Mobile

The Information reports that three years ago, Musk offered Apple an 18-month exclusive connection via SpaceX in return for $5 billion up front, and $1 billion per year after that to support satellite-connected iPhone features. If Apple didn’t take it within 72 hours, he threatened to announce a competing feature.

Motorola is bringing the Edge 60 phone it launched in the UK last month to the US, but we’ll have to make do with a less exciting color treatment. Sold as the Motorla Edge 2025 in the US, it’ll cost $549.99 and comes with full water resistance, three 50-megapixel cameras, and a 3x optical zoom, and a 6.7-inch display. The reserved, dark green “forest” color option isn’t as eye-catching as some of Motorola’s other recent finishes, but at least there’s a faux-leather back.

Never mind its growing EV business, the world’s third biggest smartphone manufacturer is trying to reposition itself as a premium brand to rival Apple and Samsung, and it seems to be working. In its latest earnings report Xiaomi notes its 15 Ultra flagship has sold 90 percent more than last year’s 14 Ultra during its first month or so on sale, and the company now has almost ten percent of the flagship market share in China.

AT&T says its acquisition of Lumen, previously known as CenturyLink, will allow it to “significantly expand” its fiber internet service across major cities, like Denver, Las Vegas, Orlando, and others. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026 and includes “substantially all” of Lumen’s fiber-to-home business.

That’s when the flagship Phone 3 launches, and CEO Carl Pei has previously said that it’s actually getting a proper US release. The company also used Google’s Android Show to reveal that it’s targeting a price around £800 (about $1,070) for the phone, which would make it Nothing’s most expensive yet.

The MateBook Fold isn’t the first foldable laptop we’ve seen — Lenovo got there first, with plenty others since — but it might just be the thinnest, at only 7.3mm thick when unfolded. A 13-inch screen opens to 18 inches, and instead of running on Windows it’s all powered by Huawei’s own HarmonyOS 5. It’s China-only for now though, where it costs around $3,300.

The Pad 3 is going to include software for file transfer and remote control of a Mac — I tested the same tech on the Oppo Find N5, and it works unexpectedly well.

The Xring 01 will launch this Thursday, May 22nd. It’s reportedly a 3nm flagship SoC, and leaked benchmarks put it on a par with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Google brought its gradient “G” logo to iPhones and Pixel devices earlier this week, but now it’s showing up more broadly across Android devices, as spotted by 9to5Google. The company still hasn’t officially acknowledged the change, but maybe it will give it a mention during I/O next week.

Alongside a shiny rebrand and airline integration, Google is expanding the range of trackers in its Find Hub network. But not with boring practicalities like better battery or more accurate tracking — no, we get Baby Yoda, thanks to a new set of Disney-themed tags from Pixbee.

You’ll be able to share the location of trackers in its Find Hub network (formerly Find My Device) with airline staff when you need to find lost luggage, just like you already can with Apple’s AirTags. Support won’t arrive until “early next year” though, and only on five airlines — while Apple supports over 15.

We’re expecting to see Google’s colorful new design language as part of the Android pre-I/O show. New colors are fun! Fun is good! But I’m not sure Google can show us something “cool” enough to win the hearts of iPhone-loving teenagers.

After spotting early code for the functionality in March, Android Authority has managed to get it working in the latest beta build of Google’s RCS messaging app. For now it’s not triggering any extra notifications for people who get tagged though. Google is yet to confirm it’s working on mentions, so we don’t know how long it’ll take to roll out for real.

The company is teasing its next launch, presumably the Xperia 1 VII, which it will reveal on May 13th (well, in Japan — it’ll be the evening of May 12th in the US). The teaser shows off a familiar design and some Alpha camera features.

Android whisperer Mishaal Rahman has a thorough writeup for Android Authority detailing some of the potential UI changes he’s found under the hood in Android 16’s beta releases. One that caught my eye: the ability to resize quick settings tiles and a new tile editor organized by category, which is all very iOS 18. There are other visual changes afoot too, like more use of background blur on screens like the app drawer and the multitasking view. No doubt we’ll find out more soon.