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Android is in a strange place at the moment; it’s arguably stronger than ever, but feels further away from the platform that launched almost 20 years ago. What changed?

Samsung has, for the past five years, been releasing essentially the same phone over and over again: a big screen, the latest Snapdragon chip, an S Pen, a 5,000 mAh battery, and the company’s best* camera setup. It’s undoubtedly attractive, and the formula clearly works. After two weeks with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as much as I might want something more, I also can’t help but really like this phone.

But if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, it’s time for the madness to end.

For all of the praise heaped onto Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 last summer, its clamshell sibling felt a little bit like an afterthought. The company did make some meaningful changes to its hardware, slimming the chassis down by over a millimeter while adding in a larger battery and expanding its cover display to fill the entire panel. While plenty of us have held out hope that this year’s Flip 8 would see the sort of transformation Samsung delivered to its book-style foldable, it’s not sounding too promising so far.

Last month, HDR content on Disney+ was seemingly going away, but the issue has been resolved and Dolby Vision and other formats are being restored.

Google is rolling out the first update to Pixel Camera of 2026, though version 10.3 is a minor release.

The latest Gemini overlay redesign gives you access to more of the prompt box and Tools menu anywhere on Android.

Following Mac and Windows versions, Google Chrome will soon support ARM64 Linux devices.

Gemini has a new trick up its sleeve with agentic task automation, with the AI able to use an app on your behalf to perform certain tasks, and it’s now live on the Galaxy S26 series.

Samsung has released a new magnetic Qi2 power bank for its Galaxy S26 series, but as per usual, you need a case to use it.

GFiber (previously known as Google Fiber) has entered into an agreement with Stonepeak to combine the company with Astound Broadband into a single cohesive internet provider.

Claude is expanding on one of its coding tools to bring immersive visuals like charts and graphs to chats, all built in the moment to present responses to complex questions.

As Fitbit continues to preview its personal health coach, the redesigned app is getting interface tweaks that swap out a key Material 3 Expressive component.

As short-form vertical video continues to dominate the internet, Disney+ is now adding its own take on the trend with the addition of “Verts,” and there’s more in the pipeline.

The One UI 8.5 beta is now on its seventh update, marking one of the longest beta phases for Samsung’s OS in recent history.

Google has started selling a couple of new Pixel accessories including a 3-in-1 charging dock for your phone, Buds, and Pixel Watch 4.

Google Maps today announced “Ask Maps” to answer your “complex, real-world questions a map could never answer before.”

Google Maps is giving its driving experience the “biggest update in over a decade” with Immersive Navigation that redesigns visuals and offers “more intuitive guidance.”

Back in September, Google previewed Play Games Sidekick. This experience is now beginning to roll out, with Google sharing a number of Android updates at the Game Developers Conference today. 

Google says that its new 30-second ad format for YouTube is now available, but only on TVs.