Nintendo did it. Sony did it. Even Sega did it. And now, Microsoft finally has launched its own dedicated handheld gaming device…kind of.

Revealed yesterday during the summer Xbox Games Showcase, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally is closer to a Steam Deck than a PSP or Nintendo Switch. Essentially, it’s a spin on Asus’ existing handheld gaming PC, the ROG Ally, but with Xbox style grips, an Xbox button, and a sleeker approach to Windows that skips most of the guff and takes you right to a game launcher (where you’ll find all your various game stores, including Steam and Epic) that you can navigate entirely with your controller.

In other words, it isn’t a portable Xbox, it’s a handheld gaming PC with Xbox branding.

A better Windows-based gaming experience, for a price

Even if that might be disappointing to Xbox diehards, on the surface, it’s at least potentially great news—maybe even everything PC gamers have been asking Windows-based gaming handhelds to do for a while, as that operating system as it currently exists is no fun to navigate with a controller-based device. And loading right into the Xbox app isn’t only more immediate; Microsoft says the handheld will actually skip loading certain parts of Windows, which could make the OS more lightweight and actually boost performance. Finally, systems running Microsoft’s OS could potentially compete with the likes of the Steam Deck, especially because Microsoft says the new Xbox handheld gaming PC experience is coming soon to other devices, including some are already on the market.

And yet, Microsoft doesn’t have to compete with just the Steam Deck anymore. Notably, this announcement came on the weekend after the Nintendo Switch 2 launched, and it’s hard not to see it as at least a little out-of-date.

Also, the ROG Xbox Ally is ugly. While official dimensions aren’t out yet, it also appears to be a little thick, and on the heavier side.Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet either, but based on the specs Microsoft offered up, and the existing ROG Ally pricing, we can probably expect the two models of this thing (the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X) to come in at around $600 and $1,000, respectively.

That might sound reasonable to hardcore gamers, but next to the sleek, Apple-eqsue, $450 Nintendo Switch 2, or even the $400 Steam Deck, it’s a big ask, and puts me in mind of other pricey Steam Deck competitors we’ve seen before. Especially because, according to an interview Asus consumer vice president Shawn Yen had with Game File, Microsoft says the new device will target between 720p and 900p to 1080p (depending on your model), which is roughly equivalent to what’s on the Steam Deck now. Games might run at a slightly higher frame rate, but this won’t be a total game changer. Casual players might not even notice a difference.

In short, it’s a more iterative change, which is unfortunate for a debut handheld. There are benefits to a more usable Windows-based gaming handheld—notably, the Steam Deck can’t run games with anti-cheat, plus the Xbox experience is supposed to make it quicker to run games that aren’t from Steam than they’ll run on the Steam Deck (which can also run games from other launchers, but only after jumping through a few hoops). But the Steam Deck has always been my go-to handheld gaming PC recommendation for a reason: it’s affordable, simple to use, and has good-enough performance. The ROG Xbox Ally seems poised to take the mantle of simplicity, but I’m skeptical that the performance bumps (it will use a newer processor than the Steam Deck) will be enough to justify the cost.

Not really a handheld Xbox

The result? An Xbox handheld that won’t be the go-to portable gaming experience for Xbox fans, but rather an Xbox skin on top of a boutique option, ideal for only the most dedicated of fans. That’s not the worst thing in the world, but a missed opportunity, especially when compared to the shiny new Switch 2.

Speaking of, I’ve been playing with the Switch 2 over the weekend, and this thing is sleek. My full review is still forthcoming, but in summary, it’s thin, light, looks a heck of a lot better than the Xbox handheld, runs like a dream, and is still cheaper than the forthcoming Xbox device. Sure, it’s limited in ways a full PC isn’t, but that also makes it more approachable. The Switch 2 feels like a peek at the future of mainstream handheld gaming, while Xbox’s handheld feels more like a stopgap. (Though I’d still recommend the Steam Deck to most handheld PC gamers, and the Switch 2 to any console fans looking for a new handheld.)

