The iPhone Duo has what many consider the prettiest design of any foldable on the market. With frosted glass on the back that gently curves into the camera bump, a titanium frame with a reflective coating, and two beautiful colors to pick from, it’s a sight to behold from every angle.

It’s also delicate. While Apple does use its Ceramic Shield 2 glass on the front to protect the screen, it’s still susceptible to cracks from drops at the right angle. Similarly, it might be certified IP68 for water and dust resistance, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stop every earthly force from damaging it whatsoever.

If you’re buying the $1,999 foldable, it may be smart to pick up a case and add some protection. With so many on the market, it can be hard to decide which is right for you, but we’ve done all the hard work and found the best cases for the iPhone Duo you can get. Scroll down to check out our list.

Best iPhone Duo cases you can buy

dbrand Grip case

One of our favorite cases for the iPhone 18 Pro is also available for the iPhone Duo. The Grip case from dbrand makes for a great addition to your device, with a premium design that blends a grippy texture with a slim profile to make your foldable easier to handle. It won’t add much bulk to your device, either, and it has built-in hinge protection to keep it shielded from drops. Speaking of which, it has military-grade impact resistance, safeguarding your shiny new Duo from cracks and dents. Plus, it has MagSafe support and Camera Control.

Price: $49.99 (Best Buy)

Best Buy: dbrand Grip case

Price: $54.90 (dbrand, includes skin)

dbrand: Grip case

Apple iPhone Duo Folio with Kickstand

The iPhone Duo Folio from Apple is one of the nicest-looking (and feeling) cases you can get. It features a thin and light TechWoven design that integrates a kickstand for using the larger display hands-free. It attaches to your device via magnets and stays securely in place. It wraps around the entire phone, too, protecting the front and back glass from scratches and scuffs. It’s available in two colors to match your Duo: Navy Blue and Taupe.

Price: $129.00

Best Buy: iPhone Duo Folio

Ridge Everyday Phone Case

Ridge took its Everyday Phone Case and made a special version designed specifically for the iPhone Duo. With this case, you get 8-foot drop protection thanks to a premium design that cushions the edges of the phone, the hinge, and the camera bump from tumbles. It has an aramid fiber back that gives it a high-end feel and appearance, and it integrates MagSafe and Camera Control. Plus, you get a 99-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like it.

Price: $99.00

Amazon: Ridge Everyday Phone Case

Spigen Ultra Hybrid Pro MagFit case

Clear case lovers are going to dig the Ultra Hybrid Pro MagFit case from Spigen. This iPhone Duo protector includes a crystal-clear design with reinforced edges for drop protection, all while letting your device’s glorious design shine through. It has Spigen’s special anti-yellowing coating so it won’t get gross over time, it integrates MagSafe support, and the brand’s patented hinge protection will safeguard your hinge while retaining a smooth feeling when you open and close it.

Price: $39.99

Amazon: Spigen Ultra Hybrid Pro MagFit

Nomad Traditional Leather Folio

If you want to wrap your iPhone Duo in premium, Horween leather, check out Nomad’s Traditional Leather Folio. This case snaps onto your Duo and protects the edges, front, and back glass from scratches and dents. Open the folio and you’ll be greeted with a card slot that can hold a couple of credit cards for added convenience. It also integrates MagSafe and is available in three different finishes: Rustic Brown, Saddle, and Black.

Price: $129 (preorder, ships in November)

Nomad: Traditional Leather Folio

ZAGG Crystal Palace Snap Case with Kickstand

ZAGG makes some of the most durable cases you can get, and its Crystal Palace Snap case for the iPhone Duo is no exception. With an expertly crafted design, the case lets your Duo shine through its clear exterior while protecting it against drops, bumps, scratches, and more. There’s a built-in kickstand on the back that lets you prop it up for hands-free use, and you get MagSafe magnets for wireless charging and accessories. Plus, ZAGG guarantees free lifetime replacements if your case breaks.

Price: $89.99

Amazon: ZAGG Crystal Palace Snap Case

Best Buy: ZAGG Crystal Palace Snap Case

Thinborne Aramid Fiber

To add an extra layer of protection to your iPhone Duo, the Thinborne Aramid Fiber case is the easiest way to do it. It’ll give the glass and shiny frame protection from scratches and scuffs while adding just 0.9mm of thickness to your device, keeping the profile as thin and light as possible. It features an aerospace-grade 600D aramid fiber design that gives the case a premium feel in the hand, and it’s even able to integrate super-strong magnets in the back to keep MagSafe in tact.

Price: $89.69

Amazon: Thinborne Aramid Fiber case

Apple iPhone Duo Case

Apple’s standard iPhone Duo Case is designed to protect your device with a simplistic design that complements its colorway. Available in Sand and Navy Blue, the case snaps right onto your Duo with a precise fit to protect it from drops, scratches, scuffs, and more. There’s a lip on the back to protect the dual rear cameras, and there’s a large cutout on the side for easy access to the power button and Camera Control.

Price: $79.00

Best Buy: Apple iPhone Duo Case

Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.

• 💰 Nvidia GeForce Now provides a cost-effective alternative to expensive GPU upgrades for running demanding games

• 🏀 NBA 2K27 demonstrates the realistic visual enhancements enabled by DLSS 5

• 🔫 007 First Light showcases path tracing, while Bodycam delivers high, stable performance in Unreal Engine 5

• 👍Despite minor drawbacks like missing VRR and slight input latency, the service offers great value at $20 per month

In a world where upgrading or building a gaming PC has become prohibitively expensive, Nvidia GeForce Now has become a cost-effective way to enjoy the latest games with few compromises.

I’ve already spoken about how GeForce Now and the Steam Machine are a match made in heaven, which is how I’ve been enjoying NBA 2K27, 007 First Light and Bodycam. Each one shows off a different strength of Nvidia’s cloud streaming service: NBA 2K27 is a showcase for DLSS 5, 007 First Light for path tracing, and Bodycam for high, stable performance in a demanding Unreal Engine 5 shooter.

It isn’t perfect yet. VRR is still sorely missing for everything other than Nvidia GPUs, and you’re limited to 90Hz at 4K on the Steam Machine. But an update is due later this year that hopefully adds both.

I could run all three games on my RTX 4070 Super, and even on my beloved Steam Machine. But DLSS 5, path tracing and high performance in graphically intensive Unreal Engine 5 titles are off limits unless I part ways with a small fortune. Not so with GeForce Now.

Slam dunk

NBA 2K27 is the first game to use DLSS 5, and it has a transformative effect on the game’s already broadcast-quality visuals. Everything has extra depth and looks more realistic, from the players’ skin and hair to the spectators in the crowd. It’s a night-and-day difference, and it shows just how impactful DLSS 5 can be, even at this early stage.

It’s a good thing NBA 2K27 looks so good, as I’ve been getting brutally schooled by the CPU on ‘Pro’ difficulty. Even playing as the legendary ‘90s Chicago Bulls, I’m missing easy shots, rebounds and layups, though the comprehensive training mode means I’m getting slightly better after each loss.

Considering the last basketball game I played was NBA Inside Drive 2002 on the Xbox, I’ve only myself to blame, really. Still, I keep returning to the court to sink one more outrageous three-pointer from downtown and marvel at the visuals.

The name’s tracing… path tracing

007 First Light’s new path-tracing update is another visually enticing feature, and one that would require quite a few compromises on my current hardware. Path tracing delivers perfect, mirror-like reflections and realistic sunlight, and it grounds characters and objects in the environment. Details are easier to spot too, as they’re no longer lost to baked shadows and crushed blacks, making the game even more impressive to behold.

007 First Light also has plenty of moments for path tracing to shine, like the ‘A Night Out’ mission set in an English nightclub. Toggling it on and off shows a dramatic disparity, from a scene that looks like a typical video game to one that feels like you’re actually there.

Fights, camera, action

Bodycam is perhaps one of the most visually impressive games I’ve played in some time, recreating the look of body camera footage with jaw-dropping fidelity. The sound design is also scarily real, with gunshots reverberating through buildings and out into open areas with disturbing accuracy.

Built on Unreal Engine 5, it’s a demanding game, and it’s a competitive first-person shooter at heart, so a high, stable frame rate is a must. That’s exactly what GeForce Now delivers with most settings maxed out. Input latency may not match native hardware, but it’s damn close, and I never felt impeded by playing over the cloud.

Bodycam is still in early access, but it’s come on leaps and bounds since its initial reveal, driven by community feedback.

Game over for dedicated GPUs?

NBA 2K27 shows what DLSS 5 can do for realism and means those without 50 Series cards can experience it first-hand. 007 First Light proves that path tracing can change the look and feel of any game for the better, and Bodycam is proof that cloud gaming can keep up with a fast, competitive shooter that pushes visuals like we’ve never seen before.

GeForce Now still has rough edges. The lack of VRR or cloud G-Sync outside of Nvidia’s own hardware is a big limitation, and input latency, while impressively low, will never quite match native hardware – at least not yet. But at $20 a month, compared to an RTX 5080 that costs around $1,300–$2,100, the value is hard to argue with.

If, like me, you’re running an aging rig and can’t justify a small fortune on new hardware, GeForce Now is the closest thing to a cheat code in today’s increasingly expensive GPU market.

Review codes for NBA 2K27, 007 First Light, and Bodycam were provided by the publishers. GeForce Now Ultimate access was provided by Nvidia.

