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The EPA Plans to ‘Reconsider’ Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos

The EPA Plans to ‘Reconsider’ Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos

Hazardous Materials Politics Science Science / Health Tech-news , , , ,

Despite touting ambitious goals of making America healthier, the Trump administration on Monday revealed in court documents that it is backpedaling on a ban on cancer-causing asbestos.

Last year, under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency took a long-awaited step to ban the last type of asbestos still used in the US—chrysotile asbestos, aka “white asbestos.” While use of chrysotile asbestos was on the decline, the dangerous mineral has lingered in various gaskets, brake blocks, aftermarket automotive brakes and linings, other vehicle friction products, and some diaphragms used to make sodium hydroxide and chlorine.

With the ban, the US joined over 50 other countries around the world that had banned its use due to health risks. Generally, asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer. Asbestos exposure is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the US each year, the EPA noted at the time.

“The science is clear—asbestos is a known carcinogen that has severe impacts on public health. President Biden understands that this [is a] concern that has spanned generations and impacted the lives of countless people. That’s why EPA is so proud to finalize this long-needed ban on ongoing uses of asbestos,” Michael Regan, EPA administrator at the time, said in a statement.

“100 Percent Safe”

While the move was decades in the making and hailed by health proponents, it still allowed companies a generous period to phase out use of asbestos—in some cases up to 12 years. That didn’t stop industry from taking legal action against the regulation shortly after the EPA’s announcement. The litigation, brought by a number of companies and trade groups, including the American Chemistry Council, has been ongoing since then.

On Monday, the EPA, now under the Trump administration, filed court documents saying that it “now intends to reconsider” the ban, and it “expects that this process, including any regulatory changes, will take approximately 30 months.” The EPA asked the court to suspend the court case in the meantime. The filing included a declaration in support of the reconsiderations from new EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Lynn Ann Dekleva, who until last year worked as a lobbyist and director for the American Chemistry Council.

As Ars reported last year, there was always concern that another Trump administration would work to overturn the ban; Trump supports the use of asbestos. In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback, Trump wrote that asbestos is “100 percent safe, once applied” and blamed the mob for its reputation as a carcinogen, writing: “I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal.”

Trump’s support for asbestos has been welcomed in Russia, a primary asbestos supplier to the US. In 2018, a Russian asbestos company began marketing asbestos with Trump’s face and a seal reading “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States.”

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

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The AI industry is not quite experiencing a DeepSeek 2.0 moment, but it feels very close. The leading Chinese AI labs have been on a roll lately, releasing a series of almost cutting-edge open-source models. Z.ai released GLM 5.2 in June, Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 last week, and Alibaba released Qwen 3.8 this Monday.

Silicon Valley and Washington started talking about the models immediately, especially K3, which is widely seen as the best of the bunch. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and AI adviser to President Donald Trump, called the performance of Moonshot’s model “concerning.” Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US might impose sanctions on Chinese AI companies.

On Wednesday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, alleged that the Trump administration has “information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model,” which he said amounted to “stealing proprietary US technology and undermining American research” and was “unacceptable.” (Moonshot AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The new Chinese models have a few things in common: Third-party benchmarks show that they perform nearly as well as the best Western models; they are optimized for agentic coding tasks (the hottest thing in AI this year); and they are or will soon be released with open weights, making them accessible and transparent.

But perhaps the biggest parallel between the current moment and January 2025—when the world was shocked by DeepSeek’s R1 model—is that it reaffirms how American and Chinese AI labs are taking diverging paths when it comes to being open or closed.

When it first burst onto the scene, DeepSeek challenged the premise that only closed-source models built with billions of dollars of investment in compute infrastructure and training could achieve frontier performance. But since then, Western AI labs have continued developing AI the same way, and now American frontier models feel more roped-off than they were a year ago.

Anthropic said for months that its latest Mythos model was so dangerously good at hacking that only approved collaborators could use it. When it was finally released more widely, the White House responded by issuing broad export controls, which forced Anthropic to take Mythos and its less capable sister model, Fable 5, offline temporarily. OpenAI similarly delayed the release of GPT 5.6 after it received a request from the White House.

In China, meanwhile, the situation looks very different. Chinese startups and tech giants have doubled down on open source: Anyone with a good enough computer environment can now download an open-weight model, run it locally, add customizations, and overall enjoy a much greater degree of freedom than OpenAI and Anthropic would ever allow. In many ways, the open versus closed debate is more entangled with the US versus China debate than ever before.

There are a lot of reasons why Chinese labs have chosen a business strategy built atop open-source models. Being the newer, smaller fish in the AI field, making their models free and open can help Chinese firms attract more users, collaborators, and media spotlight. It also puts them in a separate lane of competition from the one that OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceX, and other deep-pocketed giants are in.

