Focal is not easing into Q3 2026. The French manufacturer has already made serious noise with the Mu-so Hekla, its ambitious all-in-one Dolby Atmos system that is currently under review, unveiled the $210,000 Diva Alta Utopia wireless flagship, and mounted one of the busiest and most talked-about demonstrations at AXPONA 2026. That is a rather muscular start to the year, even for a company that has never been particularly interested in playing small.
Now comes the Scala Utopia Evo M, a substantial evolution of one of Focal’s defining passive loudspeakers. This is not a cosmetic refresh with a fresh lacquer option and a revised brochure. Built in France and retaining the Scala’s distinctive three-way architecture, the new model introduces Focal’s PRISM tweeter and M-profile W midrange driver, technologies drawn from the company’s newest wireless and professional monitor developments.
The goal is straightforward enough: greater midrange transparency, lower distortion, more controlled treble, and an even more convincing sense of musical scale from a loudspeaker that has long been one of the more recognizable statements in high-end audio.
New Drivers, New Crossover, Same Scala DNA
The Scala Utopia Evo M retains the familiar three-way, bass-reflex architecture of the outgoing Scala, but Focal has reworked almost every part that matters: the drivers, crossover, cabinet tuning, and mechanical structure. The result is still unmistakably a Scala, with its compact-for-Utopia proportions and multi-cabinet silhouette. If you expected anything less from Focal, whose idea of restraint is usually limited to the grille cloth, you have not been paying attention.
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At the heart of the update is a new 5-inch reinforced W-cone midrange driver with an M-profile diaphragm, borrowed from Focal’s Utopia Main professional monitor range. The driver combines the company’s composite W sandwich construction with the one-piece M-profile geometry, TMD suspension, a neodymium motor, and an 80mm voice coil.
Focal’s objective is a cleaner, more linear midrange with lower distortion and greater control at higher listening levels. Considering how much of the music lives in the midband, that is exactly where an update to a loudspeaker at this level should begin.
The Scala Utopia Evo M also receives Focal’s new 27mm PRISM M-profile inverted-dome tweeter, first introduced in the Diva Alta Utopia wireless flagship. PRISM, short for Photon-Refined Intelligent Structured Membrane, uses a multi-material diaphragm and micro-structured construction that Focal says provides greater rigidity than beryllium while preserving the low mass and damping needed for refined high-frequency reproduction.
It is paired with Focal’s IAL2 Infinite Acoustic Loading system, which lowers the tweeter’s resonance frequency to 528Hz and allows for a claimed extension to 40kHz.
Bass That Has Not Been Left Behind
The 11-inch W-cone woofer has also been redesigned, using a 16cm dual-ferrite motor and more precise laser cutting of its composite sandwich diaphragm. It works with a large laminar port intended to move air without the chuffing, compression, and general bad behavior that can undermine bass performance when a speaker is pushed hard.
Focal rates the Scala Utopia Evo M down to 27Hz within ±3dB, with a 24Hz low-frequency point at -6dB. That does not turn a Scala into a Grande Utopia, nor should it. But it suggests real low-frequency authority from a loudspeaker that remains more manageable in a domestic room than the larger models above it in the range. Anyone who has spent time with Focal’s biggest Utopia models already knows that the company does not do bass-light. Croissants may be delicate, flaky, and full of air; Focal’s bass is more cassoulet: dense, substantial, and absolutely not leaving the table quietly.
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More Control for Real Rooms
The revised OPC+ crossover uses high-grade components, large-section internal cabling, and four insulated WBT binding posts that support bi-wiring or bi-amping. More importantly, it provides user adjustment for bass, midrange, and treble, with the bass and treble controls offering ±1dB adjustment. That is not room correction, and Focal is not pretending otherwise, but it gives owners a useful way to fine-tune the Scala’s balance without turning the listening room into a laboratory.
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Focal has also retained the structural thinking that has long defined the Utopia range. The Gamma structure employs high-density MDF panels up to 60mm thick, with a heavy, vibration-controlled framework shaped through vibration mapping. Focus Time mechanically aligns the drivers toward the listening position to improve time alignment, while the separate cabinet sections help preserve phase coherence between the bass, midrange, and treble drivers.
Built in France, Without the Costume Jewelry
The Scala Utopia Evo M remains a very French loudspeaker in both execution and attitude. Its cabinets are made by Focal’s cabinetmakers in Burgundy, while the drivers are manufactured in Saint-Étienne. That level of vertical control matters at this price, particularly when a product is relying on very specific driver geometry, cabinet tolerances, crossover settings, and cosmetic execution to justify itself.
Focal will offer five finishes. Black High Gloss, Off White High Gloss, and Warm Taupe High Gloss are priced at $50,000 USD per pair, or $58,000 CAD. Light Walnut with an Off White front panel and Dark Walnut with a Sepia Brown front panel rise to $56,000 USD per pair, or $64,000 CAD. Availability begins in August 2026.
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Focal is also positioning the Scala Utopia Evo M as a natural partner for Naim electronics. That makes sense. A speaker with 92dB sensitivity and a 3-ohm minimum impedance is not especially difficult to drive on paper, but it deserves amplification with substantial current delivery and control. Focal recommends amplifiers rated between 50 and 500 watts per channel, which leaves plenty of room for a serious Naim system, or alternatives from the usual high-end suspects with enough grip to keep the redesigned woofer in check.
Focal Scala Utopia Evo M Specifications
Type: 3-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker
Woofer: 11-inch (27cm) W-cone woofer with 16cm dual-ferrite motor
Midrange: 5-inch (13cm) reinforced W-cone driver with M-profile diaphragm, TMD suspension, neodymium motor, and 80mm voice coil
Tweeter: 27mm PRISM M-profile inverted-dome tweeter with IAL2
Frequency response: 27Hz to 40kHz, ±3dB
Low-frequency extension: 24Hz, -6dB
Sensitivity: 92dB, 2.83V/1m
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Minimum impedance: 3 ohms
Crossover frequencies: 230Hz and 2.8kHz
Recommended amplifier power: 50 to 500 watts per channel
User adjustments: Bass, midrange, and treble; bass and treble adjustable by ±1dB
Connections: Four insulated WBT binding posts; bi-wiring and bi-amping capable
Dimensions, H × W × D: 49.1 × 15.5 × 26.4 inches, 124.7 × 39.3 × 67cm
Weight: 187.4 pounds, 85kg
Finishes: Black High Gloss, Off White High Gloss, Warm Taupe High Gloss, Light Walnut with Off White front panel, Dark Walnut with Sepia Brown front panel
The Bottom Line
The Scala Utopia Evo M is not a revolution in the sense of abandoning everything that made the Scala successful. It is a carefully targeted evolution that brings Focal’s newest professional-monitor and wireless-speaker developments into one of its most recognizable passive loudspeakers. At $50,000 per pair, it had better be more than a fresh coat of lacquer; the new PRISM tweeter, M-profile midrange, adjustable crossover voicing, and redesigned dual-ferrite woofer suggest that Focal has taken the assignment rather seriously.
