Amazon’s Prime Day sale kicks off on June 23 – and it might be the last time we see deep discounts on many tech products for a while, if some in the tech world are to be believed.
This includes Tim Cook, who this week warned about the price increases for Apple’s technology, as he says it is now impossible for Apple to absorb the costs of the ongoing component crisis.
To catch up on Cook’s warning and brighter news, like Commodore’s flip phone that fills us with nostalgia, scroll down for our roundup of the week’s biggest tech news.
7. Commodore’s flip phone took us back to 2004
Feeling nostalgic for flip phones and a simpler age before scrolling? Commodore (yes, the latest incarnation of the classic computing giant) feels your pain, so it’s made a clamshell phone that fulfills your retro needs while freeing your brain from smartphone addiction. Or at least that’s the idea.
The Commodore Callback sits somewhere between a dumb phone and a modern Android flagship. It doesn’t work with social media apps and has no touchscreen or web browser. But it runs most Android apps and has a 48MP camera on the back, plus other flourishes like an “audiophile grade” DAC. Will it start a revolution? We’re not sure, but it’s definitely one of the most interesting phones of the year.
6. GTA 6 got a trailer
This week, Rockstar revealed a new teaser for Grand Theft Auto 6 – and while we weren’t lucky enough to see new gameplay, we didn’t want to.
For an 80s synth and guitar accent, we saw the game’s cover art come together. Similar to GTA 5’s art, the vignette collage is full of pink and purple hues that perfectly capture the Vice City vibes.
Rockstar also announced that pre-orders will go live on June 25, ahead of the November 19, 2026 release.
5. Microsoft dropped new Surface laptops
Not content to let Computex take the limelight with the computer announcement, Microsoft debuted new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 processor.
The new Surface Laptop offers what Microsoft claims is up to 58% faster graphics performance compared to the previous generation of its notebook, and a solid battery life of 20 hours for the smaller models and 19 for the larger.
Meanwhile, the Surface Pro 13-inch boasts a 53% jump in graphics performance over its predecessor with up to 15.5 hours of battery life, based on Microsoft’s internal testing.
4. Sonos updated its app
A few months ago, we interviewed Sonos CEO Tom Conrad about the company’s app issues in the 2024 update, and he said that while they had worked hard to fix its technical issues, he still had major issues with its design and usability that he wanted to get to. This week he announced the first changes coming to the app to improve its layout.
They include all sorts of things fans have been asking for since the 2024 redesign, including easier volume-changing options, the ability to customize your list of products, and options organized using tabs that mirror standard iPhone and Android app design cues. The update is being rolled out in a beta first to make sure everything works before everyone else gets it…
3. The British government had bad news for children
Depending on your point of view, it might not have been a great week for young social media fans in Britain – Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the country, like Australia, would ban apps like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat for under-16s from next year.
It won’t just be social media apps that will be affected either – live streaming for under 16s will also be banned across all platforms. The government says the move will “give kids their childhood back”, but British teenagers are understandably unimpressed, and neither are fans of the open internet. Expect this to be a hot topic for the rest of 2026.
2. Android 17 rolled out
Android 17 started rolling out to compatible Pixel phones this week, and while Google’s flashy new Gemini Intelligence software isn’t among the available features yet, there are plenty of nifty new tools to try if you own a Google Pixel 6 or newer.
Chief among the new UI features are Bubbles, which lets you turn any app into a floating bubble that stays on top of other apps (useful for multitasking on large-screen devices), and Screen Reactions, which lets you capture your phone’s screen and record yourself with the front-facing camera at the same time.
My favorite Android 17 feature is foldable Gaming Mode, which adds a dynamic gamepad to one side of your foldable phone (so you can play it like a Nintendo DS – yes, really!); unfortunately this doesn’t drop until later in the year.
1. Tim Cook warned about Apple’s price increases
Against the backdrop of the RAM crisis and other component price hikes caused by AI hype and supply chain disruptions, the affordable MacBook Neo was a breath of fresh air when it debuted — but outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook had some bad news for anyone hoping the good times could last a little longer.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Cook said: “Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable. We are doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being sent to us, and we have tried to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
We don’t know when we’ll see said price increases or how significant they’ll be, but if you’ve got your eye on Apple’s tech, you might want to consider buying sooner rather than later — especially with Prime Day starting next week.
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