News
- Hackers exploited trusted software updates to deliver malware directly into car head units
- Kaspersky says this is the first campaign tailored specifically for vehicle head units
- The malware can run silently without showing drivers any visible interface
Car head units are now being drawn into a growing wave of Android malware campaigns built for connected vehicle systems, experts have warned.
A newly discovered malware campaign is infecting these head units directly, systems that combine multimedia functions with, in some models, vehicle control.
According to Kaspersky, this campaign marks the first documented case of malware built specifically for this type of infection chain.
Compromised update channels deliver malware straight into vehiclesResearchers believe the activity can likely be traced back to the MoYu Group, a threat actor closely tied to the well-known BadBox botnet, which spread through the legitimate update mechanisms built directly into the firmware of Android-based head units manufactured by DoFun.
The infection chain originates from TWCore, a legitimate system app that is normally responsible for collecting analytics and updating head unit software remotely.
Attackers hijacked this trusted update channel using a specialized dropper called JarService to deliver previously unknown malware directly onto a range of affected devices.
Once successfully installed, the malware operated quietly as a regular background application without ever displaying any visible user interface.
Kaspersky identified nine distinct remote commands built into the malware, capable of displaying unwanted ads and executing various forms of ad fraud.
The malware also actively collected sensitive device information, including display resolution, device model, Wi-Fi network identifier, and the device's MAC address.
Investigators found clear technical links between this campaign and prior attacks launched against TV set-top boxes tied to the same broader threat group.
The research team claims that the botnet's administration panel shares embedded URLs with residential proxy service websites PXYEDGE and ProxyForU.
BadBox itself operates as a large, sprawling network of hijacked Android devices, including streaming boxes, phones, and tablets that arrive pre-infected from the factory.
Kaspersky has already formally notified the vendor about this ongoing abuse of its legitimate software distribution channel and update infrastructure.
According to statements from DoFun, the underlying issue has since been resolved across most affected devices currently deployed in the field.
Head units present a growing and largely unprotected attack surfaceCar head units can arrive factory-installed directly from the manufacturer or get added later to older vehicles as aftermarket upgrades.
Manufacturers frequently rely heavily on the Android operating system because it simplifies interface customization and essential system integration work considerably.
This widespread industry reliance means most standard Android applications, along with most existing Android malware, can potentially run on these devices.
Head units rarely store sensitive personal data directly on board, which on the surface might suggest only limited appeal to attackers.
However, they typically include active SIM card slots and maintain constant internet connectivity for navigation services and routine software updates.
That particular combination of persistent connectivity and comparatively weak security oversight makes these systems a genuinely attractive prospect for attackers going forward.
The overall scale of this particular campaign remains genuinely unclear, and whether other head unit manufacturers face similar exposure is not yet known.
There's a long list of things to buy this school season, especially since my firstborn is off to kindergarten this year, and at the top of my list is Apple's best-selling AirTag.
• Shop more daily deals at Amazon
Apple's AirTag is a Bluetooth tracking device that works with your iPhone to locate an item that it's attached to. In my case, I'm attaching the AirTag to my child's backpack for peace of mind.
I bought the newly released AirTag for full price, but you can currently get the 2nd Generation Apple AirTag 4 Pack on sale for $79.99 (originally $99). That's a new record-low price, and each AirTag comes out to just $20, which is an absolute steal for what you get in return.
Get the Apple AirTag for its lowest price yetAirTag 4 Pack (2nd generation): was $99 now $79.99
You can get the best-selling Apple AirTag 4 Pack for $79.99, which is the lowest price we've ever seen. A great way to track a child's backpack or luggage, the AirTag can be attached to anything you don't want to lose, and your iPhone can locate it.View Deal
The 2026 Apple AirTag launched in January and is one of Amazon's top three best-selling gadgets. The AirTag isn't just for backpacks; you can attach the tracker to your keys, wallet, or luggage, or anything else you don't want to lose, and your iPhone will locate it. The 2nd Generation model offers a 50% longer Precision Finding range and a louder speaker with a higher-pitched chime. You can also now share your AirTag location with family and friends on shared items or airline partners for lost luggage.
Keep in mind, this is a limited-time offer and the lowest price we've ever seen for the 4 Pack Apple AirTag model. If you're not interested in a 4 Pack, you can grab a single Apple AirTag for $24.
- AMD says its rack-scale AI systems are now about four times more energy-efficient than its 2024 baseline, beating its own threefold interim target by 33%
- The company offers two alternative outcomes for that gain: the same compute in far fewer racks, or twenty times more compute for the same power, something that
- AMD's own figures can also be reverse-engineered to imply that each 2030 rack draws roughly 14.25x the power of a 2024 one
AMD has published a progress report on the efficiency goals it set in June 2025, revealing the numbers are already better than the company was aiming for.
Against a 2024 baseline, AMD says its rack-scale AI systems are now roughly four times more energy efficient, ahead of the three times it had projected for this point, a trend that, by its own calculations, represents more than double the historical industry trendline.
This aligns with a six-year commitment by the chip design giant, in which it has pledged to deliver a twenty-fold improvement in rack-scale energy efficiency for AI training and inference by 2030.
Efficiency gets center stage as AMD aims to secure more AI customersThis is not the first time AMD has set itself a performance and efficiency goal. Its previous target, internally known as 30x25, aimed at a thirtyfold node-level improvement between 2020 and 2025, and the chipmaker finished ahead of its projections, clocking in at 38x,
AMD's efficiency and performance gains, if they hold as intended at 20x, can be flipped two ways: one could consider sizing down to larger, but singular racks to get their job done versus legacy hardware.
The flipside is easy to make at a time when everyone from AI startups to hyperscalers is pushing to increase compute whenever possible. AMD's efficiency gains could, in principle, allow its latest offerings in 2030 to deliver 20x the compute for the same power draw.
At a time when nobody in the industry is trying to buy less compute, AMD's offerings might be particularly appealing thanks to their efficiency gains, as projections indicate global data center electricity demand will more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours, roughly what Japan uses today as a nation.
AMD's gains come from its newest GPUs being an order of magnitude more efficient than their predecessors; the MI300X that anchors the baseline was a 750-watt part delivering up to 2.6 petaFLOPS of dense FP8.
For context, each current-generation MI455X in Helios offers between 7.7 and 15.4 times the floating-point performance, 2.25 times the HBM, 4.4 times the memory bandwidth, and four times the chip-to-chip interconnect bandwidth, while consuming three times the power.
Its chief sustainability officer, Justin Murrill, told Trellis that every AMD team carries efficiency-per-watt targets for new products and that progress is tied to company-wide bonuses.
For now, AMD is ahead of schedule on a real, well-documented engineering goal. Hitting it, however, will not reduce the amount of electricity the AI industry consumes, as the efficiency and performance gains it offers will only fuel more demand for AI hardware that can use the saved power, even as demand for AI compute power continues to soar.
- Sandisk's new NAS SSD lineup reaches a massive 7.68 TB capacity
- The flagship NAS 800 carries an unusually high 14 PBW endurance rating
- Sandisk offers SATA and PCIe 5.0 options for NAS systems
Sandisk has introduced two SSD families designed specifically for network-attached storage systems, with capacities reaching 7.68TB.
The company says the NAS 600 SATA and NAS 800 NVMe drives are designed for prosumers, creative professionals, and small businesses.
The NAS 600 reaches 4TB through SATA connectivity, while the NAS 800 uses PCIe 5.0 and extends capacity to 7.68TB.
Sandisk builds separate storage options for NAS workloadsThe NAS 600 uses a 2.5-inch, 7mm SATA design that fits compatible NAS systems supporting 2.5-inch solid-state drives, and comes in 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, with sequential read speeds of up to 560 MB/s across the range.
Its endurance ratings range from 350 TBW on the 500GB model to 2,500 TBW on the 4TB version, and Sandisk also rates the NAS 600 at up to 2.25M hours MTTF, based on internal testing and statistical calculations.
On the other hand, the NAS 800 uses an M.2 2280 form factor with PCIe 5.0 connectivity for higher-performance NAS configurations.
Its available capacities are 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, and 7.68TB, with sequential read speeds up to 14,900 MB/s.
The 3.84TB version reaches 2.3M IOPS for random reads and 2M IOPS for random writes under Sandisk's testing conditions.
Sandisk lists databases, virtualization, content creation, storage tiering, caching, and agentic AI among potential NAS 800 workloads.
The company says both families were engineered for multi-user environments where storage systems can remain active continuously.
“The way users employ NAS has fundamentally changed,” said Anil Moolchandani, vice president, product management at Sandisk, announcing the products.
The endurance figures separate these drives from ordinary consumer SSDs, particularly where NAS systems continuously write and rewrite stored data.
Sandisk rates the 7.68TB NAS 800 at 14 PBW, equivalent to 14,000 TBW across the drive's stated endurance specification.
That rating corresponds to approximately 7.67 TB of writes each day over five years if the workload remains evenly distributed.
The NAS 800 also uses TLC 3D NAND, although the company has not disclosed its specific controller or detailed internal architecture.
Capacity and endurance come with substantial pricesSandisk prices the NAS 600 lineup at $179.99 for 500GB, $279.99 for 1TB, $499.99 for 2TB, and $999.99 for 4TB.
The NAS 800 series opens at $309.99 for 960GB, then rises to $559.99 for 1.92TB, $1,099.99 for 3.84TB, and $2,199.99 for 7.68TB.
At $2,199.99, the 7.68TB flagship model carries a price tag considerably steeper than typical consumer-oriented SSDs offering comparable storage capacity.
Both drives will become available in September and will be sold via Sandisk’s official website and other select e-commerce platforms globally.
The company claims that the NAS 600 offers an accessible upgrade path away from hard drives, with support for solid-state caching and storage tiering.
It also notes that compatibility with individual NAS systems can vary, particularly where drive bays or M.2 implementations differ significantly.
For buyers weighing hard drive alternatives, these caveats matter as much as the speed and endurance figures.
- Ultra Maritime pairs its Sea Spear passive sonar array with the AN/SSQ-125B active sonobuoy at the US Navy's Lanternfish 2026 exercise in a bid to detect underwater drones
- While neither sonar type is new, the distributed architecture that links both to Anduril's Seabed Sentry and the Navy's command systems generates usable, precise readings for unmanned underwater vehicles
- The chain detects and then alerts operators to the presence of potential hostile naval assets in the vicinity of sensors that work in tandem to generate more reliable information
The threat that keeps modern navies awake at night is no longer a single, quiet submarine that gave regular defenses the slip, but a plethora of cheap drones that come in all shapes and sizes and could target anything from a pier to an undersea cable or a pipeline, for example.
