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When I first heard of the Huawei Mate XT back in September 2024, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I’d believed that larger folding displays were the key to truly gamechanging foldable devices for some time, spurred on by my fervent appreciation of the OnePlus Open, but seeing one come to reality took a moment to sink in.

Looking back, I suppose I had a case of what you could call the first-generation jitters – cast your mind back to 2019 and the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, an unreliable and fragile device that created as much doubt as it did excitement. It didn’t exactly help that the Mate XT was to be, and still is, a China exclusive, so there’d be little chance of testing it myself.

Luckily, folding display technology has come a long way in the last five or so years – so much so that the Mate XT landed as a technical marvel rather than a prototype. TechRadar’s Phones Editor Axel Metz was recently lucky enough to go hands-on with the Mate XT, finding the phone to be “a supremely exciting device” – and despite only seeing the phone for myself through the power of the internet, I’m inclined to agree with my colleague on this one.

Seemingly as soon as the dust has settled around the Mate XT, the rumor mill has produced word of a successor – tentatively titled the Huawei Mate XTs. We know little about this follow-up other than the suggestion that it’s being worked on, but what this does tell us is that the tri-fold Mate XT was not a one off. If a successor makes it to production, tri-fold phones will have escaped the event horizon of the “experimental” category, and with that Huawei can continue to exert pressure – albeit from afar – on other phone makers like Samsung and Google.

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(Image credit: Future)

The Huawei Mate XT (pictured) is the only tri-fold phone in any market, but it could soon be joined by a successor or rival.

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(Image credit: Future)

The current folding phone market features two form factors that all folding phone makers appropriate for their own devices, with very few exceptions. The cheaper of the two is the flip phone, a modernized revival of classic Y2K-style flip phones that typically aim to be more stylish than functional. The second are booklet style foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 or the Google Pixel 9 Pro, which are much more focused on productivity.

Now, I’m a self-professed fan of folding phones, but as much as I loved using the powerful and elegant OnePlus Open, it led me to realised that a folding phone can rarely do something a slab phone can’t. I loved using the 7.82-inch inner display of the Open to watch movies, scroll through articles, and play games, but I wouldn’t find myself writing articles, editing videos, or playing anything deeper than Tetris on the large inner screen. It just wasn’t large enough to be practical.

Furthermore, half of the things we do every day with a phone are so quick that it hardly makes unfolding the phone worth it to begin with. By the end of my time with the Open, I was using it folded more often than not.

Go bold with the folds

(Image credit: Future)

Perhaps it’s this middle-of-the-road mentality that is beginning to cost folding phones sales. As we previously reported, the end of 2024 saw a downturn in the number of folding display orders across the industry, which signals less production of folding devices. Maybe tri-fold devices are the shot in the arm this niche part of the phone industry needs.

Luckily, the latest updates suggest that Huawei isn’t alone in its belief in the tri-fold form factor. At CES 2025, Samsung Display demonstrated two new tri-fold phone displays, and while these remain proofs of concept at the time of writing, it’s very encouraging to see physical evidence of Samsung’s long-rumored explorations into tri-fold territory.

And according to a rumor stemming from Korean news outlet Sisa Journal-E (via GSMArena), Samsung is set to produce a unique tri-fold device that does not expose the inner screen when folded in the second half of 2025 – albeit in a very small run of 300,000 units.

Personally, I think tri-fold phones have the potential to make good on the productivity promise of folding phones. A 10- or 11-inch screen, especially mounted vertically, is an ideal size for writing documents and has enough space for two, maybe three, multitasking windows. It'll still be outclassed in screen real estate and performance power by laptops, particularly laptops of the same exorbitant price that the Mate XT sells for.

Whether or not the displays seen at CES morph into usable devices will be for Samsung to decide, but with these latest rumors and demos I’m hopeful that we’ll see more tri-fold devices popping up as the coming years unfold (I’ll see myself out).

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• Plugable's UD-7400PD can handle five 4K monitors and up to 100 million pixels
• The docking station has 11 ports, including a 2.5 Gigabit port
• Can push up to 140W, enough to power a MacBook Pro

Plugable chose CES 2025 to unveil the launch of its latest docking station with some powerful capabilities - and it might just be a gamechanger.

The Plugable USB-C 5-Display Docking Station (UD-7400PD) can, you guessed it, support up to five monitors.

The firm itself has touted a range of variations here, including the use of up to three 8K monitors alongside an additional two 4K screens. Alternatively, users could opt for a single 8K and four 4K monitors or just a full house of 4K devices - either way, it makes for an appealing setup for your IT professional or casual user alike and is a powerful bit of kit capable of driving up to 100 million pixels.

What you need to know about the new Pluggable docking station

But there’s more to the docking station than just the visual appeal - the new docking station from Plugable offers up to 140W power delivery via a USB-C port, making it a highly capable piece of equipment for users.

