Technology

Today Samsung debuted a pair of new Tablets: the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra. I’ve been taking the Ultra for a spin ahead of its October 7 launch and have been loving the massive display.

But the price hike, and minimal upgrades leave me questioning if it really needed it launch.

There’s a lot that’ll be familiar here for owners of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra when it comes to the S12 series. The AMOLED screen is still 14.6-inches with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,600 nits peak brightness, the battery is still 11,600mAh with 45W charging (and boasts the same promised 23 hours of video playback as the S11 Ultra), and the S12 Ultra tablet is still IP68 rated meaning it could spend 30 minutes underwater at a depth of 1m and survive the experience.

The tablet is as thin (5.1mm) as it was before, with the same Silver and Gray color options to choose between as before. The only notable change is the chipset — the new 3nm processor boasts an up to 19% faster CPU, 17% better GPU performance, and a 51% improvement to its NPU processing for your AI needs — though there is also a new heat chamber for better heat dissipation, plus a new four-channel speaker setup for more immersive audio than last generation’s dual-speaker build.

I’ve been trying the Ultra model out and enjoying it so far — relying on it as a solid laptop alternative with the book keyboard cover attachment (sold separately), and also as a great mobile gaming and TV-watching device while I travel (a full review will be coming soon) — but considering how similar it is to the last generation, I am left wondering if Samsung should take a leaf out of Apple’s book and abandon its annual refresh approach to Galaxy Tab launches.

(Image credit: Future)

The Tab S12+ is an interesting beast. There was no S11+, so it’s a replacement for the S10+ from 2024, but there’s also no regular S12 launching alongside these models, so it's kind of the successor to the S11 too.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S12+ boasts a 12.6-inch AMOLED screen with the same 1,600 nits peak brightness as the Ultra. It also has the same chipset as the Ultra model, but there's a smaller 10,600mAh battery (unsurprising, since it's physically smaller).

Besides the lower battery capcaity and screen size it also lacks the Ultra’s 8MP ultra-wide rear camera — but otherwise has the same 13MP main on its back, and 12MP ultra-wide on its front.

Because the S12+ is billed as a step-up model, despite there not being a base S12 to step up from, it does mean Samsung’s cheapest 2026 model is a lot more pricey than its cheapest 2025 tablet (more on that in a second).

For someone on a budget thinking of upgrading, it’s a real shame the best option from Samsung might be a tablet that’s a year old, but unless we get a regular Tab S12 (I’m not holding my breath) that’s the position we find ourselves in.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (Image credit: Future | Nico Arboleda)Coming for the iPad Pro?

As we’ve come to expect in 2026 — though it still stings to see every single time — the tablets will cost more than what has come before. The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra will set you back $1,399 / £1,399 (about AU$2,650) — up from $1,299 / £1,269 / AU$2,099 – meanwhile the S12+ costs $1,199 / £1,199 (about AU$2,270) for its cheapest model. (Australian pricing TBC for the new devices).

For both tablets the cheapest configuration comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, with both also having a 512GB model, and the Ultra boasting a 1TB model that also ups the RAM to 16GB, though these configurations will cost more.

At these prices, Samsung is pitching its S12 lineup against Apple’s iPad Pro lines, but thankfully the prices are a little cheaper. Compared with the 2025 iPad Pro launch prices, Samsung’s tablets would be pricier — however Apple hiked its prices by up to $200 / £200 / AU$400, putting its 11-inch iPad Pro on-par with the S12+, and making its the 13-inch iPad Pro $100 / £100 pricier.

Should Apple be worried? (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

There are factors to consider beyond price, of course. The Samsung tablets have larger screens than their respective rivals and a longer quoted battery life, and come with the S Pen stylus in the box, while the Apple Pencil is sold separately.

But Apple’s tech is lighter — 444g and 579g compared with 553g and 692g — and while we need to do some more testing, Apple silicon tends to outperform its rivals.

All that aside, there’s plenty to still love about the S12-series Galaxy Tabs. I’ve been using the Ultra for a couple of weeks now and it’s genuinely a very useful machine. I’m currently writing this story using the tablet and its keyboard attachment (multitasking across documents, web pages, and my photos app with ease).

But again I’m left wondering if it really needed to exist considering the lackluster hardware upgrades and price increase. Right now I’m not sure, but let’s see how I feel when my review is ready

• Dots will decide how to work autonomously toward a goal you set
• They have their own cloud computer and browser for safety
• Only Pro and Business Premium users are getting access for now

OpenAI has launched a new type of always-on AI agent within ChatGPT designed to take ongoing actions for work rather than waiting for individual prompts.

The new GPT-6-powered feature, Dots, means ChatGPT can keep working on tasks between conversations, only bringing things back to the user when they require specific attention or permission.

Designed to be more of an autonomous agent, the company explains that users only need to set goals and boundaries, and the Dots should be able to go about working out what happens next.

ChatGPT's Dots ramp up the 'autonomous' in agentic AI

The fundamental difference for ChatGPT's Dots is that they each have their own cloud computer and browser, giving them an environment within which they can interact with the broader web, use apps, run code and work with other plugins, keeping users' computers totally separate and free of any potential damage an autonomous agent could otherwise take.

A Dot's activity is shown as either being in progress, scheduled or completed, with some example use cases spanning checking a user's calendar to provide them with a morning report, or reviewing information from connected services and apps.

And to make Dots even more like proactive colleagues, the company has already added them into Slack and Teams, with text support also coming soon.

Built-in safeguards also promise to pause or stop a Dot's work if their system detects malicious instructions or behavior.

They're coming first to Pro and Business Premium users at no additional cost, and only work towards a set goal will consume usage limits – conversations with dots are totally free. Dots need to be set up on the desktop app or a browser first, but from there, they'll also be available to interact with on the mobile app.

OpenAI didn't share plans for a broader rollout, but given its previous deployment phases, it's possible that Dots could extend to other subscription types in the future once early users get to grips with real-world use cases and costs.

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of almost every workflow. Developers are using it to write and test code, customer support is turning to it to handle routine queries, and security teams are using it to analyze alerts and support investigations. Digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) is no exception.

But as digital forensics work has evolved over the last few decades, one lesson remains consistent. Tools can support investigations, but investigators remain responsible for the quality of the conclusions they reach. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into workflows across industries, the challenge is understanding where AI tools can assist and where human expertise remains essential – and importantly, where organizations should draw the line.

Where AI adds value

For digital forensics and incident response teams, some of AI's most promising applications are also its most practical.

With 90 percent of criminal investigations and prosecutions now involving a digital element, DFIR teams are being asked to process enormous volumes of data. As of February of this year, more than 20,000 devices remain in the digital forensics backlog in England and Wales alone.

Data is spread across endpoints, cloud environments, communications platforms and user accounts, and AI can help investigators triage. It can process that information more efficiently and help to identify potential leads, spot connections between datasets, and highlight other sources of evidence that may require further examination.

For example, it can help investigators correlate relevant activity across multiple devices, accounts and data sources, supporting the reconstruction of events timelines that would otherwise take days to piece together manually. It can also help practitioners organize information and structure reports, allowing them to spend less time on administrative work and more time on analysis.

Used appropriately, AI can reduce the time spent on manual, repetitive work and allow skilled practitioners to spend more time on the analysis and decision-making that moves their work forward.

The danger of treating AI as an answer

The challenge is that AI often appears so authoritative that people become overly reliant on its outputs.

One of the most important lessons from digital forensics is that every tool has limitations. Experienced investigators understand that forensic tools can be wrong. AI is no different. The greatest risk of AI is using it without having the foundational knowledge needed to recognize when it is wrong.

AI is like your junior analyst on their best day. It can identify patterns, highlight areas of interest and help move work forward. But no organization would allow a junior analyst to make the final decision in a sensitive investigation without oversight and accountability. AI should be approached in much the same way.

Problems arise when organizations treat AI-generated outputs as answers rather than something that needs to be validated by someone with the expertise to challenge them. AI can help you reach a conclusion, but it shouldn’t be the conclusion in and of itself.

Knowing where to draw the line

There are many areas where AI can accelerate and enhance work, but there are some areas where AI should never be used. Organizations need to pay attention to where those boundaries lie.

In digital forensics, AI can help identify information that warrants further examination. It can support analysis and help investigators work more efficiently. But it shouldn’t be blindly trusted to reach investigative conclusions or determine innocence or guilt.

Those decisions carry legal, professional and life-changing consequences, making human judgement and accountability non-negotiable.

The same principle extends beyond digital forensics. Organizations in every sector are now deciding how much responsibility should be handed to AI. The answer will vary depending on the use case, but the underlying question remains the same - what safeguards are in place to prevent people becoming overly reliant on AI outputs, and how will they know when those outputs are wrong?

Building frameworks for responsible adoption

These are exactly the questions currently being addressed by the new practical frameworks for the use of AI in digital forensics and incident response. They encourage organizations to consider how much risk a task carries, how outputs will be reviewed, and where human oversight should remain mandatory.

Using AI in DFIR requires strict governance because the stakes are so high. Mistakes are taken seriously when someone’s life is on the line, or a wrongful conviction could take place. However, it shouldn’t take consequences this severe for organizations to work towards protecting the integrity of their decision-making and ensuring humans remain in the driving seat.

Rather than racing to embed AI into every process, organizations should establish governance frameworks first – including what AI should never be in charge of – then start with low-risk use cases where outputs can be easily reviewed or reversed. From there, they can expand capability and explore how AI can help their teams do their jobs better, acting as a force-multiplier rather than the final arbiter.

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• Windows 11 26H2 is here and Microsoft says it's a "predictable and low-disruption update"
• There are users on social media who very much disagree, and are expressing their nervousness in varying degrees
• However, the 26H2 update could trigger the rollout of features that your PC hasn't yet received, so it might prove very useful

Windows 11's annual update has arrived, and while 26H2 doesn't bring in notable new features, it should trigger the rollout of functionality from earlier this year – if you still don't have some of those bits and pieces.

As Microsoft explains: "Windows 11 version 26H2 … delivers the latest Windows innovations with a streamlined update experience designed to minimize disruption and help you stay secure, productive, and up to date."

As with last year's update, this is what Microsoft calls a "small enablement package", meaning it's a minimal download with a quick installation that happens in a single reboot. All it's effectively doing is flicking a switch to turn on some preloaded code, with no actual new features delivered as such.

There's a key point to note here though, because as Microsoft says, this update "activates new features already included in the operating system through previous monthly servicing updates."

So, if you haven't yet had a feature rolled out to you – such as Microsoft's change to more speedily load apps, or the ability to reposition the taskbar, or the various changes for the Start menu – applying the 26H2 update should ensure that anything missing reaches your PC.

It's also worth bearing in mind that installing a new version of Windows 11 extends your support timeframe (through to October 2028 in the case of 26H2).

Analysis: skeptics aplenty

(Image credit: Unsplash)

I say that installing version 26H2 should mean that any missing Windows 11 features are enabled on your PC, because obviously there's no guarantee, but if you've been hankering after a particular piece of functionality, there's a good chance you'll get it by applying this upgrade (certainly with older features, anyway).

As ever, though, it's never a great idea to rush to download any update, at least in my opinion, because of the danger that some unforeseen bug has crept in. Microsoft talks about this update being small and "designed to minimize disruption", and it should be a clean enough installation in theory, but people have been burned before – and the reaction on Reddit shows that quite clearly.

