Thus far, those who are blind without prescription glasses have been unable to partake in the creepfest that is Meta’s smart glasses. That’s about to change, with a Bloomberg report claiming that Meta’s next two pairs will place greater emphasis on prescription lenses.

“While the company’s glasses — sold in tandem with EssilorLuxottica SA — have long supported prescription lenses, this will mark the first time the companies are introducing Ray-Bans designed specifically for that cohort, according to people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg wrote.

That’ll result in two new pairs of Meta’s glasses, sold in rounded and rectangular styles, which are expected to be sold only through “traditional prescription eyewear channels.” Those are codenamed ‘RayBan Scriber ‘ and ‘RayBan Blazer’, and were first spotted in US Federal Communications Commission filings by The Verge. As for when we might see Meta’s prescription-focused glasses land, or what sort of features they might offer, that’s still unknown.

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Apple’s Siri could open itself up to even more AI chatbots

We’ve heard a whole lot about Siri’s AI makeover, but we’ve yet to actually see anything tangible from the Fruit Company in that regard. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that will change at Apple’s WWDC in June. Now, though, it seems that Apple will “open up” Siri’s internals to even more rival AI chatbots, using an extension that plugs right into Siri. That’s assuming the third-party chatbot in question allows the merge with Siri.

“That means, for instance, if users have Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini or Anthropic PBC’s Claude installed, they’d be able to send queries to those services from within the Siri voice assistant, just like they have been able to with ChatGPT since Apple Intelligence launched in 2024.”

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It’s only a matter of time before… Ocarina of Time

The Switch 2 may finally justify its existence — beyond just 60fps support for two of the best Zelda titles ever made. Prominent leaker NatetheHate reckons Nintendo is readying a remake of 1998’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — generally regarded as the greatest of Link’s adventures. NatetheHate has cred, too. On top of the many Directs he’s alerted us to in advance, he gave a reliable launch date for the Switch 2 last year.

All that to say, if NatetheHate speaks, he’s rarely wrong. And he said, in his podcast, that an Ocarina of Time remake was coming. Not a remaster, as Nintendo has done before, but a remake. He also teased a 2026 launch, which aligns with Nintendo’s plans to release a Zelda annually. “As to the scope and ambition of the title, I do not know,” he continued, unsure whether it would be a 1:1 remake.

A 1:1 remake might be simpler for Nintendo to pull off. But with the Tears of the Kingdom engine just sitting there — unlikely to be roped in for the next mainline entry — we could see the company putting it to good use here. If that’s the case, that means it’ll be a good while before we see the next mainline Zelda break cover.

Of course, until Nintendo confirms an Ocarina of Time remake, it’s all hearsay. Grab a pinch of salt.

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It’s only getting worse for console gamers

Of course, if you don’t already have a Switch 2, you might miss out on that Ocarina of Time remake. After Sony confirmed major price hikes for its consoles this week, it seems Xbox and Nintendo may follow suit. That’s to be expected, considering the current state of the world.

At least, that’s what Ampere Analysis’ Piers Harding-Rolls thinks, who said as much while speaking to Eurogamer:

“It is likely that Sony had price protections for its components for a set period, and this may well have come to an end,” Harding-Rolls said. “With no sign of prices easing largely due to demand for AI infrastructure, Sony will have made the move to protect its slim hardware margins. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Microsoft and Nintendo followed suit in the not-too-distant future.”

What that hike, if it were to come, would look like, nobody knows. Sony has set a precedent, driving its five-year-old console prices up by 18% in the US. Nintendo and Microsoft now have a blueprint and could take a similar path. Harding-Rolls called it an “awkward time” for Sony and Microsoft with GTA 6 right around the corner.

“Both companies will want to take full advantage of the positive impact of this system seller release,” Harding-Rolls said. “Likewise, it’s awkward for Nintendo as it won’t want to raise the price of the Switch 2 when it is trying to establish the new platform.”

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Which, if you’re paying attention, isn’t this year. 2026 will see the launch of the iPhone 18 lineup. But a leaker out of China reckons that Apple is eying the massive sensor for the following year, in 2027.

200MP/how?

