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• Nintendo has finally commented on the latest Nintendo Switch 2 leaks
• It described the mockup shown off by Genki at CES 2025 as "unofficial"
• The company has also backtracked on its claim that the mockup was based on an actual unit

Unless you’ve been living under a particularly resilient rock for the last few weeks, you’re going to have inevitably seen at least a couple of the recent Nintendo Switch 2 leaks.

It seems like we know almost everything about the console in advance of its official reveal, including its alleged overall design, name, and even some of its potential features.

It’s an unusual situation and I certainly can’t remember the last time that there was this much information out in the wild about an upcoming hardware release. If all that wasn’t enough, third-party accessory manufacturers have been brazenly posting their own Nintendo Switch 2 renders.

Case maker Genki was even showing off a mockup of the system on the CES 2025 show floor which, if accurate, gives us a good idea of the dimensions to expect. It seems like this is what it finally took for Nintendo to issue a statement though, but its words have honestly just left me with even more questions.

In a comment provided to CNET Japan which we have machine translated, a Nintendo representative stated that “the gaming hardware that Genki claims to be Nintendo hardware at CES 2025 is unofficial and not provided to the company by Nintendo”.

On the face of it, this is a pretty unremarkable answer. It was already very obvious that the mockup was unofficial, though Genki did claim that it was based on an actual Nintendo Switch 2 unit. According to IGN, the company has now backtracked by admitting that it was created with rumors and leaked information rather than anything more concrete.

Still, this statement doesn’t touch on the abundance of other information out there today. It also doesn’t suggest that Genki’s mockup was in any way inaccurate, which could be quite revealing. Either way, we’re going to have to wait for the console’s official reveal, or at least some more reliable leaks, in order to find out.

The company has previously confirmed that it will unveil the system before the end of its fiscal year (that's March 31), so there might not be that long to wait.

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• Nvidia's RTX 5090 laptop GPU shows inconsistent Geekbench 6 performance scores
• Fails to score higher than the RTX 4080 or 4090 laptop GPUs in Vulkan
• It hasn't launched yet, and there aren't any official drivers available

CES 2025 finally gave us a look at Nvidia's new RTX 5000 series of graphics cards, and the flagship RTX 5090 GPU's performance capabilities compared to the last generation's RTX 4090 - but early benchmarks for its laptop GPU don't look very promising.

This comes from BenchLeaks on X, which claims to have leaked Geekbench 6 results of Nvidia's RTX 5090 laptop GPU using Vulkan (graphics API used in plenty of games), with its highest score of 114,821. Tom's Hardware highlighted this as the fourth benchmark among five different tests, with the lowest score sitting at 51,831 and the final test scoring 77,989.

Each benchmark score points towards wildly inconsistent performance for Team Green's flagship laptop GPU, which failed to score higher than the RTX 4080's 145,067 and the RTX 4090’s 167,655 Geekbench scores in Vulkan (both of which are for the laptop versions of those GPUs). While these results might be cause for concern, it's far too early to draw any conclusions.

(Image credit: Nvidia) Should we be worried about these early benchmarks?

While these tests are almost certainly not great to see, it's absolutely not a reason to panic. Aside from the fact that these benchmarks are not official, but are claimed to be leaked, the RTX 5000 series hasn't even officially launched yet (the RTX 5090 will be available at the end of the month), which means the necessary drivers and optimizations have not been made yet.

It's also important to note that in-game benchmarks are what matter most - while Geekbench 6 can be accurate for measuring the performance capabilities of a GPU, scores are never going to be the same as each test will often vary drastically or closely. Despite the inconsistent scores here, we should wait to see how the RTX 5090 laptop GPU fares across multiple games once Nvidia makes the necessary adjustments and official drivers have been released.

We should be getting both the desktop RTX 5090, alongside gaming laptops with the mobile version, in for review, so make sure you check out our full reviews when they are live for reliable and independent verdicts on just how good (or not) these new GPUs from Nvidia really are.

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• Model Y receives many of the updates seen on recent Model 3
• Faster acceleration and improved range among the upgrades
• Exterior styling is cleaner, with a full-width light bar at the front and rear

Tesla has responded to leaked images of the updated Model Y surfacing on Chinese social media recently by revealing full details of the refreshed EV, which has long been codenamed ‘Juniper’.

As with the Model 3 last year, the new Model Y receives a fairly major exterior overhaul, complete with front and rear full-width light bars, as well as a subtle but easily spotted refresh to the front and rear bumpers.

The sleeker exterior has improved the vehicle’s drag co-efficiency that, alongside improved sound-proofing, new acoustic glass, greater insulation and the latest casting methods, has reduced the number of body gaps and will lead to a quieter cabin. It will also have a positive effect on battery range.

