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As an iPhone user who has watched the release of foldable Android mobile phones with envy, I can’t wait for 2026. Yes, Apple’s 2025 iPhone launch event is next month, but I’ve been eyeing Apple’s first foldable iPhone, rumored to launch next year. It’s part of three years of Apple’s planned iPhone redesigns.  While this would be a new addition to Apple’s lineup, Bloomberg reports that it will come with a throwback feature: Touch ID. Why it’s reverting to Touch ID from Face ID is unclear as the last use was on the third-generation iPhone SE. Apple did something similar when it brought back its MagSafe charging line with the iPhone 12’s release — it initially worked with MacBooks.  According to Bloomberg, Apple was initially going to give the new iPhone on-cell touch sensors, but pivoted to an in-cell option, similar to the current iPhone. An in-cell screen builds the touch sensors directly into the display, while an on-cell adds a layer on top, creating a thicker end product, which can be more noticeable in folding phones where its display creases. The foldable iPhone is also rumored to have four cameras and come in white, black, light blue and light gold.  While we’ll have to wait a while for the foldable rumors to be confirmed, this year’s event shouldn’t be without its interesting moments. There will likely be an ultra-thin device called the iPhone Air, reported to have just one camera and a basic A19 chip. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apple-will-reportedly-bring-back-touch-id-on-a-foldable-iphone-135831748.html?src=rss

Portable Bluetooth speakers are an easy way to bring your music anywhere without worrying about cables or power outlets. Whether you want something compact for relaxing at home, a tough waterproof model for the beach or a party speaker that fills the room, there’s an option for every need. The best portable speakers give you solid battery life, simple pairing and reliable sound no matter where you are. Some models focus on balanced audio for the casual listener while others aim for the best sound possible to please an audiophile. You can find speakers with extra bass for outdoor gatherings, built-in lights for an added vibe or rugged designs that can handle rough conditions. With so many choices available, it helps to know what features matter most for your listening style. Here’s a look at some of the top picks worth considering right now. Table of contents Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $50 to $200 Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $200 to $450 Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $450 and higher Factors to consider in a portable Bluetooth speaker Other portable Bluetooth speakers we tested Bluetooth speaker FAQs Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $50 to $200 Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $200 to $450 Best portable Bluetooth speakers: $450 and higher Factors to consider in a portable Bluetooth speaker Weather-proofing IP ratings (Ingress Protection) are the alphanumeric indicators you often see in a product’s spec sheet that define water and dust resistance. It’s usually a combo of two numbers with the first indicating solid object ingress and the second being water. The former goes from 0 (no protection) to 6 (dustproof). The water-resistance rating goes from 0 (no protection) to 9 (protected against immersion and high pressure jets). When an X is used instead of a number, that means the product wasn’t tested for resistance. If it’s a waterproof speaker, it may have some innate resistance to solids, but there’s no guarantee. IP67 is a common rating these days indicating highly resistant and potentially rugged speakers often featured in audio products like outdoor speakers. These are safe for quick dunks in the pool or tub and should be more than OK in the rain or in the shower. They’re also good options for the beach, playground and other rough environs. Additionally, speakers with ports and a high rating will often include a tight-fitting cover over the charging or auxiliary ports. If you plan on using the ports, that may limit the product’s rated ability to fend off the elements. When looking for the best portable Bluetooth speaker, consider the IP rating and also how you plan to use your Bluetooth speaker when making your decision. It may be worth splurging on a better sounding model with a lower IP rating if you’ll mostly be using it indoors, for instance. Battery life The focus of this guide is on the best portable speakers, and while “portable” can be a relative term, these devices are generally for people who are likely to find themselves far from a power outlet. These days, around 12 hours of playtime seems to be the baseline but obviously, the more battery life you can get out of a speaker, the better, especially if you plan to listen to podcasts or music on the go. That said, be careful when looking at battery specs, as they frequently list a maximum runtime (“up to” x amount of hours). This usually means they tested at a low to mid volume. If you like your tunes loud with punchy bass, it can often end up cutting the expected usage time in half or more. Luckily, some manufacturers also list the expected hours of battery life when used at full volume and that transparency is appreciated. Bear in mind, however, that not all of the best Bluetooth speakers use the same charging port. Some support USB-C charging, while others use micro-USB, and some may even come with an adapter for added convenience. Additionally, if your audio system or mini Bluetooth speaker also happens to have Wi-Fi connectivity, they’re usually designed for always-on functionality. Unlike normal Bluetooth speakers that go to sleep after a short period without use, these will usually stay awake (to listen for your commands) and slowly run down the battery. If you’re out and about, you’ll want to remember to turn these speakers off manually when not in use to maximize battery life. Range Bluetooth 5 offers better range and more reliable connectivity than its predecessors, making it a great feature to look for in the best Bluetooth speaker. That said, Bluetooth range can still be tricky. Some companies list their product’s longest possible range, usually outdoors and in an unobstructed line-of-sight test environment. Other companies stick with a 30-foot range on the spec sheet and leave it at that, even though they may be running Bluetooth 4.x or 5.x. That’s likely underselling the speaker’s potential, but unpredictable environments can affect range and there’s little point in promising the moon only to get complaints. I’ve seen signal drop issues when crouching down, with my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, and barely 30 feet away from a speaker inside my apartment. I ran into this issue across several devices regardless of their listed Bluetooth connectivity range. If you’re hosting a patio party and duck inside, it’s wise to keep any wireless Bluetooth speakers relatively close by just in case. It’s hard to gauge what aspects of any environment may interfere with a Bluetooth signal. In general, take range specs around 100 feet or more as a perfect-world scenario. Latency This is a minor mention for those out there who use a speaker for their computer output, or as a mini Bluetooth soundbar solution for setups like a monitor and streaming box. It’s annoying to find that your speaker’s latency isn’t low enough to avoid lip sync issues. Luckily, it seems that most speakers these days don’t often have these problems. Only a handful of the few dozen speakers I tried had

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket is scheduled to lift off from the company’s Texas launch site as soon as this evening for its 10th flight. The launch window opens at 7:30PM ET (6:30PM CT). As always, the flight test will be livestreamed on the SpaceX website and on X, with a webcast starting 30 minutes before launch. The weather is looking iffy for launch, though, so don’t be surprised if this one gets postponed; SpaceX said on Saturday that conditions were looking only 45 percent favorable. According to Space.com, the company has backup opportunities on August 25 and 26. Watch Starship’s tenth flight test → https://t.co/UIwbeGoo2B https://t.co/gbQv9akMO9 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 15, 2025 Flight 10 follows a series of failures this year during SpaceX’s seventh, eighth and ninth test flights. And in June, a Starship vehicle exploded on the ground during preparations for a static fire test of its six Raptor engines. If all goes according to plan for Flight 10, Starship will deploy eight dummy Starlink satellites and perform “several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site.” It won’t actually be returning to the launch site this time, though. The test is expected to last a little over an hour, and end with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-is-about-to-launch-starship-for-its-10th-test-flight-215652105.html?src=rss

Ayn added more than just a touch of nostalgia with its upcoming dual-screen handheld that gives us modern-day Nintendo DS vibes. After teasing the device in a YouTube video earlier this week, Ayn dropped the full spec sheet, price range and release date for its Thor handhelds. The Thor Lite base model will start at $249 for preorder pricing, but you can opt for the top-of-the-line Thor Max model that goes for $429. Besides the clear purple colorway, the Ayn Thor will come in black, white and rainbow, which colors its buttons like the SNES. Ayn Ayn built all of its Thor models with a primary six-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, while the secondary 3.92-inch AMOLED screen will have a 60Hz refresh rate and a smaller 1,240 x 1,080 resolution. The Thor Lite maxes out at 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, but you can upgrade to 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage with the Thor Max. The Pro and Max models will pack a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, while the Lite will use the less powerful Snapdragon 865. Outside of the spec differences, all Thor models will run on a 6,000 mAh battery and Android 13. The dual-screen handheld will have video output capabilities, a USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a TF card slot and can connect via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As with all foldable devices, the hinge is often a point of failure, so Ayn built the Thor with a reinforced hinge, along with an active cooling system and Hall effect joysticks. Ayn isn’t the only handheld maker getting into dual-screen devices. The market was previously dominated by the Ayaneo Flip DS, which currently starts at $1,139, but Ayaneo has announced a more affordable dual-screen handheld called the Pocket DS. Along with the Retroid Flip 2 that was released earlier this year, Retroid is selling an add-on accessory to make some of its other products into a dual-screen handheld. As for the Ayn Thor, preorders start August 25 at 10:30PM ET, with the first shipments expected in mid-October. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ayn-reveals-a-nintendo-ds-style-handheld-that-comes-in-the-classic-game-boy-color-purple-194416424.html?src=rss

Known for its premium handhelds that often go for more than $1,000, Ayaneo announced a higher-end version of the first handheld to release under its more affordable sub-brand called KONKR. Ayaneo revealed the new Android gaming handheld, called the Pocket Fit Elite, in a YouTube video that detailed most of its specs. The Pocket Fit Elite will be built with a six-inch 1080p display that has a 144Hz refresh rate, an 8,000 mAh battery, and Hall effect joysticks and triggers. However, Ayaneo didn’t confirm what processor it will use for the Pocket Fit Elite, whose name could be a nod towards the inclusion of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. We’re expecting a more powerful chip than the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, which Ayaneo said will be used for the Pocket Fit base model that was announced in July. Looking at the two models, the unrevealed processor for the Pocket Fit Elite will be the main difference. Unlike the Ayaneo 3 and its $1,399 starting price, the Pocket Fit Elite will start at less than $399, while the Pocket Fit will be even cheaper with a sub-$329 starting price. Ayaneo said in its latest YouTube video that it’s in the final preparation stage for the Pocket Fit launch, which will be sometime in September. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-first-premium-handheld-from-ayaneos-budget-brand-arrives-in-september-183533792.html?src=rss

Unhinged as Grok may be, it’s now open source. xAI’s CEO, Elon Musk, posted on X that the company made the older Grok 2.5 model available to the public and will do the same with the upcoming Grok 3. For now, anyone can download, run and even tweak Grok, whose source code was uploaded to the Hugging Face platform. However, there are restrictions to xAI’s open-source license, which doesn’t let people use Grok to train, create or improve other AI models. It’s not the first time xAI has made its models available to the public. In March 2024, the company released the raw base model of Grok-1, which isn’t finetuned for any specific task. As xAI continues to make Grok more accessible, it’s a stark contrast to OpenAI, which has only offered less powerful models of its ChatGPT model to researchers and businesses. Making Grok open source allows independent developers to potentially improve on the AI model, but xAI is still trying to move past an extremely alarming episode of Grok providing antisemitic responses and referencing itself as MechaHitler. The Grok team attributed the incident to “deprecated code” that has since been fixed. As for Grok 3, Musk also said on X that it will also go open source in six months, but we may have to take that estimated release with a grain of salt, considering the CEO’s other promised timelines. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/you-can-now-download-and-tweak-grok-25-for-yourself-as-it-goes-open-source-164734471.html?src=rss

Amazon’s Blade Runner limited series finally has a release window. Deadline reports that the upcoming sequel show, Blade Runner 2099, is slated for a 2026 release on Prime Video. The story at this point remains a mystery, though the title suggests it’ll take place 50 years after the events of Blade Runner 2049. Ridley Scott is said to be involved in the production. It was revealed last year that Michelle Yeoh will star in the series, and according to Deadline, she’ll be joined by Hunter Schafer, Dimitri Abold, Lewis Gribben, Katelyn Rose Downey and Daniel Rigby. We first heard about the possibility of Blade Runner 2099 back in 2022, when it was reported that Amazon Studios was developing a live-action series set in that universe, but there have been few updates since. The release window was noted in an internal memo obtained by Deadline, which reports that the series is now in post-production. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/blade-runner-2099-will-reportedly-be-released-next-year-on-prime-video-210513272.html?src=rss

