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Beyerdynamic Aventho 300: Two-minute review

The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 are a fantastic pair of wireless headphones. Using the same drivers as the company’s studio-oriented DT 700 Pro X and DT 900 Pro X, the sound quality will make you feel like you’ve taken a blanket off your music, especially if you’re upgrading from a cheaper, lesser model. And they’re as feature-filled as any other model at this price point.

I believe that, since their release this year, they belong in the conversation for the best wireless headphones. They do fall slightly short of the active noise cancellation (ANC) you find with the likes of Bose and Sony flagships. But, they still fare very well. And again, they sound fantastic. On top of that, the battery life is very, very good.

There are a couple aspects that hold the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 from being perfect. For instance, the ear pads are tough to remove – an issue if you’re worried about potential wear and tear. And, the main way to control audio on the headphones is a touchpad on the right ear. It’s innovative, but slow to respond and comes with a bit of a learning curve. Since I generally use my phone or computer for adjusting things like volume and forwarding / rewinding, it’s not a dealbreaker. Still, it’s annoying.

At the end of the day, however, the pros vastly outweigh the cons.

(Image credit: Future) Beyerdynamic Aventho 300: Price and release date

• Announced September 9 2024, available from November 2024
• Costs $399.99 / £359.00 (about AU$640)

No doubt about it, the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 are among the more premium options out there when it comes to wireless headphones. They go for $399.99 / £359.00 (about AU$640), which is more than the Sony WH-1000XM5 and their price of £380 / $399 / AU$649. Both are fantastic sounding headphones. Of course, the Aventho 300 fold up and have faster Bluetooth connectivity, but the WH-1000XM5 have class-leading ANC.

There are even more expensive options out there such as the $899 / £599-priced Dali IO-8 or the $549 / £549 / AU$899-priced Apple AirPods Max where you’re paying for the name or premium materials as much as anything else. The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300, therefore, are well-priced for what they are and offer good value, but are not a steal.

Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Specs Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Very useable EQ and presets
• Plenty of accessibility in the app
• Has multipoint connectivity and lossless codecs

As far as features go, the only thing missing from the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 is some kind of personalised, augmented sound profile. That said, there is more than enough flexibility available in the app to adjust the EQ. Not only are there six different presets to choose from, including “neutral” interestingly (more on why that’s necessary for some later), but there’s also a five-band graphic EQ with the ability to boost or cut up to six dB where you can save your preferred EQ curve.

Speaking of the app, there’s much more on tap, including playing around with different levels of ANC and ambient mode as well as turning Dolby Atmos and head tracking on. The ANC and ambient modes have five levels of sensitivity and work pretty well, either blocking out sound or letting you hear your surroundings. They’re not quite class-leading, but unless your neighbours or colleagues are especially raucous, you’ll probably be happy with them.

In the app, you can also turn on/off a voice assistant as well as adjust what the internal voice prompt announces. For example, I like hearing the battery level when I turn on the headphones, but I don’t want to hear which codec is being used during the first few seconds of the first song I listen to.

The app also allows toggling things like auto shutdown, sidetone, and LED brightness. There’s even a touch guide to show how to use the touchpad on the side of the headphones.

Though you won’t see it in the app, multipoint connectivity is available. It’s also worth noting that there’s AAC and aptX lossless (and adaptive) support.

(Image credit: Future)

• Features score: 4.5/5

Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Design

• Aesthetically pleasing if a bit bulky
• Touchpad has a learning curve and has inconsistent sensitivity
• Has a very long battery life

The chunky design of the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 is aesthetically pleasing while still looking very similar to the majority of over-ear headphones out there. Available in Black and Nordic Grey (reviewed here), the whole thing from the earcups to the head band and all the plush materials are the same color with the exception of the metal (presumably aluminum) yoke and the model name emblazoned on the left earcup – silver on the Nordic Grey model and Nordic Grey on the Black model.

