9to5Google Weekender

There are a few trends that have shown up on Pixel phones over the years, but one of the most frustrating is that Google keeps launching half-baked features on its devices that take way too long to reach their potential, just to be taken away afterwards. “HiLight” is the worst example of that to date.

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We’re just a few days out from the launch of Google’s Pixel 11 series and, at this point, it’s all out there. And, yeah, it’s shaping up to be a pretty boring year, and that’s got me thinking about what I want from next year’s Pixel 12 series.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

There was a bit of an undertone present in Samsung’s latest Unpacked keynote. Not one of progress or triumph, but what felt a bit like fear. After seven years, the foldable market is about to enter uncharted territory and, frankly, I’m not sure Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 series will be able to hold its ground.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

OnePlus is dead – actually for real this time. It’s got me looking back on my experiences with the brand’s smartphones, the absolute roller coaster that it was, and how OnePlus briefly sparked joy in a way that no one else way, resulting in two of my favorite Android phones of all time. And dang it, I’m a little sad now.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

Like everything else in the tech industry, Google’s Pixel 11 series appears to be getting a price hike, but there are a few factors that make this one a bit harder to accept.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

The next generation of Google’s smart home era has arrived, with the Google Home Speaker having set the stage. With an inevitable “Google Home Display” likely in the pipeline, what does that look like?

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

Perhaps the most visible impact of the AI industry right now is that consumer electronics are getting more expensive. Price hikes are happening left and right and, while smartphones have been mostly spared so far, that no longer feels sustainable, and you can blame AI for it.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

The Google Home Speaker finally has a release date and, with it, Google has also ended its long-running and mega-hit Nest Mini speaker. It leaves the lineup in a weird place, as Google has a product that doesn’t replace anything it had before, and might not be everyone’s cup of tea either.

9to5Google Weekender by Ben Schoon is a part of our free newsletter that also includes ‘Inbox,’ a twice-weekly roundup of key stories from around the web by Daniel Bader. Sign up here to get Weekender delivered to your inbox every Sunday along with ‘Inbox’ on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find past issues here.

There are actual reasons to get excited about Samsung’s upcoming foldables but, the more I think about it, the more I’m realizing that there’s pretty strong potential for the “Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra” to not just be disappointing, but a slightly cruel joke.

Further reflecting on Google’s practical focus for Gemini and AI in general at I/O 2026 last week, I still find myself struggling to find ways to actually make this technology useful in ways that actually matter. So, what are you doing with Gemini?

AI continues to give me mixed feelings about the future, and that’s top of mind following another Gemini-heavy Google I/O this past week. On the one hand, Google continues to show some of the most practical and useful ideas for AI, but until I can trust it, I struggle to actually get excited about it.

We’ve been hearing about Google’s behind-the-scenes work to move its laptop efforts over to Android, but now that we’ve seen “Googlebook,” I’m not really sure I’m sold yet. Honestly, I don’t think Google has shown any reason for these laptops to exist at all.

Alongside its new Fitbit Air, Google this week announced that the Fitbit app is dead, to be replaced by “Google Health.” If you’d told me this would happen a few months ago, I’d be worried, but the end result actually seems like an overall win for everyone involved. Let’s take a closer look.

You can’t go anywhere on the internet today without running into AI. In some cases, that’s useful. AI can do some amazing things. On the other hand, it often feels like we’re watching someone reinvent the wheel. Now, word on the street is that OpenAI wants to build its own phone with an experience built around AI agents. Put simply, I think that sounds horrible.

We reported earlier this week that Google is working on a laptop revival, as well as new “Pixel Glow” lights that would be coming to phones. But, what do you want that to do?

YouTube confirmed this week that Premium prices are going up for the first time in around three years and, unlike every other streaming service, this is one price hike I’m more than willing to accept.

Foldables have matured a lot since their debut less than a decade ago, and following last year’s big leap with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, there’s now a new king in the Oppo Find N6, but I’m not sure the market will follow this lead fast enough.

OnePlus is dead – probably. We’re hearing that OnePlus is shutting down much of its global operation imminently and, while it hasn’t happened just yet, it’s got us thinking about OnePlus’ presence in the US and how, sadly, its departure won’t really matter.

Sideloading has been a key part of Android since the beginning, not only delivering a lot of flexibility to Android, but also a sense of openness and freedom. After Google announced it would make major changes to sideloading, the community (somewhat understandably) panicked, but as Google has now shown exactly how its new sideloading flow on Android will work, I’m not only happy to see that sideloading isn’t going away at all, but that Google’s compromise is as close to perfect as I think we can reasonably get.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn’t have the best battery, nor does it have the fastest charging, but a recent experience reminded me that faster charging isn’t useful if you can’t easily use it.

Smartphone cases are something we all use, but I don’t get why Samsung and Google keep making the same annoying mistake when it comes to their first-party Galaxy and Pixel cases.