Earlier this year, rumors spread that Alibaba might be considering joining the closed-source race after it rearranged its corporate AI model development teams. But the tech giant announced on Monday that it would again release the latest version of Qwen—its line of open-source models beloved by the global tech community—with open weights, signaling to customers and the public it is not pivoting away yet.

#Chinas #Open #Models #Challenging #Silicon #Valleys #Playbookchina,open source,alibaba,generative ai,national security,artificial intelligence">China’s Open AI Models Are Challenging Silicon Valley’s PlaybookThe AI industry is not quite experiencing a DeepSeek 2.0 moment, but it feels very close. The leading Chinese AI labs have been on a roll lately, releasing a series of almost cutting-edge open-source models. Z.ai released GLM 5.2 in June, Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 last week, and Alibaba released Qwen 3.8 this Monday.Silicon Valley and Washington started talking about the models immediately, especially K3, which is widely seen as the best of the bunch. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and AI adviser to President Donald Trump, called the performance of Moonshot’s model “concerning.” Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US might impose sanctions on Chinese AI companies.On Wednesday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, alleged that the Trump administration has “information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model,” which he said amounted to “stealing proprietary US technology and undermining American research” and was “unacceptable.” (Moonshot AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)The new Chinese models have a few things in common: Third-party benchmarks show that they perform nearly as well as the best Western models; they are optimized for agentic coding tasks (the hottest thing in AI this year); and they are or will soon be released with open weights, making them accessible and transparent.But perhaps the biggest parallel between the current moment and January 2025—when the world was shocked by DeepSeek’s R1 model—is that it reaffirms how American and Chinese AI labs are taking diverging paths when it comes to being open or closed.When it first burst onto the scene, DeepSeek challenged the premise that only closed-source models built with billions of dollars of investment in compute infrastructure and training could achieve frontier performance. But since then, Western AI labs have continued developing AI the same way, and now American frontier models feel more roped-off than they were a year ago.Anthropic said for months that its latest Mythos model was so dangerously good at hacking that only approved collaborators could use it. When it was finally released more widely, the White House responded by issuing broad export controls, which forced Anthropic to take Mythos and its less capable sister model, Fable 5, offline temporarily. OpenAI similarly delayed the release of GPT 5.6 after it received a request from the White House.In China, meanwhile, the situation looks very different. Chinese startups and tech giants have doubled down on open source: Anyone with a good enough computer environment can now download an open-weight model, run it locally, add customizations, and overall enjoy a much greater degree of freedom than OpenAI and Anthropic would ever allow. In many ways, the open versus closed debate is more entangled with the US versus China debate than ever before.There are a lot of reasons why Chinese labs have chosen a business strategy built atop open-source models. Being the newer, smaller fish in the AI field, making their models free and open can help Chinese firms attract more users, collaborators, and media spotlight. It also puts them in a separate lane of competition from the one that OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceX, and other deep-pocketed giants are in.Earlier this year, rumors spread that Alibaba might be considering joining the closed-source race after it rearranged its corporate AI model development teams. But the tech giant announced on Monday that it would again release the latest version of Qwen—its line of open-source models beloved by the global tech community—with open weights, signaling to customers and the public it is not pivoting away yet.#Chinas #Open #Models #Challenging #Silicon #Valleys #Playbookchina,open source,alibaba,generative ai,national security,artificial intelligence

DeepSeek 2.0 moment, but it feels very close. The leading Chinese AI labs have been on a roll lately, releasing a series of almost cutting-edge open-source models. Z.ai released GLM 5.2 in June, Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 last week, and Alibaba released Qwen 3.8 this Monday.

Silicon Valley and Washington started talking about the models immediately, especially K3, which is widely seen as the best of the bunch. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and AI adviser to President Donald Trump, called the performance of Moonshot’s model “concerning.” Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US might impose sanctions on Chinese AI companies.

On Wednesday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, alleged that the Trump administration has “information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model,” which he said amounted to “stealing proprietary US technology and undermining American research” and was “unacceptable.” (Moonshot AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The new Chinese models have a few things in common: Third-party benchmarks show that they perform nearly as well as the best Western models; they are optimized for agentic coding tasks (the hottest thing in AI this year); and they are or will soon be released with open weights, making them accessible and transparent.

But perhaps the biggest parallel between the current moment and January 2025—when the world was shocked by DeepSeek’s R1 model—is that it reaffirms how American and Chinese AI labs are taking diverging paths when it comes to being open or closed.

When it first burst onto the scene, DeepSeek challenged the premise that only closed-source models built with billions of dollars of investment in compute infrastructure and training could achieve frontier performance. But since then, Western AI labs have continued developing AI the same way, and now American frontier models feel more roped-off than they were a year ago.