The ergonomics are solid as the ear cups are angled to sit more naturally on the side of the face, though the amount the headband can extend seems like it might not be enough for big heads. The ear pads and headband are covered in a faux leather that’s not the most breathable, but is comfortable enough. I can definitely wear these for a while without feeling fatigued, but they’re not the cream of the crop when it comes to comfort. On top of that, the clamping force is a bit strong, so if you’re sensitive to that, you might need to stretch them out just a bit.

(Image credit: Future)

The controls consist of a power button that also pairs via Bluetooth, a button to cycle through ANC, ANC off, and transparency mode, and the touch pad I’ve mentioned which covers the entire flat portion of the right ear cup. This capacitive area allows an assortment of controls from volume control, skipping through songs, answering calls, and the like via tapping and gesturing in the appropriate directions. It’s a good idea, but takes a bit to learn. More importantly, the sensitivity seems inconsistent, so sometimes I have to gesture more than once to get the headphones to react to what I want to do. This is probably the area where these headphones could use the most fine tuning for successive models.

At least the battery life is long, as you can get 50 hours with ANC on – and ANC has a tendency to drain the battery. After about 10 hours of listening, I had 80% battery life left without charging back up. Considering they charge via USB-C, 10 minutes of charging gets about five hours of play.

• Design score: 4.5/5

(Image credit: Future) Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Sound quality

• Seemingly neutral but has prominent bass and slightly hyped high-end
• Decently wide soundstage
• Dolby Atmos and head tracking work well

If you don’t feel like reading the next 200ish words, just know that the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 sound really good. Since these headphones share the same Stellar.45 drivers that the company introduced in its studio-focused DT 700 Pro X and DT 900 Pro X headphones, the frequency range leans towards a very clean, high-headroom experience that on first listen almost sounds neutral the way a pair of headphones meant for the studio sounds.

After spending a little time listening to all sorts of genres from Rock to Hip Hop and Folk, the nuances become a little more obvious. First of all, even though the sound comes across as clean and even, it’s actually quite bass heavy (note that the frequency range goes as low as 5Hz), especially nearing the sub-bass region. Any Rock or Alternative tracks I listen to become very bass prominent even though the genres are generally more mid-focused.

Of course, it’s a testament to the quality of the drivers that you get such prominent bass while still hearing everything else clearly.

(Image credit: Future)

The high-end is also a little hyped, which adds a bit to the clarity. But, it’s not so prominent to be in-your-face or painful. In the EQ modes I mentioned earlier, the neutral setting actually boosts the mid-range just a tad while bringing the low-end down quite a bit and the high-end a dB or two.

The soundstage is just as stellar. It feels wide enough to make me feel like I’m sitting on stage with the musicians. Far off elements are well-placed so that I get a really immersive sense of space. Now, they’re not the widest sounding headphones ever, but they sit at a sweet spot between intimate and concert hall.

Since there’s Dolby Atmos support, I should mention that it’s a nice touch. However, it is a virtual spatial audio so everything just sounds like there’s just a bit more reverb. While more dimensional, it doesn’t really add much to the experience unless watching a movie or show. I feel the same way about the headtracking that can be enabled. It works well if that matters to you.

• Sound quality: 5/5

(Image credit: Beyerdynamic) Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Value

• Pricing is about what one would expect for flagship wireless headphones
• Paying for consistency
• Comes with a hard shell and softshell case

As a value proposition, the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 are good but not great. As previously mentioned, they're not that much more than the Sony WH-1000XM5 and are comparable in a lot of ways, with some aspects being slightly better and others slightly worse. You can spend much more for models that aren’t really any better. But you can spend much less and still get very good-sounding headphones.

However, Beyerdynamic headphones are consistently great, so you’re paying for that to a degree the way you do with Apple when it comes to phones or laptops. At least, you get a nice hard shell case and drawstring bag out of the deal.

• Value: 4/5

Should I buy the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300? Buy them if…

You want excellent, polished sound quality
Not only do the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 sound great, but they sound polished like they’re meant for the studio. Somehow, they still have a large bass response.

