Meta has quietly released a new AI fashion app called Style Sketch, and for now only people in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand can download it. The launch, available on both iOS and Android, was first flagged by social media consultant Matt Navarra on X, and Meta did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. Whether the company plans to take the app to more countries is unknown.

What the Style Sketch app actually does

The pitch is simple: turn the clothes you already own into a digital wardrobe, then let AI play stylist. Users can link their social accounts so the app builds a virtual closet from photos they have already posted. Reports differ slightly on which accounts connect. Engadget says Facebook and Instagram, while TechCrunch’s write-up mentions Instagram, though Navarra’s post refers to both. Anyone who would rather not link accounts can add items by snapping photos, recording a short video, or uploading images from a camera roll.

Once the closet is populated, Style Sketch suggests outfit combinations and lets people preview them on a model that, according to the app’s description, is matched to the user’s body shape and skin tone. People can pick one garment and ask for outfits built around it, tell the app the day’s weather, or request a trip plan. For travel, entering a destination, trip length and planned activities reportedly produces a day-by-day outfit schedule that accounts for the forecast and itinerary.

Another small-market test from Meta

Style Sketch is the latest in a run of limited-release AI products from the company. Just weeks earlier, Meta launched Waddle World in the Philippines, a Tamagotchi-style game it describes as a “daily journal disguised as a pet.” TechCrunch also lists Pocket, a tool for vibe-coding games, and Vibes, an app for generating AI videos, among the company’s recent releases.

The pattern appears deliberate. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Mark Zuckerberg told employees Meta intends to ship far more apps than it has in the past, because AI has made building them faster and easier. Engadget adds that such apps could also help draw more people into using, and effectively training, Meta’s AI systems. Launching in a handful of markets lets the company see what sticks before committing to a wider rollout.

A crowded field for any AI fashion app

Meta is not breaking new ground with the concept. Engadget notes that Google’s AI Search has offered a virtual clothes try-on feature since 2025, and that Google Photos recently added a Wardrobe feature that catalogs your clothing by scanning your library. OpenAI has also introduced a ChatGPT feature that lets users upload a photo of themselves and the garments they want to try on. TechCrunch points to startups such as Alta that already help people digitize closets and visualize outfits.

That leaves Meta competing on something other than novelty. TechCrunch argues the company’s edge is likely to be its integration with Instagram, where many users already have a long visual record of how they dress. If an app can mine that history to build a closet automatically, it removes the tedious setup step that tends to sink wardrobe-organizing tools.

What to watch next

The limited footprint makes it hard to judge Style Sketch’s prospects. Meta has not shared usage goals, a wider release timeline, or how the app handles the personal photos it ingests. Those questions matter for any product that asks users to hand over pictures of themselves and their belongings, particularly one tied to social accounts. For now, Style Sketch looks like one more experiment in a strategy built on volume: release many small apps, watch the response, and see which ones earn a bigger audience.

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Three of the world’s biggest social media companies have reportedly lost a High Court challenge to Ofcom data demands, in one of the first major legal tests of Britain’s Online Safety Act. Reuters reported on Friday that London’s High Court rejected the case brought by Meta, TikTok and X, according to a summary of the report by The Next Web.

The judgment had not been published when the news emerged, so the court’s reasoning is unclear. Neither the companies nor Ofcom had responded to requests for comment.

What Ofcom asked for

The dispute centres on information notices the regulator sent to the platforms in February. Ofcom sought detailed figures on how each service handles harmful content, including how many posts it removes or restricts and how many users come across such material. The data would help the regulator judge whether the new rules are working.

Ofcom says it narrowed the scope of its requests before they took effect. The companies argued that gathering the information would place an unusually heavy burden on them.

Three platforms, three objections

At a hearing earlier this month, each company made a different case. X called the notice the most demanding request it had ever received from a regulator. Meta argued that Ofcom wanted extensive data across seven of its services without clearly explaining how it would use it. TikTok said the regulator had bypassed a separate system for assessing platforms, which has its own safeguards.

Together, the arguments covered the scale of the work, the lack of a stated purpose and the choice of legal route. Based on the reported outcome, none persuaded the court, though the written judgment will show which points it considered and how.

