The Vergecast

We love a ranking here on The Vergecast, and it’s time for the hardest one yet: David and Nilay compare notes on the 50 best products Apple has ever made, and see how their answers stack up to the many, many voters on The Verge this week. Before that, though, it’s time for a bit of AI news — surprise, it’s enterprise software! — and the comeback of the Hype Desk. After all that, and after the rankings, we do a round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, talk about the fediverse, and repurpose our old iMacs.

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Further reading:

⁠OpenAI’s big numbers: $122 billion funding round, 900 million weekly ChatGPT users. ⁠

⁠Why OpenAI killed Sora ⁠

⁠I think Google is taking a couple digs at OpenAI about Sora. ⁠

⁠Apple’s third-party Siri Extensions could lead to an AI App Store. ⁠

⁠Microsoft’s new ‘superintelligence’ game plan is all about business⁠

⁠OpenAI acquires TBPN | OpenAI⁠

⁠Apple turns 50: celebrating five decades of the tech giant ⁠

⁠Everything is iPhone now ⁠

⁠Steve Jobs and the greatest run of products in tech history ⁠

⁠How the invention of QuickTime changed computers forever ⁠

⁠The triumphs and failures of Apple without Steve Jobs ⁠

⁠The Apple product that really changed the industry: the MacBook Air ⁠

⁠Apple at 50: a visual history ⁠

⁠The origin story of Apple’s long-running relationship with Foxconn ⁠

⁠Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war ⁠

⁠Snazzy Labs' iMac - Studio Display Mod Guide⁠

⁠Flipboard Surf launches social websites combining Bluesky, Mastodon, RSS, and more⁠

⁠These Raspberry Pi price hikes are no joke ⁠

⁠Today is the final day to save up to $150 on a PS5 before the price goes up ⁠

⁠Sony temporarily suspends memory card sales due to shortages ⁠

⁠The White House has an app now, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it ⁠

⁠What’s inside the White House app? ⁠

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

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It's Apple 50 week, so we've got an Apple-filled podcast. First, longtime Apple journalist Jason Snell joins the show to talk about the state of the company as a hardware maker, a software maker, a force for good in the world, and more. Then, blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash explains why he's worried about the rise of video podcasts, and the role Apple could play to make it better. Finally, The Verge's Allison Johnson helps answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]!) about swapping your phone for a watch. And a tablet. And some other things.

Further reading:

Rank the 50 best Apple Products⁠

⁠Apple in 2025: The Six Colors report card⁠

⁠Apple turns 50: celebrating five decades of the tech giant⁠

⁠Apple II Forever!⁠

“Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement.

Why Apple’s move to video could endanger podcasting's greatest power

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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We start with some important business: Nilay has a flight to catch, and is very worried he won't catch it. Also, it's Apple's 50th anniversary next week, and we're going to spend the week debating which Apple products are the best Apple products. (Head to the ad-free Vergecast feed to hear our selection show!) But mostly, this episode is about social media. In two key trials this week, juries found social platforms liable not for the content they display but for the actual structure and features of the platform. That could change the way social media companies act, and how users fight back. After that, it's time for the silliness of the router ban, the latest in the chatbot wars, and an update on what's happening with Grammarly's Expert Voices feature.

Further reading:

Rank your top 50 Apple products

Verge subscribers, here’s how to set up ad-free podcasts 

The TSA is broken — is privatization next? 

What is ICE actually doing at American airports? 

Meta misled users about its products’ safety, jury decides 

Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case 

Social media on trial: tech giants face lawsuits over addiction, safety, and mental health

What it was like to watch grieving parents stare down Mark Zuckerberg in court 

A bombshell child safety leak changed Meta — for the worse 

Internal chats show how social media companies discussed teen engagement 

2026 is the year of social media’s legal reckoning 

The US government just banned consumer routers made outside the US 

The United States router ban, explained

FCC green-lights Nexstar's $6.2B merger with rival TV station owner Tegna

Cox Communications not liable for pirated music, Supreme Court rules 

Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me 

North Carolina man pleads guilty to AI music streaming fraud. 

Apple is testing a standalone app for its overhauled Siri 

OpenAI is planning a desktop ‘superapp’ 

This is Microsoft’s plan to fix Windows 11 

OpenAI just gave up on Sora and its billion-dollar Disney deal

The age of piracy ended with LimeWire | Version History

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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David is bored with his iPhone. Over the last few months, he has been testing every other phone he could get his hands on, from the Pixel to the Razr to the Unihertz Titan. And at the end of it all... David bought another iPhone. The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to recount some of her own phone-testing experiences, to litigate the quality of foldable and flippable phones, to debate Android vs. iOS, and ultimately to help David decide whether he actually bought the right phone. After all that, David answers a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email [email protected]!) about whether AI can help us figure out how to use our devices better. Or maybe just use them for us. Devices are too complicated.

Further reading:

Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) review: looking sharp

Google Pixel 10 review: perfectly fine

Apple iPhone 17 review: the one to get

The iPhone Air makes a strong statement

Why flip phones should be the future of smartphones

Who needs a laptop when you have a folding phone?

Gemini’s task automation is here and it’s wild

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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David and Nilay start the show by exploring the increasing disconnect between the people who make AI products, and the people who keep saying they don't want them. (Or, at least, don't want to pay for them.) The AI industry is starting to retrench to a business-first approach, because there's simply no killer app for it yet. Speaking of no killer apps! Allison Johnson then joins the show to talk about the shockingly short life of the Samsung TriFold, and her bizarre journey to try and review the now-dead foldable. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the fate of the metaverse, and some important internet debunking.

Further reading:

⁠OpenAI cuts back on “side quests.” ⁠

⁠OpenAI’s adult mode will reportedly be smutty, not pornographic ⁠

NYMag: ⁠Should You Be Able to Have Sex With ChatGPT?⁠

⁠I think VCs are starting to panic about the lack of *broad* consumer | TikTok⁠

⁠For the second time this week we have VCs vocalizing their frustration | TikTok⁠

⁠Poll: Majority of voters say risks of AI outweigh the benefits⁠

⁠How Americans View AI and Its Impact on Human Abilities, Society | Pew Research Center⁠

⁠Samsung discontinues its Galaxy Z TriFold after just three months ⁠

⁠Oppo’s nearly creaseless foldable isn’t launching in Europe after all ⁠

From last year: ⁠Just look at Huawei’s trifold phone⁠

⁠This is not a fly uploaded to a computer⁠

⁠ChatGPT did not cure a dog’s cancer⁠

⁠Meta is actually keeping its VR metaverse running, for now⁠

⁠Nvidia just announced DLSS 5 and Digital Foundry already has a video. ⁠

⁠Jensen Huang, on the critical reaction to DLSS 5: “Well, first of all, they’re completely wrong.”⁠

⁠DLSS 5 looks like a real-time generative AI filter for video games ⁠

⁠Nvidia has lost the plot with gamers ⁠

We're hiring a new podcast producer. Come work with us!

Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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