Hardware

Product news and hardware reviews, focusing on the latest hardware innovations from the latest startups to the biggest players like Apple, Samsung, Amazon Google, Microsoft and DJI, from smartphones, smartwatches and smart homes to drones, connected fitness, laptops, wearables and AR/VR.

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A tale of two foldables

Samsung is still foldables’ 500-pound gorilla, but the company successes have made the category significantly less lonely in recent years.

A tale of two foldables

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Max Space reinvents expandable habitats with a 17th-century twist, launching in 2026

Max Space’s expandable habitats promise to be larger, stronger, and more versatile than anything like them ever launched, not to mention cheaper and lighter by far than a solid, machined structure.

Max Space reinvents expandable habitats with a 17th-century twist, launching in 2026

Skip, a wearable tech startup that began as a secretive project inside Alphabet, exited stealth this week to announce a partnership with outdoor clothing specialist Arc’teryx. The deal is the…

Alphabet X spinoff partners with Arc’teryx to bring ‘everyday’ exoskeleton to market

Tesla was not the first company to begin working on a humanoid form factor, but while being the first to market does carry weight in this high-tech space, we’re at…

Elon Musk sets 2026 Optimus sale date. Here’s where other humanoid robots stand.

Vayu Robotics is working to make delivery robotics cheaper and more scalable. Ditching LiDAR is a piece of that puzzle.

Former Velodyne CEO’s delivery robot startup is ditching LiDAR for foundation models

Google is expected to announce four Pixel devices: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Premium, running Android 15.

Made by Google 2024: Pixel 9, Gemini, a new foldable and other things to expect from the event

Given the years and money invested in the Zone’s creation, there’s logic in Dyson’s decision to turn its R&D work into a more standard set of headphones with the OnTrac.

Dyson’s new OnTrac headphones don’t purify air

Name That Bird determines individual members of a species by identifying distinguishing characteristics that most humans would be hard-pressed to spot.

Bird Buddy’s new AI feature lets people name and identify individual birds

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India clings to cheap feature phones as brands struggle to tap new smartphone buyers

India is struggling to get new smartphone buyers, as millions of Indians don’t go for an upgrade and continue to be on feature phones.

India clings to cheap feature phones as brands struggle to tap new smartphone buyers

It’s a big day in the Samsung universe. At Samsung’s Unpacked 2024 event, the company debuted new phones, headphones and even a wearable ring.  As…

TechCrunch Minute: Unpacking Samsung Unpacked

What this means for the future of the Fuse line remains unclear, though the companies confirmed with TechCrunch that the Micronics branding is going away.

Formlabs acquires 3D printing startup Micronics mid-Kickstarter campaign

While Samsung has maintained its own familiar design with the standard Galaxy Buds 3, the Pro are experiencing a sort of Apple identity crisis.

Samsung unveils Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Buds 3, available for preorder now and shipping July 24

At Unpacked 2024, the company shared more details about the Galaxy Ring, which represents the first take on the category from a hardware giant.

Samsung’s Galaxy Ring, its first smart ring, arrives July 24 for $399

At the heart of the features is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is the same system on a chip that powered the Galaxy S24.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip 6 arrive with Galaxy AI and Google Gemini

The Samsung event will feature updates to the Galaxy Z Fold, Galaxy Z Flip, as well as more details on the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy AI.

Samsung Unpacked 2024: What we expect and how to watch Wednesday’s hardware event

Amazon has released an all-new version of its Echo Spot ahead of Prime Day, the company announced on Monday. The 2024 version of the Alexa-enabled smart alarm clock costs $79.99,…

Amazon revives its Echo Spot with an upgraded look and improved audio

With increasing competition for what is, essentially, still a small number of hard tech and deep tech deals, Sidney Scott realized it would be a challenge for smaller funds like…

Why deep tech VC Driving Forces is shutting down

The news brings closure to more than two years of volleying back and forth between some of the biggest names in additive manufacturing.

Nano Dimension is buying Desktop Metal

LG has acquired an 80% stake in Athom, a Dutch smart home company and maker of the Homey smart home hub. According to LG’s announcement, it will purchase the remaining…

LG acquires smart home platform Athom to bring third-party connectivity to its ThinQ ecosytem

Sophisticated spacecraft often run on shockingly outdated computing systems: consider that the Perseverance rover runs on a PowerPC 750, the processor famous for running on iMacs in the late 1990s. …

Computing and shielding startups join forces to put AI-capable chips in space

BoldHue’s device essentially scans your face and dispenses a customized foundation formula that matches your skin tone.

Beauty tech startup BoldHue raises capital to ship its ‘Keurig for makeup’

Vaire Computing, based in London and Seattle, is betting that chips that can do reversible computing are going to be the way forward for the world.

Vaire Computing raises $4.5M for ‘reversible computing’ moonshot which could drastically reduce energy needs

RoboGrocery combines computer vision with a soft robotic gripper to bag a wide range of different items.

MIT’s soft robotic system is designed to pack groceries

Digit’s first job will be moving totes around a Connecticut Spanx factory — which is most definitely not a euphemism.

Agility’s humanoid robots are going to handle your Spanx

Specifically, according to the FCC, carriers would simply have to provide unlocking services 60 days after activation.

FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days

When Ironspring Ventures launched in 2020 to back startups in industrial sectors like construction and manufacturing, it was one of very few early-stage venture firms paying attention to those capital-intensive…

Austin-based Ironspring Ventures raised $100M to invest in the industrial revolution

At this early stage, Persona’s pitch doesn’t stray far from the various humanoid firms with which it’s set to compete.

Persona’s founders are certain the world can use another humanoid robot

The perfect device is one that never breaks in the first place, while still allowing for easy user repair access when needed.    

Apple stresses device longevity, extends self-service repair to Europe

Smart ring makers Oura and Circular on Tuesday announced a settlement in an ongoing patent suit. The agreed-upon terms find the French company entering into a multi-year agreement with Oura,…

Circular will pay competitor Oura royalties to sell its smart ring in the US

Etched, founded by Harvard dropouts, is building an AI chip that can only run one type of model: transformer-based models.

Etched is building an AI chip that only runs one type of model