🏆 Review score: 4.5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🌈 More colorful and vibrant Colorsoft display than the original

• 📚 Color e-ink display brings front covers and comic books to life

• 🖍️ Highlighting in multiple colors for note-taking

• 🤏 Thinner, aluminum chassis

• 🎨 Color-matched front face plates

❌ Cons

• 🔅 Colorsoft display vibrancy is still no match for a real LCD screen

• 😶‍🌫️ Layers of coatings make the screen look hazy compared to the Kindle Paperwhite

• 🔵 Slight blue tinge on the e-reader display

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft – $289

Kindle Colorsoft Signature Ed. – $319

The Shortcut Review

The new Kindle Colorsoft (2026) is a categorical improvement on Amazon’s first color e-reader. Colors are rendered more vibrantly and beautifully, and paired with the Kindle Colorsoft’s sleeker aluminum chassis, this just became the best e-reader to buy and gift this holiday.

It costs a pretty penny at $319 for the Signature Edition or $289 for the standard version, $90 more than the $199 Kindle Paperwhite, but you get a nice bit of extra functionality with that color e-ink display.

One immediate benefit of the Kindle Colorsoft is seeing gorgeous cover art and magazines in soft color, plus enjoying comics in all their multicolored glory. The Colorsoft also lets you highlight lines of text in five different colors – one more than the previous model – making this Kindle even better for saving quotes.

Color in general is slightly improved on the new Kindle Colorsoft, appearing more saturated and vibrant. However, colors still look ultimately softer than you’ll see from a true LCD screen, including the Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro.

Lastly, the new Kindle Colorsoft is physically thinner and looks even nicer with the color-matched front display. Amazon said it revised its entire backlight to make this possible, and it lets you appreciate the new Fig color, now available on another Amazon e-reader besides the Kindle Scribe, for the first time. The aluminum chassis makes the Signature Edition a worthy $30 upgrade. It makes the Kindle Scribe feel much sturdier, and it also lets you use Amazon’s spiffy new magnetic cases and charger.

Should you buy the Kindle Colorsoft?

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft – $289

Kindle Colorsoft Signature Ed. – $319

✅ Yes, if…

• 🦸🏻‍♂️ You own magazines and comics from Amazon’s Kindle store

• 🖍 You want the ability to highlight text in different colors

❌ No, if…

• 📖 You read strictly books (get the Kindle Paperwhite instead)

• 💸 Your e-reader budget caps out at $200 or even $100 (get the 6-inch Kindle instead)

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review score: 4.5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🎮 Asus has perfected the ROG Xbox Ally X with a bigger 7.4-inch OLED screen

• 📺 The new ROG Nebula HDR display adds 1,400-nit HDR brightness and 600-nit SDR brightness with Dolby Vision support

• 🔋 Longer battery life thanks to the OLED screen and cooling improvements

• 🕹️ Directional inputs upgraded with Gulikit TMR thumbsticks and a transforming D-pad

• 🔴 Rounder buttons, more tactile bumpers, and longer impulse trigger pulls

• 📸 Action button replaces the Library shortcut for quick screenshots and gameplay recording

❌ Cons

• 🤑 $300 more expensive than the already pricey $999 ROG Xbox Ally X

• 📉 Performance lags behind Intel Arc G3 Extreme handhelds

BB: Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 - $1,299

BB: ROG Xbox Ally X20 Bundle - $2,499

The Shortcut Review

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 is the OLED gaming handheld I’ve been waiting for. It fixes the biggest issue that prevented the original Asus ROG Xbox Ally X from being a perfect gaming handheld: its aging screen.

All the while, Asus has tweaked every little control, added TMR thumbsticks, given this limited-edition handheld a spiffy transparent shell, and improved battery life, all for a $300 premium that brings the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 to $1,299. That’s a hefty bill that somehow seems reasonable in our age of RAMageddon, but Intel has introduced some truly powerful gaming handhelds that deliver 10-20 more fps, but you have to buy an even more expensive $1,799 MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ to get that higher level of performance.

While this handheld can’t deliver the highest frame rates and I have to lower the quality settings, I find myself reaching for the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 more often since I started reviewing it. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 has absolutely captivated me with its OLED display. It renders games with far more contrast, bringing them to life in a way a regular LCD screen can’t. I find myself stopping to admire the skyboxes in Forza Horizon 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2, something I’d normally only do on my full gaming setup with a 4K TV or gaming monitor.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 demands one of the highest premiums we’ve seen on gaming handhelds so far, but it delivers a premium experience for the price.

Full Review

📺 OLED at last. The new OLED screen is INCREDIBLE. 1,400-nit HDR brightness, 600-nit SDR brightness, pitch-black blacks, Dolby Vision support, and a slightly larger 7.4-inch display, too. The new ROG Nebula HDR display is beautiful to look at, especially for 2D platformers with dimly lit, atmospheric environments like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

The higher brightness makes playing games with this handheld outside actually feasible as I can see the screen in bright conditions. And there’s less glare, not no glare like with the Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro and iPad Pro OLED, thanks to the new Corning DXC Anti-Reflection coating on the display’s new Gorilla Glass Victus screen.

↔️ Bigger and better display. On top of being OLED, Asus’ new display panel is also a tiny bit bigger at 7.4 inches. 0.4 inches isn’t a size bump, but it spreads the pixels out a bit, so I don’t have to squint as hard to see things on the ROG Xbox Ally X20. I just wish the extra screen space added another row of vertical pixels, but the screen resolution is still 1,920 x 1,080.

One last upgrade this new display offers is FreeSync Premium Pro. VRR already helped the Asus ROG Ally X stand out from other gaming handhelds, and now AMD’s version is even better, with native HDR support and Low Framerate Compensation when FPS dips below the 48-120Hz range. This lets me play more games at 30fps or lower with fewer noticeable frame drops.

💨 Left in the dust. Unsurprisingly, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 performs nearly identically to its non-OLED predecessor. On the one hand, that is good because the original ROG Xbox Ally X was one of the most powerful AMD Z2 Extreme-powered gaming handhelds. However, since then, Intel Arc 3G Extreme gaming handhelds like the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and Acer Predator Atlas 8 have delivered 10 to 20 more frames per second in most games.

🔋 Optimized battery life. The only field the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 has improved in is battery life. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 lasted almost an entire extra hour longer than the original handheld. This is largely thanks to the OLED screen, which doesn’t require a constantly on backlight, and two added cooling vents, which lets this handheld ramp down its fans more often.

AMD and Windows have also introduced a new game-optimized power mode that auto-tunes performance to energy savings on a per-game basis. While it’s handy, I would appreciate a way to override to tune it, so I can choose to run games at 60, 45, or anything beyond 30fps.

🫥 Transparent shell. Transparent electronics are just better. That’s the rule, and it’s especially true of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20. It looks immaculate, and you can appreciate the circuitry within, vibration motors whirr to life, and how hard the fan is spinning to keep the system cool. I also love the gold accents and the classic Xbox logo with a green glow. The controller handles also have an added rubber texture inspired by the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller.

🕹️ TMR sticks and a new D-Pad. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 has a new pair of Gulikit TMR thumbsticks that have been drift-proof so far in my week-and-a-half of testing. TMR sticks are an upgrade over even the Hall Effect sticks on the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, with a bit more resistance to emulate traditional thumbsticks.

➕ Transform and rollout. If you’re more of a D-Pad person, that’s also been upgraded with a transforming gimmick. Twisting the D-Pad switches it between four-way and eight-way input, a useful feature for playing 2D platformers or fighting games. Asus has also made subtle improvements to every control with rounder buttons, firmer shoulder bumpers, and longer travel on the impulse triggers. There’s also a new shortcut button that replaces the redundant library button, allowing you to take screenshots and record game clips with a quick press and/or hold.

🌬️ Improved cooling. Asus hasn’t changed any internal components of its limited-edition handheld, but it has improved the cooling. The most visible change are two added ventilation strips along the top of the ROG Xbox Ally X20. Internally, Asus has also rearranged the ROG Xbox Ally X20’s layout to improve heat dissipation.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20?

BB: Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 - $1,299

BB: ROG Xbox Ally X20 Bundle - $2,499

✅ Yes, if…

• 📺 You want the OLED gaming TV experience on the go

• 💪 You want to play more games on a handheld and at higher settings

• 🎮You love the feel of the Xbox controller

• 🔋 4-7 hours of battery life on a gaming handheld is a must

❌ No, if…

• 📈 The highest frame rates are paramount for you (get the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ instead)

• 🟰 You already own an Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, this is a purely visual upgrade with a few performance improvements

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review score: 4.5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🪙 Seamless design that looks and feels like a solid block of metal

• 📺 2000-nit 15-inch mini LED display offers fantastic brightness and contrast

• 🫨 Haptic touchpad adds physical feedback for clicks and moving windows

• 🧲 Better than MagSafe: Magnetic Connect uses USB-C to give you a fully usable port and recharge other USB-C devices

• 🎮 Runs Gears of War: E-Day and 007: First Light at a smooth 60~ FPS with medium settings

• 🔋 Power-sipping, all-day work machine with the right settings

• 💪 Ready for heavy creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and Unreal Engine 5

• 🤖 Hybrid Intelligence promises to save tokens by running all but the most challenging AI tasks locally

❌ Cons

• 🪨 Dense and heavy for its size

• 👾 Extended load times and sporadic frame drops from emulated games

The Shortcut Review

As much as I wanted it to be, the Surface Laptop Ultra isn’t the silver bullet that will kill the MacBook Pro. It’s heavier and won’t beat a fully loaded M5 Max MacBook Pro in a straight benchmark/rendering race, even with a top-end Nvidia RTX Spark N1X processor. However, the Surface Laptop Ultra is the ultimate example of how flexible a modern PC can be. The Surface Laptop Ultra can be a power-sipping, all-day work machine. It has the graphical chops to play PC games, even those using Nvidia’s latest DLSS 5 and Path Tracing technologies. And if you want to dive headlong into AI and develop apps without ever using a token, Nvidia’s new RTX Spark processor can do that too.

The Surface Laptop Ultra is a do-it-all, take-it-anywhere Windows 11 laptop that’s worthy of its $2,599 starting price. The configuration I’m reviewing comes with a top-shelf Nvidia RTX Spark processor with 20 CPU cores and 6,144 CUDA cores, but only 32GB of unified memory, making it slightly more approachable at $3,699 than the $5,099 128GB configuration you see reviewed everywhere else.

This model is definitely a more direct contender for prospective MacBook Pro buyers, and from my week of testing, I can tell you this laptop is the better machine for developers, power users, and gamers. The MacBook Pro is still the better option for most people, but you won’t be disappointed jumping on the first wave of Nvidia-ARM-powered laptops, and the Surface Laptop Ultra is a damn fine machine exploring the new waters of local AI.

Full Review

⚙️ All-round performer. The Surface Laptop Ultra is a performance beast. It easily posted top benchmarking numbers for CPU processing, graphics power, and AI tasks. Beyond our lab tests, the Surface Laptop Ultra deftly handled all my everyday work needs while giving me a decent enough gaming experience during breaks. The Asus ProArt P16 is a far better RTX Spark gaming machine, largely thanks to its exclusive access to Nvidia G-Sync.

👾 No gaming laptop replacement. My Surface Laptop Ultra review sample came with the higher-spec N1X chip that includes 6,144 Blackwell CUDA cores, more than you’d find on an RTX 5070. However, my sample only came with 32GB of memory, of which I could only dedicate 12-16GB as video memory for the GPU. This somewhat hindered my overall gaming experience, as I couldn’t run most games at a playable frame rate at full resolution, even with DLSS 4.5 to cheat with the scaling.

That said, it’s impressive that Nvidia has given RTX Spark every major gaming feature to date, including DLSS 5 out of the gate, a 2nd-gen transformer model, Multi-Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex, and path tracing, which just became available in games like 007 First Light and Control Resonant. RTX Spark’s sheer GPU power lets this machine run Gears of War: E-Day at over 60fps at 75% screen resolution with high settings, RTX ray tracing, and balanced DLSS 4.5.

Ultimately, even if you throw all the CUDA cores and unified memory at games, RTX Spark simply can’t match the performance of a gaming laptop with a real RTX 5070 or RTX 5060. Discrete GPUs have much faster video memory, and the Surface Laptop Ultra also runs almost every game through Microsoft’s Prism emulator. While gaming through emulation, I’ve experienced longer load times and occasional sudden frame-rate drops. Thankfully, the latter is sporadic, so gaming on the Surface Laptop Ultra is still generally a pleasure. The sooner there are more ARM native games beyond Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Marvel Rivals, the better.

🤖 AI inside. What’s more, the Surface Laptop Ultra is the first device that has given me constant access to an AI agent. Even on a plane, no problem: you can use Hermes, OpenClaw, and Perplexity as a portable computer and run the full AI model and agent harness entirely on device. This has come in super handy for asking a local chatbot more about RTX Spark on the flight from the San Francisco launch event. Alternatively, I used local AI to upscale video from 1080p30 to 2160p60 and remastered old, blurry photos.

Using local AI does come with the burden of switching the GPU to AI mode, where it allocates every graphics core to completing your task, which makes the fans spin full blast and the battery drain quickly. Partly, this is because I’m using the Qwen3.8-27B model, one of the most powerful available right now. Using a smaller parameter AI model saves battery life, but local AI is ultimately about saving your precious tokens for cloud computing tasks.

🔋 All-day battery life. Speaking of power, the Nvidia RTX Spark chip inside the Surface Laptop Ultra is surprisingly efficient, even though every model comes with a 140W charger. Even while gaming, the total CPU and GPU power combined didn’t exceed 60W. The Surface Laptop Ultra was able to last through eight- and 10-hour days before needing a charge. This longevity definitely decreases with AI tasks, which used a record TKW of power draw. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the near-identical performance of the RTX Spark whether I’m plugged in or not.

😍 A real beauty. The Surface Laptop Ultra is a beautiful piece of machined aluminum. There are no gaps and hardly any screws to suggest anything other than a solid block of milled aluminum. It feels like it, too, at 4.41 pounds, putting its total weight right between the 14- and 16-inch MacBook. Though that shouldn’t be too surprising for a 15-inch laptop. The Surface Laptop also looks thinner than its 18mm-thick chassis actually is, thanks largely to its slimming raised pedestal design.

🧲 Move over MagSafe. Perhaps Microsoft’s most impressive new feature is a Magnetic Connect charging solution that would even make MagSafe evangelicals jealous. The twist is that this new Magnetic Connect still uses a mostly traditional USB-C plug. It’s just a tiny bit shorter, which lets it snap safely into the Surface Laptop Ultra’s right-side USB-C port.

It works just like the old magnetic Surface charging connector without taking up valuable I/O space. The USB-C charging port, meanwhile, still lets you plug in any old cable to transfer data or output video to an external monitor. The new 140W USB-C charger is just as neat. It’s smaller thanks to GaN technology, and the Magnetic Connect can also snap onto the power brick, so you have a regular USB-C cable to charge all your other devices.