Anthropic said for months that its latest Mythos model was so dangerously good at hacking that only approved collaborators could use it. When it was finally released more widely, the White House responded by issuing broad export controls, which forced Anthropic to take Mythos and its less capable sister model, Fable 5, offline temporarily. OpenAI similarly delayed the release of GPT 5.6 after it received a request from the White House.

In China, meanwhile, the situation looks very different. Chinese startups and tech giants have doubled down on open source: Anyone with a good enough computer environment can now download an open-weight model, run it locally, add customizations, and overall enjoy a much greater degree of freedom than OpenAI and Anthropic would ever allow. In many ways, the open versus closed debate is more entangled with the US versus China debate than ever before.

There are a lot of reasons why Chinese labs have chosen a business strategy built atop open-source models. Being the newer, smaller fish in the AI field, making their models free and open can help Chinese firms attract more users, collaborators, and media spotlight. It also puts them in a separate lane of competition from the one that OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceX, and other deep-pocketed giants are in.

Earlier this year, rumors spread that Alibaba might be considering joining the closed-source race after it rearranged its corporate AI model development teams. But the tech giant announced on Monday that it would again release the latest version of Qwen—its line of open-source models beloved by the global tech community—with open weights, signaling to customers and the public it is not pivoting away yet.

#Chinas #Open #Models #Challenging #Silicon #Valleys #Playbookchina,open source,alibaba,generative ai,national security,artificial intelligence">China’s Open AI Models Are Challenging Silicon Valley’s Playbook

The AI industry is not quite experiencing a DeepSeek 2.0 moment, but it feels very close. The leading Chinese AI labs have been on a roll lately, releasing a series of almost cutting-edge open-source models. Z.ai released GLM 5.2 in June, Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 last week, and Alibaba released Qwen 3.8 this Monday.

Silicon Valley and Washington started talking about the models immediately, especially K3, which is widely seen as the best of the bunch. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and AI adviser to President Donald Trump, called the performance of Moonshot’s model “concerning.” Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US might impose sanctions on Chinese AI companies.

On Wednesday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, alleged that the Trump administration has “information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model,” which he said amounted to “stealing proprietary US technology and undermining American research” and was “unacceptable.” (Moonshot AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The new Chinese models have a few things in common: Third-party benchmarks show that they perform nearly as well as the best Western models; they are optimized for agentic coding tasks (the hottest thing in AI this year); and they are or will soon be released with open weights, making them accessible and transparent.

But perhaps the biggest parallel between the current moment and January 2025—when the world was shocked by DeepSeek’s R1 model—is that it reaffirms how American and Chinese AI labs are taking diverging paths when it comes to being open or closed.

When it first burst onto the scene, DeepSeek challenged the premise that only closed-source models built with billions of dollars of investment in compute infrastructure and training could achieve frontier performance. But since then, Western AI labs have continued developing AI the same way, and now American frontier models feel more roped-off than they were a year ago.

Anthropic said for months that its latest Mythos model was so dangerously good at hacking that only approved collaborators could use it. When it was finally released more widely, the White House responded by issuing broad export controls, which forced Anthropic to take Mythos and its less capable sister model, Fable 5, offline temporarily. OpenAI similarly delayed the release of GPT 5.6 after it received a request from the White House.

In China, meanwhile, the situation looks very different. Chinese startups and tech giants have doubled down on open source: Anyone with a good enough computer environment can now download an open-weight model, run it locally, add customizations, and overall enjoy a much greater degree of freedom than OpenAI and Anthropic would ever allow. In many ways, the open versus closed debate is more entangled with the US versus China debate than ever before.

There are a lot of reasons why Chinese labs have chosen a business strategy built atop open-source models. Being the newer, smaller fish in the AI field, making their models free and open can help Chinese firms attract more users, collaborators, and media spotlight. It also puts them in a separate lane of competition from the one that OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceX, and other deep-pocketed giants are in.

Earlier this year, rumors spread that Alibaba might be considering joining the closed-source race after it rearranged its corporate AI model development teams. But the tech giant announced on Monday that it would again release the latest version of Qwen—its line of open-source models beloved by the global tech community—with open weights, signaling to customers and the public it is not pivoting away yet.

#Chinas #Open #Models #Challenging #Silicon #Valleys #Playbookchina,open source,alibaba,generative ai,national security,artificial intelligence

BTS member j-hope may be the face of Samsung’s newest Galaxy campaign, but fans hoping to see him at the company’s Unpacked event in London on Wednesday were left waiting.

j-hope did not appear in person during the presentation, where Samsung unveiled its latest generation of foldable devices. Instead, the rapper and dancer popped up on screen in a new advertisement introducing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, Samsung’s redesigned, wider foldable phone.

His absence from London was not entirely surprising. j-hope arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday after BTS co-headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show at New York-New Jersey MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The group performed their English-language hit “Dynamite” during the 11-minute production, which also featured Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and several other performers.