While modern navies use sonar to track larger submarines, small drones are much harder to track reliably, even as Ultra Maritime, a defense tech company, says it has an answer.
The company showed that a pairing of its Sea Spear, a deployable passive sonar array, with the AN/SSQ-125B, its active sonobuoy offering, could, when working in tandem, track unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) better.
Existing tech, paired, repurposed and integrated to deliver resultsIt is important to know that neither of the hardware solutions used, passive sonar arrays or active sonobuoys, is a new creation; they have been deployed for years by the US Navy and many of its counterparts across the world since World War II to detect and track submarines.
The underlying approaches are even older: Passive listening and active pinging are two of the oldest techniques in the business, and both have existed since the First World War.
The intriguing part is the integration at play here and why it is tactically sound: Passive sonar is quiet, and it gives up nothing for the information it collects, including the listener's position, but it does get a bearing on any potential craft it does detect. Active sonar can then be used to determine range and location; however, for modern naval units, it is a double-edged sword, as it essentially announces one's presence in the region.
The tech essentially figures out whether anything is worth detecting by leveraging the first, then turns to the second to determine its specific location when needed. The company's Ocean of Things concept extends that to a mesh of autonomous sensors seeded from crewed and uncrewed platforms.
Ultramarine's approach allowed it to detect and classify UUVs of various sizes and sophistication in the US Navy's 2026 Lanternfish exercise. It has also announced that its Sea Spear is working with Anduril's Seabed Sentry to detect the same.
The timing is excellent for its buyer: defense contractor Lockheed Martin recently agreed to purchase Ultra Maritime from its private equity owner Advent for $3.45 billion, essentially adding it to the former's Rotary and Mission Systems division.
With navies struggling to identify and stop underwater drones that pose a persistent threat to their operations and defensive capabilities, Ultra Maritime's two-pronged approach seems like an interesting play to adopt. It combines already-existing scalable seabed infrastructure with a mesh of cheap listening arrays and expendable pinging buoys to get the job done.
To achieve any level of competency, large language models (LLMs) need ample data for sufficient training. AI companies have looked to various sources to mine this information, including content publicly available on the internet, synthetic data generated from other AI models, and printed literature.
Reading difficultiesPrompted by news that AI companies were allegedly using books from pirate ebook sites to build their LLMs, writers, authors, and publishers publicly called out this deeply worrying process.
Quote of the dayThis article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.
The professional organization known as the Authors Guild responded to various stories about AI companies scanning books to train their AI models (both illegally and legally) with incredibly comprehensive guidelines on AI licensing.
This document covered the various manifestations of the use of published works by AI companies, including its legal perspective on the legitimacy of using such works. It also highlighted that the continued data harvesting processes would risk destroying the ecosystem for books that currently exists.
Book buyingThe use of books by AI companies is an ongoing concern. But in recent months the focus has pivoted to those that buy, scan – and destroy – books on an industrial scale.
For example, court documents revealed the existence of 'Project Panama' inside Anthropic. This is a scheme in which the company aims to "destructively scan all the books in the world" and used a codename because "we don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.".
To train Claude, Anthropic had to procure a large and high-quality dataset, so it set out to purchase books on an industrial scale because of the relatively high-quality nature of the writing compared with, say, writing found online.
- VK wants Apple to restore its apps or face millions in daily fines
- The Russian company is demanding 58 million rubles ($696,000) every day
- Apple removed several major VK apps following European Union sanctions
Russian firm VK has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Moscow arbitration court, seeking restoration of several removed applications from the App Store.
Court records dated August 19 2026 show that the Russian technology company wants its applications restored to the platform without further delay.
Apple removed a range of VK-owned applications recently, including VKontakte, VK Messenger, VK Video, Odnoklassniki, Zen, Mail Cloud, Mail, Skillbox, and Youla, saying it was following sanctions imposed by the European Union against VK and its messaging subsidiary, Communication Platform LLC.
VK demands steep daily penalties for continued app removalVK is asking the court to impose penalties of 58 million rubles per day, equivalent to roughly $696,000, if Apple fails to comply.
That figure breaks down across three services, with VKontakte accounting for 50 million rubles, or about $600,000, in daily fines.
VK Music would carry a penalty of 5 million rubles, or nearly $60,000, while Odnoklassniki would draw 3 million rubles, close to $36,000 daily.
The lawsuit names three separate Apple entities as defendants, including Apple Rus LLC, Apple Inc., and Apple Distribution International Ltd.
VK has requested that the daily fines begin accruing six days after the court issues its complete and final ruling in this case.
The European Union's sanctions accused VK and its messaging subsidiary of enabling surveillance, censorship, and the identification of government critics inside Russia.
Apple removed the applications from the App Store following that designation, and the same titles later disappeared from Google Play as well.
Kremlin criticism adds to mounting pressure on AppleThe Kremlin responded sharply to Apple's decision, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov publicly demanding a formal explanation from the company itself.
Peskov argued that the removals called into question Apple's "reliability as a provider of commercial services" inside the Russian market.
The dispute unfolds against a broader pattern of legal friction between Western technology companies and Russian government authorities in recent years.
The Tagansky District Court recently fined Apple 500 thousand rubles (~$6,000) for a repeated violation of Russian federal legislation.
Similarly, a Moscow arbitration court ordered Google Ireland Limited to return more than $2.1 billion to Google's bankrupt Russian subsidiary.
That earlier ruling found the payments in question constituted unjust enrichment under Russian commercial law at the time of the case.
VK's case against Apple follows a similar legal strategy, relying on domestic courts to challenge decisions made by foreign firms.
Whether Moscow's arbitration system can meaningfully compel compliance from Apple, given its shrinking footprint in Russia, remains a genuinely open question.
Via United24media
- Samsung System LSI division uses Anthropic's Claude Code to reportedly slice working processes
- However the tool also apparently downgraded an error message instead of fixing it, rolling back unrelated finished work, and tried to edit code it was not authorized to touch
- Samsung's engineers currently review everything the tool produces before it is published elsewhere or affects existing chip designs
Samsung's System LSI division has reportedly used Anthropic's Claude Code to cut a month-long system-on-chip verification job to about two days.
While Samsung's division has about 6,000 employees, its main rival in mobile application processors, Qualcomm, has roughly 52,000 employees, and the former is apparently not above using AI to bridge the gap as a force multiplier.
A report from South Korean business outlet Chosun Biz (KR) claims System LSI leveraged Anthropic's Claude Code by offering it to its software developers in May 2026, then extended it to semiconductor design and verification work, a move which led to much faster progress on certain projects, while also producing interesting failures on other fronts.
A mix of triumphs and gaffesSamsung's approach, for the most part, makes an excellent case for future AI use, as one verification project expected to take more than a month was finished in about two days, something the company internally tracked as a 15x gain in efficiency.
More interestingly, a second-year engineer with no prior exposure to either the tool or USB communication standards built USB device models for an emulator and adapted an Android driver in a single day, work whichwas normally estimated to take about a month.
Samsung has also had an interesting interaction using Claude Code to verify the internal data connections of a custom system-on-chip. The job was complex in more ways than one: the customer wanted a new architecture, third-party design IP was involved, the documentation was nonstandard, and the RTL for the DRAM controller had not arrived on schedule, making for a perfect storm for Claude.
Claude built a virtual verification environment using placeholder blocks in place of the missing RTL, along with test scenarios, so that engineers could start catching errors before the real design existed.
On the other side of the equation, Claude Code did, in certain cases, try to operate outside the boundaries of its assignments, often resulting in incorrect output or an error, or, in one case, an attempt to modify RTL circuit code it had no authorization to touch. It also rolled back unrelated finished work and downgraded an error message instead of fixing it.
The former is particularly egregious because, unlike software updates, once silicon ships, it can rarely be repurposed or 'updated' to bypass design flaws. Samsung has responded by ensuring engineers manually inspect and verify the output of Anthropic's models before using it elsewhere.
More interestingly, Claude Code isn't the only tool in the building, even if it seems to get the most attention here; Samsung also uses Google Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT across research, manufacturing, marketing, and support.
Despite this, Samsung does not use either of the other models to check input from the former; trusted engineers on-site do that instead in an industry where errors that are not picked up during reviews could be costly for a company that is currently attempting to maximize efficiency, even as its System LSI has posted losses in its SoC business and its flagship Galaxy Z Fold 8 runs Qualcomm's silicon under the hood.
There is no such thing as a stupid idea in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe — and I'm starting to think that there's no such thing as a boring idea, either.
As the gang leave behind their tribal oasis from episode 5 — which, let's face it, they ruined — we're back in a familiar suburban setting this week. The difference? Everyone eats plants and grass as if they were a Happy Meal at McDonald's.
No fast food favoritism here, but you get the idea. So, when does Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 6 arrive on HBO Max?
What time can I watch Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 6 on HBO Max?For US viewers, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 6 will drop on Thursday, August 27 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.
Internationally, you're looking out for these timings:
- US – Thursday, August 27 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
- Canada – Thursday, August 27 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
- UK – Friday, August 28 at 2am BST
- India – Friday, August 28 at 6:30am IST
- Singapore – Friday, August 28 at 9am SGT
- Australia – Friday, August 28 at 11am AEST
- New Zealand – Friday, August 28 at 1pm NZST
New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will make landfall every Thursday in the US and on Fridays everywhere else. Here are the all-important dates you need to know about:
- Episode 1: out now
- Episode 2: out now
- Episode 3: out now
- Episode 4: out now
- Episode 5: out now
- Episode 6: August 27
- Episode 7: September 3
- Episode 8: September 10
- Episode 9: September 17
- Episode 10: September 24
- BACCH 3D virtual surround up front, Dolby Surround/Atmos for rear channels
- New control box also provides additional connectivity
- An open system: use whatever speakers you like
When Canvas HiFi unveiled "the world's first audiophile soundbar" earlier this year, it came with a huge specification: 8-inch drivers pushing out 1,500W of power in a three-way setup. When we actually heard it, we were very impressed – we said it was "astounding" – and now it's even better with a Dolby Atmos upgrade.
The new setup uses the Canvas soundbar for the front soundstage, with additional active speakers for the surround, rear, and height channels. The soundbar itself uses BACCH 3D for audio positioning and supports Dolby Surround and Dolby Atmos for the additional speakers.