Inside, Tesla has introduced ventilated seats and myriad ambient interior lighting extras to the refreshed Model Y, while the turn signals are now activated via a traditional stalk on Asia-Pacific models, rather than buttons on the steering wheel.

However, it is yet to be seen whether the controversial button controls will remain on vehicles that make their way to other markets.

There is also a new eight-inch touchscreen in the rear, in addition to the 15.4in touchscreen on the dash, which allows occupants to play games and binge their favorite movies and television while on the move.

(Image credit: Tesla China)

Currently, only the Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) and Long Range All Wheel Drive (LR AWD) models have received the ‘Juniper’ updates and, as a result, have also received reworked estimated range and acceleration specification.

But bear in mind that the WLTP cycle tests are typically more generous in their range estimations than the EPA figures used in North America.

The 2025 Long Range AWD model is said to be capable of 551km / 342 miles on a single charge, while 0.7 seconds has been shaved off the 0-60mph sprint time, so it can now manage it in just 4.3 seconds. Tesla claims it also charges slightly faster.

A cheaper Rear Wheel Drive model (RWD) is also on offer, which can manage 466km / 289 miles on a single charge and a 0-60mph acceleration time of 5.9 seconds. Customers will likely have to wait for a Long Range RWD model, as well as the top spec Performance versions to arrive.

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(Image credit: Tesla China)

Currently, customers in China can order a Launch Series Model Y in either a RWD or Long Range AWD variant, with the former costing ¥263,500 – or around $36,000 / £29,000 / AU$58,000. The more expensive AWD model costs ¥303,500, which converts to around $41,300 / £33,600 / AU$66,900 at the current exchange rates.

There has been no word on European and North America specification and pricing, but with the outgoing Model Y starting at $31,490 in the US and £46,990 in the UK, it is likely to be more expensive than the aging model. Electrek claims the figures equate to a 5% increase on the previous Chinese pricing, for example.

It is highly likely that Australia will be the next market to receive the refreshed Model Y, with key European markets likely following soon thereafter. However, current uncertainty around tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles in the US will impact the speed at which the North American market receives refreshed cars.

Arguably, the updated model can’t be rolled out fast enough for Tesla, seeing as the company posted its first sales drop since 2011 at its recent Q4 2024 earnings call, according to CNBC. Musk predicted earlier in the year that this would likely happen, citing ageing models as one of the key reasons for slowing sales.

The recent refresh of Model 3 has highlighted just how staid Model X and Model Y now look, while the range offered by their respective battery packs, which was once the talk of the EV industry, now lags behind rivals from the Volkswagen Group, Hyundai, Kia and Peugeot.

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• The Galaxy S25 Slim has leaked again
• A Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU and 12GB of RAM are expected
• The phone could launch later in 2025

Among the many Samsung Galaxy S25 leaks we've heard over the past few months, there have been consistent rumors of a fourth 'Slim' model that's joining the range – and benchmark scores for said phone have just appeared online.

As spotted by well-known tipster @Jukanlosreve, the phone is listed as having a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB of RAM. The stated operating system is Android 15 – which will be Samsung's One UI 7.

The single-core and multi-core scores for the handset are somewhat underwhelming, but that's to be expected: work on software and hardware optimization is likely still ongoing, so the phone's actual performance will be several levels above what's shown here.

There's no doubt the Snapdragon 8 Elite is an impressive piece of silicon, and will be powering numerous flagship Android phones this year – head to our OnePlus 13 review to read about the first of them.

How slim is slim?

S25 Slim Geekbnech (US version)SD 8 Elite12GB RAM pic.twitter.com/X47mAIHSAnJanuary 9, 2025

As the name suggests, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim is expected to be slimmer than the other models in the range. Previous leaks have suggested we're looking at something between 6-7mm in thickness, front to back.

That's significantly thinner than the 7.6mm thickness of the Samsung Galaxy S24, though of course we don't know the dimensions of the standard Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25 Plus, or the Galaxy S25 Ultra just yet.

Despite the thinness, the phone could well pack some high-end specs: we've heard that the phone could have a better rear camera setup than the standard Galaxy S25, while this benchmark leak hints at a very decent processor and RAM combination.

Samsung has confirmed its next Unpacked event will be happening on Wednesday, January 22, and the invite shows four phones – though there have been rumors that the Slim model will go on sale later than the others.

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• The Linux Foundation launches new initiative to look after Chromium browsers
• It’s meant to give a “neutral space” for developers to contribute without barriers
• Google, Meta, Microsoft and Opera have already joined

The Linux Foundation has declared its support for open-source Chromium-based browsers with the launch of a new initiative.