You want something a little different but just as good
If you want to get something a little different than everyone else without sacrificing quality, these headphones have it all from sound quality to feature set.

Don’t buy them if…

You’re looking for a best-value buy
While they’re priced appropriately, the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 are not cheap. So, if you’re looking to get the bang for your buck, there are other options to consider.

You want easy controls
Though the capacitive touchpad on the right earcup is a good idea, it could be executed just a little bit better (it’s not bad, just inconsistent).

Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 review: Also consider

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100
The Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 don’t have the best ANC and lose the proprietary spatial audio. However, they’re great value and not just because they’re a bit cheaper. Since they come at a lower price point, they focus on what matters most – and that’s excellent sound quality. Also, the battery life is excellent
Read our full Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review

Sony WH-1000XM5
The Sony WH-1000XM5 are still considered one of the best, if not the best, over-ear wireless headphones. The sound quality is excellent, the app is easy to use, and, most importantly, the ANC and ambient features are still virtually unparalleled. Only thing is they’re minimally better than their lower-priced and still available predecessor.
Read our full Sony WH-1000XM5 review

(Image credit: Future) How I tested the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300

• Tested over two weeks
• Tested with different music as well as video streaming
• Tested every feature meticulously

I spent a few weeks using the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 as my daily headphones. While using them, I listened to all sorts of genres from electronic and hip-hop to rock and acoustic music to compare the frequency range and soundstage. I also tested them with streaming video and used the various settings such as ANC, ambient mode, and EQ.

After testing, it seems that the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 are best suited for those wanting a mostly neutral audiophile-like experience in a set of wireless headphones without sacrificing on features.

I’ve spent the last few years reviewing audio equipment and have spent even longer using my critical ear as a listener and musician to understand what does and doesn’t sound good.

• First reviewed in December 2024

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

You can upgrade your home entertainment setup with a soundbar, subwoofer and two rear speakers for just $998 right now.

• From January 4th to 5th, 2025, Apple TV Plus will be free.
• Apple TV Plus will let anyone stream its content.
• Take advantage and watch shows like Severance and Ted Lasso for no cost.

After a few teasers across its social channels, Apple TV Plus has confirmed via Instagram (see post below) that a free weekend of streaming is coming in fast. So whether you want to watch some Ted Lasso, Shrinking, or get caught up on Severance but don’t want to sign up – either as a new customer or a returning one – to Apple TV Plus, this is your chance to watch anything from its entire library for free.

From January 4–5, 2025 – likely a whole 48-hour event – you’ll be able to stream any of the Apple TV Plus original TV shows, movies, and documentaries for free. It’s not just occurring shortly after the holiday season and just four days into 2025, but it’s also right before the much-anticipated season 2 of Severance begins streaming on January 17, 2025.

Further, considering the teasers and free-weekend formal announcement all feature characters from the show, the timing of this free weekend likely isn’t a coincidence. It could serve to build up hype around the show’s return and even encourage folks who haven’t ventured into the halls of ‘Lumen’s’ halls to do so without needing to subscribe.

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While free weekends for streaming services aren’t unheard of, this is the first for Apple TV Plus. The streaming service routinely offers an Apple TV Plus free trial of about seven days, but that requires a sign-up. And the timing comes before a major series return and at a time when there is a boatload of great content to watch on Apple TV Plus.

There is plenty to watch on the service, including Mythic Quest, Schmigadoon!, The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, and For All Mankind, among many others. You can see TechRadar’s full list of the best Apple TV Plus shows here, which will give you an idea of where to start this upcoming weekend. And when you're done there, make sure to check on our ranking of the best Apple TV Plus movies for more.

(Image credit: SOPA Images)

While you can find Apple TV Plus’ vast library of content within the Apple TV app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV 4K streaming box, it’s available on other devices, too, and even on the web. Most major streaming OSs, including Roku, Google TV, and FireOS, offer the Apple TV app for easy streaming, and it’s also built into both Samsung and LG TVs.