But j-hope may have been promoting Samsung’s new device before the company officially announced it.

Photos and videos of the BTS member arriving at Incheon International Airport circulated among fans online, with eagle-eyed ARMY members noticing the unusually wide — and lavender! — foldable phone he was holding. It was the same phone he was spotted holding last week during soundcheck footage at a BTS World Tour stop in Paris. The device appeared to be the then-unreleased Galaxy Z Fold 8, prompting speculation that j-hope had given fans an early look at Samsung’s new design and color.

Samsung confirmed the phone during its July 22 Unpacked event in London. The company introduced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a shorter, wider design intended to make the foldable easier to hold and use. Samsung also unveiled the more traditionally shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8.

Although some fans had hoped j-hope’s starring role in Samsung’s Unpacked promotional campaign meant he would attend the London launch, his involvement ultimately came through the advertisement that debuted during the event.

In hindsight, however, his airport appearance may have been the more fitting introduction. While Samsung waited until Unpacked to officially reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 8, j-hope had seemingly already unfolded it for the fans paying close attention.

#BTS #member #jhope #Samsung #Unpacked #Heres #fans #didnt">Where was BTS member j-hope at Samsung Unpacked? Here’s why fans didn’t see him. BTS member j-hope may be the face of Samsung’s newest Galaxy campaign, but fans hoping to see him at the company’s Unpacked event in London on Wednesday were left waiting.j-hope did not appear in person during the presentation, where Samsung unveiled its latest generation of foldable devices. Instead, the rapper and dancer popped up on screen in a new advertisement introducing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, Samsung’s redesigned, wider foldable phone. His absence from London was not entirely surprising. j-hope arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday after BTS co-headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show at New York-New Jersey MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The group performed their English-language hit “Dynamite” during the 11-minute production, which also featured Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and several other performers. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. But j-hope may have been promoting Samsung’s new device before the company officially announced it. Mashable Trend Report Photos and videos of the BTS member arriving at Incheon International Airport circulated among fans online, with eagle-eyed ARMY members noticing the unusually wide — and lavender! — foldable phone he was holding. It was the same phone he was spotted holding last week during soundcheck footage at a BTS World Tour stop in Paris. The device appeared to be the then-unreleased Galaxy Z Fold 8, prompting speculation that j-hope had given fans an early look at Samsung’s new design and color. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Samsung confirmed the phone during its July 22 Unpacked event in London. The company introduced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a shorter, wider design intended to make the foldable easier to hold and use. Samsung also unveiled the more traditionally shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Although some fans had hoped j-hope’s starring role in Samsung’s Unpacked promotional campaign meant he would attend the London launch, his involvement ultimately came through the advertisement that debuted during the event.In hindsight, however, his airport appearance may have been the more fitting introduction. While Samsung waited until Unpacked to officially reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 8, j-hope had seemingly already unfolded it for the fans paying close attention. #BTS #member #jhope #Samsung #Unpacked #Heres #fans #didnt

face of Samsung’s newest Galaxy campaign, but fans hoping to see him at the company’s Unpacked event in London on Wednesday were left waiting.

j-hope did not appear in person during the presentation, where Samsung unveiled its latest generation of foldable devices. Instead, the rapper and dancer popped up on screen in a new advertisement introducing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, Samsung’s redesigned, wider foldable phone.

His absence from London was not entirely surprising. j-hope arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday after BTS co-headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show at New York-New Jersey MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The group performed their English-language hit “Dynamite” during the 11-minute production, which also featured Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and several other performers.

But j-hope may have been promoting Samsung’s new device before the company officially announced it.

Photos and videos of the BTS member arriving at Incheon International Airport circulated among fans online, with eagle-eyed ARMY members noticing the unusually wide — and lavender! — foldable phone he was holding. It was the same phone he was spotted holding last week during soundcheck footage at a BTS World Tour stop in Paris. The device appeared to be the then-unreleased Galaxy Z Fold 8, prompting speculation that j-hope had given fans an early look at Samsung’s new design and color.

Samsung confirmed the phone during its July 22 Unpacked event in London. The company introduced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a shorter, wider design intended to make the foldable easier to hold and use. Samsung also unveiled the more traditionally shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8.

Although some fans had hoped j-hope’s starring role in Samsung’s Unpacked promotional campaign meant he would attend the London launch, his involvement ultimately came through the advertisement that debuted during the event.

In hindsight, however, his airport appearance may have been the more fitting introduction. While Samsung waited until Unpacked to officially reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 8, j-hope had seemingly already unfolded it for the fans paying close attention.

#BTS #member #jhope #Samsung #Unpacked #Heres #fans #didnt">Where was BTS member j-hope at Samsung Unpacked? Here’s why fans didn’t see him.

