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The ideal centrepiece for any party

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Whether you’re planning a party of one or a larger gathering with friends and family, Bluetooth speakers are a great device to have on hand. They’re far more accessible than larger speaker systems, not to mention more affordable, and while there are some great options to choose from, there are plenty of duds that you’ll want to avoid. Thankfully, with the advice of our expert team, you can discover the best Bluetooth speakers to buy.

While there’s no denying that if you want the true audiophile experience then the best surround sound systems are the way to go, but for most people who just want a simple way of playing their favourite tracks and playlists, Bluetooth speakers are the go-to pick, especially as there are now so many options to choose from, each with unique features.

For instance, speakers from Bang & Olufsen are perfect for high quality sound while Ultimate Ears has durability on lock. You can pick and choose based on the features that you prioritise above all, but to make sure that a speaker is truly as good as the box says it is, you can lean on the expertise of our team.

At this point, we’ve lost track of the number of Bluetooth speakers we’ve reviewed, but it means we know right away if a company is on to something special. With each speaker that gets sent to our offices, it is used for both indoor and outdoor playback to analyse the acoustics, all whilst playing a variety of genres to see how versatile the speaker is in providing a detailed soundscape.

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All of this information is then funnelled into our reviews so that you know exactly what each speaker is like to use, before you ever get your hands on them. While Bluetooth speakers are easily the better option for gatherings, when it comes to personal playback you’ll be well suited with checking out the best headphones or the best wireless earbuds.

Best Bluetooth speakers at a glance

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How we test

How we test wireless speakers

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We play a lot of music, and we play it loud. We play it everywhere – in the house, in the garden, and even in the bath if a speaker is waterproof.

We don’t just listen to the speakers; if there are special features then we make sure we fiddle with them until we’re satisfied. Recently, some Bluetooth speakers have begun to get smart functionality with the integration of Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, and as a result we’ve started speaking to our speakers as well.

Of course, it always comes back to the music. Speakers are tested by reviewers who have a love of music, a knowledge of sound quality, as well as a context of the market. We’ll listen to Bluetooth speakers alongside similarly priced rivals, so when we recommend a particular model, it’s among the best you can buy for the money.

Obviously, we know not everyone has the same taste in music, so we won’t only test with the same perfectly mastered album, but with a variety of genres and file qualities, from MP3 to Hi-Res FLAC.

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  • Impressive sound for its size

  • Waterproof and very portable design

  • Long battery life

  • Great sense of style

  • The most expensive entry in the Beosound A1 series

  • Bass caught out with more demanding tracks

Long time readers of Trusted Reviews will know that the Beosound A1 2nd Gen was our go-to pick as the best Bluetooth speaker for quite a while due to its outstanding sound quality and undeniable sense of style. It only makes sense then that the one speaker that has truly surpassed it is its direct successor. For something truly amazing, the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen should be your first pick above all.

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There are quite a few juicy upgrades in this successor but the one that arguably means the most is the upgraded bass ability. For context, the previous A1 was no slouch in this department but you can hear the weight involved the moment you turn on the newer model, with the type of room filling richness that can really elevate a party to the next level.

Depending on how long you want the part to go on for, it’s far more likely that you’ll run out of energy before the A1 3rd Gen ever does. You can now get a whopping 24 hours of use between charges which is so much more than what you’ll find from most Bluetooth speakers that it almost doesn’t seem fair, but it is why the A1 carries a more premium price.

Another nice touch that we would love to see adopted by more companies in this sector is that the A1 is Cradle to Cradle certified, ensuring that it’s been developed to the highest possible level of sustainability and as such, it can be repaired and recycled with ease at the end of its lifecycle. Given just how much e-waste is discarded each year, these are the design choices we love to see from big brands.

Although Alexa compatibility has been removed this time around, you do get a far superior Bluetooth 5.1 connection to help maintain a stronger connection with your phone when in use. There’s also multipoint pairing so if it’s more convenient to change your music source to a laptop or tablet then you can do so quickly without any hassle.

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  • Excellent sound

  • Portable

  • Alexa support

  • Great style

  • Waterproof design

Although it’s since been supplanted by a newer model, the Beosound A1 2nd Gen is still a great Bluetooth speaker that can now be found at a discount.

At the time of launch, it was the world’s first Bluetooth-only speaker to support Alexa, relying on the Bluetooth connection between it and a smartphone to access the Amazon digital assistant. We found it worked pretty well in a local park, Alexa responding quickly to queries unless the smartphone was busy doing another task. We’d suggest not doing too much multitasking with a phone if she proves to be less responsive than usual.

As you’d expect from a Bang & Olufsen product, it ladles on the style with its aluminium top surface and waterproof leather base. Its IP67 rating protects it from water and dust and the 18-hour battery life exceeds the likes of Sonos Roam and Wonderboom 3, so you can listen to music on this speaker for longer.

What impressed us the most during testing was its audio. For a speaker of its size and shape, it produced a detailed, clear sound, and ample amounts of bass. Compared to the portable speakers that feature on this list, it’s the best-sounding effort, and four years after its release, it still rates as one of our favourite Bluetooth speakers.

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  • Balanced, clear sound over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

  • Tough, rugged design

  • Can be used to charge other devices

  • Solid battery life

  • More expensive than before

  • No PartyBoost feature

  • No fast charging

The Charge 5 sits between the Flip series and Xtreme models as a big portable speaker for those who want a loud, dynamic outdoors performance.

It comes in an array of colours and also looks like an American football, though this isn’t a speaker we’d want to throw at someone. Its big and heavy at nearly 1kg and doesn’t come with a handle or strap for carry. The fabric covering is one we found to be quite grippy in the hand though you’ll want to stow it in away in a bag when not in use. Its tough IP67 rating ensures protection against water and dust like the Wonderboom 3 and Beosound A1 2nd Gen that feature on this list.

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Battery is quoted around 20 hours, which should suffice for a few days use and the speaker can be used as a powerbank to charge mobile devices. There is app support in the form of the JBL Portable app, which we found simple to use. There aren’t many features inside, with just the ability to change the speaker’s EQ, update the firmware (which we did found takes a while) and enable the PartyBoost feature. This allows the Charge 5 to be stereo paired to another speaker or connected to as many JBL compatible speakers as you like.

The sound from the Charge 5 is one our reviewer found to be big, loud and powerful. It can generate satisfying amounts of punchy bass but it doesn’t do so at the expense of overall balance or clarity. The midrange is clear and there’s good separation and definition of voices and instruments to make the listener can hear what’s going on in the track. Raise the volume up and while there’s not as much bass as there is at lower volumes, there’s notable distortion with the Charge 5 sounding louder than the bigger Sony SRS-XG300 when playing The Beatles’ Hey Jude.

The JBL is a fun, energetic-sounding speaker with a sound that’s more balanced than you may expect. It’s available at a reasonably tidy price too, around the same price bracket as the Marshall Emberton II and Sonos Roam. There is an upgrade in the Charge 5 Wi-Fi that adds Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, and Alexa Multi-Room audio support.

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  • Improved sound over original

  • Boosted battery life

  • Can charge other devices

  • Affordable price

  • Dust and waterproof design

  • May lack a sense of fun for some

The original Stormbox Micro was a very good portable speaker at an affordable price, and the Stormbox Micro 2 sees Tribit repeating the trick again with an even better performance.

