Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

SanDisk made Whistle-shaped USB-C Drives for the FIFA World Cup: Hands-on at CES 2026

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Don’t be surprised if you see a bunch of people walking around with SanDisk whistles strung around their neck this year. No, the storage behemoth didn’t get into sports accessories or football memorabilia, it just got a sense of humor and whimsy! These special-edition whistles from SanDisk are actually USB-C drives with a football theme. They’re a part of SanDisk’s broader licensing arrangement with FIFA, which also spans other SSDs and memory cards. This one, however, is easily the most adorable of the lot.

The whistle-drives come in 5 color variants – three for each of the host countries (US, Canada, Mexico) and two in ‘global’ colors that anyone can own and cherish. A lanyard lets you hang the drive around your neck, just like you would a whistle… and while it doesn’t technically function as a whistle, it does store up to 128GB of data in its tiny form factor. The best part? Probably nobody will think of stealing it because who would steal a random plastic whistle?!

Designer: SanDisk

Seeing these whistles at SanDisk’s booth at Pepcom made me wonder whether they were tiny gifts for visitors. I picked up one and felt a little heft and took a closer look. A SanDisk rep walked up to me and pointed out I wasn’t holding some giveaway plastic ball-whistle – I had a 128GB drive in my hands! Pop the whistle’s mouthpiece out and you see the USB-C drive inside – the form factor pays lip service (literally) to FIFA’s upcoming world cup, with different editions celebrating each of the host countries.

The whistles are officially licensed by FIFA, which makes this original memorabilia if you’re a football fan who needs extra storage. The drives work seamlessly with iOS and Android devices, and they’ll plug into your laptop, Smart TV, or even your Switch. The best part, like I mentioned, is that this is storage that hides in plain sight. No random mugger or stranger would ever think of stealing a whistle off your neck, which means you’re better off storing data like phone backups or other stuff on it.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on availability or pricing yet. SanDisk just showcased its Extreme Fit at CES for the first time ever, so that was easily the most exciting device on the table. The Extreme Fit is also literally available online and in stores, while SanDisk’s FIFA collab is still yet to officially hit the shelves. When it does, I’m sure there’ll be a whole slew of tech aficionados who will want to grab themselves some functional merch that will serve a grand purpose beyond the FIFA games. After all, the World Cup comes once in 4 years… USB-C storage is for life.

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MCON Slim Hands-on at CES 2026: The Ultra‑Thin MagSafe Controller That Turns Your iPhone Into a Gaming Console

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Last year, Ohsnap debuted the MCON controller on Kickstarter and nearly broke the website. Over 16,000 people pledged almost $2 million to make the product a reality, and not only did the company ship every single MCON out to every backer, they casually came back to CES this year with not one, but TWO more versions of the device. The more impressive of the two is the MCON Slim, a controller that’s nearly as thin as your standard smartphone, packing in an entire gaming controller (along with trigger buttons) into that ridiculously small form factor.

Designed by 21 year-old Josh King, the MCON Slim is clearly his magnum opus. The youngster (incubated by Dale Backus’ Ohsnap) mentioned how the smartphone was such a powerful device, but all we ever use it for is doomscrolling and emails. The MCON was supposed to prove to the world that the smartphone can be an incredible handheld gaming device, comparable to the Razer Switchblade or even dare I say the Nintendo Switch. Now, the MCON Slim cements that idea even further. Imagine a device, the thickness of a MagSafe power bank), capable of turning your iPhone into the next best gaming console.

Designer: Josh King (Ohsnap)

If you’ve seen the MCON before, think of the Slim as the iPhone Air of gaming controllers. It’s ridiculously sleek, snapping to the back of your phone and literally absorbing your iPhone’s camera bump into it. When shut, it’s still slim enough to slide right into your pocket without you feeling a thing. However, when you’re craving some serious gaming, slide the controller out and you’ve got a makeshift handheld console in mere seconds, with an actual D-Pad, action buttons, two touch-sensitive joypads, and even trigger buttons on the back.