BTS member j-hope may be the face of Samsung’s newest Galaxy campaign, but fans hoping to see him at the company’s Unpacked event in London on Wednesday were left waiting.

j-hope did not appear in person during the presentation, where Samsung unveiled its latest generation of foldable devices. Instead, the rapper and dancer popped up on screen in a new advertisement introducing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, Samsung’s redesigned, wider foldable phone.

His absence from London was not entirely surprising. j-hope arrived in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday after BTS co-headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show at New York-New Jersey MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The group performed their English-language hit “Dynamite” during the 11-minute production, which also featured Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Burna Boy, and several other performers.

But j-hope may have been promoting Samsung’s new device before the company officially announced it.

Photos and videos of the BTS member arriving at Incheon International Airport circulated among fans online, with eagle-eyed ARMY members noticing the unusually wide — and lavender! — foldable phone he was holding. It was the same phone he was spotted holding last week during soundcheck footage at a BTS World Tour stop in Paris. The device appeared to be the then-unreleased Galaxy Z Fold 8, prompting speculation that j-hope had given fans an early look at Samsung’s new design and color.

Samsung confirmed the phone during its July 22 Unpacked event in London. The company introduced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a shorter, wider design intended to make the foldable easier to hold and use. Samsung also unveiled the more traditionally shaped Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8.

Although some fans had hoped j-hope’s starring role in Samsung’s Unpacked promotional campaign meant he would attend the London launch, his involvement ultimately came through the advertisement that debuted during the event.

In hindsight, however, his airport appearance may have been the more fitting introduction. While Samsung waited until Unpacked to officially reveal the Galaxy Z Fold 8, j-hope had seemingly already unfolded it for the fans paying close attention.

#BTS #member #jhope #Samsung #Unpacked #Heres #fans #didnt

Samsung’s annual summer event kicked off on Wednesday morning with the company unveiling a new lineup of watches and foldables. Following weeks of rumors and leaks, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a completely new design that’s shorter and wider than last year’s Fold, a new “Ultra” Fold, an updated Flip model, and refreshed versions of the Galaxy smartwatches.

If you weren’t able to watch the event yourself, you can catch up with all of this year’s biggest Galaxy Unpacked announcements below.

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

The highlight of Galaxy Unpacked was the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which got a major redesign from last year’s Z Fold 7. The new design is shorter and wider, with a 7.6-inch inside display and a 5.5-inch outside display. It’s a tad thicker at 4.5mm unfolded and 9.7mm folded, compared to 4.2mm and 8.9mm, respectively, for the Z Fold 7.

The new Fold also features an updated hinge design with Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display tech. It doesn’t completely eliminate the crease on the inside display, but it does make it significantly less noticeable than the crease on Samsung’s previous foldables. The new Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 also got the Flex Titanium display upgrade.

The Z Fold 8 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The camera setup is a step down from the Z Fold 7 — the Z Fold 8 has two main cameras instead of three, a 50MP wide and a 50MP ultra wide. The cover screen camera and inside camera are both 10MP like the Z Fold 7, though.

The Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 and comes in four colors: lavender, graphite, cream, and pistachio (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

While the standard Z Fold 8 got a revamped design, the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra inherited the design from last year’s Z Fold 7. Samsung’s new top-tier foldable is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Ultra features a larger 5,000mAh battery, compared to the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7. The phone also supports 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging, an improvement over the Z Fold 7’s 25W wired / 15W wireless charging. The camera setup is similar to the Z Fold 7 with a 200MP wide / 50MP ultra wide / 10MP telephoto main camera and 10MP selfie cameras on the inside and cover displays.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099 and comes in four colors: graphite, cream, violet shadow, and green shadow (for online orders only).

A hand holding a closed Samsung Galaxy Flip 8, with the front screen on

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 8 with some spec bumps, but no major design changes. It now runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, an upgrade from the Exynos 2500 chip that powered the previous Z Flip 7. It also includes 12GB of RAM with options for 256GB or 512GB of storage (but still no 1TB option).

Like last year’s model, it has a 6.9-inch inside display and a 4.1-inch cover display, with a 4,300mAh battery. While it looks the same overall, the cover display is a bit more versatile now thanks to a few new gestures and access to an app drawer. It’s also slightly thinner at 13.1mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded. Unfortunately, it’s also $100 more expensive than the Flip 7, starting at $1,199. The phone comes in four colors: pink, graphite, cream, and mint (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

The Galaxy Watch got a refresh at Galaxy Unpacked with a new processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite. It once again comes in two sizes, 44mm and 40mm. The larger 44mm model has a 1.47-inch display and a 445mAh battery, while the 40mm version includes a slightly smaller 1.34-inch display and a 390mAh battery. Samsung says both sizes can last up to 30 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. Both also include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

In addition to spec improvements, the highlight of this year’s Galaxy Watch refresh are four new preventative health metrics: Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index. All four will also be available on the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and may help Samsung’s smartwatches compete with Apple’s wearables.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Watch 9 got a $30 price bump from last year, so it now starts at $379. The 44mm version comes in graphite and silver while the 40mm one is available in graphite and cream.

