Apple Vision Pro isn’t a priority product for Apple’s teams, and it shows in the development of visionOS 26. Bug fixes, minor adjustments, and nearly zero feature additions define the year.

When visionOS 26 was revealed, it was clear that new hardware would be crucial for the platform. Then the M5 model arrived, and it was better, but nothing else changed in the time since.

I’m sitting here typing this on the Apple Vision Pro connected to a Bluetooth mechanical keyboard and Apple Magic Trackpad. It’s been over two years since I used the original model, and yet, it still feels magical.

I understand some people are already trying to wash their hands of the product and call it dead. Those that own it may even treat it as old news or some kind of forgotten party trick.

For me, Apple Vision Pro stands as a preview of what could come later, and at the foundation of that preview is visionOS.

The problem is that visionOS foundation is just shaky right now, and not really that well maintained.

visionOS 26 review: frozen in time

The problem is one that’s been there since the product’s inception. Apple loves to show off this beautifully crafted piece of hardware that is capable of high-resolution software interactions in mixed reality.

visionOS 26 review: Organizing the Home View with folders is a welcome addition

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However, that’s where the enthusiasm ends. Updates to visionOS primarily arrive during WWDC each year, and very little is added after that.

First-party apps that got the visionOS native treatment have basically stalled in development. The list of Apple-compatible apps brought from iPad to Apple Vision Pro hasn’t changed since the product was revealed in 2023.

It’s not that I expect Apple Vision Pro to get the same treatment as iPhone, but the near radio silence is deafening. Immersive Content seemingly falls out of the sky with little fanfare, gaming continues to be virtually nonexistent, and developers have little interest in developing for the platform.

Almost all of these issues arise from one central issue: Apple isn’t evangelizing the device the way it should. The company should have a team dedicated to going to developers and asking what it would take to get their apps natively on the platform.

If it’s money, and the app is popular elsewhere, offer an incentive package. Make it happen.

visionOS 26 review: features like PSVR2 controller support mean little if developers don’t adopt them

Instead, we see developers increasingly shrug at Apple Vision Pro because targeting the platform will never be financially viable. Building a native application for Apple Vision Pro would struggle to even pay for the $3,500 headset, let alone subsidize future updates.

So, as we enter WWDC 2026, that’s what is on my mind. The hardware is excellent, the native software that is available is stunning, but that isn’t enough on its own.

Apple needs to convince developers, and what better place than a worldwide developer conference. I know AI will be the focus of the event, but Apple needs to use at least some of the time to push Apple Vision Pro forward.

Otherwise, we’ll be frozen in time until the next hardware iteration, which will be late 2028 at the earliest.

visionOS 26 review: M5 only helps so much

The good news is that Apple Vision Pro doesn’t need a hardware iteration at the moment. Sure, thinner and lighter would be great, but the M5 is more than enough to drive visionOS, apps, and games today.

visionOS 26 review: Apple Vision Pro with M5 is a needed improvement for visionOS 26 features

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I currently have six apps, seven widgets, and a partial immersive view of Jupiter open. Everything is still responsive and easy to navigate, and there’s room to add more if I wanted.

One of the issues I encountered with visionOS 26 on an M2 version of Apple Vision Pro was buffering widgets. If a photo frame or weather widget was slightly out of frame, it would have to load in as I turned my head to look at it.

Now, with M5, I almost never see a widget loading. I don’t walk around my home and wait for physical photos to load, so it breaks immersion to wait for the virtual ones. I do wish Apple would match texture and brightness of virtual objects to the environment more.

visionOS 26 review: widgets galore

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The ability to lock windows to surfaces also means I’m keeping more open at any given time. These windows and widgets persist, even after a restart, so it’s like they’re truly part of my space.

However, a look into the widget gallery is yet another reminder of how little developer support exists on the platform. The list of apps I have downloaded that support widgets is small, and apps that are built to be widget-based apps aren’t in the widget picker.

Then the App Store shows how few developers have bothered with widgets. Apple’s own promotional link only has a few apps that amount to sticky notes and clocks.

visionOS 26 review: low hanging fruit for OS 27

There are other oddities in the visionOS platform, and they have nothing to do with the M5 or performance.

visionOS 26 review: iPad compatible apps need to go native, at least those from Apple

Find My still isn’t available in any form on Apple Vision Pro. My primary use case for it on the device would be to see my family and friends’ locations in the Messages app.

I can AirPlay my view to an Apple TV or other device, but I can’t control the music currently playing on a HomePod. The entire concept of whole-home audio doesn’t exist on Apple Vision Pro.

