If you’ll excuse the pun, skillets seem to always be a hot topic.

More than in other sections of cookery, there is a continual quest to find the best one, or at least the best one you can afford. I’ve seen cycles of fetishization come and go for copper, cast-iron, and carbon steel.

At the Mall of New Hampshire in the 1980s, I remember watching a miraculous cooking-store demonstration of omelettes effortlessly sliding out of a Teflon pan. Then, only a few years ago, the industry pretty much dropped the whole Teflon category like a hot potato due to the pans’ propensity to give off harmful fumes if they get too hot. Less durable ceramic immediately filled the void, and we’re already realizing how quickly it can lose its nonstick magic.

All this time, stainless-steel pans have been waiting in the wings. They are durable, and lighter and less fussy than cast iron and carbon steel. They’re not nonstick, but that’s often fixed with a pat of butter. They sear well, and with a bit of TLC, they’re built for a lifetime of hard work.

All-Clad has been one of the great brands in stainless for years, but I wondered if other slightly more expensive skillets were worth a look, particularly as some are new to the market and others have been flying under the radar. Along with a 10-inch All-Clad, I called in similar-sized pans from Hestan, Viking, and Heritage Steel. Testing all these sounded like fun at first, but things got weird and stayed weird for a while, and only with a bunch of hands-on data gathering and time at the stove did I understand which pans I could recommend.

Pans Labyrinth

A smart and easy cheat for someone like me is to use All-Clad’s 10-inch D3 Fry Pan as a baseline. (“Fry pan” and “skillet” are used interchangeably in this category.) The D3 has been an America’s Test Kitchen and Wirecutter darling for years, with advocates seeking out traits like uniform heating across its surface, a comfortable handle, and cladding (layers of different metals). It’s $170 with a lid and $150 without, which is a good chunk of change, but it feels like a fair price for buy-it-for-life durability.

I own and love one of All-Clad’s 4-quart D5 Essential Pans, which is like a high-sided skillet, and it has a perfectly flat cooking surface. But the cooking surface on the D3 skillet All-Clad sent to me for this story was a bit domed–high in the center and low around the outside—not horribly so, but surprising to me, and among the dozen or so pans I called in, it was among the furthest out of whack. I also noticed that the rivets that hold the handle to the pan weren’t fully squished on there. It felt fine and didn’t wobble, but an All-Clad representative confirmed this wasn’t right. They sent another pan, and the rivets were as they should be on that one, but the bottom was pretty much the same. I learned that this amount of doming is within All-Clad’s tolerance range, but not within mine. What can I say? I like flat pans, I thought, looking wistfully at my perfect D5.

I had a similar level of trouble with another pan I had high hopes for. The new 10-inch Viking Pure Glide Pro, which I had seen at my favorite trade show, has a textured titanium layer for the cooking surface above an aluminum core and stainless-steel bottom layer. Impressively, this combination of materials created a capable nonstick competitor that I’d be a lot more excited about if it was part of a better, sturdier pan. The Viking had some temperature management issues that I’ll get to in a moment, and it either warped or arrived warped to the point that heating oil would form a moat around the center of the pan. If Viking fixes this, the Pure Glide Pro has the potential to be a hell of a pan, but it’s not there yet.

Recorded from the show floor at AXPONA 2026, this episode features Kendall Costello, Sales Operation Analyst at Loewe, and Amir Hejazi, Senior Engineer at Loewe. Topics covered include details about Loewe’s latest Stellar TVs and Leo headphone lineup, along with their return to the U.S. market. The conversation focuses on design priorities, key features, and how Loewe is positioning its products in a competitive premium market, with insight into how engineering and product strategy come together across both categories.

Sponsors: Thank you SVS for sponsoring this episode, along with Audeze for supplying all guests LCD-S20 Headphones, and Loewe and T10 Bespoke for sharing lounge space at AXPONA 2026.

This episode was recorded on April 12, 2026 (the third day of AXPONA 2026).

Where to listen:

On the Panel:

• Kendall Costello, LOEWE Sales Support Manager
• Amir Hejazi, LOEWE Sr. Engineer
• Chris Boylan, eCoustics Editor-at-Large
• Brian Mitchell, eCoustics Founder & CEO (Host)

AXPONA 2026 Podcasts:

Related Links:

Credits:

The BMPS Grand Finals have just concluded, and what an action-packed three days they were. We saw the rise of new titans like Divine Gaming, who, up until today, were the favorites to win the title. Sadly, veteran GodLike had other plans, who just had a stellar day in every single match. Another big surprise was the return of OG, who also qualified for the EWC in Paris by defeating SouL in the overall team standings. Here’s what the final BMPS rankings look like.

BMPS Grand Finals Rankings After Day 3

Apple’s wearable future is starting to come into focus, and cameras appear to be at its center. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that camera-equipped AirPods and Apple’s first smart glasses are currently on the roadmap for 2027. While they may look like ordinary accessories on the surface, both products could play a crucial role in helping Apple Intelligence understand the world around its users in real time.

Your AirPods might start paying attention

When most people think of AirPods, they think of music, podcasts, and phone calls. Cameras aren’t exactly high on the wishlist. But Apple has a different vision. The cameras wouldn’t be there for recording videos. Instead, they’d help gather information about the world around you and feed that data into Siri and Apple’s AI systems.

Imagine asking Siri about a building you’re looking at, identifying an object in front of you, or getting contextual information without ever pulling out your phone. So, your AirPods could become another set of eyes for Apple’s AI; that’s a dramatically different role from what earbuds do today.

Glasses to see, not just display

Then there’s Apple’s smart glasses, arguably one of the company’s most anticipated future products. Unlike the bulky Vision Pro headset, smart glasses could bring AI into a form factor people might actually wear all day. While details remain scarce, cameras are expected to play a crucial role, helping the device understand its surroundings and deliver real-time, useful information.

What’s particularly interesting is how these products fit into Apple’s broader AI strategy. Most companies are trying to make AI more useful through apps and chatbots. Apple appears to be exploring something more ambient — AI that observes the world around you and responds when needed. Whether consumers are ready for camera-equipped wearables is another question entirely. But if Gurman’s report is accurate, 2027 could be remembered as the year Apple stopped thinking about AI as software and started turning it into something you wear.

John Ternus has been talking about focusing on Apple’s core strength of design once he takes over as CEO, and a now a questionable report extrapolates that this means he’ll shake up the design team.

John Ternus is now best known for taking over as Apple CEO from Tim Cook, but as recently as January 2026, he took control of the firm’s design team. Now according to Bloomberg, far from leaving that because of other CEO duties, he is planning to continue working on Apple’s whole design philosophy.

Reportedly, Ternus told staff that under him, Apple will “keep focusing on design, because design is core to what we do in Apple.”

He said that Apple has brought “truly incredible design” to customers, and done so more than any other firm. Ternus claims that the best-designed item that most customers have, is an Apple product.

“We’re going to make sure that stays the case,” he said.

There are no further details, although the report echoes claims from January 2026 that Ternus plans a shakeup of the design teams. What is clear, though, is that this is going to mark a clear difference between Ternus and his predecessor, Tim Cook.

Cook was once criticized by Steve Jobs for not being a product person, in the way that Jobs or Jony Ive would obsess over them. It’s repeatedly been reported that Cook did not often visit the design teams, and now it’s said that Ternus has already devoted a lot of his time to the design division.

The first products to come out under Ternus’s aegis will be the iPhone 18 range in September 2026, the month he officially takes over. It’s said that Apple is aiming to mark the 20th anniversary of the original iPhone with a series of new devices, including a new iPhone Fold, and AirPods with cameras, in 2027.

Even those, though, are already at the testing stage. So while Ternus has been involved with them, it could take a couple of years before Apple releases a device that was made entirely on his watch.

If you bought an iPhone 16 or iPhone 15 when they launched, you may be able to claim some of the money from a class action lawsuit against Apple. It’s all tied to the new Apple Intelligence features the company previewed during launch — features that ultimately didn’t arrive on time, but were finally unveiled more extensively this month at WWDC 2026.

Apple settled a shareholder lawsuit in May, agreeing to pay $250 million to customers who bought the iPhone 16 and some iPhone 15 models during a specified period. The lawsuit alleged that Apple misled customers by promising AI features that didn’t ship when the new devices did. Payouts between $25 and $95 per eligible device are expected.

In a statement to CNET Managing Editor David Lumb, an Apple spokesperson said, “Apple has reached a settlement to resolve claims related to the availability of two additional features. We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users.”

Why is there a lawsuit over Apple Intelligence?

When Apple advertised its new iPhone 16 lineup, it emphasized how they were optimized for AI features such as an enhanced Siri that could act as an intelligent agent. When the phones did arrive, Apple Intelligence wasn’t yet ready; its first features didn’t arrive until iOS 18.1, five weeks later.

According to the proposed settlement, “Apple allegedly saturated the market with deceptive ads, inducing consumers to purchase iPhones based on the promise of certain enhanced Siri features.”

Some features of Apple Intelligence did ship soon after the introduction of the iPhone 16 and iOS 18, including Visual Intelligence, Live Translation, Writing Tools, Genmoji and Clean Up. But those weren’t the advanced features Apple highlighted.