The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an impressive battery

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, not to be confused with the second-generation version of the original Galaxy Watch Ultra from last year. The new Ultra includes a significantly larger battery at a whopping 800mAh, up from 590mAh in last year’s Ultra, which somehow fits into a case that’s 12 percent thinner than the previous model. Samsung says it can last up to 60 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. The updated Ultra is also getting the same new preventative health metrics as the base Galaxy Watch.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Like the previous version, it’s available in just one size, 47mm, with a 1.52-inch display. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also got a $50 price hike, bringing it up to $699, with two color options, titanium silver and titanium gray.

Google also made an appearance at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked with a couple of new frames for the upcoming smartglasses it’s making in collaboration with Samsung. It unveiled new designs from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, following two earlier designs from both brands announced in May at Google I/O. The first pairs of Google’s smartglasses are expected to launch later this year.

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#Samsung #Galaxy #Unpacked #biggest #announcementsFoldable Phones,Mobile,News,Samsung,Tech">Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: The 6 biggest announcementsSamsung’s annual summer event kicked off on Wednesday morning with the company unveiling a new lineup of watches and foldables. Following weeks of rumors and leaks, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a completely new design that’s shorter and wider than last year’s Fold, a new “Ultra” Fold, an updated Flip model, and refreshed versions of the Galaxy smartwatches.If you weren’t able to watch the event yourself, you can catch up with all of this year’s biggest Galaxy Unpacked announcements below.Photo: David Imel / The VergeThe highlight of Galaxy Unpacked was the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which got a major redesign from last year’s Z Fold 7. The new design is shorter and wider, with a 7.6-inch inside display and a 5.5-inch outside display. It’s a tad thicker at 4.5mm unfolded and 9.7mm folded, compared to 4.2mm and 8.9mm, respectively, for the Z Fold 7.The new Fold also features an updated hinge design with Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display tech. It doesn’t completely eliminate the crease on the inside display, but it does make it significantly less noticeable than the crease on Samsung’s previous foldables. The new Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 also got the Flex Titanium display upgrade.The Z Fold 8 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The camera setup is a step down from the Z Fold 7 — the Z Fold 8 has two main cameras instead of three, a 50MP wide and a 50MP ultra wide. The cover screen camera and inside camera are both 10MP like the Z Fold 7, though.The Z Fold 8 starts at ,899 and comes in four colors: lavender, graphite, cream, and pistachio (for online orders only).Photo: Dominic Preston / The VergeWhile the standard Z Fold 8 got a revamped design, the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra inherited the design from last year’s Z Fold 7. Samsung’s new top-tier foldable is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.The Ultra features a larger 5,000mAh battery, compared to the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7. The phone also supports 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging, an improvement over the Z Fold 7’s 25W wired / 15W wireless charging. The camera setup is similar to the Z Fold 7 with a 200MP wide / 50MP ultra wide / 10MP telephoto main camera and 10MP selfie cameras on the inside and cover displays.The Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at ,099 and comes in four colors: graphite, cream, violet shadow, and green shadow (for online orders only).Photo: David Imel / The VergeSamsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 8 with some spec bumps, but no major design changes. It now runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, an upgrade from the Exynos 2500 chip that powered the previous Z Flip 7. It also includes 12GB of RAM with options for 256GB or 512GB of storage (but still no 1TB option).Like last year’s model, it has a 6.9-inch inside display and a 4.1-inch cover display, with a 4,300mAh battery. While it looks the same overall, the cover display is a bit more versatile now thanks to a few new gestures and access to an app drawer. It’s also slightly thinner at 13.1mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded. Unfortunately, it’s also 0 more expensive than the Flip 7, starting at ,199. The phone comes in four colors: pink, graphite, cream, and mint (for online orders only).Photo: Dominic Preston / The VergeThe Galaxy Watch got a refresh at Galaxy Unpacked with a new processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite. It once again comes in two sizes, 44mm and 40mm. The larger 44mm model has a 1.47-inch display and a 445mAh battery, while the 40mm version includes a slightly smaller 1.34-inch display and a 390mAh battery. Samsung says both sizes can last up to 30 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. Both also include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.In addition to spec improvements, the highlight of this year’s Galaxy Watch refresh are four new preventative health metrics: Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index. All four will also be available on the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and may help Samsung’s smartwatches compete with Apple’s wearables.Unfortunately, the Galaxy Watch 9 got a price bump from last year, so it now starts at 9. The 44mm version comes in graphite and silver while the 40mm one is available in graphite and cream.The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an impressive batteryPhoto: Dominic Preston / The VergeSamsung announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, not to be confused with the second-generation version of the original Galaxy Watch Ultra from last year. The new Ultra includes a significantly larger battery at a whopping 800mAh, up from 590mAh in last year’s Ultra, which somehow fits into a case that’s 12 percent thinner than the previous model. Samsung says it can last up to 60 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. The updated Ultra is also getting the same new preventative health metrics as the base Galaxy Watch.The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Like the previous version, it’s available in just one size, 47mm, with a 1.52-inch display. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also got a price hike, bringing it up to 9, with two color options, titanium silver and titanium gray.Google also made an appearance at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked with a couple of new frames for the upcoming smartglasses it’s making in collaboration with Samsung. It unveiled new designs from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, following two earlier designs from both brands announced in May at Google I/O. The first pairs of Google’s smartglasses are expected to launch later this year.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Stevie BonifieldCloseStevie BonifieldPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Stevie BonifieldFoldable PhonesCloseFoldable PhonesPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All Foldable PhonesMobileCloseMobilePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All MobileNewsCloseNewsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NewsSamsungCloseSamsungPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All SamsungTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All Tech#Samsung #Galaxy #Unpacked #biggest #announcementsFoldable Phones,Mobile,News,Samsung,Tech