Apple TV Plus’ free weekend of streaming will kick off on January 4, 2025, and wrap at the end of January 5, 2025. And while we don’t yet know if it’s available in the UK, Australia, and all countries where the service is available, we’ve reached out to Apple to ask and will update this story if we hear back.

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The 39th president spoke with Terry Gross in 1993, '95, '96 and '98 about growing up on a Georgia farm, entering politics and his advocacy for human rights and peace. Carter died Dec. 29 at age 100.

For the first decade of the smartphone industry’s lifetime, progress was absolutely rapid. We went from the iPhone in 2007 to the iPhone X in 2017, with phone makers implementing massive changes to design, performance, and software with each new generation.

However, in the last five or so years this progress has tapered, with phone makers pushing for marginal gains, squeezing the absolute most performance possible out of existing technologies. Again looking at Apple, the jump from the iPhone 13 to iPhone 14 in 2022 felt more like a hop as the latter phone launched with the same camera, design, and chipset as its predecessor.

Indeed, at the start of 2024 we saw a phone market dominated by broadly very similar pieces of hardware – whether you prefer the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S24, or Google Pixel 9, the average flagship sports a powerful processor, roughly 6.2-inch display that looks fantastic, a double or triple rear-camera system that takes great photos, and a long battery life. A plateau had formed.

With phone makers effectively neck-and-neck in terms of hardware, it looked like AI would be the next great decider between brands, with Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini ushering in an era of software rivalry not seen since the early days of iOS versus Android.

However, as the year pushed on, I kept hearing of new hardware technologies popping up time and time again in rumors, or bundled into new flagships from lesser-known phone makers. Now, looking to the new year, I’m confident that we’ll see the phone hardware race reignited in 2025.

A battery boost

The first development that has me truly excited for phone hardware next year is the silicon carbon battery. Though not technically brand new – the first phone with a silicon-based battery was released in 2023 by Honor – this past year has seen the adoption rate of this excellent new technology begin to speed up.

Since penning our Oppo Find X8 Pro review, I’ve been daily driving the phone and its 5910mAh battery, which continues to amaze me. Lithium-ion phone batteries are more common at the moment, but as Tom’s Guide notes silicon has a higher energy density, meaning a silicon battery can store more charge in the same amount of space.

What this translates to for a large flagship such as the Find X8 Pro is charging once every two days and leaving the house with 30% charge knowing it’ll see you through an evening. For smaller phones like the iPhone 16, silicon-carbon technology could finally give users truly reliable all-day battery life. Having tried it myself, I reckon it could change the game in 2025.

A powerful performance push

Sticking with internals, 2024 was the first year in a few in which we saw significant gains in the world of chipsets. After a few lackluster generations from both Apple and Qualcomm, we were treated to a push forwards on both sides.

The A18 chipset found in the iPhone 16 boasts 30% faster processing and 40% faster graphics than the A16 found in the iPhone 15. While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite nearly doubled the performance of the A18 Pro found in the iPhone 16 Pro when our US Mobiles editor Philip Berne ran benchmarks to compare the two.

The first Snapdragon 8 Elite phones are starting to emerge from Chinese phone makers like Xiaomi and Nubia, though I’m especially excited to see what Samsung does with the chipset in the rumored Galaxy S25 Ultra. The world’s most powerful phone with the world’s new most powerful chipset? That’s reason enough to be excited right there.

MediaTek has also emerged as a worthwhile challenger to Apple and Qualcomm, supplying plenty of mid-range and budget phones as well as Chinese flagships. Speaking from experience, the top-end Dimensity 9400 chipset found in the Find X8 Pro absolutely rips – I’ve yet to find a way to slow the thing down. It’s great to have a new competitor in the mix as we head into the new year.

