Apple event confirmed, GTA 6's stunning first look, and Meta's seismic court settlement

Will we see an iPhone Ultra on September 9? | We test GoPro's first interchangeable-lens camera Created for gjagjeet610.worldwin@blogger.com | Web Version   28 August 2026 CONNECT WITH TECHRADAR  CONNECT WITH TECHRADAR    Some of us will always love technology, even when what was once considered the good stuff — in this case, social media — turns out to be no so great. And this week we learned that there can be a measure of justice for systems that have become less-than-positive influences on the most vulnerable among us.   Meta will pony up $18bn to settle the lawsuit that alleged its Instagram and Facebook platforms caused harm to young people, and also committed to some big changes — I’ve taken a deep dive into what it means for Meta, and for social media as a whole.   Meanwhile, in the week we lost a music icon, Apple is surely working 9-to-5 to prepare for its next big launch event, on September 9. We’ve got all the latest on the phones and other devices we expect to see, including, we think, Apple’s first foldable.   It was also a big week for gaming, as we watched Lucia and Jason tour a richly imagined GTA 6 world; despite the stunningly rendered, cinematic preview we were treated to, though I didn't spot either of them wearing a coat of many colors.   We’ll have to wait a couple more months to drive around those islands in the streams of GTA's fictional world ourselves, but in the meantime the TechRadar team will be in Berlin to cover the huge IFA tech show. In a way, that event marks the start of ‘Techtember’, with Apple, Meta, Google, and others are expected to announce impactful product launches.   We’ll have lots to write about in the coming weeks — and as Microsoft yet again tries to persuade Windows users to embrace its Edge browser and Bing search engine, as an Apple user I’m begging of you, please don’t take my Mac.   Lance Ulanoff, Editor at Large What happened – this week's biggest stories We're expecting Apple to unveil new iPhones and AirPods, and perhaps its first smart display (Apple / Future) Apple names the date for its next launch event — are we about to see the folding iPhone Ultra? Prepare to be surprised… Mark your calendars for Wednesday, September 9, as that's when Apple will be dropping a whole load of new hardware — including, we expect, the iPhone 18 range 9 (but perhaps only the 'Pro' versions), and possibly its first foldable, which may or may not be called the iPhone Ultra. The tagline for Apple's latest event is 'Surprise and shine', which doesn't give us much to go on — the iPhone Ultra wouldn't really count as a surprise at this point, given the extensive reporting we've seen around it, but it would certainly be the star of the show, and it could be the foldable that takes the form factor mainstream. Rumors suggest it could have a similar size and shape to the just-launched Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, which, with its passport-like proportions, is very different to the typical foldable design we've seen so far — we've compared the Z Fold 8 and (rumored) Ultra's screen sizes. We have a pretty good idea of what else to expect too, and we've compiled a list of the likely and less-likely launches. The latest leaks point to new 'standard' AirPods, and we might also see Apple unveil its first smart display for the home. We'll be on the ground at Apple's Cupertino HQ to cover the event, so be sure to tune in for all the big reveals, and hopefully some hands-on first impressions of Apple's new hardware. Ahead of that event, this week Apple unveiled a new M6-powered Mac mini (there's also an M5 Pro option), and a new Mac Studio. Jacob Krol breaks down the full specs and pricing. The bad news is that Apple's cheapest desktop has seen a 50% price hike over the last few months — Matt Bolton thinks it's time for Apple to give us a cheaper option, in the form of a $599 'Mac Neo'. We’ve finally got our first proper look at GTA 6 — and it's everything we expected, and more Return to Vice City… Grand Theft Auto 6 is the most anticipated game in history, and this week we learned a ton of new details about this epic, detailed, multi-faceted, and incredibly deep adventure, thanks to Rockstar’s ‘An Extended Look’ video.   From ridiculous views over the expansive city while parachuting off a building, to bombastic police chases and shootouts with your actions having cinematic environmental impact, and from seamless changes between the two playable characters in Lucia and Jason, to slo-mo gunplay sections, GTA 6 looks to have been well worth the long wait.   Even more details have followed the event, including confirmation that it’s Rockstar’s longest-ever game at 80 hours or more, and that it’ll run at 30fps on consoles, but that a 60fps mode isn’t out of the question in the future — and confirmation that the idea of building the relationship between the two main characters will be much deeper than in previous games.   After all those leaks in the days and weeks in the run-up to this extended look at GTA 6, which was hosted on Netflix initially, this deep dive into the upcoming beast of a title has given us a look at a generational gaming experience we can’t wait to dive into. More from the TechRadar Gaming team…   At Gamescom we saw the new IKEA x Xbox furniture collection — and there’s one item in particular that we’re very keen on   Also at Gamescom, we spoke to some devs and the actress behind Resonance: A Plague Tale who told us how they recorded cutscenes for the game   The game director of Rainbow Six Tactics told us that while you’ll be incentivized to go non-lethal in the upcoming strategy game, there’s no chance of a totally non-lethal playthrough   We’ve been playing Game of Thrones: War for Westeros — and the strategy game is a faithful adaptation of the famous TV series   We got the chance to play The Duskbloods network test — and we were stunned by its breakneck pace   What else? More of this week's tech news Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is promising big changes to make its platforms safer for young people (Getty Images / Bloomberg / natureaddict / Pixabay) Meta settles its social-harm lawsuit for $18bn — but can the changes it's agreed to be enforced? What next for social media? Just as we were gearing up for a potentially explosive court appearance by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the tech behemoth settled the lawsuit filed against it by multiple US states, which alleged that Facebook and Instagram caused harm to children and young people, for the princely sum of $18bn. That's a lot of money — but it's a lot less that the £1.4 trillion in damages Meta was staring down the barrel of had it lost the case. Meta also agreed to implement a number of features designed to make its platforms safer for teenage users, including age verification, time limits, muting of notifications during school hours, and improved harmful content reporting. I've been breaking down the settlement, and I have questions about how these changes will be enforced, and whether it's possible to enforce some of them at all given the potential for tech-savvy teens to circumvent restrictions, and a lack of interest on the part of some parents. Ultimately, I think it could be the beginning of the end for platform anonymity. Meta has also been taking flak over the potential for its wearers of its smart glasses to covertly video those around them, and this week it announced an update to get around the issue of users covering the light that indicates when the glasses are recording. Whether it's enough to calm the growing backlash against smart specs remains to be seen. Get caught up — the rest of this week's tech news in 30 seconds  Garmin unveiled the Fenix 9 and 9 Pro — here are 5 things you need to know about the new watches   Code in the next macOS beta gave us more clues to how AirPods with cameras will work   ChatGPT might soon let you lock your most sensitive chats behind a PIN or fingerprint   After Amazon's price hike, Kindles are now the latest casualty of the RAM crisis    Robots smashed human world records at China's 'robot Olympics', but still stumbled   Apple Maps users in the US and Canada are rebelling against new ads they can’t turn off   Fitbit founders launched a new screenless wearable with GPS, heart monitoring and more What we're talking about Feast your eyes on some stunning wildlife photography (Dewald Tromp / Wildlife Photographer of the Year) These incredible wildlife images prove that the DSLR is far from outdated The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition released a selection of shortlisted images from this year's contest, ahead of the full results announcement and awards ceremony in October — and to the delight of our Cameras Editor, Tim Coleman, they show that there's life in the DSLR yet. In addition to the image above, of a chameleon battling its way through a sandstorm in a Nigerian desert, the preview selection includes a perfectly timed shot of a swift flying below a Boeing 747, with the wings of the bird and the plane in perfect alignment. As well as the incredible standard of these images, what struck Tim is how many of them were taken with relatively old-school DSLRs, despite the rise of mirrorless to become the dominant form factor. The four he's picked out were taken with the Nikon D500 and D850, both of which are now around a decade old — proving that if you've got an eye for a great photo, you don't need the latest or most expensive kit to capture it. More from the water cooler… Forget Disney’s BDX Droid — the Hugging Face Microduck is the most adorable and versatile robot yet After test-driving the Volvo EX60 and BMW iX3, Leon Poultney says range anxiety is over Darren Allen says Microsoft’s latest efforts to promote Edge and Bing look smack of