Why the ruling matters

The Online Safety Act became law in 2023 and gives Ofcom powers to enforce rules requiring platforms to protect users, particularly children, from illegal and harmful content. Companies that commit serious breaches can face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover. Regulators can only enforce rules like these if they can get reliable figures from the companies they oversee, so the reported ruling is a significant early result for Ofcom.

If the outcome stands, the platforms will probably have to answer the regulator’s questions about removals, restrictions and user exposure to harmful content. That would give Ofcom a clearer picture of how each service performs. The companies may still consider their options once the judgment is public, but the sources do not say whether any appeal is planned.

A wider run of disputes

The case is part of a broader pattern of friction between Meta and the regulator. Meta has separately challenged Ofcom’s method for calculating fees under the Online Safety Act, and Ofcom is also investigating Instagram Instants.

The full judgment will matter most. It should show how far Ofcom’s information-gathering powers extend and how much weight the court gave to the companies’ complaints about cost and complexity. Until then, the reported result suggests the court has sided with the regulator on the Ofcom data demands.

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Apple’s long-awaited iPad mini OLED upgrade is official, and it brings the biggest list of changes the small tablet has seen in years, along with a higher price. According to CNET’s Scott Stein, the new model starts at $699 and goes on sale Nov. 6, with orders opening Oct. 28.

What the iPad mini OLED upgrade includes

The headline feature is the screen. The new iPad mini steps up to 8.5 inches, from 8.3 inches on the previous model, and it is the first mini with an OLED panel. Inside, an A20 processor replaces the A17 chip in the model released two years ago.

Apple has also made the tablet thinner and lighter. The front-facing camera has moved to the landscape edge, as on Apple’s other iPads. That should put it closer to center for video calls when the tablet is propped on a table in a case.

First water-resistant iPad

The most notable addition may be durability. The mini is the first iPad rated IP67 for water resistance. CNET says that means it should survive a dunk in a pool, the ocean or a bathtub. Apple is also introducing a through-screen speaker system called Acoustic Display. Stein says he is curious to test it, and there are no performance details yet.

Pricing and storage options

The $699 base price includes 128GB of storage. Stepping up to 256GB costs $799, and the 512GB version is $999. Stein calls the tablet a potential “killer upgrade” on paper for anyone who has been waiting, but he also notes that it costs more than the model it replaces. The tablet comes in two new colors, midnight and starlight.

Timing and the iPhone Duo connection

Apple announced the tablet two days before an expected showcase of new Macs on Wednesday. It also follows the company’s new iPhone Duo. Stein says the Duo, when unfolded, almost feels like an iPad mini. For shoppers who want a tablet-sized screen without buying the Duo, the new mini offers an alternative.

The coverage so far is based on Apple’s announcement rather than hands-on testing. Stein says a full review will come once he has a unit, so claims about battery life, screen quality and the speaker system remain unverified. For now, the iPad mini OLED model is a clear step up in hardware, and buyers will need to decide whether the new features justify the higher price.

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Microsoft voluntary buyouts are now on the table for as many as 60,000 employees, in one of the broadest workforce-reduction moves the company has attempted. Tom’s Hardware puts the eligible group at roughly 27% of Microsoft’s staff and frames the program as a response to the mounting cost of the AI buildout.

What Microsoft is offering

According to a memo from Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, the company is running a time-limited Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO). It is open to “eligible staff in participating teams” in the US, UK, Canada and India, at level 70 and below. The Verge, as cited by GamesIndustry.biz, reports that up to 60,000 people could qualify.

Eligibility is a ceiling, not a headcount. Nothing in the available reporting says how many employees will accept, and the terms, such as severance or payout levels, were not detailed in the material reviewed here.

Which teams are included

Sources familiar with the plan say the teams taking part include AI experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows + Devices, Xbox, finance and human resources. Microsoft’s cloud + AI group, the MicrosoftAI teams, and corporate, external and legal affairs are described as “partially participating.”

The list is notable because it includes groups building Microsoft’s flagship AI products. That suggests the program is less a retreat from AI than a reshuffling of who works where as the company’s spending priorities shift.

A pattern of workforce moves

The exit offer follows a string of earlier steps. Earlier this year Microsoft ran a Voluntary Retirement Program limited to around 9,000 US employees whose age and years of service added up to at least 70. Layoffs followed in July and September, mostly across Xbox and commercial sales. GamesIndustry.biz also notes that further layoffs are allegedly planned, though that claim is unconfirmed.