The audio is a step up in virtually all regards. We found that the Micro 2 is louder than the original, the size of the sound was also bigger and projected further away from the speaker’s body and it presented music with much more clarity than the original, too.

Out reviewer felt it achieved a better balance in its sound quality, with bass bigger and better described; treble frequencies sharper and clearer, while more detail is retrieved in the midrange, helping to define instruments with more sharpness and detail.

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The design has been altered, the buttons coloured white to contrast better against the fabric covering; the speaker is also bigger and can now serve as a powerbank to change any mobile devices you have on your person via USB-C charging. It keeps the useful tear-resistant strap that allows it to be attached to bicycle handlebars or rucksacks to accompany users on their journeys. It also retains its IP67 rating, so it’s insulated against dust and water for those who want to take their speaker on more adventurous outdoor activities.

Battery life has been improved from 8-hours to 12, which puts it among the likes of the Sonos Roam (11) and Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 (14). There’s also support for an app that allows for the speaker’s EQ to be adjusted along with enabling updates, which should allow the speaker to last for longer.

The Stormbox Micro 2 is everything a sequel should be, improving on the weaker aspects and making the good parts even better. It does come at a slight increase to £59.99, which puts in the ballpark of speakers such as the Tronsmart T7. The T7 sounds better when dealing with treble and bass, but the convenience and versality of the Tribit gets our vote over the Tronsmart.

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  • Rich, likable sound

  • Solid portability

  • Long battery life

  • Fun audio effects/customisations

  • Not the most detailed presentation

  • A little heavy to carry

Fancy having a party outside? There are plenty of Bluetooth speakers to choose, but our current favourite is Sony’s SRS-XG300.

It comes with retractable handle for carrying the speaker about, which found useful considering this speaker weighs around 3kg. With its IP67 rating it’s good against resisting liquids and particles such as sand and dust when used outside.

It’s not the sharpest or necessarily the clearest-sounding speaker with its warm and rich tone placing an emphasis on bass. However, that does make it a good option for outdoor parties if you like your bass assertively described, and music given plenty of drive and energy then the XG300.

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B&O’s Beolit 20 can summon even stronger levels of bass but it does also cost twice as much as the Sony does, and there’s also the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus to consider, though it is currently more expensive than the Sony.

Around the edges of the speaker is a Light feature – Sony calls it Ambient Illumination – that emits a halo of light at either end of the speaker that pulses in sync with the beat, although at its default setting we found it wasn’t particularly noticeable, especially during daylight hours.

Other party features include support for Fiestable app, which offers control over DJ effects, light effects and Motion Control, where playback and volume can be controlled by moving a smartphone, although this is a feature that can be hit and miss in terms of accuracy.

In terms of physical connections, the Sony comes with a USB-C for charging another device, and a stereo mini-jack (cable also included) for plugging in an external source (such as a portable music player). Battery life is 25 hours; Google Fast Pair is provided for instant connection to an Android device and there’s LDAC Bluetooth for those that want to play music from a music streaming service that supports higher quality bitrates.

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  • Powerful, engaging sound

  • Versatile feature-set

  • Affordable asking price

  • Could benefit from more definition, dynamic agility

  • Stands add a fair bit to overall cost

In the Q Acoustics M20 HD, you have a Bluetooth speaker that is more fitting for desktop stereo use or even connected to a TV via its other connections.

The M20 HD is an active speaker system, which means there is no need for external amplification/boxes, so you can plug it into the power port and get going with your music. AptX-HD Bluetooth ensures that the system can play files up to 24-bit/48kHz resolution, so you can get some high-fidelity performance from Bluetooth playback.

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The Bluetooth support matches Edifier’s S2000MKIII, but at 10.6kg the Q Acoustics are a much lighter and smaller proposition, which makes carrying them around and positioning them on speaker stands less of a hassle. The range of connections is also better than the Edifier, so if you’re not listening to them over Bluetooth, there’s scope to connect the M20 HD to a TV or connect a USB stick to play audio files at resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz.

And in terms of their sound, we found the system boasted a fun and engaging performance, with a warm and rich mid-range performance, powerful bass and defined top end of the frequency range. They’re great with music, films and games and their price makes them better value than the similarly specified but more expensive Klipsch The Fives.

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  • Immersive surround sound

  • Easy to use

  • Long battery life

  • Smart design

  • Battery life depletes in standby mode

  • Sounds strained at high volumes

  • Less convincing with music

  • No Wi-Fi

The HT-AX7 should be considered as a personal Bluetooth sound system that elevates the audio performance from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

It connects via Bluetooth with no Wi-Fi support, so you can only connect to devices over Bluetooth. It’s made up of three elements: two detachable speakers to place around you and the main speaker unit that sits in front.

It features Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology creates a soundstage around your listening position with both physical speakers and virtual ones. We found the performance with movies and TV shows to be quite impressive. There’s a wider, bigger soundstage to enjoy than if you were listening through a pair of headphones or the mobile device.

Synching between what’s on the screen and the speakers is excellent, the rears fill in the space behind you in a way that keeps up the levels of immersion. Sony claims the speaker can produce overhead sounds, but through testing we found those claims to be wide of the mark.

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We wouldn’t necessarily recommend using the speaker with music. At higher volume levels it can sound thin, and you won’t get much bass either.

Battery is caimed to be around 30+ hours, although like the Bose SoundLink Max, the AX7 consumes energy in its standby mode so that’s something to keep a close eye out for if you don’t use the speaker for a week (or two).

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  • Clear audio with lots of impact

  • Well-built and reasonably sized

  • Oodles of connectivity options

  • Uninspiring looks

  • Rear dials can be hard to access

The Majority D80 is a pair of desktop speakers for very reasonable price. The speakers don’t have the most exciting design but they’re well-built, offer clear audio and have a wide range of connectivity options.

The speakers have an understated design, their size and 3.48kg weight puts means they’re more accommodating than bigger music systems that require more space such as the Q Acoustics M20 HD.

There’s a vast range of connectivity options to choose from, including HDMI ARC, optical, line-in, Bluetooth and a USB drive. You can switch modes on the remote control, with the remote also handy for skipping through local files on a USB drive.

The remote itself is big and chunky with reasonably tactile buttons, though you can also use the right speaker to adjust the volume, bass and treble.

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When it comes to sound quality, we found that the audio remained consistent across wired and wireless connections and via a mix of streamed music and local high-quality MP3/FLAC files.

The speakers present a prominent low end and a great soundstage, as well as generally clear audio. There’s also little to no distortion at higher volumes and the speakers have no trouble filling a small office or bedroom.

If you’re looking for a pair of desktop speakers with an understated design, a clear and impactful audio performance and a varied array of connectivity options, the Majority D80 are a great value pick.

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  • Solid build quality

  • Good battery life

  • Generally decent audio

  • Not as detailed as slightly more expensive rivals

  • Design may be a little bland to some

For when you’ve got a weekend camping trip in the diary and you need a tough, portable speaker that can keep up with you for the entire journey, the Tribit Stormbox Lava is by far one of your best options. With a battery life of up to 24-hours, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be left with a dead cell in the middle of one of your favourite camping playlists.

In fact, not only does that battery life mean that you can keep the party going for a lot longer than most of the competition provides, but it also allows the Stormbox Lava to act as a powerbank, with a USB-A port available so you can quickly connect to your smartphone. If you are going to be away from civilisation for a bit but you don’t want to be carrying too much, then this is exactly the type of device that you’ll be glad to have on hand.

The battery life isn’t the only feature that makes the Stormbox Lava suited for a weekend away – there’s also some outstanding durability at play. Just to look at this Bluetooth speaker is to get an understanding of its rough and ready chassis, and that’s backed up by IP67 water resistance so if it does get accidentally dropped into a pool of water, you can fish it out without anticipating the worst.

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In spite of its portability however, the Stormbox Lava still manages to get incredibly loud when you want it to, so you won’t have any issues with trying to hear your go-to tracks against any background noise. Vocals in particular sound wonderfully crisp on this speaker – perfect for singing along by the campfire.

As a final point, the controls are excellent. It might seem a bit basic but trust us, having large, easy to recognise physical controls is a huge boon, and it just makes the process of using the Stormbox Lava feel so much more intuitive. It means you’re less likely to fiddle with your phone when you can easily tweak the volume and playback right on the device.

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  • Thoughtful ergonomic design

  • Waterproof IP67 rating

  • Speakerphone smarts

  • Sound feels flat

  • Battery life is mid

  • No EQ presets

Take a quick glance at the Sony ULT Field 1 and you can tell pretty much right away that this is a Bluetooth speaker made for the great outdoors. It’s rugged, with IP67 dust and water resistance and there’s a rubberised control panel that can take a knock or two without any issue. If you’ve got a camping trip coming up, then this is exactly the speaker that you’ll want to have with you.

Despite there being smaller Bluetooth speakers on this list, the ULT Field 1 is wonderfully portable, as the multi-way strap not only allows you to carry it on your person, but also hang it up wherever it’s needed. If you want to hang it off a coat hook to give the audio a bit more height and range, then you can do just that.

Still, the ULT Field 1 doesn’t need much in the way of assistance because it’s able to crank up the volume to quite a high level and still retain audio fidelity. Vocals come through clearly, just as the mids are given enough space to make themselves known, and while the bassline has a great weight to it, you can switch on the bass boost for when you really want to get the party going.

The bass boost mode is great for when you’re outdoors and the lows of a song can sometimes be missed against the ambient noise of your surroundings. If you do need to take a quick call, then the Echo Cancelling feature is able to minimise any background noise so that the person on the other end of the line can hear your voice clearly. For when you’re trying to entertain a larger group, you can bring a second ULT Field 1 into the mix for a surround sound experience.

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If you are taking the speaker away with you for a weekend then you won’t have to worry about longevity as you can get up to 12 hours of use on a single charge, which is more than enough to get through an afternoon/night of partying.


  • Clearer, more balanced sound

  • Extended battery life

  • Strong water resistance

  • Not the same bass impact

  • Carry strap not included as standard

Marshall has put out no shortage of Bluetooth speakers since the prolific brand hopped into this arena, but the Marshall Emberton III is arguably the company’s best one yet. Even though the Emberton III looks quite similar to its predecessor at first glance, there are actually quite a few meaningful changes that make the speaker much more fun to use on a regular basis.

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There’s a new silicone texture to the chassis that makes it far more comfortable to hold, and there’s also a loop for a wrist strap to be added, giving you the freedom to attach the Emberton III to a bag or item of clothing. There’s even a separate power button this time around so you can get straight into your favourite tunes more quickly. All of this sits on top of previous durability stats including an official IP67 rating.

The design isn’t the only thing that’s been changed here as Marshall has also seen fit to give the sound profile a tweak. Admittedly, the bass is slightly less prolific than it was on the Emberton II but what you get instead is a fuller soundscape that not only gives greater room to the mid-range, it also boosts the clarity of the vocals. For classic rock tracks (the ones you’d typically hear blasting out of a Marshall amp) you’re getting a great experience. 

What’s sure to be the most impressive upgrade to those who value longevity above all, the Emberton III now carries a battery life of over 32 hours, depending on your usage. That’s an absurd amount of playback and far more than what you’ll find with most of the speakers on this list, but it is such a joy to not have yet another device that regularly needs topping up on a somewhat daily basis.

Because of the inclusion of Auracast, you can wirelessly connect the Emberton III to other Bluetooth speakers that also support the software, giving you the chance to build a stereo set up in no time at all. Marshall has gone above and beyond with the Emberton III, and aside from being outdone by the B&O Beosound A1 3rd Gen where the bass is concerned, it’s an absolute winner across the board.

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  • Solid build quality

  • Good battery life

  • Clean and fun audio, especially with app EQ settings

  • Soundstage isn’t the widest

  • Design may be a little bland to some

Although there’s no shortage of high-end Bluetooth speakers on this list, the kind that are likely to come with a triple-digit price tag, the Tribit PocketGo is exactly the type of device that proves you don’t have to invest a small fortune to get a great-sounding experience in return. Forget just being a great budget option, this is a solid Bluetooth speaker that actually beats the competition in some areas.

Right off the bat, with a cost of only £29.99/$34.99, the Tribit PocketGo is the ideal pick for students on a budget or parents who want to buy a low-cost speaker for their kids. In fact, because the speaker is very compact with larger buttons that are easy to use and very tactile, the PocketGo is great for smaller hands. The built-in loop even makes it simple to attach the speaker to a bag or hook.

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The lower price tag doesn’t mean that you’re settling for a lesser experience in durability – far from it. Because of its official IP68 rating, the Tribit PocketGo is more than capable of withstanding dust and water, to the point where if it accidentally gets knocked into a swimming pool, you won’t have to worry about it being lost forever – just fish it out and get back to enjoying some tunes.

In terms of sound quality, there’s a surprising amount of bass for such a small speaker, but if you are someone who prefers to sing along with pitch perfect vocals then you can shake things up via the EQ settings in the Tribit app. We actually encourage you to dive into the equaliser as the PocketGo’s sound profile really comes alive once you start changing things away from the default setting.

You’re getting Bluetooth 6.0 on the Tribit PocketGo which is even more advanced than what you’ll find with some pricier options like the Beosound A1 3rd Gen, and it paves the way for a stronger connection to your streaming device. As a final flourish, even though the speaker is compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand, it still boasts a solid 20-hours of battery life so you’ll have more than enough juice to keep a party going through the night.

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  • Mega powerful

  • Relatively compact

  • Bassy sound with great vocals

  • Can sync with other Sony speakers

  • Bluetooth Fast Pair and Multipoint

  • Lighting is underwhelming

  • App layout is confusing

  • It’s quite heavy

Although Sony produces some proper hefty speakers that are designed to sit by the side of a stage and not move until they’re taken away at the end of the night, those room-filling devices aren’t exactly ideal when you just have a rucksack to hand in terms of transport. Thankfully, the Sony ULT Field 5 is the perfect middle ground, providing that big sound promise but in a form factor that can actually be carried around with ease.

While the Field 5 could be flung into a reasonably sized bag, there is a helpful shoulder strap included so you can carry it around from one party to another without issue. You’ll be glad to have it with you as well because the moment you pop it down, boot it up and get the tunes going, you’ll sense the party change from something fun to into something epic.

The first thing you’ll notice is just how loud this speaker can be. We were impressed by the Field 5’s scale when the volume was only at 50%, so be prepared to cover your ears if you dare to send it all the way to the max. There are also three presets that are easily accessible in a pinch. ULT 1 really amps up the bass for rap and hip hop, but ULT 2 injects a tangible sense of energy that feels well suited for tracks filled with various instruments.

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If you prefer having things set to a very specific sound then you can customise the EQ settings to your liking, but in every mode that we tried there was one consistent element: the Field 5 is a lot of fun to listen to. The built-in LED lighting is also a nice touch, particularly in low light settings, although don’t expect it to illuminate an entire party on its lonesome.

As you might expect from a speaker of this size, it is designed to withstand the elements thanks to an official IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. The massive battery onboard is also able to run for up to 25-hours at a time, although you can use the Field 5 to act as a power bank and charge up your other devices like your phone or headphones, so it has additional use when there isn’t a party to attend.

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  • USB-C, finally

  • Rough and ready design

  • Long-lasting battery life

  • No price increase

  • The upgrades are minimal at best

  • Fewer colourways than the Boom 3

There’s a case to be made that even though it makes some of the best speakers on the market that Ultimate Ears has a just few too many options available to consumers. Well, if you’re a little unsure over which one to go for then the Ultimate Ears Boom 4 represents the best middle ground of what the brand has to offer with a striking design, big sound and a competitive price tag to boot.

Just like every other UE speaker, the Boom 4 is immediately recognisable from its large plus and minus buttons which aren’t just for show, they’re a great way of quickly changing the volume without having to fish around, which can be the case with some smaller buttons on other speakers. Speaking of volume, the Boom 4 is capable of filling an entire room so you can easily enjoy a reasonably sized gathering with just this in tow.

If you are looking to have a ton of people over then you can easily sync up the Boom 4 with other UE speakers via the brand’s PartyUp system. This can be done via the UE app in just a minute, and it means you can have songs follow you from one room to the next without ever missing a beat.

What’s impressive though is that because the Boom 4 isn’t as large as the Megaboom 4, it arguably works better for personal playback at lower volumes than its more expensive sibling, so you can sit at a desk and enjoy a podcast or playlist with good detail at a respectable volume. Crank the volume up though and you’ll hear plenty of bass and energy in pretty much any genre.

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As you may have already guessed just from looking at it, the Boom 4 has a rough and ready design with an official IP67 rating. If the speaker accidentally takes a dip in the pool then you can just scoop it up and keep the party going without worry. On the battery front you’re looking at up to 15-hours of playback which doesn’t lead the pack compared to some options on this list but it’s still more than enough juice for most situations.

Test Data

  Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen Bose SoundLink Plus Bose SoundLink Max Bang and Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi Tribit StormBox Micro 2 Sony SRS-XG300 Q Acoustics M20 HD Sony HT-AX7 Majority D80 Tribit Stormbox Lava Sony ULT Field 1 Marshall Emberton III Tribit PocketGo Sony ULT Field 5 Ultimate Ears Boom 4
Power consumption 5 W 51 W

Full Specs

  Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen Review Bose SoundLink Plus Review Bose SoundLink Max Review Bang and Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen Review JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi Review Tribit StormBox Micro 2 Review Sony SRS-XG300 Review Q Acoustics M20 HD Review Sony HT-AX7 Review Majority D80 Review Tribit Stormbox Lava Review Sony ULT Field 1 Review Marshall Emberton III Review Tribit PocketGo Review Sony ULT Field 5 Review Ultimate Ears Boom 4 Review
UK RRP £299 £249 £399 £200 £229.99 £46.99 £219 £399 £449 £99.95 £127.99 £99.99 £159 £29.99 £199 £129.99
USA RRP $399 $269 $250 $59.99 $349.99 $599 $499 $126.99 $129.00 $179 $34.99 $147.99
EU RRP €349 €279 €250 €59.99 €299 €499 €549 €99 €169
CA RRP CA$349 CA$350 CA$75.99 CA$449 Unavailable CA$149
AUD RRP AU$429 AU$76.49 AU$398 Unavailable AU$169
Manufacturer Bang & Olufsen Bose Bose Bang & Olufsen JBL Tribit Sony Q Acoustics Sony Majority Tribit Sony Marshall Tribit Sony Ultimate Ears
IP rating IP67 IP67 IP67 IP67 IP67 IP67 IP67 No IP67 IP67 IP67 IP68 IP67 IP67
Battery Hours 24 20 20 18 20 12 25 24 00 12 32 20 00 25 15
Fast Charging Yes Yes Yes
Size (Dimensions) 133 x 133 x 46 MM 231 x 86 x 99 MM 265 x 105 x 120 MM 133 x 133 x 46 MM 223 x 94 x 97 MM 99.8 x 99.8 x 42.9 MM 318 x 136 x 138 MM 170 x 296 x 279 MM 306 x 123 x 97 MM 155 x 155 x 230 MM 147 x 310 x 152 MM 206 x 76 x 77 MM 160 x 76.9 x 68 MM 108 x 81 x 42 MM 320 x 125 x 144 MM 73 x 73 x 184 MM
Weight 576 G 1.45 KG 2.13 KG 558 G 1 KG 315 G 3 KG 10.6 KG 2 KG 3.48 KG 2.3 KG 650 G 670 G 220 G 3.3 KG 620 G
ASIN B0F3P3BN88 B0F7HZ81YD B0D1CQGFDR B085R7TSN6 B0C3VYT6Q6 B09Q59321N B0B1JCXRLX B0983MW7YN B0CC6J8J64 B0CD85VQVN B0DN5F9BC2 B0CX1WXP8M B0DDCJMDJC B0DY9X655Q B0D3WLCJSJ
Release Date 2025 2025 2024 2020 2023 2022 2022 2021 2023 2023 2024 2024 2024 2025 2025 2021
First Reviewed Date 26/08/2020 03/01/2024 16/04/2025 14/01/2026 09/09/2025
Model Number 1734002 JBLCHARGE5PROBLK QA7610 HTAX7.CEL
Audio Resolution AAC, aptX Adaptive SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive Up to 24-bit/96kHz SBC, AAC, LDAC 24bit/192kHz SBC, AAC SBC, AAC SBC, AAC, LE Audio SBC, AAC, LDAC
Driver (s) 3 1/4-inch woofer, 0.6-inch tweeter 53mm x 93mm woofer, 20mm tweeter two 20mm tweeters, two 61 x 68mm woofers 22mm tweeter, 125mm mid/bass driver Two X-balanced, two passive radiators Silk dome tweeter dual 30W Neodymium Magnet Woofers and dual 10W Silk Dome Tweeters 16 mm tweeter, 83×42 mm woofer 2-inch full range, 2 passive radiators Single 45mm full-range driver, passive bass radiator 46mm tweeter, 79 x 107mm woofer 2x 40mm active drivers
Surround Sound Systems 122 x 39 x 122mm
Ports USB-C USB-C USB-C, aux USB-C USB-C, USB-A USB-C, USB-A, stereo mini line USB, digital optical, 3.5mm, stereo RCA USB-A, Optical, Line-In, HDMI ARC USB-C, USB-A, 3.5mm USB-C USB-C USB-C, TF card slot USB-C, stereo mini-jack USB-C
Audio (Power output) 60 W 40 W 10 W 130 W 80 W 80 W 7 W
Connectivity Bluetooth 5.1, Made for iPhone (MFI), Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair Bluetooth 5.4 Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 5.1 Wi-Fi (Spotify Connect, Chromecast, Alexa Multi-Room Audio, AirPlay), Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 5.2 Bluetooth 5.0 Bluetooth 5.2 Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.4 Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 5.3 Bluetooth 6.0 Bluetooth 5.3
Colours Natural Aluminium, Honey Tone, Eucalyptus Green, Warm Granite Blue, Citrus Yellow, Black Blue, Black Black Anthracite, Grey Mist, Pink, Green Black Black Black, Gray matte black, matte white, walnut veneer Grey Black Black, Off White, Orange, Forest Gray Black & Brass, Cream, Sage, Midnight Blue Grey Black, Off White Active Black, Cobalt Blue, Raspberry Red, Enchanting Lilac
Frequency Range 54 20000 – Hz – Hz – Hz 55 20000 – Hz – Hz 70 20000 – Hz 20 20000 – Hz 55 22000 – Hz – Hz – Hz 43 19998 – Hz 20 20000 – Hz 65 20000 – Hz 80 20000 – Hz 20 20000 – Hz – Hz
Audio Formats AAC, aptX Adaptive SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX-HD MP3, WMA, FLAC, MAV, APE AAC, SBC
Power Consumption 5 W 51 W
Speaker Type Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Active Speaker Portable Speaker Active Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker Portable Speaker
Impedance -2 ohms
Inputs USB-C