The rumour comes from a generally reliable Chinese supply chain leaker, Digital Chat Station (via Weibo). He wasn’t really talking up Apple when mentioning that the company is eying a 2027 upgrade, however. He was pointing out that Apple’s update is already found in Oppo’s range of smartphones in 2026.

It seems that “reliable sources from the supply chain indicate that iPhone is also evaluating a 200MP 1/1.12″ sensor, the same solution used in the Find X9 Ultra, expected to be commercially available next year. OPPO’s product definition is once again ahead of Apple’s, and its dual 200MP + 10x super telephoto imaging is truly unique.” (translated via Google Translate)

That’s not praise. It’s quite a lot of shade, but we can expect that from Chinese social media accounts. But it’s also new and possibly credible information about Apple’s camera plans almost two years from now. Whether Apple actually makes the jump, we’ll have to wait and see. Let’s just get to September 2026 in one piece first, shall we?

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Even after unveiling a slew of refreshed products — capped off with the AirPods Max 2 — Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reckons there’s more to come from Apple. Just one more, really, if we’re only talking about the first half of the year. That’d be the iPad 12, which has been on the cards since last year.

The Fruit Company’s next generation of iPhones is set, as ever, to debut in September. The mainline iPad, without the Air or Pro monikers to root for, presents a gap in Apple’s release strategy. The tablet will jump from the A16 to the A18 chipset, it’s said. It’s faster, sure, but it also brings Apple Intelligence to the fore.

“The product has long been on the road map for a release in the iOS 26.4 time frame, which runs until May,” Gurman wrote. The “hardware is ready to go,” he continued, noting that there are several reasons why a device might be delayed, especially in the present RAM-afflicted climate. We doubt anyone would really mind.

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Life imitates art. Hisense imitates Samsung

Hisense just took the wrapper off its 2026 Hisense S7 CanvasTV 4K QLED Google TV (or S7SG), and it looks as clean as you’d hope from a proper Samsung ‘The Frame’ competitor. This model, even though it shares many features with Hisense’s first model, adds a smaller 50in to the rotation, and keeps the 55in, 65in, 75in, and 85in sizes.

At its heart, this still rocks a 4K LCD panel like its forebears and the same 144Hz refresh rate, great for sullying artistic side with… whatever that is. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision IQ support have also found their way back into the fold. The whole arty look is most reliant on the Hi-Matte display and the thousands of artworks available.

It’s incredibly thin, too, enabling a more seamless transition to the wall to help sell the lie that it’s a TV in cosplay. Google TV runs the show, while a 2.0.2 sound system and four HDMI ports help keep it modern. If that’s not enough, maybe the VRR, ALLM, and FreeSync Premium support will be enough to do the trick? There’s still no telling what the TV will cost. Hopefully, we also get to see a local launch.

Reddit shoots itself in the face

Reddit has a bot problem. Or rather, bots have a Reddit problem. The platform is currently overrun with the things, and the company is now thinking up ideas for a fix. Its latest idea, according to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, is to deploy Face ID or Touch ID to curb the ever-growing bot menace.

He said as much during a TBPN podcast, where he also stated the company was still “weighing” its options. We should note that the change, if implemented, would affect everyone. Users in the UK, for instance, already have to put up with age verification by sending in selfies or having their ID checked at the door.

These might solve the bot problem, of course. But is it worth sacrificing your privacy? That’s a question that’ll need answers if Reddit goes down this route. Willingly handing over your biometrics can be a recipe for disaster, as happened to users at Discord. That’ll show them, we guess?

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Sony serves up ‘fake’ frames for PlayStation

While Sony has chased AI-upscaled images through its PSSR pipeline in recent years, it now has frame generation in its sights. The PC Master Race knows the technology well — which allows the underlying tech (AMD’s upcoming FSR Redstone suite, in this case) to throw more frames at your eyes using, well, AI.

The feature, likely being saved up as a PS6-exclusive feature, seeing as Sony’s PlayStation lead system architect, Mark Cerny, said the feature won’t be coming soon, and certainly not this year. That’s… fine by us. The PS5 Pro, which recently got an updated PSSR 2, will likely keep Sony busy for a good while. And customers, too.

