The Vergecast

• All eyes on Samsung's thin new foldable

  Summer phone season kicks off with Samsung’s latest launch. Jake, Vee, and Allison talk about Samsung’s new lineup of foldables, including the very thin new Z Fold 7 and Allison’s disdain for the Z Flip 7 FE. Vee has impressions of Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 lineup and its squircle-y new redesign. Then, it’s time to talk Big Tech shakeups. Apple’s COO is leaving, Zuckerberg is buying himself an AI dream team, X’s CEO is out — and its chatbot Grok is on a rampage. Finally, big things are in store for the Lightning Round… which shall henceforth be known as the THUNDER ROUND. Lots to talk about, including Lorde’s CD problems, Apple’s Liquid Glass changes, and HBO Max finally becoming HBO Max again. Further reading: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025: Everything announced at the July event⁠ ⁠Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on: Samsung finally made the foldables we’ve been asking for⁠  ⁠Samsung cuts price of its foldables with the Z Flip 7 FE⁠ ⁠Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series hands-on: squircle squad⁠ ⁠Samsung seems to have leaked its own trifold phone design⁠ ⁠Samsung says its trifold phone should launch ‘this year’⁠ ⁠Samsung snuck a trifold tease into (January) Unpacked⁠ ⁠One of Tim Cook’s possible successors is leaving Apple⁠ Sabih Khan⁠ Apple’s design team will report to Tim Cook⁠ A close look at who could succeed Tim Cook⁠  ⁠Mark Zuckerberg announces his AI ‘superintelligence’ super-group⁠ Meta is paying $14 billion to catch up in the AI race⁠ Meta’s ‘superintelligence’ hiring spree adds an AI leader from Apple⁠ Pay packages of up to $300 million over four years⁠ Meta is trying to win the AI race with money — but not everyone can be bought⁠  ⁠X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years⁠ X’s CEO is out after failing at basically everything she claimed she wanted⁠ Threads is catching up to X on mobile⁠ X has a new head of product⁠ Elon Musk’s xAI buys Elon Musk’s X for $33 billion on paper⁠ xAI updated Grok to be more ‘politically incorrect’⁠ Grok stops posting text after flood of antisemitism and Hitler praise⁠ ⁠“In other posts it referred to itself as “MechaHitler”.⁠ Musk makes grand promises about Grok 4 in the wake of a Nazi chatbot meltdown ⁠ ⁠Adobe’s new camera app is making me rethink phone photography⁠ ⁠Ikea’s latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth⁠ Ikea ditches Zigbee for Thread going all in on Matter smart homes⁠ ⁠Perplexity launches Comet web browser⁠ OpenAI’s next big launch could be an AI web browser⁠ ⁠E Ink is turning the laptop touchpad into an e-reader for AI apps⁠ ⁠Lorde’s new CD is so transparent that stereos can’t even read it⁠ I tried playing Lorde’s new CD⁠ ⁠Appeals court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel’ rule⁠ ⁠Nothing’s ‘first true flagship’ phone plays it a little safe⁠ ⁠Adding calendar events with a screenshot is AI at its finest⁠ ⁠The government’s Apple antitrust lawsuit is still on⁠ ⁠Apple just added more frost to its Liquid Glass design⁠ ⁠Apple’s second-generation Vision Pro might launch this year⁠ ⁠Nvidia briefly became the first $4 trillion company on Wednesday⁠ ⁠The makers of Cameo just launched... a birthday-tracking app?⁠ ⁠Nintendo is ending its cost-saving Switch game vouchers⁠ ⁠HBO Max is officially HBO Max again Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• A quest for the best headphone mics