The ‘Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers’ program is designed to help support open source contributions and improve the sustainability of Chromium projects to “drive technological advancement.”

Its goal is to create a “neutral space” where industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community can come together to contribute to open-source browsers without barriers.

Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers

“This project will provide much-needed funding and development support for open development of projects within the Chromium ecosystem," Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin commented.

Google, Meta, Microsoft and Opera have already committed to supporting the initiative, which is hoped to foster collaboration and distribute resources across Chromium projects.

Like other Foundation initiatives, the Chromium program will focus on transparency, inclusivity and community-driven development to “[meet] the needs of the wider Chromium community.”

The Foundation, which of course supports the Linux operating system, has been spreading its support and positive messaging across the entire tech industry since its inception as a nonprofit in 2000.

In late 2022, it launched the Overture Maps Foundation to create an interoperable mapping data set for the likes of autonomous driving and data visualization, with founding partners including AWS, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom.

Then, in April 2024 it announced the LF AI & Data Foundation to improve the state of generative AI for enterprises.

Speaking about the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers initiative, Chrome VP Parisa Tabriz commented: “We believe the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers is an important opportunity to create a sustainable platform to support industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community in the continued development and innovation of the Chromium ecosystem.”

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• ESR has launched an Apple Pencil alternative that costs $30
• The Geo Digital Pencil can fast charge and has Find My support
• It lacks many Apple Pencil features, but costs less than half the price

The Apple Pencil is a superb accessory for all the best iPads, but it doesn’t come cheap thanks to its $79 / £79 / AU$139 starting price (which stretches up to $129 / £129 / AU$219 if you want the Apple Pencil Pro). If you’re looking for an alternative pen for your iPad that won’t break the bank, ESR has just introduced a much more wallet-friendly option.

The ESR Geo Digital Pencil is a $30 pen for the iPad that can replicate many of the Apple Pencil’s features. For instance, it comes with tilt sensitivity that lets you easily adjust the thickness of your output by adjusting the pencil’s angle.

As well as that, you can tap the Geo Digital Pencil to quickly interact with your iPad and see the pen’s battery level. That’s similar to the Apple Pencil Pro’s ability to change tools when you tap it and is something that isn’t available on the entry-level Apple Pencil.

ESR says the Geo Digital Pencil is compatible with a range of iPads, including the iPad Air with M2 chip, the M4 iPad Pro, the 10th-generation iPad, and the iPad mini with A17 Pro chip.

What's missing?

(Image credit: ESR)

One of the Geo Digital Pencil’s most useful features is its Find My integration. This will allow you to connect it to you iPhone and locate it using the Find My app. Find My is an incredibly useful tool for Apple devices, so it’s encouraging to see ESR built it into its iPad pencil.

To charge the pen, you can connect it to a power outlet using a USB-C cable. This enables fast charging, which will get it to full battery power within 30 minutes. You can also magnetically snap the pencil to your iPad, but doing so will not charge it, which is something you can do with the Apple Pencil Pro (but not the regular Apple Pencil).

At $30, it’s unsurprising that ESR’s device lacks some of the Apple Pencil’s features, and it also goes without the hover feature that lets you preview a pen mark before you make it with Apple’s device. You also don’t get the barrel roll, haptic feedback or squeeze functionality of the Apple Pencil Pro, although that pen does cost over four times the price of the ESR Geo Digital Pencil.

Still, at less than half the price of the standard Apple Pencil, you might decide that it’s worth taking a punt on ESR’s alternative – we've certainly had some joy previously with more affordable rivals.

We don’t yet know how it compares to the Apple Pencil in terms of precision and latency, but if it turns out to be a solid device, it could take its place among the best Apple Pencil alternatives.

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• The date for your diaries: April 12, 2025
• Over 270 indie shops in the UK and thousands more worldwide
• Exclusive releases from established and emerging acts alike

Record Store Day is Christmas for music fans, with a whole host of exciting new releases as artists raid the vaults for interesting ways to celebrate the joys of independent record retailers. And now Record Store Day has a date and a slogan: you can "celebrate the culture" on April 12, 2025.

This year's RSD, the eighteenth such event, will be supported by long-term sponsor Bowers & Wilkins as well as Miraval wine and the DEYA brewing company, and it'll be happening in over 270 record shops in the UK as well as thousands more worldwide. And as before, it's likely to see a whole host of re-releases, rarities and special editions that'll be worth queuing out the door (yes, at your local bricks and mortar store!) for.

