Rowing machines are a great way to get a low-impact cardio workout in. However, it’s easy to use this machine improperly, which is why it’s helpful to know what the right technique looks like. Whether you’re new to rowing machines or have little experience with them, it doesn’t hurt to learn how to row properly. It may take some practice, but once you nail the technique, you’ll understand why this is one of the best ways to do cardio in a short period.

We spoke with a personal trainer to understand the common mistakes people make with a rowing machine and how to fix them with simple cues.

1. You’re mainly using your arms instead of your legs 

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One of the mistakes most people make when using a rowing machine is focusing too much on their arms rather than their legs. 

“Most people sit down and immediately pull with their biceps like it’s a cable row,” says Gerard Washack, personal trainer and owner of Strong Republic Personal Training. The problem with this approach is that rowing mainly requires leg strength. 

“About 60% of the power should come from your legs driving against the foot plate, 30% from the hips and back opening up and only 10% from the arms pulling the handle in at the very end,” Washack explains.

To help people improve their rowing technique, Washack says he changes how the handle is held: “I have people row with their hands off the handle and tuck the handle into your hip crease and just push with legs, then hips, then arms in that order.”

2. You’re not postured correctly

Poor posture is another mistake rowing machine users tend to make. If you have rounded shoulders and a hunched back, you’re not getting the most out of your rowing.  

“The spine has to stay long and the chest open during the whole move,” says Washack. He cues clients by telling them to imagine they’re sitting on a barstool with their chest up. 

Proper rowing should look long and smooth, with the legs pushing first. Then, the back opens, and the arms pull last. On the way back, the arms go away from the body first, the body hinges forward and then the knees bend last. By following these cues, it should feel like your legs are doing most of the work.

3. The damper is on the wrong setting

The damper, the dial found on the side of a rowing machine, controls how much air flows into the fan. This is what you use to adjust the resistance of the rowing machine, and it influences how heavy the stroke feels. 

“Beginners usually move it to 10 because they think harder is better,” Washack explains, adding, “The damper isn’t a resistance setting like a weight stack; instead, it’s more like a gear on a bike.” Depending on your fitness level, he recommends the following:

• Beginners should keep the damper settings between three and five.
• Intermediate users who have their form down can set the damper between four and six.
• Advanced rowers who focus on interval training or power can aim for seven or eight, and sometimes 10, on the damper. 

Ultimately, though, it’s more about the effort you put into the row. “Elite competitive rowers usually train at four or five,” Washack says, but they’re focusing on their output versus the number on the damper.  

4. Your rower lacks maintenance

The damper, the dial found on the side of a rowing machine, controls how much air flows into the fan. This is what you use to adjust the resistance of the rowing machine, and it influences how heavy the stroke feels. Although a rowing machine doesn’t require as much maintenance as other types of fitness equipment, you should still do your best to keep it clean and replace any worn-down parts. 

Washack recommends inspecting your rowing machine every month. “Inspect the chain or belt for wear, the seat rollers for dirt and the foot straps for fraying.” You should wipe down the seat and handle after every use, as sweat that falls onto the seat track can wear down the machine. 

Depending on the type of rower you own, you may need to focus on different parts for maintenance: 

Air rowers: If you own an air rower like the Concept2, these are the easiest rowing machines to take care of. The chain will need occasional oiling, and the flywheel cage (the enclosure where the fan sits) needs to be kept dust-free. 

Magnetic rowers: These are rowers that have the most electronic parts and mechanical complexity — similar to some of CNET’s favorite rowing machine picks. “The magnetic resistance system can wear or shift over time, and the cables connecting the resistance to the console can fray,” Washack explains. “I recommend checking those connections every couple of months.”

5. You’re using the rower for the wrong workouts

Unlike a treadmill or an exercise bike, where you can do long, steady workouts, a rowing machine is best used in short bursts. 

