The Vergecast

Courtroom fights over social media design take center stage, with big consequences for algorithms, notifications, and liability. There’s also a strange router ban, AI-powered music fraud, and a look at why chatbots are turning back into apps. Plus, Grammarly sparks questions about likeness and attribution.

Allison Johnson, The Verge’s senior phone reviewer, joins for a lively phone-switching showdown. They dig into why moving between phones is still such a mess. Foldables and flip phones get put on trial. Android and iOS face off over apps, notifications, spam calls, and assistant smarts. Then the conversation turns to AI tools that can actually operate your phone for you.

Allison Johnson, a Verge reviewer covering phones and gadgets, joins a lively chat about why AI keeps turning people off, from missing must-have uses to backlash over jobs, creativity, and hype. Then things get weird with Samsung’s vanished trifold phone, an eBay hunt, tampered hardware, and the bigger question of whether foldables solve anything at all.

Paul Ford, writer and technologist behind Ftrain and Aboard, talks about AI coding tools, software built by swarms of agents, the return of personal web projects, and the tension between exciting new tools and big fears about jobs and tech power. Dominic Preston, Verge journalist covering smartphones, joins for a tour of global phone markets, giant camera hardware, foldables, and quirky phone features the US rarely gets.

They gush over the surprisingly affordable MacBook Neo, its hardware, repairability, and how it feels like an iPhone with a keyboard. They debate whether the Neo could replace iPads and how Apple’s pricing shook PC makers. They unpack Project Helix and the idea of Xbox becoming a Windows gaming layer. Lightning topics include FCC drama, studio mergers, and an AI identity scandal at Grammarly.

Lauren Feiner, courtroom reporter covering antitrust and Live Nation/Ticketmaster, breaks down the surprising DOJ settlement and what it means for ongoing state actions. Hayden Field, senior AI reporter, outlines Anthropic and OpenAI’s tangled ties to the Department of Defense and the stakes for AI contractors. Short, punchy conversations on legal twists, military AI deals, and whether foldable phones are worth it.

Sean Hollister, senior consumer tech reporter with gadget chops, and Vee Song, technology reporter focused on cultural tech trends, chat about Furby. They explore Furby as an early social AI, its eerie mechanical charm, the engineering and manufacturing scrambles behind the craze, debates about what animal it resembles, Furbish and the illusion of learning, and the toy’s legacy in hacking and design.

Dominic Preston, technology journalist who covered Mobile World Congress with hands-on phone reports. He walks through wild MWC hardware: a phone that intentionally starts fires, Honor’s gimbal-style Robot Phone and AI companion, modular and foldable innovations, Xiaomi’s Leica‑tuned camera moves, and the oddball accessories and repairs shaping overseas phone design.

Hands-on reactions to Apple's surprise low-cost MacBook Neo and its trade-offs in design, RAM, storage, and ports. A discussion of the Neo using an A18 Pro chip and whether it replaces older Air models. Close looks at the new Studio Display XDR and pricing versus alternatives. First impressions of an affordable iPhone 17e and its display and camera compromises. Thoughts on the updated iPad Air and wireless chip strategy.

Allison Johnson, mobile reporter at MWC, shares glimpses of modular robot phones, foldables, and 6G hype. Jess Weatherbed, gadget trends reporter, explains why phone straps are resurging as practical, stylish access for pocketless lives. Jay Peters, reporter on virtual worlds, weighs in on whether immersive social platforms will ever become people’s everyday hangouts.