Gear / Products / Phones

Your iPhone and iPad will look significantly different when iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 roll out this fall. And no, you haven’t missed seven operating system upgrades since iOS 18 last year. Apple has changed the naming structure of its OS updates and made them all consistent—visionOS 26, watchOS 26, …

Another year, another version of Google’s mobile operating system. Android 16 brings a whole new look (Apple also just announced a redesign in iOS 26), more customization options, some chunky security enhancements, and a few welcome accessibility improvements. Android 16 is rolling out to select devices today—these are the new …

However, it’s fair to say that Apple and even Amazon’s Alexa have had a cultural cachet that Google Assistant never enjoyed. It wasn’t unusual to hear Siri or Alexa’s name in a movie or TV show; they were much more recognizable than Google’s generic-named voice assistant. This may be why …

Other Samsung Phones to Consider Photograph: Julian Chokkattu If you don’t see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, that might be because it’s not sold in the US and is a little harder to source for testing. But here are a few other Samsung phones I’ve tried to consider. …

We have a few details so far. The phone may not have the Glyph light interface on the back anymore, though it seems like Nothing has cooked up a new dot matrix light pattern instead. The company says it’ll be its first true flagship phone with premium materials, and it’ll …

Samsung has a cushy throne. Or at least the company acts that way. Its latest budget phones—the Galaxy A26 and Galaxy A36—check all the boxes. But next to beautifully designed handsets from Nothing and Motorola with comparable prices, it feels like Samsung is coasting on brand name and the fact …

Other Good International Phones These phones are worth considering if you have yet to see something you like. Photograph: Simon Hill Oppo Find N5 for £1,255: It’s a real shame that the Find N5 won’t even land in the UK or Europe, because the world’s slimmest book-style foldable (3.6 millimeters …

Confused by Apple’s naming conventions? You’re not the only one. Bloomberg reports that this year at WWDC, Apple plans to announce a broad overhaul of all of its operating systems. That includes renaming them to be more consistent. Starting this year, Apple will reportedly begin denoting each OS version for …

As midrange phones designed to plug the gap between flagships, the Honor 400 and 400 Pro might not ordinarily attract much attention. But these devices—unavailable in the US—are among the first to feature Google’s image-to-video AI generator, based on its Veo 2 model (now available to Gemini subscribers). Built into …

Apple executives always describe new hardware and software as the “best” or “biggest” ever, but the delivery doesn’t usually live up to the hype (see last year’s iPads). However, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 might be deserving of a few of those adjectives. The latest version of the operating system …