“Just to clarify a few things about the collaboration with AMD, the new PSSR uses the same core co-developed algorithm as FSR Redstone’s Upscaling (to avoid confusion, I’ll use the new names today rather than FSR4),” Cerny shared. “FSR Frame Generation is also based on co-developed technology (or as my good friend Jack Huynh puts it, ‘co-engineered technology’). I’m very happy with how that work is progressing, and an equivalent frame generation library should be seen at some point on PlayStation platforms.”

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Apple can’t afford to screw up its first foray into the foldable market, which Samsung penetrated seven years back. Since then, the market has been flooded with these things, with Huawei even developing the first ‘tri-fold’. We won’t have to wait long to see Apple’s attempt either, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who touts a fall release. That should place the new iPhone Fold (or whatever it’s called) alongside the iPhone 18 in September.

A bite of the foldable Apple

Exact specs are still a ways off, we’d imagine, but people familiar with the matter say the device’s interior screen will roughly match the size of an iPad Mini. The external screen is said to compare to that of a small iPhone. What type of small iPhone is still unclear — are we talking the iPhone 17e‘s 6.1in display, or something even smaller?

Apple’s taken great strides to work out the kink that has plagued foldables from the beginning: the crease. It’s partly why it’s entering the arena this late into the game, hoping to give itself an edge. It’ll do that with a “new display technology” that reduces the severity of the crease, though still unable to eradicate it. Moreover, Apple’s also focusing on durability — specifically looking to increase the hinge’s lifespan. Whether it can manage it…

Despite the clear indication, the device is still an iPhone at heart. It will run iOS, and not iPadOS. “This means it will retain a simpler multitasking system, rather than adopting the more desktop-like interface introduced in iPadOS 26. It also won’t run existing iPad apps out of the box,” Gurman said.

Read More: MacBook Neo pre-orders go live in South Africa with a surprising price

Even so, Apple hopes to make watching videos more appealing on the larger screen, even if it is technically an iPhone. And with the iOS updates expected, it should be easier for app developers to help their apps conform to the iPad style. The company is developing new layouts for iOS, revamping its ‘core’ apps to add sidebars.

Technically, the foldable iPhone “won’t run several windows at once” as an iPad Mini would, but it will display apps alongside each other, à la Samsung’s efforts. Apple is also taking a more novel approach to how it handles the sensors. On the inside, it reportedly tested putting a camera under the screen, though it wasn’t happy with the quality it delivered. That leaves it one avenue. A small hole-punch cutout at the top of the screen.

Two cameras sit in the backseat, one fewer than most modern iPhones. That’s probably for the best. If Gurman’s right about the Fruit Company targeting a rough $2,000 price tag this fall (spring for us Saffas), cramming another sensor into the device can only make that price shoot up.

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Big Mac attack

It’s that last one that interests us most, which follows up the budget-centric iPhone 16e. Debuting last year for a price far lower than Apple typically prefers to sink, the iPhone 17e promises to improve on its older sibling without upping the price. An A19 chipset is the main excuse for the upgrade, though the addition of MagSafe charging and Apple’s latest cellular chips is a bonus — especially if it does actually retain that $600 price tag.

The event is described as a “special Apple Experience” and will kick off on 4 March at 09h00 ET. That’s 16h00 for any watching Saffas who can’t manage to drag themselves to New York. Or don’t have an invite, for that matter. According to reports across social media, Apple will also hold similar press events in London and Shanghai. This won’t be your typical Apple affair. Hell, we may not even see Craig Fedherini leap ’round like a madman.

Read More: Fresh leaks reveal key Apple iPhone specs way ahead of schedule

If it isn’t a budget iPhone (for Apple, anyway) you’re after, how about a budget MacBook? Reports have detailed the company’s plans to stick an ageing iPhone chipset into a MacBook frame for months, and now it seems ready to start earning money. That chipset is the A18 Pro, which may well be competent enough to tempt users away from their dodgy Chromebooks. A 13.6in LCD screen is another way it’ll bring costs down.

Also on the menu are some new iPads and MacBooks toting new chipsets and… not much else. Proper redesigns are expected to debut later this year, but now isn’t the moment. Expect to see the M5-powered MacBook Air, while the Pro range will play with the M5 Pro and M5 Max. The iPad Air, on the other hand, gain the M4 chip, while the base iPad gets the A18. Finally, a fresh array of Mac displays is expected to tie everything up.