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

The highlight of Galaxy Unpacked was the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which got a major redesign from last year’s Z Fold 7. The new design is shorter and wider, with a 7.6-inch inside display and a 5.5-inch outside display. It’s a tad thicker at 4.5mm unfolded and 9.7mm folded, compared to 4.2mm and 8.9mm, respectively, for the Z Fold 7.

The new Fold also features an updated hinge design with Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display tech. It doesn’t completely eliminate the crease on the inside display, but it does make it significantly less noticeable than the crease on Samsung’s previous foldables. The new Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 also got the Flex Titanium display upgrade.

The Z Fold 8 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The camera setup is a step down from the Z Fold 7 — the Z Fold 8 has two main cameras instead of three, a 50MP wide and a 50MP ultra wide. The cover screen camera and inside camera are both 10MP like the Z Fold 7, though.

The Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 and comes in four colors: lavender, graphite, cream, and pistachio (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

While the standard Z Fold 8 got a revamped design, the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra inherited the design from last year’s Z Fold 7. Samsung’s new top-tier foldable is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Ultra features a larger 5,000mAh battery, compared to the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7. The phone also supports 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging, an improvement over the Z Fold 7’s 25W wired / 15W wireless charging. The camera setup is similar to the Z Fold 7 with a 200MP wide / 50MP ultra wide / 10MP telephoto main camera and 10MP selfie cameras on the inside and cover displays.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099 and comes in four colors: graphite, cream, violet shadow, and green shadow (for online orders only).

A hand holding a closed Samsung Galaxy Flip 8, with the front screen on

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 8 with some spec bumps, but no major design changes. It now runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, an upgrade from the Exynos 2500 chip that powered the previous Z Flip 7. It also includes 12GB of RAM with options for 256GB or 512GB of storage (but still no 1TB option).

Like last year’s model, it has a 6.9-inch inside display and a 4.1-inch cover display, with a 4,300mAh battery. While it looks the same overall, the cover display is a bit more versatile now thanks to a few new gestures and access to an app drawer. It’s also slightly thinner at 13.1mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded. Unfortunately, it’s also $100 more expensive than the Flip 7, starting at $1,199. The phone comes in four colors: pink, graphite, cream, and mint (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

The Galaxy Watch got a refresh at Galaxy Unpacked with a new processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite. It once again comes in two sizes, 44mm and 40mm. The larger 44mm model has a 1.47-inch display and a 445mAh battery, while the 40mm version includes a slightly smaller 1.34-inch display and a 390mAh battery. Samsung says both sizes can last up to 30 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. Both also include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

In addition to spec improvements, the highlight of this year’s Galaxy Watch refresh are four new preventative health metrics: Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index. All four will also be available on the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and may help Samsung’s smartwatches compete with Apple’s wearables.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Watch 9 got a $30 price bump from last year, so it now starts at $379. The 44mm version comes in graphite and silver while the 40mm one is available in graphite and cream.

The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an impressive battery

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, not to be confused with the second-generation version of the original Galaxy Watch Ultra from last year. The new Ultra includes a significantly larger battery at a whopping 800mAh, up from 590mAh in last year’s Ultra, which somehow fits into a case that’s 12 percent thinner than the previous model. Samsung says it can last up to 60 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. The updated Ultra is also getting the same new preventative health metrics as the base Galaxy Watch.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Like the previous version, it’s available in just one size, 47mm, with a 1.52-inch display. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also got a $50 price hike, bringing it up to $699, with two color options, titanium silver and titanium gray.