Before you get your hopes up, the MCON Slim is still in its ‘proof of concept’ stage, and won’t launch anytime soon. Josh mentions they’ll probably roll the Slim out in time for the iPhone 18… which works just fine given that I plan on upgrading my iPhone just around that time! The design, however, is beyond impressive. The sliding interaction is flawless, even though the Ohsnap team miniaturized practically everything. The trigger buttons have actual movement, with nearly 3mm of travel. And the best part, the MCON Slim plays nice with the iPhone’s camera module (unlike past versions). A gorgeous fidget-spinner-shaped cutout lets you use the iPhone’s camera even with the Slim controller attached to the back of your phone. Heck, even the flashlight is accessible, which means your gaming console, ahem, smartphone has zero compromises.

And the best part is that the controller slides right out of the dock, turning your phone into a Nintendo Switch of sorts. The connection is all via Bluetooth, which means you can place your phone on a table a few feet away from you while you game with the detached controller in your hands. The slimness results in just two sacrifices – firstly, those pop-out grips from the original MCON don’t make it to this device. And to be honest, I don’t miss them at all. Secondly, the joypads go from physically moving controls to touch-sensitive ones… something that most casual gamers should be fine with. For the pedantic ones, the original MCON (and the upcoming MCON Lite) offers a perfect alternative.

The sad part here is that there’s absolutely no tech spec to talk about. The MCON Slim is entirely a work in progress right now, which means design details, battery life, pricing, everything is subject to change. However, Josh did mention that the MCON Slim should arrive around the same time as the iPhone 18, or in other words – we’ll probably get the MCON Slim before we get GTA VI.

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First Look at HONOR’s Robot Phone at CES 2026: How is this real?!

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Tucked away in a suite at the Encore Hotel lay perhaps the most interesting phone of all. No, not Samsung’s trifold, not even TCL’s NXTPaper phone, not some absurd rolling phone concept, nothing from Motorola. Away from the chaos of CES, in this room, on one table, lay a prototype of HONOR’s Robot Phone. Unlike the video we saw months back, this time, the phone was literally inches from us, showing exactly how HONOR managed to cram an entire 3-axis gimbal and a camera into a smartphone’s bump.

There were a few mandatory guidelines, though. Nobody could touch the phone, and this phone was just a prototype – a taste of the actual device that HONOR plans on revealing at Mobile World Congress. Even though the device wasn’t operational, or even switched on, just seeing a physical prototype was enough to get a VERY clear picture of what HONOR managed to build. Needless to say, it felt unbelievable just yesterday… but today, it was absolutely real. For what it’s worth, HONOR really did manage to engineer a camera and gimbal small enough to tuck itself away into a smartphone’s camera bump.

Designer: HONOR

It’s worth noting. The device isn’t a static model. The camera actually rotates, and goes right back into the phone’s bump. The mechanics work, but for now, they were just manual given that the phone was just a prototype. Physically, HONOR’s prototype is a working proof of concept, which is way more reassuring than a video which most people will assume is a bit of CGI. Knowing that fitting a gimbal into a phone is a pretty important milestone because now that HONOR’s proved at least the first step, it’s interesting to see how other tech companies will respond (if DJI makes a smartphone I will absolutely lose my mind).

The gimbal results in a fairly chunky camera bump, but the tradeoff is really small if you think about what you’re getting. A camera that can point anywhere, track subjects, respond to gestures, and work without a tripod or a gimbal. It’s autonomous in every aspect, which means for the first time in history, you don’t control the smartphone’s camera. It controls itself. And it can literally follow you around the room, turning probably anywhere up to 360° to do so. HONOR’s team mentioned that this would change content creation almost overnight, especially in its home market of China, which sees a massive number of livestreamers using fancy smartphone rigs to film video in realtime. Here, all you need is a phone and a surface to place it on.

The details are otherwise incredibly scarce. There’s no availability timeline, no pricing structure, not even anything on the camera’s quality or the phone’s battery life. For now, this proof-of-concept does two things, ushers in HONOR’s ‘Alpha’ era, with the company making great leaps in their new AI division (the phone has an Alpha logo on the back to mark this new era too)… and secondly, proves that electronic/optical image stabilization is probably dead when your phone literally packs a goshdarn 3-axis gimbal that can point anywhere and move on its own.

