The pace of tech news rarely slows down, which is why we put together this ICYMI – In Case You Missed It – recap every weekend so you can familiarize yourself with all the biggest headlines of the past week, even if you didn’t catch the stories the first time around.
This week we’ve seen everything from household robots to flagship phones with Microsoft outings, another Stranger Things season 5 trailer, Samsung’s long-awaited tri-fold and new Fitbits on the way. It’s been busy, in a good way.
7. We have the final trailer for Stranger Things Season 5
We’re all heading back to Hawkins, Indiana for one last time: Stranger Things season 5 premieres on Wednesday, November 26, with episodes drawn out for the New Year’s Eve finale, and we now have the final trailer for the fifth and final season.
There’s a lot going on here, and pretty much every major character in it Stranger Things the universe – good and evil – gets some screen time. It’s been a long wait for this fifth season, but it should be enough to keep Stranger Things fans go for the next four weeks.
6. Microsoft gave us another major online outage
It was only recently that an Amazon AWS outage left a number of websites, apps and services unresponsive, and this week Microsoft’s Azure platform joined its own critical outage. Millions of users were affected before the issues were finally resolved.
Everything that relies on Microsoft’s digital infrastructure was affected, including Minecraft and the Xbox platform and Microsoft 365 applications. Fortunately, Microsoft acted quickly to get Azure fixed again, but this kind of outcome should not happen at all.
5. Samsung rolled out ads on its smart refrigerators
Ads aren’t really appealing at the best of times, but one place you definitely don’t want them is on your fridge, sending sponsored content into your kitchen. It is strange, then, that Samsung has decided to start showing ads on the screens of its Family Hub smart refrigerators.
It’s $2,000 (or around £1,500 / AU$3,000) for the fridge itself, and then you have to find your way through “curated ads” while you try to cook a meal or just grab a drink. Understandably, the move has been met with a rather frosty response from users, although at least you can turn them off.
4. Google said new Fitbits are coming in 2026
Google bought Fitbit in 2021 and seems to have prioritized the Pixel Watch over any kind of Fitbit gadget since then. The last Fitbit-branded device to launch was the Fitbit Charge 6, which debuted in 2023 – and we had all but given up hope for new Fitbits.
It’s encouraging, then, that a Google executive has confirmed that we can expect new Fitbit devices during 2026. It’s not clear exactly which gadgets might be updated, but the compact, lightweight fitness trackers are long overdue for an upgrade now.
3. The Samsung tri-fold made its public debut
We are very slowly moving towards an official launch of the Samsung trifold that we have been waiting for all year. Don’t forget that this next-gen foldable was first teased by Samsung back in January, and we’re still not sure when it’ll launch or what it’ll cost.
What we have is the first public display of the foldable, which appeared at the K-Tech Showcase in South Korea. It was put behind a glass case so no one could touch it, but we hope the Samsung phone isn’t too far away from going on sale now.
2. OnePlus revealed everything about the OnePlus 15
One of many TechRadar exclusives on the site this week contained some key information about the new OnePlus 15 flagship phone: when it will launch globally, the new camera features it will bring and the different colors you’ll be able to buy it in.
All these details came out in our chat with the CMO of OnePlus Europe, Celina Shi. We may be nearing the end of the year, but the OnePlus 15 is very much a contender for one of the best phones of 2025 – find out everything you need to know about the handset.
1. The first humanoid robot for housework arrived
By the year 2025, surely we should be having robots do all our mundane, boring household chores? Well, maybe 2026 will be the year: 1X has now opened pre-orders for the Neo Home Robot, which can handle tasks like washing clothes and loading the dishwasher.
It’s not cheap, but you might consider it a price worth paying if it means you have more free time. However, there are skills that remain out of the robot’s reach – you have to allow a remote operator to control it for them, and it can’t yet cook for you or mow the lawn. Maybe we’ll have to wait until 2027 for that.
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