[Hardware Weekly] Google finally built your MacBook rival
Apple just made its quietest hardware announcement of the year sound like its biggest, and Google finally built the laptop your Android phone has been waiting six years for. Three very different bets on what a computer should be this week, and they land within days of each other.
The Big 3
Google's Gemini laptops start at 899 dollars, and they need your Android phone
Googlebook goes on sale October 4 in the US (a day later in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia), with five launch partners: Acer at the 899 dollar floor, Dell's XPS Googlebook from 1,199 dollars, and HP, Lenovo and Asus from 1,299 dollars. Every model needs at least 16GB of RAM and an NPU, with chips from Intel, AMD or Qualcomm. The pitch is Magic Pointer (wiggle your cursor, get a Gemini read of whatever is underneath) and Rambler (turns rambling speech into structured notes), plus a bundled year of Google AI Pro worth several hundred dollars on its own.
Why it matters: this is Google finally closing the ecosystem gap Apple has held since the M1 MacBook Air, and five OEMs signing on for a hard launch date says they believe it this time.
Apple's new Mac Studio tops out at 512GB of memory, and 5,499 dollars
The M5 Max (from 2,499 dollars) and M5 Ultra (from 5,499 dollars) Mac Studio became available today. M5 Ultra scales to a 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU and 512GB of unified memory, the first Ultra chip with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core, which Apple claims delivers up to 4.3x the peak AI compute of the M3 Ultra.
Why it matters: 512GB of fast unified memory puts local AI models that would otherwise need a GPU rack within reach of a machine that plugs into a wall socket. If you are not already sure you need that, you do not need this computer.
Apple's first folding iPhone costs 1,999 dollars, and pre-orders start October 16
The iPhone Duo ships October 23, five weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. Pricing runs 1,999 to 3,199 dollars for a titanium book-style hinge, a 5.4-inch outer OLED and a 7.6 to 7.8-inch inner OLED. It drops Face ID for a side-mounted Touch ID sensor, the first fingerprint-first iPhone since the SE, almost certainly a hinge-engineering compromise rather than a design choice.
Why it matters: a 1,999 dollar starting price confirms Apple is not chasing mainstream foldable buyers yet. This is a halo device for people who already own everything else Apple makes.
Quick Hits
Oppo Watch S2 launches today, chasing a slimmer, lighter everyday fitness and health tracker rather than a smartwatch flagship fight.
Xiaomi is shrinking the Watch S5 to a 41mm case for late September, promising up to 14 days of battery life in the smaller body.
ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20 firms up ahead of its 15 October launch, now confirmed with a 7.4-inch Nebula HDR OLED display, drift-resistant TMR joysticks and a transforming D-pad.
Blaze Entertainment's Evercade Nexus brings 32-bit and 64-bit era retro gaming to a 5.89-inch handheld with twin analogue sticks, aimed squarely at the Banjo-Kazooie generation.
Pick of the Week
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7
If the iPhone Duo's 1,999 dollar starting price and five-week wait put you off, Samsung's current-generation Fold7 is the foldable you can actually buy right now, with a proven hinge and a mature software experience Apple is still years from matching.
Who it's for: anyone sold on the foldable format who does not want to wait until late October, or pay Apple's halo-device pricing, to get one. Who should skip it: anyone happy with a regular flagship, since folding phones still carry a crease and a battery-life compromise.
512GB, 12GB RAM, Blue Shadow (UK version). Check price on Amazon
Worth Waiting For
ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20
Launching 15 October, this is the clearest sign yet that Microsoft and ASUS are serious about competing with Steam Deck at the premium end. The larger 7.4-inch OLED and drift-resistant joysticks address the two most common handheld complaints. What we know: display, joystick and D-pad specs are confirmed. What is still open: final pricing and exact stock levels at launch.
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Happy building. Nath, Future Technology
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