(Image credit: Canvas HiFi)How does the Canvas soundbar handle surround sound?The BACCH 3D system is a virtual surround system that Canvas says is "fundamentally different" from conventional virtual surround technologies. It controls the acoustic interaction between your left and right ears to deliver a larger, more precise soundstage, with the left, right, center, and bass channels sounding as if they're coming from physical speakers. The rear channels use Dolby Surround or Dolby Atmos as required.
The heart of the system is a new control box, developed in collaboration with the German electronics specialist Almando. This new box handles surround decoding and signal distribution to the Canvas soundbar and additional speakers. It also acts as a connectivity hub, enabling additional inputs and outputs and better integration with larger AV systems.
Canvas has deliberately made this an open system, so if you'd rather use another firm's speakers for your rear and height channels, you can. However, it would very much like you to check out its new collaboration with the Danish speaker firm System Audio, which will be adapting some of its Silverback active speakers to match the Canvas design universe and deliver a "visually coherent sound system". The Silverback speakers are the ones on the wall in the above photograph.
The new system will make its debut at IFA 2026 in Berlin, which runs from the 4th to the 8th of September 2026.
Thinking of buying a new TV?Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.
Pre-orders for Google’s new Pixel 11 range have now wrapped up, with most retailer offers and deals finished, and you can now get your hands on them immediately.
All three Pixel 11 bar-style phones get a newly redesigned camera bump, along with brand-new LED notification lights within the flash module called ‘HiLight’. They also get a new Tensor G6, and now all start with 12GB of RAM — a decrease from the 16GB RAM that the base Pro models had in last year’s Pixels.
Like many flagship releases thus far, the Google flagships have higher starting prices compared to their predecessors — like AU$1,499 for the base Pixel 11 — although thankfully storage options now start at 256GB instead of 128GB in last year’s handsets.
If you're keen to get one of Google's latest smartphones, then understandably, paying one off in monthly instalments will likely be a popular option, instead of paying the full amount outright.
If you’re going the telco route, you’ll be pleased to hear that most of their pre-order specials have been extended to as late as October, with savings of up to AU$1,000. We’ve compared all the deals on offer and have highlighted the best ones below.
Best Pixel 11 plans(Image credit: Google)The best overall Pixel 11 planGoogle Pixel 11 | Vodafone Small Plan | 65GB data | 24 months | AU$76.20 p/m
After skipping the Pixel 10 last year, Vodafone is offering a AU$650 handset discount on the base Pixel 11, an extra AU$100 off for a sitewide discount on Android phones, and a AU$13p/m discount on the 65GB Small Plan for the first 12 months, all coming together to make this the cheapest telco deal. The plan includes unlimited national calls and texts, unlimited international texts and you can use your same plan when overseas for an extra AU$5 per day. This offer ends on September 30, though the AU$100 off ends earlier on September 7.
Minimum cost: AU$794 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$1,984.80View Deal
The best premium Pixel 11 planGoogle Pixel 11 | Vodafone Medium Plan | 220GB data | 24 months | AU$86.20 p/m
For an extra AU$10p/m, you can get the same discounted handset but with a whopping 220GB of mobile data. The key difference here is that you also get unlimited international calls to selected destinations, making this the better option if you need global communication.
Minimum cost: AU$804 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$2,224.80View Deal
Compare Pixel 11 plansBest Pixel 11 Pro plans(Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)Google Pixel 11 Pro (256GB) | Optus Small Choice Plus Plan | 60GB | 24 months | AU$96.19p/m
Vodafone isn’t selling the 6.3-inch Pixel 11 Pro, so Optus is your best option to get the handset. The telco is discounting it by AU$500 and its Small Choice Plus Plan is currently AU$20p/m off for the first 12 months. The plan includes unlimited national calls and texts and 5GB of daily roaming for an extra AU$5 per day. If you want more mobile data, you can opt for the Medium Choice Plus Plan for an extra AU$10 with 240GB. This offer runs until October 6.
Minimum cost: AU$1,389 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$2,548.56View Deal
Compare Pixel 11 Pro plansBest Pixel 11 Pro XL plansThe best Pixel 11 Pro XL plan overallGoogle Pixel 11 Pro XL (256GB) | Optus Small Choice Plus Plan | 60GB | 24 months | AU$85.78p/m
Thanks to a AU$1,000 handset discount, the larger 6.8-inch Google Pixel 11 Pro XL is cheaper than its smaller sibling above when you sign up for a 12-, 24- or 36-month plan with Optus. When paired with the AU$20p/m discount on the first 12 months of the Optus Small Choice Plus Plan, this option also beats Vodafone’s offer by around AU$5p/m. This offer runs until September 6.
Minimum cost: AU$1,139 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$2,298.72View Deal
The best premium Pixel 11 Pro XL planGoogle Pixel 11 Pro XL (256GB) | Optus Medium Choice Plus Plan | 240GB | 24 months | AU$95.78p/m
For an extra AU$10p/m, you can get the same discounted handset but with a whopping 240GB of mobile data. The key difference here is that you also get unlimited international calls and texts to 35 destinations, making this the better option if you need global communication.