Posting in response to Microsoft calling 26H2 a "predictable and low-disruption update", one Redditor summed up the broad feeling in the thread by saying: "Well, now I'm really suspicious." Another poster simply says: "Uh oh."

And there are countless jokes or sarcastic barbs about how 26H2 will be just great because AI coded it, such as: "Don't worry they told Copilot not to make any mistakes with this update."

Another Redditor takes a similar attitude to myself: "I'll wait 3 weeks and then see what the situation looks like before updating."

There's no need to jump right on this update, so it just seems prudent to hold fire for a short while and see if any annoying incidents happen that move the needle on the glitch-o-meter.

Let's hope not, and then at some point later in October, you can apply version 26H2 and with any luck you'll get any features that have missed out your PC in Microsoft's rollout schedule. Speaking of which, it's notable how many more folks are complaining about Windows 11 being very slow to deploy new capabilities this year, but that said, you can't exactly blame Microsoft for being cautious given that bugs remain a big problem for its desktop OS.

Slowing down to a treacly pace with feature rollouts isn't exactly an ideal solution, though, is it? Microsoft needs to address some more deep-seated issues with its testing processes here (and no, I won't shut up about this until something is actually seen to be happening at the company in this regard).

Logitech G316 X 98: One-minute review

The G316 X is Logitech’s new gaming keyboard, featuring mechanical switches and an integrated display for good measure.

In typical Logitech fashion the G316 X sports a minimalist appearance, available in monotone colorways (black or white), and free of unnecessary details or angles. The vibrant RGB backlighting is a nice touch, though, as is the thin LED strip at the top.

These smart looks are complimented by exceptional build quality. The chassis is solid yet light, while the PBT keycaps feel great thanks to their subtle texturing and sturdy fit, putting the G316 X's construction up there with the best gaming keyboards.

Also worth highlighting are the adjustable feet. Rather than plastic flaps that fold out, the G316 X enlists soft rubber blocks that you remove and turn over when you want to adjust the tilt angle from four to eight degrees. The integrated screen, however, is a letdown. It may look good, but it's small and displays no real information.

(Image credit: Future)

Thankfully, G HUB — the software used for customizing the G316 X — is more useful. There are numerous assignments available, including the ability to map up to five inputs to a single key. There are also three different mapping layers for you to play around with.

Thanks to its stock tactile switches, I enjoyed gaming with the G316 X. Their solid, thocky response imparts plenty of feedback, yet they're still snappy enough to feel quick. They’re damped enough to remove harshness from impact, but they’re not the quietest switches around.

In addition to gaming, I also found the G316 X great for typing. My one small complaint is that the feet don’t tilt the board quite enough for my liking. Nevertheless, I still found it sufficiently comfortable to use without a wrist-rest — not something I can say about every gaming keyboard.

The G316 X isn’t the most affordable mechanical keyboard around, but it's cheaper than some of its key rivals. It’s a shame its screen is merely a gimmick and it lacks wireless connectivity, but the G316 X is still a strong choice for those after a solid-feeling experience.

(Image credit: Future)Logitech G316 X 98 review: Price & availability

• $119.99 / £109.99 / AU$199.95
• Available now in black or white
• Cheaper than some rivals

The G316 X costs $119.99 / £109.99 / AU$199.95 and is available now. It comes preinstalled with tactile switches, although these are hot-swappable. There are two colorways to choose from: black or white.

It's quite expensive for a wired mechanical keyboard, although cheaper than those from other premium brands. For instance, it comes in lower than the HyperX Origins 2 1800, and a lot less than the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% — the latter is one of the best-made and best-performing examples in the sector, though.

In today’s marketplace, however, there are more budget-friendly gaming keyboards available. The MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra, for example, offers multiple wireless connectivity options, but also analog switches that feel great and offer plenty of tweakability.

Logitech G316 X 98 review: Specs

Layout

98%

Switch

Mechanical (Tactile)

Programmable keys

Yes

Dimensions

15.1 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches (384 x 140 x 40mm)

RGB or backlighting

Yes (customizable)

(Image credit: Future)Logitech G316 X 98 review: Design and features

• Minimalist looks with bright RGB
• Premium-feeling materials and build
• Practical adjustable feet

The G316 X has a retro-modern look, sporting an ultra-square form and minimalist design. There aren’t any odd angles or contours that sometimes blight gaming peripherals; the only flourishes here are a translucent green Escape key and volume wheel, and an LED strip between the number and F rows.

These are actually quite attractive, as is the bright customizable RGB backlighting against the white option of the keyboard, in particular.

Although the G316 X is made of plastic, it’s one of the best around. It’s solid yet light — the ideal combination. The PBT keycaps help lend the board a premium feel, featuring a subtle texture that makes them satisfying to touch.

Like many gaming keyboards, the G316 X comes with adjustable feet, but they’re not of your typical fold-out type. Instead, they’re rubber blocks that you have to remove and flip over to switch the tilt angle from four to eight degrees.

This may appear a less elegant solution at first, but it’s actually rather clever. The static design provides greater stability, so there’s no danger of the blocks closing in when moving the board around. Also, their large surface area and rubber material delivers a better grip.

(Image credit: Future)

Ironically, it’s the integrated LED screen that turns out to be the least sophisticated aspect of the G316 X. It may look sharp, but it’s seriously lacking in functionality, merely displaying a few basic animations when adjusting the volume or or playing back media — none of which are helpful.

The 98% layout is compact yet practical, even including a dedicated number pad, although there are a few navigation keys absent that I would’ve liked to see remain. There aren’t many default Fn shortcuts labelled on the keys, either.

Thankfully, you can make your own shortcuts using Logitech’s G HUB peripheral software. There are plenty of assignments available here, and three different layers in which to arrange them. There’s even the ability to assign up to five inputs to a single key.

You can also customize the Game Mode button next to the aforementioned screen in order for it to disable more keys beyond the Windows key. However, you won’t find many performance-based settings to play with, beyond the ability to adjust the polling rate, which has a maximum value of 8KHz.

(Image credit: Future)Logitech G316 X 98 review: Performance

• Excellent feedback from tactile switches
• Great for gaming and typing
• Tilt angle is limited

The standout aspect of the G316 X is its stock tactile switches. I found they provided plenty of feedback, actuating with a solid and noticeable thock, yet they still able to rebound quickly, making them feel snappy. There’s just enough dampening to prevent presses feeling harsh, but relative to many other gaming keyboards, it’s minimal. This means the G316 X can be quite loud when you’re hammering away.

I found the board comfortable when gaming with the WASD keys. This is thanks to the adjustable feet, which make up for the lack of wrist support and reasonably thick base. However, I wish they tilted the layout a little further for optimum comfort: I often hit the back edge of the spacebar, although its curved design made this less of an issue than it might have been been otherwise. It also seems like it’s damped to a greater degree than the other keys, which makes it all the more gratifying to press.

The spacing between the keycaps is ideal: they’re not so close that you’ll hit the wrong key, nor so far apart that reaching them is a stretch. I also found them surprisingly easy to type on, despite their relative tallness. Not only does the aforementioned tilt angle mitigate their height, but their prominent indentations guide your fingers to the correct key, helping to prevent typos.

Should I buy the Logitech G316 X 98?Scorecard

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Not cheap, but compared to other upmarket rivals, the price is reasonable.

4 / 5

Design and features

Solid yet light, and the double-sided feet are clever. It’s a shame about the lack of navigation keys and shortcut labelling, though.

4 / 5

Performance

The tactile switches are satisfyingly solid and provide plenty of feedback, although I wish there was slightly more of a tilt angle for maximum comfort.

4 / 5

Overall

The G316 X is a fantastically thocky mechanical keyboard that's comfortable enough to just about get away with no wrist support.

4 / 5

Buy the Logitech G316 X 98 if…

You want solid switches
The stock tactile switches provide plenty of feedback and pleasing resistance, yet are still snappy enough to compete.

You want solid feet
The rubber blocks underneath are stable and grippy, and can be flipped over to adjust the tilt angle.

Don't buy it if…

You want an interactive screen
The one here serves little purpose, while others feature settings menus and display useful game-related information.

You want the best value possible
Although the G316 X is well priced compared to other premium models, there are numerous gaming keyboards — mechanical and otherwise — that offer greater features for a lower price.

Logitech G316 X 98 review: Also consider

HyperX Origins 2 1800
The HyperX Origins 2 1800 is another wired gaming keyboard with mechanical switches and hot-swappable hardware, but it's slightly less expensive than the G316 X. It still has a premium build and great performance, though. However, its customization software is less involved, and I didn’t find its stock keycaps very amenable to typing.

Read our full HyperX Origins 2 1800 review.

MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra
If you want great value, the FUN60 Ultra is a fine choice. Its analog switches feel superb and offer plenty of scope for customization and tweaking. And to cap it all off, the whole board is surprisingly well made, too.

Read our full MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra review.

(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Logitech G316 X 98

• Tested for a few days
• Used for various tasks besides gaming
• Plenty of gaming keyboard experience

I tested the G316 X for a few days, during which time I used it not only for gaming, but also for typing and web browsing.

I played Counter-Strike 2, which is great test of a peripheral’s accuracy and responsiveness, as well as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which makes wider use of keys beyond those in the WASD area, helping to test the ease of access and comfort in reaching such keys.

I’ve been PC gaming for over a decade, and have used many different keyboards in that time. I also have a wealth of experience reviewing them, from budget models to state-of-the-art offerings from esteemed brands.

• First reviewed: September 2026
• Read more about how we test

Razer Blade 16 (2026) two-minute review

Razer's latest Blade 16, is by far, one of the best gaming laptops I've ever tested. The spec on this thing is off the charts. It's got an Nvidia RTX 5090, with 175W of juice behind it, an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, and no less than 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM running along at an outstandingly zippy 9,600 MT/s.

Razer's crammed all of that performance into a form factor that puts Dell's thin and light XPS line to the sword, and it still manages to keep thermals in check, and ensures power delivery is on point as well.

Speaking of design, this thing is stunningly clean. Razer's taken the humble laptop form factor and made it its own. It's simple, elegant, and sleek in almost every area.

From the keyboard to the trackpad, to the ports, it just oozes premium. It's got an RGB keyboard, of course, and (surprisingly) that green Razer logo etched and illuminated on the back (perhaps the only thing that's a little underwhelming), but aside from that, there's little here to indicate that it's a gaming laptop.

(Image credit: Future)

The screen lives up to the rest of the spec; it's a gorgeous 2560 x 1600 OLED offering, spitting out a staggering 240 Hz too, with inky deep blacks. It's hard to fault, and paired with that GPU, there are few games here that don't hold up in their ultra presets. Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer 3 both pulled framerates well into the hundreds.

The only two negatives are the lack of an Ethernet port and the fact it has a price tag so large that you could almost use it as a down payment on a house.

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Price and availability

• Available globally now
• Insane price tag for the spec, paying for design
• Soldered RAM so choose memory up front

You can pick up your very own Blade 16 right now, no matter where you are on the planet. Prices start at $3,499 US, £3,499 and AU$5,999 for the base spec.

That stock model isn't entirely different from our review unit either (genuinely a nice thing to see), the only downgrades come in the form of the SSD, dropping from a 2TB unit, to a 1TB model, and the GPU choice, with the base version featuring an RTX 5070 Ti, instead of our juiced up 5090.

You can also upgrade to an RTX 5080 if you so desire, and there's an option to bump up to 64GB of RAM as well if your bank account can stretch that far in the AI age.