In terms of what’s powering the variety of screens, it boasts two HDMI ports alongside three DisplayLink USB-C ports, meaning users could run up to four screens at an impressive 120Hz.

The rear-placed HDMI 2.1 port can also run a single 8K screen at a rate of up to 30Hz.

Elsewhere, the UD-7400PD also features a DockTag On Screen Display (OSD), which allows users to swiftly check the dock’s status or asset details, as well as access to a QR code to source setup instructions.

It’s this feature makes it an easy-to-use bit of equipment for IT professionals and hotdesking staff, and managed IT environments, the company says.

“This USB-C and DisplayLink Docking Station has been designed with reliability at its core and was built to meet the deployment demands of IT departments and the ease of use necessary for home offices,” Pluggable's promotional materials said.

Other key features include:

• A front-facing 10Gpbs USC-C port offering up to 30W accessory charging
• Two front-facing 10Gbps USC-A ports
• 2.5Gbps Ethernet port
• A headset jack

Among the biggest appeals of the docking station is its compatibility with a range of operating systems and devices.

The UD-7400PD works with Windows 10 or later, or macOS 11 and upward. This means users working with Mac devices ranging from the M1 up to the M4 can connect displays.

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As CES 2025 draws to a close, there are a few key takeaways in the world of TVs including brighter OLEDs, like the LG G5, bigger screens, like Hisense's mammoth 136-inch and 163-inch micro-LED TVs, as well as the introduction of new technologies like Samsung's 8K TV with an RGB micro-LED backlight.

One market, however, looks like it'll be just as competitive if not more so than it did in 2025; and that's mini-LED TVs. Some of the best TVs on the market are mini-LED TVs. Highlights from 2024 included the Samsung QN90D, Hisense U8N and the ground-breaking Sony Bravia 9, but there were so many more models that could count themselves among the best mini-LED TVs.

2025 looks set to be another big year for mini-LED TVs, with some exciting tech innovations introduced at CES. Mini-LED TVs from Samsung, Hisense, TCL and Panasonic have been confirmed – and Sony hasn't even announced its sets yet!

The state of mini-LED in 2025

The Samsung QN90F (pictured here at CES 2025) is likely to be one of the best mini-LED sets of 2025, if it's anything like its predecessor. (Image credit: Future)

Samsung revealed its 2025 mini-LED TV lineup and the most eye-catching news was the introduction of Glare Free tech to the Samsung QN90F and QN990F, its 2025 flagship 4K and 8K models. The reflection beating tech (which is a matte screen) was first introduced in 2024 on the Samsung S95D, one of the best OLED TVs on the planet.

We were blown away by the effectiveness of the Glare Free tech on the S95D, so adding it to the QN90F – which we expect to have high brightness levels and great motion processing like its predecessor the QN90D – is likely to make it one of the best TVs for sport. This is one for sports fans to keep an eye on.

One of the other major reveals at CES was the introduction of Hisense's RGB mini-LED backlit TV, the 116-inch UX. Hisense says the new tech will provide bolder, more vibrant colors and 10,000 nits of peak brightness, while also being 10% more energy efficient. We saw the 116UX in person and its as vibrant as promised.

This is likely to be a super-premium TV, with the 110-inch UXN with a standard mini-LED backlight retailing for a hefty $15,000 / £20,000 (roughly AU$24,000) so you can expect the 116UX to be even pricier, but its still an exciting new tech.

TCL's new and improved mini-LED backlight (pictured here at CES 2025) could improve picture quality for its TVs across the range. (Image credit: Future)

TCL also revealed a new type of mini-LED backlight, which demonstrated more precise backlight control and higher brightness of up to a mind-blowing 50% increase in its 2025 mini-LED TV lineup, without compromising the image's darker areas.

Panasonic introduced the W95B in its 2025 TV lineup, while LG announced two mini-LED sets, the QNED99 and QNED92, into its 2025 QNED TV lineup. While these didn't quite have the same headline-grabbing innovations as the sets above, they are still set to be packing with excellent gaming features and upgraded processors promising higher brightness once again and better contrast.

These are just some of the mini-LED TV models we can expect in 2025. We're waiting to hear about Sony's 2025 lineup, which could include the successor to the brilliant Sony Bravia 9. The Bravia 9 is a mini-LED TV with OLED-rivaling contrast and black levels, so could Sony look to one-up it?

We're also still waiting to hear about Hisense's latest ULED lineup, which follows on from last year's Hisense U8N, U7N and U6N, and these along with TCL's other sets are sure to make up the backbone of the mid-range and budget mini-LED sets in 2025.

The battle rages on and we're spoilt for choice

Even 8K mini-LED TVs are getting innovations, as the Samsung QN990F (pictured here at CES 2025) has a wireless connection box and matte screen. (Image credit: Future)

While these brands will be looking for mini-LED supremacy, we're the real winners. These brands are looking to make their TVs faster, brighter, more colorful and detailed than ever before – and they'll be looking to offer the best prices they can to tempt us into choosing a mini-LED over an OLED.

Brands are starting to invest in bigger screens through their lineups too, with Hisense's 116-inch UX, Samsung's 115-inch QN90F and the TCL 98-inch QM6K just some of the larger mini-LED sets on offer. While these screens will exceed most people's budgets, does this mean we could see a price drop on smaller sizes? Hisense is most likely to offer this, but we'll be keeping an eye out on prices as they are revealed over the coming months. Plus, we can all still dream of a cinema sized screen and having the option is always going to get a thumbs-up from me.

It's also great to see so many tech innovations coming through for mini-LED TVs as well. A common problem for mini-LED TVs is backlight blooming (where light surrounds brighter objects on dark backgrounds, creating a halo effect) but if these new innovations can reduce this issue altogether, then that just means better TVs for us.

Higher brightness, both peak and fullscreen, is always a theme in new mini-LED TVs. While the numbers are reaching eye-watering heights of 10,000 nits plus, it means more eye-catching pictures and less reflections for those of us with bright rooms. Yet another positive thanks to the spirit of competition.

2025 is shaping up to be the most hotly contested year for mini-LED TVs in years and I can't wait to find out who's going to come out on top. Thankfully for us, it looks like we're going to be spoilt for choice.

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• The iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be 5.5 mm thick
• It's expected to replace the iPhone 16 Plus
• Samsung is rumored to be launching a Galaxy S25 Slim too

If the rumors are right, we'll get a new iPhone model this year: the iPhone 17 Air. Courtesy of one well-known Apple analyst, we might now know just how thin this handset will be – and it's apparently going to beat the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim in terms of thinness.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), the iPhone 17 Air is going to be a mere 5.5 mm, front to back, at its thinnest point. For comparison, the current iPhone 16 measures 7.8 mm front to back – so the new phone will be nearly 30% thinner.

From what we've heard about the Galaxy S25 Slim, it's going to be 6.x mm thick. If you've after the thinnest flagship phone you can buy in 2025, then it might well be the iPhone 17 Air – though these dimensions still need to be confirmed, of course.

The iPhone 17 Air may only offer eSIM support and do away with the physical SIM card slot in order to reduce thickness, according to Kuo. The handset is expected to replace the iPhone 16 Plus from the current range.

Slimming down

The iPhone 6 is the thinnest iPhone to date (Image credit: Future)

The Plus model has reportedly the least popular model in the iPhone range, and Apple will be hoping some extra sales can be sparked with a redesign and a new name – with the phone's thinness apparently the key selling point.

If the 5.5 mm prediction is correct, then the iPhone 17 Air would claim the honor of being the thinnest iPhone ever built. The current record holder in that regard is the iPhone 6 that launched in 2014 measured 6.9 mm front to back.

The phone has also been rumored to use a thinner and more efficient display technology, which will help in hitting that 5.5 mm target. As with the other iPhone 17 we can also look forward to a bump in performance as well.

It'll be Samsung that gets to show off its super-thin phone first though: the next Samsung Unpacked event is scheduled for January 22, and we think we'll see four different Samsung Galaxy S25 models, including the Galaxy S25 Slim.

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I’ve used and tried every Apple Watch since its launch in 2014. I was on the shop floor at Apple on day one of the Apple Watch launch, and for all of the last decade, I’ve been wearing, using, or writing about the Apple Watch.

But after years in Apple’s fold, 2024 heralded a new opportunity to try fitness tech from the other side of the iOS/Android divide. I’ve used the mightily impressive Mobvoi Ticwatch Atlas, and to close out the year I got my hands on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the undisputed best smartwatch out there, and one of my personal favorite pieces of tech, so I was keen to get a look at Samsung’s answer to the rugged, durable, adventure-going smartwatch.

But after barely 10 minutes with the Samsung Galaxy Ultra, I became flabbergasted by the absence of a feature I’d never even considered wasn’t ubiquitous on smartwatches of all shapes, sizes, and manufacture. I am, of course, talking about the digital crown.

My first Samsung

(Image credit: Future)

I didn’t notice the Galaxy Watch Ultra didn’t have a digital crown until I first put it on and used it. After successfully pairing it with my Samsung Galaxy Fold Z 6, I started to play around with the watch’s basic settings and features.

The first time I encountered a menu, I instinctively reached for the digital crown to scroll, and to my horror, felt nothing. I tried again, but still nothing. “What on earth is going on?” I thought to myself, peering down at the side of my Galaxy Watch Ultra in dismay. There, staring back at me was the Ultra’s array of Quick Button, Home Button, and a Back button, with no scrolling crown in sight.

