A preview build of Windows 11 was recently leaked, and many of its features are still being discovered. While the official release is set to be unveiled on June 24, the leaked version hints at several major changes that give us an idea of what the new update will look like. There are some changes that the public strongly disliked and some that are hinting at potential new hardware.
Wake on Touch is one of the new features, allowing users to wake their tablets from sleep mode simply by tapping on its display, just like we have seen on iPads, Android tablets, and many other mobile devices. A number of phones also sport features similar to this, where you can double-tap the device’s display to wake it up from standby mode. This feature makes use of capacitive touch, which requires the user to complete its circuit by touching the screen.
Looks like Windows 11 supports a setting for Wake on Touch
Feels very phone-like
— Albacore ☁️ (@thebookisclosed) June 16, 2021
Twitter account @thebookisclosed was the first to discover this feature, also remarking that it “feels very phone-like.” While we have to wait a little to check out the actual feature, we can confirm its presence given a Wake on Touch option hidden in the settings of the leaked version.
However, Microsoft’s current hardware is unable to support this feature; its current lineup of touch-enabled tablets does not host any such feature. This means they require special components that would allow the screen to light up upon human contact. Hence, the discovery also suggests another exciting theory of new hardware coming out around the same time as the new Windows.
Rumors suggest the potential release of a Surface Pro 8 or Surface Neo. While the latter’s release is delayed to 2022, the former may be announced in October, which is around the same time Windows 11 is launching. If the theories about the Surface Pro 8 leveraging the newly-founded feature are correct, this upgrade could be the biggest update to Surface Pro’s hardware since its 2014 Pro 4 version.
At the end of the day, all that is being said right now are conclusions based on hints gathered from the build version. We’ll have to wait for June 24 to see what the update really offers.
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage