Hardware

After one of the strangest run-ups to launch in smartphone history, the Microsoft Surface Duo is here. Microsoft's first-ever Android phone (sorry, we're not counting the Nokia X) was announced and demoed an entire year before its release, hinting at what a long and winding road the Surface Duo took from inception to shipping. The hardware apparently dates back to plans to revitalize Windows for phones, but after that plan fell through, the hardware was upcycled into the most head-scratching Android phone of the year.

We're still a bit over a month away from the official launch of the PlayStation 5, but we've already got the first public teardown of the console hardware courtesy of Sony itself.

The Japanese video (with English subtitles) Sony posted Wednesday morning answers quite a few nagging questions left from previous announcements and recent hands-on time from some Japanese press.

As part of a PlayStation 5 showcase today, Sony finally revealed the launch pricing for the PlayStation 5: $499.99 for the standard edition (€499.99, £449.99, ¥49,980) or $399 for the "All-Digital" version without a disc drive (or €399.99, £359.99, ¥39,980).

Leaker Evan Blass predicts that Apple will release both an iPad Air and an 8th-generation iPad at its Sept. 15 event, alongside an "Apple Watch Series 6" and "Apple Watch SE."

In a tweet Monday, Blass forecast that Apple will release a successor to both its iPad Air 3 and the seventh-generation iPad at a special event on Tuesday. Consensus has been that Apple plans to release either an iPad successor or iPad Air successor, not both.  

Microsoft's Surface Duo, a dual-screen Android phone from the maker of Windows, is now available to order and shipping to consumers. This is the first smartphone Microsoft has released since the end of support for the Windows Phone platform five years ago.

Back in June, Apple announced a major change to its Macs: Starting in late 2020, its new laptops and desktop computers will move away from Intel and use processors built by Apple using the same ARM architecture it uses on phones and tablets. It’s a seismic shift that won’t happen all at once (especially since Apple just updated the Intel-based iMac), but it leaves consumers with an important choice to make. Should you buy an Intel-based Mac now, or wait for one with Apple’s new custom silicon?

ZTE has officially announced the world's first commercial phone with a behind-the-screen camera: the ZTE Axon 20 5G. Shrinking phone bezels have made locating the front camera a major design point of phones for the past few years. We've seen big camera notches, small camera notches, round camera cutouts, and pop-up cameras. Rather than any of those compromises, the under-display camera lets you just put the camera under the display, and by peering through the pixels, you can still take a picture. It's the holy grail of front-camera design.

August and Yale smart locks are picking up a new feature that should make remote access just a little bit more secure. The opt-in change allows for remote biometric authentication before locking or unlocking your home's smart lock remotely. Further enhancing on-device security, there's a new Hide Entry Codes feature that — you guessed it — makes it so your entry codes can only be viewed for a short time.

A recent Sony patent application identifies a problem many console gamers may be able to identify with when moving between consoles: "To log in to their account a user is often required to enter a password, which may be seen by other users. Moreover, once a user has entered their password, a situation arises where the user remains logged into their account unless the user subsequently performs a log out operation, which can result in other user's [sic] potentially obtaining access to the user's profile."

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 has appeared in another leak online, as the spillage around the firm’s next-gen Ampere graphics cards intensifies ahead of their imminent launch, following an RTX 3090 leak which we just covered.

This one comes from the well-known leaker Rogame on Twitter, who shared a benchmark with spec details of the RTX 3080 (but keep the salt shaker handy).