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The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

You might’ve noticed the iPhone 18 (and the accompanying iPhone 18 Plus) are missing from the release lineup. That’s not a mistake. Apple’s shaking up its launch strategy this year by holding back its weakest devices until early 2027, intending to launch alongside the iPhone 18e to make room for the iPhone Fold, according to Forbes.

The phones that will launch this year — iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max — will be covered in a coating of aluminium and will look a whole lot like their iPhone 17 brethren. The phones feature 6.3in and 6.9in displays respectively, and house the next-gen A20 Pro chipset, which will serve as the primary upgrade this year. It’s joined by 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, an 18MP sensor on the front, and a 48MP shooter leading the line-up on the back.

Read More: What the Apple-Google AI team-up could mean for Siri this year – report

Even if Apple’s new iPhone Fold is technically the most innovative the company has gotten in recent years, it’ll share a lot of its DNA with the Pro series. Expect the same A20 Pro chip, 12GB of RAM, and C2 modem to feature here, though it’ll all be viewed through a 7.8in display (unfolded) that’ll shrink to 5.3in when folded.

It appears that Apple hasn’t strayed from its regular launch window, likely eyeing an early September 2026 reveal with a full release pencilled in for the end of the month. South Africans could see the devices — the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, at least — turn up as soon as October this year. It’s unclear whether the iPhone Fold will join its siblings in SA by the time it’s ready for an international launch, but we can’t see why it wouldn’t.

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Like Apple’s recent iPhone 17 launch, South Africa will get the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro on the same day as the States — Wednesday, 22 October. That’s only two days from now, barely leaving you enough time to dive between the couch cushions to scrounge up enough to afford one of these. And scrounge you will for Apple’s M5 tech.

What did you expect?

At the time of writing, pre-orders are only available from South Africa’s local iStore website, but we don’t expect it’ll be long before the other players — Incredible Connection, Digital Experience, etc — join in the fun. Just don’t get your hopes up for cheaper prices elsewhere if you’re determined to hold out for a day or two. This is Apple.

Which is why the R34,500 starting price for the 14in M5 MacBook Pro should come as no surprise to anyone. That’s only if you’re willing to limit yourself to 16GB ‘unified memory’ and 512GB of storage. Up that to 24GB and 1TB respectively, though? Then you’ve got a whole new beast that’ll cost R43,000 when all is said and done.

Read More: Apple’s M6-toting MacBook Pro will reportedly include an OLED touchscreen

As for the M5 iPad Pro, pricing is considerably higher. That’s simply because Apple hasn’t yet unveiled the 16in MacBook Pro, which will likely dethrone everything on this list price-wise when it inevitably turns up. Until then, the new iPad Pro leads the charge that, when maxed out, will reach an astonishingly high price of R56,500.

That means opting for the larger 13in display (made with nano-texture glass, of course), upping the storage to the 2TB maximum, and adding a cellular connection on top of the Wi-Fi capabilities. If all you’re after is an 11in display, 256GB os storage, standard glass, and Wi-Fi only, you can cut that all the way down to R21,500.

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If the original Vision Pro didn’t exactly entice you with its far too-high R110,000 price, it’s unlikely the M5 upgrade will do the trick. Aside from a new Dual Knit strap that admittedly looks a whole lot more comfortable with its added top layer for support, the rest of the headset appears almost identical. That’s Apple for you.

Apple’s M5 vision

The 2025 Vision Pro utilises the same micro-OLED displays you’ve seen before (or more likely, haven’t), but with the M5 in hand, Apple promises the device can render 10% more pixels than before. It also ups the refresh rate to 120Hz (up from 100Hz) and reduces motion blur. The headset is technically a more capable gamer now, too, though you’re at the mercy of developers who must port their games over.

That’s helped along by the new VisionOS 26 supporting Sony’s PSVR2 Sense controllers, which, according to UploadVR, Sony plans to sell separately beginning next year. They will set you back $250 a pop, though. More exciting was the news of a battery bump, allowing the Vision Pro to operate for 2.5 hours of regular use and 3 hours of video playback (up from 2 and 2.5 hours respectively).