The lack of a digital crown has made me question everything I thought I knew about smartwatches. In 10 years of covering and using Apple Watch, I’ve had little reason to stray beyond Apple’s walled garden, but I’d never stopped to consider that some Android smartwatch models didn’t have a digital crown.

How on earth do you scroll on a watch with a digital crown? A quick shop-around has reassured me that Google has adopted this indispensable tech with its Google Pixel Watch range, but I’m genuinely astonished that Samsung hasn’t got on board.

Defying convention

(Image credit: Future)

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is definitely an impressive timepiece, and one of the best Android smartwatches to boot. It certainly draws a bit too heavily on the design of the Apple Watch Ultra, from the squarer, blockish design, the rear sensor configuration, and the flashes of orange, which everyone seems to have decided is the color of adventure.

However, I love the band attachment mechanism, and the vibrant display really makes the colors pop. Yet this emulation of Apple’s hardware makes the lack of a digital crown all the more befuddling, how did Samsung take so much inspiration from the Apple Watch Ultra and skip over one of its most important and useful features?

An “ultra” smartwatch by definition is meant for tackling the great outdoors. A world of mud, dirt, sand, and water that makes a touch screen unreliable. Having a tactile input like a digital crown is vital to retaining more control and functionality over your timepiece in inclement weather. What’s more, it’s critical if you’re trying to use your smartwatch while wearing gloves, as I found out on a recent trip to the English Lake District.

I use the digital crown on my Apple Watch every single day. It’s there for scrolling through messages and emails, controlling the volume of music during a workout, or sifting quickly through the tiles on the smartstack.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I have used Samsung’s Touch Bezel on the Galaxy Watch Ultra. I hate it. Not only is it not conducive to use in the great outdoors for all the aforementioned reasons, but I actually think it harms the user experience because your finger often obscures what you’re trying to look at and scroll through on the screen.

Perhaps with time I’ll grow used to the Ultra’s Touch Bezel and its lack of a digital crown, but the revelation that not every smartwatch has a digital crown has ruined me. I’d defy anyone using a Galaxy Watch to try their hand at a digital crown on any Apple Watch or Android alternative and tell me that it’s not a better, more tactile, and more satisfying experience.

There’s a lot to like about the Galaxy Watch Ultra if you're an Android user. It’s the most rugged and exciting adventure watch on the smartwatch market right now. It has excellent battery life, and a tough titanium exterior, and it’s frequently discounted to the extreme, drastically increasing its value.

Rumors about the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are scant to non-existent, but I’d say a slam-dunk upgrade for the next iteration would be the introduction of a digital crown for scrolling that would drastically improve the user experience. It’s not a bad watch by any means, but a digital crown seems like an easy place to start when it comes to second-gen improvements.

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• McAfee's tool detects scams over email, text and deepfake attempts on social and elsewhere
• It claims victims on average lose nearly $1,500 to scammers
• You will need to be a paid McAfee customer to get the protection

Scammers are leveraging increasingly sophisticated AI technology to create convincing emails, text messages, and AI-generated deepfake videos.

A recent McAfee survey found nearly two-thirds (59%) of Americans have either fallen victim to scams or know someone who has, with average losses reaching nearly $1,500.

To address this trend, the antivirus software company has launched its AI-powered Scam Detector, a solution designed to shield users from falling prey to these digital traps.

McAfee Scam Detector

McAfee’s Scam Detector is powered by Smart AI, the same technology behind the company’s online protection tools.

This system identifies and flags suspicious emails and text messages before users engage with them. In addition, it flags AI-edited videos that might mimic trusted figures or promote fake endorsements.

It blocks potential threats and provides explanations to help users understand why a message or video is dangerous and learn about common scamming tactics.

The company revealed that this tool will soon be available in additional languages, including French, German, and Japanese, ensuring broader accessibility.

This tool integrates with popular platforms like Gmail, Outlook, Android and iOS. Users don’t need to manually analyze links or upload files for review; the tool works automatically. If a potential scam is detected, a notification will be sent to the user.

Beginning this spring, the Scam Detector will be included in McAfee+ and Total Protection plans at no additional cost.

Once activated, the tool provides real-time protection, working continuously across a user's smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

“Scammers are getting smarter every day, using technology like artificial intelligence to make their tricks more convincing and harder to spot,” said Steve Grobman, Chief Technology Officer at McAfee.

“They play on people’s emotions – like fear, urgency, or trust – to get what they want," he added.

"That’s why we created McAfee Scam Detector, powered by AI. It warns you about scams before they can cause harm, helps you stay in control of your personal information, and helps you build the skills needed to outsmart scammers for good."

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