Even if I navigate to a HomePod in the Apple Home app, I can’t view or control playback. If I command Siri to play music in my office, it replies that it can’t manage that here.

Spatial computing is meant to offer less friction between the user and their environment. What I’d like to see is the Apple Music poster widget show what’s now playing in the room it is placed in.

visionOS 26 review: spatial browsing is an interesting concept but needs more work

Heck, show me the now playing music and controls when I look at a HomePod. Given all the technology at play, it theoretically is possible.

The Apple Creator Studio is also missing on Apple Vision Pro. If I want to use Pixelmator Pro, I have to use Mac Virtual Display to launch it on my less powerful Mac mini with M4.

I hope some of these issues are addressed during WWDC 2026.

visionOS 26 review: Finding a killer app

One of the repeated complaints I’ve heard about Apple Vision Pro and the visionOS platform is its lack of a “killer app.” I find the concept a bit silly considering that none of Apple’s platforms have a single central feature that attracts users.

visionOS 26 review: immersive video, especially sports streams, may be the closest thing to a killer app on Apple Vision Pro

Defining a killer app for each platform is actually quite a difficult exercise, as it changes depending on who you ask. Some might say social media is a killer function of iPhone, while others might say games or photography.

Apple Watch is a fitness device for some and a notification engine for others. iPad can be a book, a sketchpad, a laptop, or gaming console.

The idea that Apple Vision Pro needs a killer app is strange. Like Apple’s other platforms, it’s great at a lot of things and how it is used will depend on the individual.

Gaming

For other headset devices like the Oculus from Meta, gaming has been the driving force for sales. While productive tools exist on those platforms, they’re more afterthoughts than anything.

visionOS 26 review: gaming is alive and well on Apple Vision Pro, but the selection is limited

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Given the size of the native App Store in visionOS, gaming is proportionally sized, so far. I have seventeen spatial games installed on Apple Vision Pro. Most are from Apple Arcade, but a couple are purchased directly from the App Store.

None of the games would win awards, but they’re entertaining and take great advantage of Apple Vision Pro as a platform. From hand gestures for driving in a kart game to using PSVR2 controllers in a first-person shooter, there is quite the variety of games.

Though, of course, it is a paltry collection compared to what is available on the wider market. It isn’t that gaming isn’t possible and fun on Apple Vision Pro, it’s that the devs aren’t there.

visionOS 26 review: some iPad games work great on Apple Vision Pro with a controller

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I’d love to see Capcom in the WWDC keynote showcasing Resident Evil 7 built for Apple Vision Pro. The real get would be Beat Saber, but it seems neither Meta nor Apple are interested in getting the game to the platform.

The games that do exist face other issues. We got Job Simulator but it hasn’t been updated in over a year and thus doesn’t support PSVR 2 controllers.

Crossy Castle is a fun game from the Crossy Road developers, but it also isn’t being updated. The iPhone/iPad version of the game has a Bluey expansion that isn’t available in the Apple Vision Pro version.

Gaming, thankfully, isn’t limited to what can run on the device. There are many options to get games to Apple Vision Pro like streaming via GeForce Now, playing from a local PC, or remote play from a console.

visionOS 26 review: Apple Vision Pro and PlayStation 5 Pro make a good combination

I’ve been using Portal to stream to the Apple Vision Pro, and since it is native software, it has some really interesting abilities. It’s how I’ve been playing Minecraft on the headset, but with stereoscopic 3D generated live by the app, upscaled to 4K.

I’d love to see Minecraft native on the platform, or even as an iPad-compatible app, but Microsoft has no interest in that.

Apple did introduce PSVR2 controller support with visionOS 26. While the games that support it are few and far between, I’m glad the option is there. Let’s hope for more support in the coming year.

Media playback

Because of the high-resolution displays, Apple Vision Pro is uniquely positioned to be an entertainment headset. Sure, you can watch video on Oculus or PSVR2, but the resolution is low enough to encounter motion sickness and the “screen door” effect.

visionOS 26 review: the list of Immersive Video grows each month

As someone that owned several kinds of 4K 3D TVs back in the day, I can honestly say Apple Vision Pro is the best way to watch 3D content. Period.

I remember when I was in the Navy, I researched portable media viewing products, and one was the Sony Personal 3D Viewer. It played 3D movies natively because you’d get one side of the 3D in each eye.

I never bought one, but it was a wearable 3D display that connected via cable to an external HDMI box where you’d connect a PS3 for 3D Blu-ray and games . Apple Vision Pro turns that entire product into a series of apps.

Sure, 3D movies are great on the platform, but Immersive Video is the true winner here. Even though Apple’s rollout of such content is glacial, each one is a peek into a different universe from a whole new perspective.