Coleman presented the new program as a lesson carried over from the retirement effort. “The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us,” she wrote. “We’ll learn from it.” She said it reflects an effort at “creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter,” and added that there is “no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee.”

Why voluntary buyouts matter

Voluntary programs let a company thin its ranks without immediately resorting to involuntary cuts, though they can also lose people the company would have preferred to keep. Microsoft is pairing the offer with a promise to keep helping staff “build new skills” and, “where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft.”

The memo itself, as quoted, does not name AI spending as the motive. That link comes from Tom’s Hardware’s framing, and the sources do not include financial figures that would quantify it. What they do establish is the scale and timing: a company that has already trimmed Xbox and sales teams is now inviting a large share of its workforce to consider leaving on its own terms.

The key unknowns are how many employees take the offer, what it pays, and whether the reported additional layoffs follow. Those answers will show whether the Microsoft voluntary buyouts are a one-time experiment or a template for how the company restructures in the AI era.

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File photo: Aerial Microsoft West Campus August 2009.jpg by Jelson25, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The University of Copenhagen data breach has exposed personal details belonging to roughly 525,000 people, and a later update showed that about 20,000 more staff and students had their campus access PIN codes compromised. The university, Denmark’s oldest, says attackers got in through one of its test environments rather than its main operational systems.

According to the university’s notice, as relayed by BleepingComputer and TechRadar, the data that may have been exposed includes full names, Danish national identity (CPR) numbers, phone numbers and email addresses. The university detected the intrusion on a Tuesday and disclosed it that Friday. The PIN update followed a few days later.

What the attackers reached, and what they didn’t

Test environments are meant for trying out software without touching live services. They are sometimes filled with real data to make that testing realistic, which can leave sensitive records in a less protected place. The sources do not explain how the attackers got in or why real personal data was there, and the university says its investigation is still under way.

The university says it has contained the attack and blocked the intruders’ access. So far it has found no sign that systems supporting daily operations were touched or that university activities were disrupted.

Physical access was affected too

The PIN exposure gave the incident a physical side. As a precaution, the university restricted access to certain critical locations on campus. It is reopening them gradually as it hands out new access codes. The sources do not say which locations were affected or how long the restrictions lasted.

The scale is notable. The university has about 36,800 students and 10,700 employees, a combined total far below 525,000. That suggests the affected records include more than people currently enrolled or employed, possibly former students, staff or other contacts. The sources do not confirm this, and the university has not yet said who is covered.

Why phishing is the main worry

The university has reported the incident to the Danish Data Protection Agency. Because the case falls under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, it says it is working with the relevant regulators on next steps.

For those affected, the immediate danger is social engineering. TechRadar notes that contact details combined with private identifiers like national ID numbers let criminals write convincing, personalized phishing emails. Those messages can be used to plant infostealer malware or to gain access to systems where ransomware could later be deployed. The university advises anyone who may be affected to be wary of unsolicited messages and to verify requests independently.

The final scope of the University of Copenhagen data breach is still unclear. The university has promised more updates as its internal investigation allows, and those should show whether the numbers change and what regulators make of how the data was stored.

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The Boston Dynamics ICE deal has opened a rare public rift inside one of the world’s best-known robotics companies. More than 300 employees signed a petition urging executives to stop the sale of modified Spot robot dogs to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Leadership has said it is standing by the contract.

What the Boston Dynamics ICE deal covers

According to reporting by Ars Technica, the Department of Homeland Security awarded $1.3 million to Radeco, a Connecticut company, to supply ICE with four modified Spot quadrupeds. Radeco markets its version as “Cerberus.” It adds military-grade equipment aimed at detecting dangerous substances.

The contract describes the robots as tools to “detect radiation, toxic gas leaks and explosive threats in urban environments or disaster zones.” An oxygen sensor is meant to confirm that air is breathable in confined spaces such as tunnels. The robots also carry a 30x zoom camera, 360-degree cameras and infrared thermal imaging. An optional robotic arm lets them open doors and handle objects. The contract says they can run “repeatable autonomous missions with minimal human intervention.”

ICE justified the purchase as support for Homeland Security Task Forces. Their stated targets are cross-border tunnels and the smuggling and trafficking networks run by cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations.