It's also worth noting, demand is quite high (or supply low), so depending where you are in the world, you might see a lot of these units on pre-order, or out of stock (amazingly given the price tag).

It's worth noting you can swap the SSD out, if you're handy with a torx screwdriver.

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Specs

Base

Review

Price

$3,499.99 / £3,499.99 / AU$5,999.95

$4,899.99 / £4,799.99 / AU$8,399.95

CPU

Intel Core Ultra 9 386H (4.9 GHz, 16 Cores)

Intel Core Ultra 9 386H (4.9 GHz, 16 Cores)

GPU

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

RAM

32GB LPDDR5X

32GB LPDDR5X

Storage

1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

Display

16-inch OLED (2560 x 1600), 16:10, 240Hz

16-inch OLED (2560 x 1600), 16:10, 240Hz

Ports and Connectivity

1x Thunderbolt 5, 1x Thunderbolt 4, SD Card Reader, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0

1x Thunderbolt 5, 1x Thunderbolt 4, SD Card Reader, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0

Battery

90Whr

90Whr

Dimensions

355 x 250.5 x 17.4mm (14.0 x 9.9 x 0.6in)

355 x 250.5 x 17.4mm (14.0 x 9.9 x 0.6in)

Weight

4.71lbs (2.14kg)

4.71lbs (2.14kg)

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Design

• Clean, premium aesthetic and feel
• Impressively thin and light
• Lacks an Ethernet port

I've tested a lot of "premium" laptops over the last 11 years of my career, and the result is almost always a mixed bag. Some manufacturers often skimp on the chassis, and just bump up the internal hardware, or shift the screen to a higher res. In the case of the Blade 16 though I can say, hand on heart, that this thing is stunning.

The aluminum chassis has a beautiful cool soft-touch satin finish. The edges are clean cut, and smooth with tighter radial bends, bevels are there, but impressively subtle, and everywhere you look, that design philosophy is mimicked, from the keys, to the typeface, to the trackpad, even to the ports, and the bezel that surrounds that beautiful OLED display.

Razer truly has mastered the art of building a laptop that blurs the lines between gamer and professional, without compromising on either front, and it's a joy to behold.

(Image credit: Future)

The only flaw, in my opinion, is the Razer logo on the back of the unit. By default, it's Razer's iconic hard-lit, green, three-headed snake which stands out a touch compared to the rest of the design.

From a hardware perspective, the kit is exemplary. Razer's paired an outstandingly colorful OLED display with an RTX 5090, that's fully unlocked with a chonky 175W TGP. The screen itself only comes in at 2560x1600 in a 16:10 aspect ratio, but it gives it a pixel density of around 189 PPI, which is about 37% denser than your standard 32-inch 4K affair. And that's backed up with a 240Hz refresh rate and Vesa's DisplayHDR TrueBlack 1000 certification too.

(Image credit: Future)

I'm a big fan of that pairing as well. Laptop makers often fall into a trap where they try to just cram as many pixels as possible into a product at this price tag. Marketing loves it because "number bigger" and "bigger numbers sell," but it honestly demolishes overall frame rates when going for the 4K or 3K option, and I'd argue that you can't really tell the difference between 190 PPI and 280 PPI anyway. Pairing the high-end RTX 5090 with 1600p gives you a far better, well-rounded experience across anything you throw at it, and allows you to take advantage of higher refresh rates.

(Image credit: Future)

Port selection is overall pretty solid too. You've got Thunderbolt 5 and 4 here (both of which support power delivery), along with a healthy complement of USB-C ports, and even an SD card reader, if you're heavy into the ol' photography. There's an HDMI 2.1 out as well, although sadly no dedicated Ethernet, but you do get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 thrown in as standard.

Also, one thing to bear in mind: given the form factor, RAM is soldered by design, so what you buy is what you get — there's no possibility of upgrading this in the future.

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Performance

• Outstanding gaming performance
• Solid at computational tasks
• SSD could be better

Let's address the elephant in the room first. SSD performance is OK, and just OK at that. The Blade 16 (2026) uses a Lexar NM790 PCIe 4.0 SSD either in a 1TB or 2TB config, depending on what you pick.

It's a relatively affordable drive coming out of China, based on YMTC's 232-layer TLC NAND flash, and a MaxioTech MAP1602A controller. There's no DRAM cache on the thing, and it's single-sided and more than reliable enough, but just don't expect it to burst through benchmark results and computational tasks quite like something from SanDisk's labs or the PCIe 5.0 league. Still, we should be thankful because if Razer had picked that, this thing could've cost twice as much.

Razer Blade 16 (2026) benchmarks

3DMark: Fire Strike: 36,218; Steel Nomad: 5,911; Time Spy: 21,661
Geekbench 6.6: Multicore: 16,971; Single-core: 2,895
Cinebench 2024: Single Core: 128; Multi Core: 1,234
Crossmark: 2,098
Total War: Warhammer III: 1080p, Medium: 289.2fps
Total War: Warhammer III: 1800p, Ultra: 116.7
Battery Life (PC Mark Gaming): 1 hour and 41 minutes

In-game though, this thing is outstanding. I ran a plethora of benchmarks against it, including our standard suite which we've used for products like the Alienware 15 and other laptops, alongside just running it at full-tilt, on ultra presets at max resolution to really get a solid idea of how it performs.

At 2560x1600 this thing with its RTX 5090 just shatters expectations. Cyberpunk 2077 on the Ray Tracing: Ultra preset, no DLSS, no Multi Frame Gen (MFG) hit 35 fps. With DLSS set to Quality and MFG on, you're seeing that figure jump up to 115.6 fps on the average.

(Image credit: Future)

Total War: Warhammer 3 saw 116 fps across its benchmark too. In our standard 1080p medium tests (which we do for consistency) results were off the charts: 290 fps in Total War, 310 in Cyberpunk, 166 in Final Fantasy XIV. These are genuinely impressive results.

The thing driving the bulk of that performance is the 175W TGP (that goes for the 5070 Ti and 5080 models too). It allows the chip to run at full tilt, with max clock speeds for the 5090 tapped out at 2,812 MHz, and it averaged 2,100 MHz under testing conditions, with an average temp of just 65C.

The CPU by comparison was a little toastier, at 93C when maxed out at its peak 4.9 GHz during the runs, with max GPU wattage coming in at 165W out of that 175W maximum. Nice.

(Image credit: Future)

Intel's Core Ultra 9 doesn't disappoint, and it scored a healthy 128 points in Cinebench's single core test, the highest single core result I've seen for a laptop by some margin.

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Battery life

• 280W charger juices up quick
• Battery life solid given the spec
• Did not finish the video test

On the battery life front, perhaps unsurprisingly given the phenomenal spec pulling power from this thing, it didn't last quite as long in PC Mark's gaming test as you'd expect, but 81 minutes is still a comfortable time, and quite close to what we saw with the (admittedly far cheaper) Alienware 15 DA15265, trailing it by eight minutes.

Try as I might, however, I couldn't get it to run the full PC Mark Video benchmark for any prolonged period without crashing. With a manual benchmark, utilising YouTube and a looped hour long video, it survived for about 3.5 hours before giving up the ghost (although do bear in mind that is with Wi-Fi enabled, which defers to our usual results).

The good news is that the power brick is exceptionally fast at charging the Razer Blade 16 (2026), perhaps unsurprisingly given it delivers 280W of juice.

Should I buy the Razer Blade 16 (2026)?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Razer's Blade 16 does not represent good value for money. You're paying for design, cooling and RAM above all else. But the performance the form factor are rare anywhere else, and that does command a premium.

3 / 5

Design

Aside from a missing Ethernet port, there's little to moan about the Blade 16, with a healthy port selection, and an outstanding aesthetic tied with a beautiful design and incredible screen, it's hard to fault it.

5 / 5

Performance

Gaming performance is exceptional and the CPU more than delivers, particularly when tied to that beautiful OLED display, the SSD could be better, but then the price tag would see a hit as a result.

5 / 5

Battery life

81 minutes in gaming and about 3.5 hours on video streaming. It's enough, but you'll want to keep the charger handy during longer streaming sessions.

4 / 5

Final score

Only let down by its high price, and the lack of an Ethernet port, there's little to not love about this thing, if you've got the cash to buy it.

4.5 / 5

Buy it if…

You're looking for a laptop that blurs the lines between professional and gamer
With an incredible hardware spec, and performance that delivers not only in-game but in any professional app you throw its way, the Blade 16 is undoubtedly a brilliant laptop.View Deal

You love a crisp smooth OLED that looks great no matter what you throw at it
It's just utterly stunning to look at and use, with enough pixel density to keep even the most eager of 4K enthusiasts happy. With exemplary colors and a 240 Hz refresh rate, there's little to dislike about it.View Deal

Don't buy it if…

You're after good value for money
This ain't it chief. At near five grand in the UK and US, and nine grand in Oz, it's ridiculous money for a ridiculous spec. It's good, but you're paying mainly for design here, not the spec.View Deal

You just need a gosh darn Ethernet port
Seriously? All this money and not a single Ethernet port? On a gaming laptop? Tut tut Razer…View Deal

Razer Blade 16 (2026) review: Also Consider

Alienware 16 Area-51

Big bold and beautiful, the Alienware 16 shares a lot of the same ideology as Razer's Blade 16, 2560 x 1600 screen, 240Hz refresh rate, RTX 5090, it's all there, the only downsides? No HDR support, and the battery life isn't quite as good. Still it's a heck of a lot cheaper.

Read our full Alienware 16 Area-51 reviewView Deal

Razer Blade 18 (2026)

The Blade 16's older brother, with a similar top-line spec sheet, but a far larger screen that justifies the 16:10 3840 x 2400 resolution. If you want a gaming laptop that feels like a gaming laptop, but with a bit more pizazz, and aren't so worried about having the latest CPU, then the Blade 18, might just be the right pick for you.

Read our full Razer Blade 18 reviewView Deal

How I tested the Razer Blade 16 (2026)

• Tested in a variety of different locations
• Benchmarked across our usual suite + ultra presets at full res
• 11 years of experience benchmarking and testing all manner of expensive laptops

I've spent years testing and benchmarking some of the world's most expensive laptops, from MSI's ultrabooks, to Asus, to Alienware's and even Razer's so the Blade 16 isn't new territory for me. I set it up as my daily driver and used it over a period of three weeks, to get to grips with it for my professional work and during relaxation time as well, and it delivered on all fronts.

As for testing, I benchmarked it in line with all of my other TechRadar laptop reviews, which focus on a medium 1920 x 1080 preset, to have a consistent baseline for everything we review.

I also tested it at Ultra on its native 2560 x 1600 resolution, to get a good understanding for how it'd be used, in its true config, then compared those results to my knowledge testing other high-end gaming laptops like this for PC Gamer, and other brands.

• First reviewed: September 2026
• Read more about how we test

Last October, a massive DDoS attack suspected to be linked to the Aisuru botnet disrupted some of the biggest names in gaming. Steam, Riot Games, PlayStation Network and Xbox experienced simultaneous outages, affecting games including Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Valorant, and League of Legends.

Researchers investigating the event estimated that the attack may have peaked at 29.69 Tbps, which would make it one of the largest DDoS attacks ever recorded.

These are top-tier, sophisticated technology companies with significant resources devoted to staying online. Yet even at this level, major disruptions still happen. That raises a more useful question than simply how large the attack was: Why can the DDoS defenses that organizations have invested in heavily, still leave them exposed when it matters most?