Productivity tools

Finally, there’s the productivity aspect of Apple Vision Pro. I can put the headset on and see my virtual workstation in seconds.

visionOS 26 review: being productive on Apple Vision Pro is possible, as long as the apps you need are available

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I’m writing this review from inside the headset via an iPad-compatible app called Drafts. There aren’t any good writing tools native to Apple Vision Pro yet that I’m aware of, and besides, it would be tough to give up Drafts.

I can write, edit, upload, and publish from Apple Vision Pro. As I’ve mentioned, the biggest limitation in my workflow today is the inability to edit and create images.

Pixelmator Pro is either on my iPad Pro or Mac mini, but not on Apple Vision Pro. I can jump into the Mac mini via Mac Virtual Display, but it isn’t an ideal solution.

visionOS 26 review: I have to swap over to Mac Virtual Display to use Pixelmator Pro

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If I need an image and I’m working in Apple Vision Pro, I often take it off and make the image on iPad. That doesn’t happen often though, since I generally work in Apple Vision Pro on long-form writing.

Outside of my little professional use case, there are many more. Apple Vision Pro has appeared in engineering environments, surgical rooms, and in movie studios.

There is no doubt that Apple Vision Pro is a capable production platform.

Multi-faceted

Of the three elements I’ve mentioned here, it is difficult to pick what Apple Vision Pro’s “killer app” is or should be. It’s great at gaming, media playback, and productivity tasks just like any other Apple platform.

visionOS 26 review: Apple Vision Pro doesn’t need a killer app, it needs developers

I say let the device speak for itself. The problem isn’t so much what it can or can’t do, but developers willing to build for the platform.

visionOS 26 helped expand all three of these elements with things like PSVR2 controller support, expanded media format support, and shared spatial environments for productivity tools.

Apple Vision Pro is still expensive and relatively heavy, and a killer app isn’t going to change that. I do hope visionOS 27 can continue to expand on these three pillars of the platform.

visionOS 26 review: other new features

Let’s end this review with a list of features that did arrive with visionOS 26. I didn’t spend much time on each individual feature here because I already did so in my original review.

Here’s what else was new when visionOS 26 launched that I haven’t directly covered so far:

• Spatial Scenes in Photos
• Spatial browsing in Safari
• Shared Spatial Environments
• New Persona
• Native 360, 180, and wide field-of-view video support
• Jupiter environment
• Save eye and hand setup to your iPhone
• Apps in folders
• Unlock iPhone while wearing Apple Vision Pro
• Look to scroll
• New Control Center
• Game controllers remain visible even when immersed

Spatial was the name of the game for visionOS 26. I’ve barely tapped into the Spatial Browsing feature, but it sure does remind you it exists on every compatible website.

I never used my new Persona nor did I use a Shared Spatial Environment. The remaining updates are excellent quality-of-life updates, but don’t need to be addressed directly here in this one-year-later review.

I hope that visionOS 27 can offer a similar length list of new changes and updates, though I have a feeling Apple Intelligence will own the show this time around.

visionOS 26 was exemplary of a good annual update

I may have my complaints, but visionOS 26 is an excellent upgrade overall. visionOS 2 was a half-step as the first OS update that arrived only months after launch.

visionOS 26 review: it’s time for another big update cycle

visionOS 26 was the first update with a full year of development behind it, and it delivered. Clearly needed quality-of-life updates were added while enhancements prepped the platform for M5.

What I hope for visionOS 27 is more of the same, but with more attention throughout the year. We should be able to get excited about a major upgrade in visionOS 27.2 instead of having to wait for visionOS 28 for anything new.

I believe spatial computing and Apple’s work on artificial intelligence go hand in hand. Both platforms had their starts in the Apple Car, and each feeds into the other in obvious ways.

The more a computer can “understand” the world around the user, the user’s voice, and how a device is used, the better spatial computing can be. Apple Intelligence is going to focus on proactive interactions with the user, which could greatly benefit Apple Vision Pro users.

visionOS 26 review: Apple Vision Pro will benefit from Apple Intelligence advancements

Since developers can’t really make money on Apple Vision Pro and aren’t bothering with implementing much, I have a radical suggestion. Perhaps, if it can be done ethically, Apple should borrow a page from Google’s upcoming features.

Imagine being able to generate a spatial widget with a voice command. Built-in vibe coding with clear limits on what can be built powered by on-device Apple Foundation Models.

If it’s possible, I’d be interested in seeing something like that in visionOS 27. At the least, I hope Apple Vision Pro isn’t a forgotten platform during the WWDC keynote.

My biggest fear for the platform is neglect.

visionOS 26 review – Pros

• Spatial widgets are great, especially with M5
• PSVR2 controller support is awesome when devs support it
• Organizing Home View is a big finally
• Gaming continues to expand, if slowly, on the platform

visionOS 26 review – Cons

• Compatible iPad app list still hasn’t changed
• No Find My, Contacts app, categories in Mail, etc.
• Developer support still the biggest issue with visionOS

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

The visionOS 26 release brought some must-needed changes to the platform, but Apple stopped doing that after the very first release. A year later, nearly nothing has changed.

Apple needs to show the platform some love with visionOS 27.

Anthropic updated its warning about unauthorized secondary market platforms selling its shares, cutting the list from eight firms to four. The revised version names only Open Door Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama, and Upmarket. Several of the most prominent names in private market trading, including Hiive, were removed.

The original notice, published earlier this month, stated that any sale or transfer of Anthropic stock by the named platforms was void and would not be recognised on the company’s books. The warning applied to both preferred and common stock. It was the first time a major AI company had publicly named specific platforms as unauthorized.

The result was chaos. Publicly traded funds that marketed exposure to Anthropic shares plunged. Private brokers scrambled to reassess positions. Investors who had purchased Anthropic stock through the named platforms were suddenly unsure whether their shares had any legal standing.

Sim Desai, CEO of Hiive, pushed back publicly on LinkedIn. He wrote that his platform does not facilitate share transfers “without the company’s approval.” After Hiive’s name was removed, Desai wrote that the original post had caused confusion among investors and damage to his company’s reputation.

“Had Anthropic approached us before their aggressive new stance and corresponding public statements (they did not), we would have gladly worked with them to deliver a unified message to the market,” Desai wrote. The criticism is pointed: Anthropic named platforms without contacting them first.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI have long included transfer restrictions in their shareholder agreements. The fine print was widely overlooked by buyers eager to gain exposure to pre-IPO AI companies. Anthropic’s decision to publicly name specific platforms turned boilerplate legal language into a market-moving event.

Anthropic shares were already trading at an implied $1 trillion on secondary markets in April, driven by revenue acceleration from $9 billion to $30 billion ARR in one quarter. The demand for Anthropic stock has been so intense that sellers were naming prices at $1.15 trillion implied valuations. The unauthorized platform warning hit a market that was already overheated.

The timing of the walkback is notable. On Thursday, Anthropic announced a $65 billion funding round that valued the company at $965 billion including the new investment. That valuation eclipses rival OpenAI for the first time. The company is simultaneously raising the largest private funding round in history and fighting over who is allowed to sell its shares.

The $965 billion valuation represents a staggering trajectory. Anthropic closed its Series G at $380 billion in February. Three months later, secondary markets priced it at $1 trillion. The primary round at $965 billion sits between those two figures, validating the secondary market pricing that the unauthorized platform warning was designed to suppress.

The contradiction is structural. Anthropic needs secondary market liquidity to attract and retain employees whose compensation includes equity. It also needs to control who trades its shares to maintain governance, comply with securities regulations, and manage its cap table ahead of a potential IPO. The original warning overshot on control and caused collateral damage to legitimate platforms.

Anthropic is in early IPO talks with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, with a listing as early as October. Managing the secondary market is a prerequisite for a clean public offering. But naming and shaming platforms without prior contact, then quietly removing half the list after the backlash, is not the approach of a company that has its pre-IPO communications strategy under control.

Anthropic did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. The four platforms that remain on the list, Open Door Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama, and Upmarket, have not publicly responded. The investors who bought shares through the removed platforms now have clarity. Those who bought through the four that remain do not.

The Spanish soccer player posted a bunch of images featuring the mystery product.

As a tech reviewer, I have a confession to make. Despite my years of testing Windows laptops, I’ve always come back to my MacBook after a review period with a sigh of relief. That’s because, regardless of how expensive a Windows laptop is, it’s never really had the cohesive experience I’ve come to love in Apple’s walled garden. Maybe their speakers aren’t good, or the physical trackpad requires a lot of force to actuate. You get the point. So, when Asus sent over their new executive ExpertBook Ultra, I thought I’d test it out, run a few tests, and be back on my MacBook in no time. Well, that hasn’t happened.

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra is the first laptop I’ve tested that has crossed that threshold of desirability. But what makes a great Windows business laptop? Some might say portability, while others could point to factors like performance, sufficient RAM, and AI capabilities. What if you want all those features rolled into one? That’s what best describes the Asus ExpertBook Ultra. It starts at ₹2,39,000 or $3,499, and is the first laptop to debut Intel’s latest Panther Lake processors. I’ve been testing it for a better part of three weeks now, and this review should help you decide if it’s worth splurging the big bucks.

Design & Hardware

I was one of the few journalists invited to the ExpertBook launch event about a month back, and that’s where I first went hands-on with the laptop. The first thought I had was how different it looks and feels compared to other premium laptops. You might know the feeling of the all-aluminum MacBook, but the ExpertBook Ultra is completely different.

It’s made of CNC-machined magnesium alloy with a ceramic coating on top. It’s hard to put it into words, but the finish feels textured, almost powdery in a way, yet still very premium. You also don’t have to deal with smudges and fingerprint stains on your expensive machine. Color options are limited to two: either black or an off-white. I got the Morn Grey unit, and it’s definitely the way to go. Thanks to the texture, the color shimmers in sunlight, and wherever I went with the laptop, people asked what I was using.

A business laptop is for those who’re running from one office or coffee shop to another, most of the time with a laptop in hand. This means portability and weight are the main concerns. When I first picked up the ExpertBook Ultra, I expected it to weigh a decent amount because of its powerful internals. Well, looks can certainly be deceiving since it only weighs 0.99 kg, which is quite frankly insane. For context, my MacBook Air M1 weighs 1.29 kgs. And this weight difference is noticeable when carrying the laptop every day.

But you might ask, if the Ultra doesn’t weigh much, surely it won’t be durable. That surely won’t be the case, as ExpertBook laptops are the most durable machines I’ve ever tested. I’ve even stood on one, and it escaped without any damage. The Ultra is MIL-STD-810H-rated and should survive several bumps and drops just fine. At the event, Asus also told us to hold it up by the corner of the screen for a photo, which was a weird flex.

Since connecting to other gadgets is a basic requirement in an office, the ExpertBook Ultra has a decent selection of ports. You get dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C (one on each side), along with a full-size HDMI 2.1, a USB 3.2 Type-A, and a headphone/microphone combo jack.

Best Windows Keyboard & Trackpad Combo

From spending over five years in the MacBook world, I’ve grown accustomed to the haptic touchpad, and it’s easy to see why. A haptic trackpad eliminates one more physical component, making it durable and ensuring consistent actuation energy wherever you click. That’s something Windows laptops have suffered from for years, because clicking on the top corners requires more force than moving a mountain.

The ExpertBook Ultra is one of the few laptops that has fixed this problem, and I couldn’t be happier. The trackpad is a large glass surface that spans edge to edge and comprises six pressure sensors. I found the tracking to be exceptionally good, without that sticky feeling. While the pressure actuation was a little lower than on the MacBook, I got used to it in no time. The palm rejection works beautifully, and the gestures are well supported.

The keyboard is high on the priority list of professionals, and Asus has kept that in mind. The layout is fairly standard in the sense that there is no learning curve. All keys are in the correct place, and even the 1.5mm travel is pretty respectable. The keys feel tactile without making much noise. There are different stages of backlit, and it’s bright enough to overcome the lack of contrast with the white keyboard deck. Still, the best part about the ExpertBook Ultra’s keyboard is that it’s splash-resistant. A small coffee spill or splash of water shouldn’t cause any issues as long as you clean it up quickly.

Display & Camera

We’ve seen OLED displays on laptops for quite some time. In fact, Asus was one of the first to implement it. Still, they are yet to reach the masses because OLED panels, unlike those on phones, consume more power. That’s one problem the Asus ExpertBook Ultra doesn’t have because it uses a 14-inch 3K Tandem OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate. For the uninitiated, a Tandem OLED panel combines multiple layers of light-emitting organic material to deliver higher brightness and lower power consumption. Thanks to this, the laptop has a peak brightness of over 1400 nits in HDR and 600 nits in regular mode.

If I had to use just one word to describe the Ultra’s display, it would be perfect. You can’t get any better than this, with colors that look exceptionally vibrant thanks to 100% DCI-P3 coverage, Pantone validation, and a Delta-E of less than 1. That’s more than enough for creative work like video editing without a hitch. As expected, movies and TV shows were a dream to watch.

That’s not all, as the laptop fixes one major pain point I’ve had with premium laptops. That’s glossy displays. They pick up dust quickly and get dirty with smudges that are almost impossible to clean. With the ExpertBook Ultra, you get a matte glass panel that cancels out almost all reflections pretty effectively, meaning I could work with the sun shining behind my back. Just don’t try this in 45-degree heat. Another upside is the touch functionality. Say what you want, touch is great for working on the go. For the people concerned with durability, Asus has used Gorilla Glass Victus, which is super durable. Enough to withstand over 100 kg of pressure, as they showcased in the event.

The 1080p webcam on the ExpertBook Ultra is perhaps the only thing that’s not very special. It’s decent for calls, and looks comparable to the MacBook. The wide field of view means you don’t have to squeeze into the frame during presentations, and it also supports Windows Hello functionality.

Performance

No business laptop will ever be desirable if it doesn’t have enough power to run multiple apps. Since the Asus ExpertBook Ultra is the first to get the Panther Lake chips, specifically the Core Ultra X7 358H, I was quite excited to test it out. The processor has a total of 16 cores, out of which four are performance cores, another eight are efficiency cores, and the last four are low-power efficiency cores. It’s paired with 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM at 8533 transfers per second and 2TB of Gen 5 storage, which can achieve read speeds over 14,000 MB/s.

As expected, the laptop feels effortlessly fast in everyday use. For example, my work is mainly on Chrome and Slack, where the processor handled everything super efficiently. I could open up more tabs than I need without a hitch, all while still running something in the background. Productivity apps are handled similarly well, and I connected them to my 2K monitor, where the experience was absolutely spotless.

What I found fascinating about the Ultra is that it’s not just a laptop for business people. In fact, if you’re a creator and need a serious on-the-go machine, you actually could take a look here. That’s because I fired up Da Vinci Resolve and tried my hand at editing a 4K reel I shot in Thailand. While my editing skills need a lot of sharpening, the Ultra could handle multiple streams of 4K videos and even play them back without slowing down. I also added some color grading to the videos, and it all went fine. In typical Asus fashion, there are several AI-centric features, such as MyExpert. It’s a personalized AI chatbot that quickly helps with your needs with on-device processing.

Since my skill set with demanding tasks only goes so far, I also ran a series of benchmarks to see how the Panther Lake processor ranks among its peers. Starting with Cinebench R24, the Ultra X7 358H scored 1,019 points in the multi-core test, roughly doubling the performance of the Ultra 7 258H, found in the likes of the ThinkPad X Carbon. With PCMark 10, we saw a 30% jump in the Ultra X7 358H’s performance compared to last-gen alternatives, reaching scores of 9,903.

Graphics in the ExpertBook Ultra are handled by the integrated Arc B390 GPU. Intel’s recent emphasis on GPUs means the B390 means serious business. I put it to the test with 3DMark’s TimeSpy test, where it scored 6,712 points. To put this number in context, though, I also played a series of games. Don’t get me wrong, the ExpertBook Ultra is not designed for serious gaming, but can it play AA or sometimes even AAA games? Yes, absolutely. Starting with lighter titles like F1 2025, I easily got over 100 fps on High settings with XeSS turned off. Kicking things up to titles like Indiana Jones: The Great Circle and Cyberpunk 2077, I averaged around 50-60 fps at 1080p with Ultra detail settings. If you’re concerned with eSports titles like Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant, they won’t break the ExpertBook Ultra, as it can easily achieve full 120 fps at the highest settings.

Battery Life & Speakers

While the 70Whr cell is pretty standard for a thin-and-light laptop, Asus has incorporated a new 2S2P architecture, which, in theory, is more efficient. My testing proved that theory to be right. On an average workday, which includes spending hours on Chrome, watching YouTube, and a few episodes of Better Call Saul, the ExpertBook Ultra lasted me a full day with some charge left to spare. Charging is handled with a 90W USB-C PD charger, which means you can go from 0%-50% in just thirty minutes. That’s enough time to charge between meetings and have enough for your super-long presentation.

Speakers on Windows laptops have usually not been a priority for forever. Most of them fire directly on the table, which inherently limits their output. But the Asus ExpertBook Ultra is the first laptop I’ve heard of that blew my MacBook out of the park. The speakers, of which there are six, sound at least twice as loud, with a wider soundstage, accurate dialogues, and bass that hits the spot. The treble is usually on point. You can make out the different instruments, and the highs don’t screech the ears at all. Almost everyone whom I showed the Ultra’s speakers was in awe of the quality, so you know it’s not just me yapping.

Verdict

Starting at ₹2,39,000, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra is playing a serious game against heavy hitters like the Dell XPS and the Lenovo ThinkPad series. Asus markets it like a business laptop, but my testing found the ExpertBook Ultra to be more capable than just handling spreadsheets. It’s a machine that caters to power users, irrespective of whether they work in an office or from a cozy cafe in Bali, editing videos or programming for their clients.