Washack likes prescribing intervals to clients who use the rowing machine. “Programs like four rounds of 500 meters with two minutes rest between are my go-to,” he says. “Another day, I do a longer, steady aerobic piece, 30 to 45 minutes at a conversational pace where your legs are working but you could still talk.” 

For clients looking to improve their power and speed, Washack focuses on eight rounds of 250 meters with a minute rest. 

6. It’s your primary workout

Unlike a treadmill or an exercise bike, where you can do long, steady workouts, a rowing machine is best used in short bursts. While rowing machines are great cardio machines, they shouldn’t be your main form of exercise. You should be following a strength-training program in addition to your rowing workouts. 

“Combine rowing with two days of traditional strength training, and you’ve got a complete program,” recommends Washack. 

Overall, finding a form of cardio you enjoy is important, since it will keep you consistent, and including strength training and mobility exercises will help you remain fit and strong.

General Motors sold roughly 14,000 Chevrolet Silverado EVs in the United States and Canada last year, according to GM Authority sales data. The petrol-powered Silverado moves more than ten times that volume in a single quarter. That gap, between what reviewers call one of the best electric trucks on the market and what buyers are actually willing to purchase, captures the central problem facing the American EV truck segment.

The numbers have only gotten worse. Silverado EV sales fell 41 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2026, and GM’s broader EV demand continued to decline into the second quarter. The automaker indefinitely suspended development of its next-generation full-size electric truck and SUV programme earlier this year, and took roughly eight billion dollars in EV-related charges during 2025, including writedowns tied to scrapped production plans and cancelled battery contracts.

On paper, the Silverado EV should be a compelling product. The LT Extended Range trim delivers an estimated 410 miles on a full charge from a 205 kilowatt-hour battery pack, the largest in any production pickup. It comes with GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driving system, a Google-powered infotainment setup, and a list price of roughly $71,000, only about $5,000 above the average transaction price for a full-size pickup, according to CEIC data cited by TechCrunch.

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The problem is what happens when the truck works like a truck. Towing cuts range by roughly 60 percent, which means a fully loaded Silverado EV might manage around 160 miles before needing a charger. According to Strategic Vision survey data, 75 percent of truck owners tow at most once a year, so for most buyers the penalty is tolerable, but for those who haul regularly it remains a dealbreaker.

Price is the other barrier. The $71,000 LT Extended Range is close to the petrol average, but GM also offers an LT Max Range that costs roughly $20,000 more and adds just 68 miles. At that level, the Silverado EV competes with luxury SUVs rather than work trucks, and the federal tax credit that once softened the blow has expired.

GM is betting that its new lithium-manganese-rich battery chemistry will cut at least $6,000 from battery costs while preserving most of the range, but LMR cells are not expected in trucks until 2028. The Ford F-150 Lightning faces the same cost and range dynamic, and Ram’s electric truck has been delayed repeatedly. The American pickup market generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue, but the electric versions remain a rounding error in the sales column, waiting for the cost curve to catch up with the engineering.

Dream, the Israeli AI cybersecurity startup that tripled its valuation to $3 billion this year, is expanding into Latin America. The company is targeting governments aligned with Washington in a region where cyber attacks are reportedly growing 25% annually and national defences rank among the weakest in the world.

The expansion is notable for what Dream’s co-founder built before. Shalev Hulio created NSO Group, the Israeli surveillance firm whose Pegasus spyware was used by governments to monitor journalists, activists, and political opponents across more than 50 countries.

Hulio founded Dream in January 2023, months after stepping down as NSO’s chief executive. The company describes itself as purely defensive, providing governments with AI-powered platforms to detect threats and patch vulnerabilities rather than the offensive surveillance tools that made Pegasus infamous.

The founders

Hulio’s co-founders are Sebastian Kurz, the former Austrian chancellor, and Gil Dolev, founder of intelligence-gathering firm Wayout Group. Kurz was convicted in February 2024 of making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry but acquitted on appeal in May 2025, with Vienna’s Higher Regional Court finding that the offence had not been fulfilled.

