Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Apple debuted its long-awaited foldable iPhone Duo, concerns over the risks of frontier AI intensified and Qualcomm sealed a custom silicon deal with Amazon.
Apple debuts long-awaited foldable iPhone Duo
What happened: Apple made its long-anticipated foldable debut with the iPhone Duo and unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, marking new CEO John Ternus’ first annual product launch.
Why it matters: Ternus stated the device it has the “largest display ever on an iPhone, while still fitting easily in your pocket”, adding it “feels as natural and intuitive as iPad”. The device, which features a 7.6-inch internal display that is 50% larger than the size of the iPhone 18 Pro Max, starts at $1,999 for 256GB. VP of devices at IDC Francisco Jeronimo said that for Ternus, the “real test” will be whether Apple can “make foldables a more valuable category, own the defining premium product and use that position to extend the economic power of the iPhone portfolio”.
Paolo Pescatore, chief analyst at PP Foresight, said he expects the Duo “to be an instant hit, benefiting the wider market and developer community while putting rivals firmly on notice”. Indeed, IDC forecasted Apple will ship around 10 million iPhone Duo units in its first 12 months and generate $27 billion in revenue. Additionally, Jeronimo noted that although the handset is Apple’s “most expensive iPhone ever”, it is around $500 below market expectations. “Apple entered the foldable market and, in one keynote, set the price and the standard every rival will now be measured against,” he said. China will be its first key test as Huawei captured 79.4% of the country’s foldable units in Q2. Yet, Jeronimo argued Apple has given buyers “their first genuinely compelling reason to reconsider.”
Anthropic researcher issues grave AI warning
What happened: Evan Hubinger, who manages Anthropic’s AI Alignment Stress-Testing team, warned in a post on social media platform X there is more than a 10% chance that increasingly capable, self-improving AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade, raising alarm over the pace of frontier AI development.
Why it matters: Hubinger said the risk from existing models remained “low” but pointed to “recursive self-improvement” as a route to dangerous “superintelligence”. He said Anthropic did not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and was “not clearly on track to”. His comments followed the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who accused Anthropic and OpenAI of “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta all disclosed unprecedented incidents in recent months involving AI models autonomously executing cyberattacks. Anthropic’s August risk report stated advanced models could eventually “catastrophic harm”.
Iwo Szapar, director of AI innovation and venture building at Information Services Group said the resignation of researchers close to the AI race should prompt action. “Maybe he is wrong about the probability. Maybe he is not. But a handful of private companies, competing to ship first, should not get to decide how much risk the rest of us have to accept,” he argued. “I want the rules,” he added, calling for measures including independent safety evaluations and shared stop conditions across frontier labs. Meanwhile, Thomas White, analyst at Inner Circle Consulting, said users should consider when it is worth delegating work to “an energy-hungry technology with unknown psychological and existential risks”.
Qualcomm lands custom AI chip deal with Amazon
What happened: Qualcomm struck a long-term agreement with Amazon to develop customised silicon for AI inference infrastructure in Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres.
Why it matters: The agreement covers multiple generations of custom silicon, alongside optical connectivity technology designed to move data between AI processors at speeds of up to 1.6Tb/s. The arrangement is linked to up to $60 billion in potential commercial transactions. Amazon will also receive a warrant to buy up to 25 million Qualcomm shares at $161.26 each, worth about $4 billion if fully exercised. The warrants vest against purchase milestones, linking Amazon’s potential stake to its use of Qualcomm technology.
Counterpoint Research co-founder and VP Neil Shah described Amazon as Qualcomm’s “second major hyperscaler partner”, arguing the warrant creates a “multi-gen demand hook” because Amazon receives more equity only if it scales Qualcomm silicon. He noted the partnership is “a good validation for Qualcomm’s data centre portfolio and roadmap”, following the chipmaker’s target of $15 billion in data centre revenue by FY 2029. More broadly, Michael Ajayi, senior lecturer at Stadio Higher Education, said Nvidia’s dominance is driving “a structural response” amongst hyperscalers, with AI infrastructure likely to become “more heterogeneous” as cloud companies adopt custom accelerators.
