Apple has recently purchased a French startup named Regaind, an image analysis company that could add powerful new features to your iPhone or iPad photo library. Notoriously secretive about its corporate acquisitions, Apple confirmed the move with its customary terse boilerplate statement about such matters to TechCrunch: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
Regaind claims it can actually look inside your photos and “extract game-changing insights from your images,” perhaps meaning that their AI recognition and sorting algorithms will bring some sort of order to that sprawling mess of photos stored on your iPhone.
Apple added intelligent photo search features in iOS 10 with the Memories feature, allowing you to automatically organize images based on categories, such as “cats” or “vacation.” You can also search for specific people, places, or things in your photo library.
Regaind promises a far more in-depth analysis, with technology that assesses the “technical and aesthetic value” of your photos. A new photo management system for your smartphone or tablet could conceivably gather and sequence visually similar photos, select the most striking image from a burst shot, or even automatically create a video or slideshow using the best photos from thousands of images.
Then there’s the facial recognition API that Regaind has developed, which can detect the age, gender, and even emotions of faces in a photo. Apple may already be using some of this technology for the iPhone X Face ID recognition features, as well as the much-touted Animoji, custom messages that are derived from your voice and facial expressions.
Apple is tight-lipped about what specific role Regaind will play (or is already playing) in products such as the iPhone X, but it’s an interesting move that may signal a focus for the company in the upcoming years. If you’re still on the fence about the iPhone X, we recently got our hands on one and put it through its paces. There were some things we liked, and a couple things we didn’t.
Pre-orders for the iPhone X (which could top 50 million, according to some accounts) begin October 27, and the new device itself lands on store shelves November 3.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.
For years, Samsung’s Galaxy A phones have been some of the easiest recommendations for anyone who wants to go the Android route without paying flagship prices. But that part of the lineup could soon become harder to find at a good price.
According to South Korea’s Electronic Times, Samsung is cutting Galaxy A production by about 20% in the fourth quarter compared to its original plans. Component orders have reportedly dropped by a similar amount, which could mean roughly 10 million fewer phones over the year. Samsung is also said to be considering another production cut of more than 10% next year.