Why employees say the risk is too great

The petition went to company executives and was shared with The Boston Globe and WBUR. It has more than 300 signatures, and half of the signers are anonymous. That is roughly a fifth of a workforce of about 1,400. Signers wrote that friends and family had asked them “in disbelief and horror” whether the news was true. They also warned that “the risk for Boston Dynamics is simply too great to continue with this deal.”

Much of the objection centers on what Homeland Security Investigations, the ICE unit expected to use the robots, actually does. The company stresses its focus on transnational criminal organizations. But the Brennan Center for Justice has documented the unit’s involvement in deportations and workplace raids during Trump’s first term. The Immigration Policy Tracking Project reports that thousands of its agents were again diverted to immigration enforcement after a 2025 executive order redefined its mission.

The petition points to a September 4, 2025 raid at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America facility in Georgia, where 475 workers, mostly South Korean, were detained. Hyundai has owned Boston Dynamics since June 2021. “We cannot be proud of working at Boston Dynamics,” the petition says, “when that work is being used by a government agency that brutalizes civilians, including some of our own colleagues at Hyundai.”

The company’s response

Boston Dynamics is not backing down. A spokesperson told Ars Technica that “Spot robots are tools that help keep people out of harm’s way,” adding that “regardless of any political implications or personal feelings about the organizations involved, if our robot can help keep people safe, we believe it should.” Executives have also said the robots would not be weaponized.

That assurance addresses one worry but not the others. The contract’s own language stresses surveillance, inspection and autonomous operation rather than force. Workers appear concerned less about the robots as armed machines than about what they enable for an agency whose immigration work has reached their own parent company’s facilities.

The timeline in the available reporting is also muddled. It lists the contract award as September 25 but says the petition reached executives in early September. The excerpt does not explain how that sequence fits together.

A wider test for robotics makers

The dispute reflects a long-running tension in robotics. Manufacturers sell general-purpose machines that can be modified and resold by third parties. Here the buyer is not even Boston Dynamics’ direct customer but an intermediary, Radeco, that adapted the hardware. Once a robot is sold into that chain, the company’s practical control over how it is used shrinks. A pledge against weaponization is one of the few limits it can plausibly promise.

For now, the Boston Dynamics ICE deal stands, and the petition shows how much internal pushback a government sale can generate at a company that builds its brand on friendly, almost playful machines. Whether employee pressure changes anything may depend on whether the signers’ numbers grow, or on how Hyundai, the parent company, responds.

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The Tailscale security team is working to patch almost a dozen security vulnerabilities that could be exploited to steal credentials, crash servers, gain root privileges, and more.

Tailscale develops a software-defined mesh virtual private network (VPN) built on WireGuard that lets users connect computers, servers, and cloud instances from anywhere to the same encrypted mesh network (“tailnet”) via direct peer-to-peer (P2P) connections.

Cyberdione Labs discovered 11 flaws (collectively known as Tailworm) that still lack patches during a security audit of Tailscale 1.104.2 and the self-hosted headscale v0.29.5 control server.

“All findings were verified by reproduction in a lab environment on unmodified, released software (tailscale v1.104.2, headscale v0.29.5),” said Erica Windisch, founder of Cyberdione Labs, who reported the flaws to Tailscale and publicly released the details.

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“It is the opinion of the researchers that rapid awareness of these flaws will expediate remediation across impacted devices. These vulnerabilities were not introduced by the researchers, but were discovered, and discovered with low effort.”

The table below classifies the security issues by the component they affect. The most critical issue is in Tailscale’s SSH server and could let authorized attackers gain code execution with root privileges through Unix-socket forwarding on a targeted tailnet.

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Component / feature	Mechanism (what breaks)	Attacker requirement	Principal outcome
Tailscale SSH (tailscaled’s embedded SSH server, running as root)	Unix-socket forwarding (ssh -R/-L) performs path checks and file operations as root; races and missing privilege drop let an ordinary session replace, dial, or delete privileged resources	One approved device + one SSH policy rule (forwarding granted automatically on headscale; per-rule on SaaS)	Root execution on target servers; capture of enrollment keys; arbitrary root-file deletion
Tailscale app connectors (conn25, experimental)	Connector translates traffic to attacker-chosen destinations with no validation; network ACLs are never consulted for the true destination	A device granted the connector capability	Reach cloud metadata (credential theft), internal LANs, and — in Kubernetes — every cluster service
headscale control server (self-hosted deployments)	Unauthenticated resource exhaustion (memory growth, cache eviction)	Internet reachability; no account	Control-server crash loop; blocking of new-device onboarding org-wide
Tailscale DERP client (relay connection in every agent)	Unbounded read of a malicious relay’s response	Ability to position/point a client at a hostile relay	Client-agent memory exhaustion
tailscale serve (local service exposure)	TCP-forward to a unix socket lacks a guard present on the HTTP path; plus a race in per-mount authorization	Operator configures the forward (or a peer races the mount check)	Remote administrative-API access to the node; minority of requests bypass app authz

On Monday, the Tailscale team said it received Cyberdione Labs’ report and was working on patches to address these security issues by the end of today.

The developers also confirmed that the reported flaws are “serious” as they could let threat actors with permissions on targeted systems take actions with escalated privileges.

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“Most of the Tailscale SSH issues we’ve identified concern privilege escalation. In some circumstances, someone already authorized to connect over Tailscale SSH may be able to perform actions beyond the permissions of their configured local user, including potentially gaining elevated privileges,” Tailscale said.

“These are serious security issues, and we’re treating them accordingly. Exploitation depends on the permissions granted to the connecting user or device, the system’s configuration, and other conditions. We’re continuing to verify the full scope of the findings and which configurations may be affected.”

However, despite the severity of the issues, Tailscale said it doesn’t recommend that users disable the Tailscale SSH feature.

“If you want to jump to the most important part, based on our current assessment, we’re not recommending that everyone disable Tailscale SSH,” said Mike Shaver, VP of Engineering at Tailscale.

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Instead, the Tailscale team shared measures that should mitigate some of these flaws:

• Review SSH access policies. Limit access to the users and devices that need it.
• Disable SSH forwarding if you don’t need it. Set TS_SSH_DISABLE_FORWARDING=1 in the tailscaled service environment and restart the service. This disables SSH forwarding without disabling Tailscale SSH entirely, and mitigates several of the more serious findings.
• Review access to sensitive systems. Consider temporarily tightening your Tailscale SSH access policies while we investigate, so that only the specific users and devices that need access can connect.

The Tailscale devs aim to push a new version that fixes these issues by the end of Tuesday, October 27, and urged users to prepare to update and “apply the patched Tailscale client release when it becomes available.”

Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.

The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.

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The Anker Halloween sale is live through November 1, cutting 20 percent off the brand’s charging gear when shoppers enter the code HALLOWEEN20 at checkout. WIRED’s gear team flagged the promotion on October 26, pointing to the products that have earned top spots in its buying guides.

What WIRED recommends in the Anker Halloween sale

WIRED’s writer Kat Merck compares Anker to Meryl Streep: a brand that keeps sweeping the awards. It appears in the magazine’s guides for portable chargers and power banks, Android chargers, wireless chargers, 3-in-1 chargers, MagSafe chargers and even USB car chargers. The sale prices below are the ones WIRED listed with the code applied.

• Anker Nano Charger 45W: $26, down from $40 (35 percent off). It’s a pocket-sized wall charger with foldable prongs and WIRED’s top pick for Android phones that use USB-C Power Delivery. This updated version adds a display showing charging status.
• Anker Laptop Power Bank: $96, down from $120. The 25,000-mAh battery can deliver up to 165 watts to two devices, and it includes a retractable cable and a braided cable that doubles as a carry loop. WIRED says it falls under the power-capacity limit for flights.
• Anker MagGo Power Bank for Apple Watch: $72, down from $90. The 10,000-mAh battery has a built-in USB-C cable and port, plus a pop-up 5-watt Apple Watch charger that supports Nightstand mode.
• Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (Foldable 3-in-1): $80, down from $110 (27 percent off). It charges a phone, smartwatch and earbuds at once. WIRED notes it can feel crowded with everything on it, but its slim design suits light packers.
• Anker Solix C1000 Portable Power Station: $470, down from $600 (22 percent off). The 1,056-watt-hour unit powered a small fridge, a TV and a power drill in testing, and it accepts solar panel or car-socket input.

One pick doesn’t show a code discount. The Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K, Qi2), which reviewer Simon Hill calls his favorite MagSafe power bank, was listed at $80 on Anker’s site. It was $90 at Amazon and Walmart.

Why the timing makes sense

Merck argues that now is a sensible moment to stock up. Storms are forecast for many regions, and more time indoors tends to mean more battery-draining scrolling. The Solix power station, with its ability to keep phones and small appliances running, fits the outage scenario best.

The Labubu twist

The more unusual part of the Anker Halloween sale is a pair of bundles that include a Labubu blind box, the collectible monster figures. The lavender “Twilight Box” ($208) pairs the MagGo Power Bank with two wireless backup batteries and a blind box. The orange “Pumpkin Box” ($200) includes the blind box, the MagGo Power Bank, the 45-watt Nano wall charger and one wireless backup battery.

Merck is openly unsure whether Labubus are still trending, but she figures blind boxes will always sell. She suggests the bundles could make a good gift for the right person.

Shoppers should check final prices at checkout, since the discounts depend on the code and the listings can change before the sale ends on November 1.

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The fifth-generation BMW X5 is just starting to roll out, and it may be the most dramatic redesign the nameplate has ever seen. BMW made the 2027 X5 as different as can be, with Neue Klasse styling taking over the exterior, a dash-wide display reshaping the cabin, and a fully electric iX5 joining the lineup for the first time.

Even the split tailgate that X5 fans loved for generations is gone, replaced by a one-piece hatch. That leaves the car at the top of the range with a big question to answer. Now the X5 M has shown up to answer it, sort of. A camouflaged prototype was caught testing, wrapped in swirling black-and-white camo that hides most of the details. Not all of them, though.

The roof-mounted GPS antenna and blurred-out plate say test mule, while big wheels with drilled brake discs behind them say this is no ordinary X5. That is a lot to take in, and the camouflage leaves plenty of questions on the table. Here is what the spy photos show, and what we still want to find out.

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What do the shots reveal

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From the get-go, it’s clear this X5 M prototype is wider than the standard X5. It rides on bigger wheels wrapped in fatter tires, and the black five-spoke design with drilled brake discs peeking out from behind it adds to the performance look. Focusing on the front end, the bumper also looks wider, and it seems to showcase different headlights than the regular X5.

Those could be placeholder units meant to throw curious onlookers off the scent, but they might also hint that BMW has decided to go with a different light signature for the X5 M. The grilles are another interesting detail. They look more ordinary than the ones on the standard model, with more traditional BMW kidneys that are elongated rather than tall.

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Once again, this could be a placeholder, or a deliberate change to keep the factory face hidden until the car is closer to production. What is obviously different from the normal X5 are the two air outlets on the hood, a feature that is common on high-performance vehicles and usually points to extra cooling demands. The new door handles are still here, so some of the regular BMW X5’s questionable styling choices clearly carry over.

The taillights are completely disguised, but they do show the same wide light bar design as the regular X5. What also differs is the roof spoiler above the rear window, which looks more angular than the one on the standard model. Overall, the SUV looks beefier, more performance-focused, and much more aggressive than the regular X5.

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What likely powers the BMW X5 M?

Stephen Hancock/SlashGear

Looking at the spy shots, we really can’t assess much about the X5 M’s power and performance. The fat tires, more angular spoiler, larger brakes, and big wheels do show it means business, but that is as far as the camo lets us go. History is the better guide. The X5 M often follows a similar trajectory to the BMW M5 we reviewed, as was the case with previous generations, which means it could inherit the M5’s hybrid setup. 

That V8 plug-in hybrid makes 717 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque and sends the sedan to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. BMW Blog reported that a V8-powered M Performance X5 is already confirmed for 2027. The full X5 M is a separate car, reportedly due in 2028. The same outlet’s sources put the gasoline car at roughly 600 hp, with a 48-volt mild-hybrid V8 instead of the M5’s plug-in system. The electric version is the real wild card. Reported targets run from 800 to 900 hp, and the setup is expected to have four motors. Production could start in April 2028 at BMW’s Spartanburg plant.

Whatever BMW chooses, the bar is already high. The X5 M60e plug-in hybrid, which isn’t sold in the U.S., makes 612 hp, so a full M car has to top that. The last-generation X5 M and X6 M offered 617 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque, and BMW quoted 3.7 seconds to 60 mph for the X5 M Competition. Whether this prototype is the gasoline or the electric version, we simply don’t know, so any 0-60 figure for the new car would be a guess.

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