Why Availability Outages are a Revenue Problem in Gaming Gaming accounted for 19% of DDoS attacks observed by Gcore in H2 2025, making it the third-most-targeted sector, behind technology and financial services. Overall DDoS activity in Gcore's dataset increased 150% year over year.

For a gaming company, availability is arguably the biggest part of the product. If players cannot authenticate, stay connected, or play at all, users, and therefore revenue, go down. The consequence of extended disruption is a lack of trust, affecting the bottom line.

For example, an outage during a major launch or tournament for a gaming company is catastrophic because it’s occurring exactly when they’ve put time and resources into ensuring maximum player demand. A failed launch window means marketing dollars, player acquisition, and revenue all take a hit.

How configuration drift creates DDoS protection gaps

Configuration drift is the growing mismatch between deployed DDoS controls and the changing environment those controls were configured to protect. Gaming is especially vulnerable to this because the product changes constantly.

Studios are always shipping updates because players expect it. To stay relevant and exciting (and profitable), they need to always be launching a major update or new title, or expanding to a new region or user base.

Constant changes mean constant risk. Every new change is a chance for a system or safety net that was in place during deployment to fail. For example, let’s say a studio launches a new matchmaking service. Traffic to that service may be routed differently, but the mitigation policy protecting the original service doesn't automatically follow it. Now you’ve got a gap. The DDoS protection may be the same, but the environment around it isn't.

In addition to product, feature, or service releases, any change to the IT ecosystem may have an impact on the environment the security controls were configured to protect. Those changes accumulate. This is called configuration drift. And it becomes the default, not the exception.

Why point-in-time DDoS testing cannot keep pace with continuous change

This problem is especially concerning in gaming, but any company operating a fast-moving digital service faces some version of it. Point-in-time red team testing alone can't provide current evidence about DDoS protection across a continuously changing environment. If point-in-time testing happens in January, and then the environment materially changes in February, what exactly does the January result tell the team in August?

Despite this, point-in-time testing still has real value: it tells a studio how well its people and procedures respond on the day the test is run. The issue is that the change is continuous. And the release and testing cycles are running on different clocks.

A game studio might make meaningful production changes every week while its formal testing schedule runs, say, quarterly or semiannually. Every change between those two points potentially creates a gap between the environment that passed the test and the environment players are actually using.

Point-in-time testing was never built to validate configuration coverage across an entire, constantly changing attack surface. For gaming companies, that leaves too much time between an environmental change and knowing whether existing DDoS protections still cover it.

What gaming security teams should change

Because gaming infrastructure is constantly changing, DDoS validation needs to be ongoing rather than relying on scheduled point-in-time testing or waiting for major events like a new launch or a tournament. This gives security teams current evidence that their protections continue to work even as infrastructure and services evolve.

That ongoing process should account for changes to public-facing services and how existing protections respond to them. Did this change alter what is exposed, how traffic reaches it, or how existing DDoS controls respond?

When ongoing validation identifies a DDoS gap, teams should investigate how it emerged rather than treating it as an isolated vulnerability to patch. If a configuration change exposed one service, the same change or pattern may exist elsewhere in the environment. Finding the vulnerability should prompt teams to look for similar exposure across other services.

What this means for any always-on digital business

Players don’t care about protection deployments, whether their preferred game passed its last point-in-time test, or if an outage is caused by the technology itself or an outside attack. The game works, or it doesn't.

Gaming makes the consequences of these vulnerabilities unusually visible. When availability is part of the product, even a small weakness can become a business problem the moment attackers find it.

For any always-on digital business, leaders need to pay attention to how their defenses can keep pace with the environment they are responsible for protecting, especially as it changes. The same lesson applies to any company whose customers expect its digital services to be always available.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless review: Two-minute review

The Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless is (as the name suggests) the second iteration of Corsair's Harpoon RGB Wireless, sporting a redesigned casing and improved internal components.

Back when we reviewed the Harpoon RGB Wireless in 2019, we gave it a well-deserved four and a half stars, citing its excellent value for money, solid ergonomics, and good battery life. If I cast my gaze back seven years to the heady days of the pre-COVID era, I do remember wireless gaming mice being more of a luxury item, and the Harpoon brought this functionality to a wider audience thanks to its extremely competitive pricing.

But times have changed, and it's now far easier to get your hands on a wireless gaming mouse from a household-name PC hardware brand without breaking the bank. Mice like the MSI Versa 300 Wireless 8K, Cooler Master MM311, and Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless have made the market a lot more competitive than it was in 2019, so does the Harpoon V2 Wireless earn its place among the best gaming mice?

(Image credit: Future)

For the most part, I'm pleased to say that yes, it certainly does. Considering the price point, this is an exceptionally well-constructed mouse that offers great gaming performance and a decent (though admittedly not expansive) feature set. I do have one particular issue with the Harpoon V2 Wireless, which you've probably already deduced from the headline of this article, but it's far from a dealbreaker.

Let's address that issue right away, then. It's small. Not tiny – I've personally reviewed more ridiculously compact mice than this – but definitely on the smaller side for a gaming mouse. Compared to the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike and NZXT Lift Elite that I use regularly at home, it's almost a full centimeter shorter in the body.

This isn't inherently a massive problem, as the ergonomic design of the Harpoon V2 Wireless makes it easy to grip and move around. But as a palm gripper, I found that my fingers rested too far forward in the most comfortable position, prompting me to adopt more of a claw-type grip, which proved a bit uncomfortable in longer sessions. The thumb buttons are also a bit further forward than I would expect; most mice with two thumb buttons will keep the split between them lined up with the back edge of the main mouse button, but they're closer to the front here, which made pressing the back one feel a bit less intuitive than I'd like.

Now, I'm a big guy. I'm 6'4", and the meat paddles I call hands are obviously going to be bigger than what the vast majority of PC gamers are using to manipulate their peripherals. With that in mind, I'm not going to knock Corsair down too hard here – because outside of this personal gripe, the Harpoon V2 Wireless is a generally great gaming mouse. But it bears mentioning, so if you're a similarly club-fisted PC gamer, this won't be the right mouse for you.

(Image credit: Future)

Now, let's get to the good stuff. The Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless has a sleek matte plastic body with two translucent main buttons. Despite its small size, it nonetheless offers a sensible amount of weight with very balanced distribution, preventing any uneven handling for users who regularly lift the mouse clear of the pad. Each side has a textured triradiate patterning that greatly helps with grip, though I do worry that it might easily become dirty with extended use. The shape is asymmetrical, with no left-handed version available – sorry, southpaws.

In terms of buttons, you get the two main pointer buttons, two thumb buttons, a textured rubber scroll wheel with regular click input (no tilt inputs), and an additional button behind the wheel that is set to switch between DPI profiles by default. All of these are remappable using the downloadable Corsair iCue software, but even better, you can achieve whatever hardware tweaking you desire (including adjusting DPI presets, RGB lighting, and custom button macros) via the Corsair Web Hub without needing to install any additional software.

If you'll allow me a moment to go on a brief tangent, I'd like to wax lyrical about the Web Hub for a paragraph. Corsair isn't the only PC hardware manufacturer to have recently embraced the notion of browser-based equipment tweaking, but it's certainly on the cutting edge. Keychron and Royal Kludge offer similar web-app tools, but they're limited to keyboard tweaking only. Corsair's Web Hub offers a broad range of customization options with zero downloads required, and I love it for that.

(Image credit: Future)

Anyway: back to the Harpoon V2 Wireless. The outer casing feels pleasingly durable, with a good, firm click to the two main buttons, which are rated for 100 million clicks. The thumb buttons are a little spongy, but not to a concerning degree; it's rare to see a gaming mouse with genuinely sturdy thumb buttons, to be honest.

The scroll wheel also has a good, robust click, and a satisfyingly smooth rotation that doesn't feel too smooth; I could still get a feel for the individual increments if I slowed down, but scrolling up and down web pages or text documents was nice and swift.

(Image credit: Future)

The underside of the mouse also houses the sensor, which is Corsair's own Marksman model and supports up to 26,000 DPI. Yes, sensitivity limits in gaming mice are getting a bit silly these days, but I'm sure there's an esports pro out there somewhere who can actually tell the difference between a 22K and a 26K mouse. I found the sensor to be excellently responsive and accurate during my testing, playing a number of games including Marathon, Warframe, Marvel Rivals, and Valorant.

(Image credit: Future)

Battery life is also excellent. Corsair advertises up to 140 hours of use, and while that probably means disabling some extra features like the RGB lighting, I didn't need to charge the Harpoon V2 Wireless even once during the week I spent testing it. As far as battery longevity goes, you won't need to be charging it often, which is great.

It charges via a high-quality braided USB-C to USB-A cable that comes in the box, and naturally you can use it in this wired configuration if that's what takes your fancy. Wireless connection offers two modes: Bluetooth or a 2.4GHz connection via a USB dongle. This sort of dual-mode wireless connectivity is pretty common in gaming mice these days, since the 2.4GHz connection offers lower latency than Bluetooth.

(Image credit: Future)

On the topic of that USB dongle: it's concealed in a slot on the underside of the mouse when not in use, which is accessed by completely removing one of the two PTFE skates. I did find that having the skate be removable like this (as opposed to a separate slot for the dongle between the skates, which is commonly seen on other wireless mice) meant that it was a bit more susceptible to debris like dust and fibers getting stuck under the edges. I do have a dog who is a notorious shedder, so users without pets might not find they experience this problem, but it was irritating to repeatedly need to remove hairs and dust from the skate.

Still, that's genuinely a very minor criticism. The Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless is an excellent choice of gaming mouse for the majority of users, delivering great performance and a durable, high-quality design at a competitive price point, so if your hands are average-sized or smaller, this mouse is an easy recommendation.

Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless review: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future)

• $69.99 / £64.99 / (around AU$100)
• Available now worldwide
• Solid value proposition

The Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless is slightly more expensive than its predecessor, priced at $69.99 / £64.99 / (around AU$100) and available directly from Corsair in the US and UK (Australian buyers will need to use third-party vendors like Amazon).

Despite the minor price hike, I remain strongly inclined to say that the new Harpoon remains very good value for money. Wireless gaming mice aren't the pricey products they once were, but considering the seven years of inflation we've had since the original Harpoon RGB Wireless hit the market, I'd say that price point is highly competitive. Additionally, gaming mice are something you'll often see discounted during sale events like Black Friday, and even a mild price cut would take this mouse into genuine bargain territory.

Should I buy the Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless?Scorecard

Value

Mid-range pricing for a very high-quality gaming mouse. If you spot it discounted, it's an absolute bargain.

4.5 / 5

Design

Comfortable and ergonomic, with solid build quality. However, it's rather small, so users with bigger hands might not find it as comfy.

4 / 5

Performance

Tri-mode connectivity is swift and effective, battery life is good, and the sensor is sharp and accurate.

4.5 / 5

Final score

A great all-rounder as far as compact wireless mice go, the Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless is a solid product that deserves to stand among the best gaming mice.

4.333 / 5

Buy it if…

You want something comfortable
With 80g of weight and a sleek, ergonomic chassis featuring grippy side panels, the Harpoon V2 Wireless is comfortable to use for all grip types.

You want straightforward performance
Other gaming mice might offer more bells and whistles, but the Harpoon V2 Wireless brings strong performance at a reasonable price.

Don't buy it if…

You want plenty of inputs
The Harpoon V2 Wireless only has six programmable buttons, so gamers looking for lots of input options might be disappointed here.

You've got big hands
While it's still usable, PC gamers with particularly large paws might want to avoid this one, since it's very compact.

Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless review: Also consider

Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro
If you want to play like the pros, this is the mouse for you. We loved how well it performed when we reviewed it, and were even taken by its fantastic optical scroll wheel. It’s costlier than the Harpoon V2 Wireless, but the V4 Pro is just about the best pure gaming pointer right now in our eyes. Read our full Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro review.

Logitech G502 X Plus
The G502 line has been acclaimed by gamers for years, and this edition is no less impressive. It has more buttons than the Harpoon V2 Wireless, all of which are programmable. It also has an ergonomic shape, although it’s much larger, so not ideal for those looking to shed the weight. Read our full Logitech G502 X Plus review.

How I tested the Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless

(Image credit: Future)

• Tested for one week
• Used for working and gaming
• 8+ years of experience reviewing PC hardware

I replaced my usual mouse, the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, with the Corsair Harpoon V2 Wireless for one full week, using it not only for my daily work at TechRadar but also for personal projects and gaming.

I played a wide range of games, including Marathon, Warframe, Esoteric Ebb, and my current addiction, Slay the Spire 2. I found that the Harpoon V2 Wireless was responsive and (mostly) comfortable, though lengthier sessions with the claw grip I had to use with this mouse did result in some minor hand cramp – though of course, this won't be a problem for regular claw-grippers, or users with smaller hands.

I've been testing and reviewing PC hardware from mice to graphics cards for more than eight years now, starting my tech journalism career at Maximum PC magazine before moving over to TechRadar. I put every ounce of knowledge and experience at my disposal into my reviews, so you can be confident that you're getting an in-depth and bias-free analysis.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: August 2026

• iFi unveils UP Play and UP Play Max dongles
• Questyle reveals Dongle Pro 2
• All USB-C dongles for low or medium prices

If you don't love the way your headphones sound, it's not necessarily a sign to head to our list of the best headphones and pick up a brand-new pair. Maybe the problem isn't the cans, but how you cast your music to them.

A simple USB-C dongle plugged into your source might be all you need to get much better-sounding music. These small pieces of kit, generally designed for phones and games consoles, expand your source device's Bluetooth capabilities to allow for lower latencies, and improve bandwidth while allowing for advanced codecs, thus greatly improving your sound.

Three new USB-C dongles have just been released, so you've got plenty of options. The new products come from well-known audio brands iFi and Questyle too, and they certainly won't eat into your budget like a new phone will… 

Questyle's here in style

(Image credit: Questyle)

Let's start with Questyle, because it's only releasing the one new product. This is the QCC Dongle Pro 2, which follows on from last year's QCC Dongle Pro which we gave a near-perfect review to.

This Bluetooth transmitter is largely designed for iPhones, which typically don't allow for the kind of lossless wireless streaming that Androids get, but the brand also lists various games consoles as particular uses too (no mention of Android, though).

The Dongle Pro 2 uses Bluetooth 6.1, for a more reliable connection than a phone has by default, and lets you stream in LDAC, various aptX, LHDC and LC3 codecs. It also supports Snapdragon Sound.

All this means that you can enjoy higher-res music streaming on the Dongle Pro 2, and you can also connect multiple devies using Auracast. Questyle's app also lets you change audio codecs and manage which devices are connected.

This can be yours for the cost of $99 / £129 (roughly AU$230 — Questyle's website does ship to Australia, but the price is still in USD).

What's up with iFi

(Image credit: iFi)

Then there's iFi's offerings, and the brand has two new devices: the UP Play ($59 / £59, about AU$110) and UP Play Max ($89 / £89, roughly AU$180).

Again, these seem primarily designed for Apple devices, and iFi says the Play "triples the level of detail in audio sent from Apple devices" which goes up to 4x for the Play Max. That seems to be the main distinction between the two devices.

They're also designed to offer noise suppression in calls, so they can be used for clear calling on your phone, or impeccable audio when gaming. Like the Questyle, they offer Auracast compatibility, the codec list seems to match with aptX and LDAC.

Unlike the Questyle, iFi specifies that Androids will also benefit from the Play and Play Max, as they're easier to use than fiddling around in your headphones settings to turn on codecs. The dongle also lets you pair multiple headphones at once, so you can listen with another person (or play games or watch videos).

iPhone owners are clearly the target here though. iFi calls AAC, which they use for wireless music, "ageing" and pitches its UP Play dongles as filling in a needed void.

Historically, the cybersecurity conversation in banking and fintech has centered on detection: can we spot the intrusion, flag the anomaly, catch the fraud pattern before it does damage? We developed incredibly sophisticated tools that can sift through thousands of ‘signals’ every time a customer makes a payment, ranging from how long it took them to type their card number to, sometimes, their social media activity.

That framing assumed a certain tempo: human attackers probing and exploiting at human speed, or automated scripts operating faster but without the intelligence to adapt dynamically or discover novel vulnerabilities. AI changes that assumption.

PYMNTS reported this month that OpenAI could not rule out its highest cybersecurity warning level for its upcoming Astra model, a threshold that signals a model may be able to independently discover and develop working zero-day exploits, or carry out attacks with minimal human direction.

Around the same time, the International Monetary Fund reached a similar conclusion in a note on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity in the financial sector.

The IMF's argument is the one banks should be listening to: AI does not need to invent a whole new type of attack to change the risk equation. AI-enabled attacks may not look fundamentally different from attacks carried out by humans.

What changes is their speed, scale and capacity to adapt. It changes the equation by accelerating vulnerability discovery and exploitation across shared technologies, turning what used to be isolated incidents into correlated disruptions that hit several institutions at once.

Why AI cyberattacks are so dangerous

Banking has never run on bespoke, siloed technology. It runs on shared foundations: core banking platforms, cloud infrastructure, payment rails, identity systems and a long chain of third-party software. Few of these systems are built entirely from scratch. Modern financial infrastructure relies on layers of commercial software, cloud services and open-source libraries.

That makes development faster and can strengthen security through shared scrutiny, but it also creates common dependencies. In the wrong circumstances, that can become analogous to thousands of doors relying on the same key.

An attacker who needs weeks to find a working exploit gives defenders time to patch, monitor, and respond. An AI system can potentially find that same exploit in seconds, and in the most autonomous cases execute a multistep attack with limited ongoing human involvement – 27 seconds is the current record.

The IMF frames this as a dual-use problem: the same capabilities that let AI find vulnerabilities faster for defensive purposes are the ones that let it find them faster for offensive purposes.

This is not a hypothetical for payments specifically. Payment infrastructure has so many overlapping systems at the intersection of common software, cloud dependency, and dense third-party integration that a single exploit becomes an ecosystem-wide issue.

A vulnerability in a widely deployed component can therefore propagate risk far beyond a single institution, particularly where common cloud services, software libraries or third-party platforms are involved.

Why prevention alone isn’t enough

For a long time, resilience strategy has leaned heavily on prevention: patch faster, test harder and review more code before release. All of that still matters. But when discovery and exploitation can happen faster than a conventional patch cycle, prevention alone is no longer sufficient.

The answer is a shift from periodic defense towards continuous resilience: architectures designed to detect, isolate, contain and recover while an attack is unfolding.

The IMF's recommendation points the same way the PYMNTS piece does: institutions need architectures built to limit the blast radius of a successful breach through segmentation, disciplined access controls, zero-trust design, and closer oversight of third parties. Detection, containment, and recovery need to operate at a speed that is comparable to the speed of the threat, not the speed of the last board-approved incident response plan.

That has equally important implications for how banks govern AI within their own security operations. AI tools will increasingly play a role in detecting vulnerabilities and responding to threats, but the degree of autonomy granted to those systems must be an explicit governance decision. Institutions need clear boundaries around what AI can access, what actions it can take independently and where human intervention remains mandatory.

Why boards need to make AI cybersecurity a priority

This is where the conversation has to move from the security team to the boardroom. Segmentation and access control are technical decisions, but the appetite for AI autonomy in critical infrastructure is a governance decision. Who decides what an AI system is permitted to touch? Who is accountable when it acts on a high-level objective in ways nobody fully anticipated? How quickly can exposure be contained once it is identified?

There is no vendor, platform, or piece of infrastructure that resolves this on its own. The institutions that manage this transition well will be the ones that treat architectural resilience, not just threat detection, as a standing governance priority, and that know precisely what their systems, and the AI operating within them, can reach.

The capability curve is not waiting for banks to finish their next audit cycle. Resilience now has to be designed for the speed of the attack it is meant to withstand.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• The next basic Amazon Kindle has seemingly leaked
• It looks to have some small design changes from the previous model
• But it's a shame there's no sign of a new smaller size

It looks like Amazon is gearing up to launch a new Kindle, as images of a new model — which you can see above and below — have been leaked by WinFuture. This is the Amazon Kindle 12th Gen, so it’s the basic model — not a Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Colorsoft.

From the shared images, it seems this new device will have more rounded corners than the Amazon Kindle (2024), and the power button will be moved from the bottom to the top. The site has also shared that we can expect this Kindle to come in black, green, light blue, and purple shades, and that, interestingly, there might be two versions — one with a recessed screen and one where the display is flush.

Alongside this, Amazon is apparently planning a new Kindle for Kids, though no major changes are expected here, with it apparently being essentially the same as the current device, just shipping with a different cover included.

A leaked image of the Amazon Kindle 2026 (Image credit: WinFuture)A smaller device could be a big hit

It remains to be seen whether the new 12th-generation Kindle will bring many spec upgrades, but regardless, it’s not the device I want. Lately I’ve fallen in love with compact ereaders like the ViWoods AiPaper Reader and the even smaller Xteink X4 Pro, and I'm spending more time reading on them than my Kindle Colorsoft — but Amazon doesn’t offer anything in these sizes.

So, that’s what I really want to see — especially something truly tiny like the Xteink devices, since one of their main issues is the difficulty in getting books onto them, which presumably isn’t a problem you’d have with a tiny Kindle.

And I’m not alone in this desire — a Reddit thread about this new Kindle leak included comments like “I was kind of hoping for a mini Kindle announcement,” and “I thought I would want a bigger size… until I got a smaller one and practically never touched my Paperwhite again.”

And while these tiny ereaders seem like they should be niche devices, they’re presumably selling well, given that an increasing number of brands like Onyx Boox and Honor have started getting in on them too.

So, hopefully we’ll see a tiny Kindle eventually, but for now, it seems you’ll have to make do with the standard sizes.

Say goodbye to fluid, flimsy poached eggs when you add this one simple step.

• You can now order the first Wi-Fi 8 router
• TP-Link's Archer 8 Ultra is available to buy in the UK and Australia, along with some other countries
• In the UK it's priced at £899.99 (around AU$1,700), but you can get the router for £669.99 (around AU$1,200) currently if you pre-order

TP-Link is now selling the first Wi-Fi 8 router to come onto the market, although the very latest wireless tech won't come cheap as you might expect.

The TP-Link Archer 8 Ultra is available to buy in the UK and Australia, as well as Germany and some other countries (not yet specified by the router manufacturer).

Pricing will naturally vary by region, but the cost in the UK is £669.99 (around AU$1,200) if you place a pre-order now, although that price tag will be bumped up to £899.99 (around AU$1,700) later on.

With the Archer 8 Ultra you get Wi-Fi 8 coverage of up to 3,600 square feet (or 3,000 square feet in Europe). In case you weren't aware, this new wireless standard is about improving performance in different ways other than raw speed.