Up next: ModRetro Chromatic Transparent review: a gorgeous new look at a more attractive price

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 📅 Best Buy is hosting a midnight launch on November 5 for the new Zelda title

• 🚨 Limited quantities of the 40th Anniversary Switch 2 and Pro Controller will be available

• 👉 Customers with existing pre-orders can update their order for midnight store pickup

• ⚔️ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive

Walmart: Zelda Switch 2 console

Best Buy: Zelda Switch 2 console

GameStop: Zelda Switch 2 console

If you missed out on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 or Pro Controller, you’ve got another chance to grab one thanks to Best Buy.

The retailer has announced that select stores will hold a midnight launch for the game, which will include limited numbers of The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch 2 Pro Controller.

If you’ve already pre-ordered the game and hardware but want to pick it up at a late-night store opening event, you can also adjust your order to do so.

You can check whether your state and location’s store is holding a late-night store opening on Best Buy’s website.

The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 and Pro Controller have proven to be incredibly popular and sold out fast. Nintendo has promised that more stock will arrive, though it’s bound to sell out again.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake releases on November 5, 2026, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Up next: ModRetro Chromatic Transparent review: a gorgeous new look at a more attractive price

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 📅 Forza Horizon 6 arrives on PS5 on January 26, 2027, alongside its first expansion

• 💰 A Premium Edition offering five days of early access will be available for PS5 players

• 👏 The game launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC in May to critical acclaim, scoring 90 on Metacritic

• 🔜 Developer Playground Games is also working on Fable, which is planned for PS5 as well

Walmart: Forza Horizon 6

Best Buy: Forza Horizon 6

GameStop: Forza Horizon 6

Amazon: Forza Horizon 6

Forza Horizon 6 is racing onto PS5 on January 26, 2027, after it was originally planned to release this year.

We already knew Microsoft’s best-selling Xbox game was heading to Sony’s console, but things have been strangely quiet. Some speculated that Microsoft may have changed its mind about bringing one of its most critically acclaimed games to PS5 after changing its stance on console exclusives. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Forza Horizon 6’s PS5 launch will coincide with the game’s first expansion. PS5 players can purchase a Premium Edition, which includes up to five days of early access and access to the new expansion.

Forza Horizon 6 was released on Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 19, and achieved an impressive Metacritic score of 90 – making it one of Microsoft’s highest-rated first-party games.

Developer Playground Games will hope it can replicate the same success with Fable, another previously Xbox exclusive title that’s now scheduled for PS5.

Up next: Forza Horizon 6 Limited Edition Controller and Headset: price, pre-order and release date

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

You’re not alone if you feel challenged when trying to stay on top of your finances. Rising prices are the norm in 2026, and the transition to everything being a subscription seems never-ending. We all know that saving and investing for the future is critical, but given the startling lack of financial education across the United States, it’s easy to simply ignore the follow-through on that sage advice.

But in the age of AI, shouldn’t all of this be easier? Good news – it’s become a lot more straightforward to give your financial future a head start. Intuit, the company behind services like Credit Karma and TurboTax, has a bunch of ways to help you save for the future, crush your debt, optimize your rewards, and give you a better understanding of where your money goes every month.

Where we find Intuit’s AI most helpful in our daily lives

Credit Karma

The Credit Karma app has expanded greatly from the days of just checking your credit score.

With the Intuit Consumer Platform, you get features like Credit Karma Intelligence, which can answer a wide range of your personal finance questions. We’ve used it to ask questions like, “What credit card will help me most to build my score?” and “Which of my cards needs to be paid off the quickest to avoid interest?” Whether you’ve had credit cards for decades or are just starting to build your credit history, this is one of those tools that quickly becomes indispensable the more you use it.

Intuit says that more than half of active Credit Karma members carry credit card or personal loan debt, which is why Debt Assistant is one of the most important tools you can use. Its ability to understand the kind of debt you have and provide a straightforward consolidation plan can help you pay it off quicker than you think. You’ll wind up paying less interest, your credit score will benefit, and you’ll be on a much better financial path. In fact, Intuit says that members who use the tool reduce interest and save an average of $178 a month.

Paycheck Assistant is similar in that it builds a plan around each paycheck based on financial priorities you choose. . It’ll help you divvy up your money across bills, paying down debt, saving for a rainy day, and building an emergency fund, while still leaving room for the occasional night out without going over your limit. Plus, it maps out your plan paycheck by paycheck and gives you a heads-up when you’re off track or short on cash, so you can adjust before it becomes a problem.

At tax time, Refund Assistant also comes in clutch. The average tax refund in the United States in 2026 was $3,275, which is a big chunk of change that can benefit your overall financial picture. When you receive yours, Credit Karma’s AI can look at your entire financial position, recommend which debt (if any) you should pay off, outline how much to set aside, and how much you can spend on something fun. It takes the guesswork out of the entire process for you, which’ll save you time (and money).

TurboTax

When it comes to filing your taxes and managing your income throughout the year, having a tax expert at the ready to answer any questions is wildly convenient. One that can instantaneously respond to you with accurate tax info, though? That’s priceless.

Intuit Assist is just that, built with specific models to provide tips on how to maximize your deductions, take advantage of new rules, and get the biggest refund you can qualify for. It’s helped many of our own team members find new deductions they didn’t realize were left on the table. It’s also great for those with multiple streams of income or with a tax situation slightly unorthodox (shout-out to our fellow small business owners!).

Intuit Consumer Platform is a game-changer for your finances

The driver behind all of these features? The Intuit Consumer Platform. Its reliance on purpose-built financial AI models can mean the difference between an overly generalized answer to a query from a chatbot and getting down to the root of how to handle your specific tax situation each year.

“General-purpose large language models (LLMs) are powerful, but aren’t designed for precision,” wrote Mark Notarainni, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit’s Consumer Group, on the Fast Company Executive Board. “In low-stakes contexts, that tradeoff is acceptable. In financial decisions, it isn’t. Ask an LLM a tax question, and you may receive a plausible answer, but it likely won’t reflect the nuances of your unique financial situation, be backed by accountability, or be built with the safeguards required for sensitive financial data.”

That’s where Intuit comes into play. The Consumer Platform blends artificial intelligence with human intelligence to help you make the right financial decisions, all contextual to your unique journey. It’s built using purpose-built AI models that are fine-tuned by real financial professionals to educate you on how best to allocate your money across your savings, debt and everyday savings. Intuit’s AI Models are trained using a combination of the company’s decades of tax prep experience, tax data and documents from the filer, current tax code, and validated by experienced tax professionals.

“For someone carrying high-interest debt trying to build an emergency fund, that means guidance calibrated to those competing priorities,” Notarainni continued. “For someone who just received a roughly $3,000 tax refund and isn’t sure whether to pay down a credit card or open a savings account, that means a clear recommendation grounded in their actual numbers.”

It’s hard enough as it is to stay on top of your money and know exactly what to do with it. Intuit’s Consumer Platform has quickly become a game-changer for anyone who wants to take their finances more seriously and build for their future. Not only will Intuit’s AI grow more helpful the more you use it, but it’ll also give you a full education along the way. And that right there? That’s some actually useful AI.

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🏆 Review Score: 5/5 – ‘Outstanding‘

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros:

• 👀 Gorgeous transparent shell

• 💰 More affordable than before

• 🏆 Still the best way to play Game Boy and Game Boy Color games

• 👏 Transparent Tetris cartridge included

• 👍 Modern-day features

• 🤝 Matches the ModRetro M64

❌ Cons:

• 🔊 Louder buttons and D-Pad

• 👷‍♂️ Not quite as durable as before

• 😤 The menu button is still annoying

Get the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent

Get the ModRetro Chromatic

Get ModRetro Chromatic games

ModRetro Chromatic at GameStop

ModRetro Chromatic games at GameStop

The Shortcut Review

The ModRetro Chromatic quickly became one of my favorite gaming products when it was released last year and led me down an expensive rabbit hole of collecting games for a handheld I adored growing up but didn’t fully appreciate.

Now, I fear the same will happen to many more nostalgic gamers, as the new ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent not only looks fantastic, capturing the iconic look that defined the 90s, but it costs $149.99 – $50 less than the magnesium shell Chromatic.

This isn’t a hamstrung version of the original Chromatic, either. You’re still getting the pixel-perfect, insanely bright screen, super-responsive controls, and full support for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Chromatic games. Nothing has been cut back or trimmed – only the shell has changed.

The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent may not be as durable long-term because of its plastic build, but it’s noticeably lighter at 219 grams compared to 252 grams (with three AA batteries inside). It makes the handheld feel even more portable and suitable for younger players who may have found the original Chromatic too heavy.

ModRetro Chromatic Transparent specs 🛠️

• Price: $149.99

• Colors: Smoke, Red, Green, Purple

• Compatibility: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Chromatic cartridges

• Display: 160x144 pixel 2.56-inch IPS backlit LCD

• Release date: October 8, 2026

There’s also never been a better time to pick up a ModRetro Chromatic, especially as the company has proved it wasn’t simply a flash in the pan or a nostalgia grab. Various firmware updates have improved the experience and added new features, like being able to change the color temperature and the ability to update newly released cartridges via Cart Clinic. The list of ModRetro Chromatic games has also continued to grow, with more titles on the way.

Throw in upcoming support with the ModRetro M64 – the company’s modernized Nintendo 64 – and suddenly there’s a thriving ecosystem for two systems released decades ago.

In my ModRetro Chromatic review, I said it was a perfect retro revival of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. It’s a statement I stand by, and the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent is a welcome reminder of that fact. Read my full ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent review below and check out my original Chromatic review for more.

A review unit was provided by ModRetro. Nintendo®, Nintendo 64®, Game Boy®, and the 2-dimensional shape of the Game Boy® console are registered trademarks owned by Nintendo of America, Inc. Nintendo is not affiliated with ModRetro, nor does Nintendo sponsor, approve of, or endorse ModRetro.

What I loved about the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent ❤️

👀 Take a look inside. Transparent tech went the way of the dodo at one point, but has slowly been reintroduced as companies remembered why it was so cool (and popular) to begin with. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent delivers on its promise, letting you ogle at all the circuitry and intricate parts that make the handheld come to life. Long live transparent tech.

💰 More attractive price point. It’s refreshing to see ModRetro charging less for the transparent Chromatic, instead of more. Rival retro hardware maker Analogue also released transparent versions of the Analogue Pocket, but asked for $249.99, up from the usual $219.99. At $149.99 for the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent ($50 less than before), it’s a steal in comparison and makes it even easier to recommend.

🏆 Still the ultimate Game Boy. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent lets you play original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games exactly as you remember them. There’s no emulation, input latency, or shady ROMs to deal with – just dust off your favorite cartridge, slot it in, and you’re ready to go. The Chromatic also supports link cable play and has an IR blaster built-in.

👏 Transparent Tetris included. Just like before, every Transparent Chromatic comes with a copy of the excellent Tetris for Chromatic. Not only that, but the cartridge will also be transparent to match the final retail version. Now that’s cool.

👍 Modern sensibilities. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent also includes some modern-day tweaks that players will welcome. You can adjust the screen’s brightness, turn on silent mode, adjust frame blending, screen transitions, make the D-Pad ignore diagonals, and change the color temperature. You can also stream and record your gameplay directly to a Mac or PC, and ModRetro games can be updated via Cart Clinic. Firmware updates have also continued to improve the overall experience.

🤝 Ready for the M64. The new transparent colorways match the ModRetro M64’s look and feel. Whether you have the Smoke, Red, Green, or Purple M64, you can now pick up a matching Chromatic. It comes ahead of an update for the M64 that will allow video passthrough for the ModRetro Chromatic and a Chromatic Transfer Pak.

What I disliked about the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent 💔

🔊 Louder buttons and D-Pad. One downside of the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent’s plastic shell is that the face buttons produce more noise when pressed. It’s nothing too egregious, but the magnesium-shelled version is a touch quieter when you’re bashing buttons. The quality of the buttons is the same – the noise is merely a byproduct of the different acoustics produced by the shells.

👷‍♂️ Not quite as durable as before. The original Chromatic is built like a tank thanks to its metal shell. The Transparent’s plastic shell is more likely to suffer long-term wear and tear, and less likely to survive a hard drop, while the original Chromatic feels like it would go through the floor rather than bounce off it.

😤 The menu button is still annoying. This isn’t a hardware refresh, so it’s understandable that some of the same gripes I had with the original Chromatic remain, including the overly recessed side button. Again, it’s not something you use often, other than to adjust the screen’s brightness on the fly or change a few settings, but I wish it was easier to press.

Should you buy the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent? 🤔

Get the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent

Get the ModRetro Chromatic

Get ModRetro Chromatic games

ModRetro Chromatic at GameStop

ModRetro Chromatic games at GameStop

Yes, if…

• ✅ You miss the days of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color

• ✅ You want the most authentic possible experience and not an emulation

• ✅ You love physical games and collecting, or already have an existing library

No, if…

• ❌ You already have a ModRetro Chromatic

• ❌ You want one device that can play games from multiple systems

• ❌ You’re fine with emulating retro games

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 🍎 Apple has officially announced its next event scheduled for October 13

• 🏠 It’s tagline? “Welcome home”

• 🚀 We expect this to be Apple’s biggest foray into smart home devices in years

• 📺 The event will likely showcase the HomePad smart home display, new smart home accessories from LG, and more

• 🏙️ The event will be held in New York City and be exclusive to members of the press

Apple may have just hosted its iPhone Duo event last month, but the company is already gearing up for yet another launch as early as next week. The company has just invited members of the press to an event in New York City on October 13, carrying the tagline “Welcome home.” If it weren’t immediately obvious, we’re expecting nothing but smart home announcements.

• More: iPhone 18 Pro Max review: camera and battery upgrades make it Apple’s best yet

The Cupertino tech giant has been working on a mysterious 6-inch smart home display (commonly known as the “HomePad) for quite some time, and rumors suggest it’s ready to hit the market once Apple announces it. Apple is expected to reveal the device at the October 13 event, along with a renewed vision of the company’s smart home intentions.

Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reported just a couple days ago that Apple would unveil a suite of smart home accessories alongside the HomePad, all built in collaboration with LG. We’re expecting new security cameras, doorbells, locks, floodlights, temperature sensors, and more. They’ll support HomeKit and easy pairing over NFC, according to leaks, and proceed Apple’s first-party smart home accessories that are expected to ship in 2027.

We also expect Apple to announce a new HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K, both of which will support Siri AI. The Shortcut team will be covering everything Apple announces during the “experience,” as it’s called. Stay tuned.

Up next ➡️

Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.

• 🪦 Sony has reportedly sold all 419 of its VR, AR, and XR patents to Meta, virtually ending hopes for a PSVR 3

• 💰 Meta purchased the patents to bolster its continuing VR/AR investments, including upcoming Meta VR Glasses

• 👉 Valve also recently entered the space with its $1,059 Steam Frame VR headset

• 🤷‍♂️ Console competitors like Xbox never launched a dedicated headset, leaving VR users dependent on dedicated third-party options

Shop PS5 at Walmart

Those who were quietly hoping that Sony would revisit VR for the PS6 won’t be pleased to hear that Sony has reportedly sold off all of its patents relating to VR, AR, and XR – all but confirming we’ll never get a PSVR 3.

The report comes from ZDNet Korea (via Google Translate), which says Meta has snapped up Sony’s patents that range from head-mounted displays and cameras, to how a headset processes information. Meta will take 419 patents off Sony’s hands, though it’s unclear how much it has paid for the privilege.

Unlike Sony, which left PSVR 2 to die the moment it shipped, Meta isn’t giving up on VR and AR, and recently announced its Meta VR Glasses, which are set to launch early next year for $1,299.99.

We’ve also recently seen Valve release its VR headset, the Steam Frame, for $1,059 after many months of delays. Sony launched the PSVR 2 for $550 in 2023, which may seem cheap, but it was $150 more than the original and the Meta Quest 3S, which was $299.

Microsoft never followed PlayStation with an Xbox headset of its own, instead choosing to partner with Meta for a limited edition Meta Quest 3S. With Sony now waving the white flag on its VR aspirations, it seems like virtual reality fans will have to rely on more bespoke, often expensive alternatives.

Up next: Xreal Aura XR smart glasses cost $1,279 and are now available for pre-order

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 📣 Amazon’s new, sleeker Alexa tablets ditch Fire OS for Android

• 📱 Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is a flagship tablet that starts at $499

• ➕ The optional $50 Nanomatte screen feels like a mandatory upgrade

• 📖 Nanomatte finish crushes glare while delivering a faux Soft White and Colorsoft for Kindle reading

• 🐇 Major speed boosts from the tablet’s MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor

• 🎥 Amazon Alexa Tablet 11 is a slightly smaller, but more video-focused and affordable $329 option

• 💸 $229 Alexa Tablet 8 is a very affordable single-handed Amazon tablet

• 📦 All Amazon Alexa tablets are now available for preorder and begin shipping on October 14

Amazon has introduced a new line of sleeker Alexa tablets that now simply run on Android instead of Fire OS.

The new lineup includes two affordable tablets, including the $229 Amazon Alexa Tablet 8 and the $329 Amazon Alexa Tablet 11. The most interesting device is the $499 Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, a flagship slate designed for both work and play with split-screen multitasking – though it’s best with the new Nanomatte screen that bumps up the price to $549. They’re available for preorder starting today and arrive in stores on October 14.

Amazon’s Alexa tablets feel more premium than the Fire tablets of the last 15 years. They’re all built with stamped aluminum chassis just like Amazon’s new Kindles. The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is particularly well balanced, so it feels the same no matter which way you hold it.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro also stands out with its excellent 12-inch display, 280 ppi resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and optional Nanomatte screen. This new Nanomatte finish comes at a $50 premium that’s exclusive to the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, but it truly eliminates glare while delivering OLED-quality blacks very much like the iPad Pro but at a much more affordable price.

I was thoroughly impressed when Amazon’s Panos Panay confidently demoed the device in a fully sunlit hotel room. The new matte display was co-developed with Corning, and it uses a photolithography process to etch a precise, pixel-aligned texture onto the glass.

Creating a matte display custom-molded to the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro’s specific display also allows Amazon to implement faux Soft White and Colorsoft Kindle modes that look virtually identical to an actual e-reader. The tablet even switches modes with a delightful animation that drains color from the screen as it launches the Kindle app.

In these modes, text looks crisp, and the display’s lower brightness makes reading easier on your eyes. The Colorsoft, unsurprisingly, renders color images and comic books even better than Amazon’s latest Kindles thanks to its real underlying LCD screen. Of course, you can turn off these Kindle modes and read in full color.

Internally, the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. That new chip gives the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro double the processing power and graphics that are nine times faster, according to Amazon. This tablet also comes with four Dolby Atmos speakers, Wi-Fi 6E, and a battery that lasts through 16 hours of video playback.

Goodbye Fire OS

Past Amazon Fire tablets may have been built on an Android foundation, but the company’s Fire OS user interface and semi-closed access to the Play Store always obscured it. The new Alexa tablets push Amazon’s customizations to the corners while granting users full access to the Play Store to download any app.

Now, the most visible Amazon customization on these new Android tablets is an ‘Ask Alexa’ widget and the dynamic tab in the top-left corner of the screen, which suggests things to continue reading or watching, or buying from the Amazon Prime app. These tablets, of course, still come with all the Amazon apps preloaded, including Prime Video, Kindle, Audible, Amazon Music, Amazon Quick, and Amazon Luna.

You can also access Alexa+ from anywhere in the interface by summoning it with your voice. The dual-array microphones will even let you call Amazon Alexa+ from another room. One new use case for Alexa+ is summarizing webpages in Amazon’s Silk web browser with a few shortcut clicks.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 11

If you’re looking for a tablet primarily for watching video content, the Amazon Alexa Tablet 11 features a slightly smaller 11-inch, widescreen 2.5K display. That 16:10 cinematic aspect ratio keeps letterboxed black bars at bay while still presenting a Dolby Atmos audio experience with just two speakers. This tablet is also more affordable at $329, but it has a weaker 8-core CPU, a shorter 15-hour battery life, and lacks the Nano Matte display, at least for now, as Amazon says it’s in active development for the smaller tablets. The Amazon Alexa Tablet 11 is available in Graphite, Amethyst, and Matcha, with preorders starting today and units shipping October 14.

Amazon Alexa Tablet 8

The Alexa Tablet 8 is Amazon’s latest one-handed tablet featuring an 8.7-inch screen. It shares the same specs as the Alexa Tablet 11, but with an even slightly shorter 14-hour battery life. Amazon has also told us it’s actively looking into also giving the Alexa Tablet 8 a Nanomatte display finish in the future. Still, for $229, the Amazon Alexa Tablet 8 looks tantalizing, especially in Graphite, Rosette, and Teal.

• Up next: iPhone 18 Pro Max review: camera and battery upgrades make it Apple’s best yet

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

• 💻 Surface Laptop Ultra is the most excitingly powerful Windows 11 laptop in years

• 🪙 Wrapped in a premium aluminum chassis that feels like one solid block of metal

• 📺 2000-nit 15-inch mini LED display is searingly bright with fantastic contrast

• 🫨 Haptic touchpad simulates clicks and adds a tactile confirmation while hovering over Windows 11 elements

• 🧲 Magnetic Connect charging solution gives you the covnence of magnets while giving you a USB-C port

• 🎮 Runs Gears of War: E-Day, Alan Wake 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Fortnite, Pragmata, and more ray-traced games at a smooth 60+ frames per second at full resolution

• 💪 Ready for heavy creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and Unreal Engine 5

• 🤖 Hyrbid Intelligence promises to save tokens by running all but the most challenging AI tasks locally

The Surface Laptop Ultra is shaping up to reinvent PCs as we know it. Even if it comes at a steep $2,599 starting price, this machine will give the MacBook Pro it’s biggest fight in years. Equipped with Nvidia’s new RTX Spark ARM processor promise top performance for both creative tasks and ray traced gaming, and

At Microsoft’s launch event in San Francisco, we got an even closer look at the device than our first hands-on from Computex 2026. Microsoft highlighted the Surface Laptop Ultra’s gaming performance, running Gear of War: E-Day at full resolution and 120fps – though with the help of DLSS 4.5 and Frame Generation. I could also talk all day about how good the Surface Laptop Ultra’s new Magnetic Connect charging solution that still uses USB-C – move over MagSafe.

The Surface Laptop Ultra also showcases how Microsoft is further integrating AI into Windows. It can support a variety of locally-run AI models including Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, Perplexity, and even Facebook Muse. Additionally, Microsoft is integrating AI into even something as integral as Windows Search, which promises to give you a more contextual and deeper Windows search experience than ever before.

That’s just our (second) initial thoughts of the Surface Laptop Ultra and we’ll be testing the device ahead of its October 16 release date.

Full Review

😍 A real beauty. The Surface Laptop Ultra is a beautiful piece of machined aluminum. There are no gaps and hardly any screws to suggest anything less than a solid block of milled aluminum. The chassis is also impressively thin at 18mm, but it looks even thinner thanks to its raised pedestal design. Despite all the power and Microsoft’s most powerful cooling system yet (more on that later), it weighs under 4.5 pounds, just like the MacBook Pro.

📺 2000-nit HDR display. Opening the lid with a single finger reveals an equally beautiful 15-inch mini-LED touchscreen with a 2880 × 1920 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display also delivers 4K TV-level HDR brightness, up to 2,000 nits. It makes games look especially fantastic. I was blown away by how good the sun-drenched rainforest scenes from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looked on the Surface Laptop Ultra. Even this Windows 11 desktop that Microsoft chose shows how much contrast the Surface Laptop Ultra can display.

🫨 Haptic touchpad. The trackpad on the Surface Laptop Ultra is the largest Microsoft has put in any Surface device, and it now also vibrates with haptic feedback. What’s interesting is Microsoft doesn’t just use haptics to simulate a mouse click, but the trackpad also vibrates while you hover over the X-button to close applications. Alternatively, the haptics shake when you bring a window to the top of the screen and drag it along different split-screen presets. Even though it’s entirely virtual, the haptics add nice tactile confirmation as you interact with elements in Windows. I hope Microsoft adds more soon.

🥊 A huge contender. The Nvidia RTX Spark is bolting out of the gate with some of the biggest specs we’ve seen for a laptop processor. It features a custom 20-core Grace CPU that promises up to one petaflop worth of AI performance. Nvidia says this is the first time a device has been powerful enough to run 120-billion-parameter AI models on-device rather than systems with multiple GPUs or through the cloud with servers.

The onboard graphics offer an equally impressive 6,144 Blackwell CUDA cores, which should closely match the graphics performance of an RTX 5070 laptop GPU, though with a maximum power draw of 80W. Configurations can also feature up to 128GB of shared memory; however, I also saw plenty of machines with just 64GB of RAM, and Nvidia has told journalists that some configs will have as little as 16GB of RAM.

🎨 Creative workflows. Windows on ARM will be a hurdle for Microsoft and Nvidia to clear with the Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark laptops, but both companies are already working hard to ensure everything works when they launch this fall. On the smaller scale, Adobe is already optimizing Premiere Pro. Nvidia presented a shootout between Premiere Pro and Premiere Pro enhanced for RTX Spark, and the latter rendered a scene 2x faster. The RTX Spark will also have accelerated 4.2.2. video support, so you’ll be able to take footage straight from your Canon, Nikon, Sony, or DJI Pocket 4 and edit in full resolution without any stuttering, whereas current devices require down-res proxies to smoothly play back media.

I also flew seamlessly around a five-kilometer square virtual environment in Unreal Engine 5, all running on a Surface Laptop Ultra. Even more impressive, Nvidia’s Prism software emulated the environment for the app to run, and Nvidia claims it adds only 5%-10% CPU overhead.

🎮 All the gaming-ready RTX features. The Surface Laptop Ultra comes with a Blackwell GPU that supports all of Nvidia’s major gaming features to date. That includes DLSS 4.5 features like the 2nd-gen transformer model, Multi-Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex, and path tracing, which just became available on games like 007 First Light, Control Resonant, and the newly released

The RTX Spark’s sheer GPU power lets this machine run Gears of War: E-Day at full resolution, 120fps, and with high settings including RTX ray tracing. However, it was only capable of this performance because it was also running the game with the help of DLSS and 3x Multi-Frame Generation. I’ve also previously seen this machine run Alan Wake 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at full resolution with well over 60 fps – again with DLSS and 2x MFG, with hardly any latency. It remains to be seen how much navtive game support ARM will get, but the Surface Book Ultra seemed to have no issue playing Pragmata and Fortnite through an emulator.

🧲 Move over MagSafe. Perhaps even more impressive than the performance is Microsoft has come up with a new Magnetic Connect charging solution that would even make MagSafe evangelicals jealous. The twist of this new Magnetic Connect is it still uses a mostly traditionally USB-C plug. It’s just a tiny bit shorter, which is what allows it to safely snap onto the the Surface Laptop Ultra’s rightside USB-C port. Microsoft also cleverly made the Magnetic Connect compatible with its new 140W USB-C charger, so you can flip the cable around a still charge all your regular USB-C charging devices.

💨 Proper cooling. A Surface Laptop Ultra running at full tilt sounds about as loud as a portable fan on full power. Microsoft told me the fans in this laptop are the biggest fans it’s ever put in a Surface device, giving it 2.5x that of the Surface Laptop 8th Gen. Aside from bigger fans, Microsoft has carefully engineered its thermal solutions with a new copper cold plate and vents so the airflow can hit every component before the heat gets pushed out.

• Up next: MacBook Pro OLED will be ‘significantly lighter’ than previous models

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

Microsoft has announced the Surface Laptop Ultra pricing will start at $2,599 and it will arrive on October 16. The full range of RTX Spark laptops from Asus, Dell, MSI, Lenovo, and HP are also available for preorder now and will ship on October 16.

The Surface Laptop Ultra has long been promised to be the most powerful Windows computer yet designed for everything from local AI computing, creative workloads, and ray traced gaming and it’s all thanks to Nvidia’s new CPU; the RTX Spark.

In our first hands-on with the Surface Laptop Ultra we were able to do everything from playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at 60fps with ray tracing to exploring a city in Unreal Engine 5. The biggest promise Microsoft has made with Nvidia’s new RTX Spark processors is that it will bring AI processing to a local level.

Hybrid Intelligence

With this new machine AI is fully baked into Windows 11, even down to the Windows Search experience.

Microsoft also pushed hybrid intelligence, which allows Copilot to access your files, take actions and use local AI models as well as those on the cloud. In this new structure, Copilot will only tap into the cloud for difficult AI tasks, while running local models to save your precious tokens.

Beyond Copilot, Windows 11 will be able to host multiple AI agents locally including Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, Perplexity, and even Facebook Muse.

PC juggernaut

Along with ushering the new age of AI built into Windows 11, the Surface Laptop Ultra promises a new level of PC performance. The RTX Spark N1X chip inside the Surface Laptop Ultra is a beast, featuring a custom 20-core Grace CPU with a petaflop of AI performance. The RTX Blackwell GPU also adds 6144 CUDA cores (the same number as an mobile RTX 5070 GPU) with all of Nvidia’s latest graphics tech including DLSS 4.5, 2nd-gen transformer model, Multi-Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex, and path tracing.

Those serious gaming chops will allow the Surface Laptop Ultra to run Gears of War: E-Day and Microsoft announced Call of Duty is also coming to RTX Spark systems this year.

To keep up with all this performance, Microsoft claims its improved the cooling on the Surface Laptop Ultra to give it 2.5X the thermal capacity of existing Surface notebooks. It also claims to maintain over 99% of its power while on battery.

Lastly, Microsoft announced a new Magnetic Connect charging adapter that still uses a normal USB-C port, one-upping Apple’s Magsafe charger.

• Up next: MacBook Pro OLED will be ‘significantly lighter’ than previous models

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

• 🙂‍↔️ Microsoft denied reports that Xbox holds exclusive streaming rights for GTA 6

• 📅 The game will launch on Xbox on November 19, but will not stream exclusively or to PC

• 🤝 Sony maintains marketing rights for GTA 6, highlighting PS5 performance

• 🤷‍♂️ GTA 6 will initially be limited to PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X/S consoles

Microsoft has quickly dismissed a report that claimed Xbox had secured the cloud streaming rights for GTA 6, which would allow players to play Rockstar’s game via their phone, PC, or TV via Xbox Cloud Streaming.

• Walmart: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Best Buy - GTA 6 - $79.99

• GameStop: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Amazon: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Target: GTA 6 - $79.99

• PlayStation Store: GTA 6 - $79.99

Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball responded to The Verge’s story that inferred that Microsoft had secured the exclusive game streaming rights for GTA 6 after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma allegedly told staff that the company was planning to do something “no other platform holder is doing” around the game.

However, that doesn’t seem to be the case, according to Ball.

“While the excitement for GTAVI and XBOX is great to see, it has also led to some misreporting. We are looking forward to launching GTAVI on XBOX November 19, though the game will not be streaming exclusively or to PC.”

Sony has secured the marketing for GTA 6, which is why it’s been proudly claiming that the game “plays best on PS5”. However, Microsoft will want to get a piece of the pie, and if it can offer players more ways to enjoy the game across different devices, it could be a selling point.

For now, GTA 6 will only be available on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. We’ll have to wait and see whether a cloud version comes after November 19.

Up next: Used PS5 Pro consoles will reportedly cost $1,399 at GameStop amid GTA 6 launch demand

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 🆕 Apple is partnering with LG to launch a new ecosystem of smart home products

• 🔒 Upcoming devices include a smart lock, thermostat, doorbell, security cameras, and floodlights

• 🏠 A central smart home hub with a display is expected to anchor the new device lineup

• 🤔 An official announcement is rumored for an Apple event on October 13, 2026

Shop Apple at Best Buy

Apple is about to go all-in on smart home devices, with a wave of new products that cover almost every area you can think of.

The new ecosystem of smart home devices has been designed in partnership with LG, according to Bloomberg, and includes a smart lock, a thermostat, and a doorbell. Each device will work with Apple’s heavily rumored smart home hub, which will reportedly release on October 13.

The home hub will include a display, similar to an Alexa Echo Show, and can either be mounted on a wall or placed on a counter. Previous reports suggested it would have a robotic arm that can track the user so the display can be easily viewed.

Apple is apparently also expanding its smart home lineup with security cameras for inside and outside the home, and even floodlights. Essentially, Apple is providing an answer to every alternative on the market right now, especially Amazon.

An Apple event is rumored to take place on October 13, where we should find out all about the new smart home devices, along with updates to the Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini.

Up next: iPhone 18 Pro Max review: camera and battery upgrades make it Apple’s best yet

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 💰 Xreal Aura XR smart glasses are now available for pre-order starting at $1,279

• 2️⃣ Available in two sizes and storage configurations (256GB or 512GB)

• 😎 Features Android XR, Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, Gemini AI, and Bose-tuned speakers

• 🤏 Uses hand tracking, pinch gestures, and a tethered puck with a trackpad and fingerprint sensor

Xreal: Xreal Aura

The Xreal Aura XR smart glasses are available for pre-order to those who previously paid a reservation deposit, with prices starting at $1,279. You’ll be able to get your hands on them soon in the US and Canada, and they’re also coming to Japan and South Korea. More countries will be announced at a later date.

Two sizes are available: medium (60-66mm) and large (66-72mm), and you’ll want to pick the right size to get the most out of the Aura’s 70-degree field of view display. There’s also two configurations for storage and memory: 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, or 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage, which costs $1,499.

Like the Apple Vision Pro, the Aura relies on a tethered connection to a phone-sized puck, which also includes a trackpad and fingerprint sensor. However, you control the interface using pinching motions and hand tracking – like we’ve seen adopted by other AR and VR setups.

You can access the Google Play store for apps, and of course, Google’s Gemini AI, and the glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite chip. The glasses feature Bose-tuned speakers, similar to the Xreal One Pro and 1S.

The Xreal Aura XR could face some stiff competition soon from Meta’s VR Glasses, which release early 2027 and cost $1,299. However, being first to market gives Xreal some breathing room.

Up next: The next Fallout game is skipping Xbox and coming to Xreal Aura instead

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

Three free PS Plus games – F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 – are now available to download for PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers. You can add these games to your library for free if you’re subscribed to Sony’s PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Premium, or PS Plus Extra service. Don’t forget to grab them before Monday, November 2; otherwise, you’ll miss out.

Don’t have PS Plus? Want to stop paying full price? Our PlayStation Plus discount code knocks off $10 versus what Sony charges.

PS Plus free games October 2026

• F1 25 (PS5)

• Hunt: Showdown 1896 (PS5)

• Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 (PS5, PS4)

F1 25

Enjoy Career and My Team 2.0 in F1 25 and create your own storeis as you take control as the owner of a Formula 1 team. You can also take the race online in a brand new multiplayer mode called F1 World.

Hunt: Showdown 1896

An unforgiving extraction shooter, Hunt: Showdown 1896 sees you fighting against twisted monsters either alone or with friends. Race competing Hunters to track down bosses, claim their bounty, and find a way to extract.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2

Select your equipment and deploy to battle in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. Fight numerous enemies, including redesigned voxel versions of old series favorites, as well as new foes unique to this release. There’s also four player online co-op and two player local split screen.

About downloading PS Plus free games

You can download all three PlayStation games – and if you run out of storage space on the internal SSD, check out The Shortcut’s expert PS5 SSD upgrade how-to guide and best SSD for PS5.

The free PS Plus games for September 2026 no longer became available from October 2, 2026 (if you added them to your PlayStation games library before the cut-off date, you can continue to play them, don’t worry). Note: these PS Plus games don’t have to be downloaded; just add them to your PlayStation games library before they expire from the PlayStation Store.

The primary reason to get a PS Plus membership is online multiplayer, but these ‘free games’ have rounded out the value of Sony’s online service. It helps PlayStation Plus compete with Microsoft’s more robust offering (see our Xbox Game Pass Ultimate review and save $20 with our Xbox Game Pass discount code) which has become a Netflix-like on-demand gaming service. That’s why PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now have merged to form PlayStation Plus Premium, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Essential.

How to get the PS Plus free games

1. Get PlayStation Plus through this discount code to save $10 (you can’t stack multiple years anymore, but your pre-paid code won’t expire if you find the deal tempting. You’ll be able to turn off auto-renew and redeem it when it does expire

2. Go to the PlayStation Plus tab on the PlayStation Store on your console

3. Add each of the four games to your library (you don’t have to download them but you do need to add them to your library)

4. You can also download them by logging into the PlayStation Store through the web and adding them to your library that way (it will be faster for some people)

You’ll be able to add the PlayStation Plus free games for October to your library until November 2. On that date, new games will take over, and you’ll lose your chance to add these games to your PlayStation library. Adding the PS Plus games to your library doesn’t require downloading them and therefore doesn’t take up any hard drive or PS5 SSD storage space.