What makes the Scala Utopia Evo M especially interesting is that it offers much of Focal’s latest Utopia thinking in a loudspeaker that is still more realistic for a proper listening room than the enormous Grande Utopia. It is for buyers who want genuine full-range scale, visual presence, and the ability to fine-tune the speaker to the room, but who do not have a ballroom, a dedicated equipment room, and a casual relationship with six-figure system costs.
Do not mistake the 92dB sensitivity for an invitation to connect a Uniti Atom and call it a day. The Scala’s 3-ohm minimum impedance and $50,000 price tag demand an amplifier with real current delivery, grip, and refinement. Naim’s New Classic 300 Series, particularly an NSS 333 and NSC 222 with NAP 250 or NAP 350 amplification, is far closer to the intended neighborhood than Naim’s 40-watt Uniti Atom. Focal and Naim may share the same corporate address, but this is not a speaker designed for a compact all-in-one system.
The Scala Utopia Evo M is for established high-end listeners building a serious two-channel system around equally serious electronics. It will appeal to existing Scala owners looking for a meaningful step forward, but also to buyers who want modern Focal technology, hand-built French execution, and bass that behaves less like a feather-light croissant than a cast-iron cassoulet: deep, dense, and not remotely interested in being delicate.
Surrounding the cylinder are four arms that help the device float and stay upright. One of the arms contains the power port and on/off button, plus a Bluetooth button used to initiate pairing with the Bublue mobile app. The only additional component is a mesh filter that sits underneath the filter basket. This filter, in turn, is held inside a circular frame, which holds it in place. All told, there are five pieces to the device, a fact that will become more important later when I discuss cleanup.
Put together, the robot is quite tall, needing a full 1.5 feet of water depth in which to operate.
Sorry, No Solar
Your first order of business with the BuVortex V5 is to charge its 7800 mAh battery, as—and this is essential—the unit has no solar-power charging function, a standard feature on traditional pool skimmer robots. The unit takes a sizable four hours to charge and is specified to run for three. I got close to four hours of runtime during my testing.
Photograph: Christopher Null
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The lack of solar power alone may be something of a deal-breaker for most. (It is for me, at least.) When I use a pool skimmer, I typically drop it in the pool and have it run for a week or more, letting it sleep overnight when the battery is drained and firing it up again in the morning when the sun is out. The beauty of solar power on a skimmer is that you don’t have to think about it. I can’t remember the last time I plugged mine in. The only time I take the skimmer out of the pool is to periodically clean it.
Even with four hours of running time, operationally, the device makes little sense. Imagine the occasions when you need a skimmer the most—during the fall, especially, when leaves are continually falling. Four hours of skimming won’t put a dent in a day’s worth of debris landing on the surface of your pool, and even if you dutifully retrieve the robot, recharge it, and run it a second time, you’re still accounting for only a third of a 24-hour period. While no skimmer is perfect, with the BuVortex, there’s just no way to prevent most leaves from ending up on the floor of the pool or, at best, in a wall skimmer.
IEEE Spectrum argues that orbital data centers remain far from economically or technically practical despite Elon Musk’s prediction that space will become the cheapest place to run AI within a few years. Deploying SpaceX’s proposed million-satellite constellation would require enormous increases in launch and manufacturing capacity, while cooling, radiation, maintenance, latency, orbital debris, and astronomical interference present major unresolved obstacles. Longtime Slashdot reader xetdog shares the report: Consider this: There are roughly 14,500 active satellites in orbit. Musk’s Starlink constellation accounts for about two thirds of those. Both the launch cadences and satellite-manufacturing capacity would have to scale up astronomically to deploy a million orbital data center satellites. For context, there have been roughly 7,000 orbital launches in all of human history. To loft 1 million satellites into low Earth orbit on SpaceX’s Starship, which is designed to carry up to 60 satellites per vehicle, would require 16,666 launches exclusively devoted to satellite deployments. Considering that SpaceX launched a record 165 orbital missions in 2025, even at 10 times that cadence, it would take a decade. And how long would it take to build 1 million satellites, given Starlink’s current pace of around 4,000 per year and a generous tenfold increase in capacity? Short of a manufacturing revolution, try 25 years. Dissipating heat in space also requires enormous radiators. As IEEE Spectrum editor Dina Genkina noted, startup Starcloud has sent only one Nvidia H100 GPU into orbit, and “their radiator was too weak to let the chip run at full power.” A single 700-watt H100 would require about 1.4 square meters of radiator area, while a 100-megawatt data center could need 2,500 radiators measuring 80 square meters each.
So, why are the hyperscalers hyping orbital data centers? Answer: because it’s lucrative. “The Elon Musk part of it is honestly genius because he’s got xAI building the data centers, SpaceX sending them to space, and Tesla building solar panels,” Genkina says. “It’s almost like he’s paying himself.”
BMW revealed the fifth generation of its X5 at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, the same facility that builds these vehicles for markets around the world. The new model keeps the core formula that turned the original X5 into the vehicle that defined the premium Sports Activity Vehicle segment back in 1999, yet it arrives with cleaner surfaces, new lighting details, and a broader set of powertrain choices than any X5 before it.
Clean surfaces and a more vertical front end give the new X5 a more edgy appearance, while still looking unmistakably like an X5. The vertical grilles now light up not only at night, but also throughout the day as part of the Iconic Glow feature. A revolutionary double-X lighting signature combines low beams, daytime running lights, side markers, and turn signals into a single slim device that can also modify its pattern. The iX5 electric does not have the lower air intakes featured on gas variants, resulting in a smoother, more electric-centric front end.
2 Mercedes toy cars for kids – LEGO Speed Champions Mercedes-AMG G 63 & Mercedes-AMG SL 63 vehicle playset for boys and girls ages 10 and up and…
2 driver minifigures – Each buildable vehicle toy comes with a driver minifigure wearing a Mercedes outfit so kids can role-play fast-paced races
Authentic Mercedes design – Each collectible car model features design details from the real life versions, including front grilles, hoods, wheels…
The usual door handles on the side of the car have been replaced by BMW Winglets integrated directly into the B and C pillars. A simple tap on the sensor opens the door. Holding the button for more than a second causes it to lock tightly. Soft-close is offered as standard, while full-powered doors are available as an option. You also get hidden window seals for flush glass surfaces, sharp wheel arches, and standard matte black side skirts to give the car a rooted, solid appearance. The wheels begin at 21 inches with staggered tire sizes and increase to 23 inches for the first time on an X5. The rear end is large, with flared arches that emphasize the car’s width and power. Slim taillights run across the back and carry their own version of the double-X symbol, while the one-piece tailgate keeps the rear neat. On launch day, there are eleven new exterior colours to pick from, some of which are totally new, with certain BMW Individual finishes arriving later.
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Inside, the cabin has a more relaxed, airy appearance, with a higher seating position and some large door panels. The standard panoramic glass roof offers an astounding 28 square feet of sky on top. The instrument panel features a three-dimensional backlit accent strip that runs from door to door and performs some nice dynamic lighting tricks in conjunction with different driving modes, and in the Clear and Bold package, the center console control panel is finished in genuine slate, with crystal glass handling the gear selector, volume control, and seat adjustment switches.
The dashboard information will no longer be grouped behind the steering wheel, as it was previously. Instead, the Panoramic Vision system displays vital information on a darkened glass strip at the base of the windshield. The central touchscreen is a massive 17.9 inches, as it is the main entertainment component, and you can add a 14.6 inch screen enabling the front passenger to watch film or utilize applications without distracting the driver. The standard steering wheel is a vertical spoke design, while higher-spec models have more sporty choices.
Powertrain options have expanded significantly, with the X5 40 and 40 xDrive versions powered by a new 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six with 48-volt mild hybrid assistance. It produces 394 horsepower and 428 lb-ft of torque. The all-wheel-drive variant accelerates to 60 mph in just 5.1 seconds, which is plenty fast. The X5 50e xDrive plug-in hybrid combines the same six-cylinder engine with a 194-horsepower electric motor that is skillfully fitted into the 8-speed automatic. This results in a total 483 horsepower and 516 pound-feet. A rechargeable battery pack with a capacity of 26.5 kilowatt-hours allows you to travel the first 44 miles on electric alone – an improvement over the previous model – and reaches a high speed of 87 miles per hour on electric.
BMW’s first completely electric X5 is the iX5 60 xDrive, which features two motors that provide 570 horsepower and 593 pound-feet of torque. It comes with a 144-kilowatt-hour battery pack made feasible by innovative cylindrical cells and an 800-volt design. This vehicle can go up to 435 miles on a single charge and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. If you ever run short on battery, DC rapid charging can give you 80% in just 22 minutes, which is really quick for a vehicle this size.
Prices in the United States begin at $71,250 for the rear-wheel-drive X5 40, $73,550 for the xDrive, $78,950 for the plug-in hybrid 50e, and $81,250 for the iX5. All of these prices include delivery and are slightly higher than we saw last year. The first X5 40 xDrive models will go into production in October 2026, followed by the rear-wheel-drive 40 and plug-in hybrid in the first quarter of 2027, and later that year, a more powerful V8 M Performance variant is expected, as well as a hydrogen fuel cell iX5.
We’ve tested and reviewed the powerful iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the thin and light iPhone Air, the solid iPhone 17 and the newer iPhone 17E to determine our best picks. After extensive testing, we think the iPhone 17 is the best choice for most people. The features it offers for its price and its battery life make it a standout. Recently, We tested the charging abilities of 33 phones, and the iPhone 17 Pro earned a CNET Lab Award for fastest wireless charging.
With the iPhone 17, Apple has significantly narrowed the chasm separating its baseline model from its Pro counterparts. The $829 iPhone 17 (or $799 if you activate with a carrier) shares many of the same camera features with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, like Dual Capture and Center Stage. It also finally gets a display with a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, so you can enjoy smoother scrolling and enable the always-on display and see your notifications at a glance. And support for iOS 26 across the full iPhone 17 lineup means you can access Apple’s most talked-about new software features like live translation, call screening and the Liquid Glass redesign. All that without spending upward of $1,100 for a Pro model, albeit with slightly scaled-back battery life and cameras.
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Jump to details
Pros
Upgraded 1-120Hz display
New camera features
Longer battery life
Faster charging
Cons
Minimal design updates to last year
Apple Intelligence can still feel like a work in progress
From the first moment I picked up the new $1,199 iPhone 17 Pro Max and $1,099 17 Pro, I was beguiled by their bold, bright redesign. It’s a complete turnaround from the years of Apple’s subdued titanium motif. The square camera bump of previous Pro models is now a body-wide bar that Apple calls the “camera plateau.” The 17 Pro and Pro Max now come in actual colors — you won’t find one in black or space gray. This phone, especially in cosmic orange, wants you to look at it.
Jump to details
Pros
The 17 Pro Max’s incredible battery life
The brighter screen looks fantastic
Center Stage camera with the ability to take landscape selfies vertically is sweet
Cons
Wished Dual Capture had a 50/50 split
Live Translation’s Siri voice can overlap with speakers
iPhone 17 Pro battery life is on par with the iPhone 16 Pro
Expensive
The iPhone Air is the ultimate refresh, if you’re looking for something that looks and feels drastically different from most other devices on the market. It’s strikingly lightweight and slim, measuring just 5.6mm thick and clocking in at 165 grams. If you’re worried about durability, design elements like the titanium frame, Ceramic Shield 2 front and Ceramic Shield backing keep it from bending out of shape in your pocket. A generous 6.5-inch display makes it comfortable to hold and enjoyable to watch videos or play games on.
Jump to details
Pros
Slick, lightweight design
Surprisingly good battery life (sometimes)
Impressively durable
iOS 26 looks great
Cons
Single rear camera
Scaled-back speaker
Only charges up to 20 watts
High $999 price tag
Apple’s $599 iPhone 17E packs just enough new features to justify an iOS upgrade for anyone holding onto an iPhone SE or an iPhone 11. While many elements of this iPhone are similar to the iPhone 14, the phone’s inclusion of the new A19 processor, MagSafe for wireless charging and accessories and Ceramic Shield 2 are all notable improvements.
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Pros
Premium feel
Solid camera
MagSafe compatibility
Higher 256GB base storage
A19 chip
Fun pink color option
Cons
No Dynamic Island
Thick bezels
No ultrawide camera or Cinematic video
Only 60Hz refresh rate means no always-on display
When we tested the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, we were definitely impressed by the photography features, the convenient Action button and the elegant build. And while we think the iPhone 17 is quite the deal, you can still snag the iPhone 16 for $100 less. We consider the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus to be top-notch choices for Apple fans. Parts of the iPhone 16’s key feature, Apple Intelligence, are now out, and the fact that these phones will support it means they’ll likely feel future-proofed for years to come. Aside from screen size (6.1 inches on the regular, 6.7 inches on the Plus), battery size and price, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are identical in every way.
Jump to details
Pros
Camera Control is useful for switching camera settings
Photographic Styles makes photos pop
Ultrawide camera is better in low light
Cons
Apple Intelligence isn’t out yet
No always on display
No changes to wired charging speeds
No upgrades to the Action button
MOBILE DEALS OF THE WEEK
Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.
The best iPhone for most people is the iPhone 17. It shares many features with Apple’s pricier 17 Pro models, but at a lower $829 starting price (or $799 if you activate through a carrier). It supports the newest camera capabilities like Dual Capture and Center Stage, and at long last, it has a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate for smoother scrolling and support for the always-on display.
While it’s true that the iPhone 17 shares a striking resemblance to last year’s iPhone 16, there are some key updates that help it stand out. Apart from the upgraded refresh rate, the iPhone 17 also boasts a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, along with an anti-reflective display that makes it easier to see the screen outdoors.
The ultrawide camera goes from 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16 to 48 megapixels on the iPhone 17, and Apple says the iPhone 17 has up to 8 hours more of video playback. Indeed, in CNET’s 3-hour streaming test, the iPhone 17’s battery dropped from 100% to 89%, while the iPhone 16 hit 86%.
