Gaming is getting even more expensive as of this week: Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) recently confirmed that a PS5 console is increasing in price again.
Starting on 2 April, the standard PS5 with a disc drive will cost $999.95 in Australia. That’s a $170 jump, or more than a 20 per cent increase, from the last price increase in April 2025. Since the PS5’s launch in 2020, the console’s price has risen by $250, more than 33 per cent.
According to a blog post attributed to Isabelle Tomatis, SIE’s Vice President of Global Marketing, the price increase comes amidst “continued pressures in the global economic landscape”.
“We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide,” Tomatis wrote.
SIE also confirmed increased prices for the PS5 Digital Edition, which will be $919.95, and the high-end PS5 Pro console, which will increase by $200 to $1,399.95. Sony’s price increases also impact the PlayStation Portal streaming device, which is set to cost $389.95.
Device
Old price
New price
Percentage change
PS5
$829.95
$999.95
20%
PS5 Digital Edition
$749.95
$919.95
22%
PS5 Pro
$1,199.95
$1,399.95
16%
PlayStation Portal
$329.95
$389.95
18%
The changes put the PS5 at the infamous $999 mark of the PS3, which was one of the priciest console launches at the time in 2007. However, adjusted for inflation, the PS3’s launch price is closer to $1,600 in today’s money.
In the Australian market, there’s Apple at the upper end of fancy and popular, then Samsung (which is equally fancy but a bit less popular), followed by Google Pixel and then everyone else. Most of the ‘everyone else’ is made up of budget Android smartphones that compete on price and maybe a small gimmick every now and then. So, I’m excited that there seems to be a new competitor able to challenge the likes of Google and Samsung. It’s nice to have something new.
Honor’s first flagship phone in Australia is the Honor Magic V5, and its whole thing is that it claims to be thinner, faster and stronger than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. While some of those claims are disputed, and not necessarily important, what does matter is that this is a phone that’s on par with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in many ways, while offering an alternative for people wanting to try something different. It’s exciting, even if the brand name’s lack of ‘u’ is troubling.
I first saw this phone at an event, where it was tied to a weight, demonstrating the strength of the hinge. Throughout the night, people were throwing the Magic V5 into fish tanks and dropping it on the floor. That’s the phone I then brought home, and all it had to show for the abuse was a few deep scratches on the front screen. That’s a pretty great first impression.
I was also struck by how nice the phone looks. Folded, it almost looks like a normal phone before you see the opening. The absolute unit of a camera bump is going to be polarising, though. Personally, I think that a phone’s thinness claims should be counted from its thickest point, but I guess that doesn’t look as good on a poster.
Image: Alice Clarke.
After that, the phone was easy to set up, just like any Android. The MagicOS Android overlay took a small amount of adjustment, as it seems to be trying to follow in some of the iPhone’s footsteps, while still being solidly Android. It will feel familiar and foreign to users of both operating systems, which will be polarising.
Honor Magic V5 specifications and price
Product name
Honor Magic V5
Price (RRP)
$2,599
Warranty
2 years in addition to your Australian consumer law rights
Height: 156.8 mm
Width: 74.3 mm (folded), 145.9 mm (unfolded)
Depth (Ivory White Version): 8.8 mm (folded), 4.1 mm (unfolded)
Weight (Ivory White Version): Approx. 217 g
Rear cameras
50MP Ultra Wide Camera (f/2.0)
50MP Wide Camera (f/1.6, OIS)
64MP telephoto Lens Camera (f/2.5, OIS)
Front cameras
20MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Interior screen) 20MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Exterior screen)
Given the Honor Magic V5 so badly wants to emulate the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, let’s look at how they stack up on paper.
First up, Samsung’s 512GB model only has 12GB of RAM. To get 16GB, you need the 1TB $2,999 version. 16GB is included as standard with the Honor.
Folded, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is 8.8mm, which is 0.1mm thinner according to Honor’s claims. I don’t have callipers to confirm this, and it also doesn’t matter in the slightest. I am sure there are situations where 0.1mm matters, but this is not one of them. The camera bump on the Honor is also just absolutely massive, which negates a lot of the depth savings.
The Samsung foldable has a 200MP wide camera, which means it can zoom in on photos more than the Honor’s 50MP before quality becomes an issue. Though the Honor’s other cameras beat Samsung’s 12MP Ultra Wide and 10MP telephoto on sheer numbers (however, megapixels aren’t everything).
The Honor’s 5,820mAh battery absolutely kicks Samsung’s 4,400mAh in the face.
Samsung uses the One UI 8 operating system, which I prefer, but that’s completely down to personal preference and is in no way objective.
The Honor is 2-7g heavier, which absolutely no one will notice.
Honor’s peak brightness is 5,000 nits, while the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s is 2,600.