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What’s the best Bluetooth speaker on a budget?

We’d point to the Tribit Stormbox Micro 2. Its design allows for it to be used in many different ways, the sound is much improved over the original and it comes with app support as well as the ability to charge other devices.

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Amazon Leo targets mid-2026 commercial launch as enterprise beta goes live

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In short: Amazon’s satellite internet service, rebranded from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo in November 2025, entered enterprise beta on April 8, 2026, with commercial availability targeted for mid-2026 per Andy Jassy’s annual shareholder letter. The service offers three terminal tiers delivering up to 1 Gbps for enterprise users, with Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone, JetBlue, and NASA among the beta partners. Amazon has approximately 210 to 241 satellites in orbit against a Federal Communications Commission requirement of 1,618 by July 30, 2026, has applied for a two-year deadline extension, and has contracted 22 additional launches to close the gap.

From Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo, the rebrand and the beta

Amazon received Federal Communications Commission approval for a 3,236-satellite low-earth-orbit constellation in 2020, then spent five years building the hardware, regulatory infrastructure, and carrier partnerships needed to turn that approval into a commercially viable service. The first production satellites launched in April 2025 aboard an Atlas V rocket operated by United Launch Alliance, and by November 2025 Amazon had enough operational hardware in orbit to retire the Project Kuiper name in favour of Amazon Leo, a rebrand that signals a deliberate shift from development programme to commercial product. A business preview programme opened to select enterprise partners shortly after the rebrand. The full enterprise beta launched on April 8, 2026. The following day, Jassy’s annual letter to shareholders confirmed mid-2026 as the commercial launch window, placing Leo alongside Amazon’s $50 billion Trainium chip investment as one of the defining bets in the company’s current capital allocation cycle. Beta customers span Verizon and AT&T in North America, Vodafone and Vodacom across Europe and Africa, JetBlue for in-flight connectivity, NBN Co in Australia, Vrio in Latin America, and NASA, along with enterprise logistics clients Hunt Energy and Crane Worldwide Logistics.

Three terminals, three speed tiers

Amazon has engineered three terminal models to address distinct market segments without forcing a single hardware compromise across all of them. The Leo Nano is the consumer and light-enterprise unit: seven inches square, 2.2 pounds, and rated to 100 Mbps download. The Leo Pro is aimed at small businesses, rural operators, and mobile backhaul deployments: eleven inches square, 5.3 pounds, priced at under $400, and rated to 400 Mbps. The Leo Ultra is the enterprise flagship, a 20-by-30-inch installation weighing 43 pounds and capable of 1 Gbps download with 400 Mbps upload, designed for maritime vessels, commercial aircraft, and large-campus enterprise deployments. Jassy claimed in his shareholder letter that Leo terminals deliver six to eight times better uplink performance and twice the downlink performance compared with the satellite internet alternatives currently available to enterprise customers, a claim that will be scrutinised closely once commercial service begins and independent benchmarks are possible.

The FCC deadline and the launch shortfall

Amazon’s FCC licence for its Generation 1 constellation requires exactly half the planned 3,236 satellites, or 1,618, to be in orbit and operational by July 30, 2026. As of early April 2026, Amazon has between 210 and 241 satellites in orbit, a figure that makes the original deadline effectively unreachable. The company filed a formal request with the FCC in January 2026 for a two-year extension, citing a shortage of available launch vehicles. Alongside the extension filing, Amazon disclosed ten additional Falcon 9 launch contracts with SpaceX and twelve additional New Glenn contracts with Blue Origin. Bezos is betting heavily on orbital infrastructure beyond Leo itself: Blue Origin separately filed with the FCC for a 51,600-satellite Project Sunrise constellation and a 5,408-satellite TeraWave optical backhaul network, making the New Glenn launch pipeline central to multiple overlapping ambitions simultaneously. The FCC separately approved Amazon’s Generation 2 constellation in February 2026, clearing the path to a potential 7,727-satellite network once the current launch bottleneck is resolved. The contracted vehicle fleet now spans Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur (United Launch Alliance), Falcon 9 (SpaceX), Ariane 6 (Arianespace), and New Glenn (Blue Origin).

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Taking on Starlink, and the Globalstar play

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Starlink is not a vulnerable incumbent. SpaceX’s satellite internet service generated $10.6 billion in revenue in 2025 at a 54 per cent EBITDA margin and serves more than 10 million paying subscribers across more than 100 countries, operating a constellation of 7,600 to 8,000-plus satellites. SpaceX has filed for the largest IPO in history, seeking to raise $75 billion at a valuation of up to $1.75 trillion, potentially as early as June 2026, which would cement Starlink’s position as a capital-markets-validated infrastructure business before Amazon Leo has completed its initial rollout. Amazon’s response involves two distinct moves. The first is distribution: Leo is being sold primarily through carrier partners and enterprise integrators in its launch phase, using Verizon’s, AT&T’s, and Delta’s existing customer relationships rather than competing for consumers directly. Delta has contracted Leo for in-flight Wi-Fi across 500 aircraft starting in 2028, with free access available to SkyMiles members. The second move is spectrum acquisition. Amazon is reportedly in talks to acquire Globalstar for approximately $9 billion, a deal that would give Leo access to L-band spectrum currently anchoring Globalstar’s existing satellite network and Apple’s emergency satellite connectivity service. Apple holds a 20 per cent stake in Globalstar through a $1.5 billion investment, adding complexity to any acquisition. If the deal closes, Amazon would arrive at commercial launch with not just a new constellation but a second frequency band and an established spectrum position. The year 2025 established satellite internet as a serious enterprise infrastructure market rather than a connectivity experiment, and Amazon Leo’s mid-2026 commercial launch arrives precisely as that market enters its most contested phase.