Finally, some decent zooming

There’s plenty to be excited about in terms of photography, too. If rumors are to be believed, 2025 could be the year we see a leading flagship launch with a 1-inch sensor thanks to the rumored Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. There have been other phones produced with a 1-inch sensor, like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Oppo Find X7 Ultra. But these aren’t widely available – a 1-inch sensor camera from Samsung, Apple, or Google would set a very high bar for the entire industry, and no-doubt shake up our list of the best camera phones in the process.

I’m expecting telephoto cameras to get more and more impressive in 2025, too. The iPhone 17 Pro is rumored to ship with a 48MP 5x zoom camera optimized for video – that’s four times the resolution of the 12MP zoom snapper found on the iPhone 16 Pro. Further tips suggest that Samsung has developed a telephoto lens with a brighter aperture to aid with low-light portraits. Some might consider this a niche aspect of phone design, but I’ve long thought that zoom is a crucial part of the phone camera experience and am hyped to see some progress made.

With some of these technologies already available, and others still only existing in the aether of rumors and tip offs, it’ll be up to phone makers to either take up the potential with new models or develop rumored tech into reality. I’m also hoping for further surprises in display tech, sustainability and repairability, and adventurous design choices.

With that all said, one thing remains clear: the stage is set for some exciting phone hardware developments in 2025.

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• A 9th victim has been identified in the Salt Typhoon hack
• No attackers are thought to be lurking on the networks
• The White House wants to go on the 'offensive' against cyber threats

An ongoing assessment of the notorious Salt Typhoon hack has claimed there are no longer any lurking hackers present in the breached networks, and that all networks are now secure. This is the latest development in one of the most far reaching cyber-espionage campaigns in recent memory, which has just claimed its 9th victim, the White House confirmed.

Major telecoms firms like AT&T and Verizon were amongst the victims of the campaign, with over 100,000 routers compromised in just one network, which allowed broad and full access, allowing the attackers to "geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will."

It’s believed that fewer than 100 individuals were affected personally by the attack, with the group specifically identifying a small number of devices around the Washington DC area, with a goal of identifying and monitoring government targets to collect intelligence.

White House retribution

The attack has sparked response from the White House, as incoming President Trump has vowed to go on the offensive. Officials claim years of cyberdefense has been ineffective, and Mike Waltz, new national security advisor has warned the US will need to ‘start imposing’ on nation state actors who pose a threat.

Whilst the investigation is ongoing, it seems unlikely that the scale of the intrusion will ever be fully understood, with damage limitation and mitigating follow-on risk now a high priority.

“That’s why we’re looking forward and saying ‘let’s lock down this infrastructure,’ and frankly, let’s hold the Chinese accountable for this,” said Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for cyber and emerging technology.

“From what we’re seeing regarding the level of cybersecurity implemented across the telecom sectors, those networks are not as defensible as they need to be to defend against a well-resourced, capable, offensive cyber actor like China.”

Via Reuters

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With 2024 coming to a close, I’m looking back on everything that happened with 4K Blu-ray over the past year. Needless to say, it’s been a year of ups and downs. We’ve seen some excellent releases, especially from independent distributors. We’ve also seen brands and retailers exit the 4K Blu-ray market, whether it’s selling discs or players.

As one of TechRadar’s TV reviewers, the best 4K Blu-ray players and discs are crucial for testing the best TVs as they provide not only the best picture quality thanks to a higher bitrate than streaming but also better-quality audio for testing a TV’s built-in speakers and the best soundbars.

But 2024 really has been a rollercoaster year for us 4K Blu-ray fans. There have been reports of increasing disc sales from major UK retailers, and then elsewhere you read that the state of physical media is in decline and it’s all very doom and gloom. So what did happen in the world of 4K Blu-ray in 2024?