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Dream has more than 300 employees across offices in Tel Aviv, Vienna, and Abu Dhabi, with a Munich office planned. The company has built a sovereign data centre near Modiin, Israel, where it trains proprietary language models without relying on public cloud providers.

Why Latin America

Latin America is the world’s fastest-growing market for cyber attacks, with incidents rising roughly 25% annually according to industry estimates. A World Bank assessment scored the region’s countries an average of 10.2 out of 20 on cybersecurity preparedness, though the precise methodology and vintage of that figure could not be independently verified.

Costa Rica demonstrated the stakes in 2022. The Conti ransomware group hit roughly 30 government institutions, demanded $10 million in ransom, and forced President Rodrigo Chaves to declare a national emergency on 8 May, making Costa Rica the first country to take that step over a cyber attack.

Weeks later, the Hive group struck the country’s healthcare system, forcing hospitals to revert to pen and paper. The twin attacks crippled public services for months and showed that a mid-sized Latin American state could be paralysed by criminal hackers operating from another continent.

The political alignment

Dream’s push into the region coincides with a rightward shift that has brought several Israel-friendly leaders to power. Argentina’s Javier Milei has pitched his country as an AI hub and pledged to move its embassy to Jerusalem, aligning Buenos Aires closely with both Washington and Tel Aviv.

In Colombia, Abelardo De la Espriella won the presidential runoff on 21 June with 49.66% of the vote. He has pledged to restore diplomatic relations with Israel that his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, suspended in 2024 over the war in Gaza.

The alignment matters because Dream’s sales depend on government-to-government trust. Selling sovereign AI platforms to national security agencies requires a level of political intimacy that commercial cybersecurity contracts do not, and the company’s Israeli identity is an asset in capitals that have moved closer to Jerusalem.

The Pegasus question

Dream’s expansion into a region where surveillance technology has been exported to governments with poor human-rights records invites scrutiny. NSO Group was blacklisted by the US Commerce Department in November 2021 after Pegasus was found on the phones of journalists, dissidents, and at least one European Parliament member investigating spyware abuse.

Hulio has distanced himself from that legacy, resigning as NSO’s chief executive in August 2022 amid a corporate restructuring. Dream’s investors, led by Bicycle Capital and Group 11, have accepted his argument that defensive cybersecurity is a fundamentally different business from offensive surveillance.

Whether Latin American civil-society groups will draw the same distinction remains an open question. The region has a documented history of governments using surveillance tools against domestic opponents, and Dream’s founder built the most powerful one ever made.

The business case

Dream’s sales have reportedly exceeded $300 million, more than doubling over the past two years. The sovereign defence AI market is attracting new entrants, with startups like Rilian raising funding to deploy AI into air-gapped government environments, but Dream’s scale and government relationships give it a significant head start.

The company operates across three continents and counts sovereign clients in the Middle East among its largest accounts, though it does not publicly name its government customers. Latin America would add a fourth continent and a customer base whose cybersecurity budgets are growing from a very low base.

For Dream, the commercial logic is clear: sell to governments that need the technology, can afford it, and are politically willing to buy from an Israeli firm. For the region, the question is whether the man who built the world’s most notorious surveillance tool can be trusted to play defence.

The change in policy will create new rights for employees looking to stay in their careers for longer, as well as bring in new legal and operational obligations for employers.

This past week (commencing 29 June), the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment brought into effect the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Act 2025, which introduces significant new rights for employees in Ireland and also places new legal restrictions and responsibilities on employers. 

The new rules mean that eligible employees, who wish to do so, can now choose to remain employed at their place of work for a period of time beyond their contractual retirement age, where that age is below the State Pension age of 66. 

The eligible employee can retire as scheduled if that is their choice and if they elect to stay on, they must formally notify their employer of their plans at least three to six months in advance.

The employer will be expected to consider any notification made under the new act and if they intend to compel retirement at a certain age, there are criteria to be met – namely, they have to respond to a notification within one month, clearly establish the basis for the decision and ensure that it is in line with the higher legal threshold set out in the act. 