Most importantly, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has an IP rating of IP48, which was an absolutely incredible technical achievement. The Honor Magic V5 has a rating of up to IP59. It’s important to note that debris will still absolutely mess up an internal screen when folded. Plus, waterproofing and splash-proofing decline over time and don’t last forever. However, reaching either of those ratings in a folding phone is witchcraft, and we have come so far from the times when just breathing too hard in its direction would cause the internal screen to delaminate.
Lastly, while things are pretty even between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Honor Magic V5, the Honor leaves the latest Pixel 10 Pro Fold in the dust. There’s no competition between the two. That’s impressive given Google is, well, Google.
Benchmarking
On raw benchmarking, the Honor Magic V5 is quite lacklustre, especially compared to Samsung’s foldables. However, that’s just in the regular mode, which is designed to give you enough power to run basic apps, text, binge social media, do emails, etc, without eating up all your battery. Most users won’t notice the trade-off, but will notice the improved battery life.
Performance mode is when things start to look like a $2,599 smart phone, almost on par with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. I actually expected the Honor to do a bit better, given the specs on paper. This is more evidence that specs don’t always tell the whole story.
Unfolding
The unfolding experience is one of the most important with a folding phone, and luckily, it’s really good here. The hinge isn’t too stiff, but also isn’t too loose. It feels satisfying to open and close.
Image: Alice Clarke.
Though when the phone is opened, I do find the extremely thin edges to be a little sharp on my hands, making it less comfortable to hold open for long periods of time. After a while, I adjusted to it a bit, but Honor might need to find more of a balance between being razor thin and having some curves to hug.
Cameras
Without any of the AI nonsense turned on, I really, really like the Honor Magic V5 cameras.
Honor Magic V5 photos. Images: Alice Clarke.
Comparing these photos to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, there is no competition. The Honor is so much closer to the colours and lighting of the actual day. The Pixel just seems noisy and a bit wrong.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold photos. Images: Alice Clarke.iPhone 17 Max (left), Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold (middle), Honor Magic V5 (right). Images: Alice Clarke.
I do largely prefer the iPhone photos, though. I feel like I get more details on them. In the very zoomed-in shot of the baby giraffe with its parent, I can see the AI processing on the Honor trying to render details from guesses, and it just looks a bit off. Nothing I can put my finger on as being wrong, it just is.
Honor Magic V5 photo (left), iPhone 17 Pro Max photo (right). Images: Alice Clarke.iPhone 17 Pro Max photos. Images: Alice Clarke.
That over-reliance on AI flows into the portrait mode, which yassified my mother (she won’t let me include the photo), and made my daughter’s olive skin paler than mine. I hate this trend towards over-processing of photos in the camera and automatic application of AI filters. I think a camera should capture what’s true, and leave the embellishments to us later, so we can have copies of both the true and the false. Not everyone agrees with me, and that’s fine.
Image: Alice Clarke.
That said, the colours are vibrant, and I think (as long as they avoid the AI modes), most people will be very happy with the Honor Magic V5 cameras.
Images: Alice Clarke.
Who is the Honor Magic V5 for?
This is a phone for people who want a cutting-edge folding smartphone, that’s a little cheaper than the big players, and are willing to take a risk on a brand they haven’t heard of before. It’s a big ask at this pricier end of the market, but this is just such a solid phone that I think those willing to try something different will be handsomely rewarded for their courage.
Certainly, this is the obvious choice over a Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. However, it’s a line ball with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and that will come down to personal preference.
Honor Magic V5
It’s exciting to see a new challenger brand in the Australian market, especially one with such a fully formed, excellent flagship phone.
Features
9
Value for money
7
Performance
8
Ease of use
8
Design
9
Positives
Thin
Very good cameras
Excellent specs and a huge battery
Durable; IP59 in a folding phone is ridiculously impressive
Negatives
Potentially too thin to hold depending on your hands
The sequel to one of our favourite robot vacuums of 2025 has just launched in Australia, dialling up the power levels even further.
At a recent picturesque launch hosted at Prim Haus in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, Roborock showed off three high-end devices set to arrive in Australia in the coming days. Among them is the Roborock Saros 20, the successor to last year’s Saros 10 model.
Functionally, the Saros 20 is rather similar to its predecessor, but the set of features is a decent step up — literally and figuratively. With up to 36,000Pa of suction power (the Saros 10 had 22,000Pa), the Saros 20 also has a new technology designed to ascend higher obstacles.
While it’s not quite the stair-climbing tech Roborock showed at CES 2026, this particular variant is said to scale thick rugs and carpets of up to 3cm. Plus, it’s designed to cross double-layer thresholds around the home, up to 8.8cm. That could be handy for homes with a slight drop or bump between carpeted and tiled rooms, for example.
Roborock confirmed that the Saros 20 will launch locally in April for $2,999, with pre-orders live now. Also set to launch next month is the $1,299 Roborock F25 Ace Pro, the brand’s latest wet-dry vacuum.
Image: Supplied.