The key advantages for Wi-Fi 8 over Wi-Fi 7 are that it deals more capably with interference in crowded signal-dense environments, and it's more reliable with a greater number of client devices connected. Wi-Fi 8 also ensures that there's a better signal at the extremities of the network.

TP-Link has told us a bit more about what its Wi-Fi 8 StabilityEngine tech achieves in the Archer 8 Ultra, noting the presence of features such as UEQM, MCS, and 2×LDPC. These are designed to "hold throughput steady in a noisy home, delivering up to 33% more consistent throughput at mid-to-long ranges and up to 24% more consistent throughput than Wi-Fi 7 under interference."

You don't really need to know the ins-and-outs of the various acronyms involved, save to say that they help the Wi-Fi signal drop off less sharply as you move further away from the router, and they cut down on dropped network packets (helping to keep a more stable connection).

TP-Link also boasts about its Multi-Floor Mode feature, which reshapes the Wi-Fi signal to take into account where devices are actually present. The firm says that this directs coverage to multiple floors when devices are spread over different levels, but it flattens to a "wide single-floor pattern" when they're not.

(Image credit: TP-Link)

TP-Link further observes that as the Wi-Fi 8 standard matures – it's still in its draft form right now – firmware updates will be applied to the Archer 8 Ultra to keep it up to speed.

The Archer 8 Ultra also comes with the Aireal AI Assistant which allows less technically inclined users to employ natural language queries to understand and tweak their Wi-Fi coverage. This AI also keeps a constant eye on how the router is performing and continuously optimizes and prioritizes wireless traffic, with other benefits such as an Eco mode to bring power usage right down at night when everyone's asleep.

(Image credit: TP-Link)

On the security front, this router has an integrated VPN at the hardware level encrypting the traffic of selected devices (it works with third-party VPNs too, if you already have one). Smart gadgets (Internet of Things devices), with their greater levels of potential security risks, are kept on their own network away from the main network (and the guest network is separate too, as you'd imagine).

There's also an optional TP-Link HomeShield service which offers real-time protection for your devices as well as parental controls.

Analysis: is it worth getting on board with the future of Wi-Fi today?

(Image credit: TP-Link)

With the Archer 8 Ultra now on pre-order, it's likely that the mesh Wi-Fi system TP-Link also revealed at IFA 2026 – the Deco 8 Ultra – won't be that far behind.

The price tag is predictably high with the Archer 8 Ultra, though, albeit pre-ordering does get you a pretty chunky discount. (The same will doubtless be true of the Deco 8 Ultra when it pitches up – the price of that will also depend on how many units you need based on the size of your home).

At any rate, now the Archer 8 Ultra can be yours, should you rush to pre-order to benefit from all the mentioned Wi-Fi 8 goodies? Well, no, because there isn't any consumer hardware (phones, tablets, laptops) that supports Wi-Fi 8 yet, and you need those client devices as well as the actual router. They won't arrive until next year, and they'll be thin on the ground even then.

So buying this TP-Link router right now is more about being future-proofed than anything else (though you will get some slight benefits from the Archer 8 Ultra with current Wi-Fi 7 or earlier devices). The thing is that if you're prepared to wait, the hefty early adopter premium on the Archer 8 Ultra (or other Wi-Fi 8 routers) will lessen, and really, that's your best bet as I've previously discussed at length.

If you do fancy grabbing the Archer 8 Ultra, though, definitely make sure you get that cheaper pre-order price.

I told myself in the days leading up to Prime Big Deal Days in Australia that I probably wouldn’t see any rock-bottom prices on some of my favourite products, including coffee machines.

Well, Amazon has me rethinking everything with a, quite frankly, huge price drop on the stellar Philips Baristina — now just AU$359.

I only wrote about the oh-so cute coffee machine earlier this month, when it was AU$444. Shortly after that it dropped to AU$419. Both excellent prices. Now Amazon has dropped the price further, it simply has to be the espresso machine deal of the year in my book.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale for more deals and discounts

Baristina: was $599 now $359
This compact bean-to-cup espresso machine is far more capable than its looks may suggest. It takes care of the bulk of the process for you, including grinding, tamping and brewing a coffee for you. Results are excellent, although you may need some trial and error with beans, since you can’t adjust the grind size.

Also available in black for the same price.View Deal

I’ve made no secret of my love for the Baristina, and if only my partner didn’t drink such huge mugs of coffee, I would have one perched on my kitchen countertop. It’s my pick for the best budget coffee machine in Australia — even at full price — thanks to its ease of use, made possible by its rather genius ability to move the portafilter from one side of the unit to the other.

In short, it combines the best of bean-to-cup machines with the convenience of capsule models, as it handles all aspects of the coffee-making process while putting on a show.

Once you’ve inserted the portafilter into its first position, the Baristina will grind the correct dosage of beans before automatically moving it across to the brewing position. It’s quite remarkable and entirely unique.

As its price would suggest, there are a couple of compromises you need to make. Firstly, it can only brew a 40ml espresso or a 110ml lungo — there’s no extensive menu of drink options to choose from here — and you can’t adjust the grind size, which could potentially introduce a bit of an obstacle.

By this, I mean that you’ll likely need to conduct some trial and error with coffee bean varieties if you find your espresso tastes over- or under-extracted.

And for all the milk-based coffee drinkers out there, you need to know that there’s no way to steam milk. However, a colour-matching Philips Baristina milk frother is available separately.

In my mind, these are minor niggles that are either non-issues or can be easily resolved. The combination of good looks, intuitive features and consistently well-extracted espresso more than makes up for them. If your kitchen is crying out for an affordable coffee machine, the Philips Baristina is ideal.

Want more suggestions?

If you’re in the market for a coffee machine, but the Philips Baristina doesn’t seem like the model for you, you’re in luck, as there are multiple coffee machine deals in the Prime Big Deal Days sale. If it’s some quick recommendations you’re after, look no further.

LatteGo 4400: was $1199 now $563.99
Another of my favourite coffee machines that I’ve used myself, the 4400 Series can make 12 coffee-based drinks, all of which are served perfectly, time after time, and it's a great option for smaller households due to it having two customisable profiles. Be sure to use the AU$175 coupon to get this price at checkout.View Deal

Semi Automatic Espresso Machine: was $999 now $679
I use this KitchenAid espresso machine all the time in the TechRadar office. I think it looks fantastic for starters, and it’s capable of producing a gorgeous shot of coffee. It does require manual control — which I’m a fan of — and you can adjust grind size, dosage amount, and the amount of water that passes through. It also has a built-in steam wand for milk-based drinks. Back to its Prime Day price for the stainless steel model, or with a 22% discount in other colours, this is a good, affordable option for any kitchen.View Deal

Vertuo Pop: was $199 now $92.15
Now back down to a no-brainer price, this little Nespresso pod machine is a perfect option for anyone who values true convenience. With a very compact footprint and plenty of Vertuo pods to choose from, you'll get delicious coffee at just the press of a button.View Deal

• The RAF has jammed hostile satellites from the ground for a year
• Losing GPS would cost the British economy about £1.4 billion every day
• Jamming could stop hostile satellites from tracking Britain's nuclear-armed submarines

Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) is using ground-based electronic warfare equipment capable of interfering with satellites during sensitive military operations.

The technology can use powerful electronic signals to disrupt satellite communications and navigation, while lasers can interfere with satellite sensors.

British defence officials describe the country's terrestrial electronic warfare capability as world-leading, with the equipment already used for about a year against potential threats.

Ground-based systems can disrupt hostile satellites

The equipment could be used when hostile satellites attempt to monitor British military activities or track strategically important assets.

Defence officials said the system could prevent adversaries from observing Britain's nuclear-armed submarines or sensitive special forces operations.

Such capabilities are becoming increasingly important as military forces depend heavily on satellites for communications, surveillance, navigation and other operations.

RAF head Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth said adversaries were carrying out increasingly irresponsible and provocative activities involving space-based systems.

In May 2026, British forces reportedly tracked five Russian satellites moving close to two Finnish commercial satellites.

Smyth also linked Russian satellite activity with GPS disruptions recorded across Europe and Canada.

Britain operates a small number of military satellites supporting surveillance and communications, while working closely with the United States Space Force.

The ground-based electronic warfare system therefore provides Britain with another means of responding when hostile spacecraft threaten military activities.

New RAF unit and economic risks

RAF has also established a dedicated Space Effects Squadron, which is responsible for defending British space assets against hostile activity and related threats.

The Ministry of Defence says the squadron will focus on disrupting, degrading and denying hostile threats affecting British space capabilities, protecting satellites that support several critical military functions, including missile warning, communications, and navigation.

The government's concern extends beyond military operations because disruption to satellite services could affect major parts of Britain's civilian economy.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said losing GPS services could cost the British economy about £1.4 billion each day, amounting to roughly £10 billion every week if disruption continued at that level.

Streeting said everyday services depend on satellites, including weather forecasting, energy systems, financial transactions, satellite navigation and mobile communications.

A prolonged loss of satellite services could therefore affect businesses and public services far beyond defence operations.

The United States has also confirmed the deployment of an unspecified weapon in space to protect its satellites.

Russia and China have criticised the U.S. move, while Washington has accused both countries of developing space-based weapons.

Those capabilities reportedly include electronic jammers, lasers and projectiles designed to interfere with or damage satellites.

Via BBC

Amazon is back with another major sale event for 2026, Prime Big Deal Days, and the retailer brings a fresh batch of deals on Garmin devices over the next week.

The standout deal I've found is a 50% discount on the excellent Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition for AU$829, which is a steal for what you're getting. Our review called it 'essentially an AMOLED-screened version of the flagship Fenix 7 Pro', and its Sapphire display makes it virtually indestructible.

Amazon stocks a wide range of Garmin's offerings, like smartwatches and wearables, health-tracking devices, dash cams and dedicated GPS satellite navigation (sat nav) displays. The retailer is also where you can often find the best prices on these premium devices, and Prime Big Deal Days will see hefty discounts for even more savings.

Some of the deals I've found were at some point among the best Garmin watches like the Vivoactive 5, Forerunner 965 and the ultra-rugged Instinct 2.

Having used Garmin watches for years, I personally consider some of the brand's offerings the best smartwatches out there, prioritising fitness and health features with just enough smarts to be a capable extension of your smartphone.

It’s worth noting that the best deals will be exclusive to Amazon Prime members (which I have labelled), so it’s worth re-subscribing if you were a past member. If it’s your first time, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial and still get access to these discounts.