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One of the things we love about RSD, other than the goodies on offer, is that it gives us an excuse to spend tons of money with a clear conscience: it's all about celebrating and supporting indie retailers as well as artists. In the era of Spotify streams and struggling high streets that feels more important than ever.

Last year's RSD line-up featured everything from 100 Gecs to 10,000 Maniacs, Black Sabbath to Boogie Down Productions, U2 to Ultramagnetic MC's and many, many more as record companies re-released classics on heavyweight vinyl and artists went rooting around the vaults for classic cuts and covers. And only some of those releases ended up on eBay for silly sums immediately afterwards…

We'll be covering RSD 2025, of course, but don't forget that indie stores aren't just for vinyl Christmas: many artists release exclusive records to indie shops every month, and this month's crop includes Maribou State, Manic Street Preachers, Anna B Savage, Mogwai and Lambrini Girls, among others. You can stay up to date with those exclusives on the RSD website. Until then, happy crate rummaging!

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• New research has revealed the top-search fitness trends as we enter 2025
• There was a 414% surge in searches for remote personal training between July and September last year
• Other big winners include Hyrox and the viral 30-30-30 TikTok challenge

A new study into the biggest fitness trends we can expect to see in 2025 has revealed a staggering uptick in searches for remote personal training, as well as popular new fitness trends like Hyrox and the viral TikTok 30-30-30 challenge.

Data collated by UK fitness outfit PureGym analyzed the Google search interest for more than 200 fitness trends, comparing interest between Jul-Sept 2023 vs Jul-Sept 2024.

While you might have expected AI, smart tech, and biohacking to be the buzzwords of 2024 and beyond, the biggest surge in interest is in good old-fashioned personal training, buoyed by a relic of the pandemic: the humble Zoom call.

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Push is an AI-powered fitness app, the likes of which has eroded reliance on face-to-face personal training. (Image credit: Future / PUSH)

When you look at the fast-moving sweep of technology and fitness, it's hard not to imagine that 2025 could be the year that sees a deluge of AI-powered apps, smart rings, and biohacking that could render the personal trainer obsolete.

Why would the average person fork out on costly hourly training when they can rely on apps and algorithms? The best fitness apps, like PUSH, can use AI to provide progressive overload tracking and rounded fitness plans to help you build muscle and burn calories.

Perhaps, the power of remote technology could remove the physical barriers of personal training such as travel costs or the requisite access to an expensive gym. It makes training more flexible, and means trainers can work with anyone in the world, not just the catchment of their local gym. It could be an obvious and easy solution as personal trainers try to keep up in a world that's increasingly powered by personal tech and algorithms.

As mentioned, the other big emerging trends appear to be Hyrox, the popular fitness competition that combines running and functional workouts, as well as the 30-30-30 TikTok trend. The latter is the hilariously simple (yet effective) art of consuming 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, before cranking out 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise, a method first touted in the 2010 book The Four Hour Body.

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• Nintendo has announced a new console... but it's not the Nintendo Switch 2
• A Lego Game Boy will be released in October
• It follows a number of other Nintendo Lego sets

It feels like the Nintendo Switch 2 could be revealed any day now, but it seems Nintendo has a very different kind of console announcement on its mind.

On Thursday, January 9, the Japanese company lifted the curtain on a Lego model Game Boy. According to an X / Twitter post, fans will be able to “build the classic Nintendo System in Lego form” with a new set releasing in October 2025.

The post features a 15-second teaser video, which gives us our first look at some of the pieces that might be included in the set. We see two flat grey tiles, plus a much taller single stud piece.

There are also two smooth circular purple tiles, presumably representing the iconic purple buttons of the original Game Boy. We then get a glimpse of a plus-shaped piece, most likely the Lego interpretation of the handheld’s D-pad.

This is certainly not the post that many wanted to see, especially those who have been feverishly refreshing the Nintendo social media accounts in the hopes of seeing a Nintendo Switch 2 reveal. Even so, I think it’s pretty cool and will probably be keen to pick up the model - if it’s a reasonable price.

The upcoming Lego Game Boy is not the first collaboration between Nintendo and the Danish toy company. Lego has previously released the incredible, but very pricey, Lego Nintendo Entertainment System. It featured a full recreation of the NES, plus a little miniature TV with a scrolling Super Mario diorama. There is also the Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi model, an adorable moving bricky recreation of Mario riding Yoshi.

This is on top of a more child-focused Lego Super Mario line, which uses unique electronic figurines to recreate moments from the games.