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You won’t believe this $599 Android tablet includes a built-in projector, infrared night vision, and extreme durability features

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  • 8849 TANK Pad Ultra 1080p projector accurately projects clear images from 0.5 to 4 meters
  • Night vision camera captures usable images even in near-total darkness conditions
  • Rugged chassis resists drops, dust, and water for harsh environments

The 8849 TANK Pad Ultra is a rugged Android tablet which combines a 10.95 inch FHD 1200 x 1920 display with a built-in 1080p DLP projector rated at 260 lumens.

The projector can auto-focus and project images from 0.5 to 4 meters, supported by a micro-ranging laser which helps fine-tune the focal distance.

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Game development diary: TestFlight, trial by fire, and a trophy

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The in-development word game “Character Limit” faced testers in the last two months, but as TestFlight got underway, an unexpected game convention opportunity went especially well.

Split view showing TestFlight app dashboard with large blue TestFlight icon on the left, and a crowd at an event booth titled Character Limit on the right
A tale of two tests: TestFlight and a gaming convention.

Back in early February, Character Limit had reached a good stopping point to get some testing done with real players. A lot of the work had been done, so now it was time to get some bug fixing and polishing done, and to get some real feedback.
This previously came in the form of visits to meet other game developers in Cardiff for brief sessions. But you can only go so far in terms of feedback from a kind audience.
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Home Depot Spring Black Friday (2026): Best Tool and Grill Deals

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Words have no meaning when Black Friday falls in April and lasts two weeks. Originally coined to denote the pandemonium and chaos when holiday shopping met football games after Thanksgiving, Black Friday has come to blankly mean “discounts whenever.”

And so when The Home Depot says they’ve got a “Spring Black Friday” sale going, what they seem to be trying to say is that springtime might as well be Christmas for the DIY and backyard set. It’s when you buy stuff. Except probably for yourself.

Anyway, most of this sale is not a barn-burner. But Home Depot loves a BOGO tool sale on the Milwaukee tools used and recommended by WIRED tester Scott Gilbertson. And Weber grills are $50 to $100 off, including a couple of WIRED’s favorite grills on earth.

Here are the deals WIRED is tracking on the Home Depot Black Friday Spring Sale, ending April 22. Or just check out the whole Home Depot Black Friday deals below.

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$50 off the Best Gas Grill for Most Families

Image may contain: Appliance, Burner, Device, Electrical Device, Oven, Bbq, Cooking, Food, Grilling, and Mailbox

Weber

Spirit E-210 Gas Grill

For years, we’ve been recommending Weber’s straightforward 200-series Sprit grills as some of the best grills at the intersection of value and performance. The build quality is good, the cook is even, and the heat on the propane burners is easy to adjust. Like all Webers, you can build your grill’s workspace out with accessories and snap-on options until it’s tong heaven. Spirit already starts out pretty affordable, with a 10-year warranty and porcelain-coated cast iron grill grates that make for easy clean-up and clean cooks. An extra $50 off is a nice cherry on top.

But note that while a Spirit is likely all the grill you’ll ever need for a large family, grill cooks who throw a lot of parties might upgrade to the Genesis E-325 ($849) for the larger searing area and higher BTUs, added storage and prep, and the option on a top grill. That’s also on sale in April, for $100 off list price.

BOGO Deals on Milwaukee, Dewalt, and Ryobi Tools

The other thing The Home Depot likes to do is offer BOGOs on tools—in this case packaging a $200 tool with a free $200 power pack. This is, needless to say, a nice deal.

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On the Milwaukee tool ecosystem used by WIRED reviewer and inveterate DIYer Scott Gilbertson—favored for its mix of value, durability and pure power, an assortment of tools come with a free power pack.

But these BOGos can be a bit maddening to sort out on Home Depot’s website. So I’ve done a little legwork for you. Here are the links to the BOGO deals for Milwaukee, Ryobi, and DeWalt. You’re welcome.

Steep Discounts on Ryobi Yard Tools

Longtime WIRED reviewer Parker Hall has long held the belief that Ryobi yard tools are the most most slept-on tool ecosystem for home gardeners and landscapers, from mowers to chain saws to trimmers.

Part of the reason is service: At least in our region (the Pacific Northwest), Ryobi doesn’t make you send in tools to be serviced somewhere else. They instead keep a repairman on retainer, and he comes to you and fixes your mower. This is a wonderful thing. In any case, Hall says that he’s rarely had cause to call on his repairman. He just likes to know he’s there.

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A man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s house

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A 20-year-old man was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house, The New York Times reports.

In a statement shared on X, SFPD wrote that it responded to a request for a fire investigation in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco around 7:12 AM ET / 4:12AM PT. “At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male subject threw an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire at an exterior gate.” After the man fled on foot, police found and arrested him around an hour later while responding to a business’ complaint about an “unknown male subject threatening to burn down the building.” That business turned out to be OpenAI’s headquarters and the subject happened to be the same man who threw the Molotov at Altman’s house.

“Early this morning, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters. Thankfully, no one was hurt,” an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Wired. “We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe. The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation.”

As it’s become more commonplace, artificial intelligence has also become more divisive. While more and more people continue to use AI tools, public reaction to the encroachment of the technology, whether in gaming or customer service, is increasingly negative. Altman’s warnings of AI’s impact on employment, and a recent New Yorker investigation digging into his allegedly manipulative leadership style at OpenAI, have also raised questions about the CEO’s prominent role as a steward of the technology.

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Microsoft Begins Removing Copilot Branding From Windows 11 Apps

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Microsoft has started stripping Copilot branding out of Notepad in Windows 11, replacing the old Copilot menu with a more generic “writing tools” label. The AI features themselves aren’t going away, but Microsoft seems to be backing off the heavy-handed Copilot branding and extra entry points. Windows Central reports: As promised, Microsoft is now beginning its effort to reduce and remove Copilot branding across Windows 11, with the latest Notepad update for Insiders outright removing the Copilot icon and phrasing. Now, the AI menu is simply called “writing tools,” and maintains the same functionality as before. Additionally, Microsoft has also removed references to AI in the Settings area in Notepad. Now, the ability to turn on or off these AI powered writing tools are now listed under “Advanced features.”

This change is present in the latest preview build of Notepad which is now rolling out to all Windows Insiders. The app version is 11.2512.28.0, and you’ll know you have it if you see the Copilot icon replaced with a pen icon instead. […] For Notepad, it appears Microsoft has opted to replace the Copilot menu with something more generic. It’s still the same functionally, but it’s no longer leaning on the tainted Copilot brand. Of course, you can still easily turn off all AI features in Notepad if you don’t want them. The Verge reports that the “unnecessary Copilot buttons” are also disappearing from the Snipping Tool, Photos, and Widgets.

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SiFive raises $400m Series G at $3.65bn valuation in final round before IPO

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In short: SiFive, the RISC-V chip IP firm founded by the Berkeley engineers who created the open-source instruction set architecture, raised $400 million in an oversubscribed Series G on April 9, 2026, at a valuation of $3.65 billion. The round was led by Atreides Management and backed by Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, Point72 Turion, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Capital Group, Prosperity7 Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures. CEO Patrick Little described it as the company’s final private funding round before an initial public offering.