Minimum cost: AU$1,149 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$2,538.72View Deal
Compare Pixel 11 Pro XL plansOutright Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL dealsSpending up to AU$2,299 in one go on a phone isn't viable for everyone, but if you can swing it, you will end up saving more in the long run. The Pixel lineup also often gets regular discounts — sometimes even just a few months after launch (like the Black Friday sales). If that’s the route you're looking to explore, we recommend pairing your new phone with one of our best SIM-only plans to keep costs down.
Multiple retailers stock the Pixel 11 lineup, with some stores running their own discounts at various times of the year. This gives you plenty of options for purchasing any of the Pixel 11 and 11 Pro models outright, and you can compare retailers’ prices in the widget below:
What’s new with the Google Pixel 11 lineup?Google has kept its four-phone lineup this year, comprising the standard Google Pixel 11, the Google Pixel 11 Pro and larger Pro XL, and Google's premium foldable, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. What are the new worthwhile features and how do they compare? Here's a quick breakdown.
Let's start with the Tensor G6 chipset that powers the entire range of new Pixel 11 phones. This is a direct upgrade to the previous G5 chip, boasting a 20% faster CPU, 50% faster TPU and a 20% improvement in power efficiency. That means faster overall performance, a more efficient battery and speedier processing for AI features.
(Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)Google phones have always been good for photos, too, and that theme continues with the Pixel 11 range. The base Pixel and the Pro Fold can now zoom in 30x (up from 20x), while the Pro and Pro XL get a whopping 120x zoom, up from 100x in last year’s handsets, thanks in part to a new 48MP telephoto sensor (that also has a 30% increase in light sensitivity.
You also get a new Magic Capture feature, which uses AI to automatically pull the best individual frames from video recordings as high-res HDR photos. You can also choose to reduce heavy photo processing or emulate retro camera styles with the new Camera Looks feature.
One notable feature is HiLight: a multi-colour LED light array in the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL’s camera flash module that glows when Gemini is activated or lights up with a chosen colour assigned to a specific contact.
Altogether, there are some decent upgrades across the new Pixel 11 lineup. With frequent discounts, you could come away with an awesome new phone at a great price, too.
Google Pixel 11 and 11 Pro specs comparisonPixel 11
Pixel 11 Pro
Pixel 11 Pro XL
Price:
AU$1,499
AU$1,849
AU$2,099
Weight:
197g
204g
226g
Display:
6.3-inch OLED
6.3-inch LTPO OLED
6.8-inch LTPO OLED
Resolution:
2424 x 1080
2856 x 1280
2992 x 1344
Refresh rate:
120Hz
1Hz to 120Hz adaptive
1Hz to 120Hz adaptive
Peak brightness:
3,000 nits
3,600 nits
3,600 nits
Chipset:
Google Tensor G6
Google Tensor G6
Google Tensor G6
Rear cameras:
48MP wide, 13MP ultrawide, 10.8MP 5x telephoto
50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x telephoto
50MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x telephoto
Front camera:
10.5MP
42MP
42MP
Storage:
256GB, 512GB
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
RAM:
12GB
12GB/16GB (512GB, 1TB)
12GB/16GB (512GB, 1TB)
Colours:
Frost, Pistachio, Hibiscus, Obsidian
Canyon, Olive, Fog, Obsidian
Canyon, Olive, Fog, Obsidian
Pre-orders for Samsung’s 2026 foldables wrapped up this week, but telcos across Australia are clearly in a generous mood, as they kept their previous pre-order deals live for a wee bit longer, giving you a bit more time to save on the new devices.
And save you might, because this year, Samsung has introduced a third premium Z-series foldable in 2026 with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 This new model introduces a new design: a short and wide 5.5-inch cover screen when folded, and a 7.6-inch main screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio that can fit widescreen videos better than the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s square display, or resemble an ereader when in portrait mode.
The direct successor of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is now confusingly called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which is thinner than ever (4.1mm down from an already ridiculously thin 4.2mm) and also features a 50MP ultrawide camera (up from 12MP), a higher-resolution main screen, and increased peak brightness from 2,600 nits to 3,000 nits.
With all that said, these foldables have arrived as some of the most expensive phones you can buy in Australia, with the base 256GB models starting from AU$2,699 for the Z Fold 8 and AU$2,999 for the Ultra. The latter also represents a AU$100 price hike from the Z Fold 7.
If you’ve been sold on all the features and are happy to buy either handset outright, you can check out the current best outright deals below and then pair that with one of our best SIM-only plans.
However, the high upfront costs of both foldables will likely mean many buyers may prefer to pay either one off over a multi-year contract from a major Australian telco like Vodafone, Optus or Telstra.
We’ve crunched the numbers on the big three’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra plans below — including any current promotions and discounts — to help guide you to the best value options for various needs.
The best Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 plan overallSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 | Optus Small Choice Plus plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$127.42 p/m
Optus is offering AU$600 off the Galaxy Z Fold 8, plus a AU$20p/m discount on plan fees for the first 12 months, making the telco the cheapest provider for the new foldable. The plan includes 60GB of mobile data, unlimited calls and texts across Australia and select destinations, and 5GB of daily roaming for AU$5. This offer will run until October 6.
Minimum total cost: AU$2,139 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$3,298.08View Deal
The best premium Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 planSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 | Optus Medium Choice Plus plan | 240GB data | 24 months | AU$137.42 p/m
For an extra AU$10p/m, you can get a whopping 240GB of mobile data, unlimited calls and texts across Australia and select international destinations. The AU$50p/m plan fees will go back up to AU$70p/m after one year.