Google also made an appearance at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked with a couple of new frames for the upcoming smartglasses it’s making in collaboration with Samsung. It unveiled new designs from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, following two earlier designs from both brands announced in May at Google I/O. The first pairs of Google’s smartglasses are expected to launch later this year.

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

#Samsung #Galaxy #Unpacked #biggest #announcementsFoldable Phones,Mobile,News,Samsung,Tech">Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: The 6 biggest announcements

Samsung’s annual summer event kicked off on Wednesday morning with the company unveiling a new lineup of watches and foldables. Following weeks of rumors and leaks, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with a completely new design that’s shorter and wider than last year’s Fold, a new “Ultra” Fold, an updated Flip model, and refreshed versions of the Galaxy smartwatches.

If you weren’t able to watch the event yourself, you can catch up with all of this year’s biggest Galaxy Unpacked announcements below.

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

The highlight of Galaxy Unpacked was the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which got a major redesign from last year’s Z Fold 7. The new design is shorter and wider, with a 7.6-inch inside display and a 5.5-inch outside display. It’s a tad thicker at 4.5mm unfolded and 9.7mm folded, compared to 4.2mm and 8.9mm, respectively, for the Z Fold 7.

The new Fold also features an updated hinge design with Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display tech. It doesn’t completely eliminate the crease on the inside display, but it does make it significantly less noticeable than the crease on Samsung’s previous foldables. The new Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 also got the Flex Titanium display upgrade.

The Z Fold 8 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The camera setup is a step down from the Z Fold 7 — the Z Fold 8 has two main cameras instead of three, a 50MP wide and a 50MP ultra wide. The cover screen camera and inside camera are both 10MP like the Z Fold 7, though.

The Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 and comes in four colors: lavender, graphite, cream, and pistachio (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

While the standard Z Fold 8 got a revamped design, the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra inherited the design from last year’s Z Fold 7. Samsung’s new top-tier foldable is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Ultra features a larger 5,000mAh battery, compared to the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7. The phone also supports 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging, an improvement over the Z Fold 7’s 25W wired / 15W wireless charging. The camera setup is similar to the Z Fold 7 with a 200MP wide / 50MP ultra wide / 10MP telephoto main camera and 10MP selfie cameras on the inside and cover displays.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099 and comes in four colors: graphite, cream, violet shadow, and green shadow (for online orders only).

A hand holding a closed Samsung Galaxy Flip 8, with the front screen on

Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 8 with some spec bumps, but no major design changes. It now runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, an upgrade from the Exynos 2500 chip that powered the previous Z Flip 7. It also includes 12GB of RAM with options for 256GB or 512GB of storage (but still no 1TB option).

Like last year’s model, it has a 6.9-inch inside display and a 4.1-inch cover display, with a 4,300mAh battery. While it looks the same overall, the cover display is a bit more versatile now thanks to a few new gestures and access to an app drawer. It’s also slightly thinner at 13.1mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded. Unfortunately, it’s also $100 more expensive than the Flip 7, starting at $1,199. The phone comes in four colors: pink, graphite, cream, and mint (for online orders only).

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

The Galaxy Watch got a refresh at Galaxy Unpacked with a new processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite. It once again comes in two sizes, 44mm and 40mm. The larger 44mm model has a 1.47-inch display and a 445mAh battery, while the 40mm version includes a slightly smaller 1.34-inch display and a 390mAh battery. Samsung says both sizes can last up to 30 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. Both also include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

In addition to spec improvements, the highlight of this year’s Galaxy Watch refresh are four new preventative health metrics: Vitals, Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, and Fitness Index. All four will also be available on the new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and may help Samsung’s smartwatches compete with Apple’s wearables.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Watch 9 got a $30 price bump from last year, so it now starts at $379. The 44mm version comes in graphite and silver while the 40mm one is available in graphite and cream.

The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 packs an impressive battery

Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, not to be confused with the second-generation version of the original Galaxy Watch Ultra from last year. The new Ultra includes a significantly larger battery at a whopping 800mAh, up from 590mAh in last year’s Ultra, which somehow fits into a case that’s 12 percent thinner than the previous model. Samsung says it can last up to 60 hours per charge with the always-on display turned on. The updated Ultra is also getting the same new preventative health metrics as the base Galaxy Watch.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear Elite with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Like the previous version, it’s available in just one size, 47mm, with a 1.52-inch display. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also got a $50 price hike, bringing it up to $699, with two color options, titanium silver and titanium gray.

Google also made an appearance at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked with a couple of new frames for the upcoming smartglasses it’s making in collaboration with Samsung. It unveiled new designs from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, following two earlier designs from both brands announced in May at Google I/O. The first pairs of Google’s smartglasses are expected to launch later this year.

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
#Samsung #Galaxy #Unpacked #biggest #announcementsFoldable Phones,Mobile,News,Samsung,Tech

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