📺 2000-nit HDR display. Opening the lid with a single finger reveals an equally beautiful 15-inch mini-LED touchscreen with a 2880 × 1920 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display also delivers 4K TV-level HDR brightness, up to 2,000 nits. It makes games look especially fantastic. I was blown away by how good webpages look and how I can still see what’s on screen even when I’m using this laptop out in the sun.

🫨 Haptic touchpad. The trackpad on the Surface Laptop Ultra is the largest Microsoft has put in any Surface device, and it now also vibrates with haptic feedback. Beyond simulating a mouse click, it adds haptic feedback when you snap an app window or drag files across folders. Even though it’s entirely virtual, the haptics add nice tactile confirmation as you interact with elements in Windows. I hope Microsoft and more developers add more haptic feedback to more programs soon.

🎨 Creative workflows. Windows on ARM will be a hurdle for Microsoft and Nvidia to clear with the Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark laptops, but both companies are already working hard to ensure everything works when they launch this fall. On a smaller scale, Adobe is already optimizing Premiere Pro. Nvidia presented a shootout between Premiere Pro and Premiere Pro enhanced for RTX Spark, and the latter rendered a scene 2x faster. The RTX Spark will also have accelerated 4.2.2. video support, so you’ll be able to take footage straight from your Canon, Nikon, Sony, or DJI Pocket 4 and edit in full resolution without any stuttering, whereas current devices require down-res proxies to smoothly play back media.

💨 Proper cooling. A Surface Laptop Ultra running at full tilt sounds about as loud as a portable fan on full power. Microsoft told me the fans in this laptop are the biggest fans it’s ever put in a Surface device, giving it 2.5x that of the Surface Laptop 8th Gen. Aside from bigger fans, Microsoft has carefully engineered its thermal solutions with a new copper cold plate and vents so the airflow can hit every component before the heat gets pushed out.

Should you buy the Surface Laptop Ultra?

✅ Yes, if…

• 💻 You want a flexible PC that will last all day at work, game, and run local AI

• 💎 You want PC hardware that’s even nicer than a MacBook Pro

• 🤖 Exploring AI is your main prerogative

❌ No, if…

• 👾 Emulating all your apps sounds like a hassle

• ⛔ You don’t use AI at all

• 🍎 You’re looking for a similar laptop for general use

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review score: 4.5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 💻 Gaming laptop-grade GPU in a thin-and-light laptop

• 🎮 Impressive gaming performance even while playing through an emulator

• 👾 Full access to all of Nvidia’s latest features, including DLSS 5.0, MFG, and path tracing

• 💾 Awesome multitasking and creative app performance

❌ Cons

• 🧠 No dedicated GDDR7 video memory for the GPU

• 🪭 Loud fans at maximum load

Best Buy: Asus ProArt P16 - $4,499

The Shortcut Review

The Asus ProArt P16 is the perfect example of what a beastly laptop you can get with Nvidia RTX Spar. First off, it puts a powerful multi-tasking processor with the GPU of a gaming laptop and the local AI processing power of a small server into a 3.9-pound laptop. It also exclusively features Nvidia G-Sync support on its incredible 16-inch OLED screen. Add a full set of creator-friendly ports and a bundled mouse, and you’re looking at a laptop that offers a great value even with its steep $4,399 starting price.

By comparison, the closest spec MacBook Pro 16-inch costs $3,599 and is cheaper only because it maxes out at 48GB of RAM, while the ProArt P16 configs start at 64GB. That much memory lets you play games with up to 32GB of video memory with DLSS 4.5 and DLSS 5.0, multi-frame generation, and full RTX ray tracing you won’t find on another SoC from AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm. Meanwhile, you can use that full 64GB of memory to power a local AI agent that completes tasks independently of the cloud.

Nvidia RTX has impressed me with its gaming prowess out of the gate, even without dedicated GDDR7 video RAM or any natively running games – all games currently run through Nvidia’s Prism emulation. But it feels like we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg in how performant these machines will be as more apps and games add native Windows on Arm support.

Full Review

💻 Thinner, lighter, faster. The Asus ProArt P16 is a truly thin 16-inch laptop. It measures just 0.63 inches at its thickest point, and it weighs only 3.9 pounds. That’s even lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and this is a far more flexible device that can do work, gaming, and AI tasks on the go. Switching to a single SOC has let Asus create a laptop that’s 13% thinner and 16% lighter than the previous-generation ProArt P16.

🎬 Made to create. The Asus ProArt P16 sports a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED display that was made just to edit photos and videos. Not only do you get the pure blacks exclusive to an OLED screen, but this display gets plenty bright, up to 1,100 nits. HDR color rendering also reaches 100% of the DCI-P3 rating, and you can easily switch between sRGB and Display P3 color gamut modes in the MyAsus app.

🎮 Fantastic gaming – with limits. The Asus ProArt P16 and the smaller P14 are uniquely the only RTX Spark laptops equipped with a G-Sync display. This gives them an edge for tear-free PC gaming over all the other models powered by Nvidia’s new processor. I’ve had a fantastic time playing Gears of War E-Day at 75% scaled resolution and medium settings, using DLSS 4.5 on Balanced. Of course, turning on Multi-Frame Generation 3x helps push the frame rate up to 120, matching the screen’s refresh rate, and the extra latency cost feels minimal thanks to Nvidia Reflex.

The fact that RTX Spark handles gaming so well is a miracle, since every title runs on the device through Prism emulation. I had no problems even pushing Nvidia’s latest Path Tracing tech in 007: First Light while playing the game in fullscreen with medium settings and DLSS 4.5 set to Balanced. The only game that failed to start was Forza Horizon 6, but since it comes directly from Microsoft, I expect they’ll patch it for compatibility soon.

🕹️ Gaming on the cutting edge. 2026 has been a great year for gaming on thinner devices. Intel Panther Lake brought real +100fps gaming to Ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook Duo, and now RTX Spark has brought high-end gaming to thin-and-light laptops. I wouldn’t say RTX Spark is ready to replace gaming laptops outright yet. After all, there’s a grand total of one recent game designed to run natively on Arm processors: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

Also, while the N1X chip in my sample and most higher-end RTX Spark devices offers the same number of 6144 CUDA cores as a mobile RTX 5070, it doesn’t have access to high-speed GDDR7 video memory. Instead, it taps into the SOC’s shared LPDDR5X memory pool that tops out at 9,400 Mbps. So even if you can have 12, 16, 24, or even 64GB of video memory, the RTX Spark can’t match a gaming laptop with a real Nvidia RTX 5070.

🤖 Bring your AI home. We’ve truly entered the age of agentic AI, and the RTX Spark processor is the perfect home to host them locally. AI has become such an integral part of Windows 11 that the OS will prompt you to choose an AI agent, Hermes, OpenClaw, or Perplexity, from the welcome home screen during initial setup. I’ve used my onboard agent for everything from finding an obscure PC setting to troubleshooting benchmarking and upscaling video from 1080p30 to 2160p60. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as you can ask your agent to build anything from a smart home control bot to vibecoding your next app.

Should you buy the Asus ProArt PX16?

Best Buy: Asus ProArt P16 - $4,499

✅ Yes, if…

• 💻 You want a laptop that can do it all for work, gaming, and AI

• 🎮 You love a thin and light laptop with the graphical power to game

• 🎥 You’re a photographer, video shooter, or creator in general

• 🤖 You want to use AI agents while disconnected from the Internet

❌ No, if…

• 🍎 You abhor Windows 11 (get the MacBook Pro instead)

• 🙅‍♂️ You hate the idea of playing all your games through an emulator

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review score: 4.5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🏷️ Attractively priced at $499 to start

• ⚫ Nanomatte display eliminates glare

• 📺 Pixel-matched finish maintains deep black levels and vibrant colors

• 📖 Color Paper and Ink Paper modes for reading

• ⚙️ Great everyday performance and solid 12-14 hour battery life

❌ Cons

• 📈 Accessory prices are steep

• 📱 Paper-like reading modes don’t extend beyond the Kindle app

• 👾 Graphics are weak for anything beyond casual gaming

• 🫆 Nanomatte finish is a fingerprint magnet

Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro - $499

Alexa Tablet 12 Pro Nanomatte - $549

Alexa Tablet 12 Pro NM 256GB - $679

The Shortcut Review

The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro has easily become the Android tablet I would recommend above all others. It starts at a fantastically attractive $499, and the optional Nanomatte screen is an essential upgrade that bumps the price to $549 for a glare-free display with almost OLED-quality blacks like the iPad Pro, but at a much more affordable price.

Easily the most captivating thing about the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is its Nanomatte display, which essentially eliminates glare and gives the screen a more paper-like feel. The screen is stunning in its own right with a 12.3-inch size, 3:2 aspect ratio, 2,800 x 1,840 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 500 nits of brightness – this is a flagship-grade display that makes watching movies and reading books a joy. Amazon, of course, added some Kindle-ness with the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro by giving it Color and Ink Paper modes that emulate the blue-light-free, paper-like feel of reading on an e-ink device.

Everyday performance is great, with a solid 12-14 hours of battery life, and it has enough graphical power to play games like Honkai: Star Rail and Wuthering Waves. While it’s not as powerful as an iPad Air M4 or Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, if you just want a tablet for reading and watching movies that you’ll download Amazon’s apps for anyway, this is a far more affordable option. It’s also a great device that can be a portal for all your artistic needs, work multitasking, and agentic AI needs.

Full Review

⚫ Nanomatte display. Amazon’s new Nanomatte display offers an amazing level of glare reduction, so I can take the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro anywhere outside, even on the sunniest days, and still clearly see what’s on the screen. The only thing that makes the tablet’s screen impossible to see is direct sunlight hitting the display, which peaks at 500 nits. Otherwise, indoor spotlights pointed directly at the screen or really any indoor lighting situations, cause bothersome reflections on the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro. And best of all, I can use any old microfiber cloth to wipe the screen, unlike the iPad Pro.

👾 Pixel-matched finish. The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro doesn’t use a simple sandblasted matte finish to achieve its anti-glare properties. Amazon co-developed this new matte display with Corning, using a photolithography process to etch a precise, pixel-aligned texture onto the glass. In short, the matte display was custom-molded to the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro’s specific display. This allows the display to maintain deeper blacks and richer colors. It also lets this Amazon tablet create faux Soft White and Colorsoft Kindle modes that look fairly similar to an actual e-reader.

📖 Kindle mode. The Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro makes tablet reading a little easier with Color Paper and Ink Paper modes. Although it’s not a real Kindle, reading in this mode is a little softer on the eyes as it cuts out most of the blue light emanating from the display.

Color Paper mode looks less saturated than the display’s standard color mode, but it renders images and comic books with a surprisingly paper-like quality. It also offers more saturation and color accuracy than even Amazon’s latest Colorsoft Kindles, thanks to its real underlying LCD screen. Meanwhile, Ink Paper makes reading books on the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro a joy compared to the eye strain you’ll develop from staring at an iPad. That said, holding a 12-inch tablet to read books is still a lot heavier than a Kindle, so I’ll stick to an e-reader for long reading sessions.

Amazon isn’t the first to introduce a paper-like reading tablet; TCL has been working on NXTPaper devices for five years. I would like to see Amazon expand its Kindle mode to the Silk browser for reading webpages, even if it won’t let me use the device in “paper mode” throughout the whole interface as TCL does.

⚡ Fast enough. The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro feels snappy and much faster than previous Amazon Fire tablets. Admittedly, the aging MediaTek Dimensity 8400 processor from 2024 isn’t nearly as quick as the latest iPad Air M4 or Samsung Galaxy S12 Ultra’s MediaTek Dimensity 9500, but for this hardware the CPU offers more than enough oomph. I could even game at a decent frame rate in Honkai: Star Rail and Wuthering Waves on the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro.

▶️ Down to play. I have to commend Amazon for peeling back the layers of control and switching from Fire OS to Android 16. Amazon’s brand presence on the tablet is very visible in the corners with the ‘Ask Alexa’ widget and the dynamic tab in the top-left corner of the screen. However, granting users full access to the Play Store to download any app is a great step for these new tablets.

🤖 Alexa+ everywhere. The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, unsurprisingly, offers plenty of ways to access Alexa+. You can, of course, summon it with your voice, and the dual-array microphones let you call it from another room. The on-screen shortcut gives you ready access, but one of the most useful new interactions is having Alexa+ summarize webpages in Amazon’s Silk web browser with a few shortcut clicks. It’s contextual enough to see what you’re looking at and offer search and shopping suggestions. You can also use Alexa+ to create an OpenTable reservation or generate a calendar reminder from an email. It’s all pretty basic stuff, but you can also easily download any more complex AI Agent like ChatGPT and Perplexity thanks to full access to the Google Play Store.

🛍️ Bundle up. Amazon has made a fantastic set of accessories for the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro that turn it into a road-warrior work machine and digital art palette, but they’re pretty expensive for a $549 tablet. The $149 Pro Keyboard and $89 Pro Pen together cost 40% of the tablet’s price. The good news is that if you’re planning to get both accessories from the jump, bundling the device and accessories together for $699 is cheaper, which essentially nets you the whole package with a free pen.

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review Score: 5/5 – ‘Outstanding‘

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros:

• 👀 Gorgeous transparent shell

• 💰 More affordable than before

• 🏆 Still the best way to play Game Boy and Game Boy Color games

• 👏 Transparent Tetris cartridge included

• 👍 Modern-day features

• 🤝 Matches the ModRetro M64

❌ Cons:

• 🔊 Louder buttons and D-Pad

• 👷‍♂️ Not quite as durable as before

• 😤 The menu button is still annoying

Get the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent

Get the ModRetro Chromatic

Get ModRetro Chromatic games

ModRetro Chromatic at GameStop

ModRetro Chromatic games at GameStop

The Shortcut Review

The ModRetro Chromatic quickly became one of my favorite gaming products when it was released last year and led me down an expensive rabbit hole of collecting games for a handheld I adored growing up but didn’t fully appreciate.

Now, I fear the same will happen to many more nostalgic gamers, as the new ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent not only looks fantastic, capturing the iconic look that defined the 90s, but it costs $149.99 – $50 less than the magnesium shell Chromatic.

This isn’t a hamstrung version of the original Chromatic, either. You’re still getting the pixel-perfect, insanely bright screen, super-responsive controls, and full support for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Chromatic games. Nothing has been cut back or trimmed – only the shell has changed.

The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent may not be as durable long-term because of its plastic build, but it’s noticeably lighter at 219 grams compared to 252 grams (with three AA batteries inside). It makes the handheld feel even more portable and suitable for younger players who may have found the original Chromatic too heavy.

ModRetro Chromatic Transparent specs 🛠️

• Price: $149.99

• Colors: Smoke, Red, Green, Purple

• Compatibility: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Chromatic cartridges

• Display: 160x144 pixel 2.56-inch IPS backlit LCD

• Release date: October 8, 2026

There’s also never been a better time to pick up a ModRetro Chromatic, especially as the company has proved it wasn’t simply a flash in the pan or a nostalgia grab. Various firmware updates have improved the experience and added new features, like being able to change the color temperature and the ability to update newly released cartridges via Cart Clinic. The list of ModRetro Chromatic games has also continued to grow, with more titles on the way.