Who is eligible for the $250 million settlement?

Customers who purchased one of the following devices between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, are eligible to receive a settlement payment:

• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16E
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are included because they had the processor and memory to run Apple Intelligence features.

It’s estimated that there are approximately 36 million customers eligible for this settlement.

Watch this: What iPhone Users Actually Want From the New Google-Powered Siri

09:49

How to claim your portion of the settlement

For now, you need to wait.

As set forth in the settlement, Apple will provide a list of eligible customers and their contact information to a settlement administrator. 

After the data has been verified, the company Verita will send email and postal notices to those customers directing them to a settlement website. That site has not yet been created. The deadline for filing your claim will be 90 days after your notice arrives.

When can you expect to receive a settlement payment?

According to the settlement, Apple must provide the information about affected customers within five days of the settlement approval, which was scheduled for June 17, 2026.

When the data is provided and verified, a 45-day notice period begins to inform potential consumers that they’re eligible for a payment.

The actual payment of claims will occur within a 60-calendar-day window after the final details, such as exclusions and objections,  have been worked out. That puts the first checks or deposits arriving sometime after September 2026, depending on court dates and possible extensions.

Forward-looking: The next version of HDMI is mainly about pushing bandwidth higher to carry better video and audio, not small, incremental tweaks. HDMI 2.2, teased at CES 2025 and formally released by the HDMI Forum in June of that year, raises maximum bandwidth to 96Gbps, twice that of HDMI 2.1, allowing more uncompressed video data to move between devices.

HDMI 2.2 can carry uncompressed 4K video at up to 240Hz, something that currently requires Display Stream Compression (which as we’ve shown however, is not a big limitation). It can also reach 4K at 480Hz using 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, and handle uncompressed RGB 8K at 60Hz.

The added bandwidth cuts down on the compression and other tricks current hardware has had to rely on to push high frame rates. For gamers, that extra headroom makes it easier to drive high refresh rates at 4K and beyond without leaning as heavily on compression or workarounds.

With compression still in the toolkit when needed, the spec allows for more extreme modes, too, including 1440p at refresh rates above 1,000Hz – numbers that, for now, sit well beyond everyday use.

That leap is tied to FRL2, the updated signaling technology underpinning HDMI 2.2. The transition is already underway at the hardware level. “We’re hearing chip manufacturers will start to sample their FRL2 chips this year,” Rob Tobias, CEO and president of the HDMI Licensing Administrator, told ARMdevices at Computex 2026. “And so we should start to see some 96 or up to 96 gigabit HDMI 2.2 products next year.” Certification efforts are ongoing, and the first wave of compatible devices is expected in 2027.

Still, the headline number – 96Gbps – doesn’t tell the whole story. HDMI 2.2 rolls out in multiple tiers, including 64Gbps and 80Gbps versions, and certification doesn’t require manufacturers to hit the top speed. That means two devices both labeled “HDMI 2.2” could perform very differently depending on how they’re built. For buyers, that puts more weight on spec sheets than branding.

In the PC space, the timing is complicated by the fact that DisplayPort 2.1 already delivers up to 80Gbps and is widely used in high-end monitors. For enthusiasts running multi-display setups, HDMI hasn’t been the primary interface for some time, and that’s unlikely to change overnight. Licensing costs may also factor into how quickly HDMI 2.2 gains traction compared with DisplayPort.

Where HDMI continues to hold ground is in the living room. Features like ARC, CEC, and ALLM are already deeply integrated into TVs and home theater systems, and HDMI 2.2 adds another layer with Latency Indication Protocol, or LIP, aimed at tightening audio-video synchronization – a persistent issue with soundbars and AV receivers. It’s a small but practical upgrade, and one that targets a problem many users encounter even in otherwise high-end setups.

Even so, there’s a gap between what the specification allows and what current content actually demands. Most games and video still operate well below the limits of HDMI 2.1, and 4K at 120Hz – already supported – remains underutilized. It’s easy enough to imagine future consoles taking advantage of higher refresh rates, but widespread use will depend on both hardware and software catching up.

That lag is likely to show up in the rollout. GPU support isn’t expected until late 2027 or later, and early adoption will likely be confined to premium hardware. On the TV side, HDMI capabilities often depend on the underlying processing chips, which have historically led to uneven feature support even among top-tier models. There’s little reason to expect a cleaner transition this time around.

For now, HDMI 2.2 is more about preparing for future hardware than something people need to upgrade to right away. The spec sets a high ceiling, but it may take several product generations before most users see a tangible benefit. In the meantime, its presence will likely be felt more in product positioning than in everyday performance.