This week has been one of the biggest of the year in tech, with Apple holding its annual iPhone launch event.
Apple showcased the iPhone 16 series on Monday, kicking off the week with a new range of phones with some brand-new features, including the Camera Control button, faster MagSafe wireless charging and plenty of Apple Intelligence features.
Of course, Apple wasn’t the only tech company that made headlines this week. Nothing released the Phone (2a) Plus in the UK, Sony announced the highly-anticipated PS5 Pro and it was revealed that Flappy Bird will be making its return to the App Store 10 years after it was pulled.
Winner: Google
Our winner this week is Google as the company began rolling Gemini Live out to all Android users free of charge.
Gemini Live is Google’s AI chatbot and a smarter replacement for Google Assistant. First previewed at Google I/O back in May, Gemini Live offers increased knowledge, more natural interactions and the ability to interrupt the assistant without disrupting the flow of the conversation.
It’s also a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Advanced Voice tool and Apple’s Siri update, which is also capable of calling upon ChatGPT and will be available to iPhone users with the launch of iOS 18 and the arrival of Apple Intelligence from Monday.
While Gemini Live was previously exclusive to Gemini Advanced subscribers, Google has revealed that the feature will now be rolling out to more Android app users – completely free of charge. This means that you no longer need to pay £18.99 (or sign up for the Gemini Advanced free trial) to access the handy voice assistant.
We found Gemini Live to be a capable rival to ChatGPT, with mobile editor Lewis Painter writing, “Like ChatGPT, you can chat with Gemini Live in a more natural, conversational way, making it handy for vague queries and brainstorming. I used Gemini Live to help me plan a gym session, with a lot of back and forth on my preferences, and it was genuinely insightful” in his review of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL.
We’re excited to see the feature expand beyond the Google and Samsung handsets supported at launch and at no charge, at that.
Loser: PS5 Pro upgrades
Sony is our loser this week after the company unveiled the long-awaited PS5 successor, the PS5 Pro.
The reason the PS5 Pro is our loser is that, despite the console’s Pro name and high $699.99/£699.99 cost, Sony hasn’t even promised 4K/60p gaming as standard with the console. Rather, this is a resolution and frame rate the company hopes to reach with the console.
There are perks to picking up the PS5 Pro over the OG PlayStation 5. The GPU has 67% more Compute Units and 28% faster memory than the regular PS5, which Sony claims will lend itself to 45% faster rendering during gameplay. Ray Tracing is also faster and more dynamic, while PSSR leverages AI to upscale the image quality and add additional detail.
However, when it comes down to it, these are some minor benefits when the console cannot even promise 4K/60p gaming as standard.
The PS5 also costs £190 more than the PS5 Slim and almost twice as much as the PS5 Digital Edition, making it a steep jump for a small number of upgrades. That’s without including the optional $79.99/£99.99 Blu-ray disc drive that’ll allow you to play 4K media physically.