There’s something for everyone. The design is exceptional, quite possibly the best I’ve tested, with durability that should withstand anything. The 3K Tandem OLED 120Hz display is perfect, and you won’t have to deal with reflections. Let’s not forget the performance that is comfortably a mile ahead of the competition, in both numbers and thermal headroom. Sure, Dell and Lenovo are more established names when it comes to professional laptops, but I think it’s time we give Asus that status as well. And if you’re shopping in the segment, it’ll be a shame not to consider the ExpertBook Ultra.

For Bond fans, it’s been a tough few years. Until this month, the last new Bond ‘thing’ was No Time to Die way back in 2021 — too long to be without everyone’s favorite sexist, misogynist dinosaur. But now, finally, there’s some new Bond to get stuck into… for gamers, at least.

Just a few days ago, 007 First Light finally went on sale on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S (a Switch 2 version is due later this year). This third-person shooter game from IO Interactive is being treated with the kind of fanfare usually reserved for the movies.

One of Prime Video’s most popular adult animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina returns on June 3 for a fourth season. The show, based on the Dungeons and Dragons web series Critical Role, is now set a year after the Chroma Conclave, and the Vox Machina crew has gone their separate ways. When a long-dormant evil awakens, the gang reunites to protect the realm. The show’s core cast is back this season, and keep an ear out for new additions to the voice cast, including Wayne Brady, Kevin Michael Richardson (Kamek in The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and Debra Wilson.

If you’ve bought Lionsgate movies or redeemed codes for them, we’ve got some good news for you: Its vast library is being added to the digital movie locker, Movies Anywhere. That means Lionsgate titles will now sync across any participating digital retailers you’ve linked to your Movies Anywhere account.

Lionsgate says that a selection of Lionsgate movies will be eligible on Movies Anywhere beginning in June, with 225 of the studio’s most high-profile films made be available on the service, which is also a retailer. Going forward, around 100 additional films will be added monthly throughout 2026 and early 2027. According to Deadline, Movies Anywhere has 14.5 million users and its library will expand to nearly 10,000 digital movies with the addition of Lionsgate. 

Read more: Best media streaming devices of 2026

I’m already seeing Lionsgate titles like John Wick, Knives Out, La La Land, Rambo and The Hunger Games listed with the Movies Anywhere badge at Fandango at Home, but none have turned up in the Movies Anywhere catalog just yet. Participating Movies Anywhere digital retailers include Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play/YouTube, Xfinity, Verizon Fios TV and DirectTV.

For those who purchase digital movies or redeem codes for digital versions of titles from physical media, the Lionsgate move to Movies Anywhere is a big deal (Movies Anywhere is owned by The Walt Disney Company, and Disney initially developed a rights synchronization platform called KeyChest back in 2009). 

I and plenty of other consumers find it annoying to buy a movie at one digital retailer, such as Fandango at Home, but not have it available for viewing on another platform I use, such as Apple TV or Google Play. Ideally, if you buy a title, you should be able to store it in one central digital locker and have universal access to it. (Technically, when you buy a digital movie, you’re buying a license to stream it as many times as you want, though you don’t truly own the title).    

Prior to this announcement, Movies Anywhere supported most though not all movies from The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Twentieth Century Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures (including DreamWorks and Illumination Entertainment) and Warner Bros. Entertainment. No new major studios have been added since 2017. 

There was some hope that when Amazon bought MGM in 2022, MGM would join Movies Anywhere because Prime Video was a participating retailer. That hasn’t happened yet, but hopefully the Lionsgate addition will encourage the remaining hold outs, which also include Paramount, A24 and Criterion to join.

Currently, only movies, not TV shows are on the Movies Anywhere platform — there is no TV Anywhere. So any TV series you purchase are not Movies Anywhere eligible and won’t sync across retailers.  

The Ferrari Luce, the first electric vehicle in the brand’s history, has generated heated discussion online, as comments and opinions about the design continue to bounce around the web.

The Luce, an electric sedan with a $650,000 price tag that Ferrari presented with pomp and circumstance at the Quirinale in Rome on Monday, has paid dearly for its coming out from behind the curtain. Since Monday, the automaker has been suffering an avalanche of complaints and skepticism about the Luce. It’s not just the price—which is high even for a Ferrari—but what the car represents and how it fits into the brand’s long and storied legacy. The day after the EV’s debut, Ferrari stock dipped 8 percent.

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s former chairman, said, “We risk the destruction of a myth.” Carlo Calenda, an Italian senator and the country’s former economic minister, called the release an “aesthetic and technological insult,” and took the opportunity to attack John Elkann—the leader of the Agnelli family, which owns a controlling stake in Ferrari—and his management of the family’s assets. Closing the circle was Matteo Salvini, who as Italy’s minister of transport felt compelled to intervene. His negative assessment, accompanied by an invocation of Enzo Ferrari, demonstrates that anything can be said about the Luce.

