Apple’s long-delayed AI overhaul may finally be starting to take shape, and the company appears ready to push Siri far deeper into its ecosystem than before. According to a new report from Mark Gurman, Apple is developing a major Siri upgrade that will synchronize AI conversations across devices through iCloud, turning the assistant into a more persistent and connected AI system inside Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem.

The upcoming Siri redesign is reportedly being prepared as part of Apple’s broader iOS 27 and iOS 28 strategy, with the company positioning the assistant more directly against AI products like Google Gemini and ChatGPT. Instead of functioning as a simple voice tool, Siri is expected to evolve into a conversational AI assistant capable of maintaining synced chat histories across iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple hardware.

Apple wants Siri to become the centre of its AI ecosystem

According to Bloomberg’s report, Apple is internally testing a completely redesigned Siri interface that resembles modern AI chatbot apps. The new experience reportedly includes a dedicated chat-style interface, persistent conversation history, and cloud synchronization powered through iCloud.

This would allow users to begin an AI conversation on one Apple device and continue it seamlessly on another. Apple is reportedly positioning this as a key differentiator for its AI strategy, leveraging the company’s ecosystem advantage rather than competing purely on raw AI model performance.

The report also suggests Apple is integrating Siri more deeply across its software platforms as part of future versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Internally, Apple is said to already be preparing iOS 28 features while work continues on iOS 27.

The AI-focused Siri upgrade has reportedly faced multiple delays over the past two years, partly because Apple has struggled to modernize Siri’s underlying architecture quickly enough. Gurman notes that several Apple AI projects, including AI-powered AirPods and smart home products, were also slowed by delays tied to Siri’s redevelopment.

At the same time, Apple is preparing for a broader hardware push built around AI experiences. Bloomberg reports the company is developing smart glasses aimed at competing with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, with Siri expected to play a major role in those products as well.

Why this matters

Apple has been noticeably slower than rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft in rolling out consumer-facing AI products. While competitors aggressively integrated generative AI into search, productivity apps, and smartphones, Siri has increasingly felt outdated compared to modern AI assistants.

Apple’s strategy appears different, however. Instead of creating a standalone chatbot platform, the company seems focused on embedding AI deeply into its hardware ecosystem and user workflows. That could make Siri more useful for existing Apple users, especially if conversation syncing works smoothly across devices. But it also further strengthens Apple’s famously closed ecosystem approach, where the best experiences are often limited to users fully invested in Apple hardware.

What happens next

Apple is expected to reveal more about its AI plans during upcoming WWDC announcements, though Bloomberg suggests the most ambitious Siri upgrades may not fully arrive until iOS 28. The company is also reportedly developing future AI-powered hardware, including smart glasses, updated HomePods, and refreshed Apple TV products that could rely heavily on the new Siri platform.

For now, Apple’s challenge is becoming increasingly clear. The company no longer just needs to improve Siri. It needs to convince users that its version of AI is worth waiting for after years of falling behind competitors already moving at full speed.

Acer stepped forward at Computex with a handheld that takes a clear stand. The Nitro Blaze Link exists to pull games from a nearby computer and show them on its screen with built-in controls. It leaves the heavy graphics work on a stronger machine and keeps its own parts minimal on purpose. Designers gave the body ergonomic grips along each side for steady handling during extended play. Standard controls fill the surface in familiar spots, including dual analog sticks, a directional pad, face buttons, shoulder bumpers, and triggers. A seven-inch touchscreen sits front and center with 1920 by 1200 resolution and support for five touch points at once.

The device weighs 464 grams (nearly a pound), is approximately 287 millimeters wide, and has a maximum thickness of 33.5 millimeters. This is all fairly compact, making it easy to grasp in your hand or throw into a bag without any effort. The power comes from an 18-watt-hour battery, which isn’t bad. There is a single USB-C port that can take up to 15 watts of charging, but no data transmission is available through that port, so you won’t be shifting files or bringing in more peripherals. A set of two-watt stereo speakers or a traditional 3.5 millimeter headphone connector provide audio output.