Overwatch 2 console players will officially be able to use a keyboard and mouse starting with the release of Season 18. In patch notes posted ahead of the new season, the Overwatch 2 team says matchmaking pools will be tweaked slightly so players are sorted into a Mouse and Keyboard Pool and a Controller Pool. Those playing on a console using keyboard and mouse (KBM) inputs will be paired with PC players and other KBM console players, while the Controller Pool will be reserved only for console players using a controller. Season 18 arrives on August 26. For players who switch to the Mouse and Keyboard Pool, “your internal MMR, skill ratings and ranks for all game modes will be separate from your statistics in the Controller Pool,” according to the patch notes. This group won’t have access to aim assist, as has been the case and will continue to be for PC players using a controller. KBM players will have to accept the prompt to switch to that pool in order to play, or manually switch in the Gameplay Options menu. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-2-will-allow-kbm-on-console-but-youll-be-up-against-pc-players-200034777.html?src=rss

VPN users are overwhelmed with choice, and there are as many bad options out there as there are good ones. Luckily, NordVPN sits in the latter category, and right now Nord is offering discounted plans across its various tiers. If you take out a two-year NordVPN Plus plan (the company’s most popular plan) it’ll cost you $108 for the duration of the contract, with Nord throwing in three extra months at no extra cost. That’s 73 percent off the usual rate. As well as Nord’s VPN service, a Plus plan also includes the Threat Protection Pro anti-malware tool, password management and an ad- and tracker-blocker. A Prime plan additionally comes with encrypted cloud storage or NordProtect, which insures you against identity theft and monitors dark web activity. That’s also on sale — down to $189 on the same two-year commitment with those three additional months thrown in, which works out to a 77 percent savings on the regular price. When Engadget’s Sam Chapman reviewed NordVPN earlier this year, he praised its excellent download speeds, exclusive features and extensive server network. Less impressive is its clunky interface and inconsistent design when jumping between different platforms running a NordVPN app. While it doesn’t quite make the cut in our guide to the best VPNs available right now, it generally performed well in speed tests and Threat Protection Pro is really worth having. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/nordvpn-two-year-plans-are-up-to-77-percent-off-right-now-151807263.html?src=rss

Apple is going after another one of its previous employees for allegedly sharing trade secrets with a new employer. Apple’s lawsuit listed Chen Shi, a former employee who worked on the Apple Watch team, along with Oppo, as defendants, claiming they “conspired to steal Apple’s trade secrets.” According to the lawsuit, Shi worked as a Sensor System Architect for the Apple Watch from January 2020 to June 2025, but was seeking employment with Oppo as early as April 2025. Apple claimed that its former employee didn’t disclose that he was leaving to join Oppo and instead said he was going back to China to look after his elderly parents and didn’t have any plans to find a new job. However, the lawsuit said that Shi “set up and attended dozens of one-on-one meetings” with Apple Watch team members to learn about their work on “optical sensors, temperature sensors, and ECG sensors.” In the lawsuit, Shi allegedly downloaded 63 files from one of Apple’s protected folders and transferred the material to a USB drive before searching the internet for “how to wipe out [a] macbook” and “can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?” Along with these claims, Apple said in the lawsuit that Shi sent a message to his future Oppo employers that he would “collect as much information as possible” about Apple’s health-sensing technologies. Oppo has since provided a statement to MacRumors about Apple’s lawsuit, claiming that it has “found no evidence establishing any connection between these allegations and the employee’s conduct during his employment at OPPO.” The company statement also said that OPPO has not “misappropriated Apple’s trade secrets.” It’s not the first time that Apple has taken legal action against one of its former employees. Earlier this summer, the company sued a design engineer, alleging that he stole trade secrets about the Vision Pro and shared them with his new employer, Snap.   This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-claims-an-ex-employee-stole-apple-watch-trade-secrets-for-oppo-182636187.html?src=rss