This week we unveiled the all-new, all-different – well, not so different – TechRadar Awards, but there was a lot more going on in the worlds of tech.
Samsung announced that its next Unpacked event will take place in just over a week, and it’s teasing a big foldable announcement. But based on its usual schedule, we’d be more surprised if it didn’t have any foldables to show off this year.
Before you catch up on this week’s tech news, why not test yourself on last week’s seven biggest tech stories to see how good your memory is? Take the quiz below, or scroll on for the biggest tech news of the week… (and see if you can best last week’s ICYMI quiz when you’re done here).
7. The TechRadar Awards returned for 2026
The TechRadar Awards are back in 2026, and we’re making a radical change: we’re holding two sets of awards back-to-back this year! Introducing the TechRadar Product of the Year Awards and the TechRadar Readers’ Choice Awards. Previously, we combined readers’ votes on which products should win with the opinions of our expert judges to determine an overall winner. But now we divide the two elements into two different prices.
The Product of the Year award will be chosen solely by our editors and writers, based on their experience using the products. However, the Readers’ Choice Awards will give all the power to you, our readers – you’ll be able to vote on a shortlist of the year’s most popular and highly rated releases, and the winner will be decided by 100% of those votes.
We’re accepting nominations for products you’d like to see on the list, and anyone can nominate something – so make sure the products you love the most have a chance!
Read the full story: Introducing TechRadar’s Readers’ Choice Awards and our Product of the Year Awards
6. ChatGPT launched its ‘smartest voice model ever’
This week, OpenAI delivered an upgrade to ChatGPT’s voice mode to all users thanks to the rollout of two new models. The smaller GPT-Live-1 mini model will be the default for free users, while paid users will get the full GPT-Live-1 model.
GPT-Live-1 promises to sound more natural, be less disruptive when you pause while speaking, and be smarter – as there previously appeared to be a knowledge gap between the written and spoken ChatGPT models.
To get around that last part, GPT-Live-1 actually delegates tasks to ChatGPT-5.5 and then comes back with a response.
There are also impressive new simultaneous translation tools that will translate what you hear live and what you say as you say it.
You can also give the chatbot a name to make the conversation easier, although OpenAI’s go-to is ‘Chat’ – so you can live out your dreams of being a Twitch streamer.
Read the full story: GPT-Live-1 gives you more natural conversations without interruptions
5. Nokia debuted a retro phone with artificial intelligence
This week, Nokia’s parent company HMD launched a quartet of retro-style phones with one anachronistic addition – a big old AI button.
They still offer a whole range of legacy features – if you miss the 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD for greater storage capacity and (on three of the models) an FM radio, you’ll find them here – it’s just that you also have a little digital assistant.
Details are thin, though it sounds like this won’t be quite on Gemini’s level. Instead, the AI is mostly there to help with on-device tasks like setting alarms, opening the camera, and creating reminders. The biggest problem, though, is that the AI assistant is only free for 180 days – after that it’s $3.99 (about £3 / AU$5.75) per year if you’re in the EU and $2.99 (about £2.25 / AU$4.30) per year everywhere else.
Yikes!
Read the full story: Nokia’s new retro-styled feature phones have AI buttons for some reason
4. Amazfit Active 3 Premium impressed us
The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is the successor to last year’s five-star Amazfit Active 2, and it’s another knockout of a budget watch (despite the Premium name). A great fitness tracker that costs just $169 / £169 / AU$239, it boasts features you’d normally get on watches twice the price, such as full-color maps and a sapphire crystal display.
Its measurements were accurate during testing, and it looks good to boot. It’s the budget watch to get – perhaps even compared to popular choices like the Apple Watch SE 3 or the Garmin Forerunner 70. It’s a real win for Amazfit, which has quietly spent the last few years improving its Zepp App ecosystem and building fitness trackers at a good price for every category.
Read the full story: Amazfit’s latest premium offering is about more than just looks
3. We took over 1,000 photos with the Sony RX10 V
Sony surprised the camera community and us this week when it revived its best-in-class series of bridge cameras with the launch of the new RX10 V. The Mark V superzoom arrived nine years after the now discontinued Cyber-shot RX10 IV, with the same versatile 24-600mm F2.4-4 lens but a 1-inch sensor and a 20-inch sensor, but welcoming Sony’s latest processor and autofocus.
We’d already tested the all-in-one ahead of its announcement, snapping over 1,000 shots across a school sports day, birding trip, macro gardening and more, and were thoroughly won over, although we were less than impressed by the steeper price tag. That said, the RX10 IV still took the crown of the best bridge camera available today, and with its predecessor being a rare second-hand find, we expect the latest model to be a popular camera indeed.
Read the full story: Here’s how Sony’s surprising new superzoom performed
2. Google Pixel 11 got a launch date
Samsung isn’t the only tech giant gearing up to launch flagship phones soon — this week Google announced that its Pixels will get an update next month.
The “next-generation Pixel” will be unveiled on August 12, just three weeks after Samsung’s Unpacked event. Google didn’t mention any specific models, but we expect to see a Pixel 11 (with fancy ‘Pixel Glow’ lights for notifications), plus new Pro models and a Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Unfortunately, we’re also likely to see higher prices across the board, according to the latest rumors. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise in these fun ‘RAMpocalypse’ days, but the expected arrival of the Pixel Watch 5 could at least help lighten the mood.
Read the full story: Google will launch the Pixel 11 on August 12
1. Samsung set a date for Galaxy Unpacked
After months of rumors, as well as an official tease or two, Samsung has finally made its next Galaxy Unpacked event official. Pencil in July 22, 2026, at 9am ET / 6am PT / 2pm BST (11pm AEDT) for Samsung’s second Unpacked event of the year. In keeping with tradition, we expect the next-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, as well as an accessory or two.
It likely won’t just be the successors to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7. Samsung’s invitation to the event teases “A New Shape Unfolds,” likely hinting that a shorter, wider-more-passport-like foldable is on the way. The video invite also includes a ticket printed in a shape that further hints at the new design, as it simply doesn’t match the current Fold or Flip.
So why introduce a new flip phone design for so many generations? Well, it’s likely that Samsung wants to get ahead of Apple’s rumored entry into the category, which according to leaks will have a similar form factor. For Samsung, it’s also about expanding its foldable range, and if we’re lucky, we might also see several different price points.
Now we don’t have to wait long. TechRadar will be on the ground at Galaxy Unpacked in London, UK, and as usual, Samsung will be live streaming the event as we live blog it.
Read the full story: ‘A New Shape Unfolds’ could be its biggest clue yet about what to expect
