We’re gearing up for CES 2026! Engadget will be on the ground, once again, to dive into the latest TVs, wearables and other wild tech from the world’s biggest consumer electronics show. In this episode, we chat about some new products we expect to see, like Micro RGB LED TVs and AI devices, and peer into what’s ahead for the rest of 2026.
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Over the past two years, the Nex Playground has carved out a niche for itself with kids and parents alike. It's a small box that sits in front of your TV and uses a camera, along with computer vision AI processing, to track your movement for interactive games. Think of it like a simplified version of Microsoft's Kinect (RIP), with a bit of the local multiplayer we see from the original Wii. In this bonus episode, we chat with David Lee, Nex's CEO and co-founder, about how he went from building a basketball tracking app to one of the most intriguing gaming console alternatives on the market. (The Nex Playground even managed to outsell Xbox in November!)
What led to the development of the Nex Playground? — 2:04
Who helped design and build the console? — 8:36
Questions about the Nex PlayPass subscription and other ways to get new games — 13:23
How did Nex convince major brands to build for Nex Playground? — 19:10
Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: David Lee, CEO and co-founder of Nex
Producer: Devindra Hardawar
Music: Dale North
Want to see a dead body? I present to you the Xbox. After a subdued launch at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, the Xbox Series X quickly lost the fight against the PlayStation 5. Microsoft simply couldn't deliver enough compelling games, despite some huge acquisitions, while Sony leaned on its goodwill from the PS4 era and a handful of desirable exclusives. As prices rose due to supply chain issues and the Trump administration's volatile tariff scheme, there was even less of a reason to get an Xbox (even the cheaper Series S). When I re-reviewed the Series X last year, it was clear that it never lived up to its potential. Anyone in their right mind would be better off buying a PlayStation 5.
Xbox didn't enter 2025 in a great state, and it's leaving the year grasping for help, like an Arc Raider player desperate for a revival after being knocked out. Microsoft cancelled the Perfect Dark reboot and Everwild, two of the most interesting games in its weak upcoming slate. The company brought titles like Forza Horizon 5 over to the PlayStation 5, which prompted Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham to declare he no longer needed an Xbox.
Making things worse this year, Microsoft raised prices across the board, with the Xbox Series S starting at $400 and the cheapest Series X going for a whopping $600. And slow sales prompted Costco to stop selling Xbox consoles entirely. Microsoft didn't even try to push systems during Black Friday — why go through the trouble of having sales if nobody is buying the hardware in the first place?
Even Game Pass, which was once renowned as one of the best deals in gaming, almost doubled in price over the last year, reaching up to $30 a month (or $360 a year) for the Ultimate tier. Sure, Microsoft tried to add more value to its cheaper Game Pass tiers, and finally upgraded its cloud streaming platform, but the lack of consistent must-play exclusive titles has devalued the service (and Xbox as a whole). Avowed and South of Midnight were among the few exclusive highlights, but the latter will hit PS5 and Switch 2 next year. There's no word on Avowed reaching other consoles yet, but given Microsoft's current trajectory (and the fact that it's a genuinely great game), I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes available elsewhere.
There was a chance for Microsoft to reinvigorate the Xbox brand with the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds, but the $600 and $1,000 launch prices placed them out of reach for most gamers. It also doesn't help that Windows still isn't well-optimized for portable devices with touchscreens, and those systems also aren't compatible with older Xbox titles like the consoles. At the very least, Microsoft now has a handheld foothold. But a future portable Xbox console would need to be significantly cheaper to compete with the likes of the Steam Deck, which starts at $549 (following the discontinuation of the $400 LCD model).
And speaking of Valve, the company's recently announced Steam Machine has also stolen a lot of potential thunder from Xbox. The Steam Machine is basically a tiny gaming desktop for your TV, running the Steam Deck's SteamOS. That platform is a Linux distribution optimized for emulating Windows titles. But unlike an Xbox console, it's not closed off in any way. You're free to install whatever you'd like on a Steam Machine — even Windows!
While we still haven't seen the Steam Machine in action, the Steam Deck's excellent performance and game compatibility makes me think its desktop sibling could be genuinely compelling to console players looking for something new. And it will likely directly compete with the next Xbox, which is rumored to arrive in 2027 as a PC in a TV-friendly case (according to Windows Central's Jez Corden). Microsoft's recent partnership deal with AMD also hints at a more PC-like experience — Xbox President Sarah Bond noted that the Xbox team is "working closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming."
It's worth remembering that only a single generation of the Xbox — the Xbox 360 — was successful enough to truly compete with Sony's PlayStation. The original Xbox reportedly cost Microsoft $4 billion over the course of four years, leading the company to quickly jump ship and move to its successor. The Xbox 360 was genuinely innovative, thanks to Xbox Live and smarter online integration, and it had a healthy amount of third-party support. In comparison, Sony's PlayStation 3 was $100 to $200 more expensive than the Xbox 360 at launch, it had far worse online support and developers found it hard to program for.
Unfortunately, Microsoft squandered most of its good will with the Xbox One. That console was first announced as an "always online" device with restrictive DRM features that limited how you could share and sell games; it was bundled with a Kinect camera that could potentially surveil you; and at $499, it was $100 more than the PlayStation 4. Microsoft quickly reversed many of its DRM-heavy plans for the Xbox One, but by that point the damage was done. Sony ultimately sold more than twice as many PS4 units as the entirety of the Xbox One family (which included the cheaper One S and more powerful One X), according to data from Ampere Research.
Things are looking worse this generation: The Xbox Series S and X reportedly only sold around 33 million units as of July, according to Statista estimates, while Sony confirmed it sold 84.2 million PS5s as of November. If this trend continues (and it doesn’t appear as if Xbox sales will be increasing any time soon), Sony could end up selling three times as many consoles this generation, compared to Microsoft. Xbox sales have been so slow that the family-focused Nex Playground managed to outsell it in November, according to data from Circana.
Given Xbox's inability to compete with the PlayStation 5, it's no wonder Microsoft could be changing things up entirely for its next system. Its partnership with AMD could easily lead to new handhelds, and it also gives Microsoft a leg up in producing a compact and powerful Xbox PC. After all, why should the company keep trying to go toe-to-toe with Sony's closed PlayStation platform? Why shouldn't Microsoft embrace its PC roots to give us a gaming desktop under our TVs? The company has already committed to bringing new Xbox games to PCs immediately, so the line between the two is already blurring.
It may be a risk, but evolving into a PC proves there’s still life in the Xbox brand. And crucially, it’s also something Sony can’t easily replicate.
This week, Engadget Managing Editor Cherlynn Low joins us to look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2025. We dive into our favorite gadgets of the year, the many ways Big Tech bowed to Trump, the disappointment of AI PCs and the rise of smart glasses. We also learn way too much about our skincare routines.
Our favorite gadgets of 2025: Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, Airpods Pro 3, bluetooth lav mics and more – 2:26
Favorite Media of 2025: Andor, self-improvement via podcast, and a shoutout to your library – 34:30
iRobot declares bankruptcy – 47:29
Warner Bros. Discovery board rejects Paramount’s hostile bid, shareholders yet to vote – 53:47
The Oscars will air on Youtube starting in 2029 – 56:05
Ford to turn its F-150 Lightining into a gas generator EV – 57:41
Around Engadget: smart glasses had a great run in 2025, against social media age verification – 58:20
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Sure, we've seen millions poured into lobbying and other means of influence during every presidency, but the last two years set a whole new bar. Business leaders, including those from almost every Big Tech company, stepped over themselves to prove fealty to Donald Trump's second administration. It's easy to see why: Their kowtowing was meant to secure regulatory favors, gain tax and tariff advantages and avoid Trump's ire. Ultimately, it was all in the service of appeasing their shareholders. Why else would Apple CEO Tim Cook, someone who typically cultivates a progressive image, hand deliver a gold plaque to the President of the United States?
Before we leave 2025 behind, it's worth documenting the many ways tech companies and leaders debased themselves for political favor with the Trump administration.
Google dropped diversity recruitment goals in February, following Trump’s executive orders dismantling DEI programs in the federal government. Google also changed its AI principles to allow AI in weapons and surveillance, a move that is in line with the relaxed artificial intelligence regulation the Trump administration would later adopt for its AI Action Plan. To the chagrin of geographers everywhere, the company also replaced the Gulf of Mexico in Google Maps with "Gulf of America," following Trump's executive order.
Additionally, Alphabet agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle Donald Trump's lawsuit against YouTube, following the suspension of his YouTube accounts after the January 6th riot. Trump will receive $22 million, while another $2.5 million of the settlement will be paid out to additional plaintiffs who were part of the class action — which is to say, other rioters involved in the storming of the Capitol.
Joining plenty of other tech companies, Google donated $1 million to the Trump inauguration, and it’s also contributing to the cost of Trump’s reported $300 million White House ballroom.
In August, Amazon Web Services said it would provide up to $1 billion in credits to the Trump administration through 2028. Those credits can be put towards AWS cloud services, training and certification and direct contracts.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also did his fair share to support Trump: He donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, and since purchasing the Washington Post in 2013 he pushed the paper to the right. This year, Bezos declared that the Post’s opinion pages would be devoted to the support and defense of “personal liberties” and “free markets.” He added, “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others." To that end, the Post also hired three new conservative columnists. Bezos reportedly also blocked his paper from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning:
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 26, 2025
I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too…
Amazon, too, is contributing to Trump's $300 million White House ballroom. The Washington Post, unsurprisingly, was one of the first major publications to praise Trump’s ballroom.
Apple relied on big numbers and flashy trinkets to ingratiate itself to the Trump administration. In February, it said it planned to invest $500 billion into the US economy over the next four years. While that sounds impressive, Apple previously announced another $430 billion multi-year investment for the US in 2021. In a potential bid to avoid the administration’s volatile tariff plans, Apple also said it would invest another $100 billion into the US in August.
Tim Cook personally donated $1 million to the Trump inauguration fund, Cook's first political donation since 2017. At that August event, he also gave Donald Trump a now infamous gold statue for being a special little guy.
Additionally, Apple followed in Google’s footsteps by replacing the Gulf of Mexico in Apple Maps with the “Gulf of America.” The company is also chipping in for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasted no time trying to get into Trump’s good graces, perhaps to erase his previous statement that the President should be “held responsible for his words” for inciting the January 6 Capitol riot. On top of donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration, Meta announced that it would be getting rid of third-party fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram on January 7. Instead, it's relying on community notes similar to X. Meta also ended its DEI initiatives and changed its hate speech rules to allow for calling LGBTQ people “mentally ill.”
"We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words such as 'weird,'" reads the company’s updated policy.
Even Zuckerberg’s charity, which he runs alongside his wife, bowed to Trump. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ended its diversity programs and stopped providing “social advocacy funding,” which supported immigration and racial equity efforts. According to The Guardian, the charity’s website removed every reference to diversity or promoting scientific research from underrepresented groups.
Similar to Google, Meta said it will pay Donald Trump $25 million to settle his lawsuit related to his Facebook suspension after the January 6 riot. And yes, Meta is also contributing to Trump's $300 million White House ballroom.
Microsoft contributed $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. Previously, it donated $500,000 to Biden's fund and the same amount for Trump's first term. It’s also contributing to Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom.
Similar to Amazon, Microsoft also offered up to $3.1 billion worth of services to the Trump administration as part of the American-centric “OneGov” strategy. That includes discounts for Microsoft 365, Azure cloud services and cybersecurity tools. Copilot AI will also be discounted to government agencies, and it’ll be completely free for a year for agencies subscribing to Microsoft G5 service.
Elon Musk was by far the biggest booster for Trump in the business world. He spent a whopping total of $277 million to back Trump and other candidates in 2024, including $239 million to America PAC, his super PAC focused on securing votes for Trump and other Republicans.
Musk went so far as to offer $1 million to people who said they would vote for Trump, a move that the Justice Department warned might be illegal. Wisconsin's Attorney General challenged Musk's ploy but the state's Supreme Court declined to hear a case on the matter, thereby giving Musk leeway to award two $1 million checks to voters. Musk's team edited a video of one of the recipients to remove her admission that she was paid "to vote."
He also joked that he could be jailed if Kamala Harris won the 2024 election, which could be referencing potential election fraud, his penchant for busting unions, national security concerns from his uncomfortably close relationship with Vladimir Putin or any number of potential crimes.
Elon Musk spearheaded DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), an unelected position from which he was given nearly unprecedented federal oversight. Once installed he hired his techie acolytes to chip away at government budgets and staffs. For the first few weeks of the second Trump administration, it appeared as if Musk had unfettered power to manipulate the government.
And let's not forget, while leading DOGE, the world's richest man also destroyed USAID, the world's largest food aid provider, for no apparent reason other than cruelty.
Internal docs reveal how govt and aid officials desperately tried to warn Trump advisers at State & USAID about impending disaster and death. But for months nothing changed — despite Rubio’s public promises that food programs would be spared. https://t.co/bIZC5tJKxe
— Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy) December 17, 2025
After purchasing Twitter in 2022 and renaming it "X," Musk has also transformed Twitter into a Trump-friendly social network focused on “free speech.” He reinstated Trump’s Twitter account, which was banned after the January 6 Capitol riot, and he also paid Trump around $10 million to settle his lawsuit over being kicked off the platform. X is now a platform that amplifies far-right extremists, treats the inclusive term “cisgender” as a slur and doesn’t punish users for deadnaming and misgendering trans people.
This is by no means an exhaustive documenting of every single tech tycoon that has bent the knee. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, for instance, told Joe Rogan in an interview that “everything that [Trump] thinks through is very practical and very common sense, and, you know, it's very logical.” According to Axios, Huang added that Trump "wants to make sure that that the important, critical technology of our nation is built in United States, and that we re-industrialize and get good at manufacturing again, because it's important for jobs."
It’s also worth remembering that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison joined President Trump onstage in announcing Stargate — “the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history.” The two were joined by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who called the moment the “beginning of a golden age.” The next day, Altman posted on X that he believed Trump “will be incredible for the country in many ways!”
Ellison’s son David is the CEO of Skydance, and has infamously been rebuilding Paramount with Bari Weiss since the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media was approved this year. The list of major tech players bowing to Trump only grows from here, and putting the bulk of the transactions in one place should serve to remind us how closely tied Big Tech is with American (and global) politics.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/big-tech-bent-the-knee-for-trump-in-2025-140000365.html?src=rssNo matter what you think of James Cameron's Avatar movies, their technical ambitions are undeniable. Cameron developed his own camera system to shoot the first Avatar in 3D, but since most of the actors were digitally captured, he also had the freedom to construct scenes with a virtual camera after they were physically shot. For Avatar: The Way of Water, which arrived a whopping 13 years after the first film, Cameron also leaned into high frame rate footage and new ways of modeling natural fluid dynamics.
Even though the third entry, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is coming just a few years after the last sequel, I still expected Cameron to deliver some sort of new feat to wow audiences. He could have found a smoother way to employ high frame rate footage, so the film wasn't jarringly shifting between traditional 24 fps scenes and smoother 48 fps action shots. Maybe we'd see more natural interactions between live actors and virtual characters and environments (it sure is hard to beat Edie Falco suited up in a wicked exoskeleton in the last film, though).
Instead, Avatar: Fire and Ash is just another Avatar film — it doesn't push any boundaries, narratively or technically. And without any technical achievements to lean on, the narrative issues inherent with Avatar become all the more glaring.
It's still basically a story that places a clueless white dude in the middle of a fight between indigenous and colonialist powers. (Improbably, he's crowned one of the Na'vi's best warriors!). The script from Cameron and his co-writers (Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, continuing their work from The Way of Water) often hits identical beats to a low-rent CW show. And perhaps worst of all, the stakes of the story haven't really changed much. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family are still fighting off the militarized Resource Development Association (RDA), Col. Quaritch still holds a grudge from being killed (twice now!) and from the Sullies raising his Tarzan-like son, Spider (Jack Champion).
There’s an attempt to cast the Na’vi in a new light with the villainous Ash People, who spend their days attacking and stealing from other tribes. While most Na’vi people work cooperatively with other clans and share their reverence for Eywa, the collective consciousness of Pandora, the Ash People resent it for not saving their villages from natural disasters. Despite a deliciously evil performance by Oona Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's grandaughter!) as Varang, the Ash People don't amount to much more than "evil Na'vi." When they inevitably work together with humans to attack other Na’vi, it doesn’t feel surprising in the least. Honestly, it’s a tad insulting.
Perhaps we've been spoiled by Cameron's last few films, but Avatar: Fire and Ash ultimately feels like more of the same. Even its massive final battle feels like a retread, since it’s set in the same ocean environment as The Way of Water and is once again focused on protecting psychic alien whales from humans. Cameron does let his action chops shine throughout the film, but after a certain point, trying to enjoy those sequences is like trying to eat a family-sized carton of ice cream by yourself. You’ll enjoy it for a little while, but eventually you’re left with a massive headache and sugar hangover.
It’s clear that James Cameron has built the Avatar franchise to explore everything he loves: Stories about protecting the environment, fighting against capitalist excess and kicking tons of ass. Parts of Avatar 4 have already been shot, and that film is expected to arrive in 2029. But I’m hoping the 71-year-old filmmaker eventually finds his way out of Pandora. He’s co-directing the Billie Eilish concert film, Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour, so that’s a start. But I’m eager to see what other new worlds he can dream up.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/avatar-fire-and-ash-review-maybe-its-time-to-sunset-pandora-140000997.html?src=rssLast week, Netflix surprised us all when it announced plans for an $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., a move that would fundamentally reshape the world of streaming video and Hollywood. But Paramount isn't giving up on WB — this week it launched a $108 billion hostile takeover effort. In this episode, we discuss why everyone is fighting for WB, and why Netflix may be the best worst option for the storied movie studio.
What the Netflix bid for Warner Bros. means for at-home streamers and moviegoers – 1:55
Disney characters are coming to Sora after OpenAI struck a deal – 32:59
Meta may be giving up on open source for Llama – 43:53
Google CEO says we’re just going to have to grin and bear societal disruption via AI – 46:46
Around Engadget: The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is good, but is it $630 good? – 49:06
The best trailers and announcements from The Game Awards’ Day of the Devs stream – 51:28
Here’s why projectors won in 2025 – 54:31
Working on – 56:15
Pop culture picks – 57:33
Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Nathan Ingraham
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Netflix's $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. is, in many ways, the last thing a weakened Hollywood needs right now. The industry is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, where theaters were forced to close and audiences became even more comfortable with streaming films at home. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, which were driven by legitimate concerns around studio interest in generative AI, delayed production and promotion of many film and TV projects. And the rise of streaming content pushed many media companies towards taking on debt and unwise mergers (see: Warner Bros. Discovery), which led to higher subscription costs, layoffs and production belt-tightening.
How can a troubled media company survive today? The answer seems to be further consolidation. Amazon's $8.45 billion MGM takeover in 2022 heralded future deals, like Skydance's $8 billion acquisition of Paramount . But Netflix's WB deal goes even further: It could fundamentally reshape the media industry as we know it, from theatrical movie-going to the existence of physical media.
After next year's already-announced separation of Warner Bros. and Discovery, Netflix says it plans to acquire all of Warner Bros. remaining assets — including its film and TV studios, HBO Max and HBO — for $82.7 billion. According to Game Developer, representatives also say Warner Bros. Games, which includes Mortal Kombat developers NetherRealm, will also be part of the deal.
Even before the deal was formally announced, it was clear that whoever bought WB would be facing government opposition from every side. Yesterday, Paramount sent WB a letter questioning the "fairness and adequacy" of the acquisition bidding process (which also included Comcast as a potential buyer). Afterwards, the New York Post reported that Paramount CEO David Ellison, son of the Trump-boosting Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, met with administration officials to make his case for buying Netflix. As of this morning, the Trump administration views the Netflix/WB deal with "heavy skepticism," an official tells CNBC.
On the other side of the aisle, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has called the Netflix/WB deal an "anti-monopoly nightmare." She added, "A Netflix-Warner Bros. would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market. It could force you into higher prices, fewer choices over what and how you watch, and may put American workers at risk."
At this point, it's too early to tell if the Netflix/WB deal will make it past regulators, but it's clear that both companies should prepare for a rocky approval process.
According to data from JustWatch, a combined Netflix and HBO would account for 33 percent of the US streaming video market, putting it ahead of Prime Video's 21 percent share. As for how the two media companies would co-exist, Netflix says it will "maintain Warner Bros. current businesses," which includes HBO Max and HBO, theatrical releases for films and well as movie and TV studio operations.
"We think it’s too early to talk specifics about how we’re going to tailor this offering for consumers," Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in an investor call this morning, when asked if HBO would remain a separate service. "Needless to say, we think the HBO brand is very powerful, and would constitute part of our plan for consumers. That then gives us a lot of options to figure out how to package things to offer the best options for consumers."
At the very least, we can expect increased prices across the board for HBO and Netflix. There's also potential for the company to offer combination subscriptions, similar to how Disney juggles Disney+, Hulu and ESPN.
In short, a combined Netflix/WB wouldn't be great for theaters. Previous mergers, like Disney and Fox's union, led to fewer theatrical releases, not more. Since its transformation into a streaming-first company, Netflix has also been primarily focused on increasing subscriptions and engagement, with theatrical releases of its original content treated as an afterthought.
"We’ve released about 30 films into theaters this year, so it’s not like we have opposition to theatrical release," Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the investor call (without specifying how short some of those theatrical releases were). "It’s the longer windows that aren’t consumer friendly. Life cycle that starts in the movie theater, we’ll continue that. Over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to meet the audience where we are."
He added: "All things that are going to theaters through WB will continue to do so. Our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to consumers, and we intend to continue with that." In an April interview at the Time100 Summit, Sarandos also famously called the theatrical model "outdated," since most people in the US can't easily walk to a multiplex.
Cinema United, a trade group representing over 30,000 movie theater screens in the US, is unsurprisingly against the entire deal. “The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business. The negative impact of this acquisition will impact theatres from the biggest circuits to one-screen independents in small towns in the United States and around the world,” Cinema United President and CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement.
“Cinema United stands ready to support industry changes that lead to increased movie production and give consumers more opportunities to enjoy a day at the local theatre,” he added. “But Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite. Regulators must look closely at the specifics of this proposed transaction and understand the negative impact it will have on consumers, exhibition and the entertainment industry.”
Writers, directors and producers are already having a tough time getting projects off the ground, so having one less place to pitch isn't going to help. There are also a handful of artists, including former WB darling Christopher Nolan, who have refused to work with Netflix entirely.
"The end goal of these consolidations is to limit choices in entertainment to a select handful of providers, so they can capture our whole attention, and thus our every available dollar," C. Robert Cargill, the screenwriter behind Doctor Strange and The Black Phone, said in a statement to Engadget. "The result will be a gutting of diversity and fresh voices in the industry, sending thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people back to their home towns to start their lives over, as there simply isn't a place for them in Hollywood any more, while homogenizing film and television into the "content" word we all grumble about hearing."
"WB has made so many daring choices this year, with executives taking big risks that made real cultural and financial impacts at the box office," he added. "And HBO, constant name changes be damned, is still making some of the best television there is, bar none. Will those creative environments survive the merger, or will many of those brilliant execs be sent packing along with the writers, directors, and crews?"
"In short, it's a very scary and heartbreaking time to be a filmmaker. No shade on Netflix and the people that work there; it's just that less choice in entertainment always makes for fewer winners and more people on the outside looking in."
Other than noting that Netflix used to be a DVD-by-mail company, there was no mention of physical media on the acquisition's press release or investor call. That’s not too surprising, as physical releases have always been an afterthought for Netflix. A few of its films, like Roma and Frances Ha, are available as discs through the Criterion Collection, and some shows like Stranger Things are also on DVD and Blu-ray.
Netflix claims it'll continue to run WB's businesses as usual if the deal goes through, which should include physical media, but those sorts of pre-acquisition promises rarely last for long. WB's home video business isn't entirely its own, either: In 2020, it formed the joint venture Studio Distribution Services with Universal, which also handles physical media distribution for Sony Pictures, PBS and Neon.
Given the slowing demand for physical media, it’s likely one of the first things a combined Netflix/WB would eventually drop. But there’s also been a resurgence of premium physical releases from distributors like Arrow Video, so there’s a chance Netflix may want to keep it around for special releases.
Steve Dent contributed to this report.
RAM prices have gone wild, mostly thanks to AI. In this episode, Devindra chats with Will Smith (Brad and Will Made a Tech Pod) about the state of the RAM industry, as well as other hardware we expect to get more expensive. (SSD prices are definitely creeping up too!). Also, we discuss Meta poaching Alan Dye, one of Apple's design executives, and what this could mean for Meta's upcoming devices. And yes, whatever they have next will likely revolve around AI.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, plans deep cuts to his company’s metaverse development – 1:09
Longtime Apple UI designer Alan Dye to join Meta’s AI division – 7:08
US DOT cuts fuel efficiency standards, doubles down on gas cars – 25:40
Waymo autonomous cars recently started driving more aggressively – 31:30
Amazon halts its anime dub beta because it sounded terrible – 38:00
WTF, RAM?? Will Smith joins to talk about why RAM prices are spiraling upward – 44:05
Around Engadget: Metroid Prime 4 is a return to form after 18 years on ice – 1:04:42
Working on – 1:07:36
Pop culture picks – 1:08:32
Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Will Smith
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Microsoft's Copilot+ initiative launched last year with a clear goal: To produce capable laptops for people eagerly anticipating AI-powered features. Read that sentence again, and it's glaringly obvious that Microsoft's plan was flawed from the start. Most consumers aren't nearly as hyped for AI features as the companies eager to foist artificial intelligence upon us. And those features aren't exactly compelling, either. Microsoft's Recall — which snaps screenshots of your PC to create a database of everything you’ve done– was dogged by privacy concerns from the start. And to be honest, I haven't found its ability to remember the files and websites I've opened to be that useful.
Without any sort of killer AI app, most consumers weren't going to pay a premium for Copilot+ systems either. Not in this precarious economy, anyway. So it wasn't a huge surprise to see sales of Copilot+ systems going practically nowhere over the last year. In the third quarter of 2024, they accounted for less than 10 percent of systems shipped, according to data from Mercury Research (via Tom’s Hardware). The research firm IDC (via PCWorld) also found that Copilot+ systems made up just 2.3 percent of Windows machines sold in the first quarter of 2025 (and a mere 1.9 percent of the entire PC market).
Instead of continuing to promote Copilot+, Microsoft now wants to "make every Windows 11 computer an AI PC". The new "Hey Copilot" voice commands and Copilot Vision, a feature that lets the AI assistant see what's on your screen, are both cloud-powered. That means you won't need the beefy 40 TOPS neural processing units (NPU) found on Copilot+ systems to use them. Microsoft spent the past few years touting NPUs as the gateway to useful AI features, like Recall and Windows Studio webcam effects, but only one of its new AI capabilities actually requires an NPU. (And even that is just a slight update to Click to Do, allowing you to send Zoom invitations by right-clicking on e-mail addresses.)
It's easy to view the whole Copilot+ initiative as a cynical way to ramp up AI hype and push people towards expensive new laptops, especially as the October 14 Windows 10 end of support date loomed. But it also led to some genuinely useful changes: Microsoft made 16GB of RAM a standard for Copilot+ systems, along with 256GB of storage and the aforementioned 40 TOPS NPUs. The launch of Copilot was also the kick in the pants Microsoft needed to revamp Windows for mobile Arm processors. I never thought I'd love a Surface with a Snapdragon chip, but the improved Arm support on the Surface Pro and this year's smaller model finally won me over.
I wouldn’t call the Copilot+ program a huge swing, but it’s still the sort of industry-wide cat herding that’s rare to see in the PC space. Microsoft couldn’t just snap its fingers and shift all PCs to efficient mobile chips with powerful NPUs, like Apple did with its own jump to M-series chips years ago. Microsoft had to wait for new NPU-equipped hardware from Qualcomm (and eventually Intel and AMD). It had to finally fix the Windows on Arm problem. And it also had to double-down on AI features that felt truly transformative. It’s just a shame that consumers didn’t seem to care.
Microsoft said that Copilot+ systems accounted for 15 percent of premium PCs sold during last year’s holiday season, but the company hasn’t released any new sales figures since then. “This is the fastest adoption I've seen of a new category of hardware, and we've done it faster than the normal generational shift of silicon,” James Howell, Microsoft’s VP of Windows marketing, said in a conversation with Engadget. “Copilot+ PCs continue to be a transition that we are pushing for and prioritizing. But I can't give you the exact numbers beyond that… Just for the last two or three months, we've been doing pretty well with year-on-year growth in the Windows business.”
While Microsoft ultimately doesn’t have much to show for the Copilot+ initiative, the steady progression of hardware will lead to AI PCs dominating over the next five years. The research firm Omdia predicts that AI PCs will account for 55 percent of computers shipped in all of 2026, up from 42.5 percent of systems in Q3 2025. By 2029, Omdia predicts AI PCs will make up 75 percent of all systems shipped, giving Windows 80 percent of the AI PC market.
“It’s important to note that this steep adoption curve [for AI PCs] is driven more by the product roadmaps of the PC market, rather than consumers and businesses seeking PCs specifically for AI,” according to Omdia research analyst Kieren Jessop. “For businesses, and consumers especially, AI-capable PC adoption is more a function of a customer going to purchase a device and that device just so happens to have an NPU.”
Microsoft was basically right: AI PCs are the future. But it turns out the AI features people actually want to use — like ChatGPT, Sora and Microsoft’s own Copilot — are mostly powered by the cloud, making onboard NPUs superfluous. That won’t be true forever. There are tangible security, speed and convenience benefits for onboard AI processing, like transcribing sensitive audio instead of sending it to the cloud. But for now, those AI workloads are relatively niche, and they’re not enough to make the Copilot+ a true success by any measure.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/microsofts-copilot-ai-pc-plan-fizzled-but-it-still-served-a-purpose-130000239.html?src=rss