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CES 2026: Baby Sleep Monitor Tells Parents Exactly When To Put Kids To Bed (Without Them Crying)

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Every parent knows the moment. Your baby finally drifts off in your arms after twenty minutes of gentle rocking, their breathing settles into that peaceful rhythm, and you begin the delicate transfer to the crib. The instant their back touches the mattress, their eyes snap open. Yukai Engineering’s Necoron, making its debut at CES 2026, aims to eliminate this guessing game entirely. The device monitors your infant’s heart rate through a small ankle sensor and uses LED color indicators to tell you exactly when your baby has reached a sleep state deep enough for a successful transfer.

The Tokyo-based robotics company brings the same thoughtful design approach that earned them recognition for products like Qoobo and Nékojita FuFu. Necoron was developed based on research from RIKEN, one of Japan’s leading research institutions, giving it scientific backing that sets it apart from typical baby gadgets. At the Yukai Engineering booth in CES’s Smart Home area, the prototype represents an intriguing intersection of biometric monitoring, sleep science, and practical parenting tools. Takara Tomy is collaborating on the project, with the companies targeting a 2026 market launch.

Designer: Yukai Engineering Inc.

The ankle band wraps around the baby’s leg with a soft fabric strap and houses a rounded white sensor module that, yes, looks exactly like a ‘house arrest wearable’, so to speak. But instead of tracking curfew violations, you’re monitoring optimal nap conditions, which feels like a fair trade when you’re on hour three of failed transfer attempts. The sensor feeds heart rate data to a separate main unit that displays color-coded LED signals: walk while holding, sit and hold, or the magic moment when you can finally lay them down. You press a button to start monitoring and then just glance at the color while your hands stay where they belong, supporting 12 pounds of sleeping chaos. The minute the Necoron’s light turns blue, your baby’s in the right state of mind to be put to bed without triggering the ‘back switch’.

What makes this work is the RIKEN research foundation, which identified specific heart rate patterns that indicate when babies have moved past vulnerable light sleep into something stable enough to survive the sensory avalanche of being put down. Temperature changes, vestibular shifts, tactile feedback differences, all of it conspires to wake your kid the second their back hits the mattress. Yukai’s algorithms predict when that transfer window actually opens instead of making you guess based on how long their eyes have been closed. The company hasn’t released the exact parameters yet, but the core logic tracks: deeper sleep stages show different cardiovascular signatures than drowsiness.

Yukai Engineering keeps building robots that solve real problems without feeling clinical about it. Their Nékojita FuFu made TIME Magazine’s Best Innovations of 2025 for blowing on hot drinks with randomized breath patterns. BOCCO emo won CES 2023 Innovation Awards as a family communication platform. They understand that helpful tech can also feel delightful, which matters when you’re trying to convince exhausted parents to strap another device onto their infant. Necoron launches sometime in 2026, pricing TBD, and whether it becomes essential nursery gear depends entirely on whether those algorithms actually work at 3 AM when nothing else has.

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I saw Samsung’s 130‑inch Micro RGB easel TV at CES 2026 and now regular screens feel tiny

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A television spanning 130 inches diagonally creates immediate questions about physics, aesthetics, and whether something this massive can exist as anything other than spectacle. Samsung’s answer at CES 2026 involves treating the R95H Micro RGB model as architecture rather than appliances, borrowing design language from gallery easels and luxury retail interiors to create what the company describes as an “extra-large window” that transforms room perception. The display sits on angular metal supports that create a triangular footprint, making the enormous panel appear suspended rather than heavily grounded. At just 35.7mm thick based on Samsung’s technical specifications, the screen maintains a profile impossibly slim for something measuring nearly 11 feet corner to corner.

Samsung revived its Timeless Frame concept from 2013, refining the original bold outlines into thinner borders that house integrated audio components while maintaining visual distinctiveness. The frame contains Samsung’s Eclipsa Audio system, solving the practical challenge of speaker placement for ultra-large displays while preserving the aesthetic of a unified object. When wall-mounted, the frame’s lower edge meets the floor rather than floating at eye level, reinforcing the window metaphor while distributing the weight more safely than traditional TV mounting. The Glare-Free coating becomes essential at this scale, preventing the massive reflective surface from mirroring the room and destroying contrast.

