Samsung may be planning to standardize the zoom camera across the Galaxy S27, S27+, and S27 Pro, while keeping the Ultra on a separate telephoto setup.

According to tipster @phonefuturist, the Galaxy S27 and S27+ are being tested with the same 3x telephoto system as the Galaxy S27 Pro. The claim lines up with an earlier ETNews report that pointed to a 12MP 3x telephoto camera for the Pro, although the latest leak does not confirm whether it is referring to that exact sensor.

If accurate, Samsung could be giving all three non-Ultra models the same zoom hardware, while reserving a more capable telephoto camera for the Galaxy S27 Ultra.

The regular Galaxy S27 models could finally get a better zoom camera

The Galaxy S26 and S26+ currently use a relatively small 10MP 1/3.94-inch sensor for their 3x telephoto cameras, hardware that has changed very little over the past few generations. ETNews previously reported that the Galaxy S27 Pro could move to a newer 12MP 3x telephoto camera. If the latest leak is referring to that same system, the Galaxy S27 and S27+ could finally receive an overdue zoom camera upgrade as well.

The resolution increase alone would be fairly modest, and we still do not know the sensor size, lens, or other hardware details. A larger or newer sensor, however, could improve detail and low-light performance, two areas where the tiny telephoto cameras on Samsung’s regular Galaxy S models have plenty of room to improve.

The Galaxy S27 Ultra is expected to remain in a different league. Samsung is reportedly testing a much larger 50MP 1/1.9-inch 4x telephoto sensor for the Ultra, although it may retain its existing 5x approach if the new hardware does not provide enough of an advantage to justify the added cost.

The Galaxy S27 may have more upgrades under the hood

The shared telephoto camera could be part of a broader hardware upgrade for the Galaxy S27. Previous leaks suggest Samsung is also testing a new Sony sensor for the main camera and a larger 4,900mAh battery, even though leaked renders point to a design that looks almost unchanged from the Galaxy S26.

There is one confusing part of @phonefuturist’s claim worth pointing out. The tipster says the S27 and S27+ could use the Pro’s 3x telephoto while “sharing their main and ultrawide camera hardware with the Ultra.” Taken literally, that would mean the regular S27 models also inherit the Ultra’s main and ultrawide cameras. Previous reports have instead suggested the S27 Pro will share those cameras with the S27 Ultra, so that is likely what the tipster intended to say.

The latest telephoto claim has not been independently verified either. Until more reliable sources back it up, it is worth taking the idea of a shared 3x camera across the S27, S27+, and S27 Pro with a grain of salt.

Apple Fellow Phil Schiller is reducing his workload at Apple, with the long-time executive no longer in charge of the App Store and managing product events.

Phil Schiller became an “Apple Fellow” in 2020 but still led Apple’s App Store and Apple Events in the specially-created role. Six years later, things are changing.

The 66-year-old executive, who was formerly Apple’s SVP of marketing, made the decision in the last few days of the Tim Cook premiership. Bloomberg reports people familiar with the matter found out about his choice, which has yet to be officially announced by Apple.

Though Schiller won’t be managing the App Store or Apple Events, he won’t be leaving the company yet. He advised to employees that he will instead be working on “unspecified initiatives.”

The change is one that could be viewed as a step towards retirement from Apple. Becoming an Apple Fellow was one of those steps, with Greg Joswiak taking over the role of SVP of Worldwide Marketing at the time.

The Apple Fellow role gave Schiller a chance to make time for his friends, family, and “a few personal projects I care deeply about,” he said in 2020.

By stepping away from dealing with the App Store and Apple Events on a day-to-day basis, this arguably gives Schiller more time for those personal connections, while still keeping a hand in at the company.

Coincidental timing

While there’s no immediate indication of it being due to the change of CEO at Apple, the timing of Schiller’s role adjustment seems to match up with that event anyway.

The story came out on Tim Cook’s last day as CEO. Tuesday marks John Ternus becoming the head of the company, and an almost certain shift in the way the company functions.

There have also been many recent changes at the top of Apple, if not a mass executive exodus.

With Schiller shifting priorities from the App Store, an important part of Apple’s empire, the company won’t keep that space vacant for long. Indeed, that void’s already been filled.

New App Store management

It is reported that Apple will be moving the responsibility for the App Store over to the Services division. That means it falls under the watchful eye of Eddy Cue.

Cue was previously the manager of the App Store until 2015, when it was passed to Schiller.

The day-to-day management will be handled by Carson Oliver, who has long been responsible for the App Store.

Garmin watches aren’t the only ones with the power of illumination.

In brightest day, in blackest night, a smartwatch casts perfectly adequate light!