Disney and Best Buy sabotage, plus a Sony savior

Without Sony, movies like Deadpool & Wolverine wouldn't have made it to 4K Blu-ray (Image credit: Future)

In two of the major news stories for 4K Blu-ray, Best Buy decided to stop stocking 4K Blu-ray discs and then Disney announced its decision to cease 4K Blu-ray releases. Still, 4K Blu-ray remained alive and well thanks to the efforts of smaller distributors like The Criterion Collection and Arrow Video, both of which released superb remasters and gorgeous special editions of classic movies. I bought The Warriors from Arrow Video US and it’s an incredible release.

But, these small companies can’t be expected to do all the work and whatever you think of Disney’s current filmography, its back catalog is vast and it owns production companies like Fox. Plenty of critic- and audience-lauded movies, such as All of Us Strangers, would miss out on being presented in the best quality, starving home theater fans of a 4K Blu-ray release.

However, an unexpected savior appeared when Sony agreed to take over distribution rights for Disney’s physical media. This meant that movies and TV shows from Disney, Marvel, Fox and others would now get physical releases. It was some much-needed good news for the world of 4K Blu-ray.

Retailers and brands come and go

Panasonic is one of the few remaining brands offering mid-range 4K Blu-ray players (Image credit: Future)

Disney and Best Buy weren’t the only major brands to pull out from 4K Blu-ray, with another blow dealt as recently as December when LG announced it was discontinuing production of 4K Blu-ray players. That leaves Panasonic and Sony as the only remaining mainstream brands providing ‘new’, budget and mid-range Blu-ray players (Oppo and Samsung pulled out of the 4K Blu-ray player market in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and remaining brands like Magentar and Reavon are aimed at the premium end of the market). While some players are still available on the second-hard marketplace, you can expect stock to become increasingly scarce.

Despite more woes, some retailers have decided to get on the 4K Blu-ray train. For example, US retailers Fred Meyers and GameStop announced they would stock 4K Blu-ray discs back in May, providing more outlets for 4K Blu-ray fans to get movies.

4K Blu-ray in 2025

My 4K Blu-ray obsession accelerated in 2024, with the best purchase being this stunning 4K Blu-ray Special Edition of The Warriors from Arrow Video. Who knows what I'll add in 2025? (Image credit: Future)

So, what’s the outlook for 4K Blu-ray in 2025? Honestly, I'm hopeful. Here at TechRadar, we’ve noticed an appetite for 4K Blu-ray info, with more readers getting in touch and more eyes on any 4K Blu-ray-related news. So much so that we’ve launched the Blu-ray Bounty, where we look at great 4K Blu-ray releases each month, with our first edition showcasing Double Indemnity, Power of the Dog and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Spending more time with 4K Blu-ray has also fuelled my obsession. Along with The Warriors, I’ve recently added The Crow, The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Lord of the Rings to my collection, among many others that would take too long to list!

But, that’s the state of Blu-ray for us here at TechRadar. What about the wider world? Again, signs point to a minor revolution. That may sound exaggerated, but with the best streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus constantly raising prices people are going to get fed up. Prime Video not only added ads for all users unless you paid $2.99 / £2.99 to go ad-free in January 2024 but it’s set to add even more ads in 2025. This is just one example of streaming services squeezing the pennies out of people, with Netflix also kicking people off its cheapest ad-free tier, forcing an upgrade or a cancellation. I’d list more cases from 2024, but we’d be here all day.

Another frustration I’ve found is the constant hot potato that these streaming services play with movies and TV shows. Too many times have I gone to watch a favorite or a classic that’s caught my eye one month to find next month it’s gone. With discs, you own the content and it’s there to watch. I’ll be keeping an eye to see how many other people get fed up with this in 2025 and opt to trust in good ol’ physical media.

Final thoughts

I'll be testing the best 4K Blu-ray releases as much as I can in 2025, so expect more Blu-ray Bounty! (Image credit: Future)

4K Blu-ray and physical media in general has faced a year of highs and lows in 2024 and while I’m hopeful for its future in 2025, I know there is still uncertainty. Physical media sales overall remain on the decline and despite rising prices, streaming services are still the main way people watch movies and TV shows.