In support of the new act, the Minister of State for Small Businesses, Retail and Employment Alan Dillon, TD has signed into law an updated Code of Practice on Longer Working, which was developed by the Workplace Relations Commission and is now also in full effect. 

Successful complaints around the new legislation brought by an employee through the Workplace Relations Commission could be awarded up to two years’ remuneration or €40,000, depending on which figure is higher.

On the employer’s side, a failure to provide a reasonable response to retirement notifications may constitute a criminal offence and is punishable by a Class A fine of up to €5,000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months. 

Golden years

Commenting on the recent change in policy, Ruadhri McGarry, an associate director at IT Search and a DevOps, cloud and cybersecurity specialist recruiter, explained that the right to request a later retirement date will also give older employees additional reassurances.

McGarry told SiliconRepublic.com, “It removes two specific worries. Financially, they can work at full pay for another year and continue pension contributions accordingly, and professionally, not everyone wants to retire – and so many people within the STEM community are deeply passionate about their work.”

It is an opportunity that he believes many people operating in the STEM space are going to take advantage of, particularly as he has noticed an increase in retirement-age professionals extending their tenure as they are still more than capable of producing exceptional work. In many cases they might pivot to consulting work to supplement income, but more often, in his opinion, it is about personal happiness and not feeling that they need to retire based on a calendar. 

He said, “We all need a sense of purpose and if any professional can contribute their decades of experience and drive, there is no real reason for them to stop.”

Turning challenge into opportunity

In the wake of the new rules, there may also be an opportunity for organisations to further capitalise on the expertise of employees reaching retirement age.

McGarry said, “From a big-picture perspective, that is an entire additional year, or more, that can add to the industrial body of knowledge.”

He added: “I fully expect employers to use this legislation and subsequent to maximise knowledge transfer across the generations, utilising senior employees to bring new focus to mentoring, project leadership and expertise retention. 

“Any legislative change that offers more choice to employees is always welcome, and those that choose to extend their careers for whatever reason will no doubt add a small but significant layer of experience to an entire sector.”

Addressing concerns that extending the tenure of older employees may limit opportunities for early-career starters or younger workers, McGarry is of the opinion that organisations will be clever in how they spend the remaining time with the established workforce. 

“I expect that when this change in legislation kicks in, firms will utilise that year to focus on knowledge transfer from technical staff approaching this new retirement date, giving a new focus for their final year,” he said.

“The limiting of opportunities for career starters would be minimal and more than offset by having additional time to learn from those at the end of their professional journey.”

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Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one. It has a holiday topic, and the answer grid shows up in bright colors, which fits the theme. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Ooh!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Happy 250th birthday!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• DARE, FARE, PARK, BROIL, ROIL, SPAR, COIL, BOIL, FAIL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• BRIGHT, COLORFUL, DAZZLING, EXCITING, SPARKLING

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FIREWORKS. To find it, look for the F that is four letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind up.

The trade that defined the first half of 2026, buying anything with proximity to a GPU, broke apart in the holiday-shortened week before Independence Day. The PHLX Semiconductor Index, which had surged more than 80% in the first half, sank 6.3% on Wednesday and 5.4% on Thursday, a two-session decline of roughly 12%.

While chip stocks cratered, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record 52,900 on Thursday, lifted by a 5% surge in Apple after Bloomberg reported the company had instructed suppliers to prepare 10 million foldable iPhones for a launch this autumn. All three major indices finished the week higher despite the rotation.

The numbers behind the crack

Micron Technology led the decline, falling more than 10% on Wednesday alone. SanDisk, Applied Materials, and Lam Research all dropped roughly 10%, while Intel and Marvell each lost about 9%.

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The selling intensified after reports that SK Hynix was slowing its expansion of high-bandwidth memory production, a signal that the supply side of the AI infrastructure boom may be catching up with demand. Equipment makers ASML, KLA, and Applied Materials all fell between 5% and 6%, suggesting investors are pricing in a slowdown in chip-factory orders.