  On this episode of The Vergecast, we kick off Hot Girl Vergecast Summer with a classic Vergecast segment: the mic test. Guest host Victoria Song is joined by Vergecast producers Andru Marino and Erick Gomez to see how the Nothing Headphone 1, Sony WH-1000XM6, Apple AirPods Max, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra hold up against what’s possibly the noisiest street in Brooklyn. After that, Victoria is joined by Ladder CEO Greg Stewart to talk about what it takes to build a successful strength training app — especially for people just starting out. As it turns out, it’s quite challenging, between curating playlists, accommodating users’ different access to equipment, skill levels, and preferences for coaching styles. (And maybe, some occasional beef with Peloton?) Lastly, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]) about AI fitness summaries, whether people actually like them, what’s frustrating about them, and what scenarios they might actually be useful for. Want to learn more about the topics in this episode? Here are some handy dandy links for your reference: Nothing Headphone 1 review Sony WH-1000XM6 hands-on Apple AirPods Max review Bose QuietComfort Ultra review A lazy person’s guide to getting into shape Ladder isn’t done trolling Peloton The unbearable obviousness of AI fitness summaries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• The movie and TV tech we actually want to use

  One way to think about the tech industry is just as a series of people trying to build stuff they saw in movies and on TV. Some of that tech is great, some of it is deeply dystopian, and most of it would make the world a very different place if it suddenly existed. In this episode, a bunch of us try to figure out which tech we actually want to use. David is joined by The Verge’s Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison-Tuohy, Mia Sato, and Victoria Song — aka the hosts of Hot Girl Vergecast Summer — to draft their way through the movie, show, and game tech they’d want to make real. Some of the picks you’ll expect, and some we bet has never crossed your mind. And some big-name tech goes undrafted! Once you've finished the show, make sure you take the poll and tell us who won: https://forms.gle/Q1wFhpzCdM3B5bqj9 Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• What Meta and Anthropic really won in court

  It's already the heat of summer, and the news keeps coming. Nilay, David, and Jake start the show with a bunch of tech news, including the latest on Tesla's robotaxi launch, some updates on the Trump Phone, new devices from Fairphone and Unihertz, and Meta's shifting strategy for face computers. After that, The Verge's Adi Roberston joins the show to talk about two important AI lawsuits that were both decided this week — one involving Anthropic and the other involving Meta — and what this particular battle means for who will win the AI war. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some huge news in the HDMI world, and the end of the Blue Screen of Death. Further reading: Tesla’s robotaxis are operating in a regulatory vacuum  Here’s a running list of all of Tesla’s robotaxi mishaps so far The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America  The smaller Fairphone 6 introduces swappable accessories The Titan 2 is a modern BlackBerry with 5G, Android, and two screens  A week in Xbox VR with Microsoft and Meta’s new $399 headset  Meta announces Oakley smart glasses that shoot 3K video  Anthropic wins a major fair use victory for AI — but it’s still in trouble for stealing books Meta’s AI copyright win comes with a warning about fair use Senate confirms Trump’s FCC pick, Olivia Trusty FCC Seeks Public Comments on Changing Broadcast Ownership Rules Trump’s FTC agrees to Omnicom merger — with a gift to X  Paramount Plus with Showtime is getting a rebrand  Paramount delays $35M settlement with Trump as media giant fears bribery backlash: sources The Paramount Risk in Settling Trump’s Lawsuit: ‘Bribery’? The HDMI 2.2 specification supports 16K video at 60Hz Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• Tesla's robotaxi reality check

  Tesla is famous for throwing caution to the wind in the name of rolling out cool technology, so it was somewhat surprising to see its robotaxi service launch over the weekend in somewhat muted fashion. The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to explain what, exactly, Elon Musk and co. launched, and what it says about the state of the self-driving revolution. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson takes us through the history of MVNOs, and why they might just be the best deal in wireless carriers. We talk about Trump Mobile, Ryan Reynolds, e-SIMs, and what it would mean to make it easier to switch service. Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about how to free up storage on your iPhone. It's harder than it should be, but hopefully easier than you think. Further reading: Tesla’s robotaxi is live: here are some of the first reactions The Tesla Cybercab is a cool-looking prototype that needed to be much more than that Waymo says it will add 2,000 more robotaxis into 2026 How Donald Trump and Ryan Reynolds can easily sell you phone plans Trump Mobile is a bad deal How to clear up space on your iPhone when you’re running out of storage Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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