OPINION: This week has been all about foldable phones, with both Samsung and Honor unveiling new bendy devices that are thinner, lighter and more feature-packed than before.
Samsung’s annual summer Unpacked event took place in Paris this week and was attended by everyone from this column’s usual writer Hannah Davies to Euphoria actor Sydney Sweeney.
The Louvre-based showcase saw the Korean firm unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, a duo of new smartwatches and earbuds too. It was a packed event, with numerous mentions of AI – something we’ve come to expect from tech launches in 2024.
Not to be outdone, Honor also revealed its upcoming foldable – the Honor V3 – which is stunningly thin at just 9.2mm.
While both these foldable launches are big news, we’re looking elsewhere for our weekly winner and loser.
Winner: Severance season 2 release date revealed (finally)
Apple’s TV Plus streaming service remains one of the best around, consistently churning out excellent shows that are often far superior to the standard fare served up by rivals like Netflix and Prime Video. Arguably the best show to hit the service is Severance, a dark dystopian mystery starring Adam Scott.
Severance was a sleeper hit when it first arrived way back in February 2022, landing on many ‘Best TV Show’ lists after it completed its initial run. Fans of the show have been waiting ages for news of season two, and now a release date has been confirmed.
Now, while we appreciate Apple finally giving us a confirmed date, we can’t help but be a little disappointed it won’t hit screens until 2025. January 17th 2025, to be precise.
Alongside the release date, Apple also dropped a trailer – which you can see below.
A three-year gap between seasons is hardly ideal, especially when The Bear – another wildly hyped series – has churned out three seasons in the same period. However, going by the trailer it looks like Severance’s second outing will be worth the wait.
Apple TV Plus isn’t without top shows for the rest of the year though, with the wonderful Slow Horses returning for its fourth series on September 4th.
Loser: Game Pass price hikes sting
Once one of the greatest deals in gaming, the sheen is starting to come off Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service with the news that it’s getting a rather hefty price rise.
Microsoft has started sending out emails to customers announcing a new structure for the subscription service. The top Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier will cost £14.99 / $19.99 / €17.99 per month – an increase of £2 / $3 / €3 each month.
The PC-specific Game Pass tier is also increasing in price to £9.99 / $11.99 / €11.99 per month.
Alongside the updated pricing, Microsoft also revealed there’s now a new tier to consider when you’re signing up. In place of the outgoing Xbox Game Pass for Console, there’s now a new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier that has access to the usual back catalogue of games and online play, but, importantly, doesn’t let you play day one releases right away. Considering this remains a key selling point of Game Pass, it certainly seems an odd omission.
It’s only been about a year since the last price jump, when Game Pass Ultimate went up from £10.99 to £12.99 in the UK.
This news came shortly after Microsoft announced the next entry in the incredibly popular Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6, will come to Xbox Game Pass on release day so it’s certainly not out of the question that this price rise is a result of that.