Throw in upcoming support with the ModRetro M64 – the company’s modernized Nintendo 64 – and suddenly there’s a thriving ecosystem for two systems released decades ago.

In my ModRetro Chromatic review, I said it was a perfect retro revival of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. It’s a statement I stand by, and the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent is a welcome reminder of that fact. Read my full ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent review below and check out my original Chromatic review for more.

A review unit was provided by ModRetro. Nintendo®, Nintendo 64®, Game Boy®, and the 2-dimensional shape of the Game Boy® console are registered trademarks owned by Nintendo of America, Inc. Nintendo is not affiliated with ModRetro, nor does Nintendo sponsor, approve of, or endorse ModRetro.

What I loved about the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent ❤️

👀 Take a look inside. Transparent tech went the way of the dodo at one point, but has slowly been reintroduced as companies remembered why it was so cool (and popular) to begin with. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent delivers on its promise, letting you ogle at all the circuitry and intricate parts that make the handheld come to life. Long live transparent tech.

💰 More attractive price point. It’s refreshing to see ModRetro charging less for the transparent Chromatic, instead of more. Rival retro hardware maker Analogue also released transparent versions of the Analogue Pocket, but asked for $249.99, up from the usual $219.99. At $149.99 for the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent ($50 less than before), it’s a steal in comparison and makes it even easier to recommend.

🏆 Still the ultimate Game Boy. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent lets you play original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games exactly as you remember them. There’s no emulation, input latency, or shady ROMs to deal with – just dust off your favorite cartridge, slot it in, and you’re ready to go. The Chromatic also supports link cable play and has an IR blaster built-in.

👏 Transparent Tetris included. Just like before, every Transparent Chromatic comes with a copy of the excellent Tetris for Chromatic. Not only that, but the cartridge will also be transparent to match the final retail version. Now that’s cool.

👍 Modern sensibilities. The ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent also includes some modern-day tweaks that players will welcome. You can adjust the screen’s brightness, turn on silent mode, adjust frame blending, screen transitions, make the D-Pad ignore diagonals, and change the color temperature. You can also stream and record your gameplay directly to a Mac or PC, and ModRetro games can be updated via Cart Clinic. Firmware updates have also continued to improve the overall experience.

🤝 Ready for the M64. The new transparent colorways match the ModRetro M64’s look and feel. Whether you have the Smoke, Red, Green, or Purple M64, you can now pick up a matching Chromatic. It comes ahead of an update for the M64 that will allow video passthrough for the ModRetro Chromatic and a Chromatic Transfer Pak.

What I disliked about the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent 💔

🔊 Louder buttons and D-Pad. One downside of the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent’s plastic shell is that the face buttons produce more noise when pressed. It’s nothing too egregious, but the magnesium-shelled version is a touch quieter when you’re bashing buttons. The quality of the buttons is the same – the noise is merely a byproduct of the different acoustics produced by the shells.

👷‍♂️ Not quite as durable as before. The original Chromatic is built like a tank thanks to its metal shell. The Transparent’s plastic shell is more likely to suffer long-term wear and tear, and less likely to survive a hard drop, while the original Chromatic feels like it would go through the floor rather than bounce off it.

😤 The menu button is still annoying. This isn’t a hardware refresh, so it’s understandable that some of the same gripes I had with the original Chromatic remain, including the overly recessed side button. Again, it’s not something you use often, other than to adjust the screen’s brightness on the fly or change a few settings, but I wish it was easier to press.

Should you buy the ModRetro Chromatic Transparent? 🤔

Get the ModRetro Chromatic - Transparent

Get the ModRetro Chromatic

Get ModRetro Chromatic games

ModRetro Chromatic at GameStop

ModRetro Chromatic games at GameStop

Yes, if…

• ✅ You miss the days of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color

• ✅ You want the most authentic possible experience and not an emulation

• ✅ You love physical games and collecting, or already have an existing library

No, if…

• ❌ You already have a ModRetro Chromatic

• ❌ You want one device that can play games from multiple systems

• ❌ You’re fine with emulating retro games

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 💻 Surface Laptop Ultra is the most excitingly powerful Windows 11 laptop in years

• 🪙 Wrapped in a premium aluminum chassis that feels like one solid block of metal

• 📺 2000-nit 15-inch mini LED display is searingly bright with fantastic contrast

• 🫨 Haptic touchpad simulates clicks and adds a tactile confirmation while hovering over Windows 11 elements

• 🧲 Magnetic Connect charging solution gives you the covnence of magnets while giving you a USB-C port

• 🎮 Runs Gears of War: E-Day, Alan Wake 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Fortnite, Pragmata, and more ray-traced games at a smooth 60+ frames per second at full resolution

• 💪 Ready for heavy creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and Unreal Engine 5

• 🤖 Hyrbid Intelligence promises to save tokens by running all but the most challenging AI tasks locally

The Surface Laptop Ultra is shaping up to reinvent PCs as we know it. Even if it comes at a steep $2,599 starting price, this machine will give the MacBook Pro it’s biggest fight in years. Equipped with Nvidia’s new RTX Spark ARM processor promise top performance for both creative tasks and ray traced gaming, and

At Microsoft’s launch event in San Francisco, we got an even closer look at the device than our first hands-on from Computex 2026. Microsoft highlighted the Surface Laptop Ultra’s gaming performance, running Gear of War: E-Day at full resolution and 120fps – though with the help of DLSS 4.5 and Frame Generation. I could also talk all day about how good the Surface Laptop Ultra’s new Magnetic Connect charging solution that still uses USB-C – move over MagSafe.

The Surface Laptop Ultra also showcases how Microsoft is further integrating AI into Windows. It can support a variety of locally-run AI models including Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, Perplexity, and even Facebook Muse. Additionally, Microsoft is integrating AI into even something as integral as Windows Search, which promises to give you a more contextual and deeper Windows search experience than ever before.

That’s just our (second) initial thoughts of the Surface Laptop Ultra and we’ll be testing the device ahead of its October 16 release date.

Full Review

😍 A real beauty. The Surface Laptop Ultra is a beautiful piece of machined aluminum. There are no gaps and hardly any screws to suggest anything less than a solid block of milled aluminum. The chassis is also impressively thin at 18mm, but it looks even thinner thanks to its raised pedestal design. Despite all the power and Microsoft’s most powerful cooling system yet (more on that later), it weighs under 4.5 pounds, just like the MacBook Pro.

📺 2000-nit HDR display. Opening the lid with a single finger reveals an equally beautiful 15-inch mini-LED touchscreen with a 2880 × 1920 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display also delivers 4K TV-level HDR brightness, up to 2,000 nits. It makes games look especially fantastic. I was blown away by how good the sun-drenched rainforest scenes from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looked on the Surface Laptop Ultra. Even this Windows 11 desktop that Microsoft chose shows how much contrast the Surface Laptop Ultra can display.

🫨 Haptic touchpad. The trackpad on the Surface Laptop Ultra is the largest Microsoft has put in any Surface device, and it now also vibrates with haptic feedback. What’s interesting is Microsoft doesn’t just use haptics to simulate a mouse click, but the trackpad also vibrates while you hover over the X-button to close applications. Alternatively, the haptics shake when you bring a window to the top of the screen and drag it along different split-screen presets. Even though it’s entirely virtual, the haptics add nice tactile confirmation as you interact with elements in Windows. I hope Microsoft adds more soon.

🥊 A huge contender. The Nvidia RTX Spark is bolting out of the gate with some of the biggest specs we’ve seen for a laptop processor. It features a custom 20-core Grace CPU that promises up to one petaflop worth of AI performance. Nvidia says this is the first time a device has been powerful enough to run 120-billion-parameter AI models on-device rather than systems with multiple GPUs or through the cloud with servers.

The onboard graphics offer an equally impressive 6,144 Blackwell CUDA cores, which should closely match the graphics performance of an RTX 5070 laptop GPU, though with a maximum power draw of 80W. Configurations can also feature up to 128GB of shared memory; however, I also saw plenty of machines with just 64GB of RAM, and Nvidia has told journalists that some configs will have as little as 16GB of RAM.

🎨 Creative workflows. Windows on ARM will be a hurdle for Microsoft and Nvidia to clear with the Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark laptops, but both companies are already working hard to ensure everything works when they launch this fall. On the smaller scale, Adobe is already optimizing Premiere Pro. Nvidia presented a shootout between Premiere Pro and Premiere Pro enhanced for RTX Spark, and the latter rendered a scene 2x faster. The RTX Spark will also have accelerated 4.2.2. video support, so you’ll be able to take footage straight from your Canon, Nikon, Sony, or DJI Pocket 4 and edit in full resolution without any stuttering, whereas current devices require down-res proxies to smoothly play back media.

I also flew seamlessly around a five-kilometer square virtual environment in Unreal Engine 5, all running on a Surface Laptop Ultra. Even more impressive, Nvidia’s Prism software emulated the environment for the app to run, and Nvidia claims it adds only 5%-10% CPU overhead.

🎮 All the gaming-ready RTX features. The Surface Laptop Ultra comes with a Blackwell GPU that supports all of Nvidia’s major gaming features to date. That includes DLSS 4.5 features like the 2nd-gen transformer model, Multi-Frame Generation, Nvidia Reflex, and path tracing, which just became available on games like 007 First Light, Control Resonant, and the newly released

The RTX Spark’s sheer GPU power lets this machine run Gears of War: E-Day at full resolution, 120fps, and with high settings including RTX ray tracing. However, it was only capable of this performance because it was also running the game with the help of DLSS and 3x Multi-Frame Generation. I’ve also previously seen this machine run Alan Wake 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at full resolution with well over 60 fps – again with DLSS and 2x MFG, with hardly any latency. It remains to be seen how much navtive game support ARM will get, but the Surface Book Ultra seemed to have no issue playing Pragmata and Fortnite through an emulator.

🧲 Move over MagSafe. Perhaps even more impressive than the performance is Microsoft has come up with a new Magnetic Connect charging solution that would even make MagSafe evangelicals jealous. The twist of this new Magnetic Connect is it still uses a mostly traditionally USB-C plug. It’s just a tiny bit shorter, which is what allows it to safely snap onto the the Surface Laptop Ultra’s rightside USB-C port. Microsoft also cleverly made the Magnetic Connect compatible with its new 140W USB-C charger, so you can flip the cable around a still charge all your regular USB-C charging devices.

💨 Proper cooling. A Surface Laptop Ultra running at full tilt sounds about as loud as a portable fan on full power. Microsoft told me the fans in this laptop are the biggest fans it’s ever put in a Surface device, giving it 2.5x that of the Surface Laptop 8th Gen. Aside from bigger fans, Microsoft has carefully engineered its thermal solutions with a new copper cold plate and vents so the airflow can hit every component before the heat gets pushed out.

• Up next: MacBook Pro OLED will be ‘significantly lighter’ than previous models

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Rating: 5/5

✅ Pros

• 🔋 Huge leap in battery life compared to 17 Pro Max

• 📸 Camera quality gets a big boost with the variable aperture

• 📱 Gorgeous 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display

• 🚀 Insane performance with A20 Pro

• 🎨 Colors are subtle but stunning

• ⚡️ Faster charging than any previous iPhone

• 🔊 Impressive stereo speakers

• 🏝️ Smaller Dynamic Island frees up more screen real estate

❌ Cons

• 💰 More expensive than last year

• 🌖 Ultra-wide camera isn’t great for nighttime videos

• 📐 Very thick and heavy compared to other phones

The Shortcut review

The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the easiest phone I can recommend to anyone in the market for an upgrade. It’s the biggest, baddest iPhone that Apple has ever shipped, somehow trumping the excellence of last year’s 17 Pro Max with key upgrades that take it to a whole new level. Sure, it costs $100 more than last year, but what Apple’s been able to do with performance, the camera, and the battery life makes up for it.

That being said, this phone is very similar to last year’s - almost too similar. From the weight and thickness to the huge screen, it’s not the phone to get if you want something easy to hold. It also, obviously, doesn’t unfold to reveal a bigger screen, which makes the upcoming iPhone Duo ideal for those who want iMessage on a foldable phone.

But for those who just want the best phone they can get, it’s hard to argue against the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple took everything great about last year’s phone and dialed things up to 11, making this the most powerful and capable iPhone I’ve ever tested. It also beats the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro XL in key ways that’ll give Samsung and Google some catching up to do come 2027.

Best Buy: iPhone 18 Pro Max

✍️ Review notes

👀 The camera’s variable aperture is a big deal. The biggest upgrade that the iPhone 18 Pro Max got compared to last year is on the back. There’s a new 48MP main camera that’s equipped with a variable aperture, capable of physically opening or closing to let in more light and affect things like detail, background blur, and more. No other smartphone (at least not in the United States) has this feature, which makes it a huge deal that Apple included it on the 18 Pro.

🌃 Nighttime photos and portraits get a big upgrade. The two key areas where the variable aperture makes the biggest difference for average users is at night and when taking portraits. Because it can physically let in more light than before (automatically, mind you), your pictures and videos will look a lot sharper and more detailed than before. This is extremely helpful in dark bars, looking at the New York City skyline at night, and when I’m taking aesthetic photos of the Mango Banana Rush in Maui with the boys. For portrait mode fans, opening the aperture means a naturally blurrier background for your subject, taking your photography game to a new level.

🎛️ Even better for the pros. Apple lets you manually control how wide the aperture is open in the Camera app, which gives you greater control over how your photos look. Combined with new controls for shutter speed and white balance, creators and professional photographers are going to love the tools they have in the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The Galaxy S26 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro XL also have great pro controls, but neither can match what the iPhone is capable of - all thanks to that variable aperture. Plus, you can now fully customize the Camera app to show the tools you need the most right in the main view, without having to dig through settings. It’s worth toying with if you want to use pro controls more often than you are now.

🤳 How’s overall camera quality? Fantastic. The variable aperture gives the main camera a huge leg-up in performance, while the 48MP telephoto still kicks out great-looking 4x zoom shots, and even looks good at 8x. The 48MP ultra-wide camera performs well in daylight with its 120-degree field of view, but I do wish the aperture were a bit wider than f/2.8 to help at night. Still, these cameras are some of the best in the entire world of smartphones. They also deliver more reliable results with less emphasis on saturation, an area that Samsung still struggles with on the Galaxy S26 series.

📷 Digital cameras, be gone. One of the biggest social camera trends as of late has been the rise of standalone digital cameras, which deliver certain aesthetics that younger audiences love for nights out with friends, birthdays, and more. Apple wants to replicate some of that with Photographic Styles 3, its latest iteration of customization tools to give your pictures the aesthetic you want. Apple has added things like skin smoothing, glowing effects, and even film grain to make your pictures look more artsy, and you can set any of these as your default shooting mode. They’re a lot of fun to play around with and can help you get closer to the look you’re after, but I’ll admit, some third-party apps are better for replicating the look of famous digital cameras like something from Fujifilm or Kodak. Still, if you want your photos to have more personality, you have the option.

