He wrote that Apple is expected to sell the iPhone 17e at the same price as its predecessor, with several additions. One is the inclusion of MagSafe, enabling faster wireless charging and magnetic alignment on various accessories.
The iPhone 16e supported wireless charging, albeit at a comparatively slower 7.5W speed. MagSafe, on the other hand, supports up to 25W charging speeds on the iPhone 17 range. Exact charging speeds differ across iPhone models; the slim iPhone Air charges at 20W via MagSafe, while the base iPhone 16 model reaches 22W.
What might also help the iPhone 17e reach faster wireless charging speeds is the expected inclusion of the A19 chip used in the iPhone 17. It should also give Apple’s cheaper phone a performance boost, including potential battery life savings.
Gurman also reported that the iPhone 17e will use Apple’s latest networking chips. Combined with a faster chip and MagSafe technology, the phone will be Apple’s main device targeted at budget-conscious customers.
As it currently stands, the iPhone 16e is one of the best phones under $1,000. It’s a powerful and reliable alternative to a standard iPhone. However, it omits the multi-camera array of its pricier siblings.
If Apple’s announcement comes within the next week, it will beat Samsung as 2026’s first major phone launch. Samsung recently locked in 26 February for the announcement of this year’s flagship Galaxy S handsets, roughly a month later than its announcements in previous years.
Everything we have is now ‘smart’, from our phones to our speakers and cameras. So why would watches be any different? With their streamlined form factor and endless practicality, smartwatches are one of the most prominent pieces of tech we carry with us today.
So, with that in mind, luxury watch brands are having to pivot. TAG Heuer’s answer to this is the Connected line, and I recently got my hands on its latest addition, the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5. More specifically, the titanium configuration that retails for a whopping $3,700 in Australia.
Styling and customisation
It’s certainly a challenge to balance luxury with practicality and performance, yet TAG seems to have found the recipe with the Connected Calibre E5. Powered by the TAG Heuer OS, the Calibre E5 is a smartwatch first and foremost, yet it doesn’t lack the sophisticated design that TAG is known for.
The version I had the pleasure of testing was the 45 mm with all-black styling. The matte black ceramic bezel paired perfectly with the black rubber strap and black steel-coated folding clasp. I am always a suckers for mono-styled devices, and this hit the nail on the head.
Images: Jay Marshall.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of customisation options to play with, including the interchangeable band and a huge list of watch faces to swap out. I think changing your watch face has to be one of the huge benefits of a smartwatch. You can match your watch to your outfit, or customise the complications to suit your lifestyle. All with a few buttons pressed.
Performance and testing
With the aesthetics aside, I wanted to look into how this beauty performed. And to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. The display really stood out to me, and this was essential. You can’t have a stylishly crafted luxury watch that has a low-res or pixelated screen. It just wouldn’t work.
The Calibre E5 comes with a 1.39-inch OLED display with a resolution of 454×454 pixels. This display was vibrant, detailed and crisp. It meant that using any of the more complex watch faces didn’t deteriorate or detract from the look of the watch. A huge tick in my book.
Taking the TAG out for a test run was a breeze. I wasn’t sure if I would run into some teething problems, needing to adjust the active displays to better replicate what I am used to with the more traditional sports smartwatch, like the Garmin Fenix 8 or the Coros Pace 4. Yet that wasn’t the case. Right out of the box, the Calibre E5 was ready to go and displayed everything you would expect to track. You can always tweak it further, yet I was happy with the baseline of what it displayed, and that isn’t always the case.
Images: Jay Marshall.
Interface, navigation and battery life
Adding to that, the watch interface and navigation were pleasant to use. There is a large crown dial for navigation, as well as the touchscreen. Two buttons flank the crown dial, and that’s it. Nice and simple. The menu system is also simple and intuitive, with one main area for all of your menu items and controls, and another for activities and tracking.
The battery life is claimed to last up to three days in low power mode, which in my experience results in about two days of general use. That’s not too bad, and roughly on par with the likes of Apple and Samsung smartwatches.
Images: Jay Marshall.
Overall, I enjoyed trying the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E5. It’s an interesting intersection where luxury meets the modern world of smart devices. I have no doubt that this is a huge growing market and we will be seeing much more of this type of product in the future.
A wireless powerbank which doubles as a smartphone camera grip, the Belkin Stage PowerGrip makes your phone feel like a pint-sized digital SLR.
These days, most people have abandoned standalone digital cameras for the smartphone in their pocket. While it’s handy to always have a camera at hand, holding a smartphone like a camera is a cumbersome substitute for holding the real thing.
Smartphone makers acknowledged this early on by allowing the volume up button to double as a camera shutter button, so the button is at your fingertips when holding the phone sideways in landscape mode. Pressing down on a physical button also makes it easier to hold the phone steady when shooting, compared to tapping the camera app’s on-screen shutter button.
If you miss the old-school feel of a real camera in your hands, you’ll immediately understand the appeal of the Belkin Stage PowerGrip. If you’ve only ever known smartphone photography, the PowerGrip offers plenty of benefits that might win you over.
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip has the look and feel of a traditional camera grip. Image: Adam Turner.
Going back to the days of analogue film, high-end Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras from the likes of Canon and Nikon have featured a bulge or ‘grip’ on the right-hand side, so they are easier to hold steady.
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip brings the same ergonomics to smartphones. It magnetically clamps to the back of the phone, attaching firmly enough that you can hold it just by the grip without fear of the phone falling off.
Clamping to the bottom half of the phone ensures that the grip doesn’t cover the rear lenses or built-in flash. There’s even a lanyard hole, as well as a ¼-inch thread on the bottom of the grip, so you can attach it to a tripod.
Holding the grip in your right hand, you’ll find a shutter button under your pointer finger. Once you pair the grip with your phone via Bluetooth, pressing the button replicates pressing the volume up button, which captures a photo if the camera app is open.
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip makes your phone easier to hold, without getting in the way. Image: Adam Turner.
Such simplicity ensures that the grip works with Apple and Android smartphones. By default, holding down the shutter button starts recording video on Android. On Apple devices, it triggers burst mode, but you can change this to video in the settings.
The downside of this simplicity is that the PowerGrip isn’t designed to mimic the Camera Control button found on many iPhones and some Android handsets. This means you need to manually launch the camera app before the PowerGrip’s shutter button can capture photos.
Keep in mind, the PowerGrip is designed to work with the Apple iPhone 12 or Google Pixel 10 and above. It’s not that the shutter button won’t work with earlier phones, but rather that their body isn’t designed to clamp firmly.
Apple introduced MagSafe charging with the iPhone 12, while Google’s Pixel 10 introduced Pixelsnap charging. The Pixel 9a will still attach magnetically, for example, but it doesn’t clamp tightly enough to allow you to lift it up just by the grip.
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip attaches firmly to MagSafe and Pixelsnap compatible smartphones. Image: Adam Turner.
Belkin Stage PowerGrip specifications and price
Battery capacity
9,300 mAh
Connectivity
USB-C
Bluetooth
Wireless charging
Charging
In:
USB-C x1
Out (15 W combined):
USB-C x2
Wireless 7.5 W
Compatibility
Apple iPhone 12 and later (MagSafe)
Google Pixel 10 and later (Pixelsnap)
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip’s other party trick is that it’s a 9,300 mAh wireless power bank. When you press the power button to wake up the grip, you’ll see a power level readout on the small front screen.
The Belkin Stage PowerGrip’s front read-out reveals the battery level. Image: Adam Turner.
As an added bonus, the PowerGrip can also change two wired devices via USB-C. One via the built-in retractable 75-cm cable at the bottom, and one via the USB-C port at the top, which is also the battery’s charging port.
Keep in mind, charging is slow. The PowerGrip delivers 15 W in total, but only 7.5 W via wireless charging. So it’s more for slowly topping up your phone as you take photos during the day, rather than giving it a big drink when it’s running low.
The Grip can stand up on its heavy end, which means it can also double as a smartphone stand or bedside charger.
Who is the Belkin Stage PowerGrip for?
A lot of thought has clearly gone into the design of the Belkin Stage PowerGrip to help replicate the traditional camera experience while throwing in the modern benefit of wireless charging.
If you’re familiar with an SLR grip, the PowerGrip will instantly feel at home in your hands. The only shortcoming is that you might find yourself wishing that it put more physical SLR-style controls at your fingertips.
Keep in mind, if you’re primarily after a wireless portable charger, then you might benefit from a faster charger, such as Belkin’s BoostCharge Magnetic Portable Wireless Charger 10K.
Belkin Stage PowerGrip
Replicating the traditional SLR camera experience while throwing in modern wireless charging, the Belkin Stage PowerGrip takes smartphone photography to the next level.
Like clockwork, it’s time for one of the first major phone launches of 2026, with Samsung setting the stage for its next Galaxy S handsets.
Scheduled for 26 February Australian time, Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked in San Francisco will show the company’s latest flagship phones. According to Samsung’s teaser announcement, the new Galaxy S phones are “designed to remove friction from the things you do every day”.
Galaxy AI, Samsung’s set of generative AI-powered features, appears set to be a major part of the upcoming launch event. Last year, Samsung alluded to a strategy of AI helping people use their phones less. It’s a sentiment that’s consistent with the theming of the recently announced Galaxy Unpacked.
Samsung’s teaser video doesn’t give too much away. It depicts the Galaxy AI symbol emerging from a cube, again suggesting the brand’s focus on AI features.
Regardless of the reasoning, it’s a change in tactics from a company that has previously stuck with a January launch cycle.
When to watch the February 2026 Galaxy Unpacked
The next Samsung Galaxy S devices will be shown during the Galaxy Unpacked stream on 26 February at 5 AM AEDT. Aussies can tune in online, including via Samsung’s YouTube channel.
Along with the livestreamed event, Samsung confirmed that Australians can pre-register ahead of the phone launch to get a $50 voucher towards the new devices.
Three-in-one. Handheld. Action. The title of this camera is stuffed with what marketers call “scroll stoppers”. Translated, these signal (respectively) value, portability, and performance, and I’m a fan of them all. So, let’s see how the SJCAM C400 stacks up.
First, here’s why you might not buy one. SJCAM doesn’t currently have an Australian distributor, so if something goes wrong, how do you get the product fixed? You can get a C400 from Kogan or Amazon and return it, but buyer beware.
Then there’s pricing. At the time of writing, Kogan was selling the C400 for $253 and Amazon for $462. The US dollar conversion from the SJCAM website for the C400 is $358. At JB HiFi, you can buy a DJI Action 4 for $359 or a Zero-X ZX50 for $249, and you can be confident you’ll get support.
SJCAM C400 key specs
Now that’s out of the way, the C400 is a pretty nifty camera if you are into adventure sports and vlogging. The camera itself is 7 x 3 x 2 cm and weighs 54 grams – I can hide it in the palm of my hand – and it records 4K video. The camera has a six-axis stabilisation system that electronically stabilises movement, and it works quite well.
Camera separated from handheld controller. Image: Angus Jones
The camera works standalone with a single button: press it to turn it on or off and to control recording. A 1.3 inch forward-facing screen allows you to see yourself, as performs as a touch screen to allow you to change the settings. Battery life is impressive at 172 minutes.
SJCAM C400 handheld controller
The C400’s first trick is the handheld controller, which has a rear-facing 2.29 inch screen that rotates. The camera plugs into the controller, creating a tall, thin camera unit. By changing the rear screen orientation from portrait to landscape, you also change the aspect ratio for recording.
A magnetic mount holds the camera and enables remote control.
The controller also acts as a remote control, allowing you to view the images being captured and to operate the camera from up to 8 meters away. The controller has its own battery, and with the camera inserted, it boosts your total recording time to 7 hours, which is amazing. You will run out of SD card storage before you run out of power.
Like the camera itself, the handheld controller has a touchscreen. An additional button is added to power the unit on and off. If you are filming in landscape, the camera will turn off if you do not touch the screen when returning to the stowable portrait position. When stowed, the whole setup will easily fit in your pocket or a handbag, so you are always ready to capture some footage.
Zoom and accessories
The camera has an 8x digital zoom and supports both video and photo capture, with standard modes like time-lapse, slow-mo, and burst shooting. The C400 can also be used for live streaming or as a webcam.
We mentioned cost earlier, and a big benefit of this camera is the standard accessories. There is a host of mounts, including a waterproof case rated to 30m and a handy magnetic mount with a lanyard that you can attach to the front of your shirt. Other brands make you buy all this stuff separately.
The SJCAM C400 is a handy starter video pack, and for 90% of users, it will do everything you could want. If SJCAM takes Australia a little bit more seriously from a distribution perspective, this video setup will go that extra mile when you don’t want to risk using your smartphone to record.
In 2025, our phones no longer jiggle jiggle, they fold. Google came a bit later to the folding phone caper, only debuting the original Pixel folding phone in 2023, but already the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold shows how far the brand has come in terms of responding to user feedback. The original Pixel Fold was an unwieldy brick (in hindsight), while the new Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold seems much more usable.
Google still has a long way to go before its folding phones are on the same level as Samsung’s, but after a few months with the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, this phone seems a lot more ready for the mainstream.
My first impression of the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold was that it was colourful! I appreciate that folding phones come in colours now. For too long, they were black or (if we’re getting a bit weird with it) white. Seeing this more expanded pastel range of colours is a relief. Granted, it’s a tone of pale pastel green that would fit in perfectly in an art deco bathroom, yet still. It’s nice.
Image: Alice Clarke.
Unboxing and set up were exactly what you’d expect from a Google Pixel, only with more folding. Moving my settings, apps, photos, etc., over from my old phone to my new phone was quick and painless.
6.4-inch (162 mm) Actua display
20:9 aspect ratio
1080 x 2364 OLED at 408 PPI
Smooth Display (60–120 Hz)
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover glass
Up to 2,000 nits (HDR) and up to 3,000 nits (peak brightness)
>2,000,000:1 contrast ratio
HDR support
Full 24-bit depth for 16 million colours
Internal display
8-inch (204 mm) Super Actua Flex display
2076 x 2152 OLED at 373 PPI
Smooth Display (1–120 Hz)
Ultra Thin Glass
Up to 1,800 nits (HDR) and up to 3,000 nits (peak brightness)
>2,000,000:1 contrast ratio
HDR support
Full 24-bit depth for 16 million colours
Dimensions and weight
258g
Folded: 155.2 mm (height) x 76.3 mm (width) x 10.8 mm (depth)
Unfolded: 155.2mm x 150.4mm x 5.2mm
Battery and charging
Typical 5015 mAh (minimum 4919 mAh)
Fast charging capable
Pixelsnap wireless charging (Qi2 certified) up to 15W
Processor
Google Tensor G5
Titan M2 security coprocessor
Rear camera system
Wide Camera
48MP Quad PD wide camera
ƒ/1.70 aperture
82° field of view
1/2″ image sensor size
Ultrawide Camera
10.5 MP Dual PD ultrawide camera
ƒ/2.2 aperture
127° field of view
1/3.4″ image sensor size
Telephoto Camera 10.8 MP Dual PD telephoto camera with optical image stabilisation
ƒ/3.1 aperture
23° field of view
5x optical zoom
1/3.2″ image sensor size
All Rear Cameras
Super Res Zoom up to 20x
Multi-zone LDAF (laser detect auto focus) sensor
Spectral and flicker sensor
Optical + electronic image stabilisation on wide and telephoto
Front and inner camera systems
10 MP Dual PD selfie camera
ƒ/2.2 aperture
87° field of view
IP rating
IP68
There are a few things in there to call out. The first is that while this is called the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which implies it is the folding version of the Google Pixel 10 Pro, it actually has some pretty key differences.
The main difference is that the camera system has lower specs (10.5/10.8MP vs 48MP on the ultrawide and telephoto rear cameras, and also a quarter of the megapixels and a smaller field of view on the front camera). The non-folding Pixel 10 Pro also has Pro Res Zoom up to 100x, while the Fold only has 20x, which will be meaningful for people who go to a lot of stadium concerts and don’t buy the premium tickets. It’s also got a marginally smaller battery than the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
How much of a difference will that make to your real life? Probably nothing too noticeable unless you want to zoom in on Harry Styles in concert from the back row. But they are interesting differences to note.
The phone is also just overall chunkier than its competitors. It’s better than the previous generation by a long way, but Samsung and Honor have phones that feel better in the hand, and are comfortable to use both folded and unfolded. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold still feels like it’s one or two iterations away from catching up to the rest in terms of comfort in the hand.
That said, being dust-tight and getting an IP68 rating is a huge deal for a folding phone, and that will give it some leeway on size.
Camera
Everyone raves about the Google Pixel cameras for good reason. On the non-folding phones, they’re some of the best phone cameras you can get, as long as you don’t mind a little AI being shoved in (and on) your face.
Alas, Google did not bring its A-game to the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which has less of an emphasis on the camera features than its non-folding siblings. If this phone was, say, $800 at most, the camera system would be very good. However, this is a $2,699 phone that has a name that invokes the Pixel phone with the best cameras. Thus, it’s getting compared to phones in that price range, which have better specs.
The cameras aren’t bad by any means, but they’re also not hitting it out of the park, either. It is possible to take great photos with it, and a great photo will almost always look great. But most of the photos most people will take will be average photos. So, let’s compare some phones with very average photos of giraffes at the zoo.
From left to right: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 10 Pro Fold, iPhone 17 Pro Max. Images: Alice Clarke.
Starting with the unzoomed shots, you can see some distinct colour differences between the Pixel phones and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung has a much colder colour palette, and the Pixels really emphasising how green the garden is.
I think the iPhone has the colours closest to what it looked like on the day, but I like the warmth of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold a lot. The iPhone definitely has better details on the clouds, but overall, I’m more impressed with the wide shot out of the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold than I expected, given the specs. However, there is basically no improvement over the 9 Pro Fold.
Verdict: Everything but the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra wins.
From left to right: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 10 Pro Fold, iPhone 17 Pro Max. Images: Alice Clarke.
On the 2x zoom, you can see that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has done a better job of retaining the textures. The dents in the rocks are clearer. Whereas the details on the leaves just seem a bit washed out and noisy on the Pixels and iPhone. Everything does seem much sharper on the iPhone, but the Samsung Galaxy S25 cameras still win this battle for the details.
Verdict: The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra takes the cake here, but narrowly.
From left to right: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 10 Pro Fold, iPhone 17 Pro Max. Images: Alice Clarke.
Taking the Pixel 10 Pro Fold to 5x zoom, this is a big test and where the megapixel number actually matters. The Pixels are just outclassed here. The photos are fine, but they just look washed out, and don’t capture the details as well compared to the Samsung and iPhone. The iPhone also captured the light far better.
Verdict: The iPhone is a better gig-going companion.
Selfies
Image: Alice Clarke.
Putting aside the fact that the selfie camera is a significant downgrade in terms of specs compared to the non-folding Pixel 10 Pro, I don’t like how much the phone has processed my face. Some of the automatic post-processing choices are odd. If you want to edit your own photos after you take them, that’s totally fine, you should have that option. What I don’t like is how it tries to clean up my face by default.
While it’s kept a lot of my wrinkles, it’s smoothed a few, it’s whitened my teeth (I had been snacking on orange lollies the afternoon I took this, and there is definitely evidence of it on my face, according to the mirror. Interestingly, it made my pink hair more orange.
It’s a capable camera, but I’d rather capture what I actually look like, rather than what an algorithm thinks I want to look like, which is sometimes the purpose of a photo. I don’t want my photos altered before I decide to alter them. I find it unfortunate how many Android photos by default alter people’s faces, and it seems like an unhealthy thing that we should talk about more as a society.
Image: Alice Clarke.
The front-facing camera, when the phone is unfolded, is even worse, with so much noise in the picture. I understand that people are more likely to use the good rear cameras to take selfies, as that’s one of the benefits of a folding phone. But you’re still presumably going to be using the selfie cameras for video calls a lot of the time, and this is certainly below what I would expect in this price range.
Holding and folding
This phone is a lot more bulky than its two main competitors, the excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the newer competitor, the Honor Magic V5. It’s still blocky and quite thick. But while it still feels like it’s a couple of years of innovation behind the rest of the class, I actually don’t hate it. Sure, it’s thick, but it’s not trying to be a normal phone that happens to unfold. It seems content in the form factor of a folding phone, and the thicker body makes it more comfortable to hold while unfolded.
The hinge feels smooth, and there’s not too much resistance. The crease down the middle of the internal screen is pretty intense, which might bother some people. But I’m completely fine with a little valley in the screen — it’s a folding screen, things that fold have creases, and it’s a nice ‘home’ space for the hands.
Performance
I have yet to find anything that slows down the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold too aggressively. I largely use it for gaming, playing Fortnite and Pokémon TCG Pocket, and even after hours of playing, it’s still not too hot. The large screen holds a decent frame rate for extended periods of time, and it’s clear and smooth.
The screen is bright and easy to see in the sunshine.
Image: Alice Clarke.
It’s definitely not the most powerful phone around; the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra crushes it in terms of raw power, and in turn, the iPhone 17 Pro Max crushes that. The Tensor G5 chip in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is more geared towards generative AI than being powerful for anything else, and it really shows. It’s a less capable phone because of that choice.
That said, the battery is quite good for a folding phone, with the larger body holding a larger 5,015mAh battery.
Who is the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold for?
This is the phone for people who love their older Google Pixel, and want that, but folding. It’s not the best folding phone on the market, and it’s not the best Google Pixel available. But it is the best folding Google Pixel, and that’s still very good.
My pick of folding phones is still the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. But it’s a very competitive field in the top three, and if you prefer Google phones but want something that folds, this is the way to go.
GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold might not be the best folding phone on the market, but it’s the best folding Google Pixel available.
Features
8
Value for money
8
Performance
6
Ease of use
7
Design
7
Positives
Larger battery than competitors
Nice screen
Satisfying to fold and unfold
Has an IP68 rating (huge news for folding phones)
Negatives
Chunkier than its competitors
Not particularly powerful
Cameras aren’t as good as the rest of the Pixel 10 Pro range