The post The Friday File: Apple; AI; Amazon appeared first on Mobile World Live.
Sickness and disability benefits should be made as "easy as possible" to claim as the current system is too "stressful", the long-awaited Government review by Sir Stephen Timms has said.
The post Make Disability Benefits as “Easy as Possible” to Get, Says Labour Review appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
It's already too late for Michael Gove to prevent the "rewilding" of Britain's schools, says Joanna Gray. This Left-wing fantasy of dumbed-down education is already firmly entrenched and working its anti-magic.
The post Sorry Gove, Education Has Already Been Rewilded appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
I've been using UGREEN's Nexode Pro chargers while traveling for well over two years now. These charges don't take up much room thanks to GaN tech, and they have all the ports I need. The latest iteration of the product — the UGREEN Nexode Pro 160W Charger with Retractable Cable — adds a retractable cable, built-in panel, and foldable pins, and while it is a little bigger than its predecessor, it the new features provide much better convenience in daily use.
The Nexode Pro 160W charger is now available for $99 on Amazon, and I think that's a reasonable price when you look at everything on offer. I the Nexode Pro 160W for the better part of three months, and I'm outlining three reasons why it is now my go-to GaN charger.
While the Nexode Pro 160W isn't the only charger to come with a built-in LCD screen, it makes a big difference in my usage. I connected a lot of accessories and phones to the charger in the last three months, and knowing just how long it takes to fully charge these devices takes all the guesswork out of charging.
The screen also shows real-time charging speeds, including wattage, voltage, and which charging protocol is being used. This is particularly useful for me, as I tend to use phones like the Find X9 Ultra and Vivo X300 Ultra that use their own charging standards. Thankfully, these phones rely on USB PD at up to 50W, and that's what I ended up using. The screen rotates based on the orientation of the charger, which is a nice addition.
Retractable cables in charging products became a thing around two years ago, and since then, I didn't use a power bank that didn't have it. They're just so useful, and I'm excited to see brands adding these cables to chargers. The retractable cable on the Nexode Pro 160W goes up to 140W, and is ideal for charging phones, notebooks, and power banks.
The cable has four preset lengths, and goes up to 70cm with a full extension. The USB-C connector has a built-in magnet that ensures the cable is attached to the GaN charger when not in use, and after three months of extensive use, I didn't see any issues with the retractable motor.
With three USB-C ports (including the retractable cable) and a USB-A connector, the Nexode Pro 160W has all the ports I need in daily use. The USB-C1 and retractable ports go up to 140W over the USB PD 3.1 protocol, the USB-C2 port hits 100W, and the USB-A port goes up to 22.5W, which is ideal to use with accessories.
It has a total power budget of 160W when using all three USB-C ports — 65W + 65W + 30W — and it's a decent choice if you're like me and need to charge several devices at once. I also like that the plug is foldable; that's the case with U.S.-style blade plugs anyway, but I'm using the EU model, and it's just easier to have a plug that folds — it makes the Nexode Pro 160W just that little bit better as a travel charger.
Overall, the Nexode Pro 160W has all the features I need in a GaN charger, and the build quality combined with the extras make it a good choice if you need a new charger to use at home or on the road.
The Nexode Pro 160W GaN charger has all the ports you need, goes up to 140W via USB PD 3.1, and the built-in cable adds a lot of convenience. The LCD panel makes it easier to know just how long it takes to charge a connected device, and the overall build quality is among the best. If you need a new 160W GaN charger, this is the one to get.
Volvo designed the 50-ton class EC500 Electric to deliver the same performance as the diesel-powered EC500 the brand’s customers know and love – but saying that is one thing. Proving it? That’s another thing, entirely.
more…A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the 'climate emergency', public health 'crises' and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Insiders at the firm fear tech’s advancement could cause human extinction, while others are calling their declarations of concern a ‘setup’
A day after a former researcher at Anthropic made an apocalyptic declaration about artificial intelligence, more researchers and staff members at the AI startup publicly agreed with him and posted their own dire warnings.
In response, Elon Musk and other conservative figures on X, formerly Twitter, called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”.
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© Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
© Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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