The damage to chip stocks happened against a backdrop of broader macro uncertainty. June nonfarm payrolls came in at just 57,000, roughly half the 110,000 consensus estimate, and revisions to April and May cut a combined 74,000 jobs from previous tallies.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.2%, but only because the labour force participation rate fell to 61.5%, its lowest level since March 2021.

Where the money went

The rotation was not a flight from AI but a repricing of where the returns will come from. Enterprise software stocks, led by ServiceNow, Snowflake, and Palantir, have been the primary beneficiaries, with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF up 35% from its April low.

Snowflake surged 36% in late May after reporting strong earnings, adding 616 net new customers and lifting its count of million-dollar accounts to 779. ServiceNow, Oracle, and Palantir each rallied 6% to 8% in the session that followed.

The logic is straightforward. Investors spent two years paying premium multiples for the companies that supply AI infrastructure, and now they want evidence that it is generating revenue for the companies that deploy it.

Palantir’s Q1 revenue hit $1.63 billion, up 85% year over year. ServiceNow has projected $30 billion in subscription revenue by 2030, with roughly a third attributed to its AI product, Now Assist.

The valuation question

The first half left all three major indices in strong shape. The S&P 500 gained 9.6%, the Nasdaq rose more than 12%, and the Dow climbed 8.9%, its best first-half performance since 2021.

But the Shiller CAPE ratio sits at 38 to 40, second only to the dot-com peak of 44, and market concentration in the largest technology stocks has exceeded year-2000 levels. The difference, proponents argue, is that this time the companies are among the most profitable in corporate history, with Nvidia alone reporting net income exceeding $120 billion for fiscal 2026.

The counterargument is that profitability at the top of the supply chain does not guarantee profitability in the middle. Hyperscalers are on track to spend more than $650 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, and the question that spooked markets in the holiday-shortened week is whether anyone below Nvidia in the stack will earn returns that justify those prices.

What the Fed changes

The weak jobs report reshaped the interest-rate picture overnight. The probability of a Fed rate hike at the 29 July meeting collapsed to about 22%, with a hold now the overwhelming favourite at 78%.

Fed chairman Kevin Warsh called the jobs picture “steady” and continued to emphasise his commitment to the 2% inflation target, without offering forward guidance on the rate path. A Fed that stays on hold gives equity markets one less reason to sell, but it also removes the catalyst that had been supporting bank stocks and the dollar earlier in the quarter.

What to watch

The market reopens on Monday with Q2 earnings season approaching. The results that matter most will come from the AI software layer: whether Snowflake’s customer additions accelerate, whether Palantir’s commercial pipeline converts, and whether ServiceNow’s AI attach rate holds at the levels it projected.

If the software companies deliver, the rotation will look prescient. If they disappoint, the AI trade will face a harder question: what happens when the infrastructure is built and the applications do not come.

Other Good International Phones

Haven’t seen anything you like? The following phones are also worth considering:

Xiaomi 17T for £649 and 17T Pro for $870: If it weren’t for Honor’s high pricing, one of these phones (probably the 17T) would have claimed the best mid-range spot above. Compared with the Honor 600, the 17T offers slightly better performance with more RAM and a more reliable camera that has superior zoom capability. Unfortunately, it also has bags of bloatware, and the software requires some tinkering to get the best it offers. The 17T Pro adds wireless charging, a bigger battery, much better performance with a faster chipset, and a larger screen—but it’s even more expensive, pushing the top end of what I’d consider midrange.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Oppo Find N6 for $1,943: Touting an 8.12-inch display, the Find N6 is a beautifully engineered folding phone that’s impossibly slim and light. Despite its promise of being creaseless, the fold is still discernible. You’ll hardly notice it when the screen is on, though you’ll feel it if you use the optional stylus. Performance is impressively slick, with enough stamina to see you through a busy day, and the camera system is excellent. It’s a big step up from last year’s N5, with a 200-MP main shooter, 50-MP telephoto, and 50-MP ultrawide, though it can’t quite compete with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra above. The global model is enabled to use familiar Google apps, but you’ll have to import those, as the phone won’t officially be released in the West, which is the main reason it fails to edge out Honor’s foldable above.