🎥 Yeah, you still can’t top iPhone video. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are the new kings of smartphone video. Nothing you capture on a Samsung or Google phone will top what you can get here, which speaks well to Apple’s processing techniques for video quality. Whether it’s during the day or at night, every clip looks fantastic. New this year is the ability to capture even better low-light video with the variable aperture, 4K timelapses, and applying Cinematic blur effects to regular video. If you need the best video camera on you at all times, it’s hard to argue with the quality here.

🔋 The best battery life ever on an iPhone. It took about nine days for my iPhone 18 Pro Max to settle in after getting it, but once it did, the battery life absolutely rocked. The device ships with a 5,567mAh battery in the United States, which is the biggest battery we’ve ever seen in an iPhone. Apple says it can last up to 45 hours when playing videos, which translates to well over a day of heavier-than-normal usage.

☀️ All day, and then some. With over four hours of screen time, a ton of camera usage, posting Reels left and right, and typing up drafts on the go, the 18 Pro Max would regularly have about 40% left in the tank at night. On light days, I could easily end a day with 60% left, which is enough to get through a second full day with no issue. This level of endurance is invaluable to me when I travel, eliminating any battery anxiety I could have. Compared to similar phones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, I could more reliably get through a full day with the iPhone and use heavy features like the camera for longer before worrying about a charger.

⚡️ Finally, faster wired charging. The iPhone 18 Pro Max can charge at up to 53W, a big jump from the 40W charging cap on the 17 Pro Max. It lets the phone juice up to 50% in as little as 15 minutes when it’s dead, getting you back to a full charge quicker than ever before. You still get 25W Qi2 wireless charging via MagSafe, which is handy, but not nearly as convenient as wired charging has gotten. It’s made me switch back to charging with a wire at night, which I haven’t done in well over a year.

📱 Same display… Apple didn’t change anything about the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s display compared to last year. It still measures 6.9 inches, it’s still a Super Retina XDR panel, and it’s still super bright at 3,000 nits. Everything looks phenomenal on this panel, from movies to games to articles and more. It’s very spacious, too; it’s always felt like a mini tablet to me, which is nice on airplanes and on the train for passing the time while watching YouTube. That might be too big for most people which, y’know, totally fair. But in your pocket, it’s nice to have a big screen.

🏝️ … with one Dynamic difference. Well, there is one noticeable difference on the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s display: the Dynamic Island. It’s a bit smaller than last year, which lets Apple fit up to three Live Activities at the top of your phone instead of two. I never found this to be abundantly helpful in my daily use, but it’s nice that the cut-out is starting to shrink. The company had to move the infrared camera to the left side under the screen to shrink the Island, which you’ll only notice in specific lighting and doesn’t affect the performance of Face ID.

🚀 Ludicrous mode. I feel like the A20 Pro in the iPhone 18 Pro Max has enabled some sort of “Ludicrous” mode for the iPhone experience, because this chip is extremely impressive. Not only does this 2nm chip benchmark insanely high, but it also helps your games perform better, multitasking feel smoother, and all the new Siri AI features process quicker than you’d expect. We say every year how much the new iPhone is faster than the old one, and while it may sound tired, it’s absolutely true - especially this year.

🧊 Keeping things extra cool. The A20 Pro chip moves the RAM to the side to make more vertical room, which means that the upgraded vapor chamber can connect directly to the chip. This means two things: Apple was able to increase the chamber’s size by 3x and use new materials to keep your phone cool, and it means the chip itself will have a much easier time staying cool during your use. My iPhone 17 Pro Max would get the hottest when I used the camera for a long time during meetings to capture B-roll for The Shortcut Live. After using the 18 Pro Max for the same purpose, I noticed it would be a lot less warm and maintain good performance for longer. For that reason alone, I’m glad the bigger vapor chamber is here.

🔊 Booming speakers. Apple is still kicking out some of the best speakers you’ll find on a smartphone. The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses a downward-firing driver and the earpiece to deliver great sound quality. They get loud enough to use your phone as a boombox for times when you need a little energy in your hotel room or in the shower, and they have a surprising amount of bass so it won’t feel like you’re missing anything by watching a movie or YouTube video without headphones.

📱 iOS 27 brings the AI era to iPhone. Android phones have had a serious leg-up on iPhones in the AI category for a while now, but that (thankfully) is changing with iOS 27. With Siri AI, the iPhone feels way smarter than it ever has. It has personal context to give you smarter answers to your questions; it can look at your email or calendar to give you insights into your schedule and help you stay on top of things; it can see what’s on your screen to create lists or add reminders; and the Siri app lets you view all of your past conversations. I wrote more about all my favorite features in iOS 27 in a separate post, but by far the biggest shift you’ll see is in Siri, and it’s one we’ve been waiting way too long for.

📶 What’s the deal with the modem? If you’re privy to the world of smartphones, you’d know that the base iPhone 18 Pro made the switch to Apple’s new C2 modem, which offers improved efficiency and performance over previous modems. Meanwhile, the iPhone 18 Pro Max sticks with a Qualcomm modem, namely the Snapdragon X80 5G. In my testing on T-Mobile, it’s performed perfectly fine and doesn’t offer any noticeable wireless improvements or downgrades compared to what Matt experienced on his 18 Pro. That being said, when Apple does switch the entire iPhone lineup to its own modems, we’ll have a clearer idea of how big a difference it could make on battery life and wireless connectivity.

🎨 Understated (and underrated) colors. The colors that Apple picked for the iPhone 18 Pro are much less saturated than last year’s Pro shades, but I dig them. My personal favorite is Black, which meshes way better with the industrial design of the 18 Pro Max than you might expect. It may look like an average black smartphone online, but take a look at it in person and you’ll get what I mean. I also really like the Burgundy shade, as well as Glacier. Silver is a bit more boring than it was last year since it no longer has a two-tone finish, but it looks good enough for fans of more basic colorways.

📐 Still a bit too big. This isn’t necessarily unique to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but it’s worth reiterating for the rest of the industry: I know we all want big screens in our pockets, and folding phones do help solve that problem more often than not, but it’d be nice to have a candy bar phone with a big screen that’s thin and light. The iPhone Air has spoiled me with its slim form factor and light weight, and while I don’t expect the iPhone Pro Max series to ever reach the same design, I do hope that Apple at least makes it lighter and shaves off a couple of millimeters in the future. At 8.75mm thick and 249 grams in weight, this thing is a chonker, to say the least.

Should you buy the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Yes, if…

• ✅ You’re using an iPhone 16 or older and need an upgrade

• ✅ You need the best battery life in an iPhone

• ✅ You care about camera quality and want to use professional tools

• ✅ You play a lot of mobile games

• ✅ You want a big screen for watching movies on the go

No, if…

• ❌ You have an iPhone 16 Pro or newer

• ❌ You want to be able to use your phone with one hand (get the iPhone 18 Pro)

• ❌ You want to save money (get the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air)

• ❌ You prefer Android over iOS (get the Pixel 11 Pro XL or Galaxy S26 Ultra)

• ❌ You want your next phone to fold (wait for the iPhone Duo)

Best Buy: iPhone 18 Pro Max

Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.

🏆 Review Score: 4/5 – ‘Great!‘

✅ Pros:

• 😍 Stunning looks and build quality

• 💪 Stacked with competitive features

• 🎮 Controller emulation is nice to have

• 🔧 Web-based software is in-depth and simple to use

• 👏 Hot-swappable for easy switch replacement

❌ Cons:

• 🐾 It doesn’t have adjustable feet

• 🤏 Compact 60%-size isn’t for everyone

• 💰 Premium pricing

Amazon: IQUNIX EV63

IQUNIX: EV63

The Shortcut Review

The IQUNIX EV63 is aimed squarely at fans of the iconic Ghost in the Shell anime series and gamers who desire a high-performance keyboard that has must-have features like rapid trigger, customizable actuation points, and in-depth software.

Inspired by Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 motifs, the IQUNIX EV63 certainly looks the part, and its build quality is exceptional. There’s a real premium heft to the keyboard, thanks to its forged-carbon, aluminum finish and notable weight. The detailed keycaps inspired by the cyberpunk theme that Ghost in the Shell is so famed for are also beautifully crafted.

But it’s the IQUNIX EV63 gaming capabilities that really elevate this keyboard above other models. Not only is it armed with Hall-effect magnetic switches that support rapid-trigger and continuous rapid trigger, but IQUNIX’s web-based configuration tool lets you lock-in exactly the settings you desire.

IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition specs 🛠️

• Price: $249.99

• Colors: Shell Core, Cyber Blue

• Connectivity: Wired

Post-launch support has added new functionality, such as controller emulation, a useful feature for third-person and driving games, and its hot-swappable design lets you customize the feel and sound if you’re not satisfied with the stock setup. However, I found the default Nova Switches delivered a smooth and responsive typing experience, and felt incredibly responsive for gaming.

As a 60%-sized keyboard, it’s ideal for those looking for a smaller footprint on their desk, and there are layer shortcuts you can program to remap missing keys and create macros using the aforementioned IQUNIX configuration tool.

Still, its bold styling will only appeal to those who are fans of Ghost in the Shell and are after a compact gaming keyboard above all else. At $249, it’s a premium product that commands a premium price tag, and means there’s plenty of competition to consider at this price bracket. Read my full IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition review below.

A review unit was provided by IQUNIX.

What I loved about the IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition ❤️

😍 Stunning looks and build quality. There’s no denying that the IQUNIX EV63 looks the part, with ‌its cyberpunk-infused styling and intricate details that pay homage to the Ghost in the Shell series. It doesn’t look garish or loud, and really feels like a genuinely special edition. It’s also built like a tank, weighing 1.2kg.

💪 Stacked with competitive features. The IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition is a gaming keyboard at heart, and is packed with every modern-day tech competitive gamers could ask for. There’s 8 kHz polling rate and 16 kHz scan rate, SOCD 2.0 (Simultaneous Opposite Cardinal Direction) and dynamic keystroke support, and ultra-responsive hall-effect switches that can offer 0.01mm precision with barely any perceptible latency. It feels fantastic to play games on.

🎮 Controller emulation is nice to have. Few keyboards offer a way to emulate a controller, which is a neat addition to the IQUNIX EV63. Games that rely on analog stick movement greatly benefit, and it bridges the gap between a controller and a keyboard. You’ll need to install the latest update, but it’s a breeze to do using the web-based software.

🔧 Web-based software is in-depth and easy to use. Speaking of which, you can customize the IQUNIX EV63 to your heart’s content with the web-based software without having to download or install anything. There’s a wealth of features available, including key actuation, rapid trigger, macros, profile presets, and more to choose from. There are also helpful explanations next to each setting, so you know what you’re enabling and why.

👏 Hot-swappable for easy switch replacement. If you don’t gel with the stock Nova key switches, you can mod the IQUNIX EV63. Each switch sits in a modular socket rather than being soldered to the PCB, allowing you to use a switch puller to lift out any of the Hall-effect modules and drop in a new one. The board automatically detects the new switch and recalibrates accordingly. It’s great for modders and also gives you peace of mind if any switch fails.

What I disliked about the IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition 💔

🐾 It doesn’t have adjustable feet. The IQUNIX EV63 isn’t the most ergonomic keyboard as it doesn’t have any feet that let you adjust the height. The chassis sits at a fixed angle, so if you’re someone who prefers a flatter or more forward-leaning setup, you’re out of luck. You also don’t get a palm rest.

🤏 Compact 60%-size isn’t for everyone. Even though you can remap and create macros to make up for the missing keys, I always miss having dedicated media keys, and some games make use of the F keys that aren’t present on the IQUNIX EV63. You need to be comfortable sacrificing some functionality for form.

💰 Premium pricing. Unless you’re completely sold on the look of the IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition, its price of $249 puts it head to head with other gaming keyboards that may offer more keys, ergonomic features, and similar gaming perks, often for a lower or a similar price. It’s also a wired-only connection.

Should you buy the IQUNIX EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition? 🤔

Amazon: IQUNIX EV63

Yes, if…

• ✅ You love Ghost in the Shell

• ✅ You want a high-end, feature-packed gaming keyboard

• ✅ You need a compact-sized keyboard with a small footprint

No, if…

• ❌ You don’t have an affinity with Ghost in the Shell

• ❌ You value ergonomics and being able to adjust a keyboard’s angle

• ❌ You require more keys than a 60%-sized keyboard offers

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Review Score: 4.5/5 – ‘Awesome!‘

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros:

• 🤩 Wide, open, and detailed soundstage

• 🎤 Top tier microphone

• 👍 No need for sidetone when chatting

• 🎵 EQ can be customized on PC

• 🪶 Super light and comfortable to wear

❌ Cons:

• 😶 Zero sound isolation

• 💰 Expensive for a wired headset with few features

Best Buy: Sony Inzone H6 Air

Amazon: Sony Inzone H6 Air

The Shortcut Review

The Sony Inzone H6 Air is a rarity these days: an open-back gaming headset in a market saturated with closed-back pairs. It makes it feel like a novelty, as there’s only a handful around, and many don’t offer the key features gamers expect, such as a microphone.

Thankfully, the Sony Inzone H6 Air is a fantastic option if you’re looking for stellar, spacious sound quality for gaming or music that can’t be replicated on closed-back pairs. With a feather-light design that makes them extremely comfortable to wear, and a design that closely resembles the Sony Inzone H9 II in its look and feel, the Inzone H6 Air feels like a premium product.

Sony Inzone H6 Air specs 🛠️

• Price: $199.99

• Connectivity: Wired

• Weight: 199 grams

However, for $200, they’re expensive for a wired headset and are missing some desirable features that simply can’t be included because of the very nature of being an open-back headset. There’s no Bluetooth support, active noise cancelling technology, or game/chat balance. They’re also not ideal if you’re playing in a loud environment, as sound simply bleeds through and out of the headset.

But I’ve always found that the wider, more detailed, and realistic soundstage is worth the sacrifices, if you can accommodate them. The Sony Inzone H6 Air also has some welcome perks, such as a dedicated mic mute button and the option to create your own EQ through the Sony Inzone PC app (if you connect through the USB dongle). They’re also easy to drive with a low impedance of just 28 Ohms, so they don’t require a powerful DAC to get the best sound and work fine when plugged into a PS5 controller. Read my full Sony Inzone H6 Air review below.

A review unit was provided by Sony.

What I loved about the Sony Inzone H6 Air ❤️

🤩 Exceptional sound quality. With its studio-grade 40mm drivers, the Sony Inzone H6 Air delivers wide, airy, immersive audio that provides pinpoint-accurate positional detail. They’re also a fantastic fit for music, which is often a stumbling block for closed-back gaming headsets that are often tuned for heavy bass and sparkling highs. The clarity of the Inzone H6 Air really helps it shine, and even the low-end – a weakness of many open-back headphones – is surprisingly potent.

🎤 Top-tier mic. Just like the Sony Inzone H9 II, the microphone on the Inzone H6 Air ensures you’re heard loud and clear. It’s incredibly flexible, and you can mute the microphone on the headset itself. You can also remove it entirely if you’re not planning on chatting with friends (or shouting at foes).

👍 No need for mic sidetone. Chatting with friends is a strength of the Sony Inzone H6 Air. Because you can clearly hear your surroundings and your own voice, you don’t sound like you’re talking underwater, and you don’t need a mic to feed your own voice back while you speak, like with closed-back headphones.

🎵 EQ can be customized. Though the Sony Inzone H6 Air sounds fantastic using its default tuning, PC players can access the Sony Inzone app to customize the EQ using the passthrough dongle. It’s a nice-to-have feature, as sound is subjective.

🪶 Super light and comfortable. With the same clever ski-like headband design as the Sony Inzone H9 II, the H6 Air is fitting of the name as it weighs just 199 grams and is effortless to wear for long periods. It’s one of the lightest headsets you can get and makes the Corsair HS35 v3 seem heavy in comparison.

What I disliked about the Sony Inzone H6 Air 💔

😶 Zero isolation. As an open-back pair of headphones, you’ll hear everything around you. That includes the whir of your PC, the hum of an air conditioner, or anything else in your environment. If someone is in the same room, they’ll also hear what you’re playing.

💰 Barebones features for $200. The Sony Inzone H6 Air is aimed at those who care about sound quality above all else. There’s no Bluetooth, ANC, EQ profiles on the headset, and you’re stuck with a wire. Don’t expect any thrills other than top-tier sound and mic support.

Should you buy the Sony Inzone H6 Air? 🤔

Best Buy: Sony Inzone H6 Air

Amazon: Sony Inzone H6 Air

Yes, if…

• ✅ You want detailed, spacious audio

• ✅ You’re tired of charging yet another device

• ✅ You want a great microphone for chatting

No, if…

• ❌ You play in a noisy environment

• ❌ You can’t go back to a wired pair of headphones

• ❌ You need Bluetooth support

Subscribe now

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Review score: 4/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 💎 Unique, luxurious design

• 👜 Adorable handbag-shaped case

• ☁️ Incredibly comfortable to wear

• 🎼 Clearer mids and tighter bass

• 🎚️ DSEE Ultimate delivers AI-upscaled 24-bit/192 kHz audio for all devices

❌ Cons

• 🤑 High, high $649 price

• 🤏 Weaker sound isolation

• 🔌 No USB-C audio

• 🪫 24-hour battery life is below average

Walmart: Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

BB: Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

The Shortcut Review

I scoffed when Sony dropped the $649 price of its special 1000X The Collexion wireless noise-canceling headphones. More expensive than even the $599 AirPods Max 2, these headphones celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first Sony MDR-1000X headphones, representing the pinnacle of Sony’s technology and sound. However, the Sony 1000X Collexion isn’t perfect, and Sony made a few deliberate trade-offs in favor of its luxurious design and comfort.

The Sony 1000X The Collexion stands alone from Sony’s 1000X series of wireless headphones. It’s clearly a high-end market entry that’s $200 more expensive than even the latest Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones. This is immediately recognizable by the 1000X’s mix of stainless steel and vegan leather. The thinner earcups and more substantial headband also make this pair of headphones a joy to wear, even if its non-folding form factor and large case make it more of a hassle to carry around.

The Sony 1000X The Collexion also impresses with clearer mids and tighter bass. The higher-end version of DSEE Extreme is also a nice exclusive for the Sony 1000X The Collexion as it provides AI-enhanced upscaled audio to all devices – however, it’s still not a substitute for real lossless listening over USB-C. The shorter battery life and weaker ANC are hard to overlook when these headphones command a higher premium than the excellent Sony WH-1000XM6.

Overall, there’s plenty to admire about the Sony 1000X The Collexion, especially its uniquely premium styling, absolute comfort, and adorable handbag-shaped case. But if you’re looking for the best noise-canceling, long battery life, and a smaller, packable pair of headphones, still get the Sony WH-1000XM6 instead.

Full Review

🎧 Looks to kill. The Sony 1000X The Collexion delivers an immediate impression of its poshness. The usual plastic frame of Sony’s headphones has been replaced with stainless steel guides and hinges. Meanwhile, vegan leather covers every square inch of these headphones, which elevates their overall look. Sony was even careful enough to rivet the headphone jack and USB-C ports with stainless steel flanges so they look more like they’re hardware integrated into a fine leather bag.

👜 Adorable case. Speaking of bags, the Sony 1000X The Collexion comes with a newly designed case that has its own handle, making it look like a handbag. It ingeniously uses the headphones’ shapes to create space for a cutout. Inside the case, there’s a hollowed-out space to fit cables, and the Sony WH6’s fantastic magnetic closure returns, making these headphones incredibly easy to put away and take out of the case compared to a zipper case.

Unfortunately, these headphones only fold flat (like the Sony WH-1000XM5) and don’t fold down (like the Sony WH-6), so they will take up more space unless you just carry the case. The case is also made with fabric, which can stain easily, especially with the white version.

☁️ Comfort+ The Sony 1000X The Collexion wasn’t just made to look better in every way; it also feels more comfortable thanks to a few tweaks. Firstly, the earcups are 5mm thinner, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it gives the 1000X a noticeably slimmer silhouette than the Sony WH6. While thinner, the internal space in the 1000X is actually larger than in the Sony WH6, so your ears have a bit more breathing room. The headband is also 10% wider and has 40% thicker padding, so it sits more comfortably on your head. Although The Collexion is 67 grams heavier than the Sony XM6, it never feels like a burden to wear during long listening sessions.

🔊 Sound quality. The Sony 1000X The Collexion doesn’t just look good; it sounds better, too, thanks to a new 30mm carbon-composite driver. The center of this new driver is more rigid, allowing it to reproduce even higher frequencies. This really comes through on “Golden” by Huntr/x, and I can fully appreciate it when the song bounces between low D3 notes and sky-high A5 notes.

You can more clearly distinguish the lower mid-range from the mid-bass, while the sub-bass extends further down the sound curve – especially while streaming from an Android device with LDAC support. I love the tighter, deeper bass on the Sony 1000X The Collexion, especially since it doesn’t become overbearing, unlike on other premium headphones such as the AirPods Max 2.

⚙️ V3 Chip. Sony told us it optimized the 1000X The Collexion with a newer V3 audio chip and thicker copper foil. This new chipset supports the newer Bluetooth 6.0 standard and includes LDAC, LC3, AAC, and SBC codecs.

🫨 Spatial sound for music and games. The 1000X also gains two additional music and game 360 upmix listening modes on top of the Cinema listening mode the XM6 introduced. Game 360 upmix adds an even wider sense of space than Cinema mode, which immerses you in open-world games like Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt Remastered and Crimson Desert. Unfortunately, Music 360 upmix sacrifices too much EQ balance to put you in the middle of the performance. Music 360 upmix effect isn’t as convincing as the spatial sound I’ve heard from the AirPods Max 2 or Sonos Ace.

🎵 ‘Hi-res audio’ The last benefit of the V3 chip is that it grants the 1000X Collexion and even higher-end DSEE Ultimate powered by AI. The feature builds on Sony’s digital sound-upscaling technology to deliver 24-bit/192 kHz audio over Bluetooth, with AI sound enhancement to restore even more detail and texture typically lost to compression. It’s especially fantastic for Apple device users to hear higher-bitrate audio, who are usually limited to AAC. However, this is the only way to hear ‘high-res audio’ on the 1000X Collexion – outside of LDAC streaming from an Android device – as it doesn’t support audio playback over USB-C.

🗣️ Worse noise canceling. Noise cancellation on the Sony 1000X The Collexion is unquestionably worse than the Sony WH6. Firstly, the natural noise isolation of the earcups is worse because they’re thinner on the 1000X. Even though these headphones use the same QN3 noise-canceling processor and 12-mic system as the XM6, I can just hear more mid-range and high-frequency noise leak through on the 1000X. This causes more voices and general traffic noise to get through the Sony 1000X The Collexion.

🪫 Shorter battery life. Another consequence of The Collexion’s slimmer earcups is that the battery life sits at only 24 hours, down from 30 hours available on the Sony XM6. 24 hours was still enough to get me through flights from NYC to Thailand, then Taipei, and back to NYC with just two charges. However, if you’re using these headphones regularly throughout the week, you’ll have to charge every three days rather than the four or five I’ve come to expect from longer-lasting headphones like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2.

Should you buy the Sony 1000X The Collexion?

Walmart: Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

BB: Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

Sony 1000X The Collexion – $649

✅ Yes, if…

• You want a comfortable pair of headphones

• You love luxury electronics

• You own a mix of Apple, Windows, and Android devices

❌ No, if…

• You need the best noise-canceling (get the Sony WH-1000XM6 instead)

• You want the longest-lasting wireless headphones (get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 instead)

🏆 Review Score: 4/5 – ‘Great!‘

✅ Pros:

• 😲 Graphene drivers sound amazing

• 🎤 Excellent microphone

• 🎧 In-depth EQ settings

• 👏 Choice of two earcups

• 🥰 Super comfortable

• 🔋 Better battery life than the Pro X2

❌ Cons:

• 🤫 No ANC

• 🤷‍♂️ No simultaneous Bluetooth audio

• 🤚 Can’t switch between EQ profiles on the headset

Best Buy: Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed

Logitech G: Pro X3 Lightspeed

Amazon: Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed

The Shortcut Review

The Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed is undoubtedly an upgrade on its predecessor and addresses many of the major criticisms players had with the previous model. However, even though the Logitech G Pro X Lightspeed sounds fantastic and is armed with a far superior microphone than before, at this price point, it’s lacking key features that other competitors offer.

For a $249.99 gaming headset, there’s no active noise cancellation, no simultaneous Bluetooth audio support, and you can’t switch between multiple EQ profiles on the headset itself. You also don’t even get a mic mute indicator, other than one that’s on the button itself, so you’re relying on a sound cue to know that you are indeed muted. If a headset like the Corsair HS35 v3, which costs under $100, can include it, there’s no excuse for a pair that costs three times as much.

There are some perks, though. The Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed gaming headset includes a pair of leatherette and velour earcups, allowing you to opt for a more isolated, bass-heavy sound, or a more open, breathable soundstage. You also get a soft carrying case, and the headset can be used wired.

Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed specs 🛠️

• Price: $249.99

• Compatibility: PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, mobile

• Connectivity: Lightspeed, Bluetooth, wired

• Colors: Black, White, Magenta

It’s lucky that the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed sounds so fantastic, as it really does feel bare bones compared to other headsets in the price category, like the Razer Blackshark V3 Pro and the Sony Inzone H9 II. The G Pro X3 Lightspeed’s 50mm graphene drivers deliver a punchy, detailed, and spatial sound quality that makes games feel alive, and for some, that will be enough.

The microphone has also been overhauled to a 48kHz full bandwidth mic (up from the Pro X2’s rather muddy sounding 16kHz mic), and the battery life is now rated at around 70 hours, depending on your settings.

Logitech has clearly improved on what came before, then, but a few more features would have made this feel an easy win rather than a missed opportunity. Read my full Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed review below.

A review unit was provided by Logitech.

What I loved about the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed ❤️

😲 Graphene driver goodness. Like the Astro A50, the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed headset includes graphene drivers, which are undoubtedly the star of the show. They sound wonderful, delivering thumping sub bass, crystal-clear mid tones, and bright highs. I heard sounds that were previously inaudible in games I’d sunk tens of hours into, and everything sounded perfectly balanced. They also sound superb using the default EQ.

🎤 A mic worthy of tournament play. The Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed microphone is a dramatic upgrade on the Pro X2’s. The bump to a full-bandwidth mic makes an enormous difference, and my voice sounded natural and clear instead of muffled and overly processed. The Pro X2’s mic wasn’t up to snuff, especially during a busy tournament setting where communication is vital. The mic is also detachable, and Logitech G Hub’s Blue Yeti software means you can really dial in a sound you like.

🎧 10-band parametric EQ. Sound is subjective, so if you don’t like the out-of-the-box audio profile of the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed, you can tailor the sound to your ears using the new 10-band parametric EQ. There are also presets from pro gamers available to try.

👏 A choice of two earcups. I love the fact that I can choose between a pair of leatherette or velour earcups on the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed. I’ve always gravitated towards a more expansive, wider soundstage, and immediately opted for the velour earcups. If you want more bass and better passive noise isolation, the leatherette earcups are the right choice. It’s always interesting to see just how much the sound quality differs when switching between different earcups.

🥰 More comfortable than I thought. I found the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed was super comfortable to wear, which actually caught me off guard. It isn’t the lightest headset, and even though it doesn’t use a ski-like headband that has become popular elsewhere, the new perforated headband never felt like it was pressing down on the top of my head. The clamping force was also just right for my objectively large noggin.

🔋 Battery life boost. You’re getting up to 20 hours more battery life on the Pro X3 Lightspeed compared to the Pro X2, which is a significant jump. At 70 hours, it’s enough that a single charge should last weeks at a time.

🛜 Works across devices. With Bluetooth, a wireless receiver, and a wired option, you can use the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed across multiple devices like PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

What I disliked about the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed 💔

🤷‍♂️ Simultaneous Bluetooth audio should be included at this price. If you want to listen to a Bluetooth device on the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed, you’ll need to press a button to switch to it. You can’t scroll through TikTok while waiting in a lobby, or catch up with your favorite podcast while grinding through your dailies, as there’s no simultaneous Bluetooth audio support. At this price point, that’s unacceptable when a headset like Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless Headset offers this feature for under $100.

🤚 No profile switching on the headset. You can’t switch through different EQ profiles, limiting you to whatever is saved onto the device. That’s fine most of the time, but for a headset designed for pro-level play, I’d have liked to have been able to switch between a competitive preset and a more immersive EQ for single-player games on the fly.

🤫 No ANC. Not everyone needs active noise cancellation, but with the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed costing $250, it’s something that rival headsets offer. It would have helped justify the price a little more, and just leaves you with the feeling you’re being a little shortchanged.

Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed? 🤔

Best Buy: Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed

Logitech G: Pro X3 Lightspeed

Amazon: Logitech G Pro X3 Lightspeed

Yes, if…

• ✅ You want a superb-sounding headset that doesn’t need tweaking

• ✅ You’re searching for a headset that you can tune to your liking

• ✅ You need a top-class microphone for gaming or online meetings

No, if…

• ❌ You want a headset that also lets you listen to a Bluetooth device

• ❌ You need noise cancelling to drown out your PC or air conditioner

• ❌ You prefer a lighter headset with a ski-like headband

Subscribe now

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

• 📸 Nikon Z5 II performance packed into a smaller body and lower $1,399 price

• 🖼️ 24.5MP sensor with backside illumination and 7.5-stops of IBIS

• 🔻No electronic viewfinder and lower-resolution LCD

• 🧑‍🎓 Beginner-friendly Auto Mode and 15 Scene Modes

• 🎥 Uncropped 4K30 in 10-bit N-Log & N-RAW video recording

• 📦 The Nikon Z5IIC will be available in mid-October

The Nikon Z5IIC is a more compact version of the already incredibly small Nikon Z5 II full-frame camera. It still features the same 24.5MP sensor, complete with RAW movie recording capabilities, but it loses its electronic viewfinder in favor of a smaller silhouette and a lighter frame. At the same time, the Nikon Z5IIC comes with beginner-friendly filters that let you add “film-like” digital noise and a smattering of 15 Scene Modes.