Designer: Samsung

The “Micro RGB” name is the key to the great visuals. Instead of using a standard white or blue backlight and then filtering it through quantum dots and color filters, this panel uses microscopic, individual red, green, and blue LEDs as the light source. This means color is generated directly at the source, which is a fundamentally cleaner way to do things. It’s how they are hitting that claimed 100% BT.2020 color gamut, a spec that display nerds have been chasing for years. This direct emission approach eliminates multiple layers of conversion that can introduce impurities and reduce color volume, resulting in purer, more vibrant hues that pop off the screen with an almost unnatural vivacity.

Of course, the easel stand, while gorgeous, demands a colossal footprint. You aren’t tucking this into a corner of your apartment; you are designing a room around it. The angular legs extend far from the screen to keep the whole assembly stable, meaning it occupies a significant amount of floor space both in front of and behind the panel. This is a television for lofts, galleries, and homes with minimalist, open-plan layouts where it can be appreciated as a sculptural object. The alternative wall-mount option, which has the base of the TV resting on the floor, is equally bold. It is a deliberate choice that forces you to treat the display as a permanent architectural feature, a commitment that most people are not prepared to make for a piece of technology.

Ultimately, this 130-inch beast is Samsung planting its flag. With OLED technology becoming the benchmark for contrast and black levels, Samsung needed a halo product to prove that its LCD-based technologies could still lead the pack in other areas, specifically color volume and peak brightness. The R95H is a brute-force demonstration of engineering prowess, a statement piece that screams technological dominance. While very few people will ever own this specific model, the underlying Micro RGB technology is the real takeaway. We will see this tech trickle down to more mainstream sizes like 55, 65, and 75-inch models in the near future, which means the advancements in color purity we see here will eventually land in living rooms that don’t require a special permit for delivery.

It is an absurdly beautiful, and almost certainly astronomically expensive piece of hardware. And that is precisely what makes it so fascinating. It pushes back against the trend of electronics trying to be invisible and instead makes the television a focal point of design and conversation. It’s a beautiful object that forces us to reconsider how a screen can interact with a physical space, moving it from an appliance to a piece of deliberate, functional art, sort of like the Serif TV, but on a much grander scale.

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LEGO Just Released a 3-in-1 Space Telescope That Also Turns Into a Microscope and a UFO

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LEGO’s newest Creator release proves that big ideas come in compact packages. The Space Exploration Telescope (set 31378) landed on shelves January 1, 2026, with 278 pieces that transform into three completely different models: a fully adjustable telescope with spinning planets, a working microscope, or a posable UFO. At $34.99, this set sits comfortably in impulse-buy territory while delivering the kind of replay value that keeps kids engaged long after the initial build.

What makes this set particularly clever is how it uses a single light brick across all three models. The telescope projects celestial images onto walls, the microscope illuminates specimens, and the UFO beams light from its underside. Three decorated lenses featuring a planet, star, and Moon add educational depth that goes beyond typical building sets. For parents seeking STEM toys that actually encourage experimentation rather than collecting dust on a shelf, this Creator set deserves serious consideration.

Designer: LEGO

That primary telescope build is surprisingly robust for being one of three options. Standing over 10.5 inches (27 cm) tall, it has a decent presence, and the tripod design is stable enough for actual play. The accompanying solar system, with its seven spinning planets, is a fantastic kinetic detail that adds life to the model. The projection feature is the real engineering win here. It takes what would be a static display piece and gives it an interactive purpose that cleverly mimics what a real telescope does: show you images of space. It’s a smart, elegant solution for a toy.

When you get tired of stargazing, the rebuild into a microscope shows the true genius of the part selection. The core housing for the light brick and lens assembly gets flipped vertically, and what was once a projection system becomes an illumination source. The same decorated lenses that projected planets now serve as makeshift slides, which is a brilliant way to teach kids about functional design and repurposing components. It’s a solid B-model that feels complete and intentional, demonstrating how form follows function with just a few clever reconfigurations of the same 278 bricks.