Xiaomi 15T Pro for $745: This phone is fast, with a large, high-refresh-rate screen; a versatile Leica-tuned camera system that includes a 50-MP telephoto lens offering 5X optical zoom; and a solid list of extras, including generous and speedy UFS 4.1 storage and Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity. The big downside here for most folks is the quirky software, but with a bit of effort, it’s possible to customize it into shape. There’s also some bloatware to remove, and Xiaomi doesn’t match some competitors on software support. The regular 15T is almost the same size but has a slightly weaker chipset and camera, a plastic frame, and misses out on wireless charging.

Infinix Note 60 Ultra for $750: Designed with the help of Pininfarina, famous for iconic cars from Ferrari and Maserati, the Note 60 Ultra looks interesting, with a distinctive curved glass section over the camera module that also houses a small matrix display. The phone arrives in a grand box with a curvy car-shaped wireless charger. The specs are solid, apart from the distinctly not “Ultra” chipset (MediaTek’s Dimensity 8400 Ultimate), but availability seems limited for now.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Xiaomi 17 Pro Max for $1,039: A refreshing design featuring a second, smaller screen on the back that houses the camera lenses is the main way the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max differs from the 17 Pro. Xiaomi came up with various cute ways to employ this auxiliary display, including a selfie preview for superior selfies with the main camera, music controls, customizable themes, and virtual pets. There’s even a retro gaming case that lets you play Angry Birds, though it feels a bit silly when there’s a 6.7-inch screen on the other side. Aside from the second screen, the 17 Pro Max is a typical Xiaomi specs beast, and the 17 Pro isn’t far behind, but neither has been officially released outside China yet.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Oppo Find X9 Pro for £1,099: Photography fans simply must check out the Oppo Find X9 Pro. The 200-megapixel telephoto lens supports 3X optical zoom and can take excellent shots at 6X zoom by cropping images down to 50 megapixels. To maximize camera capabilities, though, you’ll need the detachable Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit ($399). This enormous lens slots into place on the case and adds another 3.28X zoom, though it’s tricky to use without a tripod. An additional trio of 50-MP lenses, with all supporting 4K video recording at 60 fps with HDR, makes this a great pick for creatives. Impressive specs include a 6.78-inch flat display, IP66/68/69 ratings, and a 7,500-mAh silicon-carbon battery that’ll last for two days.

Xiaomi Poco F8 Ultra for £497 and F8 Pro for £331: Xiaomi’s cheaper, fun, youthful brand Poco provides room for experimentation, but the company’s own 15T Pro is a better buy in this price bracket. What the F8 Ultra offers that you won’t find elsewhere is a fun or awful (depending on your tastes) denim finish on the back. There are also Bose-tuned speakers, an excellent 6.9-inch display, and an enormous 6,500-mAh battery. It also has a flagship-level Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and generous RAM and storage. There’s even a trio of 50-MP lenses in the camera. The F8 Pro is slightly smaller but drops little from the spec sheet, making it the better bargain.

Honor Magic 7 Pro for $999: Honor’s Magic 7 Pro features a solid triple-lens camera, a gorgeous 6.8-inch screen, speedy performance, good battery life, and a dual IP68 and IP69 dust- and water-resistance rating. Honor’s Magic OS boasts polished AI features, and Honor announced an increased commitment to seven years of Android version and security patch updates with this phone. The Magic 7 Pro’s downsides include its large camera cutout on the front, camera processing that’s sometimes heavy-handed, and its ultrawide camera struggling to match the other two lenses.

Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro for $403: Xiaomi’s Poco X7 Pro is a compelling bargain that combines a lovely 6.67-inch display with relatively fast performance, good battery life, speedy wired charging, and IP68 water resistance. The 50-megapixel main camera is decent. The Poco X7 Pro runs Android 15 with HyperOS on top, and Xiaomi offers three Android version updates and four years of security patches. This was my budget pick before the Poco F7 (discontinued), and then the X8 Pro unseated it.

Doro Aurora A20 for £250: Doro is a Swedish company focused on providing devices that are accessible for older folks. It primarily focuses on phones but also sells a decent video doorbell. The Aurora A20 is an odd spin on the flip phone that may help some people transition to a touchscreen device. It’s like an old candy bar HTC Android phone with a flip-out keypad attached to the bottom. There are lots of thoughtful features, including an alarm button, a spacious keypad, and simplified software. It’s also fairly cheap, but I found the performance sluggish, the camera poor, and the design a bit chunky and heavy.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Realme 14 Pro+ for €369: The color-changing finish may be gimmicky, but it’s fun, and this phone looks and feels far more expensive than it is. There are more highs than lows on the spec sheet: You get a triple-lens camera, an IP68/69 water-resistance rating, a 6,000-mAh battery, and a 6.83-inch OLED display with a 120-Hz refresh rate. But the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset is limited, there’s no wireless charging support, and you don’t get a charger in the box. Even so, it’s still quite a bargain.

Xiaomi 15 for $750: Folks seeking a compact phone could do a lot worse than the Xiaomi 15. It feels lovely and has a 6.36-inch screen, a decent triple-lens camera, and top-notch internals. But it’s a conservative design, and it has software and bloatware issues.

Honor Magic 7 RSR for £1,550: Designed with Porsche, this souped-up version of the 7 Pro above has a fancier design with a hexagonal camera module, a slightly improved telephoto lens, 24 GB of RAM (likely largely pointless), 1 TB of storage, and a bigger battery (5,850 mAh). It’s lovely, but it doesn’t do enough to justify the additional outlay.

Avoid These Phones

These aren’t necessarily bad phones, but I think you’d be better served by an option above.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Nothing Phone (3a) Lite: There’s a retro-cool vibe to Nothing’s translucent hardware and pixelated software, and this is currently the cheapest phone it offers in the UK (it wasn’t released in the US). The screen, battery life, and software are decent, but the camera and bloatware were disappointing. I don’t think the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite is the worst, but you can do better.

Nubia Z80 Ultra: Similar to my gaming pick above, the Nubia Redmagic 11S Pro, the Nubia Z80 Ultra trades off a better camera for slightly diminished performance and screen quality. It’s also a real brick with an enormous camera module on the back, making it awkward to handle, though I do like the dedicated camera button. Despite a very impressive spec sheet for the money, it manages to feel like less than the sum of its parts. Nubia’s software is subpar, and for this phone, it commits to only three years of security updates and a single Android version upgrade.

Oppo Reno 13 Pro 5G: This slim, lightweight midrange phone boasts a 6.8-inch screen (brightness is limited), a triple-lens camera (solid 50-MP main and telephoto lenses with a disappointing 8-MP ultrawide), and an impressive IP69 water-resistance rating. Battery life is good, and wired charging is fast, but there’s no wireless charging. It’s packed with bloatware but also AI features and tools covering transcription, summarization, image editing, and more that may add value for some folks. After some time with the 13 Pro, I feel you can do better for the money.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 4: Officially released only in China, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 is a stylish folding phone with a 6.56-inch outer screen that folds open to reveal a 7.98-inch inner screen. It also offers solid performance and battery life, but despite having a large quad-lens camera module, the camera is underwhelming. The crease is also pronounced, and using a Chinese model is a bit of a pain, as various items are not translated, and getting the apps you want takes work.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Realme GT7 Pro: This potential flagship killer has a 6.78-inch OLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and an enormous 6,500-mAh battery. You also get a triple-lens camera, but the 50-megapixel main and telephoto lenses are let down by the 8-megapixel ultrawide. It also lacks wireless charging, and it only seems to be on sale in Germany.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+: Here, you’ll get an attractive and durable design (IP68), a 200-megapixel Samsung camera sensor, and decent battery life with superfast charging (120 watts). But those wins come at the price of middling performance, poor ultrawide (8 MP) and macro (2 MP) lenses, and a ton of bloatware. Ultimately, there’s little improvement over last year’s Redmi Note 13 Pro+. Not only are there better phones for the same money—there are better Xiaomi phones.