Instead of the steam technology used by the existing F25 Ultra model, the Ace Pro relies on a foaming solution to clean up messes. This foam is designed to stick to and dissolve greasy stains, which the wet-dry vacuum’s roller mop then runs over, using water to leave floors fresh.
There’s also a new Roborock appliance available today: the $2,799 Qrevo Edge 2 Pro. Launching at a discounted $2,299 price, it’s an alternative to the Saros 20 with a longer-lasting battery and bigger dustbin, making it suited to larger homes.
Wi-Fi 7 gaming routers no longer necessitate taking out a second mortgage to afford. Hyperbolic as that statement is, the latest networking gear started out as a pricey proposition for early adopters. Now, TP-Link has a new set of Archer Wi-Fi 7 gaming routers on the way, starting from just $279 for the GE230 model.
Five new models make up the brand’s latest gaming router range, including the GE800, GE550, GE400, GE230, and GXE75 (which is a Wi-Fi 6E router). Like a lot of affordable Wi-Fi 7 devices, the Archer GE230 only operates on two networking bands — 2.4GHz and 5GHz — as opposed to the faster 6GHz band available on more premium routers.
But, at $279, it’s tough to be overly critical. It still includes Wi-Fi 7-specific features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which lets a router talk between multiple network bands and channels simultaneously. So, if one network band isn’t getting it done, compatible devices can seamlessly lean on another at the same time.
Plus, the Archer GE230 supports Wi-Fi 7’s 4K-QAM technology, fitting more data into a router’s signal. Put simply, it means higher data transmission than other Wi-Fi technologies. Across the GE230’s two network bands, it supports a total wireless bandwidth of up to 3,600Mbps, while the router also houses two 2.5Gbps LAN ports.
According to TP-Link, the sweet spot of its new gaming router range is the Archer GE550. At $599, it’s a bit of a step up, including three network bands, including the wider 6GHz band. The pyramid-shaped device supports total wireless speeds of up to 9,220Mbps, plus five LAN ports.
The Archer GE550 is considered the sweet spot in terms of features and price. Image: TP-Link.
For gaming, TP-Link’s new Archer range is designed to prioritise gaming devices. Be it a console, PC, or phone, you can set the router to give a gaming device a leg up ahead of anyone else in the house who might be streaming Netflix or downloading large files.
If that sounds like what you need, the new routers are available now in Australia via online and local retailers.
Long gone are the days of closing a Windows laptop’s lid and losing half of its battery by the time you open it later in the day, according to Intel, as the first wave of Core Ultra Series 3 devices arrive in Australia.
It’s been a multi-year journey for Team Blue, which has ambitiously set out to improve its silicon amidst greater competition from the likes of Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. Since Intel debuted its first NPU-equipped Core Ultra system-on-a-chip (SoC), codenamed Meteor Lake, followed by Lunar Lake, it has focused on power and efficiency. In other words, better performance while prolonging battery life.
With the Core Ultra Series 3 launch, known by its ‘Panther Lake’ alias, Intel made some fairly bold claims. At a recent Australian media event, Intel claimed that its latest chipset drives up to 60 per cent better CPU performance and 77 per cent graphics performance compared to last year’s Lunar Lake.
Image: Chris Button.
Those are some impressive theoretical numbers from the company’s 18A technology out of Arizona. For Intel, which has had its troubles in recent years, its latest release could be a much-needed win.
Gaming without a dedicated GPU
Aside from longer battery life and faster performance across the board, gaming is one of the major beneficiaries of the new chipset’s design. A live demo running a Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark saw an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 laptop outperform a laptop with a discrete Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics card.
Upon closer inspection, both benchmarks ran at each laptop’s native display resolution, with the graphics set to ‘Ultra’. There was some upscaling involved; the Panther Lake laptop used Intel’s XeSS technology, while the RTX 4050-equipped device had DLSS on — the frame-generating kind, not the controversial DLSS 5 version.
Even your work laptop could be a capable gaming machine. Image: Chris Button.
Even so, for an integrated GPU to outperform a dedicated graphics card is no small feat. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at its highest graphical settings at above 60 frames per second on a laptop’s integrated GPU would’ve been unheard of only a few years ago.
A big driver of this graphical uplift is the new Core Ultra X7 and X9 chipsets, which are Intel’s top-of-the-line variants. They house 12 of Intel’s Xe GPU cores, compared to Lunar Lake’s maximum of eight, providing a decent year-on-year boost.
Intel Core Ultra Series 3 laptops launch in Australia
Naturally, gaming is just one part of the new Intel range. Other demos included splitting music tracks (specifically “Thunderstruck”) into individual instrument stems in Audacity, while others showed local AI models quickly sorting through clips in Adobe Premiere Pro.
More than 200 devices will use Intel Core Ultra Series 3 SoCs throughout 2026. Some of those laptops are arriving in Australian retailers now, with new Acer, Asus, and HP models among them.
Of Intel’s recent processors, its Panther Lake range could be the company’s strongest entry in years, as the computing market only gets more competitive.
