On The Vergecast: the future of James Bond, high-end AI devices, and low-cost phones.
On the one hand, the new iPhone from Apple is a major win. For hundreds of dollars less than you would normally pay for a brand-new smartphone, the iPhone 16E has almost everything you could possibly want in a smartphone: a good camera, a current chipset, and a stylish design. However, the fact that this thing exists at all is a little strange. MagSafe and multiple cameras are two of the best features of the iPhone ecosystem that are absent, and if you’re already spending $600 on a phone, it’s not obvious that an additional $200 is a big concern. What is the purpose of the 16E, then? And for whom?
On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and figure it out. With Nilay on vacation, David is joined by The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Allison Johnson to go through all the ins and outs of Apple’s latest smartphone. We talk about the trades Apple made to bring the price down, the ones it maybe should have made instead, and just how big a deal the new C1 modem might turn out to be.
The other gadget news of the week is then discussed by the three co-hosts. The Oppo Find N5 is a beautiful foldable smartphone that none of us will ever get, but we still adore it. We give the Humane AI Pin, the potential smartphone replacement that is currently a paperweight, a round one. We also question whether the other terrible AI device, the Rabbit R1, is gradually evolving into something more interesting.
Last but not least, in the lightning round — divided into two lightning rounds, double lightning round! — Jake and David discuss the demise of Amazon Chime, the new AI regulations from the New York Times, Microsoft’s most recent quantum innovation, James Bond’s upcoming developments, and the most recent developments in Spotify’s quixotic journey toward high-fidelity streaming. Lauren Feiner then joins to walk us through the week in Trump and DOGE, discussing the most recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s recent forays into the federal government, and potential future developments.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the iPhone 16E:
- Apple launches the iPhone 16E
- How the new iPhone 16E compares to the rest of Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup
- 8 important things to know about the iPhone 16E
- Verge staffers react to the iPhone 16E: what we love and don’t love
- The iPhone is done with home buttons — here’s why I’ll miss it
- Apple no longer sells new iPhones with Lightning ports
- Apple’s first in-house iPhone modem is the C1
ICYMT: Immigration intercepts truck with 1,115 gallons of smuggled cocoa beans
And in other gadget news:
- Oppo Find N5 review: the final evolution of foldables
- The world’s thinnest foldable phone doesn’t come cheap
- Humane is shutting down the AI Pin and selling its remnants to HP
- The Humane AI Pin never had a chance
- Rabbit shows off the AI agent it should have launched with
- Amazon’s revamped Alexa might launch over a month after its announcement event
And in the lightning round:
- Microsoft announces quantum computing breakthrough with Majorana 1 chip
- A death knell for Chime
- Mira Murati launches rival to OpenAI called Thinking Machines Lab
- The New York Times adopts AI tools in the newsroom
- Amazon now has creative control over the James Bond franchise
- Spotify’s HiFi streaming could finally arrive this year
- Treasury inspector general will investigate DOGE payments access
- Trump threatens 25 percent ‘and higher’ tariff on chips.
- Trump issues an executive order claiming more oversight of independent agencies like the FTC and FCC.
- DOGE’s alleged cost-cutting achievements included a few extra zeroes.
- DOGE can keep accessing government data for now, judge rules
SOURCE: THE VERGE