Max Miller for Engadget

Is that a gaggle of Garmin users I hear, gloating about the actual LED flashlights built into their smartwatches? We get it, you go outdoors. This message is for the rest of us, the unwashed masses with smartwatches from mainstream brands. We have denigrated the flashlight functionality of our little wrist computers for too long. But the line must be drawn here. This far, no further!

Look at the photo above. I mean, don’t look too closely. Stop judging my bathroom and instead observe how well the light from my dinky little Galaxy Watch illuminates the space. No, it’s not the power of the sun in the palm of my hand, but it’s fine! This is an entirely adequate amount of light! If I were looking for something in there, I’d find it.

Ah, but the elephant remains stubbornly in the room. Why not use a phone flashlight? Well, if you’re anything like me, you don’t have your phone glued to you. One of the reasons you probably bought a smartwatch was so that you could set your phone aside without missing important calls and texts. So, when your phone is charging in another room and you need a quick light source, who you gonna call? You already know the answer.

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Moreover, your phone is a relatively heavy object that occupies at least one hand, and it’s cumbersomely shaped. If you need light while using both hands, you can either prop your phone awkwardly against something, or you can take the honorable path and activate the flashlight on your smartwatch. You can even strap the watch to your palm and use it in what I’m officially dubbing ‘Iron Man mode.’

Max Miller for Engadget

Chairs stay chairs. Tables stay tables. Anything that needs to become both usually grows hinges, motors, and a tangle of wires that quit the first time you twist the thing the wrong way. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab spent years looking for a quieter option, and they landed on Bifur-circuits: a kit of 3D-printed blocks that snap together, fold into new stable poses, and keep an electrical map of whatever form they just became.

Each printed unit is one of these smart auxetic lattices, which are repeating designs that widen when stretched rather than pinched inwards. You can find one unit in three different positions. When you link a couple of these devices with some connector pieces, a new behavior emerges. Pushing or twisting past a specific point causes the entire assembly to snap into a new stance and lock it in place. That rapid change is identical to the mechanical ‘bifurcation’ that occurs when a weak plastic ruler finally gives way under strain. When you combine more and more blocks, the number of viable stable positions skyrockets, far beyond the three fixed shapes employed by the same scientists in their previous shape-shifting antenna research.

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Conductive filaments for the connectors are built into the units as you print the flexible plastic, and they remain linked even if the entire structure is stretched, squished, rotated, or bent whatever you wish. When neighboring blocks meet in different orientations, contact pads at the joints close in a unique circuit, giving each position its own electrical signature. Then, a small controller at the assembly’s root pokes about the connections, asking the units who they are and where they are in respect to one another, and creates a map of the entire thing, all without the need for any further wire between the units.

The difficult part was finding a filament that could flex back and forth thousands of times without losing the signal. The units have stretchy TPU hinges, stronger PLA connectors, and a unique conductive flex filament for the actual electrical connections. If you need a specific position to be locked in tightly, you may even insert tiny magnets into the pockets during the print. After 10,000+ compression cycles, we discovered that the electrical contact remained firm. Larger assemblies take longer to scan; twenty units or so can take a few seconds to generate a comprehensive map.

A tool in Fusion 360 allows you to specify the size, thickness, and stiffness of each joint before exporting the file to be printed on one of those multi-material machines. There is also some companion software that allows you to preview the assembly, detects the finished pose when it occurs, and then creates code so that another app can react to that pose. Parts come out the printer ready to clip together, and all you need to do using heat and solder is add a little board to the end that communicates with the rest of your system.

One functioning model became a piece of furniture with twenty-four units, expanding into a tea table, folding up into a chair with a storage hole, and collapsing flat to store itself. While the geometry changed, the item communicated with a display to determine its new position. A second piece was a game controller that could be folded one way to launch a racing game, another way to launch a washing game, and a third way to launch a balloon-inflating game. You can simply add or delete units, and that controller will evolve into something else entirely.
[Source]

From airline deals to hotel discounts, businesses are profiting from fitness races all over the world

There’s a new reason Singaporeans are booking flights, and it’s not for the beach or a bowl of ramen. It’s a start line.

In Aug 2026, more than 20,000 athletes, including those from Singapore, turned up in Bangkok for what organisers called the biggest HYROX race in Asia’s history. It was four days of runs and workouts that test endurance at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, up from three days and roughly 17,500 racers just months earlier in Mar. 

Singapore had already had its own version of that moment just in Apr, with the National Stadium being taken over for three days by more than 14,000 athletes from 58 countries lining up at the start tunnel. And HYROX is returning to Singapore for the second time of the year later in Nov.

These aren’t isolated moments, but the visible rise of a travel category: the “race-cation.” Fitness enthusiasts aren’t just picking a gym or a training plan anymore; they’re picking a destination, buying flights, booking hotels, and building entire holidays backwards from a finish line. 

And the businesses that spotted it early—airlines, hotel chains, even government tourism boards—are already building entire products and services around it.

The businesses that got there first

A handful of brands were quick to build entire commercial products around the race-cation the moment they saw it coming.

In Jan 2026, Air Asia became HYROX’s Official Regional Airline Partner for Asia-Pacific, offering registered HYROX participants a 10% flight discount during a designated booking window, covering focus markets that include Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka and Incheon. The partnership targets reaching more than 250,000 athletes across over 15 cities in the region over the year. 

The airline also unveiled a co-branded aircraft livery themed “Keep Moving, Keep Rising”, signed on as title partner for HYROX’s debut events in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, and is partnering directly with local HYROX Training Club gyms, meaning the training studios feeding people into these races are part of its larger commercial ecosystem.

Then, Hyatt went further into the actual stay. World of Hyatt announced its role as HYROX’s Official Regional Hotel Partner across Asia-Pacific in Oct 2025, and offers HYROX racers and spectators an extra 10% off its member rate, 15% off spa and dining, and in-room recovery touches like an ice bucket on request at properties in race cities. 

Even payment companies have carved a slice of the pie for themselves too. 

HYROX Singapore ticket buyers can get up to 10% off through GrabPay’s PayLater option, and AIA has sponsored the Singapore event as title partner, bundling in complimentary personal accident coverage for registered athletes.

These intentionally built products have found a big customer base designed around a specific new kind of trip, one where the itinerary is built backwards from a start line.

The fitness trend that started it all

If there’s one name behind this shift, it’s HYROX. The fitness race—eight 1km runs, each followed by a functional workout station—started in Hamburg in 2017 with 650 participating athletes.

Less than a decade later, that number has grown exponentially. HYROX projects around 1.5 million participants and roughly US$270 million (S$343.7 million) in revenue in 2026, spread across 121 events in 34 countries—a business built almost entirely on entry fees, gym-affiliate licensing and sponsorship, with close to zero spent on paid marketing.

Asia-Pacific has become one of HYROX’s fastest-growing regions.

HYROX has staged races in 10 Asia-Pacific cities so far, drawing more than 196,000 participants, with newer markets like Osaka, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Incheon named as key growth cities for the year ahead.

But why does a fitness race translate into travel so easily?

The real appeal is that HYROX runs the exact same eight-station format in every city. 

So a Singaporean who trains for it at home can fly to Seoul or Bangkok and compete in something functionally identical, just with a new stadium, a new crowd and a fresh excuse for a holiday wrapped around it. It’s this portability that turns signing up for a race into a whole vacation.

But it is worth noticing that the bigger draw is community. Gary Wan, managing director of HYROX Asia-Pacific, points to a broader shift away from solo gym memberships and toward “community-led, event-based fitness experiences.” 

Unlike a marathon or triathlon, HYROX doesn’t demand years of specialised training to start; it simply rewards the gym habits people already have, which is why entire training studios end up travelling to races together. 

Hyatt, which now runs the region’s official HYROX hotel programme, corroborates this, where people are increasingly choosing destinations around their passions and communities, not just sightseeing—wellness travel that’s less about spas and more about “movement, performance, recovery and connection.”

That appeal shows up in how people actually build these trips.

Singapore-based orthopaedic surgeon Alan Cheung has completed nine HYROX races, six of them overseas across Seoul, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Taipei and Bangkok—using each one as much as a way to reconnect with friends and relatives living abroad as a competition to win. 

For fellow Singaporean Angus Tan, a fitness influencer who flew to Jakarta with his partner for his first overseas race, the pull is partly practical—a short flight, minimal leave needed—but mostly about what the race gives the rest of the trip. “There’s something really satisfying about earning your holiday,” he told CNA Luxury.

For some, the race becomes the reason a family finally gets together. When Singapore marketing lead Amelia Yeo signed up for her first HYROX in Incheon, her parents, brother and his girlfriend flew out to support her, turning into the family’s first holiday together in almost eight years. 

And for whole gyms, the race-cation becomes a group pilgrimage: Hong Kong’s DOP Training Club brought around 90 members, roughly 70% of its membership, to Bangkok in Mar 2026, closing the gym for the week so the club could compete and celebrate together, continuing a pattern of earlier group trips to Taipei, Kobe and Beijing.

None of this is cheap, either, which is arguably the more telling part.

A single HYROX entry here in Singapore can run S$147–S$196 for singles before any flights or hotels are added on, and racers typically spend months training specifically for one weekend. That’s a significant jump from last year’s S$128-S$174.