OnePro Cloud Handheld Portable Remote Play Gaming Console, For Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA GeForce NOW…

• 【All-in-One Handheld】 The ultimate portable console in your hands. Enjoy retro games, remote play, cloud gaming, and Android titles on a…
• 【Cloud Gaming + Remote Play】 Cloud Gaming – Instantly play AAA titles over Wi-Fi with subscriptions to Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta), GeForce NOW…
• 【Emulator Retro Games + Android Games】 Emulation – Enjoy retro classics with enhanced compatibility and smoother performance on PS2, GameCube…

It runs on Debian Linux, and Moonlight is configured to receive video streams. To broadcast video and receive controller signals, the host computer must have Sunshine installed. However, games run at full speed on the main system, with the handheld simply decoding video and sending back button presses. That split contributes significantly to the internal hardware’s reduced weight. You’re looking at 1GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 8GB of integrated flash storage, which aren’t very large numbers, especially when compared to what you’d get on a typical gaming device. Interestingly, they appear to handle video decoding perfectly fine. WiFi 6 includes 80 megahertz channel support and a few improvements designed to keep shared home networks working smoothly.

Acer designed this to work seamlessly with its own Predator Helios and Nitro laptops. Owners may play their whole game libraries from another room or a distance because the setup is straightforward and local. Make no mistake: the hardware has limitations. It cannot run games locally and cannot store much additional stuff. Storage and RAM are simply too limited for that; if you try to squeeze in a bunch of extra apps or save files, things become a little crowded in there. Performance is also dependent on having a reliable wireless connection, and the main system must be able to encode the stream correctly. Any issues are mainly caused by the network rather than the device. No cloud services have been confirmed to be supported, and the Linux foundation and focus on Acer-compatible systems limit what you can accomplish with this device when compared to more open handhelds.

This device won’t be available in the United States until the fourth quarter of 2026, and Acer hasn’t revealed any pricing details yet. When compared to more serious handhelds with comparable specifications, the Nitro Blaze Link appears to be a more affordable option.
[Source]

Gaming desktops have been getting smarter every year with better cooling, faster chips, and more RGB lights than anyone asked for. MSI has decided that none of that is interesting enough and has introduced something genuinely unexpected at Computex 2026.

The Taiwanese company has unveiled a gaming desktop, and its most interesting aspect is the built-in cylindrical display that exists purely to give your AI companion a physical avatar.

What is the AI Holostage and why does it exist?

The MEG Vision X2 AI+ is MSI’s new flagship gaming desktop, which sits at the top of its MEG product line. The main main highlight is the AI Holostage, a cylindrical display integrated directly into the chassis rather than sitting as a separate accessory. 

The Holostage gives digital companions, desktop pets, and custom third-party AI avatars a visible, physical presence on your desk. Out of the box, the system ships pre-configured with MSI’s own AI companion, which is called LuckyClaw.

LuckyClaw is MSI’s agentic AI companion, which responds to natural voice commands and gives users hands-free control over performance profiles, MSI monitor settings, and RGB lighting. 

The chassis also features a tool-free upgradeable design. While this might be something of a novelty or a visually appealing factor, it might not serve a practical utility purpose as such.

What hardware is inside the MEG Vision X2 AI+?

The MEG Vision X2 AI+ features the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 processor, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card with support for DLSS 4.5, and MSI’s Silent Storm Cooling AI system handles cooling. 

Pricing and availability have not been confirmed in the official press release. Whether the Holostage becomes the defining feature for gaming PCs or ends up as the most elaborate desktop widget ever built remains to be seen. But as a statement of intent, it is hard to ignore.

Some popular gaming desktop brands, including Asus, Razer, and Lenovo, have tested virtual assistants in their software ecosystems. However, MSI is the first to give the companion a dedicated physical display embedded in the chassis itself.

At Computex 2026, Dell came out all guns blazing. Ever since its inception, the XPS series has served as the pinnacle of Dell’s design and engineering innovation for laptops. Of course, they cost a pretty penny, too. After a brief sunsetting, the XPS line is back, and this time around, Dell is taking an extremely ambitious path. The latest from the computing giant is the XPS 13, and more than anything, it’s the $699 asking price of this sleek machine that is going to turn heads.

What makes the XPS 13 special?

Dell says it has a different definition for “premium” laptops at an accessible price, and on that front, it has succeeded. Compared to the MacBook Neo, the XPS 13 offers a few crucial upgrades. To start, it offers a dramatically superior 2.5K touch-sensitive display with a 120Hz refresh rate, faster USB-C (3.2 Gen 2) ports, speedier Wi-Fi 7 support, and a quad speaker setup.

More importantly, the XPS 13 offers a backlit keyboard, which also happens to be one of the biggest omissions on the MacBook Neo. Furthermore, you also get an IR sensor for biometric face unlock on the Windows machine. The base variant draws power from an Intel Series 3 Core 5 Processor, while the higher-end trims will get the more powerful Intel Core Ultra Series 3 silicon, starting at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.

Take a look at the innards of this machine:

How does it stand out?

Dell is not mincing words here. The XPS 13 is targeted squarely at the MacBook Neo, and it actually does a far better job at a few crucial aspects. Going a step further, Dell is offering the XPS 13 at $599 to students during the back-to-school season. The machine comes in Sky and Storm colors, and it looks pretty stylish.

“The XPS 13 is the lightest and most accessible expression of everything XPS has always stood for. Not a lesser version, but a smaller, lighter one,” says the company. It’s the thinnest and lightest XPS series laptop that Dell has ever made. Despite being lighter and smaller than the MacBook Neo, it actually packs in a bigger display that is also more pixel-dense.

The overarching goal is pretty clear. Dell simply built on the XPS pedigree, while making practical upgrades that make the XPS 13 a far more appealing machine than the MacBook Neo. It’s one of the best laptops to build on the vision that is Intel’s Project Firefly, dropping alongside the Acer Swift Air 14 that was also introduced a few days ago.

Apple’s initial plan for smart glasses is to take on just about every eyewear manufacturer, smart and not, with design and just a little bit of iPhone integration.

The whole Apple Glass endeavor has focused mainly on the still-far-off augmented reality smart glasses. However, with a second version without AR expected to arrive in 2026 or 2027, Apple is trying to break into the wider glasses market.

According to Mark Gurman in Sunday’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Apple isn’t going to try and attract just those who want smart glasses. It’s instead attempting to take on the overall glasses market.

This involves competing against glasses made by EssilorLuxottica SA, which produces Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, and other fashion glasses. There’s also Safilo Group who make Tommy Holfiger and Hugo Boss glasses, and Warby Parker.

Apple’s smart glasses should connect to iPhones

The field in Apple’s sights is the $200 to $500 segment, making it a mainstream play. However, there’s no guarantee that Apple will stick to that price range.

It’s a lucrative market to enter, too, with the eyewear market valued at around $200 billion per year, with hundreds of millions of spectacles sold annually.

To compete, Gurman was told that Apple will sell based on its strong brand, as well as its design pedigree. An integration with the iPhone will also be a big feature, which the company feels will drive sales from people replacing their glasses.

Echoes of Apple Watch

The approach may be familiar to those who watched the initial launch of the Apple Watch. Like glasses, the Apple Watch was entering a brand new field, and was aiming to take a chunk out of the market.

Just like the spectacles approach, Apple aimed to do so beyond providing just a smart watch. Apple counted on its own brand as well as the massive popularity of the iPhone to drive the Apple Watch forward.

It was also an approach that relied on Apple’s design teams to come up with an approachable timepiece. It also created a smart watch that went after the more mainstream end of the market, costing consumers a few hundred dollars to acquire.

However, Apple may have learned one lesson from the Apple Watch that it won’t be applying to the glasses.

The original Apple Watch also included a gold version, a high-priced model aimed at being high fashion. It was later replaced by a ceramic model, which later got axed.

While Apple will be using Apple Intelligence features from the connection to the iPhone, as well as its smart design, it won’t be going after the high-fashion glasses brands this time around.

The latter could be a nice upgrade path for folks on AM4 builds.