Whatever you’re looking for, whether it’s the top-of-the-line watch or you just need a replacement charging cable, there’s a Garmin deal for you at this year’s Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sale.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale for more deals and discounts

Best Prime Big Deal Days 2026 Garmin deals in Australia

Epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition: was $1699.01 now $829
If you found the new Fenix 9 to be way out of your budget, the Epix Pro Gen 2 provides flagship-level features for almost half the price. While it’s been cheaper before (having dropped to AU$684 in July this year), you get the same core functionality of the Fenix 9 — like multi-band GPS tracking, a built-in LED torch, core mapping data, and premium materials like scratch-free sapphire lenses and titanium bezels — for a much lower price.View Deal

Fenix 7X Pro Solar: was $1529 now $989
If you like Garmin's older monochrome memory-in-pixel (MIP) display over AMOLED, this watch is basically the same as the Epix Pro above but with a larger display. View Deal

Instinct 2 Solar: was $679 now $339
This Garmin watch has a rugged exterior that's thermal and shock resistant, as well as water-rated to 100m, making it the perfect watch for bushwalkers and hikers. This version has solar power to help make the already long battery life go even further. This discount makes this great watch a tempting buy for hikers and trail runners alike.View Deal

Instinct 2 Dezl Edition: was $676 now $294
This version of the ultra-rugged Instinct 2 watch is designed for truck drivers looking to stay fit and track their health while they go on long-haul journeys. The Dezl edition includes prompts for doing short-break workouts with tutorials designed to fit within a driver’s designated break times. The battery is rated for 28 days, and this version has Garmin Pay contactless payments.View Deal

Instinct 2X Solar: was $769 now $379
The Instinct 2X is a beefier version of the Instinct 2 above, bearing a larger 50mm watch face (up from 45mm), a built-in LED flashlight, a more accurate multi-band GPS tracker and battery life rated to 40 days (up from the Instinct 2’s 28 days).View Deal

Instinct Crossover Solar: was $769 now $379
Want to add a bit more character to your rugged Garmin Instinct watch? The Instinct Crossover is essentially the Instinct 2 series, but with physical analogue hands on top of the screen and has a metal-accented bezel to provide a classic watch look. There are also upgrades over the base Instinct 2, like more storage (64MB vs 32MB) and an upgraded GPS chipset that accesses more satellite systems.View Deal

The Vivoactive 5 resembles a more conventional smartwatch, swapping out the monochrome display in the Instinct 2s above with a vibrant AMOLED screen. It also has some features found in more expensive Garmin watches like on-board GPS, on-device storage for offline music via Spotify, and fitness metrics like Body Battery and VO2 Max.View Deal

The Forerunner 965 swaps out the black-and-white display with a vibrant AMOLED screen to make it look closer to a modern smartwatch. Our reviewer gave it 4.5 stars for its 23-day battery life, premium and sturdy titanium bezel and the addition of new training metrics for runners like vertical oscillation, cadence, stride length, ground contact time and more without the need for a separate sensor.View Deal

While the Forerunner 265 is a step down from the 965 above, it’s still the Garmin running watch that we recommend for most people. This was the first Forerunner model to come with a touchscreen display when it debuted in 2023, and the AMOLED display is bright and crisp. Our reviewer called it the “one of the best watches Garmin has ever made”, praising its familiar yet different feel. If you want a smaller watch, the 42mm Forerunner 265S is available for the same price.View Deal

Garmin’s Venu range aims to straddle between smartwatch and fitness tracker, and the Venu 3S nails the assignment by combining fitness features like Training Readiness score, Race Predictor, advanced sleep tracking with functionality like a built-in speaker and microphone for on-watch phone calls, Garmin Pay and offline Spotify playback.View Deal

Garmin’s flagship Fenix line gets more and more packed with features each generation and the price has only kept going up ever since, with the 5-star rated Fenix 8 range starting at AU$1,849. The Fenix E comes in as a more stripped-down version for about AU$500 less, and this 50% discount makes it an even more compelling buy. It only comes in a single 47mm size, so you may have to look elsewhere for a different size.View Deal

Vivofit Jr. 3: was $149 now $94.05
Think Garmin watches are only for grown-ups? You can now also track your child's steps and estimated distance during playtime, sports or any activities with the Garmin Vivofit Jr. The battery is also rated for a full year, so you don't have to worry about recharging.View Deal

Dash Cam Mini 3: was $249 now $149
Garmin’s compact dash cam remains the market leader in this price range, shooting 1080p footage at 30fps while being small enough to practically disappear behind a rear-view mirror. It also has voice control, and the companion app works well for adjusting settings and downloading stored footage.View Deal

If you have an older vehicle without a built-in GPS display, the Garmin Drive 53 is a safer alternative to using your phone for navigation. The 5-inch screen is compact enough not to take too much room on your dashboard, but has enough screen real estate to see where you're going. Plus, I'd rather take Garmin's GPS technology over the built-in ones in most smartphones.View Deal

Want to get better insights into your fitness journey? Garmin’s Index S2 smart scale helps you better track changes to your weight and body composition over time, and is a great addition to your repertoire if you’re already in the Garmin ecosystem. It’s not the cheapest, but if you like to keep your fitness stats in one place, the Index S2 should fit right in seamlessly.View Deal

Prime Day 2026 in Australia: sale informationWhen is Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 in Australia?

Taking place earlier than it did last year, Amazon Australia's Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale kicks off at midnight East Coast time on Tuesday, September 29 and will run for seven days. That means, Prime Day Garmin deals will end at 11:59pm AEST on Monday, October 5, 2026.

What kind of Garmin deals can I expect in Prime Big Deal Days?

Amazon stocks a wide range of Garmin products, including smartwatches and wearables, health-tracking devices, dash cams and dedicated GPS satellite navigation (sat nav) displays.

From entry-level options to premium products that cost upwards of AU$1,000, there's something for everyone. The good news is I've seen upwards of 50% off on various Garmin tech, and occasionally even more for some older models.

To break this down a little more, I've seen the flagship-like Garmin Epix Pro 2 go for half price from just this year, while some older models like the Forerunner 955 and the Vivoactive 5 get some hefty price cuts, too.

Other products will get some discounts too, like dashcams and GPS sat nav displays, albeit for smaller price cuts compared to the wearables. Amazon also stocks a limited range, but there’s still plenty to go around.

How to choose the best Garmin watch for you

When choosing a Garmin watch, there are three key points to consider: what sport you’re interested in, what level you are at, and your budget.

If you're starting your fitness journey and want a watch to help improve your habits, that's fantastic – a Venu watch will suit you perfectly. They're small and discreet, making them great for all-day wear, and they offer a good range of general fitness tracking tools.

Want something cheaper? The Garmin Vivoactive 6 will work very nicely for beginner runners and all forms of exercise, like fitness classes, and it's also great for sleeping in, as it's nice and light.

If you’re a little bit further into your journey and now enjoy serious running, cycling, swimming or all of the above, the Forerunner 570 and 970 are superb triathlon watches that will serve you well. Worried about scuffs and scratches? Take a look at the Instinct line; they’re built like tanks and have incredible battery life.

If you're seriously into your training and want the most profound insights into your health and fitness, the Fenix 8, Epix Gen 2 and their newer Pro variations are excellent choices. The Fenix 8 is perfect if you want to explore new routes, as its high-res OLED display is brilliant for mapping.

What’s the best beginner Garmin running watch?

Beginners just starting their running journey are likely going to run shorter distances without worrying about complex running metrics. They'll also want to make a smaller investment, buying a cheaper running watch.

We recommend the Garmin Forerunner 165 for under AU$400, thanks to its reliable GPS tracking, heart-rate monitoring and easy-to-understand pace, distance and training data. If you’re on a budget, the Forerunner 55 is a solid choice — in fact, some top-tier pros still choose it!

Garmin’s other watches are also excellent options, but they're packed with features that many beginner runners might not need at first, such as full-colour maps, recovery insights and training plans.

• Blaze Entertainment head of communications Sean Cleaver says it wants to collaborate with more companies on the Evercade
• Cleaver says it's been in contact with EA, Sega, and Bandai Namco, but "it's about when they're ready to do it"
• He confirms that Blaze has a three- to four-year roadmap and hopes to work with Rare again

Blaze Entertainment has revealed that it has a four-year-long roadmap prepared for the Evercade and has even spoken to several industry giants about collaborating.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, where head of communications Sean Cleaver discussed the Evercade Nexus and the collaboration with Rare to produce the Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie ports, he revealed that Blaze would love to work with a number of other companies.

Cleaver said it's spoken with EA, Sega, and Bandai Namco, but in terms of actually collaborating on a project, ultimately, "It just depends what the company's policy is more than anything."

"We've spoken to EA, spoken to Sega, we've worked with Capcom on a number of things already that are built-in rather than cartridge," Cleaver said. "We've spoken to [Bandai] Namco. We keep up a constant dialogue with all of them because it's not about when we're ready to do it; it's about when they're ready to do it.

"You can rock up with a suitcase full of cash, but if it's not up for licensing, if they're unsure about it, if they have other business priorities, then it needs to be when they're ready to look at those franchises, look at those things, and get stuff done."

Cleaver added that "Obviously, we want to do more work with Rare," and hopes that will come to fruition in the coming years, before confirming that Blaze has a roadmap for the next three to four years.

"We've got what the retailers would call a long tail," he said. "We're not a one-and-done. We've been here for six years now. We're aiming to be here for at least another six more."

As an audio reviewer, I am of course always excited when a new pair of headphones is announced. However, I’ve noticed a worrying trend in the last couple of years whereby every new premium pair seems to cost AU$699.

The Sony WH-1000XM6, Sonos Ace and Sonos Ace Ultra, Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, Edifier Stax Spirit S5, Nothing Headphone 1 Pro, Technics EAH-A1000 all cost AU$699 at launch, to name a few. The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless went even further with a AU$749.95 debut.

That’s a lot of money to pay for a set of cans — and that’s why the current Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sale is worth sitting up for, as I’ve found a few pairs of truly talented headphones that have received significant discounts.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale for more deals and discounts

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: was $645 now $378
These flagship Bose headphones launched at AU$649.95, and are one of the earlier examples of premium pricing. Now they’ve been replaced by a second-gen model, which means their price can take a hit. I consider this first-gen set to be the best ANC headphones right now, owing to the fact they’re a lot more affordable, and that the ANC performance difference isn’t all that huge compared to their newer sibling. They’re extremely comfortable too, and they serve up a lovely, lively and engaging sound. View Deal

QuietComfort Headphones: was $448 now $243
This more mid-range pair of Bose over-ears also make my guide to the best noise cancelling headphones thanks to their ability to block out virtually all external sounds. As with the Ultra set above, they sound glorious, are comfortable and fold away for travel. They miss out on spatial audio, but otherwise are near-faultless. The best price is on the Moonlight Grey colour, but all others are available with significant discounts. [Ed's note: Moonlight Grey at AU$230.85 now appears to be sold out, but several other colourways are still available for around the AU$245 mark.]View Deal

HD 600: was $599.95 now $299
These open-back Sennheiser headphones are nearly 20 years old, but the fact they can still command their original AU$600 list price should tell you everything. They’re truly stunning, offering excellent dynamics and lively sound. As mentioned however, they’re open-back, which means they’ll leak sound, so they’re not ideal for use on the go, but rather for listening at home with some capable source equipment. View Deal

If the idea of a detailed, open-back sound sounds good to you, but you want it everywhere you go, the HD 620S could be for you. They’re a conventional closed-back design, and as our friends at What Hi-Fi? said in their review, “these headphones invite you to simply sit back and enjoy the detailed and smooth sound, no matter what genre you’re listening to”. View Deal

WH-1000XM6: was $699.95 now $513
I mentioned them in my intro, and thanks to this week’s Amazon sale, you can get the Dusty Pink colourway with a respectable discount. While still not cheap, they are arguably one of the best headphones available today, there's no doubting performance here, with beautifully balanced sound and great ANC. View Deal

Momentum 4 Wireless: was $649 now $240
Sennheiser has now finally released a newer version of its stunning Momentum headphones, but that only means this fourth-gen model becomes even more affordable. In our five-star Sennheiser Momentum 4 review, we highlighted their effective active noise-cancellation, 60-hours of battery life and excellent sound quality. At this price, they certainly deserve your consideration.View Deal

EAH-AZ100: was $499 now $331
Earbuds can also enter at the premium end, and these Technics buds have been my number one since they launched. They deliver a sound packed with detail and clarity, and one that is entirely engaging. ANC is great, and they're brimming with useful features. View Deal

QuietComfort Earbuds: was $289.95 now $170.05
These mid-range Bose ‘buds punch well above their weight, and now they’ve dropped to AU$170, they’re an even easier recommendation for anyone seeking premium sound without paying premium money. Plus, the ANC is by far and away the best in its class, and they’re packed with genuinely useful features. View Deal

• Report claims production of budget smartphones could drop by 40% by 2030
• The increasing costs of RAM and chipsets thanks to the AI data center boom are key factors in the forecast
• In addition, basic product lines aimed at the lower end of the market are becoming less profitable as minimum spec phones are overlooked in favour of portable media production devices

It could be time to start saving for your next phone, thanks to the increasing demand for RAM, processors, and SoCs, new research has claimed. The AI data center boom has driven various price rises across the electronics industry over the past few years, and now it seems that the days of the budget smartphone could be numbered – and at best, they may be hard to come by for a while.

