5 Audio Upgrades Worth Your Money This Season
From planar magnetic open-backs to open-ear buds that finally get loud enough, the audio gear actually worth the upgrade this season.
Matt J
Metroid Ravenous leads Nintendo Direct, landing on Switch 2 on 28 January 2027
Metroid Ravenous, a direct follow-up to Metroid Dread, headlined Nintendo's September Direct and arrives on Switch 2 on 28 January 2027, alongside new Kirby, Pikmin and Hyrule Warriors dates.
Anthropic releases Claude Opus 5.5, faster and 40 per cent cheaper to run
Claude Opus 5.5 runs 30 per cent faster than Opus 5, costs less through the API and, Anthropic says, matches its restricted Fable model on many benchmarks.
Fetch Gen 3 owners must pay $29.99, subscribe or upgrade by 31 October
Owners of older Fetch Mini and Mighty Gen 3 boxes face a one-off $29.99 levy from 1 November unless they subscribe, upgrade or cancel, and key streaming apps are being removed either way.
OpenAI launches GPT-6 Sol and Luna, cheaper models for ChatGPT and Codex
GPT-6 Sol and Luna bring much of OpenAI's flagship Astra capability to ChatGPT and Codex at half the API price of the previous generation, with Luna reaching free users on desktop.
Motorola Signature 27 is the first phone announced with Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6
Motorola's Signature 27 pairs Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 with a 200MP periscope camera, Bang & Olufsen audio and seven years of updates. Pricing is yet to be announced.
Garmin fenix 9 and fenix 9 Pro bring brighter screens, satellite messaging and a titanium case
Garmin's flagship adventure watch moves to its ninth generation, with brighter AMOLED displays, 64GB of storage, faster maps and inReach satellite plus LTE on the Pro.
Samsung One UI 9 starts rolling out to Galaxy S26 phones from late September
Samsung's One UI 9 update, which debuted on the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Flip8, is rolling out to the Galaxy S26 series from the end of September with new Galaxy AI and security features.
LEGO PlayStation set lands in Australia on 4 October
The first official LEGO PlayStation set recreates the original console and controller in 1,911 pieces, with hidden Gran Turismo and Ape Escape dioramas. It goes on sale in Australia on 4 October.
Alexa+ is now in Australia: free with Prime, $29.99 a month without
Amazon's conversational Alexa+ has launched in Australia through Early Access. It understands local slang, books tables and runs smart homes, and will be free with Prime or $29.99 a month without.
Apple Is Reportedly Building a Screenless Fitness Tracker to Take On Whoop
A new Bloomberg report says Apple is testing a fabric-band fitness tracker with no screen at all, aimed squarely at Whoop and Oura. Here is what is known so far.
Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch get Snapdragon X2 Plus, from A$1,999
Microsoft's compact Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch move to Snapdragon X2 Plus, start at 16GB of RAM and arrive in Australia on 13 October, alongside a redesigned Surface Mouse.