Why you shouldn’t wait on PS Plus free games

Should you buy PlayStation Plus today for these games? While online multiplayer is essential for some people, the free games for $79.99 a year MSRP (but $45 a year with a PlayStation Plus discount code) seems like good value if you play PS5 (if you don’t have a console yet, check out the Target PS5, and Amazon PS5 restock guides along with the Sony Direct queue guide). This is despite the fact you don’t know if the PS Plus free games will be any good month-to-month.

But here’s why you should get them right away: You won’t be able to add the October 2026 free PS Plus games to your library after November 2. My expert advice is that if you don’t have a PlayStation Plus membership, get it today or before the end of the month to claim all of the PlayStation games this month and the next, and for the following ten months.

Can I keep PS Plus free games forever?

As long as you’re subscribed to PlayStation Plus, you can continue playing any free games added to your library. If you cancel your PS Plus subscription, all the PS Plus free games and DLC become inaccessible.

• Check out our PlayStation Premium review 👈

There is a caveat: if you resubscribe to PlayStation Plus at any point, the free games added to your library will become playable again. So it’s worth getting PlayStation Plus if the free game is to your liking and start accumulating a nice collection.

What were the past PS Plus free games?

If you missed out on past PS Plus games, there’s no way to turn back the clock. However, I can tell you the game list for the titles you missed.

PS Plus free games list September 2026

• MLB The Show 26

• Sniper Elite: Resistance

• Wobbly Life

• Chained Echoes

PS Plus free games list August 2026

• Dying Light 2: Stay Human Reloaded Edition

• Signalis

• Big Walk

PS Plus free games list July 2026

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

• For The King II

• CrossCode

PS Plus free games list June 2026

• Grounded: Fully Yoked Edition

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2

• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

PS Plus free games list May 2026

• EA Sports FC 26

• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

• Nine Sols

PS Plus free games list April 2026

• Lords of Fallen

• Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

• Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream

PS Plus free games list March 2026

• PGA Tour 2K25

• Slime Rancher 2

• Monster Hunter Rise

• The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Collection

PS Plus free games list February 2026

• Undisputed

• Subnautica: Below Zero

• Ultros

• Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

PS Plus free games list January 2026

• Need for Speed Unbound

• Disney’s Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

• Core Keeper

PS Plus free games list December 2025

• LEGO Horizon Adventures (PS5)

• Killing Floor 3 (PS5)

• The Outlast Trials (PS4, PS5)

• Neon White (PS4, PS5)

• Synduality Echo of Ada (PS5)

PS Plus free games list November 2025

• Stray

• EA Sports WRC 25

• Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

PS Plus free games list October 2025

• Alan Wake 2

• Goat Simulator 3

• Cocoon

PS Plus free games list September 2025

• Psychonauts 2

• Stardew Valley

• Viewfinder

PS Plus free games list August 2025

• Lies of P

• DayZ

• My Hero One’s Justice 2

PS Plus free games list July 2025

• Diablo IV

• King of Fighters XV

• Jusant

PS Plus free games list June 2025

• NBA 2K25

• Alone in the Dark

• Bombrush Cyberfunk

• Destiny 2: The Final Shape

PS Plus free games list May 2025

• Ark: Survival Ascended

• Balatro

• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

PS Plus free games list April 2025

• RoboCop: Rogue City

• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

• Digimon Story: Cybersleuth - Hacker’s Memory

PS Plus free games list March 2025

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Sonic Colors Ultimate

• TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection

PS Plus free games list February 2025

• Payday 3

• High on Life

• Pac-Man World Re-Pac

PS Plus free games list January 2025

• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered

• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

PS Plus free games list December 2024

• It Takes Two

• Aliens: Dark Descent

• TemTem

PS Plus free games list November 2024

• Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged

• Ghostwire: Tokyo

• Death Note Killer Within

PS Plus free games list October 2024

• WWE 2K24

• Dead Space

• Doki Doki Literature Club Plus

PS Plus free games list September 2024

• Quidditch Champions

• MLB The Show 24

• Little Nightmares 2

PS Plus free games list August 2024

• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

• Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

PS Plus free games list July 2024

• Borderlands 3

• NHL 24

• Among Us

PS Plus free games list June 2024

• SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake

• Streets of Rage 4

• AEW Fight Forever

PS Plus free games list May 2024

• EA Sports FC 24

• Ghostrunner 2

• Tunic

• Destiny 2: Lightfall

PS Plus free games list April 2024

• Immortals of Aveum

• Minecraft Legends

• Skul: The Hero Slayer

PS Plus free games list March 2024

• F1 23

• Sifu

• Hello Neighbor 2

• Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

PS Plus free games list February 2024

• Foamstars

• Rollerdrome

• SteelRising

PS Plus free games list January 2024

• A Plague Tale: Requiem

• Evil West

• Nobody Saves the World

PS Plus free games list December 2023

• LEGO 2K Drive

• PowerWash Simulator

• Sable

PS Plus free games list November 2023

• Mafia 2: Definitive Edition

• Dragonball Z: The Breakers

• Aliens: Fireteam Elite

PS Plus free games list October 2023

• The Callisto Protocol

• Weird West

• Farming Simulator 22

PS Plus free games list September 2023

• Saints Row

• Black Desert: Traveler Edition

• Generation Zero

PS Plus free games list August 2023

• PGA 2K23

• Dreams

• Death’s Door

PS Plus free games list July 2023

• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

• Alan Wake

• Endling: Extinction is Forever

PS Plus free games list June 2023

• NBA 2K23

• Jurassic World Evolution 2

• Trek to Yomi

PS Plus free games list May 2023

• Grid Legends

• Chivalry 2

• Descenders

PS Plus free games list April 2023

• Meet Your Maker

• Sackboy: A Big Adventure

• Tails of Iron

PS Plus free games list March 2023

• Battlefield 2042

• Minecraft Dungeons

• Code Vein

PS Plus free games list February 2023

• OlliOlli World

• Mafia Definitive Edition

• Evil Dead: The Game

• Destiny 2: Beyond Light

PS Plus free games list January 2023

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

• Fallout 76

• Axiom Verge 2

PS Plus free games list December 2022

• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

• Biomutant

• Divine Knockout

PS Plus free games list November 2022

• Nioh 2 / Nioh 2 Remastered

• LEGO Harry Potter Collection

• Heavenly Bodies

PS Plus free games list October 2022

• Hot Wheels Unleashed

• Injustice 2

• Superhot

PS Plus free games list September 2022

• Toem

• Need for Speed Heat

• Granblue Fantasy: Versus

PS Plus free games list August 2022

• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

• Yakuza: Like a Dragon

• Little Nightmares

PS Plus free games list July 2022

• Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

• Man of Medan

• Arcadegeddon

PS Plus free games list June 2022

• God of War

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

• Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker

PS Plus free games list May 2022

• FIFA 22

• Curse of the Dead Gods

• Tribes of Midgard

PS Plus free games list April 2022

• Hood: Outlaws & Legends

• SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated

• Slay the Spire

PS Plus free games list March 2022

• Ghostrunner (PS5)

• Sonic Team Racing

• Ark: Survival Evolved

• Ghost of Tsushima: Legends (PS4 or PS5)

PS Plus free games list February 2022

• UFC 4

• Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep

• Planet Rollercoaster (PS5)

PS Plus free games list January 2022

• Persona 5 Strikers

• Dirt 5

• Deep Rock Galactic

PS Plus free games list December 2021

• Godfall: Challenger Edition

• Lego DC Super-Villains

• Mortal Shell

• PSVR games: The Persistence, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Until You Fall

Are PSVR 2 games ever part of the PS Plus free games list?

Sony has released PSVR games as part of its PS Plus free games membership perk before, and thankfully it’s now added PSVR 2 games to the lineup. However, you’ll need to be a PS Plus Premium member to access these games. Sony may have been pushed by Meta to offer free PSVR 2 games, which launched its own subscription service called Meta Horizon Plus.

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Last updated: October 7, 2026

• 😳 GameStop plans to charge $1,399.99 for pre-owned PS5 Pro consoles, $500 above the retail price

• 📈 An internal memo confirmed the higher pre-owned pricing strategy is intentional amidst console shortages

• 🔜 Demand is driven by GTA 6, which launches on November 19, 2026, and is marketed as playing best on PS5 Pro

• 💰 The PS5 Pro retail price previously rose to $899.99 due to market conditions and memory supply issues

GameStop is planning to charge $1,399.99 for a pre-owned PS5 Pro – $500 more than the list price of $899.99 that Sony recommends.

• Walmart: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Best Buy - GTA 6 - $79.99

• GameStop: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Amazon: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Target: GTA 6 - $79.99

• PlayStation Store: GTA 6 - $79.99

PS5 Pro consoles have been sold out ahead of GTA 6’s launch, with many purchasing the souped-up PlayStation 5 just for Rockstar’s upcoming game. Sony has also proudly declared that GTA 6 “plays best on PS5”, which will have driven demand higher.

Clearly, GameStop is aware of the situation, as an internal memo was shared on the r/GameStop subreddit, apparently by a store employee, that says “the preowned console [PS5 Pro] will have a higher price than the new console” and that this pricing decision is “intentional”.

Moderators have confirmed the validity of the memo, though GameStop hasn’t addressed the claim yet. However, as we commonly see on reseller sites like eBay, which charge extortionate fees well above the market value, GameStop may feel it should also cash in.

The PS5 Pro launched at $699.99 in 2024 but has since risen to $899.99 because of market conditions and the ongoing memory crisis. Until a PC version of Grand Theft Auto 6 is released, the PS5 Pro will undoubtedly offer the best version of Rockstar’s upcoming open-world epic.

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026, for $79.99. An Ultimate Edition of the game, which includes several digital in-game extras, costs $99.99. Rockstar is also releasing a GTA 6 Collector’s Edition – it’ll set you back $400 and doesn’t include a copy of the game.

Up next: GTA 6’s avoidance of direct political references is deliberate, according to Rockstar

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Rating: 5/5

✅ Pros

• 🔋 Huge leap in battery life compared to 17 Pro Max

• 📸 Camera quality gets a big boost with the variable aperture

• 📱 Gorgeous 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display

• 🚀 Insane performance with A20 Pro

• 🎨 Colors are subtle but stunning

• ⚡️ Faster charging than any previous iPhone

• 🔊 Impressive stereo speakers

• 🏝️ Smaller Dynamic Island frees up more screen real estate

❌ Cons

• 💰 More expensive than last year

• 🌖 Ultra-wide camera isn’t great for nighttime videos

• 📐 Very thick and heavy compared to other phones

The Shortcut review

The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the easiest phone I can recommend to anyone in the market for an upgrade. It’s the biggest, baddest iPhone that Apple has ever shipped, somehow trumping the excellence of last year’s 17 Pro Max with key upgrades that take it to a whole new level. Sure, it costs $100 more than last year, but what Apple’s been able to do with performance, the camera, and the battery life makes up for it.

That being said, this phone is very similar to last year’s - almost too similar. From the weight and thickness to the huge screen, it’s not the phone to get if you want something easy to hold. It also, obviously, doesn’t unfold to reveal a bigger screen, which makes the upcoming iPhone Duo ideal for those who want iMessage on a foldable phone.

But for those who just want the best phone they can get, it’s hard to argue against the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple took everything great about last year’s phone and dialed things up to 11, making this the most powerful and capable iPhone I’ve ever tested. It also beats the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro XL in key ways that’ll give Samsung and Google some catching up to do come 2027.

Best Buy: iPhone 18 Pro Max

✍️ Review notes

👀 The camera’s variable aperture is a big deal. The biggest upgrade that the iPhone 18 Pro Max got compared to last year is on the back. There’s a new 48MP main camera that’s equipped with a variable aperture, capable of physically opening or closing to let in more light and affect things like detail, background blur, and more. No other smartphone (at least not in the United States) has this feature, which makes it a huge deal that Apple included it on the 18 Pro.

🌃 Nighttime photos and portraits get a big upgrade. The two key areas where the variable aperture makes the biggest difference for average users is at night and when taking portraits. Because it can physically let in more light than before (automatically, mind you), your pictures and videos will look a lot sharper and more detailed than before. This is extremely helpful in dark bars, looking at the New York City skyline at night, and when I’m taking aesthetic photos of the Mango Banana Rush in Maui with the boys. For portrait mode fans, opening the aperture means a naturally blurrier background for your subject, taking your photography game to a new level.

🎛️ Even better for the pros. Apple lets you manually control how wide the aperture is open in the Camera app, which gives you greater control over how your photos look. Combined with new controls for shutter speed and white balance, creators and professional photographers are going to love the tools they have in the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The Galaxy S26 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro XL also have great pro controls, but neither can match what the iPhone is capable of - all thanks to that variable aperture. Plus, you can now fully customize the Camera app to show the tools you need the most right in the main view, without having to dig through settings. It’s worth toying with if you want to use pro controls more often than you are now.

🤳 How’s overall camera quality? Fantastic. The variable aperture gives the main camera a huge leg-up in performance, while the 48MP telephoto still kicks out great-looking 4x zoom shots, and even looks good at 8x. The 48MP ultra-wide camera performs well in daylight with its 120-degree field of view, but I do wish the aperture were a bit wider than f/2.8 to help at night. Still, these cameras are some of the best in the entire world of smartphones. They also deliver more reliable results with less emphasis on saturation, an area that Samsung still struggles with on the Galaxy S26 series.

📷 Digital cameras, be gone. One of the biggest social camera trends as of late has been the rise of standalone digital cameras, which deliver certain aesthetics that younger audiences love for nights out with friends, birthdays, and more. Apple wants to replicate some of that with Photographic Styles 3, its latest iteration of customization tools to give your pictures the aesthetic you want. Apple has added things like skin smoothing, glowing effects, and even film grain to make your pictures look more artsy, and you can set any of these as your default shooting mode. They’re a lot of fun to play around with and can help you get closer to the look you’re after, but I’ll admit, some third-party apps are better for replicating the look of famous digital cameras like something from Fujifilm or Kodak. Still, if you want your photos to have more personality, you have the option.

🎥 Yeah, you still can’t top iPhone video. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are the new kings of smartphone video. Nothing you capture on a Samsung or Google phone will top what you can get here, which speaks well to Apple’s processing techniques for video quality. Whether it’s during the day or at night, every clip looks fantastic. New this year is the ability to capture even better low-light video with the variable aperture, 4K timelapses, and applying Cinematic blur effects to regular video. If you need the best video camera on you at all times, it’s hard to argue with the quality here.

🔋 The best battery life ever on an iPhone. It took about nine days for my iPhone 18 Pro Max to settle in after getting it, but once it did, the battery life absolutely rocked. The device ships with a 5,567mAh battery in the United States, which is the biggest battery we’ve ever seen in an iPhone. Apple says it can last up to 45 hours when playing videos, which translates to well over a day of heavier-than-normal usage.

☀️ All day, and then some. With over four hours of screen time, a ton of camera usage, posting Reels left and right, and typing up drafts on the go, the 18 Pro Max would regularly have about 40% left in the tank at night. On light days, I could easily end a day with 60% left, which is enough to get through a second full day with no issue. This level of endurance is invaluable to me when I travel, eliminating any battery anxiety I could have. Compared to similar phones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, I could more reliably get through a full day with the iPhone and use heavy features like the camera for longer before worrying about a charger.

⚡️ Finally, faster wired charging. The iPhone 18 Pro Max can charge at up to 53W, a big jump from the 40W charging cap on the 17 Pro Max. It lets the phone juice up to 50% in as little as 15 minutes when it’s dead, getting you back to a full charge quicker than ever before. You still get 25W Qi2 wireless charging via MagSafe, which is handy, but not nearly as convenient as wired charging has gotten. It’s made me switch back to charging with a wire at night, which I haven’t done in well over a year.

📱 Same display… Apple didn’t change anything about the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s display compared to last year. It still measures 6.9 inches, it’s still a Super Retina XDR panel, and it’s still super bright at 3,000 nits. Everything looks phenomenal on this panel, from movies to games to articles and more. It’s very spacious, too; it’s always felt like a mini tablet to me, which is nice on airplanes and on the train for passing the time while watching YouTube. That might be too big for most people which, y’know, totally fair. But in your pocket, it’s nice to have a big screen.

🏝️ … with one Dynamic difference. Well, there is one noticeable difference on the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s display: the Dynamic Island. It’s a bit smaller than last year, which lets Apple fit up to three Live Activities at the top of your phone instead of two. I never found this to be abundantly helpful in my daily use, but it’s nice that the cut-out is starting to shrink. The company had to move the infrared camera to the left side under the screen to shrink the Island, which you’ll only notice in specific lighting and doesn’t affect the performance of Face ID.

🚀 Ludicrous mode. I feel like the A20 Pro in the iPhone 18 Pro Max has enabled some sort of “Ludicrous” mode for the iPhone experience, because this chip is extremely impressive. Not only does this 2nm chip benchmark insanely high, but it also helps your games perform better, multitasking feel smoother, and all the new Siri AI features process quicker than you’d expect. We say every year how much the new iPhone is faster than the old one, and while it may sound tired, it’s absolutely true - especially this year.

🧊 Keeping things extra cool. The A20 Pro chip moves the RAM to the side to make more vertical room, which means that the upgraded vapor chamber can connect directly to the chip. This means two things: Apple was able to increase the chamber’s size by 3x and use new materials to keep your phone cool, and it means the chip itself will have a much easier time staying cool during your use. My iPhone 17 Pro Max would get the hottest when I used the camera for a long time during meetings to capture B-roll for The Shortcut Live. After using the 18 Pro Max for the same purpose, I noticed it would be a lot less warm and maintain good performance for longer. For that reason alone, I’m glad the bigger vapor chamber is here.

🔊 Booming speakers. Apple is still kicking out some of the best speakers you’ll find on a smartphone. The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses a downward-firing driver and the earpiece to deliver great sound quality. They get loud enough to use your phone as a boombox for times when you need a little energy in your hotel room or in the shower, and they have a surprising amount of bass so it won’t feel like you’re missing anything by watching a movie or YouTube video without headphones.

📱 iOS 27 brings the AI era to iPhone. Android phones have had a serious leg-up on iPhones in the AI category for a while now, but that (thankfully) is changing with iOS 27. With Siri AI, the iPhone feels way smarter than it ever has. It has personal context to give you smarter answers to your questions; it can look at your email or calendar to give you insights into your schedule and help you stay on top of things; it can see what’s on your screen to create lists or add reminders; and the Siri app lets you view all of your past conversations. I wrote more about all my favorite features in iOS 27 in a separate post, but by far the biggest shift you’ll see is in Siri, and it’s one we’ve been waiting way too long for.

📶 What’s the deal with the modem? If you’re privy to the world of smartphones, you’d know that the base iPhone 18 Pro made the switch to Apple’s new C2 modem, which offers improved efficiency and performance over previous modems. Meanwhile, the iPhone 18 Pro Max sticks with a Qualcomm modem, namely the Snapdragon X80 5G. In my testing on T-Mobile, it’s performed perfectly fine and doesn’t offer any noticeable wireless improvements or downgrades compared to what Matt experienced on his 18 Pro. That being said, when Apple does switch the entire iPhone lineup to its own modems, we’ll have a clearer idea of how big a difference it could make on battery life and wireless connectivity.

🎨 Understated (and underrated) colors. The colors that Apple picked for the iPhone 18 Pro are much less saturated than last year’s Pro shades, but I dig them. My personal favorite is Black, which meshes way better with the industrial design of the 18 Pro Max than you might expect. It may look like an average black smartphone online, but take a look at it in person and you’ll get what I mean. I also really like the Burgundy shade, as well as Glacier. Silver is a bit more boring than it was last year since it no longer has a two-tone finish, but it looks good enough for fans of more basic colorways.

📐 Still a bit too big. This isn’t necessarily unique to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but it’s worth reiterating for the rest of the industry: I know we all want big screens in our pockets, and folding phones do help solve that problem more often than not, but it’d be nice to have a candy bar phone with a big screen that’s thin and light. The iPhone Air has spoiled me with its slim form factor and light weight, and while I don’t expect the iPhone Pro Max series to ever reach the same design, I do hope that Apple at least makes it lighter and shaves off a couple of millimeters in the future. At 8.75mm thick and 249 grams in weight, this thing is a chonker, to say the least.

Should you buy the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Yes, if…

• ✅ You’re using an iPhone 16 or older and need an upgrade

• ✅ You need the best battery life in an iPhone

• ✅ You care about camera quality and want to use professional tools

• ✅ You play a lot of mobile games

• ✅ You want a big screen for watching movies on the go

No, if…

• ❌ You have an iPhone 16 Pro or newer

• ❌ You want to be able to use your phone with one hand (get the iPhone 18 Pro)

• ❌ You want to save money (get the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air)

• ❌ You prefer Android over iOS (get the Pixel 11 Pro XL or Galaxy S26 Ultra)

• ❌ You want your next phone to fold (wait for the iPhone Duo)

Best Buy: iPhone 18 Pro Max

Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.

• 🤔 Rockstar has explained why it hasn’t directly made any real-world political references in GTA 6

• 👉 The reason for doing so is to make the game feel contemporary without being tied to any real-world figures

• 🐊 Instead, Rockstar contends there is enough material in the setting of Florida as it is, and that the game is designed to be specific to the moment it is released

• 📻 Likewise, the game is set to be filled with lots of ways to engage with its satire, with everything from election signs to radio commercials and more

One of Rockstar’s senior writers has explained why GTA 6’s writing avoids direct political references, and the answer is more interesting than you might think.

• Walmart: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Best Buy - GTA 6 - $79.99

• GameStop: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Amazon: GTA 6 - $79.99

• Target: GTA 6 - $79.99

• PlayStation Store: GTA 6 - $79.99

As per an article in the new issue of Love Magazine (thanks, VGC), Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative, has explained how the studio has handled political satire in the new game.

He stated that Rockstar wanted Leonida to feel contemporary without tying the satire it was portraying too closely to any real-world figure. Humphries explained that Rockstar is “trying to make games that feel very specific to the moment they are released, but at the same time, not reflective of the exact world we live in, we don’t want to be too specific about any particular person, event, movement, or anything like that.”

He continued that making a game set in Florida provided a wealth of material to go on and that Rockstar has “really tried to build out our world-filling it with all the characters and culture wars necessary to make it feel alive”.

This includes a wealth of material outside of character interactions, such as when players encounter election signs, receive robocalls from political campaigns, and hear commercials and political talk shows on the in-game radio.

Furthermore, Humphries explained the entire point of GTA’s satire was not to just hold up a mirror, but rather to make everything “larger than life, and more grotesque”. He contends that Rockstar tries “to get to the heart of whatever issue we want to talk about and then explode the part of it we find interesting until the ridiculousness of the position becomes really clear and hopefully funny, too.”

The time difference between GTA 5 and GTA 6 is also key, as Humphries noted that the in-game content needs to feel “vital to the moment of release” and that “If there’s a trend blowing up for six months, you need to see it for what it is and not jump on the bandwagon.”

In the writing process for GTA 6, Humphries explained that Rockstar took things that interested the studio, such as “conspiracy theories” and “the strange ways the public reacts to everyday occurrences, and those are the kinds of things we ran with.”

He elaborated that, “In most cases, rather than trying to put a like-for-like of something real in the world, we have created our own slanted, overblown versions, be that a conspiracy theory, or another universal contemporary phenomenon.”

It seems the studio is willing to lift the lid a little more in the coming weeks ahead of GTA 6’s release on various points, as we also recently learnt more about GTA 6’s rather elaborate weather system.

Rockstar recently also unveiled a $400 GTA 6 Collector’s Edition with some cool extras, including Oakley sunglasses, figurines and more, but some of the items we feel like we’ve seen before.

GTA 6 is out November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Up next: Xbox Elite Series 3 controller leaks again – this time via Xbox Design Lab

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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.

• 📈 We’ve been through Amazon’s best sellers list to find out what folks are buying this Prime Day

• 💰 It’s a wide range of items, including Amazon tablets, speakers and some dearer electronics

• 💻 We’re also seeing M5 MacBook Airs at hefty discounts, plus everything from bedsheets to LEGO minifigures

• 📅 Prime Day runs through October 7, and we’ve already seen lots of bumper deals on a range of products

Amazon Big Day Deals

Amazon’s second Prime Day sales bonanza is back for another year, as its October ‘Big Deal Days’ is in full swing across a range of different product categories.

We’ve sorted the below deals into a few different categories to make life easier, so you can see what everyone is buying this Prime Day from Amazon.

Amazon device deals

Excluding any subscriptions, it seems like this October Prime Day is all about Amazon Fire devices, in terms of the brand’s own products – we’ve seen Fire Sticks as well as Echo speakers and a couple of home security devices make their way into the top spots:

• Amazon Fire TV Stick HD - $15.99 (was $39.99)

• Ring Battery Doorbell 2K - $39.99 (was $99.99)

• Amazon Echo Dot - $39.99 (was $79.99)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select - $17.99 (was $49.99)

• Blink Outdoor 4 - $23.99 (was $69.99)

Computers & accessories deals

The more general computers and accessories selection also demonstrates the popularity of Amazon devices, as we’ve got some Fire tablets, plus some potent MacBook Air deals:

• Amazon Fire HD 10 - $72.99 (was $154.99)

• Apple MacBook Air M5 13-inch 16GB/512GB - $1,099.00 (was $1,299.00)

• Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro - $89.99 (was $169.99)

• Apple MacBook Air 15-inch 16GB/512GB - $1,299.00 (was $1,499.00)

• Amazon Fire 7 Kids - $54.99 (was $109.99)

Electronics deals

The even broader electronics category also has an eclectic mix of stuff that folks are picking up, ranging from an array of Apple devices to some more of Amazon’s own:

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 - $179.00 (was $249.00)

• Apple EarPods - $19.00

• Amazon Echo Dot - $39.99 (was $79.99)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick HD - $15.99 (was $39.99)

Home and kitchen deals

The homes and kitchens section provides the most variety yet, with everything from bed sheets to scented candles and carpet cleaners.

• CGK Unlimited Queen Size 4 Piec Sheet Set Dark Grey - $20.16 (was $39.99)

• Amazon Basics Lightweight Super Soft Breathable Wrinkle-Resistant Microfiber 4 Piece Bed Sheet Set - $14.68 (was $16.43)

• Yankee Candle Spiced Pumpkin Scented Candle - $16.11 (was $19.97)

• Bissell Little Green Mini Portable Carpet Cleaner - $79.99 (was $99.99)

• Terro Fruit Fly Trap 4-Pack - $12.19 (was $15.99)

Toys and games deals

As for toys and games, it’s a similarly eclectic mix to some of the other categories. It seems people are purchasing everything from balloons to Play-Doh and LEGO.

• PartyWoo Black Balloons 140pcs - $8.99 (was $9.99)

• Bezente Assorted Latex Rainbow Balloons 100pcs - $5.64 (was $9.99)

• Crayola Marker Airbrush Spray Art Kit - $17.99 (was $21.99)

• Play-Doh 30 Pack Spooky Colors - $8.00 (was $9.99)

• LEGO City Motorcycle Police Chase - $4.89 (was $9.99)

Well, there you have it – that’s what folks have been buying in a few respective categories on Amazon. Prime Day isn’t over yet, and there are plenty more deals on all sorts of items until midnight October 7.

Up next: Sony Inzone H6 Air review: an excellent pair of open-back gaming headphones for audio enthusiasts

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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.