Cutting out the EVF also makes the Nikon Z5IIC a slightly more affordable $1,399 camera compared to the original $1,699 Nikon Z5 II. So far it really seems like you’re just getting a more pocketable camera with all the same capabilities for less money. The Scene Modes and deep-learning-backed Auto Mode make this a much more approachable camera for beginners. Meanwhile, the incredible video shooting capabilities also make the Nikon Z5IIC a great camera to grow into as you learn to shoot more cinematically.

🧥 Pocket-sized. The Nikon Z5IIC really is just the Nikon Z5 II with a flat-top haircut. It features the same grip and overall dimensions, though it is slightly lighter at 21.9oz and shorter at 3.2 inches, compared to the 24.7 oz and 4-inch-tall Nikon Z5 II. This all makes the Nikon Z5IIC a little more pocketable – for a jacket at least. One thing that didn’t shrink was the massive grip, which lets you hold it comfortably with just one hand during long street-shooting sessions.

🔻 EVF and LCD downgrades. The removal of the EVF is sure to irk some photographers, but worse yet, Nikon lowered the resolution of the 3.2-inch fully articulating LCD from 2.1M to 1.04M dots. This makes it a little harder to check your manual focus and review the sharpness of your images. Thankfully, the large display really makes up for these misgivings, and it’s good enough for leisurely street shooting, which is what I would use this camera for most. The display is also plenty bright enough to be seen clearly even on a sunny day.

📷 “C” stands for casual. While you might think the “c” in Nikon Z5IIC stands for compact, it actually denotes that it’s designed for casual shooters. The first thing that clues you in to this philosophy is the new/reappearing Scene Mode, which offers 15 presets for shooting portraits, landscapes, animals, sports, food, sunsets, flowers, and even autumn colors.

They’re smart shortcuts for beginners to get good results without needing to know a lot about photography. For example, the Nikon Z5IIC makes shooting portraits easier by automatically opening the aperture for more bokeh, or by speeding up the shutter speed when shooting sports. If you want the camera to fully take the wheel, Nikon’s Auto Mode also uses deep learning to recognize both subjects and scenes, then automatically optimizes exposure settings.

🎥 Pro video shooter. On the opposite end of the beginner-friendly spectrum, the Nikon Z5IIC is fully equipped to shoot unfropped 4K30, or APS-C cropped 4K at 60fps and up. You can also record movies in both 10-bit N-Log and N-RAW for maximum color grading flexibility. The Nikon Z5IIC also offers plenty of assists for professional video shoots, including peaking, zebra, waveforms, histograms, and more. My favorite addition is a new tally light at the front that’s an immensely helpful recording-in-session indicator for vloggers.

• Up next: I can have any camera I want, but here’s why I keep coming back to the Sony ZV-E1

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review Score: 4.5/5 – ‘Awesome!‘

✅ Pros:

• 🔫 Has every pro feature you’d expect

• 👏 Can be customized completely using the on-screen controls

• 💨 Magnetic analog switches are a big upgrade over mechanical

• ⌨️ Nice typing feel

❌ Cons:

• 🧲 The palm rest is flawed

• 😔 It still isn’t wireless

Best Buy: Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid

Logitech G: X2 Rapid

Amazon: Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid

The Shortcut Review

Logitech has taken its popular G Pro X keyboard and updated it with all the latest and greatest pro-grade features players expect. The Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid ditches the traditional mechanical switches for magnetic analog hall-effect switches, adds customizable actuation for every key, and lets you leave G Hub behind thanks to its onboard controls.

If you’re after a gaming keyboard that ticks almost every box aside from being wireless, the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid is a strong contender. It’s let down by a subpar palm rest that has a habit of lifting off when your palms do, and there’s nothing particularly new here that other keyboards don’t already offer.

Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid specs 🛠️

• Price: $229.99

• Colors: Black, White, Magenta

• Key type: Magnetic analog hall-effect switches

• Connection: Wired

However, the excellent build quality, satisfying typing feel, and sleek design elevate the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid above rival gaming keyboards. Read my full Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid review below.

A review unit was provided by Logitech.

What I loved about the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid ❤️

🔫 Armed with every pro feature. From key actuation points to rapid trigger and an 8K polling rate, the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid has every competitive feature you’d expect from a pro-grade keyboard. You can also customize it to your liking, so every player should feel well accommodated.

🙏 Logitech G Hub isn’t needed anymore thanks to the onboard OLED display. One of the best features of the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid is that the onboard controls let you tweak every aspect of the keyboard. You can adjust the key actuation, rapid trigger, change the polling rate, key priority, and lighting. It’s super easy to do thanks to the scroll wheel and OLED display, and a lifesaver if you’re taking the keyboard to tournaments. It’ll also make the keyboard more appealing to those who don’t want to install G Hub.

💨 Magnetic analog switches unlock new possibilities. Unlike the original G Pro X, which has standard mechanical GX switches, the G Pro X2 is a major upgrade. It uses magnetic analog hall-effect switches. It allows for faster actuation, smoother keystrokes, and fine-tuning without the need to swap switches, and also lets you enable dual-action keys, where two actions can be bound to a single key, and trigger depending on the depth of your key press.

⌨️ The typing feel has been improved. With six layers of damping material, the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid doesn’t create a cacophony of noise when you’re typing. It isn’t the quietest keyboard out there, but it’s satisfying to type on, and the sound is pleasant without sounding overly harsh or cheap. The keys also feel rock-solid with no noticeable wobble when you’re rolling off multiple keys.

👔 It looks the business. In solid black, the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid has a monolithic-like design that will fit into any setup. It’s more understated than other gaming keyboards, and its minimalist layout only helps keep things looking sleek and clean. It may be tuned for gaming, but it isn’t loud about it.

What I disliked about the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid💔

🧲 The XL silicone palm rest is flawed. The Logitech G Pro X Rapid comes with a comfortable XL silicone palm rest, but there’s one big problem with the material: it sticks to your palms. If you’re a clammy individual, like me, I found that when I’d lift my hands away from the keyboard, the palm rest would come with it. I much prefer the palm rest that comes with the Logitech G G512 X.

😔 It still isn’t wireless. If you want a wireless gaming keyboard with an 8K polling rate, the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid isn’t for you. You’re still tethered to your PC, which may disappoint those who were hoping to go completely wireless in 2026.

Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid? 🤔

Best Buy: Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid

Logitech: X2 Rapid

Amazon: Logitech G Pro X2 Rapid

Yes, if…

• ✅ You want pro gaming keyboard with all the latest features

• ✅ You’re after a gaming keyboard that is pleasing to type on

• ✅ You don’t want to install any extra software to access the features

No, if…

• ❌ You already own a high-end gaming keyboard with similar features

• ❌ You need a full-sized keyboard layout

• ❌ You like having dedicated media keys

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Review Score: 5/5 – ‘Outstanding‘

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros:

• 👏 ‘HITS’ is still amazing

• 🔋 Battery life is up 50%

• ⚖️ Weight is more balanced

• 🪶 Lighter, at least in the US

• 💨 Better tracking and wired speeds

• 🏆 Pro settings are a nice touch

❌ Cons:

• 💰 Even more expensive than the X2 Superstrike

• 🐾 Not the best mouse skates

• 🤍 No white color option

Best Buy: Logitech G X3 Superstrike

Logitech G: X3 Superstrike

Amazon: Logitech G X3 Superstrike

The Shortcut Review

The Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike revolutionized the traditional gaming mouse with its haptic inductive trigger system (HITS) technology earlier this year. It closed the gap between pro players and players who aren’t blessed with lightning-fast reaction times, allowing you to register a click with astonishing speed.

Not content to rest on its laurels, Logitech has refined its flagship mouse even further with the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike, extending the battery life, improving the balance, and even shaving off a few grams (if you’re in the US, the weight is the same for the EU market because of battery regulations).

These little tweaks all culminate in making the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike even easier to recommend than the X2, which was already the best gaming mouse on the market.

While each subtle but meaningful upgrade is worth celebrating, the biggest difference is the mouse’s balance. It’s no longer so top-heavy, which is quickly proved by balancing the X3 on your finger. The Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike will always fall forwards, while the X3 can go either way, as it should be. It makes the mouse feel lighter overall and addresses one of the biggest complaints some players had with the X2.

Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike specs 🛠️

• Price: $199.99

• Connection: Lightspeed, USB-C wired

• Sensor: Hero 2

• Battery life: 135hr depending on usage conditions

• Weight: 61 grams (59 grams outside the EU)

However, at $199.99, these upgrades come at a cost, as the Superstrike X3 is even more expensive than its predecessor. You’ll still be able to pick up the older X2 model, as Logitech said it’ll continue to sell both mice, but unless you’re someone looking for every competitive edge you can get, the price means more casual players should look elsewhere. Read my full Logitech G Pro Superstrike X3 review below.

A review unit was provided by Logitech.

What I loved about the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike ❤️

👏 ‘HITS’ is still amazing. It’s easy to forget just how much of a game-changer Logitech’s HITS technology is. I genuinely feel at a disadvantage when I’m not using the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike. I also enjoy its almost silent click noise, making it ideal for office work. As before, you can customize the feel of each click by adjusting the haptic feedback, and I found my Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike best settings carried over wonderfully.

🔋 Even better battery life. The Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike promises up to 50% more battery life, which equates to 90 to 135 hours depending on your settings. While I never found the X2’s battery to be too restrictive, the extra headroom is certainly appreciated, especially for those who play at the 8000Hz wireless polling rate.

⚖️ Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. It’s only when you compare the X3 and X2 Superstrike side-by-side that you notice just how much better balanced Logitech’s new gaming mouse really is. The X2 really is a front-weighted mouse, and the X3’s new weight distribution makes it feel lighter, even though nothing has changed on the European model I tested.

🪶 Lighter, at least in the US. The Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike has slimmed down ever so slightly, but only outside the EU. It’s now 59 grams instead of 61, but EU players are stuck with the old weight as Logitech wanted to ensure the battery could still be replaced easily.

💨 Better sensors and a faster wired polling rate. Logitech has added an 8K polling rate for the X3 when in wired mode, and the Hero 2 sensor can now deliver a higher 48K DPI (dots per inch) and better tracking speeds at 930 IPS (inches per second) and 90 G max acceleration. That’s up from 42K DPI, 880 IPS and 88 G max acceleration on the X2 Superstrike.

🏆 New Pro profiles in G Hub are welcome. Logitech’s G Hub software now includes ‘Pro’ profiles that let you use the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike settings of several pro players like mONESY from Counter-Strike 2’s Falcon esports team. It’s a neat addition and gives you an insight into how the pros set up the X3 Superstrike’s HITS system.

What I disliked about the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike💔

💰 It costs $200. The Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike costs even more than the already costly X2, and means it’s one of the most expensive gaming mice on the market. This likely won’t deter those who religiously play competitive games online, but more casual PC players should consider other options.

🐾 Not the best mouse skates. Even though they’re easily replaceable, I do wish Logitech would improve the skates on its mice. Compared to the Razer Viper V4 Pro, the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike isn’t as smooth.

🤍 No white color option. Logitech has reserved the white colorway for the X2 Superstrike this time around, which means you can only get the X3 in black or magenta. Boo!

Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X3 Superstrike? 🤔

Best Buy: Logitech G X3 Superstrike

Logitech G: X3 Superstrike

Amazon: Logitech G X3 Superstrike

Yes, if…

• ✅ You play competitive online multiplayer games regularly

• ✅ You’re after a gaming mouse that excels in every area

• ✅ You were waiting for an upgrade on the X2 Superstrike

No, if…

• ❌ You hardly play any first-person shooters or MOBAs

• ❌ You’ve tried ‘HITS’ before and didn’t like it

• ❌ You’re used to lighter mice that weigh under 60 grams

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Review score: 5/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🔊 True Hi-Fi overhaul adds more bass and true Dolby Atmos spatial surround

• 🎶 Widely expanded soundstage for stereo music to cinematic surround sound

• 📻 Portable surround lets you add Bluetooth speakers as rear surround speakers

• 🗣️ Natural-sounding Speech Enhancement powered by AI

❌ Cons

• Portable Surround setup process is complicated

Walmart: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Best Buy: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Amazon: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

The Shortcut Review

The Sonos Beam Ultra may just be a compact soundbar, but it combines auditory excellence and cutting-edge connectivity that makes it one of the best Sonos products in years.

First off, for sound, this new model boosts the driver count from five to nine, notably adding two upward-facing drivers and four low-profile woofers. This allows the Beam Ultra to physically produce Dolby Atmos spatial surround sound, whereas the Beam Gen 2 could only do so virtually. The added bass from the woofers also helps the Beam Ultra deliver powerful bass without the need for a separate subwoofer.

The Sonos Beam Ultra also expands the Sonos Wi-Fi speaker system by adding the ability for portable speakers, like the Sonos Play and Sonos Move 2, to act as rear surrounds. Sonos is aiming for a more intuitive system with Sonos Fabric and a new Sonos27 operating system that lets these speakers connect automatically based on just proximity. Other brands have steadily been catching up with Sonos’ self-modulating and smart positioning technology, but with Portable Surround, Sonos has just moved the yardstick forward again.

The Sonos Beam Ultra is unquestionably a fantastic soundbar. It produces a loud and wide soundstage that bigger soundbars can struggle to reproduce. The addition of portable surrounds makes it even easier to upgrade your setup to a true surround sound system without buying speakers that stay plugged in one place. If you’re looking to upgrade your home entertainment setup, I fully recommend preordering the $699 Sonos Beam Ultra so you get it on time when it releases on September 29.

Full Review

🔊 Major sound upgrade. The Sonos Beam Ultra is a completely different soundbar from the original, with an entirely new driver arrangement that includes a mid-tweeter, two pairs of horn-loaded mid-tweeters firing up and to the sides, and four low-profile woofers. That arrangement upgrades the Beam Gen 2’s 5.0-channel to 7.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos surround sound with nine custom drivers. This lets the Beam Ultra produce an impressively large soundstage that feels much bigger than it physically is.

Even while playing stereo sound, I hear much more left-right separation from the Beam Ultra, making it feel like a much bigger soundbar than it is. That soundstage expands even further with more dynamic media, like hearing the helicopters buzz above in F1. The side-firing speakers also project and bounce against walls to spread sound all around the room, and this became extremely apparent with Sinners’ big “I lied to you” music scene.

🥁 Pump up the bass. The other, easily the most noticeable improvement is the bass, especially for explosion-filled movies like “Speed” or heavy R&B songs like “Promiscuous.” While the Sonos Beam Ultra doesn’t feature cutting-edge Sound Motion transducers like the Sonos Arc Ultra, it still packs a wallop of bass without any distortion or overpowering the rest of the soundbar’s frequency curve. You’ll get even stronger bass by adding a dedicated Sonos Sub Mini, but if you have this soundbar setup in a small entertainment room, the Beam Ultra offers more than enough low-end power.