Minimum total cost: AU$2,149 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$3,538.08View Deal
The best Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra plan overallSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra| Optus Small Choice Plus plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$139.93 p/m
Optus is also offering AU$600 off the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and a AU$20p/m discount on plan fees for the first 12 months, also making it cheaper than Vodafone. The plan includes 60GB of mobile data, unlimited calls and texts across Australia and select international destinations. The handset discount will also run until October 6.
Minimum total cost: AU$3,039 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$3,598.32View Deal
The best premium Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra planFor an extra AU$10p/m you’ll get 240GB of mobile data, unlimited calls and texts across Australia and select international destinations. Plan fees will go back up to AU$70p/m from AU$50p/m after one year.
Minimum total cost: AU$2,149 | Total cost over 24 months: AU$3,538.08View Deal
Outright Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra dealsNot interested in purchasing through a telco with a postpaid plan? Many Aussie retailers offer the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra outright, including an option to pay in instalments through Samsung Australia directly. Here are the top current offers available from our retail partners.
What’s new with Samsung’s latest foldables?(Image credit: Future)Samsung’s latest foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 8, mark substantial design and usability upgrades over their predecessors – pushing the boundaries of what a foldable phone can be.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the newest addition to the Z-series range, featuring a new short and wide form factor when folded, and a main screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio that can fit widescreen videos better than most foldables’ square display, or resemble an ereader when in portrait mode.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s direct successor is now called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which is now even thinner at 4.1mm when unfolded and its main display gets a resolution bump at 2256 x 2504 pixels (up from 1968 x 2184 pixels). Its most prominent upgrade though is the camera system with a new 50MP ultrawide sensor to pair with the 200MP shooter, similar to those found in the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Both devices get a powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, 12GB RAM (or 16GB in some instances) and new silicon-carbon batteries to fit in larger capacities compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries in the same physical size — 4,800mAh for the Z Fold 8 and 5,000mAh for the Ultra.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor at 6.1mm unfolded and 13.1mm folded, compared to the Flip 7’s 6.5mm and 13.7mm, respectively. There’s also a refined hinge that’s aimed at making the handset easier to open one-handed and reducing the crease. While it doesn’t get the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip used by its foldable cousins here in Australia, it still gets an upgraded Exynos 2600 found in the base Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus. The handset also gets the silicon-carbon treatment here, although it retains the same 4,300mAh capacity as the Flip 7.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 specs
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8
Weight
201g
215g
180g
Display
Main: 7.6-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X (2448 x 1848)
Cover: 5.5-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X (1248 x 1972)
Main: 8-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X (2256 x 2504)
Cover: 6.5-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X (1080 x 2520)
Main: 6.9-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X (1080 x 2520)
Cover: 4.1-inch Super AMOLED Display (948 x 1048)
Chipset
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Exynos 2600
RAM
12GB / 16GB (1TB)
12GB/16GB
12GB
Storage
256GB / 512GB / 1TB
256GB / 512GB/ 1TB
256GB / 512GB
Rear cameras
Wide: 50MP
Ultrawide: 50MP
Wide: 200MP
Ultrawide: 50MP
Telephoto: 10MP
Wide: 50MP
Ultrawide: 12MP
Front cameras
Cover: 10MP
Front: 10MP
Cover: 10MP
Front: 10MP
10MP
Battery
4,800mAh
5,000mAh
4,300mAh
Colours
Graphite, Cream, Lavender, Pistachio
Graphite, Cream, Violet Shadow
Graphite, Cream, Pink, Mint
- Public confidence in AI weather forecasts is far lower than for numerical and physics-based methods
- Just 11% said they were "very confident" in machine learning weather prediction, compared with 30% for tried-and-trusted methods
- The Met Office has been using machine learning techniques in weather forecasting for some years
A survey of 6,000 UK adults has found that the majority don’t fully trust the idea of AI weather forecasts. While machine learning techniques have been a factor of weather forecasting for some years, the survey found that people are more relaxed about traditional Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) as opposed to Machine Learning Weather Prediction (MLWP).
Predictive technology has increased considerably thanks to AI, and the Met Office has already begun to evaluate AI models for augmenting its existing forecasting methods.
However, the “confidence gap” in the results of the survey, which appears to be based around questions over accuracy, could undermine the use of AI for weather forecasting, which researchers suggest can be challenged with clear demonstrations of the methods working successfully.
AI-based weather modelsThe Met Office research was published in a study, Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, which explores the public’s confidence in the reliability of AI-based weather forecasting and prediction. Future studies are planned to assess how attitudes change toward AI-backed weather reports.
Responses to the report are not entirely negative. While 87.7% of respondents felt confident about weather reports using NWP, the 49.4% in favour of MLWP isn’t a bad result. Rather, it demonstrates that people are comfortable with tried-and-tested methods.
Dr Edward Pope, a Met Office Science Fellow and the lead author of the paper, said the report, “deepens our understanding of current public perceptions as we approach a crucial juncture where AI-based weather models are demonstrating their potential to work alongside physics-based methods. This was a unique opportunity to compare public perceptions of established and emerging approaches to forecasting the weather."
The consequences of the “confidence gap”The gap in confidence between the maths-based predictive forecasting and modern AI modelling is a challenge that the Met Office is addressing directly.
Dr Pope explained that “The gap in confidence and perceived accuracy highlighted in the paper demonstrates the need to clearly and transparently demonstrate the value of new approaches in ways that matter to people.”
In Pope’s view, AI practices will contribute to weather forecasts in the future, “but these improvements will only be fully realised if the public continue to have confidence, and importantly act on, the weather forecast they see.”
The Met Office research considered the “perceived accuracy” of reports, and its Chief AI Officer Professor Kirstine Dale implied that progress with AI weather modelling is subjected to evaluation and validation: “We are exploring ways of blending physics-based and AI-based modelling to deliver the forecasts that we all rely on. As with all science developments, we will robustly evaluate and validate any changes to our approach to weather forecasting before we introduce them into the model.”
- A security engineer at Amazon hacked a bunch of peripherals using AI
- Claude Opus did most of the legwork in applying modified firmware to a webcam, microphone and more
- The relative ease with which AI allows this kind of modification points to a worrying future of peripherals being compromised on a grander scale
In another example of how AI could prove to be a threat to our devices, an Amazon security engineer has demonstrated how powerful Claude Opus is when it comes to reverse engineering PC peripherals.
Chaz Schlarp, who's a Senior Security Engineer at Amazon, wrote a blog post about experiments he conducted with a bunch of peripherals such as a webcam and a microphone.
He wanted to find out how easy it was to modify the firmware and pull off some useful tricks with these devices using AI, but clearly there's a darker side here — namely that the same access could be leveraged by a malicious actor to compromise your system via these gadgets.
Schlarp used Claude Opus 5 to mess around with the firmware for an Insta360 webcam, a Shure microphone, an Asus monitor, an Elgato video capture stick, and an Elgato mini-light (a compact device for lighting your streaming videos).
Schlarp explains: "My process was pretty much the same for each of these devices: grab a copy of the device's firmware and associated update tool from the manufacturer, throw it into my reverse engineering environment, tell Claude Opus 5 what my goals are, and let it churn."
One thing that became quite clear to the security engineer was that these devices lacked any decent firmware integrity protection to prevent modifying and applying a new firmware. Only the Elgato light had any defenses in this respect, and they were easy enough to circumvent.
Schlarp explains a trick with his Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ monitor to demonstrate the kind of useful utility that can be on offer with this kind of firmware modding. He found it was possible to remove an annoying pop-up warning that periodically tells the owner to run the 'pixel cleaning' process (although the engineer hasn't implemented the fix in the firmware yet). He also discovered a way to get DisplayWidget (a Windows utility) features running on his Linux system, with a shell script that can flick through certain bits of functionality like the hardware crosshair or FPS counter (which could be set up on hotkeys).
Most of what he did, though, was about proving how relatively easy it was to subvert the firmware using AI to do the heavy lifting, and, for example, disable the webcam's recording light (in the style of surveillance malware, so the user wouldn't know if the camera was secretly recording). He pulled off a similar feat with the microphone, so the mute LED could be on while the mic wasn't actually muted (this was leveraged via a 'full plaintext command shell').
Schlarp observed: "Peripherals have proven to be an ideal target for agentic RE [reverse engineering] — they're tiny computers attached to my computer, with a data connection to the host and usually a firmware update mechanism, so an agent has something to iterate against. The net outcome is better control and understanding of my machine."
Analysis: fast-tracked exploits?(Image credit: Shure)The key point here is how easy Claude Opus made this task. 'Owning' all five of these peripherals boiled down to 13 hours of the AI beavering away under its own steam with just shy of 100 prompts from its human overseer.
Schlarp notes that: "Hardware is almost universally 'open' for tinkering at this point with just a couple hours of mostly hands-off machine-driven labor each, and I look forward to a near future where I can add features to my webcam firmware as easily as I can to software that runs on my Linux machine itself."
However, as mentioned, there's the dark side to all this, as Schlarp makes clear: "On the other hand, as a security professional, this scares me for several reasons. I would work from the operating assumption that any device attached to a computer could have had a malicious firmware implant performed, where previously that required significant per-model investment and was stereotyped as a 'state actor' kind of activity."
In other words, the main difficulty in executing these kinds of exploits is the labor and time required, which currently limits this to individually targeted attacks on more high value targets. However, now an AI agent is capable of doing the grunt work, it makes sense that these kinds of attacks could be far more prevalent as time rolls on.
That means all those peripherals attached to your PC could be used as ways to compromise you, or your system, in the future. Schlarp informs us that he's also managed to get a root shell on a commercial Dell display, adding that: "Obviously it was never best practice to let untrusted clients touch these things, but the speed and scale at which this can be executed makes the risk so much higher now."
There's a potentially bigger threat here, too: an AI-powered worm that automatically actions this kind of reverse engineering. Schlarp explains: "It's only a tiny leap to imagine that someone could make a self-replicating piece of malware that probes its environment, relaying reconnaissance back to a smart command-and-control that actively works to push itself into accessories and IoT devices and industrial equipment found adjacent to an infected target."
There are a lot of worries about where AI could be leading us, and far more dangerous security threats looming in the future (or indeed the present) is another unfortunate prospect to say the least.