My favorite smartphone is the iPhone—I know, big surprise, right?—but I pay attention to what is going on in the Android world because sometimes it gives you a peek of what is coming to the iPhone in the future. With all of the variety in the Android world, lots of crazy designs are tried, and some of them make sense. When the first folding smartphones came to Android years ago, they got dismal reviews. But they improved over time. Today, Samsung is releasing the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and the early reviews are quite good. As Prakhar Khanna of ZDnet explains, when this device is folded, it is similar in size to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. When you unfold it, you get a big display. Khanna says that “Samsung improved the weakest links of its book-style foldable with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and the result is a near-perfect phone,” albeit an expensive one with a starting price of $2,000. The idea of an iPhone that can unfold into something close to the size of an iPad mini is intriguing. And since Apple purchases iPhone displays from Samsung, it is easy to imagine that Apple has been waiting for years for Samsung to improve folding screen technology, and now that we appear to have gotten there, Apple might be ready to use it. Indeed, there have been rumors floating around for quite a while that Apple is releasing a very thin version of the iPhone later this year as a precursor to a thin-and-foldable version of the iPhone to be released in 2026. Today’s release of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 makes me think that there is a real chance that a similar, better version is coming from Apple. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- If a foldable smartphone from Apple would be like a union of the iPhone and the iPad mini, what would happen if you combined the iPad mini with a HomePod? There are rumors that Apple is working on a HomePod with a display that you could place in a living room to not only play music but also show information such as photos, the weather, a calendar, etc. Juli Clover of MacRumors notes that in the beta software for iOS 26, there is a setting that has something to do with locations that uses the text: “Your HomePod won’t be able to show you the local weather, time, or respond to Siri requests about your area.” Note the use of the word “show”—not a word that you would associate with any currently shipping HomePods.
- Yesterday, Apple released the public betas of its Fall operating system releases. If you want a peek into the future and you don’t mind the occasional crashes and worse battery life that often comes with beta software, you can now check it out. Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors wrote some great first looks. Discussing iOS 26, Moren notes Liquid Glass, the new Lock Screen, the simplified Camera app interface, the improved Phone app, and more.
- Discussing iPadOS 26, Snell says it is “one of the biggest updates in iPad history.” He addresses Liquid Glass, new approaches to windowing and multitasking, the Menu Bar, the end of the iPad’s impressive pointer (and an explanation of why that makes sense in iPadOS 26), the new Preview app, and more.
- Discussing watchOS 26, the big features noted by Moren are the new Workout app, the synthesized voices used by Workout Buddy to give you feedback on your current workout, improvements to Smart Stack widgets, the ability to see Notes (and even check off checklist items, which I will likely use with my simple grocery lists), and the wrist flick gesture.
- Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac discusses the features in the tvOS 26 public beta.
- I knew that the Messages app in the upcoming iOS 26 would help protect against phishing scams by filtering certain messages into “Unknown Senders” and “Spam” folders, and that makes a lot of sense to me. Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac notes that there are also additional protections. First, items in those folders won’t trigger notifications. Second, if a text is in the Spam folder, links are disabled so you cannot accidentally go to a malicious website or make a phone call by accidentally tapping a link. Third, you cannot reply to a message in the Spam folder, making it harder to respond to a bad guy. (You need to move the message back into the main Messages view to engage with the sender.
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors notes that a CarPlay feature coming to iOS 26 is the ability to stream videos to a CarPlay screen using AirPlay. This only works when parked. I suppose if you are eating lunch in your car or waiting at a charging station while your electric vehicle charges, you can also binge-watch TV shows.
- I always enjoy reading about attorneys making good use of their Apple technology. A post on the Lit Software blog explains how Bobby Truitt, an attorney in Covington, Louisiana, has been using TrialPad on his iPad for over a decade to try cases.
- Andrew Orr of AppleInsider notes that if you have a current AppleCare+ plan and you switch to the new AppleCare One (which I described yesterday), Apple will refund any remaining balance on your previous plan as an Apple Gift Card.
- Shows on Apple TV+ have been nominated for and won Emmys in the past. But Joe Reid of Vulture says that Apple appears to be in a special place this year, with a real chance of winning awards for both best drama (Severance) and best comedy (The Studio), something that is apparently pretty rare. Reid notes that HBO did it in 2017 with Veep and Game of Thrones, and NBC did it in 2002 with Friends and The West Wing.
- Another Emmy-winning Apple TV+ show, Ted Lasso, has started filming its fourth season. This time, for at least part of the filming, the actors are not in London but instead in Kansas City. Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a picture of stars Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, and Juno Temple seemingly dressed in character and seated around a table at a BBQ restaurant. In previous seasons, it was funny seeing Ted Lasso puzzle over the traditions in England; perhaps next season, we will see Rebecca, Keeley, and Leslie Higgins looking like fish out of water in Kansas City.
- If you missed your chance to see Apple’s F1 movie in an IMAX theater—my son and I saw it, and we loved it—Jill Goldsmith of Deadline reports that F1 will come back to IMAX screens on August 8.
- And finally, here is a link to a video that is …. well, I’m not exactly sure what it is. But it could be something quite good. As Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac notes, today at 2:59pm Eastern, Apple will reveal some details on a new show coming to Apple TV+ from Vince Gilligan (creator of Breaking Bad) starring Rhea Seehorn (from Better Call Saul). The reveal will be made in a video streaming on YouTube. Three years ago, Nellie Andreeva of Deadline reported that Apple was impressed enough with the promise of this show to order two seasons of it. It appears that the name of the show is Happiness is Contagious. [UPDATE: The actual name of the show is Pluribus, and it is a new sci-fi series. It premieres on November 7 and will run through December 26. That could mean eight episodes, or it could mean that the first three episodes drop on November 7 and the rest come weekly after that. The star will be Seehorn, and in addition, Rosy Cordero of Deadline reports that the actors include Karolina Wydra (Sneaky Pete), Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Donde Tú Quieras), Miriam Shor (American Fiction), and Samba Schutte (Our Flag Means Death).]
(video subsequently removed)