desperation Sharmishta Sarkar fell for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft hype — and now she regrets it Want to go off-grid? Here’s how portable wind turbines are riding the DIY energy boom Plug-in solar became legal in the UK — here are 5 things you need to know Darren Allen went for a full solar install instead of plug-in solar — here's why What we've tested GoPro's first interchangeable-lens camera goes against the brand’s whole ethos (Future | Sam Kieldsen) GoPro's Mission 1 is an intriguing experience that's the opposite of what you expect from GoPro GoPro is best known for its range of action cameras, but now it's launching its first interchangeable-lens camera, the Mission 1 Pro ILS, which pairs the brand's excellent 1-inch sensor with the flexibility of the Micro Four Thirds format and its wide and varied range of lenses. Sam Kieldsen has been putting the Mission 1 Pro through its paces, and he found it to be "a camera that's as rewarding as it is demanding". While he says fans of the brand will miss the rugged build, waterproofing and subject-tracking smarts that are trademarks of GoPro's action cams, if you're prepared to put the work in, this camera will reward you with excellent stills and footage. More from the TechRadar test bench… James Davidson's compared LG's latest OLED flagship with Samsung's top Micro RGB model   Josephine Watson tested L'Atitude 52°N’s first smart glasses — should Meta be worried? Spending a month with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 made Axel Metz a foldable believer The Oppo Reno 16 is one of the most beautiful phones Harry Padoan has ever tested  Luke Edwards was initially skeptical about this AI personal trainer, but not any more Nirave Gondhia thinks Poco F8 Pro is the best affordable flagship phone of 2026 The price is write… The reMarkable Paper Pure is the company's cheapest and most accessible writing tablet yet. Josephine Watson was a little skeptical of the rather dated specs, but she was pleasantly surprised when she got hands-on with the device — check out her video review below. What to try: tips, hacks and our favorite new products Take your CD collection to Valhalla with the Hegel Viking CD player (Hegel) Our favorite CD players, Chromebook vs Googlebook, and photography tips for long exposures Yes, they're still making cool CD players in 2026 — here's our pick of the best options Should you buy a Chromebook now or wait for the Googlebook? Here's our advice Tim Coleman captured stunning long exposures with his Pixel 8 Pro — here's how Not a fan of Amazon? Here are the best Kindle alternatives for reading on the go Curious about ChatGPT's numerous plugins? Here are five Eric Hal Schwartz actually uses Matt Evans likes the look of Whoop's new stylish, jewelry-inspired fitness tracker What's on – the week in entertainment Theo James is Eddie Horniman in The Gentlemen (Netflix) The Gentlemen season 3 gets the green light — even if it won't be getting any blue blood Guy Ritchie's The Gentleman made headlines this week thanks to the rumored involvement of a certain royal, but we were more interested in the news that the show has been confirmed for a third season. The Gentlemen season 3 and Furious season 2 are coming to Netflix and Hulu respectively, though we don’t know exactly when. Our Senior Entertainment Reporter Lucy Buglass sat down with Furious star Quincy Tyler Bernstine to get her thoughts on the next installment.    Elsewhere, we got release dates for Emily in Paris season 6, The Gilded Age season 4, and Only Murders in the Building season 6. Jasmine Valentine can’t wait for the latter show to return… but a huge change to the show’s title has already left her disappointed. On the plus side, Meryl Streep and Olivia Colman will be reunited for the first time since Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.   And don't miss the latest edition of our weekend streaming round-up, with the best of what to watch on Netflix, HBO Max and more. TechRadar on TikTok This week, our Phones Editor Axel Metz explains why we may not see a base-model iPhone 18 this year, we take a look at the new Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, and Jacob Krol checks out the entertainment offerings on board United Airlines' new Airbus A321XLR. Make sure to follow TechRadar on TikTok for more! What you think – this week's poll Which rumored Apple devices are you hoping will be announced on September 9? iPhone 18 Pro / iPhone 18 Pro Max iPhone Ultra Apple Watch Series 12 Apple Watch Ultra 4 AirPods 5 Apple TV 4K HomePod mini 2 Home Hub Follow TechRadar Contact Us: Feedback | Advertise Sign Up | Update Profile | Unsubscribe Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Terms and Conditions When you purchase through links in our content, we may earn an affiliate commission.   © Future Publishing Limited. Reg No. 2008885 England. Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA.