like yet another function is being impacted by a similar glitch, as some people are seemingly unable to add items to their lists on Google Keep using Google Home voice commands. In a series of complaints on Reddit, including one from Friday, a user claims the voice assistant recognizes their commands perfectly well, but refuses to add items to the list. For instance, if the person asks one of their Google Home devices to “add x to list xyz,” the assistant might respond by saying how many items are on that list, while refusing to add any new items.

The Arlo Video Doorbell 2K (2nd Gen) is built for people who want a clear view of the front door without being locked into just one setup. It comes from Arlo and lets you choose between wireless battery power and hardwiring it to your existing doorbell wiring, and right now, there’s a solid deal on it at Amazon. See the deal at Amazon

TL;DR In a pitch to mobile developers, Google claims that foldable phone users spend much more than the average user on in-app purchases. Foldable phone users apparently spend 14 times as much on in-app purchases as standard smartphone users do. Google didn’t share any dollar figures or specifics on the types of in-app purchases foldable owners are making. Foldable phones cost a lot more than non-folding ones — the Pixel 11 Pro Fold starts at $1,900 to the regular 11 Pro’s $1,100 — so it stands to reason that many of the customers buying them are in the habit of spending generously on their mobile experience. A recent post on the official Android Developers X account claims that foldable owners aren’t just spending more on hardware, but also an order of magnitude more on the software they’re downloading, too. The post Android Developers shared makes the claim that foldable users spend a whopping 14 times more on purchases within apps than users with non-folding phones. The message Google wants to send is clear: Despite foldables enjoying a relatively small portion of total market share, the people using those foldables tend to spend quite a bit on in-app purchases (IAPs), and so app developers should make sure their software is optimized for the form factor.

TL;DR Googlebooks gain another Android-PC integration feature ahead of launch. Ask Play now supports app and game video highlights. Play Services and Play Store receive several smaller improvements. Google’s last Play Services update brought us a busy mix of changes, including hints of Googlebook multi-device setup and expansion of Tap to Share to include links. Now, another update is rolling out, continuing the Googlebook push while giving Gemini-powered Ask Play more attention. Google Play Services v26.33 and Play Store v52.9 are the fourth system services updates rolling out this month. While much of the latest Play Services changelog is aimed at developers, there are a couple of standout changes.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Earlier this year, Google gave Gemini the ability to generate interactive simulations and models. This feature is now rolling out to all Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users who meet the minimum age requirements. The update is available now in the Gemini app. If you’re having trouble understanding a complicated subject, sometimes visualization can do the trick. However, while an image can be helpful, having a visual model that you can actually interact with is even better. As Gemini is a tool that’s commonly used to help people understand complex concepts, it’s only natural that Gemini is gaining the ability to generate simulations and models. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Google announced the same feature back in April. However, Google says it is now rolling the feature out for Workspace users. This includes Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users who meet the minimum age requirements.

The Aurzen BOOM Mini Google TV projector just dropped to $249.99 on Amazon, down from its $349.99 recommended retail price. That knocks $100 off the price, which amounts to a 29% discount relative to the RRP, making this compact projector a lot more tempting right now. See the deal at Amazon

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR One UI 9 Beta 6 adds a “Touch and hold for AI select” toggle for Galaxy S26 devices. The new setting prevents accidental screen freezes caused by lingering slightly too long while swiping out the Edge Panel. Users can disable the long-hold gesture without losing AI Select, which remains available via standard shortcut icons in the Edge Panel. Samsung is addressing one of the more frustrating gesture conflicts introduced on its recent flagships. In the latest One UI 9 Beta 6 update for the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung has added a dedicated toggle to turn off the AI Select long-hold on the Edge Panel handle. 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.

TL;DR Samsung’s Galaxy S27 Ultra has recently had its layout detailed through some CAD leaks. Those files are now being used to render some high-quality images of how the phone could look. The S27 Ultra seems to be embracing a whole new camera system. Is Samsung actually trying something new in the design department for next year’s Galaxy S27 Ultra? While many of the company’s recent year-to-year refreshes have felt relatively minor, leaks have suggested that Samsung could be thinking about trying out a bold new look for the S27 series, with renders this week depicting the S27 Ultra showing off an unusual new camera design. Now we’re getting an even better look at this layout, thanks to the publication of some new CAD-based renders. Ahead of actual imagery of a new phone surfacing, sometimes we get our first look by way of pictures generated from detailed measurements of the hardware — the kind of info a case maker might use to develop their products ahead of a phone’s launch. When those leak, they can be used to create the sort of flat, basic 3D renderings we saw in yesterday’s S27 Ultra leaks. But now Android Headlines has teamed up with leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer to dress things up nicely with proper colors, components, and markings, and bring us some renders that look a whole lot closer to a final, commercial product:

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has dropped to $961 at Amazon, down from its $1,299.99 recommended retail price. That’s a 26% discount relative to the RRP, and it makes this a strong time to grab Samsung’s top-tier 2026 flagship. See the deal at Amazon

It’s certainly tempting to upgrade the moment your smartphone’s successor is released. It’s a feeling that many Pixel 10 and older owners likely felt and are still feeling this week, given that the Pixel 11 series is now available. However, as strong as that temptation might be, it’s often far smarter to resist it. This rings true for Pixel 10 Pro owners in particular, a phone that still has plenty going for it. A little over a year into its lifespan, it can look forward to some six years of software support; its cameras remain some of the best in the game; and it likely won’t slow to a crawl in any noticeable way in the coming months or years.

