🍎 Apple's iPhone Fold, 🖥️ 43% off top OLED gaming monitor, 📺 Google TV Streamer, 🗺️ Apple Maps for web

10 tech stories in the quickest format possible

Today’s 10-story newsletter with discount codes below ⤵️
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🚨 1. Amazon has this 49” Gaming OLED is on sale – beating its Prime Day price

• 💰 Lots of Samsung devices are on sale – if you know where to look

• 🖥️ Its 49-inch curved gaming OLED is nearly $900 on Amazon (was $1,599)

• 🏆 We actually gave this monitor an Editor’s Choice award at last year’s CES

• 📈 The price has been fluctuating, so get it before it’s gone

Testimonials from my loyal followers on X (thanks, guys!) ⤵️

📱 Also: Amazon now has the best offer on Galaxy Z Fold 6, Flip 6 & Watch 7

• 💳 Get a 512GB Z Flip 6 + $200 Amazon gift card (for 256GB price)

• 💳 Get a 512GB Z Fold 6 + $300 Amazon gift card (for 256GB price)

• ⌚ Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 on Amazon is also on sale for $299

• 🎧 Samsung Galaxy Buds on Amazon come with a free case

• ⌚ The Galaxy Watch Ultra on Amazon remains at full price

• 🎵 Only Samsung has Galaxy Buds 3 Pro in stock at this time

• 🟦 Don’t miss: Samsung & Amazon are offering various trade-in deals

• 🍎 YES, I’ll have iPhone 16 deals in September (equal time for all)

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🍎 2. Apple's foldable iPhone to launch as soon as 2026, says new report

• 🍎 Apple will reportedly launch a foldable iPhone in the next 24 months

• 📆 The ‘iPhone Fold’ could launch as soon as early 2026, reports The Information

• 🙌 It’ll give you that small phone feel in the hand again while on the go

• 😏 Conveniently leaks on the heels of Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 6 (we reviewed)

🙏 Are you ready to fold your iPhone in half? And mean to do it internationally this time? It could happen in 24 months, as Apple is reportedly working on a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (which we just reviewed).

Apple could mimic the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in 24 months

Beyond the iPhone 16 slated to launch in September and next year’s iPhone 17, Apple is said to be working on a clamshell-style iPhone Fold that could launch as early as 2026, according to The Information.

This means my dream of a skinny iPhone that unfolds into a small iPad mini tablet (a lot like the Galaxy Z Fold 6) has yet to be realized.

🐦 Ask Matt Swider on Twitter or Instagram for hand-picked deals from Walmart / Best Buy / Amazon / B&H / Samsung / Google / GameStop / Xbox / Microsoft Office (PC) / MS Office (Mac)

🤖 3. Google Play Store’s AI makeover put to the test – here are the changes we saw

• 🤖 AI-generated app reviews and FAQ summaries expand

• 🦸‍♂️ Curated Spaces launches (Comics section in Japan today)

• 🎮 Google Play on PC allows for multi-game gameplay

• ✂️ Discount: 80% off Google Play Pass discount

• 🎁 Weekly giveaways and in-person activations

Google invited The Shortcut (Kevin and me) to try its redesigned Play Store, which has been optimized with AI. The goal? Google wants you to spend more time in the app but spend less time finding exactly what you want. The Play Store, in effect, is becoming more of a destination than a drive-by digital store.

We saw Apple do this with editorial in its App Store several years ago. Now Google is doing it with AI via curation and automation.