Open source, closed competition

RISC-V (pronounced “risk five”) is an open-source instruction set architecture, the foundational specification governing how a processor interprets and executes instructions, developed at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2010 onwards. Unlike the proprietary architectures maintained by Arm Holdings and Intel, RISC-V is free to implement, extend, and commercialise without per-unit royalties or usage restrictions. SiFive was founded in 2015 by three of the project’s principal architects: Krste Asanović, Andrew Waterman, and Yunsup Lee, working alongside David Patterson, a Turing Award winner and co-author of the standard text on computer architecture. The company’s business model is structurally similar to Arm’s: it designs CPU intellectual property and licences that IP to customers who integrate it into their own silicon, rather than fabricating chips itself. The critical difference is that SiFive’s designs sit on an architecture that no single company controls.

That independence became more commercially valuable in March 2026, when Arm launched its AGI CPU, its first in-house silicon product in its 35-year history, with Meta and OpenAI as debut customers. The move repositioned Arm from a neutral IP licensor into a company with direct hardware ambitions, creating the kind of vertical conflict that has historically pushed technology buyers toward open-standard alternatives, and generating fresh urgency for a competitor that owes no allegiance to any proprietary architecture owner. Intel attempted a different route into the space: in 2021 the chipmaker offered more than $2 billion to acquire SiFive outright, a deal that collapsed over valuation disagreements. Intel has since joined Elon Musk’s Terafab as a foundry partner in April 2026, committing its 18A process node to a $25 billion AI compute facility backed by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, a strategic reorientation that leaves the RISC-V IP licensing position without Intel as a would-be acquirer or rival.

The Series G: who invested, and why

The $400 million Series G was led by Atreides Management, a Boston-based investment firm managed by Gavin Baker, who built his reputation running Fidelity’s OTC Portfolio before founding Atreides in 2019. New participants include Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, Point72 Turion, and T. Rowe Price Investment Management. Existing shareholders Prosperity7 Ventures, Capital Group, and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated. The round closed oversubscribed and lifts SiFive’s total valuation to $3.65 billion, up from the $2.5 billion set at the Series F in March 2022. Nvidia’s presence on the cap table is a technical statement as well as a financial one: in January 2026 SiFive announced it is integrating NVLink Fusion into its high-performance data centre platform, enabling RISC-V-based CPUs to connect directly to Nvidia GPUs via a coherent, high-bandwidth interconnect that reduces latency and improves system utilisation for large-scale AI inference. That compatibility positions SiFive’s CPU IP to work alongside the Vera Rubin platform Nvidia announced at GTC 2026, the company’s next-generation GPU architecture targeting agentic AI workloads.

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The broader investment context is one of accelerating hyperscale demand for custom silicon. Amazon committed $50 billion to its Trainium chip programme in its April 2026 shareholder letter, positioning in-house AI silicon as a strategic infrastructure necessity rather than an optional enhancement. The deal between Google, Anthropic, and Broadcom for custom AI compute represents a parallel approach, using purpose-built ASICs to reduce dependence on commodity processors across hyperscale inference workloads. SiFive’s pitch is that it offers hyperscale customers a third path: RISC-V CPU IP that is fully customisable, architecturally independent, and built on an open standard that no single acquirer can lock down. “Hyperscale customers have made it very clear that it is time to accelerate the availability of open standard alternatives for the data centre,” said CEO Patrick Little. “Their consistent ask is for customisable CPU solutions in IP form, that will enable them to meaningfully differentiate their data centre compute solutions.

What the capital will build

SiFive has outlined three areas of deployment for the Series G capital. Advanced research and development takes the largest share, focused on expanding the roadmap of high-performance scalar, vector, and matrix RISC-V CPU IP, accelerator cores, and system IP targeting data centre deployments. A second allocation covers software ecosystem development, including existing efforts to port CUDA, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Ubuntu to RISC-V, work that is critical to making the architecture practically deployable in production data centres where software compatibility is as important as raw performance. The third allocation supports customer enablement: the direct engineering collaboration that helps hyperscale clients and system vendors integrate SiFive IP into their own silicon programmes. Little framed the company’s open-standard positioning as a structural advantage that compounds over time: “RISC-V was created by our founders to be similar to other open standards, driven and continually improved by collaboration and cross-pollination across a broad community of innovators. This ensures choice and flexibility for customers, and ultimately benefits consumers.” He argued that the market is becoming more receptive to open-standard alternatives precisely as Arm moves further into selling its own branded hardware.

Ten billion cores and the IPO signal

SiFive reported record growth in 2025, with its IP featured in more than 500 semiconductor designs and more than 10 billion RISC-V cores shipped to date across consumer electronics, automotive systems, and data centre processors. The company has framed the data centre segment as a potential $100 billion-plus addressable market, driven by the agentic AI infrastructure buildout that has prompted every major hyperscaler to commit tens of billions of dollars annually to compute expansion. Patrick Little told Reuters that the April 2026 fundraise is the company’s final private round before an IPO, though no exchange or pricing timeline has been confirmed. The signal carries weight: a valuation of $3.65 billion and a roster of investors that includes a major GPU manufacturer, a bulge-bracket alternative asset manager, and two prominent long-only asset managers suggests SiFive is preparing for the kind of institutional scrutiny that accompanies a public filing. As AI chip investment reached record levels in 2025, with capital flowing to custom silicon programmes at every major cloud provider, SiFive’s timing places it squarely at the centre of a market transition it has been building toward for a decade.

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Encrypted Emails Are Now Available for Some Gmail Phone App Enterprise Customers

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We all love encryption. If you use Gmail in an enterprise setting, especially if your work includes sensitive information, you probably love it even more. Certain Gmail app users on iOS and Android phones can now send and receive encrypted emails within the app itself — no add-ons necessary.

Previously, Gmail users could only send emails via end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on their desktops. Google’s announcement said there is “no need to download extra apps or use mail portals.” Customers can simply compose and read encrypted emails on the Gmail app itself on their iOS and Android phones.

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A screen capture of a Gmail email on a mobile device. The options for encryption are shown at the bottom of the screen, with Additional Encryption toggled on.

An example of an encrypted email in the Gmail app.

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But not all Gmail consumers will be able to use the new feature. It’s only available for Enterprise Plus subscribers with the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on. Enterprise Plus is a subscription plan, one of several within Google Workspace. Plus is intended for large businesses and other organizations and offers higher data security and client-side encryption, which the less expensive Enterprise Standard lacks.

Assured Controls and Assured Controls Plus are designed to increase digital sovereignty, data residency and compliance.

More from ZDNETThe Best Email Encryption Software of 2026: Expert Tested

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Google said the feature is designed to allow users to “engage with your organization’s most sensitive data from anywhere on their mobile devices while ensuring data remains compliant.”

With the new feature, Gmail app users can send encrypted emails to anyone, even if they aren’t using Gmail. If the recipient is using the Gmail app, the encrypted email will appear like any other email in their inbox. If the recipient is not using the Gmail app, they can still read the encrypted email and reply to it on their own browser — with the entire conversation remaining encrypted.

A screen capture from a mobile device of an email sent from Gmail to a non-Gmail address.

An example of an email from a Gmail app consumer sent to a recipient without the Gmail app.

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For example, say a Gmail app customer sends an encrypted message to someone using an iPhone with the native iPhone email app. That person using the iPhone will still be able to read the encrypted email and then answer back with an encrypted message.

Enterprise Plus customers can use the new feature now, whether they are on either the Rapid Release or Scheduled Release domains. To encrypt an email, click the lock icon and select additional encryption. Then create your message.

