Happy iPhone day to all who celebrate this momentous date in the tech calendar.
There’s nothing quite like a new iPhone launch day. And I should know, as I’ve been covering them for over a decade. Back when we had a physical home button, chunky bezels and single camera on the back. How times have changed.
For Apple’s 2025 installment, we were shown a heap of new products, from a quartet of iPhone 17 handsets including the much-talked about iPhone Air, to the new Apple Watch 11, Watch SE 3 and Watch Ultra 3, and the new AirPods Pro 3.
There’s plenty to talk about then, so here’s what you need to know.
Apple has blessed us with eight new products; four iPhones, three Watches and a set of AirPods Pro.
The quickest iPhone launch ever? I’ve not run the data, but it’s definitely up there. It felt fast paced while watching, and I wasn’t just imagining it – Apple blitzed through its new product announcements.
This is how it compares to previous iPhone launch events;
You’ll be able to rewatch the iPhone 17 launch on YouTube.
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.