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• AMD’s Frank Azor has fired shots at Intel’s Arrow Lake desktop CPUs
• He called the Core Ultra 200S CPUs ‘horrible’ and said this increased demand for the Ryzen 9800X3D
• That higher demand has led to stock woes, Azor claims, and inventory issues won’t likely ease anytime soon

An AMD executive fired flak at Intel, calling Team Blue’s latest Arrow Lake desktop chips ‘horrible’ no less.

The quote came from a roundtable with AMD execs at CES 2025, where our sibling site, Tom’s Hardware, asked about the ongoing shortage of Ryzen 7 9800X3D stock (regarded as the best CPU for gaming that you can buy since its launch, and a processor that we gave a glowing review).

AMD observed that demand has outstripped supply – clearly enough – and the full quote from Frank Azor, who heads up consumer and gaming marketing at AMD, will surely leave Intel bigwigs suitably unimpressed.

Azor told Tom’s Hardware: “We knew we built a great part [in the 9800X3D]. We didn’t know the competitor [Intel] had built a horrible one [Arrow Lake]. So the demand has been a little higher than we forecasted.”

Ouch. You’ve probably noticed that Intel’s latest Arrow Lake desktop chips, which arrived in October 2024, experienced a rocky launch, with various problems that Team Blue still hasn’t fully put to bed.

We’ll come back to Intel’s misfortunes later, but what about the Ryzen 9800X3D stock situation?

David McAfee, VP and GM of Ryzen channel business at AMD, explained: “It’s crazy how much we have increased [our monthly, quarterly output of X3D parts] over what we were planning. I would say the demand we’ve seen for the 9800X3D and the 7800X3D has been unprecedented. So the demand has been higher than ever.”

McAfee notes that making chips takes some time – “it’s basically 12 to 13 weeks from when you start a wafer to when you get a product out the other end of the machine” – and that the 3D V-Cache stacking process adds complexity and is even more time consuming. Meaning it’s harder to catch up with unexpected spikes in demand.

The upshot? McAfee says: “I think as we go through the first half of this year, you’ll see us continue to increase the output of X3D.” And the exec further notes that in the future, AMD is “ramping capacity to ensure we catch up with that demand for as long as customers want those X3D parts.”

It’s the Ryzen 7 X3D processors which represent most of the demand, you’ll be unsurprised to learn – as the benefits of hopping up to a Ryzen 9 X3D chip are marginal for PC gamers (if anything, indeed, gaming performance may even dip). So the 9800X3D and its predecessor represent the sweet spot for gaming and value.

McAfee said the workhorse 8-core X3D parts outsell Ryzen 9 X3D flavors by a massive 10-to-1, all of which means that the introduction of Ryzen 9950X3D and 9900X3D CPUs (ushered in at CES 2025) isn’t going to ease any pressure on the stock levels of the 9800X3D.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Analysis: Broken Arrow? Hardly…

In short, don’t expect the Ryzen 9800X3D to become more widely available for some time yet, though as we head into the second quarter of 2025, matters should ease and the CPU may well populate the shelves in greater numbers.

Back to the flak fired by AMD at Intel, and it’s pretty harsh to use a term like ‘horrible’ to describe a rival product. Is desktop Arrow Lake really that awful? Well, the launch wasn’t a disaster, but it was disappointing, particularly as gaming performance did not live up to Intel’s promises due to multiple issues.

That said, Intel’s fixes – which have now been deployed for Arrow Lake, all but one final measure – don’t help much, or at all, at least according to Tom’s Hardware’s (limited) testing. Something we’ll need to verify ourselves, mind you, so take that with plenty of caution at this stage.

At any rate, Arrow Lake desktop has been troubled since it was pushed out, there’s no denying that, and the problem is that this happened against a backdrop of more serious instability issues with Intel’s preceding Core CPU ranges (13th and 14th) on the desktop. Those were really nasty gremlins in the works, and while Intel had them fixed by the end of last year, that whole episode was a very dark cloud over 2024 for Team Blue – with considerable reputational damage done.

So, while that episode has nothing to do with Arrow Lake – which doesn’t suffer those instability woes – it still casts a deep shadow over Intel’s newest desktop range and the separate issues with these chips.

It’s a messy time for Intel in the CPU world, in short, and AMD pulling no punches isn’t really a surprise. Although as we’ve said, ‘horrible’ is going rather too far, and somewhat gleefully playing on Intel’s other mishaps of late.

It should be noted that AMD is not entirely without blemishes with its current-gen processors, as Ryzen 9000 launched to some disappointment with its generational uplift, again particularly for gaming – though the 9800X3D has gone a long way towards addressing that. The only problem is you can’t buy the thing at the moment, a situation which isn’t about to change, clearly.

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