📻 Portable surround. The Beam Ultra is the first soundbar to roll out with Sonos’ new ability to add portable speakers as rear surrounds. This includes its new Play speakers as well as the Move 2. It’s incredibly slick how this feature lets portable speakers switch based on proximity and act as satellite speakers that also add more height audio, even if it’s virtualized.

Now, these Portable Surround speakers do require quite a bit of setup, including grouping your portable speakers into a separate room. Using this feature also means you can’t pair these speakers for stereo sound, while AirPlay and Bluetooth connectivity are disabled too. The good news is you can easily unpair your portable surrounds from the app or simply by long-pressing the play button on the speakers.

🗣️ Dialogue boost. Even without Sonos’ AI-powered voice enhancement, the Beam Ultra’s upgraded center channel delivers clear, crisp dialogue. But now that the feature has finally come to Sonos’ smaller soundbar, you can amp it up if background noise, sound effects, and other extraneous sounds make it hard to hear what characters are saying. Sonos still doesn’t have the strongest speech enhancement – that award goes to Sony’s Voice Max – but it still sounds the most natural while better preserving the original mix of media.

💎 Finely made. At first glance, the Sonos Beam Ultra looks like a plain soundbar. Its minimalistic styling fades into the background of my entertainment setup. However, looking slightly closer at it reveals minute details that elevate this compact Sonos soundbar. Firstly, the perforated grill on top of the speaker fans out into a half-circle pattern that Sonos recreates on the bottom of the speaker. This is a completely unnecessary touch that most users won’t appreciate, let alone see, but it’s a testament to Sonos’ attention to detail. I also love the new asymmetrical volume touchbar control that’s both functional and adds a tiny bit of flair.

Walmart: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Best Buy: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

Amazon: Sonos Beam Ultra - $699

• Up next: Sonos Ace Ultra: the headphones that pull the music straight out of your speakers

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Review score: 4/5

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros

• 🔄 Seamlessly switches control between PC, Xbox, and Bluetooth-connected devices

• 🔋 Hot-swappable batteries charge in the dock provide unlimited power

• 📺 Integrated screen gives instant access to customize the controller

• 🎮 Tight controls with Hall-Effect thumbsticks and triggers & microswitch buttons and bumpers

• 😌 Repositioned select, menu, and share buttons at the bottom of the controller prevent mispresses

❌ Cons

• 🤑 $259 is crazy expensive

• 👾 No PS5 or Nintendo Switch 2 support

• 🤷‍♂️ Few interchangeable parts and no included case

Best Buy: SteelSeries Aeon Pro - $259

Amazon: SteelSeries Aeon Pro - $259

The Shortcut Review

SteelSeries is renowned for its multiplatform gaming headsets, and now it’s bringing the same simultaneous platform support to controllers. The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is the first controller that lets you seamlessly switch between PC and Xbox with a single device. It’s all thanks to the controller’s dual dock, which lets you connect two systems at a time with USB-C, plus a third Bluetooth connection for phones, tablets, and other devices. Every high-end feature you could want is here too, including Hall-Effect thumbsticks and triggers, microswitch buttons and bumpers, an integrated OLED screen, and two hot-swappable batteries that charge in the base station.

The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is a whole lot of controller that costs a lot too, at $259. That price is indisputably high, but you’re essentially getting two controllers in one, three if you want to connect your phone or tablet over Bluetooth. Just know this is primarily a PC and Xbox controller and doesn’t support the PS5 or Switch. If you’re looking for a fully customizable controller with a swappable D-Pad, interchangeable face buttons, or even removable shortcut buttons, the SteelSeries Aeon Pro isn’t what you’re looking for.

However, if you’re looking for a premium controller that you can adjust on the fly and be a reliable tool for PC and Xbox gaming, the SteelSeries Aeon Pro is well worth its price. Its tight controls and improved layout will ensure you never misjudge a counter in Onimusha: Way of the Sword and hit the apex while drift attacking in Forza Horizon 6. The swappable battery system also ensures you never run out of juice to keep playing.

Full Review

2 systems, 1 controller. SteelSeries practically pioneered multiplatform gaming peripherals with its Siberia 800 wireless headset, and now it’s doing the same with controllers. The Aeon Pro is the first dual-deck designed to connect to an Xbox and PC at the same time, allowing you to swap between them or a Bluetooth-connected device at a whim. It’s the perfect solution for me, as I have both a PC and Xbox connected to my TV, and this saves me the hassle of keeping multiple controllers around or moving USB dongles. The only issues are that you need both systems close to the dock for a hardwired USB-C connection.

👾 Nintendon’t & PlayStationo. You might notice the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 are only mentioned four times in my entire review, and that’s because the SteelSeries Aeon Pro does not support either of them. This controller is for the Xbox and PC only, so if you wanted a PS5 or Switch controller, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

I’m certain this wasn’t an unforeseen oversight, but rather it was too complex, or the licensing was a headache to get all four platforms to work with the SteelSeries dock. By SteelSeries own account, its “focus was on XBOX and PC gamers, so we set out to create a premium controller that delivers the ultimate experience for gamers who switch between both platforms.”

🕹️ A better Xbox controller. The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is shaped like a taller Xbox, making it feel instantly familiar. Most of the buttons and the joystick are in their usual place, but SteelSeries made the smart decision of moving the select, menu, and share buttons to the bottom of the controller. This really frees up space around the left analog stick and face buttons, so I never accidentally misclick a control in the center of the controller. More companies should follow SteelSeries’ example and use this underutilized controller real estate.

Layout aside, this controller features upgraded hall-effect thumbsticks, microswitch buttons and bumpers, and two-stage hall-effect triggers over your standard Xbox controller. The magnetic sensors in the thumbsticks and triggers should help this controller last longer, as they replace the most easily worn-down mechanisms. I’m glad to report there’s a fair bit of resistance in the Hall-Effect thumbsticks, which can often feel too loose, so it’s close, if not identical, to the feel of the Xbox controller thumbstick.

📺 On-screen settings. The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is also easily configurable on-the-fly thanks to its OLED screen integrated above the Xbox button. This display regularly shows battery life and connection status, but holding the select and menu buttons for three seconds lets you check which system you’re connected to, switch between gaming profiles, and dive into customization. This on-screen menu essentially shows you every configurable option that’s available from the SteelSeries Engine app for PC, so you can tweak settings even when you’re just connected to the Xbox.

🤏 Few frills. For a $270 controller, the SteelSeries Aeon Pro doesn’t come with a lot of extras for customizable parts. No case is included, and although this is a dual-dock controller, it comes with only one USB-C to USB-A cable instead of two. Similarly, the only customizable parts an additional concave thumbstick and a longer convex thumbstick. SteelSeries hasn’t marketed the Aeon Pro as a fully customizable controller, but its high price point puts it in line with other more configurable controllers like the $219 Scuf Omega.

🔋 Infinite battery life. Battery life on the Aeon Pro only lasts a short 12 hours, but it virtually has infinite battery life since a second cell is always charging in the dock. That battery charges fast too. I was back to nearly two out of three bars charged in less than an hour. These are the very same batteries that SteelSeries has used since the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, so you could also use any extras from your SteelSeries Arctis Nova Omni or SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wireless gaming headset to hot-swap into the Aeon Pro or vice versa.

Best Buy: SteelSeries Aeon Pro - $259

Amazon: SteelSeries Aeon Pro - $259

Should you buy the SteelSeries Aeon Pro?

✅ Yes, if…

• You want a premium controller that swaps easily between PC and Xbox gameplay

• You want a controller that will practically never run out of power

• You want software customization at your fingertips

• You want the tighter controls from Hall-Effect sensors and microswitches

❌ No, if…

• You want a controller with more swappable parts (get the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded instead)

• The PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 are your main gaming platforms (get the Scuf Omega or

• GuliKit TT Max instead)

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Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

🏆 Rating: 4.5/5

✅ Pros

• 🖥️ Bright Mini-LED panel that achieves OLED-level blacks

• ⚡️ 320Hz refresh rate is amazing for gaming

• 🎨 Accurate color reproduction

• 🔌 Great port selection with 90W laptop power delivery

• 📐 Sleek design with subtle-but-fun RGB lights

❌ Cons

• 🎛️ Screen needs a lot of calibration out of the box

• 🎮 No Nvidia G-Sync compatibility

• 🔊 Built-in speakers are very weak

The Shortcut review

TCL hit a unique stride with the 27-inch C2A Pro QD-Mini LED Gaming Monitor. On the one hand, it checks a lot of boxes for gamers with its 320Hz refresh rate, support for improved motion clarity, and the inclusion of OverDrive-Pro to eliminate afterimages faster than ever. But after testing the display for the past several weeks, it’s also proven to be great at just about everything you need in a monitor.

It aces the fundamentals of a great monitor, while also delivering the extra punch gamers look for to take down their foes. Compared to other monitors we’ve tried, its ability to toe the line between pro-grade workhorse and a gamer’s must-have is admirable, and its sleek design can blend into any space (even with the RGB lights on the back).

At $799.99, it doesn’t come cheap, but it’s also one of the most well-rounded monitors we’ve gotten to try out in a long time. It’s also one of the only monitors to integrate TCL’s advanced Mini-LED technologies from its TV series, which is dope in and of itself. If you’re in the market for something that can easily balance work and play, this is the one to get.

Amazon: TCL 27-inch C2A Pro monitor

Review notes

🖥️ Sleek looks and lights. The C2A Pro monitor’s design easily fits into anyone’s setup. I have it attached to my Uplift standing desk monitor arm, and its sleek body with the white finish and slim bezels looks plenty modern. It’s not terribly thick, either, although I do think it’d be nice if it didn’t curve out as much toward the back in case you’re working with limited desk space. That being said, it still looks good, and it’s perfect for gamers with the array of customizable RGB lights on the back (which can be disabled if you’d prefer no lights at all).

📺 A TV-quality panel. TCL leans on its TV panel chops for the 27-inch 4K screen on the C2A Pro - and it shows. This QD-Mini LED panel packs it all: exceptional colors with rock-solid contrast, a sharp resolution, over 2,300 local dimming zones for deeper blacks and richer details, and support for nearly the entire DCI-P3 color space. I’ve loved working on it, watching 4K videos, and my co-workers love how games look on it. It does so much right for a monitor that it puts others at Swider Studios to shame.

💡 Crank that brightness. This monitor can get really bright. With up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, everything you do on this thing will look vibrant and jump off the screen. Of course, all that extra headroom means you won’t need to run it at full blast for everything to be bright and vibrant, but the option’s there if you want to play certain games or content like HDR videos.

🎮 All the gaming specs you’re looking for… It’s almost impossible for any gamer to find an issue with the specs of the C2A Pro monitor. You get up to a 320Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth gameplay (more on that later), the TCL Halo Control System with OverDrive-Pro for eliminating haloing effects (something that’s noticeable on other high-end monitors but doesn’t seem to be an issue here), TCL Motion Clarity for eliminating motion blur in fast-paced environments, 1ms of gray-to-gray responsiveness, AMD FreeSync support, a built-in Crosshair Aim Guide, and more. It aces the fundamentals of what most need in a gaming monitor, leaving you well-equipped for the next battle.

👀 … except one. For those who have gaming PCs with Nvidia graphics cards, you’ll be sad to know that this monitor doesn’t support Nvidia G-Sync. You only get AMD FreeSync here, which isn’t the end of the world, but would’ve been nice to see anyway.

🕹️ Game Accelerator gives you an important edge. The driver behind that 320Hz refresh rate is a feature called Game Accelerator. Flick a switch, and you go from a 4K resolution with a 160Hz refresh rate to Full HD and 320Hz, making gameplay feel smoother and more responsive than many monitors on the market. The feature works seamlessly with any game that supports such a high refresh rate, and it’ll help ensure you’re on top of the action better than your competitors (y’know, assuming you don’t all go out and buy this monitor). You can also switch between the two modes whenever you want, and the transition is relatively smooth.

🦾 Ready for the pros. This monitor also has the right specs to keep professionals like photo editors, video producers, and journalists (like me) happy. The standard 160Hz refresh rate helps your laptop or PC feel very responsive for simple things like multitasking, while the color calibration modes out of the box will help those who need expertly-calibrated colors for important color-grading projects.

🎛️ You’ll want to adjust some things. By default, the C2A Pro comes out of the box calibrated for Delta E < 2 color accuracy, which is handy for pros. But for regular users who want to see, y’know, appealing colors, it takes some fiddling around to get the screen to look normal. I had to do this when setting it up for the first time, so that not everything looked washed out and gray. It was easy to do with the controls on the bottom of the monitor itself, but it definitely took a second to get the look that I wanted.

🔌 Checking all the IO boxes. When it’s time to connect your laptop, gaming console, PC, or other devices, you’ll be happy to know that TCL didn’t skimp on IO here. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports and a DisplayPort 1.4, all of which support 4K 160Hz input. There’s also a USB-C port with 90W power delivery, which means your laptop can recharge at full speed while it’s connected. In addition, there are three USB-A ports for connecting peripherals like mouse and keyboard receivers, as well as a 3.5mm audio port for outputting sound to speakers.

🔊 The speakers are really rough. Speaking of which, you’ll want to pair a set of speakers with the monitor, because the 5W drivers built into it aren’t good. I played some music and podcasts through them, and they were disappointing, to say the least. I suppose it’s convenient that TCL included them, but with zero low-end and very tinny highs, it’s better to pretend they aren’t there at all.

Should you buy the TCL C2A Pro QD-Mini LED Monitor?

Yes, if…

• ✅ You need a responsive monitor that’ll help level up your gameplay

• ✅ You want something sleek with RGB lights

• ✅ You need a 4K panel

• ✅ You want your movies and TV shows to look good, too

• ✅ You don’t mind spending a bit more on TCL’s TV-grade display technology

No, if…

• ❌ You need something bigger than 27 inches (get the Dell S3225QC)

• ❌ You need an even faster refresh rate (get the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP)

• ❌ You need Nvidia G-Sync (get the LG UltraGear 27G810A-B)

Amazon: TCL 27-inch C2A Pro monitor

Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.

🏆 Review Score: 4.5/5 – ‘Awesome!‘

🏅 Editor’s Choice Award

✅ Pros:

• 🎧 Genuinely brilliant sound quality

• 💰 Amazing value

• 🪶 Super lightweight design

• 🎤 The detachable mic sounds clear and loud

• 🎮 Works on PC, consoles, and mobile

• 🔋 Great battery life

❌ Cons:

• 🤷‍♂️ The power button can be finicky

• 😔 No simultaneous Bluetooth audio support

• 🗣️ No game/chat control

Best Buy: Corsair HS35 v3

Amazon: Corsair HS35 v3

The Shortcut Review

Finding the best gaming headset doesn’t always mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars. The Corsair HS35 v3 is proof of that, as it delivers exceptional audio quality, comfort, and multi-format compatibility for just $80.

You’d think that the Corsair HS35 v3 would be full of compromises. But apart from missing higher-end features like active noise cancelling, simultaneous Bluetooth and gaming audio, the headset makes up for it with its lightweight build of just 250 grams, genuinely superb sound, and strong microphone performance.