Demand hasn’t budged regardless of the increase in prices.

When HYROX’s Bangkok 2025 debut sold out 4,500 spots within 18 hours, it was an early signal of appetite that’s only grown since. This is despite Bangkok hotel bookings at the time running roughly 32% ahead of the same period last year. 

For a lot of racers, the entry fee, the flight and the months of training aren’t a deterrent, but may be what makes the finish line worth flying for in the first place.

Singapore & Singaporeans are jumping on the bandwagon 

Beyond HYROX, Singaporeans are also willing to fly out for other fitness events. 

Local publication SportPlus lists races like the Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok, ASICS Gold Coast Marathon, and the Great Wall Marathon among the international events drawing regional runners, alongside long-time favourites like the Tokyo, Seoul and Osaka marathons.

This regional travel-for-a-race pattern now has numbers to back it up, too. Similar to race-cation, travel platform Agoda has coined the term “run-cation” for the phenomenon of people travelling for marathons.

Agoda found that accommodation searches around the Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok 2026, the Mt. Fuji International Marathon 2026 and the JTBC Seoul Marathon 2026 surged between 19% and 73% for the respective races compared to 2025. And Singapore was named among the other markets showing strong travel interest around these same race weekends.

At the same time, Singapore is also pulling in fitness enthusiasts from all over the world.

HYROX’s fifth Singapore edition, held over 29–30 Nov 2025 at Singapore Expo as part of the Singapore Urban Sports + Fitness Festival, drew close to 10,400 athletes and more than 2,200 of them were international competitors who flew in specifically for the race.

One of them was Vijay Andrews, a 32-year-old Indian fitness coach who’d spent months recovering from an injury that kept him out of a HYROX event in New Delhi earlier in the year. When he heard Singapore’s edition was coming up, he booked his flight. 

“Singapore was geographically the closest country where a Hyrox was soon happening,” he told the South China Morning Post. “I love travelling and I love fitness, so it worked out very well for me.” That’s the race-cation logic in one sentence—the race picks the destination, and the trip follows.

By Apr 2026, the event had outgrown our Expo entirely. HYROX took over the National Stadium for the first time, running a three-day format that drew more than 14,000 athletes from 58 countries, aged 16 to 74.

What’s interesting is that growth is backed by the Singapore government. 

Sport Singapore and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) actively supported the AIA HYROX Singapore event.

Moreover, last year’s AIA HYROX headlined a wider festival, the Singapore Urban Sports + Fitness Festival, which closed with a record 90,000 attendees across three weekends, up roughly 30% compared to the year before. 

The second Singapore HYROX edition of the year is already confirmed, running Nov 27-29.

Singapore’s growing wellness economy

Singapore’s wellness economy is part of that same wave.

It was valued at US$23.2 billion (S$29.5 billion) in 2024, climbing to #37 globally from #42 in 2021, with per-capita spending of US$3,845 (S$4,894)—more than eight times the Asian regional average, and annual growth of 7.79%, ranking #10 globally, according to the Global Wellness Institute’s research with STB.

Singapore’s urban infrastructure is also increasingly being built around fitness, too. 

In late 2025, STB awarded a S$1 billion tender to Therme Group for a large-scale wellness attraction along Marina South Coastal, targeted for 2030 and expected to draw two million visitors a year, nearly half from overseas. Singapore marks the group’s first international move outside of Europe, revealing just how important Singapore is growing as a wellness destination.

Compared to our previous study of HYROX in Singapore, this race-cation phenomenon doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.  

Every quarter brings a new host city, a new sold-out ticket window, a new group of gym-mates deciding whether a race weekend abroad is worth the flight, with finisher patches to collect and content to share on social media as a visible record of every city raced in. 

The workout itself isn’t new. What’s changed is that a fitness class has become something people plan a whole trip around, train months to earn, and fly across the region to share with the people who train alongside them.

The race gives these trips a reason. Everything else—the city, the food, the extra few days off—is just the reward for having shown up at the start line.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

• Aston Villa vs Newcastle: Monday, August 31 at 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 5am AEST (Tues)
• Streams: Sky Sports (UK) / USA Network via Fubo (US)
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Watch Aston Villa vs Arsenal live streams as the Gunners look to inflict more misery on the home side who lost their opening Premier League 2026/27 game 4-0 after seeing a host of their best players depart over the summer.

It’s been a tough start to the campaign for Aston Villa boss Unai Emery. The Spaniard has seen Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne, Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa all depart, while Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Martinez could soon follow suit. His decimated squad was then thumped 4-0 by Brighton, with João Gomes seeing red. With injuries also sidelining strikers Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham, Villa fans will be fearing the worst against the reigning champions.