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A dual United States and Estonian citizen has been extradited to the U.S. to face charges alleging he was a member of the Scattered Spider hacking collective.

19-year-old Peter Stokes (who used the online handles “Bouquet,” “Spencer,” and “Jordan”) was arrested in Finland on April 10 while attempting to board a flight to Japan at Helsinki’s airport and is accused of having helped extort millions of dollars from multiple high-profile companies worldwide.

According to court documents, Stokes was involved in at least four Scattered Spider breaches (including a March 2023 hack of an online communication platform, when he was 16 years old) that led to victim companies being asked to pay millions of dollars in ransoms.

The list of victims breached with the suspect’s help also includes an unnamed multibillion-dollar “luxury item retailer” in May 2025, when the hackers allegedly called the company’s IT helpdesk, posing as employees, to reset credentials and gain access to administrator accounts.

While the threat actors demanded an $8 million ransom, claiming to have 100 gigabytes of stolen data, the company refused to pay. However, it still incurred over $2 million due to operations disruption and remediation costs.

Stokes now faces charges of fraud, conspiracy, and computer intrusion and has remained in custody after appearing in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday.

​”The criminal complaint charges Peter Stokes with membership in Scattered Spider, a hacking group that has been involved in over 100 network intrusions, resulting in more than $100 million in ransom payments and millions more in damages to the victims,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva on Wednesday.

“Scattered Spider has repeatedly targeted U.S. companies, extorting employees, inflicting millions of dollars in losses, and disrupting essential operations,” added Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI’s Cyber Division.

Scattered Spider (also tracked as 0ktapus, Octo Tempest, Scatter Swine, UNC3944, and Muddled Libra) emerged in 2022 as a loosely knit hacking collective mainly composed of teenagers and young adults from the United States and Great Britain.

They are known for using a blend of social engineering, targeted multi-factor authentication (MFA) bombing (aka MFA fatigue), and SMS credential phishing attacks to steal user credentials and sensitive documents for extortion leverage after breaching their targets’ networks.

According to prosecutors, they commonly use the Genymobile Android emulator during their MFA attacks and have also deployed DragonForce encryptor in ransomware attacks against UK retail companies.

Scattered Spider’s list of victims includes many high-profile organizations, including Caesars, MGM Resorts, Riot Games, DoorDash, Reddit, MailChimp, Twilio, Allianz Life, Transport for London (TfL), multiple UK retailers such as Co-op, Marks & Spencer (M&S), and Harrods, and, more recently, WestJet and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

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Apple appears to be growing increasingly confident in its first foldable iPhone. A new report claims the company has raised its production plans for the long-rumoured iPhone Fold to 10 million units for the remainder of 2026.

That’s according to Nikkei Asia, which previously reported that Apple was targeting between seven and eight million foldable iPhones this year. The new figure aligns more closely with an earlier 11 million-unit claim from leaker Digital Chat Station.

If the latest estimate proves accurate, it could signal that Apple is preparing for a much bigger launch than many expected.

Previous rumours suggested manufacturing challenges around the foldable display, hinge and internal circuit board could limit production. However, increasing orders would indicate those issues may now be under control.

The report also offers another clue about timing. Since the 10 million figure covers Apple’s 2026 production plans, it adds weight to speculation that the iPhone Fold could still debut alongside the rest of the iPhone lineup in September instead of slipping into 2027. Some rumours have suggested it could be delayed. That said, Apple could still unveil the device this year and delay shipments until later if production runs into problems.