But, 4K Blu-ray is the best way to enjoy movies on your home theater system and the more people get to experience this wonderful format, the more popular it will become. I can recommend two players and five movies that will get you started on your journey if you’re new and, rest assured, I’ll be flying the 4K Blu-ray flag in 2025!

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• An attack on FreshClick has exposed customer payment details and more
• The extension is used by Zagg’s ecommerce provider, BigCommerce
• Affected customers are getting free credit monitoring for a year

Zagg has notified affected customers of a data breach that put highly sensitive information at risk, including payment card details.

In a letter dated December 26, 2024 (via the Office of the Maine Attorney General), the company confirmed a 12-day-long attack between October 26 and November 7, which it became aware of one day later on November 8.

The problem stems from an attack on FreshClick, a third-party application used by Zagg’s ecommerce software platform provider BigCommerce.

Zagg confirms cyberattack

“We learned that an unknown actor injected into the FreshClick app malicious code that was designed to scrape credit card data entered as part of the checkout process for certain ZAGG.com customer transactions between October 26, 2024 and November 7, 2024," the company confirmed.

Names, shipping and billing addresses, and payment card information could be at risk as a result.

In recognition of the severity of the attack, Zagg is giving affected customers 12 months’ access to credit monitoring through Experian. It’s also urging customers to monitor their financial accounts, place fraud alerts and consider credit freezes to prevent identity theft.

BigCommerce said (via Bleeping Computer): “Acting in the best interest of our customers and their shoppers, we immediately uninstalled the app in their stores, which removed any compromised APIs and malicious code.”

Basic internet hygiene principles like being cautious about sharing certain information and following potentially malicious links go a long way to protecting consumers against potential attacks, however when an attack affects a third-party service such as this, there’s very little that consumers can do, highlighting the widespread risks of online activity.

Apologizing for the inconvenience, Zagg has established a dedicated phone line for concerned customers to seek further answers and advice.

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Orico O7000: One-minute review

Although we’re technically in the PCIe 5.0 era of storage, it’s really been a golden age for PCIe 4.0 SSDs thanks to a plethora of choices, such as the Orico O7000, which is positioned as a drive with high-end performance for a midrange price.

This PCIe 4.0 SSD ranges from 512GB to 4TB, and for this review we’re taking the 1TB model for a spin. Rated for 7000MB/s in reads and 6500MB/s in writes, the O7000 isn’t quite at the top-end of PCIe 4.0 storage (which would be the Samsung 990 Pro), but it’s close.

What makes this drive particularly interesting is its current $69 price (about £55/AU$100), which is relatively low nowadays for a drive of this caliber.

Compared to top-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs like the FireCuda 530R from Seagate and the MP600 Pro NH from Corsair, the O7000 is just a shade slower for the most part, and often ties the two drives.

However, when writing lots of data to the O7000 (like if you’re moving all your game installations to it), its performance easily bogs down and becomes extremely slow.

The O7000 1TB also has a weakness in that other brands offer the same SSD hardware under different names, and these drives can sometimes be cheaper, but sales pricing is always a fickle thing.

For now, though, the O7000 is the cheapest option for this hardware, and its performance makes it one of the best values in PCIe 4.0 storage.

Orico O7000: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / Matthew Connatser)

• How much does it cost? From $69 (about £55/AU$100)
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, with UK and Australia availability pending

The O7000 is currently available on Amazon and Newegg, though at the time of writing, Amazon only offers the 1TB model, while Newegg also has the 2TB and 4TB variants in stock. The 1TB model costs $59, the 2TB $93, and the 4TB $196. The 2TB is currently the best deal on a dollar per GB basis, but since SSD prices can easily go up or down, it’s unclear how long this will be true for.

At $59 for the 1TB model, it’s significantly cheaper than other flagship PCIe 4.0 drives like Seagate’s FireCuda 530R and Corsair’s MP600 Pro NH, which cost $94 and $84 respectively for the 1TB version. It’s also much cheaper than older PCIe 5.0 SSDs, such as the $169 FireCuda 540 1TB.