Forecasting by Counterpoint Research estimates smartphones below the $200 figure could shrink by 40% by 2030 - which equates to the market shrinking by 230 million devices.

While mid-range, premium, and ultra-premium devices are less affected by this, those on lower incomes – particularly in poorer countries – could find internet access is off-limits.

A sharp contraction

Counterpoint Research’s study suggests the smartphone market will change considerably as higher device specifications justify higher price points in a landscape where component costs are climbing.

This “structural shock” can be traced to the current downturn, and will likely lead many people to keep their phones for longer (although those who can afford it will upgrade). It’s a scenario that could see the extension of replacement cycles by consumers and vendors alike (perhaps persuaded by market demand) and the refurbished handset market could also benefit. Handset insurance plans may also see longer subscriptions, too, further supporting the refurbished market and legacy stock supplies.

Over recent years, premium smartphones have driven the market, and the data apparently suggests this will continue. The prediction doesn’t suggest budget phones will go away entirely, but there could be new opportunities from the used phone market, dumbphones (like the Commodore Callback), and even niche/DIY solutions.

Connectivity risk

More premium phones and higher specced mid-range devices sounds good at face value. However, it does mean that regions where budget phones are vital to communications and internet access are likely to find it more difficult to achieve mobile internet connectivity.

“The smartphone market will recover in unit terms, but the affordable segment will not return to its previous standing,” said Yang Wang, a principal analyst at Counterpoint Research, noting the market size will be similar overall, but different in value.

“The opportunity now shifts toward better-specced mainstream devices and premium products, although higher tiers cannot absorb all the lost volume,” Wang adds, “there is also a wider connectivity risk, as the loss of affordable new smartphones could make it harder for first-time users in lower-income markets to come online.”

Counterpoint Research underlines that it expects the smartphone market to regain its 2025 volume by 2030, but with a much smaller budget segment.

Summer is over, but the arrival of fall has brought with it a ton of excellent new gadgets. TechRadar's product testers have been busy reviewing tech from across a wide spectrum of markets, and we've uncovered some truly outstanding new products.

Below, I've rounded up all the products that scored 4.5 or 5 stars out of 5 in our in-depth tests. Perfect scorers in our monthly Reviews Recap are usually few and far between, but this past month we've had a bumper crop. There's the Sonos Beam Ultra, which we called "the ideal mid-sized Dolby Atmos soundbar", and Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds, which piqued our interest with their user-replaceable batteries and then won us over with their impeccable sound quality.

For those who like to take their tech out-and-about, the DJI Osmo 360 II fixes the first gen's flaws and gives GoPro and Insta360 "a serious run for their money", and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro delivers "near-perfect performance" for a price tag we've politely described as "aspirational". Oh and there's a new phone out from a little brand called Apple — maybe you've heard of it? We were pretty impressed with the iPhone 18 Pro, too.

Scroll down to browse all the best tech we've tested over the past four weeks, and tap the View details button for a summary of what we thought, plus a link to read the full review for each.

Note: only the products that are available in your region will appear below.

5-star products Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Superb sound quality plus Dolby Atmos spatial audio
• Comfortable and premium design – and finally, user-replaceable batteries
• Lots of future-proof features

Cons

• Touch control area is a little small
• Ever-so-slightly bulkier than rivals
• ANC still lags a bit behind Apple, Sony and Bose

Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar

Read our full review

Pros

• Up-firing drivers and amazing Atmos effects
• Clear dialogue with effective Speech Enhancement
• Compact and beautiful design

Cons

• No HDMI passthrough
• DTS:X left out

Apple iPhone 18 Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent camera system with genuinely useful Pro controls
• Variable aperture adds creative flexibility
• Burgundy and Glacier colors are beautiful
• A20 Pro is very, very fast and enables long battery life

Cons

• No major design changes
• $100 / £100 / AU$100 more

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro smartwatch

Read our full review

Pros

• Slimmer and lighter
• Fully titanium redesign
• 3,000-nit AMOLED display
• New tools like Stamina mode

Cons

• Fast battery drain during GPS workouts, on modes other than Max Battery

DJI Osmo 360 II action cam

Read our full review

Pros

• Now includes user-replaceable lenses
• Excellent all-round 360 image quality
• Cheaper than the Insta360 X6

Cons

• Price increase over original Osmo 360
• Not available in the USA

iFi iDSD GR 2 DAC/amp

Read our full review

Pros

• Spectacular sound quality
• Brilliant K2HD and XBass / XSpace modes
• Intuitive touchscreen
• Great value

Cons

• More ‘portable’ models available
• Case must be purchased separately
• Cheaper options are out there

4.5-star products

JBL Live Flex 4 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Smart charging case is feature-rich and fun
• ANC surprisingly effective for open-fit earbuds
• Relaxed, comfortable fit
• Strong overall sound quality…

Cons

• Open-fit designs have drawbacks, sonically speaking
• Spatial audio could be better
• Not the most premium-looking buds

Anker Eufy E35 Omni robot vacuum

Read our full review

Pros

• Fantastic vacuuming
• Impressive mopping
• Very effective self-cleaning

Cons

• Relatively expensive
• No mop-only mode
• Small issues with phantom room mapping

Sonos Ace Ultra headphones

Read our full review

Pros

• Far more musical than the Ace
• Excellent Dolby Atmos for movies
• Fantastic feature-suite with enhanced ANC and detailed EQ options
• Stunning design; responsive controls

Cons

• Some rivals still offer more detail
• Case doesn’t mirror the headphones’ premium look and feel
• Not fully foldable

Insta360 Link 2 Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Truly excellent 4K picture quality
• Gimbal tracking works flawlessly
• Wide range of control and tweaking features
• Premium build quality

Cons

• Very pricey
• Will be overkill for most users
• No included lens cap

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete

Read our full review

Pros

• Class-leading design touches
• Superb vacuum perfomance
• Highly reliable

Cons

• Possibly too complex for some
• Not cheap
• Some minor obstacle-avoidance quirks

dbrand Killswitch 2 protective casing

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent ergonomics
• Durable, quality feel
• Dock attachment enables seamless switching

Cons

• Pretty pricey
• Grips and case susceptible to fibers and dust

Samsung R95H Micro RGB 4K TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Brilliant overall picture quality
• Fantastic for gaming
• Glare-free still a hit

Cons

• Pricey
• No Dolby Vision
• Still can't hit OLED's highs

Withings BodyScan 2 smart scales

Read our full review

Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS

Read our full review

Pros

• Exceptionally lightweight for this type of lens
• Sharp detail and smooth bokeh
• Rugged build quality

Cons

• Decent value, but some of Sony's super-telephoto zooms are cheaper
• Sony's super-telephoto zooms are more versatile

POCO F9 Ultra smartphone

Read our full review

Pros

• Exemplary performance and gaming chops
• Enormous battery with fast charging
• Well priced for the specs despite price rise

Cons

• Despite still being great value, it costs more than the F8 Ultra
• Cameras are capable but not top-tier

Fujifilm Instax Mini 13 instant camera

Read our full review

Pros

• A handy self-timer for limiting camera shake and FOMO
• Eye-popping, pastel color options and a playful design
• Credit card-sized quality prints

Cons

• Self-timer doesn't have a countdown light indicator
• Ribbed design makes it slightly bulkier and heavier than the Instax Mini 12

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Great edge cleaning
• Long battery life
• Scraper prevents streaks
• Lies 180 degrees flat
• Superb dirt detection system
• Picks up large debris very well
• Long-lasting clean water tank
• Solution sprayer breaks down tough stains
• Base auto-refills tank with clean water and solution in seconds

Cons

• Base is large and bulky
• Dry settings don’t fully dry the brushroll

Alienware AW3926QW gaming monitor

Read our full review

Pros

• Incredible HDR experience
• Huge, immersive ultrawide format
• Competitively priced

Cons

• You'll need a mega graphics card
• Edge dimming issue in some scenarios

Sony Bravia 5 Mini LED TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Vintage Sony design
• Excellent all-round performance
• Elegant minimalistic design

Cons

• Viewing angles are limited
• Lacks one or two gaming features
• Occasional color slip-ups in dark scenes

JBL Live Buds 4 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Fantastic, detailed audio
• Feature-packed, handy smart charging case
• Comfortable, secure in-ear fit

Cons

• Middling ANC
• Call quality not as clear as expected
• Spatial audio in need of improvement

Logitech G305 X Superlight gaming mouse

Read our full review

Pros

• Comfortable and light
• Multiple connectivity options
• Solid performance

Cons

• Lacks performance tweaks
• Included cable isn’t braided
• Low profile not for everyone

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry Compact

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent results from versatile cooking modes
• Useful quick start guide and cook book included in box
• Intuitive controls and dishwasher-safe basket

Cons

• Large footprint not so good for small kitchens
• Takes time to understand cooking times
• No shake reminder or basket window

Philips 5000 Series Megabasket with Steam Air Fryer

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent air fry, steamfry and steam modes
• Consistently great results across all food types
• Set of tongs included in the box

Cons

• You can get big-basket fryers for less
• The glossy top shows dirt easily
• Large footprint means you need lots of counter space

Terra Kaffe Aero frother

Read our full review

Pros

• Easy to use and clean up
• Four settings: Hot Froth, Hot Milk, Cold Foam, and Matcha
• Elegant style
• Effective

Cons

• Pricey
• Takes up more space than a handheld frother

KEF LS Luxe speaker system

Read our full review

Pros

• Articulate, balanced and authoritative sound
• Ample power is one of several specification highlights
• Impressive standard of build and finish

Cons

• Fussy where positioning is concerned
• Finish makes quite a big difference to the aesthetic
• Stands are almost ‘must-have’ (and very expensive)

Sony Bravia 7 II TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Great overall picture quality
• Good gaming performance
• An evolution of standard mini-LED

Cons

• Reflective screen
• Average viewing angles
• Only two HDMI 2.1 ports

Noble Audio Vanguard wired earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Natural and textured sound across the frequency range
• Incredibly insightful treble response
• Striking aesthetic and great build quality

Cons

• Broad build isn’t my favorite
• No 3.5mm connectivity option

Ninja CrushBOSS blender and food processor

Read our full review

Pros

• Blends and processes a huge variety of foods and beverages
• Powerful blades easily blend ice and much more
• Comes with lots of different blades for dicing, slicing, shredding, and more
• Smaller blending tumbler is perfect for smoothies on the go
• SmoothSense and PrepIQ eliminate guesswork

Cons

• Sometimes you have to run a second cycle to full blend or process foods
• Quite a learning curve to figure out all of the features
• Has lot of parts to clean
• Needs a significant amount of storage/counter space