Business and organization administrators must enable the Android and iOS clients in the CSE admin interface in the Admin Console to grant access to their Gmail users.

Proton is an alternative for businesses and consumers

Proton Workspace, an enterprise solution that launched last month, also has end-to-end email encryption but with the added benefit of being based in Europe (Switzerland), which does have to comply with the US CLOUD Act and, thus, hand over data to the US government.

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For the everyday consumer, Proton Mail has end-to-end email encryption and is available for free or in paid plans, some of which include bundled privacy and security apps, like a VPN and a password manager.

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Mems Photonics Chip Shrinks Quantum Computer Control Limits

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By many estimates, quantum computers will need millions of qubits to realize their potential applications in cybersecurity, drug development, and other industries. The problem is, anyone who has wanted to simultaneously control millions of a certain kind of qubits has run into the problem of trying to control millions of laser beams.

That’s exactly the challenge that was faced by scientists working on the MITRE Quantum Moonshot project, which brought together scientists from MITRE, MIT, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Sandia National Laboratories. The solution they developed came in the form of an image projection technology that they realized could also be the fix for a host of other challenges in augmented reality, biomedical imaging, and elsewhere. The device is a one-square-millimeter photonic chip capable of projecting the Mona Lisa onto an area smaller than the size of two human egg cells.

“When we started, we certainly never would have anticipated that we would be making a technology that might revolutionize imaging,” says Matt Eichenfield, one of the leaders of the Quantum Moonshot project, a collaborative research effort focused on developing a scalable diamond-based quantum computer, and a professor of quantum engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Each second, their chip is capable of projecting 68.6 million individual spots of light—called scannable pixels to differentiate them from physical pixels. That’s more than fifty times the capability of previous technology, such as micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) micromirror arrays.

“We have now made a scannable pixel that is at the absolute limit of what diffraction allows,” says Henry Wen, a visiting researcher at MIT and a photonics engineer at QuEra Computing.

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The chip’s distinguishing feature is an array of tiny micro-scale cantilevers, which curve away from the plane of the chip in response to voltage and act as miniature “ski-jumps” for light. Light is channeled along the length of each cantilever via a waveguide, and exits at its tip. The cantilevers contain a thin layer of aluminum nitride, a piezoelectric which expands or contracts under voltage, thus moving the micromachine up and down and enabling the array to scan beams of light over a two-dimensional area.

Despite the magnitude of the team’s achievement, Eichenfield says that the process of engineering the cantilevers was “pretty smooth.” Each cantilever is composed of a stack of several submicrometer layers of material and curls approximately 90 degrees out of the plane at rest. To achieve such a high curvature, the team took advantage of differences in the contraction and expansion of individual layers caused by physical stresses in the material resulting from the fabrication process. The materials are first deposited flat onto the chip. Then, a layer in the chip below the cantilever is removed, allowing the material stresses to take effect, releasing the cantilever from the chip and allowing it to curl out. The top layer of each cantilever also features a series of silicon dioxide bars running perpendicular to the waveguide, which keep the cantilever from curling along its width while also improving its length-wise curvature.

A micro-cantilever wiggles and waggles to project light in the right place.Matt Saha, Y. Henry Wen, et al.

What was more of a challenge than engineering the chip itself was figuring out the details of actually making the chip project images and videos. Working out the process of synchronizing and timing the cantilevers’ motion and light beams to generate the right colors at the right time was a substantial effort, according to Andy Greenspon, a researcher at MITRE who also worked on the project. Now, the team has successfully projected a variety of videos from a single cantilever, including clips from the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas.

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A warped projection of the Mona Lisa. The chip projected a roughly 125-micrometer image of the Mona Lisa.Matt Saha, Y. Henry Wen, et al.

Because the chip can project so many more spots in any given time interval than any previous beam scanners, it could also be used to control many more qubits in quantum computers. The Quantum Moonshot program’s mission is to build a quantum computer that can be scaled to millions of qubits. So clearly, it needs a scalable way of controlling each one, explains Wen. Instead of using one laser per qubit, the team realized that not every qubit needed to be controlled at every given moment. The chip’s ability to move light beams over a two-dimensional area, would allow them to control all of the qubits with many fewer lasers.

Another process that Wen thinks the chip could improve is scanning objects for 3D printing. Today, that typically involves using a single laser to scan over the entire surface of an object. The new chip, however, could potentially employ thousands of laser beams. “I think now you can take a process that would have taken hours and maybe bring it down to minutes,” says Wen.

Wen is also excited to explore the potential of different cantilever shapes. By changing the orientations of the bars perpendicular to the waveguide, the team has been able to make the cantilevers curl into helixes. Wen says that such unusual shapes could be useful in making a lab-on-a-chip for cell biology or drug development. “A lot of this stuff is imaging, scanning a laser across something, either to image it or to stimulate some response. And so we could have one of these ski jumps curl not just up, but actually curl back around, and then move around and scan over a sample,” Wen explains. “If you can imagine a structure that will be useful for you, we should try it.”

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Nearly 4,000 US industrial devices exposed to Iranian cyberattacks

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Hacker

The attack surface targeted by Iranian-linked hackers in cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure networks includes thousands of Internet-exposed programmable logic controllers (PLCs) manufactured by Rockwell Automation.

According to a joint advisory issued by multiple U.S. federal agencies on Tuesday, Iranian state-backed hacking groups have been targeting Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley PLC devices since March 2026, causing operational disruptions and financial losses.

“Iranian-affiliated APT targeting campaigns against U.S. organizations have recently escalated, likely in response to hostilities between Iran, and the United States and Israel,” the authoring agencies warned.

Wiz

“The FBI identified that this activity resulted in the extraction of the device’s project file and data manipulation on HMI and SCADA displays.”

As cybersecurity firm Censys reported one day later, three-quarters of more than 5,200 such industrial control systems found exposed online globally are from the United States.

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“Censys data identifies 5,219 internet-exposed hosts globally responding to EtherNet/IP (EIP) and self-identifying as Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley devices,” Censys said.

“The United States accounts for 74.6% of global exposure (3,891 hosts), with a disproportionate share on cellular carrier ASNs indicative of field-deployed devices on cellular modems.”

Internet exposed Rockwell/Allen Bradley PLCs
Internet-exposed Rockwell/Allen Bradley PLCs (Censys)

​To defend against these ongoing attacks, network defenders are advised to secure PLCs using a firewall or disconnect them from the Internet, scan logs for signs of malicious activity, and check for suspicious traffic on OT ports (especially when it originates from overseas hosting providers).

Admins should also enforce multifactor authentication (MFA) for access to OT networks, keep all PLC devices up to date, and disable unused services and authentication methods.

This ongoing campaign follows similar attacks from nearly three years ago, when a threat group affiliated with the Iranian Government’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and tracked as CyberAv3ngers targeted vulnerabilities in U.S.-based Unitronics operational technology (OT) systems.

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CyberAv3ngers hackers compromised at least 75 Unitronics PLC devices in multiple waves of cyberattacks between November 2023 and January 2024, with half of those in Water and Wastewater Systems critical infrastructure networks across the United States.

More recently, the Handala hacktivist group (linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security) wiped approximately 80,000 devices from the network of U.S. medical giant Stryker, including employees’ mobile devices and company-managed personal computers.

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