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📉 4. Amazon is losing BILLIONS despite selling millions of Alexa devices

• 📦 Amazon successfully sold millions of Alexa devices but lost billions

• 😅 The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon lost $25 billion in just 4 years

• 🔈 Echo speakers, Kindles, and other devices were sold at or below cost

• 💰 Amazon’s plan may be to charge for bigger and better new Alexa

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📺 5. Google TV Streamer leak suggests Chromecast is out, Apple TV rival is in

RIP Chromecast. Google has a grown-up streaming device coming soon to rival Apple TV 4K (Image credit: 9to5 Google)

• 📺 Sleek, new ‘Google TV Streamer’ leaked with remote, reports 9to5Google

• 🪦 RIP: Google Chromecast HDMI dongles may be over and done with

• 🍎 It may rival Apple TV 4K given its larger size (room for good performance)

• 📆 Check back soon: it revealed at Google’s August 13 Pixel 9 Pro launch event

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✏️ 6. Never give up: Notion reaches 100 million users – it almost closed

• 🏆 Notion just crossed the 100 million users mark

• 🦄 It’s now a $10 billion productivity service unicorn

• 🪦 CEO Ivan Zhao detailed on X how it almost closed early on

• 📏 Notion started in 2013 with only a horizontal tool

• 🎁 Notion 2.0 relaunched the company in 2018 with a Product Hunt tool to help users find their favorite products

• 🥇 It got to 1M users in 2020 right before the pandemic

• 🔮 The plan from here on out? Build the AI Everything App

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🗺️ 7. Apple Maps for the web launches to take on Google Maps

• 🗺️ Apple Maps quietly launched a beta for the web

• 📱 Its mapping program has been confined to iOS & macOS apps

• 🆚 Apple is slowly rivaling Google Maps, the dominant map provider

• ⏲️ It’ll take time. This is a beta and saving locations isn’t possible

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📺 8. Must-see Amazon Prime Video tab: it’ll finally show what’s free to watch

• 📺 New “Prime” tab filters movies & shows your subscription includes

• 🎥 Add other subscriptions tabs: Max, Crunchyroll, Paramount+

• 🤖 AI compiles recommended “For you” titles tailored to your interests

• ⛹🏻 Live TV & Sports content get new dedicated tabs

Finally, Amazon is rolling out a redesigned Prime Video app with a new “Prime” that will show only things included with your subscription to watch. This welcome change will take the aggravation out of browsing Prime Video only to realize you’re looking at Freevee programs or something that requires an additional rental fee.

On top of highlighting Prime Video content, Amazon is also bringing external streaming services like Max, Crunchyroll, and Paramount Plus into its app, allowing you to browse multiple catalogs without needing to quit one and then launch another app. It looks so seamless I wish all TVs had a UI that worked like Amazon’s new redesign. Lastly, Prime Video added new tabs for Live TV and Sports.

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📱 9. Is Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 6 Slim, Tab S10 set for October? Maybe and no

• 📱 Samsung rumor: two Galaxy Tab S10 tablets & a “Fold 6 Slim” are on the way

• 🤔 But this ‘Fold 6 Slim’ could easily be a China-only variant, the Galaxy W25

• 📦 So don’t hesitate to buy the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Amazon deal before it expires

• 📐 It may have a large Cover Screen & slim design but no S Pen support

• 🔀 The tablets may use a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+, not a Qualcomm’s chip

• 📆 This rumored launch event in October for the S10 Ultra and Tab S10+

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⌚ 10. Nomad Apple Watch Band goes Red, White & Blue for the Olympics

• ⌚ Nomad has launched an Olympics-themed Apple Watch Sport band

• 🇺🇸 The red, white and blue colors celebrate the Paris 2024 games

• 💰 The band is $60 on its website in the sizes 49mm/45mm sizes

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🔒 Bonus: $100 PlayStation & Xbox gift card deals, 50% off Xbox Game Pass

We’re expanding our discount codes for paid subscribers as a pack-in. It’s sort of like CD-ROM pack-ins for subscribers of 90s magazines.

😬 Can’t afford it? Totally fine. I’m opening up more ways to be a paid subscriber for people who can’t spare the $5/mo ($4.16/mo) to keep us going. Support us in other ways by referring your friends & family to The Shortcut. Help us grow!

• 🟦 $100 PlayStation giftcard for $85

• 🟩 $50 Xbox Gift Card for $43

• ❎ Xbox Game Pass discount 50% off $27 (Microsoft’s MSRP is $51 and soon to be $60 for 3 months)