Orico O7000: Specs Orico O7000: Performance

(Image credit: Future / Matthew Connatser)

Overall, the O7000 shows good, but not perfect, performance. The 530R and MP600 Pro NH were faster for the most part, but in nearly every single test the O7000 nipped on their heels. There were even a few instances where the O7000 tied or beat the Seagate and Corsair drives.

A particularly bright spot for the O7000 is its thermal performance and efficiency. It only maxed out at 50 degrees Celsius, far lower than the three other SSDs we tested. That makes the O7000 a decent candidate for laptops and handheld PCs, which often lack good SSD cooling.

Of course, more heat occurs because of higher power consumption, so the O7000 is a low-power drive too, another reason to choose it for a battery-powered device.

The FireCuda 540 was of course in its own league, but it costs about twice as much and benefits from active cooling, something the O7000 definitely doesn’t need.

However, the O7000’s biggest weakness is in sustained writes. All SSDs suffer from lowered writing performance the less free space they have, but the O7000 can see its performance drop to as low as 150MB/s. However, it’s rare to come across this situation in the real world since it requires tens or hundreds of gigabytes of large files being moved to an SSD.

Orico O7000: Verdict

(Image credit: Future / Matthew Connatser)

While the O7000 1TB isn’t perfect, its overall performance is very close to what you get with the FireCuda 530R 2TB and MP600 Pro NH 2TB. With a substantially lower price tag of $69, that makes the O7000 a better deal for the most part. If you’re looking for a new boot drive on a budget or if you just want some fast, secondary storage, the O7000 is a sensible choice.

However, the SSD that the O7000 1TB is based on is also made by other brands, including TeamGroup with its MP44. There’s really no reason to buy the more expensive drive since they’re essentially identical, but that works in Orico’s favor right now since the O7000 is cheaper.

The O7000 2TB is an especially good deal right now, going for just $93, which isn’t much more than lots of 1TB drives. Spending the extra $34 to get double the storage and the same performance makes the O7000 2TB especially appealing versus the 1TB model, though we don’t know how long this will hold since SSD prices can change quite frequently (and have done so as this review was in progress).

Should you buy the Orico O7000 Buy the Orico O7000 if...

You need fast storage on a budget
The O7000 has nearly top-end performance for a PCIe 4.0 SSD, and should work fine for just about anyone.

You want a cool and efficient SSD
The O7000 consumes very little power, which means longer battery life on mobile devices and low temperatures even without a heatsink.

Don't buy it if...

You need top-end performance period
The O7000 isn’t quite as fast as other PCIe 4.0 SSDs and stumbles in sustained writing.

You can find another SSD with the same hardware for less
There are a few SSDs out there that use the same components, such as TeamGroup’s MP44 and Lexar’s NM790. They’re essentially identical, so if they’re cheaper, just get one of those instead.

How I tested the Orico O7000

Although Intel’s new Core Ultra 200 Series has technically replaced last-gen 14th Gen CPUs, I’m using my LGA 1700 test bench for SSD testing, rather than an LGA 1851 test bench.

This is because SSDs run on Arrow Lake CPUs actually perform significantly worse than on 14th Gen CPUs. We’re not entirely sure why this is the case, but in order to show our SSDs’ best possible performance, we have to use Intel’s last-gen CPUs.

The LGA 1700 test bench is equipped with the Core i9-14900K, ASRock’s Z790 Taichi Lite motherboard, 32GB of DDR5 clocked to 5600MHz, and Corsair’s H170i iCUE LINK liquid cooler with a 420mm radiator. We also tested the Firecuda 530R, Firecuda 540, and MP600 Pro NH for comparison.

One of the crowning foreign policy achievements of Carter's single term as U.S. president was brokering a series of agreements that later came to be called the Camp David accords in 1978.

(Image credit: Consolidated News)

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