I’ve found the Corsair HS35 v3 wireless gaming headset to be the perfect match for my Steam Machine, as I can play for hours in comfort while lying back and still enjoy immersive sound with around 30 hours of battery life.

Corsair HS35 v3 specs 🛠️

• Price: $79.99

• Compatibility: PC, Mac, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, mobile

• Connectivity: 2.4GHz dongle, Bluetooth, USB wired

• Colors: black and white

Unlike other headsets, which often require a custom EQ, the Corsair HS35 v3 may have the most balanced and appealing out-of-the-box sound I’ve heard. That’s a good thing as you can’t change it, but the 50mm Neodymium drivers deliver enough low-end thump to make explosions exciting, and the treble isn’t too harsh or sibilant. You also get a surprisingly wide soundstage for a closed-back pair of headphones, and I didn’t have any trouble determining where enemies were located.

The Corsair HS35 v3 sets a new standard for gaming headsets under $100 and proves that you don’t need to break the bank to get the features you need. It sounds wonderful, works across multiple devices, and the microphone won’t let you down. Read my full Corsair HS35 v3 review below.

A review unit was provided by Corsair.

What I loved about the Corsair HS35 v3 ❤️

🎧 Genuinely brilliant sound quality. Perhaps the biggest surprise about the Corsair HS35 v3 is just how good they sound. No element is overshadowed, as can often be the case with gaming headsets, yet they don’t sound lifeless either. There’s a satisfying weight to the low-end frequencies, and enough clarity and separation in the highs and mids that they performed equally well when playing more immersive single-player titles, competitive multiplayer games, and even listening to music. The headset also delivers volume in spades, which is always a big plus.

💰 Amazing value. It’s astonishing just how great the Corsair HS35 v3 sounds and the features you get at this price point. I’ve tested far more expensive headsets that don’t sound half as good and aren’t as comfortable. Even the build quality is excellent, without feeling overly plastic or cheap. There’s zero buyer’s remorse at this price point.

🪶 Super lightweight design. At just 250 grams, it’s easy to forget you’re wearing the Corsair HS35 v3. The floating headband design also helps keep the headset from pressing down on the top of your head, and the clamping force is strong enough without squeezing your temples. The swivel earcups also make them comfortable when you have them sitting around your neck.

🎤 The detachable mic sounds clear and loud. Another aspect that can let a gaming headset down is if it has a poor-quality microphone. That’s thankfully not the case with the Corsair HS35 v3’s omnidirectional microphone, which can be muted using the volume button. There’s a slight buzz when speaking, but nothing that will annoy your teammates or be perceptible during a game. Crucially, my voice sounded nice and full, without the usual harsh, metallic twang that weaker mics often suffer from.

🎮 Works on PC, consoles, and mobile. Whether you’re connecting over Bluetooth or using the supplied 2.4GHz dongle, the Corsair HS35 v4 works across several devices, which means you don’t have to worry about switching between headsets. The USB-C dongle also connects to a USB-A dongle, giving you more flexibility. Just note that it isn’t compatible with Xbox consoles.

🔋 Great battery life. At around 30 hours of playtime from a single charge, the Corsair HS35 v3 lasts long enough that battery life isn’t a problem. You can also replace the battery if it ever degrades in the future.

What I disliked about the Corsair HS35 v3 ❤️

🤷‍♂️ The power button can be finicky. It’s not a big issue, but sometimes I’d hold the power button down and the headset wouldn’t turn off, requiring me to press it again. This may be a problem with my particular unit, or something that gets smoothed out with a future update.

😔 No simultaneous Bluetooth audio support. While it’s expected at this price point, switching between game audio and Bluetooth is rather clunky. Sometimes my Bluetooth device would refuse to play audio, despite being connected, which wasn’t ideal.

🗣️ No game/chat control. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time playing with friends, there’s no dedicated game/chat control on the Corsair HS35 v3. You can adjust the volume and mute the mic, and switch to Bluetooth, but that’s it.

Should you buy the Corsair HS35 v3? 🤔

Best Buy: Corsair HS35 v3

Amazon: Corsair HS35 v3

Yes, if…

• ✅ You want a superb-sounding headset for less than $100.

• ✅ You need a headset that works across multiple devices.

• ✅ You want a headset that can be worn for hours comfortably.

No, if…

• ❌ You need a headset with active noise cancellation.

• ❌ You’re constantly adjusting the game/chat balance when playing.

• ❌ You like to create your own EQ profiles.

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Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.

🏆 Rating: 4/5

✅ Pros

• 📱 Bright, sharp displays that feel spacious

• 📸 Camera upgrades mean better low-light photography

• 🤖 Smart Gemini Intelligence features you’ll want to use

• 🔋 All-day battery life with Pixelsnap wireless charging

• 7️⃣ 7 years of software update support

• 🔊 Solid stereo speakers

❌ Cons

• 💰 Price went up by $100

• 🪫 Battery life isn’t as good as last year

• ⚡️ Wired charging is stuck at 30W

• 🎨 Colors aren’t as flashy as the other Pixel 11 Pros

• 🔲 Square form factor might not appeal to everyone

The Shortcut review

Google made its best folding phone ever with the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and while it might not be the flashiest or most exciting foldable we’ll see this year, this $1,900 device deserves some love.

It looks a lot like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold from last year, save for some new colors and a rearranged camera system to fit a better main camera and HiLight (Google’s color LED that comes to life when you summon Gemini). It skips the wider format that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 adopted, and the price did go up by $100 compared to last year’s device.

But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a great phone. We were expecting to be underwhelmed with the upgrades Google made when we went hands-on with the phone for the first time, but after getting to review it, I have a whole new outlook on it. Not only are the upgrades welcome, but its ability to keep up with the competition (and surpass it in important ways) makes the $100 price jump a lot easier to digest.

With its sharp displays, great cameras, handy software features, and Pixelsnap, this folding phone is worthy of your attention. It can go toe-to-toe with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, all while still costing $200 less. It’s a compelling package that’s great as someone’s first foldable to help ease them into the experience, or for someone who wants truly helpful AI in the palm of their hand.

Amazon: Pixel 11 Pro Fold + $200

Best Buy: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

✍️ Review notes

📐 Refinement is the name of the game. Google barely changed the design of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, making it almost a millimeter thinner and shaving off a few grams to make it feel a bit more refined. Compared to the 10 Pro Fold, it does feel less brick-like, but it’s still not quite as thin or light as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. That’s fine in my book; the phone might not be the most stunning piece of jewelry in the case, but it still looks good and is perfectly functional. The fact it’s a bit lighter and thinner now is even better.

🎨 Colors are nice, but not as flashy. I love the Olive color that my review unit came in, but if you’re looking for the same vibrant hues of the other Pixel 11 Pro phones, you’ll be surprised that the only other finish the Fold comes in is Obsidian. There’s no Canyon or Fog here, and certainly nothing as vibrant as the Hibiscus Pixel 11. It’s a shame that Google only ever sells its foldables in two colors, but at least the green one looks good.

📱 Gorgeous screens that are brighter than ever. The 6.5-inch and 8-inch Super Actua AMOLED displays are as pretty as ever - and they’re even brighter than ever, too. Google boosted the brightness to 3,600 nits on each, an increase of 300 nits, which helps to see the screens more easily in direct sunlight. I took the Pixel 11 Pro Fold to the beach this past weekend and could see both displays perfectly fine in the summer sun. The screens are also colorful and vibrant without being oversaturated. From reading e-books to watching movies to playing games, you’ll love doing everything on these displays.

🤳 It feels normal when it’s closed. This is an important distinction in this day and age of folding phones. When the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is closed, it feels like you’re using a regular brick-shaped smartphone. It’s not nearly as radical as the passport-shaped cover screen of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, and it isn’t as narrow as the Z Fold 8 Ultra. It sits in between and feels as natural as any normal phone feels to use. If that’s something you value, you should strongly consider the 11 Pro Fold. It’s something you won’t find on most folding phones this year, save for the Moto Razr Fold.

🤷‍♂️ I never used HiLight. Google’s flashiest new feature on the Pixel 11 Pro series is called HiLight. It’s a little LED orb in the camera cluster that lights up when you summon Gemini, or if you get a phone call from one of your favorite contacts. But I never found an instance where I actually used it. I don’t keep my phone face-down on a table when I’m not using it, and when I did to use HiLight, I flipped it back over and kept the screen up. It’s also extremely limited in its functionality; the fact you can only see it light up if you talk to Gemini or if you get a call from someone feels like a missed opportunity to make it more useful. In the end, HiLight felt more like a gimmick to me than anything else.

📸 Photos and videos look a lot better… Google finally upgraded the camera hardware on the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and it has a big advantage over the 10 Pro Fold: it lets in way more light. The new 48MP f/17 main camera has 56% better light sensitivity, which not only makes nighttime pictures look better, but it also helps balance out daytime photos by picking up more details in shadows. The result is a camera that is noticeably better than the previous generation and sparks a serious conversation as to whether it’s the best camera on a foldable. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s 200MP lens may offer more megapixels, but it can’t match the quality of what you get on the Pixel.

❌ … but only for the main camera. That’s where the upgrades come to a halt. The 10.5MP ultra-wide and 10.8MP telephoto cameras are the same as last year, letting in less light and detail than the main sensor by a bigger margin than ever before. You get 30x zoom this time around, which is nice, but you’ll want to stick to 5x optical zoom if you don’t want your pictures to look too overprocessed. At night, neither camera can match the quality of the main shooter, making them feel more like utility cameras when you need to punch out or zoom in to capture a scene, not necessarily a lasting memory. The twin 10MP selfie cameras are the same, too, and they’re good enough for daytime selfies but not as much at night.

🎥 Video quality gets a boost. The main camera is also better at recording video, which has seen a noticeable improvement compared to previous Pixel phones. Switching between lenses is smoother than before, and there seems to be less fragmentation around sharp edges in the frame. While the Pixel 11 Pro Fold isn’t on par with, say, the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the video department, the 4K 60fps clips I captured were more than serviceable for Instagram and TikTok.

🪄 Magic Capture makes hands-free capturing even better. Google’s smart camera features always impress us, and this year, Magic Capture stole the show. Switch to the mode in the Camera app, and the phone will lean on Gemini to record a video of a scene, then capture photos of all the best moments. It looks for the best framing, action, and facial reactions during the clip and saves them to your Photos app. This is incredibly handy when using the Pixel 11 Pro Fold in its tripod mode, where you prop the phone up halfway. You can press the button and take all the hands-free pictures you want, and it’s even better that you’re not dependent on burst mode and a timer to get the picture you want.

🤖 Gemini Intelligence feels like a superpower. The experience using the Pixel 11 Pro Fold goes beyond Android 17 thanks to Gemini Intelligence. It’s Google’s suite of on-device AI features that take Gemini’s smarts to a new level. It can see what’s on your screen, what you’re talking about with your friends, which emails you send, what your favorite coffee order is, and more (so long as you give it permission). From there, Gemini can show proactive prompts to make finding information easier, like checking your calendar if you tell someone you think you’re free on Saturday. You can also use an agent to order your morning Starbucks, get an Uber, order groceries, and more, all operating in the background.

🦾 Helpful AI feels so refreshing. Whether you dive head-first into using all of the AI features on the latest Pixels or just pick and choose a few to lean on, it all feels refreshingly useful to use. I love it when Gemini can proactively find a flight number for my trip to IFA when I’m sending an email, and someone asks for it for scheduling, or when I get too many notifications, and it highlights the only ones I’ll actually care about. Circle to Search remains as useful as ever, and Rambler (voice typing for brain dumps you can send to people and make them make sense) is perfect for long conversations. There’s even Live Translations for sign language. So many of these features are exclusive to Pixel, which not only gives it an edge over the competition, but proves that AI isn’t always a gimmick to sell more phones.

🔋 All-day battery life with a catch. Google has once again shipped a folding phone that can easily last a full day, which is great. But here’s the thing: the battery inside the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is technically smaller than the one in the 10 Pro Fold, and side by side, you notice the difference. The 10 Pro Fold could last a full day and into the next morning, whereas the 11 Pro Fold will die before then. Depending on how much you use the bigger screen, your phone could die before you’re ready to call it a night. While it will still last all day long, you won’t get any extra endurance like you did last year.

⚡️ Same charging speed, but at least we get Pixelsnap. The 30W charging on the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is disappointingly slow, if only because the Pixel 11 Pro XL and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra get faster 45W charging. It isn’t begrudgingly slow, but something faster than 30W in 2026 would be appreciated. At the very least, we get Pixelsnap with Qi2.2 25W wireless charging. Not only is it speedy for wireless charging, but the fact Google continues to integrate magnets into the design of the Pixel is something we’ll never take for granted.

🚀 Great performance and multitasking. The Tensor G6 inside the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has proven once again that Google can make a great chip. Is it as powerful as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 that a lot of other Android phones use? Not quite, but it’s still capable of reliably fast performance for general tasks, multitasking, and gaming. It’s also well-equipped to handle all of Gemini Intelligence, given Google’s extensive work on the neural processor. Paired with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, the 11 Pro Fold has plenty of power for years to come.

🔥 It still gets a little hot. One thing that continues to be an issue for Google’s folding phones is heat management. While yes, the summer months will keep your gadgets warmer than normal, and that could be the reason the Pixel 11 Pro Fold gets hot when I’m using it. But every foldable from Google I’ve reviewed has gotten warmer than the other phones in its lineup, likely due to the thinner design and less room for thermals to operate. It doesn’t happen all the time, but if you have the screen brightness cranked up and run a few apps at the same time, you’ll start noticing the back of the phone heating up.

🔊 Loud stereo speakers. Jamming out to my playlist in the shower sounds great thanks to the Pixel 11 Pro Fold’s stereo speakers. There’s one on either side of the phone when it’s open and one on the top and bottom when it’s closed, and they’re surprisingly full and loud. The bass isn’t quite as powerful as I’d like, but you won’t be disappointed here.

💰 The price should scare Samsung. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold’s starting price of $1,899 puts it in a weird position, and no matter how you look at it, it seems like a better deal than what Samsung will sell you. Pay the same amount of money and you get the Fold 8, which is smaller with one less rear camera. Pay $200 more and you get the Fold 8 Ultra, which looks and acts like a Pixel Fold but doesn’t have the same Gemini Intelligence features or camera quality.

💥 Best bang for your buck. Raising prices is always a negative for the end consumer, but that almost doesn’t matter in the case of the Pixel. Google’s foldable is positioned to beat both of Samsung’s foldables no matter how you swing it, so if you want the foldable with the best all-around experience for the least amount of money, you’ll want the Pixel.

🤔 Should you buy the Pixel 11 Pro Fold?

Yes, if…

• ✅ You want the smartest foldable you can get

• ✅ You want your phone to feel normal when it’s closed

• ✅ You want a great camera

• ✅ You need your phone to last all day

• ✅ You want the most features for the least amount of money

No, if…

• ❌ You want your phone to be more compact (get the Galaxy Z Fold 8)

• ❌ You want to use a stylus with your phone (get the Motorola Razr Fold)

• ❌ You want a thinner and lighter foldable (get the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra)

Amazon: Pixel 11 Pro Fold + $200

Best Buy: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

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Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.