Read More: Apple talks up the M5 MacBook Pro lineup’s improved AI capabilities

Apple hasn’t done the typical Apple thing by reserving the new Dual Knit strap for the new hardware. It’ll be sold separately for $100 each and attaches to the older model without issue. A new strap was an obvious necessity for any Vision Pro successor, especially after the fruit company somehow upped the weight this time around (750-800g).

The 2025 Vision Pro, available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities, retains the original’s starting price of $3,500, roughly translating to R60,000 at home. Apple mentions a short list of countries that’ll get the upgrade as soon as tomorrow, 17 October. South Africa is not on that list. Past experiences tell us that it’ll be some time before the headset arrives locally, likely with a six-figure price.

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As ever, the M5 iPad Pro is available in 13in and 11in models. While the M5 chipset is the standout upgrade, which Apple claims offers “up to 3.5x the AI performance” compared to last year’s M4 model, the device also sees the addition of the N1, as well as the C1X cellular modem. Owners of the M4 iPad Pro won’t be too jealous of the minimal upgrade, with the device targeting those who with older M chipsets in their tablet.

Putting the M5 iPad Pro through its paces

Part of that is due to the return of the gorgeous but not what you can call ‘new’ Tandem OLED display Ultra Retina XDR, which arrived in last year’s iPad Pro refresh. The cameras, too, have been left untouched in the M5 upgrade, with the same 12MP shooters fixed to the device’s front and rear.

It didn’t take long for Apple to pat itself on the back in its announcement, claiming that the M5 chipset features the “world’s fastest CPU core.” It utilises a ten-core CPU layout — four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It’s coupled with a ten-core GPU, with a dedicated neural accelerator in each. That all translates to more capable AI powers, as well as “up to 1.5x faster 3D rendering with ray tracing”.

Read More: Apple’s rumoured foldable iPhone reportedly lands a bargain hinge 

It also offers support for VRR on compatible displays, with the device outputting a 120Hz refresh rate when hooked up to an external display. Apple has also bumped the RAM, with the 256/512GB models arriving with 12GB standard, while the more expensive 1 and 2TB models reach 16GB. Charging also sees a bump that matches the iPhone 17, promising a 50% charge in 30 and 35 minutes in the 13in and 11in models, respectively.

Now for the not-so-fun bit. Pricing remains the same in the States at $1,000 for the 11in and $1,300 for the 13in. Grabbing a model with cellular capabilities will run you $1,200 and $1,500, respectively. These will arrive on shelves overseas on Wednesday, 22 October, with South Africa likely to follow suit, though official pricing is still to be determined. We’ll keep you in the loop when that happens.

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A bite of the AI Apple

Known as World Knowledge Answers, Apple’s eventual plan is to integrate the tool into Siri before expanding it to the company’s web browser, Safari, and later, Spotlight search. Described as an “answer engine” by some execs, the Big Fruit Company has lofty aspirations that would see the tool debut in Spring (our Autumn) 2026.

What will power this newer, smarter AI web search tool remains to be seen. In typical Apple fashion, when it comes to dealing with artificial intelligence, it seems the work will fall to… somebody else. Gurman mentions that it reportedly reached a formal agreement with Alphabet Inc. to trial a Google-developed AI model to help power the voice assistant. Considering Apple’s recent AI failures, that’s not surprising.

Read More: Apple’s “awe dropping” iPhone 17 (and friends) to turn up on 9 September

In fact, Gurman reported earlier this year that it was looking to outsource most of the Siri overhaul — with both OpenAI and Anthropic in the running. Apple’s new tool won’t do anything new with the concept, featuring an interface that utilises text, photo, and video to function. It’ll also include AI-powered summarisation to make its results all the more digestible, while possibly crippling human-led website traffic.

After a rocky WWDC 2024 that it still hasn’t quite lived up to, the pressure is on for the company to deliver something worthwhile in the AI space — before the bubble pops. This appears to be a step in the right direction for the company, shares of which rose 3.8% after Bloomberg reported on the plan. And the bubble grows larger…

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