The final build, a UFO, is the set’s playful wild card. It shifts the entire theme from educational STEM hardware to pure science fiction. The designers did a great job creating a classic saucer shape with posable antennae and legs that flip out for landing. Here, the light brick serves as a simple beam underneath the craft, perfect for imaginative scenarios. This C-model provides an essential creative outlet, proving the set’s versatility extends beyond scientific instruments. It’s the build that lets kids take the parts and just have fun, which is arguably the most important function of any LEGO set.

The set is available now through LEGO’s official website, Target, and authorized LEGO retailers for $34.99. Batteries for the light brick come included, which saves you a trip to the store or the inevitable disappointment of discovering you need them mid-build. The recommended age is 8 and up, though younger kids with building experience could handle it with minimal supervision. Digital instructions are accessible through the free LEGO Builder app, which lets you zoom, rotate, and track build progress on your phone or tablet. LEGO’s website currently shows a 60-day shipping window, so if you’re ordering online, factor that into your timeline.

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LG Collaborated with Museum Curators to Bring the Gallery TV to CES 2026

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Museum curators don’t typically collaborate with television manufacturers, but LG Electronics recruited them specifically to develop the Gallery Mode for its new Gallery TV launching at CES 2026. This specialized display mode optimizes color accuracy, brightness levels, and glare reduction to reproduce the visual texture of original artworks with exhibition-quality fidelity. The screen automatically adjusts to changing ambient light throughout the day, maintaining clarity whether morning sun floods the room or evening darkness sets in.

LG’s approach combines the Alpha 7 AI Processor with MiniLED display technology to deliver 4K resolution suitable for both traditional television content and fine art reproduction. The audio system features AI Sound Pro with Virtual 9.1.2ch capability for immersive surround sound simulation. Customizable magnetic frames attach to the slim, flush-mount design, with one frame type included and additional options sold separately. The Gallery+ service provides access to over 4,500 pieces of content spanning fine art, cinematic scenes, game visuals, and animations, though the full library requires a monthly subscription while a free light version offers limited access.

Designer: LG

Here’s the thing that Samsung probably saw coming from a mile away. LG finally decided the art TV market is worth serious attention, which means the category has officially graduated from novelty to legitimate product segment. The Frame has been sitting pretty much unchallenged for years while TCL and Hisense tossed their hats in the ring, but LG entering changes the competitive dynamics entirely. They’ve got distribution channels, brand recognition, and display technology chops that make this a credible threat rather than an unassuming Frame competitor.

The MiniLED implementation with the Alpha 7 processor tells you LG is positioning this above budget competitors. They’re using actual processing power to handle the museum-curated Gallery Mode instead of just slapping a matte filter on a standard panel and calling it art-ready. The anti-glare treatment combined with automatic ambient light adjustment means the TV actively works to maintain image quality as your living room lighting shifts from breakfast through sunset. That’s the kind of engineering detail that separates premium products from cheap imitations trying to ride a trend.

What I find genuinely interesting is the content library breadth beyond traditional fine art. Including cinematic scenes, game visuals, and animations alongside classical paintings suggests LG understands their actual customer base better than the “sophisticated gallery atmosphere” marketing copy implies. People buying these TVs want options that match their personality, whether that’s Monet or concept art from their favorite video game. The generative AI image creation and personal photo display features push this further into customization territory, which makes sense given how much interior design flexibility drives purchases in this category.

The subscription model will be the real conversation starter though. LG offers a free light version but gates the full 4,500-piece library behind a monthly webOS Pay subscription. No pricing details yet, but this fundamentally changes the value equation. You’re buying the hardware and then paying ongoing fees for content access, which works great for LG’s recurring revenue goals but might frustrate consumers expecting a one-time purchase. Samsung doesn’t charge monthly fees for art content on the Frame, so LG is betting their library quality and refresh rate justify the subscription model. We’ll see if consumers agree when the real pricing drops at CES next week.

The post LG Collaborated with Museum Curators to Bring the Gallery TV to CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Upcoming iPhone Fold feels like a response to Peer Pressure, not Innovation

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Image Credits: Techtics

I could be wrong, and I hope to be… but the iPhone Fold seems to be gathering interest but not for the right reasons. Everyone loves innovation – not everyone adopts it. We saw how the Vision Pro absolutely caused a tsunami online before subsiding into the tiny ripple it now is. For what it’s worth, the iPhone Fold feels like déjà vu. Impressive tech that Apple took years to perfect, launched to much fanfare, but without a true reason or ecosystem to actually boost user adoption. The Vision Pro is cool, but even after 3 years, nobody really NEEDS it.

We all knew the iPhone Air was going to just be a stepping stone towards something greater – but the iPhone Air’s sales prove one thing – nobody needed a slim phone, so nobody ended up buying one. Samsung’s been making foldables for the better part of a decade, and I still don’t see people overwhelmingly choosing them over regular candybar phones, so my question is simple. What exactly can Apple do to make their iPhone Fold measurably better? And more importantly, does “Measurably Better” actually translate to sales? Or is this a response to peer pressure without really innovating in a direction that users want?

Joining a Party After the Music Has Faded

The context for Apple’s entry is a market that has already chosen a winner, and it is the conventional smartphone. For all the engineering hours poured into hinges and flexible glass by Samsung, Google, and others, the foldable category remains a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. Global foldable shipments are expected to hover around 20 million units in 2025, with Samsung commanding nearly two-thirds of that volume. This sounds impressive until you place it next to the more than one billion smartphones shipped annually. Foldables are a niche, a high-priced experiment that has had years to capture the public’s imagination and has largely failed to do so. Apple is not just late to this party; it is showing up after the keg is tapped and most of the guests have gone home.

This sets up a strange dynamic. Apple’s usual playbook involves letting a market mature, identifying its core flaws, and then releasing a product so polished and user-focused that it redefines the category. With the iPhone Fold, the company appears to be entering a segment that is not just mature but also stagnant, with little evidence of pent-up consumer demand. The consensus timeline points to a 2026 launch, positioning the device as a hyper-premium “Ultra” or “Fold” model within the iPhone 18 lineup. This framing alone suggests a halo product, something to be admired from afar, rather than the next revolutionary device for the masses. It feels less like a strategic strike and more like an obligation.

Image Credits: Techtics

An Obsession with Perfecting the Crease

The rumored hardware details paint a picture of a device engineered to within an inch of its life. Reports converge on a book-style foldable with a 7.7 to 7.8-inch inner display and a smaller 5.5-inch screen on the outside. The central obsession seems to be the crease, that subtle valley that plagues every other foldable. Apple is reportedly holding out for a near-invisible fold, leaning on a next-generation ultra-thin glass solution from Samsung Display and a complex internal hinge with metal plates to manage stress. The device is also expected to be incredibly thin, perhaps just 4.5 millimeters when open and around 9.6 millimeters when closed, which would make it one of the most slender mobile devices ever made.

These are impressive technical feats, to be sure. A phone that unfolds into a small tablet without a distracting crease is a laudable goal. But it also speaks to a focus on solving problems that only engineers and tech reviewers seem to lose sleep over. To achieve this thinness, compromises are already surfacing, such as the rumored omission of Face ID in favor of a Touch ID sensor on the power button. This is the kind of trade-off that indicates Apple is prioritizing the physical object itself, its thinness and aesthetic perfection, over the established user experience. It is a device built to win spec-sheet comparisons and design awards, while its practical value for the average user remains an open question.

Image Credits: Techtics

A Playbook Written by a Rival

Perhaps the most telling detail in this whole saga is Apple’s reported reliance on its chief rival. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and others have indicated that Apple will adopt Samsung Display’s “crease-free display solution” instead of a fully homegrown technology stack. This is a significant departure for a company that prides itself on vertical integration and owning the core technologies that define its products. From custom silicon to camera sensors, Apple’s advantage has always been its ability to design the whole widget. By turning to Samsung for the most critical and defining component of its first foldable, Apple is tacitly admitting that it is playing catch-up in a game whose rules were written by someone else.

This move fundamentally supports the “peer pressure” thesis. It suggests that the urgency to have a foldable in the lineup has overridden the traditional, patient Apple R&D cycle. The company is effectively outsourcing the hardest part of the problem to the very competitor that has defined the category for years. While Apple has been filing patents related to flexible displays since 2014, the decision to launch with a rival’s core technology feels reactionary. It is a move made to fill a perceived gap in its portfolio, ensuring that Samsung does not get to claim the “most futuristic” phone on the market without a fight.

Image Credits: Techtics

The Ghost of the Vision Pro

This entire narrative feels eerily familiar. Just a few years ago, Apple launched the Vision Pro, a product of breathtaking technical achievement that answered a question few people were asking. It was, and is, a marvel of engineering that commands a price tag to match, and its sustained adoption has been modest at best. The iPhone Fold appears to be tracking along the same trajectory: years of secretive development, a focus on solving incredibly difficult hardware challenges, and a final product that will likely be priced into the stratosphere. Leaks suggest a starting price between $1,800 and $2,300, placing it well above even the most expensive iPhone Pro Max.

This pricing strategy pre-selects its audience, limiting it to die-hard enthusiasts and those for whom price is no object. Just like the Vision Pro, the iPhone Fold risks becoming a solution in search of a problem. A crease-free display is a better display, but is it $2,000 better? A thinner phone is nice to hold, but does it fundamentally change what you can do with it? The Vision Pro proved that technical excellence alone does not create a market. Without a compelling, everyday use case that justifies its cost and complexity, the iPhone Fold could easily become another beautiful, expensive piece of technology that is more admired than it is used.

Image Credits: Techtics

A New Class of Halo Product

Ultimately, the iPhone Fold is shaping up to be less of a mainstream product and more of a statement piece. It is Apple’s answer to a question posed by its competitors, a way to plant its flag at the absolute peak of the smartphone market. The goal may not be to sell tens of millions of units in the first year, though some bullish forecasts suggest shipments could reach 13-15 million. It is about defending the brand’s reputation for innovation and ensuring that the title of “most advanced smartphone” does not belong exclusively to an Android device. It is a halo product in the truest sense, designed to make the rest of the iPhone lineup look good by comparison.

The real innovation users crave might be more mundane: longer battery life, more durable screens, and more accessible pricing. The iPhone Fold, with its focus on mechanical novelty and aesthetic perfection, does not seem to address these core desires. Instead, it doubles down on the very trends that have made high-end phones feel increasingly out of reach for many. It is a beautiful, exquisitely engineered response to industry pressure, a device that perfects the foldable form factor. Whether it perfects it for a world that actually wants it remains to be seen.

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Cyclone RA1000 vs Ducati Diavel: How Close Does China’s 996cc V‑Twin Really Get

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Access to Aprilia’s engine tech gave Cyclone a shortcut most emerging manufacturers would kill for. The RA1000’s 996 cc V-twin starts from the Aprilia Shiver 900 architecture, then gets a bigger 97 mm bore and a 12:1 compression ratio, landing at 105 hp at 9,000 rpm and 70 lb ft at 6,500 rpm. That is a very solid middleweight performance envelope hiding inside something that looks like a full fat power cruiser. Instead of spending a decade learning how to build a reliable big twin, Zongshen leans on its joint venture with Piaggio and fast forwards straight to a mature engine platform. It is a very modern kind of cheating, and frankly, a very smart one.

The bodywork tells a slightly louder story. The Cyclone RA1000 walks into the room wearing what is essentially a Ducati Diavel cosplay outfit, right down to the stubby tail, 240 section rear tire, and stacked side exhausts that visually anchor the whole rear half of the bike. You get a single sided swingarm, a low, muscular stance, and proportions that scream Italian power cruiser at a glance. There is no subtlety here. If you have ever seen a Diavel, your brain fills in the blanks instantly. The difference is that this silhouette is now being mass produced in China, powered by an Aprilia derived V-twin, and priced to hurt feelings in European boardrooms.

Designer: Cyclone

Look closer and the parts bin tells its own little international story. Brakes are from J.Juan in Spain, a known quantity with decent performance credentials. The engine lineage traces back to Noale via the Shiver, with Cyclone tweaking bore and compression to squeeze out that 105 hp figure. Electronics live on a 6 inch TFT display, backed by full LED lighting and modern switchgear that would not look out of place on a European naked. The frame and swingarm package are clearly engineered to visually showcase that enormous 240 section rear tire, which is the whole point of a bike like this. Subtlety is for commuters. This thing exists to make parking lots feel like a catwalk.

When Cyclone showed the RA9 concept back in 2021, a near 1000 cc Chinese V twin with premium styling felt like a big statement. Fast forward four years and the home market has moved the goalposts into another stadium. QJMotor is selling 900 plus cc fours with MV Agusta roots. CFMoto is prepping a 210 hp V4 superbike. Souo is out there building a 2000 cc flat eight like that is a normal thing to do. In that arms race, the RA1000 looks positively restrained. Which, if you care about actually riding your motorcycle instead of bench racing spec sheets, is not a bad place to land.

On the road, that 105 hp number tells you exactly what to expect. This is not a bike built to chase Panigales up a mountain pass. It is built to hammer out fast, satisfying acceleration from midrange torque, lean over enough to keep you entertained, and look outrageous parked outside a café. The 240 section rear tire is more about theater than lap times. The single sided swingarm is pure poster material. The ergonomics and geometry sit in that sweet spot between power cruiser and naked, closer to Diavel than Shiver in attitude. You buy this because you like the way it looks and you want an engine with proven manners.

The more interesting question is philosophical. At what point does a Chinese brand using licensed European tech and very familiar styling cues stop being an “imitator” and just become part of the same global design conversation. Cyclone is not reverse engineering an engine here, it is building a licensed evolution of one. It is not making a budget commuter with vague Diavel vibes, it is going all in on the silhouette and backing it with credible hardware. You can absolutely argue about originality, but you cannot argue that this is a throwaway product. The RA1000 is a sign that the game has changed. The question now is whether riders are ready to let go of old assumptions and judge it on what it does, not where it comes from.

The post Cyclone RA1000 vs Ducati Diavel: How Close Does China’s 996cc V‑Twin Really Get first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Upside-Down Boat Blocking a Mountain Trail Is Actually An Architecture Award-Winning Chapel

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Picture yourself hiking through the Italian mountains and suddenly there’s a wooden boat blocking the trail. Except it’s upside down. And it’s not actually a boat. This is La Barca, a timber pavilion that just won the 2025 Festival di Microarchitettura, and it’s one of those projects that works because it commits fully to a single odd idea.

Marina Poli, Clément Molinier, and Philippe Paumelle designed it for a trail in Piobbico, and the whole thing sits there like a beached hull that wandered way too far upstream. You can walk around it, sure, but there’s this narrow gap slicing through the middle that basically dares you to squeeze through. Once you’re inside, you get the full boat experience: curved timber ribs overhead, a proper keel running down the center organizing the floor planks, daylight pouring in from the open top. It’s using actual boat construction language, not just boat-ish shapes.

Designers: Marina Poli, Clément Molinier & Philippe Paumelle.

The sandwich-structure ribs are cut from regular boards, which keeps the whole thing light enough to be temporary but sturdy enough to handle weather and people climbing on it. Because let’s be honest, people are absolutely climbing on it. Six porticoes break up the interior corridor, the plank walls curve into proper half-hulls at each end, and they dropped four local stones inside as ballast. Another stone anchors the bow. These aren’t decorative choices, they’re the structural and conceptual glue holding the nautical metaphor together.

What’s interesting is how this thing refuses to be just one thing. Some people see a chapel for quiet contemplation. Others treat it like playground equipment. A few probably Instagram it as abstract sculpture and move on. The architects knew this would happen and designed for it. Instead of forcing a single reading, they built something slippery enough to mean different things depending on who’s looking.

We’ve seen a lot of temporary pavilions lately (especially at the Osaka Expo) that lean hard on parametric design or CNC fabrication to justify their existence. La Barca goes the opposite direction with traditional joinery and basic lumber, but it lands harder because the concept is so committed. An upturned boat. In the mountains. Blocking a hiking path. It’s absurd enough to stop you in your tracks, familiar enough to feel approachable, and strange enough that you’re still thinking about it three switchbacks later.

The real test for these festival installations is whether they earn the disruption they cause to the landscape. Most don’t. They show up, people take photos for a season, then they’re dismantled and forgotten. La Barca might actually stick around in memory because it understood something crucial: sometimes the best move is to drop something obviously wrong in exactly the right spot and let the tension do the work.

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