It’s a Bank Holiday weekend edition of winners and losers so before you fire up the BBQ, check in on your tech favourites to see who’s responsible for this week’s tasty bangers.
The big news in the mobile realm this week came from the pre-Google I/O Android Show where Google revealed Android 16s fancy new Material 3 Expressive design that’ll also reflect through Wear OS 6. We also got word Google Gemini is coming to the car, the TV and through Sony and Samsung earphones.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mobile divide, Apple finally rolled out CarPlay Ultra, but it’s only available if you’ve got a new Aston Martin. Sure, I’ll get right on that. We learned iOS 19 might have a cool new public Wi-Fi quirk and that it might be wise to wait until 2027 before making any major Apple purchases. it’s going to be a huge year for hardware, according to a report.
Apple also launched a new Sound Therapy section of Apple Music, while it’s also working on a way to make it easier for Spotify listeners to cross the divide. Oh, and speaking of music streaming, the AirPods Pro 3 are taking another spin on the rumour mill.
News of new Forerunners from Garmin have us sprinting into the weekend setting a new Parkrun PB, while Whoop atoned for its whoopsie by sort of honouring an upgrade policy.
And, before we get to the winners and losers for this week, an honorary slow clap for Max deciding to change the name back to HBO Max. Like, duh!
Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6
One of the best just got better with the long-awaited launch of Sony’s WH-1000XM6 over-ear noise cancelling headphones. Sometimes the launch of a new generation product is worth the wait.
Sony has kept us waiting since 2022, when the five-star XM5 headphones landed and it seems the improvements made in the meantime have been significant.
Our own Max Parker was impressed with the return of a folding design, the improved call quality, but especially the boosts to active noise cancelling thanks to a QN3 chip that’s seven times more powerful than the predecessor, and the addition of four new microphones to make 12 in total
In his hands on review, Max said: “My immediate impressions were strong – the ANC here is great. On a busy street with all sorts of machinery making a racket, the noise was reduced impressively, easily on par with the AirPods Max I was swapping between. The high-pitched rumble of a plane engine was diminished to comfortable standards, and the London Underground was dealt with easily.”
We’ll have a full review of the Sony WH-1000XM6 in due course, but all signs point to another perfect score considering this model offers “plenty of upgrades that look to fix issues we had with the previous pair.”
Marvellous.
Loser: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
I don’t know many smartphone users who’d swap daily battery longevity and fewer, less capable cameras for a slimmer, lighter and probably less durable design. This mid-cycle refresh is a downgrade you’re paying close to top dollar for, and the public knows it.
It’s only a single gram lighter than the standard Samsung Galaxy S25 (162g vs 163g) and although it’s a significant 1.4mm slimmer than the standard edition, who looks at their smartphone today and thinks: “This is way too thick, this phone. Do you know what I’d prefer? A much shorter battery life and an extra millimetre or so of pocket space!”
Sure, smartphones used to be a lot thinner and lighter and, as my colleague Lewis Painter points out, this phone is a bit of a throwback in that regard.
But it’s also a throwback to when we used to worry about making it through the workday with enough battery life to enjoy some tunes on the way home, and we didn’t have incredible camera tech like miniaturised periscope lenses, telephoto capabilities, and the joys of optical zoom.