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A Ceramic Shield 2 display offers three times better scratch resistance, according to Apple, so if you’re susceptible to etching into your screen, it has a little more protection now. The iPhone 17 starts with a higher 256GB storage option, as opposed to the 128GB starting point on the iPhone 16, meaning you get more space for photos and apps.
Unlike previous iPhone generations, the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro models share almost all the same hardware features, apart from the telephoto lens and bigger battery on the latter. While Apple tends to introduce features like the Dynamic Island and Action button on Pro models first, the two ends of the iPhone spectrum now pack all those same hardware functions.
The iPhone 17 also features all the new iOS 26 capabilities, such as Live Translation, Call Screening and the new Liquid Glass interface.
Best iPhones of 2026
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Pros
Upgraded 1-120Hz display
New camera features
Longer battery life
Faster charging
Cons
Minimal design updates to last year
Apple Intelligence can still feel like a work in progress
With the iPhone 17, Apple has significantly narrowed the chasm separating its baseline model from its Pro counterparts. The $829 iPhone 17 (or $799 if you activate with a carrier) shares many of the same camera features with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, like Dual Capture and Center Stage. It also finally gets a display with a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate, so you can enjoy smoother scrolling and enable the always-on display and see your notifications at a glance. And support for iOS 26 across the full iPhone 17 lineup means you can access Apple’s most talked-about new software features like live translation, call screening and the Liquid Glass redesign. All that without spending upward of $1,100 for a Pro model, albeit with slightly scaled-back battery life and cameras.
Why we like it
The iPhone 17 is a baseline phone that shares many hardware and software features with the iPhone 17 Pro models, making it feel like a worthy, money-saving contender to those pricier devices. Generous battery life, faster charging and camera upgrades help it stand apart from last year’s iPhone 16, even if it looks almost identical.
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Who it’s best for
The iPhone 17 is a great choice for the average phone user who wants good cameras, solid battery life and a quality display. It’s also a good size for anyone who doesn’t like larger phones.
Who shouldn’t get it
If you’re a photography enthusiast and a particularly heavy phone user, the 17 Pros might be the way to go, because you’ll get a telephoto lens on the back, as well as longer battery life. On the other hand, if you’re a lighter phone user, you can save more money by choosing the slightly more budget-friendly $599 iPhone 16E.
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Pros
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The 17 Pro Max’s incredible battery life
The brighter screen looks fantastic
Center Stage camera with the ability to take landscape selfies vertically is sweet
Cons
Wished Dual Capture had a 50/50 split
Live Translation’s Siri voice can overlap with speakers
iPhone 17 Pro battery life is on par with the iPhone 16 Pro
Expensive
From the first moment I picked up the new $1,199 iPhone 17 Pro Max and $1,099 17 Pro, I was beguiled by their bold, bright redesign. It’s a complete turnaround from the years of Apple’s subdued titanium motif. The square camera bump of previous Pro models is now a body-wide bar that Apple calls the “camera plateau.” The 17 Pro and Pro Max now come in actual colors — you won’t find one in black or space gray. This phone, especially in cosmic orange, wants you to look at it.
As I tested the new Pro phones, I was consistently impressed: Even after a full day of heavy use, the Pro Max’s battery still had 22% or more left. The iPhone 17 Pro Max has the best battery life of any phone that CNET has ever tested.
The 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max have the exact same rear cameras, all with 48-megapixel sensors. You can choose between the trio of lenses (wide-angle, ultrawide and telephoto) to capture photos at 12-, 24- or 48-megapixel resolutions. The telephoto camera has gone from the 16 Pro’s 12-megapixel sensor with a 5x lens to a 48-megapixel sensor that’s 56% larger with a new 4x telephoto lens. You read that right: The new Pro has a shorter optical zoom than its predecessor. But I find the short 4x zoom better for portraits, and the increase in detail and dynamic range in 4x photos is a big improvement over 5x snaps from the 16 Pro.
There’s a new selfie camera on both Pro phones that Apple calls Center Stage. It not only takes 18-megapixel selfies, up from 12 megapixels on the 16 Pro, but you can hold the 17 Pro vertically and take a horizontal selfie thanks to a new square image sensor.
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I can’t help but contrast the iPhone 17 Pro models to Apple’s newest phone. The iPhone Air is thin, light, quiet and graceful — with a single rear camera, shorter battery life and $100 cheaper starting price. The 17 Pro and Pro Max are bold, loud, aggressive and powerful, and their daring design appeals to me. But features such as its amazing battery life, brighter screen, new selfie camera and iOS 26 are the real reasons to get either.
Why we like it
I appreciate that Apple gave the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max personality. Gone is the minimal design for the sake of simplicity. We have a phone that is more durable, has a longer battery life, and, when running iOS 26, comes with a number of significant quality-of-life improvements, like live translations for calls, texts and FaceTime.
Who it’s best for
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The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max would be an excellent upgrade for someone coming from an iPhone 14 Pro or older. You get a bigger battery, a better screen, faster charging, newer cameras and a speedier processor that can handle graphics-intensive games and Apple Intelligence.
Who shouldn’t get it
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, you don’t need these new phones unless battery capacity on your current phone is low — and even then, it’d be cheaper to simply have your battery swapped out. And unless you have a gracious disposable income, iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max owners can sit this one out.
The iPhone Air is the ultimate refresh, if you’re looking for something that looks and feels drastically different from most other devices on the market. It’s strikingly lightweight and slim, measuring just 5.6mm thick and clocking in at 165 grams. If you’re worried about durability, design elements like the titanium frame, Ceramic Shield 2 front and Ceramic Shield backing keep it from bending out of shape in your pocket. A generous 6.5-inch display makes it comfortable to hold and enjoyable to watch videos or play games on.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t trade-offs, which feel especially weighty given the iPhone Air’s $999 price tag. A slimmer battery can mean shorter life on heavy-use days, and a single rear camera means you don’t get ultrawide shots or Cinematic mode in video. There’s also only a single speaker instead of the dual-speaker system on other iPhones, which can make audio less immersive. The iPhone Air only supports up to 20-watt charging, as opposed to the 40-watt charging you’ll find on its iPhone 17 counterparts. But if you’re willing to make some compromises, the super-sleek iPhone Air can be an enjoyable investment.
Annual phone upgrades typically feel incremental, but the iPhone Air shakes things up with a bold new design that rivals other thin phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. The Air is remarkably light, which makes it enjoyable to use and won’t weigh down your purse or pocket. Despite its shorter battery life under heavy-use conditions, the iPhone Air performed well in CNET’s battery tests and should hold up just fine on moderate-use days.
Who it’s best for
If you’re not a particularly heavy phone user and want a device that puts design at the forefront, the iPhone Air could be a solid choice. Despite a scaled-back camera, the single rear 48-megapixel camera can also take solid 2x zoom photos, and an 18-megapixel selfie camera matches what you’ll find on the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max.
Who shouldn’t get it
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On the other hand, if you do use your phone a lot and have an affinity for photography, the iPhone Air might not be the best choice for you. The lack of an ultrawide (plus no telephoto) lens might feel a bit too restrictive, and the battery may not be able to keep up with your more extensive screen time.
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Pros
Premium feel
Solid camera
MagSafe compatibility
Higher 256GB base storage
A19 chip
Fun pink color option
Cons
No Dynamic Island
Thick bezels
No ultrawide camera or Cinematic video
Only 60Hz refresh rate means no always-on display
Apple’s $599 iPhone 17E packs just enough new features to justify an iOS upgrade for anyone holding onto an iPhone SE or an iPhone 11. While many elements of this iPhone are similar to the iPhone 14, the phone’s inclusion of the new A19 processor, MagSafe for wireless charging and accessories and Ceramic Shield 2 are all notable improvements.
Why we like it
The iPhone 17E doesn’t feel like a second-class option now that it natively includes MagSafe support, 256GB of storage and a soft pink color option for a little personality. While this iPhone does miss out on having a second ultrawide camera and an always-on display available on the iPhone 17, anyone coming from an iPhone from 2020 or earlier might not notice these omissions thanks to the upgrades it does include.
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Who it’s best for
This is an ideal iPhone for someone who only upgrades their iPhone when it loses software support, and indeed, if you’re coming from an iPhone XR or earlier, you’ll receive plenty of new features. It’s also a good option for anyone coming from a smaller-screen iPhone SE.
Who shouldn’t get it
If iOS isn’t important, many of the Android phones on this list offer more features for less money. Some current iPhone owners might consider the 17E a step back with its lack of an ultrawide camera.
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Pros
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Camera Control is useful for switching camera settings
Photographic Styles makes photos pop
Ultrawide camera is better in low light
Cons
Apple Intelligence isn’t out yet
No always on display
No changes to wired charging speeds
No upgrades to the Action button
When we tested the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, we were definitely impressed by the photography features, the convenient Action button and the elegant build. And while we think the iPhone 17 is quite the deal, you can still snag the iPhone 16 for $100 less. We consider the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus to be top-notch choices for Apple fans. Parts of the iPhone 16’s key feature, Apple Intelligence, are now out, and the fact that these phones will support it means they’ll likely feel future-proofed for years to come. Aside from screen size (6.1 inches on the regular, 6.7 inches on the Plus), battery size and price, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are identical in every way.
The iPhone 16 isn’t perfect — it’s missing an always-on display, and it feels like it’s been ages since Apple improved its wired charging speeds. But it checks all the important boxes and then some.
Why we like it
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus rank so high in our testing because they appeal to novice users and power players. They offer about 90% of the experience of Apple’s Pro models but cost hundreds of dollars less. Not only is the iPhone 16 a wonderful phone out of the box, but Apple has a long track record of updating its software and security patches for years.
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Who it’s best for
When you think about how the Camera Control key, the Action button and the Dynamic Island come together, along with the camera and battery improvements Apple has made in the last several years, the iPhone 16 is a compelling upgrade for someone coming from an older iPhone, especially if they’re on an iPhone 13 or older. For those who don’t need the Pro’s extra photography prowess and battery life, the iPhone 16 won’t disappoint.
Who shouldn’t get it
I wouldn’t recommend buying the iPhone 16 just for the Camera Control button or the better ultrawide camera.
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Get the iPhone 17 free when you switch to T-Mobile with an Experience Beyond or Better Value plan. You don’t have to worry about sending in your old phone to take advantage of this deal: There’s no trade-in required. It takes just 15 minutes to switch, and you can get your phone today with free same-day delivery in select locations.
Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. 1 to 3,000 nits brightness display range. IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, mist blue, sage, lavender. Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.
Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Apple C1X cellular modem. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. 1 to 3,000 nits brightness display range. IP68 resistance. Colors: space black, cloud white, light gold, sky blue. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 20W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.
Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. ProRes Raw video recording. Genlock video support. 1 to 3,000 nits brightness display range. IP68 resistance. Colors: silver, cosmic orange, deep blue. Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.
Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. ProRes Raw video recording. Genlock video support. 1 to 3,000 nits brightness display range. IP68 resistance. Colors: silver, cosmic orange, deep blue. Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.
MagSafe, Qi2 charging (up to 15W), Action button, Apple C1 5G modem, Apple Intelligence, Ceramic Shield, Emergency SOS, Emergency SOS via Satellite, Satellite imessage, IP68 resistance, FaceTime, FindMy
US price starts at
$829 (256GB)
$999 (256GB)
$1,099 (256GB)
$1,199 (256GB)
$599 (256GB)
Recently, we added the iPhone 17E to this list. It replaces last year’s iPhone 16E.
Hold the iPhone first: You may love or hate the way it looks and feels in person.
Don’t discount last year’s model: Apple has a history of keeping recent iPhone models from previous years around at a lower price. You can get a great phone that does almost everything that a new iPhone can do for a fraction of the price. The iPhone 16 packs a great camera and a big battery, but comes at a more reasonable price.
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Buy an iPhone case and screen protector: You’ll protect your iPhone from costly damage and will increase the phone’s resale or trade-in value when you’re ready to move on.
Know what you care about most: Is it screen size? Camera quality? Battery life? Phones like the iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max, for example, pack incredible cameras that almost rival the quality you’d get from a DSLR. If you’re a photographer, then spending money here is a good idea.
Seek out holiday discounts: Look for deep discounts and promo deals around major holidays. And find out what your grace period is in case you need a quick return or exchange.
We test every iPhone in real-world scenarios focusing on its features, design, performance, cameras, battery life and overall value. We document our findings in an initial review that is periodically updated when there are new iOS updates or to compare against new phones from competitors like Samsung, Google and OnePlus.
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John Kim/CNET
Photography
Photography is a major focus for the iPhone, so we take pictures and videos of various subjects in a variety of settings and lighting scenarios. We try out any new camera modes, such as Center Stage on the iPhone 17 series and Air which lets you take a horizontal selfie even if your holding the phone vertically.
Battery life
We conduct battery testing in a variety of ways. We assess how long the iPhone lasts during a typical day of use, and note how it performs during more focused sessions of video calls, media streaming and gaming. We also conduct a video playback test and a 45-minute drain test starting with a full battery, which isn’t always included in the initial review and added later in an update.
Performance measuring
We use benchmarking apps to measure the performance, alongside our own anecdotal experiences using the phone for our review. Of particular note are how graphics and animations look. Are they smooth? Or do they lag or stutter? We also look at how quickly the phone switches between horizontal and vertical orientations and how fast the camera app opens and is ready to take a photo.
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Emergency SOS might be one of the most important features to come out on any phone this year.
Kevin Heinz/CNET
We perform processor-heavy tasks like editing photos and videos, exporting videos and playing games. We evaluate whether a newer version of the iPhone includes enough features to make it worth upgrading from older models. Some of these tests are added later in updates after the initial review is published.
While Apple doesn’t sell the iPhone 16 Pro, you can still find it at carriers and third-party retailers. The 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch adaptive-refresh rate screen that adjusts between 1-120Hz depending on what’s on the screen. It has excellent cameras, a fast processor, an always-on display, supports iOS 26 and safety features like Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite. Driving all these upgrades is Apple’s A18 Pro chip, which, in use, feels peppy. The iPhone 16 Pro is still an excellent phone in 2026. Check out our iPhone 16 Pro review.
eSIM
An eSIM takes all of the important information about your phone account — including its number, wireless carrier and subscription — and stores it in software instead of on a physical SIM card.
Since the iPhone 14 series, Apple no longer includes a physical SIM card tray and embraced embedded SIM cards in the US. This means you can’t just pluck your SIM card out of your current phone and put it into a new one. But this shouldn’t affect your experience as all the major US carriers and a number of smaller operators work with eSIM.
Apple has long supported eSIM, dating to 2018’s iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. When setting up a new iPhone 14, 15 or 16, the device will guide you through transferring your current provider over to the new phone. A list of supported wireless networks can be found on Apple’s website.
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iOS 26
Apple’s iOS 26 animations have seemingly comic book character abilities. Every time I unlock my phone, the apps delightfully assemble on the home screen like the five lion robots uniting together to become Voltron. The lock screen clock extends around my chosen photo like Mr. Fantastic. The control center pulls down as if I were stretching a piece of taffy.
The unified look of the Liquid Glass interface across apps, the Home Screen and lock screen give the iPhone a contemporary, slick and shiny, plastic candy feel. For all the beauty Liquid Glass adds, though, some of the warmth of previous iOS versions is gone.
There are small but significant gems buried in iOS 26’s design, including the ability to add a background image to group chats in Messages or use the new Hold Assist tool for phone calls.
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When is the best time of year to buy a new iPhone?
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Typically you will find the best deals on iPhones the month after new models launch. That means with the iPhone 17 launch in September, the best discounts and trade-in deals were from early September to early October.
In the early days of smartphones the iPhone vs. Android rivalry was at it peak. But in 2026, the difference between Android and iOS has shrunk quite a bit. Nearly everything you can do on an iPhone, you can do on an Android phone and vice versa. If you are trying to decide between buying an iPhone or Android phones, first start by seeing what phones your family and closest friends use. For example, if your family is on iPhone and uses services like iMessage and FaceTime, then it makes sense to shop for an iPhone.
Should I wait for the new iPhone model (iPhone 18)?
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The iPhone 17 is now out, and iPhone 18 might not launch until February 2027. Rumors point to Apple launching the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold in September 2026.
Apple has been selling iPhones since 2007. The current lineup was released in September 2025 and all have a dust and water resistance rating of IP68, which means they can survive being submerged under 6 meters of water (about 20 feet) for 30 minutes. The screens are covered in Apple’s Ceramic Shield 2 which is a glass-ceramic material created by Corning, in collaboration with Apple, and consists of nano-ceramic crystals embedded in the glass matrix. It’s highly transparent, and according to Corning, the tough structure formed by the crystals means it’s less likely to break.
One way to measure how long an iPhone will last is to look at the software and security support Apple offers for older models. iOS 26 can run on Apple phones as old as 2019’s iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. That’s roughly seven years of software support. Compare that to Samsung, which offers seven years of Android version upgrades and security updates. But software is only half the equation. The other part is hardware and durability. Every iPhone Apple sells has an IP rating for dust and water resistance. Newer models also have Ceramic Shield, a glass-ceramic hybrid, that covers the display and is very durable.
We don’t expect Apple to release any new iPhones until September 2026. There are already rumors for the iPhone 18 Pro and a possible iPhone Fold, which would be Apple’s first foldable phone. Other rumors point to Apple debuting the base model iPhone 18 in February 2027 — a shift from how Apple typically has announced its new iPhone models.
Earlier this year, shares of traditional SaaS companies tumbled amid investor fears that software built with AI could eventually displace those businesses. Despite such concerns, Bending Spoons, a company that acquires and revitalizes stagnating but well-known tech firms, saw its shares surge in its market debut.
It closed at $40.50 on Wednesday, nearly 40% above its $29 IPO price. At that price, the 13-year-old Milan, Italy-based company has a market capitalization of $25.7 billion, more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion. The company raised $1.68 billion in its offering.
Bending Spoons has grown rapidly by acquiring aging, but once popular, brands like AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, then turning them profitable, typically through aggressive cost-cutting, launching new features, and raising prices. While the company’s approach is similar to private equity, there is one key difference: Bending Spoons has no plans to sell these businesses.
The company’s disclosed financials show it has indeed turned its growing portfolio of assets profitable. Bending Spoons reported $601 million in revenue for Q1, generating $27.4 million in net income. That’s a significant turnaround from the same period last year, when the company reported a $112 million net loss on $259 million in revenue, according to the SEC filing.
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Bending Spoons, whose name comes from a scene in the science-fiction movie “The Matrix,” generated the majority of its revenue from subscriptions, which accounted for 84% of its business last year.
Before the offering, Baillie Gifford was Bending Spoons’ largest outside shareholder, followed by smaller stakes from buyout fund Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price.
The IPO also represents a significant windfall for Bending Spoons’ five co-founders: Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber.
Besides Bending Spoons, other investors follow the strategy of acquiring, fixing, and holding stalled software firms, often referred to as “venture zombie” companies. These firms include Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, saas.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital.
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[Brian] had an absolute monster of a PCB with thousands of nets to be routed, the kind of design that stopped traditional routers in their tracks. It would take months to route by hand, likely trying the patience of a saint in the process. To solve this specific problem he created OrthoRoute, a GPU-accelerated autorouter that he cautions is no more trustworthy than any other autorouter, but at least it’s fast!
A closeup of an extremely high-density board routed by OrthoRoute.
A KiCad plugin, OrthoRoute is so named because traces are laid down in a Manhattan lattice, a grid of orthogonal segments. All components (surface-mount only, no through-hole stuff) go on the top layer of the PCB, and all lower levels contain a grid of traces, connected as needed with blind and buried vias to route everything. OrthoRoute takes a structured and iterative approach, eventually converging on a satisfactory layout.
How does OrthoRouter actually decide how to connect things? [Brian] adapted PathFinder, an algorithm designed for routing FPGAs. Laying out a grid of orthogonal traces and punching down through them with vias to make connections has a lot in common, conceptually, with routing FPGAs. GPU acceleration makes the whole thing far more efficient than pipelining the calculations through a CPU.
OrthoRoute was built to solve a very specific problem, but in the process showed that GPU-accelerated routing is definitely feasible. Check it out in the videos, embedded below the page break.
[Brian] cautions that as-is, OrthoRoute is useful to maybe a handful of people at best, but as a KiCad plugin it’s highly modular and the hard parts are all done. If you want a closer look, or have some ideas about how to repurpose or extend it, check out the GitHub repository.
I’ve been low-key obsessed with Darren Aronofsky’s AI-drenched video project On This Day…1776 since it landed out of the blue on YouTube in late January.
As a narrative, the ongoing series of short videos tracks select events throughout the United States’ birth year, when the outcome of the looming revolution was truly precarious. As a Hollywood-adjacent initiative, it’s also meant to be a proving ground for what creative professionals might be able to accomplish with generative AI tools that are evolving by leaps and bounds.
Through the first half of 2026, and especially as we’ve closed in on the country’s 250th anniversary on July 4, what has emerged has been an increasingly surreal blend of technical ambition, snapshot patriotism and a penchant for the grotesque.
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It’s that TV show that you’re sure is the worst thing ever, but you can’t stop hate-watching because you want to see what weird twist comes next. And some of it is truly bonkers.
Produced by Aronofsky’s AI-centric Primordial Soup studio and promoted by Time Studios, On This Day…1776 drew a burst of media attention — and backlash — with the simultaneous debut of its first two episodes. People hated it simply because it was heavily AI-generated. The flaws in the execution were all too apparent. It was a betrayal of the humanity of Aronofsky’s own films. As much as I tried to be open-minded, I couldn’t help but sum it up as “a hellish broth of machine-driven AI slop and bad human choices.”
For a while, it seemed like the criticism had been too much to bear and the project had been shelved. Time Studios had promised weekly episodes, but nearly a month went by before the third one dropped. (No splash — it simply appeared on the YouTube page, as every episode has done since.)
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On This Day…1776 serves up many encounters with a distinguished Gen. George Washington. His dream sequence is not one of them.
Primordial Soup via YouTube/Screenshot by CNET
It seemed to have fallen off everyone’s radar. The initial episode garnered 199,000 views — not exactly a viral sensation, but not nothing. The four episodes from mid-May to mid-June each have under 2,000 views as of this writing.
For every episode since the start — 11 so far, most well under five minutes long — a handful of those views are mine.
Like I said, I’m obsessed. My compulsive viewing has centered on three things: whether the series could meet the weekly schedule (hard fail), how it presents the history (wacky, and getting wackier) and how the AI looks (often impressive, often dubious).
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In May, speaking about the 1776 project at the Cannes Film Festival’s AI Summit, Aronofsky said this: “I encourage you to watch it because it’s an experiment to see how it’s gonna progress.”
Challenge accepted.
Before I get into those particulars, though, let me also say that regardless of my judgment of this one series, this isn’t a referendum on AI video as cinema or its general place in the arts. Whether you like it or not, generative AI is on the verge of becoming a fixture in movie-making, from storyboarding to providing the settings and scenery around human actors to creating full-on featurefilms.
I’m here to look at whether On This Day…1776 is succeeding or failing on its own terms. The series is a given, and I’m here to review it as I would any other show, like, for example, Widow’s Bay. What is the story that it’s telling? And is it telling that story well?
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AI meets the Great Man of History theory
On This Day…1776 is not your high school American history class. Textbook it is not, even if it has more than a few stodgy, leaden moments.
It does — as promised — work through 1776 in chronological order, hitting some greatest-hits moments, including the fledgling Continental Army scaring the British fleet out of Boston Harbor, while often digging up deep cuts that don’t have specific dates attached to them, such as the forced recruitment of German villagers into the Hessian army. It cheats a bit with the calendar, though. The March 5: Massacre Day episode focuses on the Boston Massacre, even though that bloody event happened six years earlier. (It also didn’t appear on YouTube until March 17, a date that was actually significant in 1776 because it marked the fleet’s departure.)
Talk about a jump cut. One second, these 18th-century French government ministers and their table and chairs are in a palatial drawing room. The next, they’re at sea amid a fishing crew and their catch.
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Primordial Soup via YouTube/Screenshot by CNET
There’s a global perspective woven into the series. We see the developments throughout that year from multiple angles: American revolutionaries, British soldiers, French royalty, Hessian mercenaries. Extended sequences are spoken in French and German — with subtitles — or with a tangy Scottish accent. (The production takes pains to point out that SAG-credentialed human voice actors handle the dialogue. Other humans involved include writer, director, editor and composer, all of whom are credited at the end of the each episode, starting with the fourth.)
It’s got an ensemble cast that’s largely a Great Men of History parade: Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George III, John Adams. If there’s a lead character, it’s George Washington, who was a towering and central figure in 1776. A rare exception is the curiously two-episode saga featuring an unfortunate, unknown German conscripted into the Hessian ranks just after his wedding.
We spend time with Betsy Ross in the Flag Day episode (which landed a few days late), but she has no lines. She’s too busy sewing.
“Mindblowing” improvements, Aronofsky says
In his May comments at Cannes, Aronofsky called the production advances from January to the April 29 episode (the sixth one, and the most recent at that moment) “mindblowing.” It wasn’t just the AI models getting better, he said, but also the Primordial Soup pipeline and the unspecified artists working on the project.
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I’m not convinced. Maybe it’s more of a back-end thing, as the production team gets more comfortable with the tools. But on the business end, where I’m watching? Sorry, no.
Faces remain inconsistent from both scene to scene and from frame to frame within the same scene. Ben Franklin looks a little more doughy, then less so; a little older, then a little younger. Lip sync is also maddeningly off almost all the time, like a badly dubbed foreign film. The historical figures still feel too much like props: Washington striding into a room feels staged, not lived. And there’s often a plasticky quality to the images.
A frustrated and high-strung John Adams vents his anger in a bowl of water. The historical record is silent on his feelings about the use of generative AI tools in the creative process.
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Primordial Soup via YouTube/Screenshot by CNET
There’s a constant feeling that Primordial Soup is showing off: Look at the macro detail in this fabric! Watch someone blow picture-perfect bubbles! It’s technically impressive, but also wicked distracting. Time Studios refers to On This Day…1776 as an “animated series,” which feels like an odd description given its relentless pursuit of photorealism.
Yet somehow the more recent episodes do feel improved in a way that’s hard to pin down.
Episode 10, the Betsy Ross one, has a stirring montage of red, white and blue flag threads forming and reforming into Uncle Sam, Amelia Earhart and her airplane, the moon landing, the flag raising at Iwo Jima, an elephant and donkey facing off, Jimi Hendrix, Arlington Cemetery. It feels like something you’d see on the Jumbotron at a political rally. It’s one of the most impressive sequences in the series so far.
I think it’s confidence. The Primordial Soup team seems to be feeling more and more empowered to get weird. To indulge their inner David Lynch. To move beyond diorama history and toward a specific vision, however demented.
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One of the early episodes gave us George Washington having a bad dream, playing out the misgivings that he really did record in private correspondence. As he’s getting ready for bed, we get an all too vivid look at his false teeth. In the extended dream sequence, a musket ball hits him squarely in the forehead, lingers a moment and falls off.
That Boston Massacre callback? It’s done in a vertical video format, as if someone had recorded the episode on a smartphone. That’s hardly the only anachronism. In later episodes, we get glimpses of “Join or die!” spray-painted on a statue, and in another, a call for “No more kings.”
Trippy and getting trippier
The April 29 episode was trippy from start to finish. An account of debates within France’s ruling class over whether to aid the American colonists, it opens with a tracking shot of a housefly zipping through palace rooms before it’s finally swatted onto a map with a gruesomely comic flourish. In another scene, a fish flops across a table in front of a dismayed royal. Bewigged ministers debating in a palace room suddenly find themselves aboard a ship on a roiling sea, table and chairs included. (The episode ends with a guillotine beheading. Whee!)
The June 5 episode gives us a stressed-out John Adams who is perilously close to being a clone of Larry from the Three Stooges.
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It’s touch and go for a while in a cartoon battle between Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson and England’s King George III. When Jefferson — and the Declaration — eventually win out, the crowd chants “USA! USA! USA!”
Primordial Soup via YouTube/Screenshot by CNET
But nothing prepared me for the newest episode, which dropped June 30 as I was wrapping up this review. It is, I kid you not, rendered in a thoroughly 21st-century anime style, complete with a garish WWE-style showdown between Thomas Jefferson and George III as Jefferson wrestles with the soul-stirring phrases that would make the Declaration of Independence the defining document of the American experiment. Your high school history teacher probably never paired “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” with:
George III: “Kneel before your king!” Jefferson: “Kneel before this, bitch.”
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In this episode, as in the real events of history, Jefferson does get the last word, and the W.
On This Day…1776 is less a history lesson than a work of historical fiction, staying largely faithful to the real people and events while never hesitating to veer off in service of the story it wants to tell. It’s a costume drama that’s still getting comfortable in its breeches, buckle shoes and tricorne hat, a period piece eager to prove its relevance to the present day.
Unfortunately, there are many, many unanswered questions about how much of what we’re seeing is the unvarnished product of the AI tools themselves (how elaborate the prompts must be!) and how much is the work of the human artists and technicians using them. Is an episode’s director an auteur or a spectator? What goes into the post-production process? Where is the line between human creativity and AI automation? Will it ever be more than glorified slop?
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On This Day…1776 stumbles and falters repeatedly. And while it may never win over the large “AI-isn’t-art” camp, its better moments are aren’t half bad.
Not every experiment succeeds. But maybe, hopefully, we learn something along the way.
Last September, Denmark was gripped by a spate of drone sightings near airports. It’s familiar territory for Hackaday, as we reported on a similar drone panic saga at British airports back in the last decade. Back then the British police dragged their feet and hid behind secrecy laws for years to avoid admitting they overreacted, but it seems in Denmark they do things differently (Danish language, Google Translate link.).
The Danish police in Jutland have rolled back their report, and noted that a reported observation alone is not enough to confirm a drone was present. It’s not confirmed why they’ve taken this step, but we’ve been told that there’s been an effort within the drone community to identify possible aircraft flight paths which could have resulted in a false drone sighting at the times in question.
We welcome this correction, and hope that its important message travels widely. Of course it is the right thing to do for a police force to take drone reports seriously, but overreacting as the British police did is of little help. We commend the Danish police for taking this step, and we’re likely to trust any drone reports from them a little bit more in the future. If you’d like to read our plea for a sensible response at the time, it’s here.
Engineers prepare a high-power satellite for testing at K2 Space’s manufacturing facility in Torrance, Calif. (K2 Space via PRNewswire)
California-based K2 Space is establishing a satellite engineering hub in the Seattle area, adding to a thriving regional ecosystem of satellite ventures.
The Pacific Northwest operation will support the company’s drive to build large, high-power satellites for government and commercial customers. The satellites are manufactured at K2’s factory in Torrance, Calif. The company also maintains a policy and strategy office in Washington, D.C.
Since its founding in 2022, K2 Space has raised more than $500 million in capital and registered more than $1 billion in contracts. While many satellite companies focus on miniaturization, K2 Space is going big on satellite mass and power. K2 had its first “mega-class” satellite, dubbed Gravitas, launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in March. The two-ton, 20-kilowatt satellite carried a dozen undisclosed payload modules for multiple customers, including the Department of Defense.
“As we carefully evaluated our expansion plans to align with our next phase of growth, the Seattle area was a natural fit, given its decisive reputation as an aerospace and engineering hub,” K2 Space CEO and co-founder Karan Kunjur said in a news release. “From flight software and autonomy to the low-level systems that drive our satellites’ most demanding workloads, our Seattle team will contribute to satellites operating at the edge of what’s possible.”
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K2 Space currently has more than 300 employees, and several employees are already working in the Seattle area on a remote basis. Supporting those workers’ needs was one of the factors behind the decision to establish a Seattle-area office. A representative of K2 Space told GeekWire via email that the company was targeting the Bellevue area for the office, but was still finalizing a specific location.
The region’s other satellite manufacturers include Starcloud in Redmond, Xplore in Bellevue and Portal Space Systems in Bothell. South of Seattle, Tukwila serves as the home base for satellite production facilities operated by BlackSky (formerly LeoStella) and Starfish Space.
California-based Cowboy Space, a data center satellite company formerly known as Aetherflux, has an engineering office in the Seattle area. Another California company focusing on satellite-based computing, Sophia Space, has a Seattle presence as well.
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, which is headquartered in Kent, Wash., is gearing up for satellite projects including Terawave and a proposed data-center constellation called Project Sunrise. Blue Origin’s job listings suggest that facilities in the Seattle area, Los Angeles and Denver will play roles in those operations.
Sam Altman is in talks with the US government in a bid to clear political hurdles, says the Financial Times.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
OpenAI’s Sam Altman has reportedly been in talks with the US government to ensure his company’s path towards achieving its goals remains free of political hurdles. According to the Financial Times, Altman has suggested giving the government a five percent stake in the company, in order to share the spoils of the AI boom with the public. But his idea doesn’t only involve OpenAI: Under his proposal, other top AI companies like Google, Anthropic, xAI and Meta would have to agree to give the government a similar stake in their businesses.
AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have recently encountered roadblocks from the US government when it came to releasing their latest AI models. Anthropic had to block all access to its Mythos and Fable cybersecurity models after being ordered to do so by the Trump administration. It was only recently granted permission to restore users’ access to them. Meanwhile, OpenAI had to roll out a limited preview of its GPT-5.6 model to government-approved partners, as requested by the administration, as well.
In June, Trump had signed a scaled-back executive order, which asks AI companies to share their most powerful models for voluntary government review 30 days before making them available to the public. Politicians, including Trump’s allies, as well as organizations like the UN, however, are calling for more stringent AI policies.
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As the Times notes, giving the government part ownership worked for another firm before. President Trump used to call for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign until his administration took a 10 percent stake in the chipmaker. Trump even recently boasted that “America’s stake [in Intel] is now over 60 billion dollars” from $8.9 billion in 2025.
Altman and other OpenAI executives reportedly floated the idea of having leading AI developers give a five percent equity to sovereign funds, such as the Alaska Permanent Fund, which pays dividends to the state government and residents. Talks between OpenAI and the government are in their very early stages, though, and the Times says any deal would still require Congress approval.
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