TL;DR Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64 has been fully decompiled, opening the door to unofficial native ports. The 1999 platform fighter hasn’t been available through official means for several years and isn’t currently playable on Nintendo Switch consoles. We aren’t aware of any ports made from the newly decompiled code yet, but we expect they’ll start appearing soon. Aside from some high-profile rereleases, present-day Nintendo is notoriously stingy when it comes to providing easy, legitimate access to its immense back catalog of classic games. This, in part, has inspired fans to take matters into their own hands by decompiling old favorites, recreating their source code so the games can be easily (if unofficially) ported to modern platforms like Windows or Android. Now, another classic that’s been inaccessible on modern hardware is ripe for porting: 1999’s Super Smash Bros. has been fully decompiled. As shared on Decomp.dev, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64 is now “100.00% decompiled,” meaning the game’s source code has been completely recreated and it’s ready to be ported. Compared to emulated games, ports created from decompiled source code can run natively on modern hardware, enabling better performance, mod support, and more.

TL;DR Google Translate could introduce big Live Translate updates for the Android XR platform. We have exclusively uncovered traces of a “Listening area” feature that will offer extensive control over the microphones. If implemented, users will be able to switch between Front-only and Surrounding-area mic modes for Live Translate on Android XR. While there’s only one Android XR device on the market right now, namely the Samsung Galaxy XR, there are more on the way. Google has already built deep integrations for its core apps like Google Maps, Photos, Gboard, and the Play Store. Last year, we uncovered development on Live Translate for Google’s extended reality platform. We can now exclusively reveal a potential feature addition for the Live Translate experience on Android XR. 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.

TL;DR Xiaomi’s next foldable has leaked, showing a wide inner display and a design that closely resembles the company’s own HyperOS 4 teaser. The XRing O3 will power the device, with a 10-core CPU, Arm’s new G2-Ultra NX GPU, and eye-catching performance claims. The Xiaomi 18 Fold launches in September, but key details such as global availability, pricing, and dimensions remain unknown. Xiaomi’s XRing O3 chipset has already made headlines with some seriously ambitious performance claims, but the chip’s first phone may be just as interesting. Xiaomi has confirmed that the 3nm processor will debut in the Xiaomi 18 Fold next month, and now leaked images appear to show the company’s upcoming foldable in the flesh. The images, which Digital Chat Station (DCS) shared on Weibo, show a book-style foldable with a wide inner display similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, relatively thick bezels, and a punch-hole selfie camera near the upper-right corner. One image also shows the rear of the device, including a large camera module, but it doesn’t reveal enough to say much about its hardware.

TL;DR Nothing has announced Nothing OS 5.0, bringing a massive overhaul featuring the Geist typeface, translucent software layering, dynamic wallpaper-tinted adaptive themes, and dedicated apps for both the Glyph Interface and Essential Apps Builder. The update also introduces Android 17 platform features such as split notification and Quick Settings panels, cross-platform Quick Share with iOS, enhanced privacy indicators, and more. Open Beta testing for the Nothing Phone 3 starts tomorrow, with a full stable release expected in mid-October. However, Phone 1, Phone 2, and CMF Phone 1 will not receive the update. Nothing has officially revealed Nothing OS 5.0, detailing the next major evolution of its custom Android skin. Built on top of Android 17, the platform update brings a visual design overhaul, expanded lock screen personalization, new first-party widgets, and tighter system-level integration with the Glyph Interface. Following an announcement teased on X, Nothing published a detailed breakdown of the new features and the design evolution on its community forums.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR Qualcomm has announced the first details for its next-generation Snapdragon flagship processor. The new processor has a 5GHz CPU, making it the first smartphone CPU to reach this milestone. A new “FlexCache” architecture also delivers more performance improvements. Qualcomm has teased the arrival of two Snapdragon 8 Elite series chips at its Snapdragon Summit next month. Now, the company has revealed the first details about its new silicon, and it might have an impressive CPU. Qualcomm has officially detailed the CPU for its next-generation Snapdragon processor, and this is the first smartphone CPU to reach 5GHz. That’s an impressive achievement on paper and comes after the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy reached a peak speed of 4.74GHz. The firm’s own graphic shows that you can expect two 5GHz CPU cores along with six “performance” cores running at an unspecified frequency.

TL;DR According to a new leak, Qualcomm’s next flagship chip will be called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. It could feature two prime cores clocked at 5.01GHz, along with three performance and three efficiency cores. The Dimensity 9600 Pro could also use two prime cores clocked at 4.55GHz, along with three performance and three efficiency cores. Qualcomm and MediaTek are both gearing up to launch their latest flagship processors. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series and the MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro are expected to feature improvements across the board. Now, a new leak is shedding some light on the core arrangement and clock speeds of the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the Dimensity 9600 Pro. According to a Weibo post by Digital Chat Station (DCS), the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, model number SM8975, could be called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 instead. The extremely long (pun intended) and unnecessarily weird name notwithstanding, Qualcomm’s next flagship chip seems set to break the 5GHz barrier for smartphone chipsets.

Credit: Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR Samsung has released the sixth One UI 9 beta for the Galaxy S26 series. The 851MB update (firmware ZZHE) includes the August 5, 2026, security patch and fixes key issues, including display errors with the Now Brief widget and photo-saving issues in Expert RAW 24MP at specific focal lengths. Currently live in Germany, India, Poland, the UK, and South Korea, the new update will soon be available in the US as well. Samsung entered One UI 9 development with much gusto, but after releasing the stable update alongside the new Galaxy Z8 foldables, the pace of One UI 9 beta releases for its previous flagships has slowed down a bit. After releasing the fifth One UI 9 beta almost two weeks ago, Samsung is now picking things up with the sixth One UI 9 beta release for the Galaxy S26 series. We’ve received the sixth One UI 9 update on our Galaxy S26 Ultra in the UK. This Android 17-based update comes with firmware version ending in ZZHE, the August 5, 2026 security patch, and is 851MB in size.

As is the case with millions of users around the world, I’ve been a loyal Spotify subscriber for as long as I can remember. The app works well across Android and iOS, there’s a great selection of music, and features like Jam and Spotify Connect have made my listening experience much more seamless across audio devices at home. I was happy to pay for the Premium Duo plan — until it was sneakily taken away. Spotify removed the Duo plan in India around November 2025, but as I had subscribed to it long before, I was able to continue with it, as it should be. Then came the email, one July morning this year, saying my Premium Duo plan was canceled due to an “issue” with my payment method. Nothing had changed, so it didn’t make any sense. I figured it was Spotify forcing me to upgrade to a higher-priced plan, and as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one who got the boot. Frustrated with this move, I decided to try other options.

The Pixel lineup and hardware woes seem to go hand in hand. Whether it’s OLED tint issues with the Pixel 2 XL, overheating, spontaneously shattering camera glass, or display issues with the Pixel 9 Pro lineup, hardware troubles seem constant. As a day-one Pixel user ever since the first phone launched, I’ve usually been immune to all the troubles that tend to plague Google’s flagship. Well, as the saying goes, luck eventually does run out. I’ve had my Pixel 11 Pro for just five days, and it’s already a brick. A couple of days into my time with the Pixel 11 Pro (in the gorgeous Canyon colorway), I decided to do a factory reset and a fresh setup instead of copying over all my data from my previous phone, and here we are.

TL;DR Some Google Home devices stopped setting alarms via voice command for several days. The bug hit both Google Assistant and Gemini for Home, affecting Nest speakers, displays, and even third-party devices like Lenovo smart displays. Google has confirmed the fix, and our own testing shows alarms are setting and triggering correctly again. Google Home has had a busy August, with Google rolling out several updates that make Gemini for Home smarter and add new capabilities to its smart home platform. But amid all those improvements, something as basic as setting an alarm suddenly stopped working for some users. Thankfully, Google has now confirmed that the issue affecting Nest and other Gemini-powered smart home devices has been fixed. For several days, users on Reddit reported that commands such as “Hey Google, set an alarm for 8:30 AM” would simply be ignored. Some found that alarms worked when set for an exact hour, while others had to ask Google to set an alarm first and then provide the time when prompted. One odd workaround involved saying “Hey Google, hi” before giving the alarm command.

Credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Android Authority TL;DR Reddit users report that the Google Pixel 11 Pro’s camera flash is significantly weaker than that of older Pixels and competitors. Our preliminary testing here at Android Authority shows the Pixel 11 Pro XL torch mode registered 89 lux compared to 123 lux on the Pixel 10 Pro XL. The physical diffuser added to the camera visor for the new HiLight LED array is likely the cause of the softer beam. Google’s new Pixel 11 Pro series introduces HiLight, a small array of ambient LEDs around the camera flash that give you some bits of information without requiring you to turn over or unlock your phone. Google ended up severely limiting HiLight’s functionality, and users had to resort to apps like HiLight Studio to unlock the LED’s full potential. As it turns out, Google gimped HiLight in more ways than one, with the LED flash itself also downgraded compared to the Pixel 10 series. Reddit user pcman2000 voiced their frustration with the Pixel 11 Pro’s camera flash, calling it “really weak” and the weakest among all the phones they tested, ranking it below the Pixel 9 Pro and even the iPhone 17e.

I’ve spent years trying the latest book-style foldables, but none earned a permanent spot in my pocket once I finished testing them. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 came the closest with a thin-and-light design and truly flagship specs. Unfortunately, it suffered from the same problems as every other folding phone with a squarish inner screen aspect ratio. The form factor isn’t conducive to widescreen video content, as you’ll see large black bars at the top and bottom of the folding screen. Samsung built the wide Galaxy Z Fold 8 to specifically address this pain point, and it quickly won me over. Then, something happened that I didn’t expect. I found myself using the Galaxy Z Fold 8 unfolded in portrait orientation more than landscape.