Beyond anything one might think, the Luce is a radically different car from its predecessors. It weighs roughly a ton more than a hybrid, uses four electric motors (one per wheel), and is built to seat five people. Its ability to sprint from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 2.5 seconds is impressive; the instantaneous acceleration even required Ferrari to consult with NASA in order to keep the sensations of such an acceleration from being physically unpleasant. The “engine note” inside the car uses electronically treated mechanical sounds.

We discussed the disruptive and divisive Luce with Maurizio Corbi, a car designer with more than 30 years of experience. Corbi, who trained at the industrial design firm Bertone and later at the car designer Pininfarina, explains why the Ferrari Luce has triggered such polarized reactions, both among insiders and the general public.

“I suspect it’s a powerful marketing ploy,” Corbi says. “They literally threw a boulder in a pond, and that’s all people are talking about. I can’t recall anything similar.”

“The world of cars, and design in particular, follows a fine line. It’s constantly evolving, but there’s always a need for a culture rooted in time. Ferrari, when it comes to road cars, means Pininfarina. The brand’s greatest masterpieces bear that signature. [Ferrari’s] current design director, Flavio Manzoni, has been able to innovate while still keeping a close eye on that tradition. I fear that he too has been affected by this project, because he is too detached from the path Ferrari has taken in recent years.”

The financial terms of the Breathitt County social media settlement have been disclosed for the first time. Meta is paying $9 million. Snap and TikTok are each paying $8 million. YouTube negotiated a payout of slightly more than $2 million.

The combined $27 million is 8% more than the Kentucky school district’s $25 million annual budget. The figures were released under Kentucky’s open records laws. The settlements were announced earlier this month but without financial details.

When the settlements were first reported, only the fact that Snap, YouTube, and TikTok had agreed to settle was public. Meta settled separately. The financial breakdown shows Meta paying the largest share, consistent with the company’s position as the primary defendant across more than 6,000 related lawsuits nationwide.

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YouTube was the only company to include non-financial terms. It agreed to provide the district with training programmes to help teachers use its video product in classrooms. The other three paid cash only.

Breathitt County had asked for more than $60 million to finance mental health programmes and develop lesson plans around the dangers of social media. It received less than half that figure. The district’s superintendent, Phillip Watts, estimated in a deposition that he spent 20% of his working time handling social media-related concerns.

Carolyn McDaniel, the high school principal from 2016 to 2019, said the problem consumed even more of her time. “I had two assistant principals and they spent at least 50% of their time on social media stuff,” she said. “The kids would sneak their phones into class, video fights during the school day, vandalise property and bully one another online.”

The settlements allowed the companies to avert the first trial in the nation over a school district’s addiction complaint. The trial had been scheduled for 12 June in Oakland. The reprieve will be short-lived. More than 1,300 other school districts have filed similar suits. The next bellwether trial is scheduled for February 2027 in Tucson, Arizona.

The Breathitt County terms could signal openness to a mass settlement. Bloomberg Intelligence has estimated the total potential liability at $400 billion. A $27 million payout per district across 1,300 districts would total $35 billion, a fraction of the theoretical maximum but still a transformative expense for companies accustomed to treating litigation as a cost of doing business.

The precedents are building. In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a 20-year-old woman with addictive product design. The $6 million damages award was symbolic. A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in a separate case about failing to protect children from online predators.

Kentucky’s attorney general is part of a group of approximately three dozen states suing Meta separately. That trial is set for August in Oakland. Kentucky is seeking $40 billion in civil penalties in the state case alone.

The pattern across 2026 has been consistent. Snap and TikTok settle before trial. Meta fights, loses, and pays more. In the personal injury trial, Snap and TikTok settled confidentially while Meta and Google went to verdict. In the school district case, all four settled, but Meta paid the largest share.

Meta launched a new social app called Forum this week, a Reddit competitor built from Facebook Groups. The company is simultaneously launching new social products and settling lawsuits alleging its existing products are addictive. The contradiction is the business model.

The comparison to tobacco litigation remains the most frequently cited framing. The 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement cost the industry $206 billion. Bloomberg Intelligence’s $400 billion estimate for social media exceeds that figure by nearly double. Whether the analogy holds depends on whether juries continue to find the companies liable, and whether the institutional costs school districts claim can be proven at scale.

McDaniel, who now works at a high school in Tennessee, said the social media problems have only intensified since she left Breathitt County. The $27 million settlement pays for the damage already done. It does not pay for the damage still being done. The 1,300 districts waiting for their turn in court are counting on that distinction to matter.