Maybe I’m expecting too much. It’s a lot, thinking that Xbox might be able to compete with Nintendo on its first handheld attempt. But the company’s “This is an Xbox” campaign has also been adamant on pushing its cloud streaming and Game Pass experiences over its hardware, and a sleeker, more affordable Xbox handheld could have been a great compliment to that, and helped it carve out a niche as a Steam Deck-alike for people coming from console gaming, or the handheld for Switch gamers who want something a bit more hardcore. Instead, it seems like a nice upgrade for people who were already sold on the idea of the ROG Ally, and nobody else.

iOS gains so many new features with each version update that it’s impractical to condense everything into a single keynote. While the big iOS 26 features, including ones that Apple borrowed from others, got all the attention, I think some of the most exciting features were buried during the WWDC 2025 keynote. Apple briefly showed a slide containing all these hidden features, and I’ve compiled them here:

36 hidden iOS 26 features

The above slide is all we have to go on for these features. Some of them are obvious from the title alone, but others aren’t so clear. I’ve tried to add context wherever I can, but there is some speculation necessary here until we know more about iOS 26:

1. Custom snooze length for alarms: If you want to snooze for more or less than the standard nine minutes, this feature could be really useful.

2. AirPods Automatic Switching with CarPlay: Automatic switching lets you quickly connect your AirPods to the Apple device you’re actively using. It looks like Apple is extending it to CarPlay, too.

3. Enhance Dialogue: This feature should mean Apple Podcasts can boost vocals in podcasts and suppress background noises. All of the best podcast apps must have this feature.

4. Use Focus to silence SIM: It looks like iOS 26 will let you use Focuses to silence one SIM, which is great for those who use two numbers on their iPhone.

5. Communication requests: Screen Time could be getting support for requests to use messaging apps. This may allow parents to better regulate who their children are talking to.

6. ‘Add Contact’ button in groups: This could make it easy to add people to your contacts from a group in the Messages app.

7. Rich entry layout: The Journal app is getting a better layout for starting a new entry, but we don’t quite know what that is yet.

8. Events in Photos: It looks like iOS 26 will add support for events in the Photos app.

9. Lens cleaning hint: If your iPhone or iPad’s camera lens is dirty, iOS 26’s Camera app will ask you to clean it.

10. Specify spelling with Dictation: A neat way to reduce typos when you’re using Dictation to type.

11. Auto-Categorize: Reminders will be able to automatically sort your to-dos.

12. Manage AutoFill credit cards in Wallet: It appears that Apple is moving stored credit card data to the Wallet app.

13. Safety Check while blocking a contact: Safety Check removes other people’s access to shared iPhone data, such as your location. Apple seems to be adding Safety Check prompts when you block a contact as another way to ensure your safety.

14. Photo previews: Messages is gaining the ability to show image previews on your iPhone, though it’s not clear exactly how that compares to the current system.

15. Relevant video thumbnails in search results: Based on this description, it looks like search results in Photos may now include specific parts of a video that are relevant to the search term.

16. Arabic Calculator: The calculator app is getting a new mode.

17. Braille Access: A braille note taker is coming to your iPhone.

18. AirPods pause media when asleep: Your AirPods can detect when you’ve dozed off and pause media accordingly. This detection likely ties to Apple Watch.

19. Easier controller pairing: Apple’s making it easy to pair gaming controllers with your iPhone and iPad.

20. Suggested reminders: iOS 26 might suggest reminders based on your iPhone activity.

21. Select partial text in a bubble: In iOS 18, the Messages app lets you copy an entire text you’ve sent or received, but it doesn’t allow you to select a part of the message. That’s about to change with iOS 26.

22. More playback speeds: Apple Podcasts in iOS 18 supports playback speeds from 0.75x to 2x. It’s going to get more speed options in iOS 26, though we don’t know which or how many yet.

23. Multiscript keyboard for Arabic/English: For easier switching between the two languages.

24. New Monogram styles: The Phone app now supports more Monogram options.

25. Natural language search: It might be easier to search in Messages. Natural language could let you narrow down searches even if you don’t remember the correct search operators.

26. Adaptive power: Your iPhone will make small changes, such as lowering brightness, to improve battery life.

27. Password history: Apple Passwords will remember older passwords used with any login item.

28. Accessibility Reader: This makes it easy to read small text in any app.

29. Estimated time to charge: This tells you how long you need to wait until your iPhone’s battery is fully charged.

30. See your entries on a map: The Journal app will save location metadata to help you find entries by location.

31. Export Notes to Markdown: Apple Notes is gaining support for Markdown exports. 

32. Create multiple journals: The Journal app will now let you create more than one journal.

33. Screen sharing and SharePlay on a phone call: It looks like these features are no longer exclusive to FaceTime calls. 

34. Create reminders from Action button: The Action button gets yet another useful action.

35. Block list in Settings: This appears to be an improvement to the way blocked contacts are handled.

36. New incident report types in Maps: When you want to report an incident in Apple Maps, you’ll find more report types in the app in iOS 26.

When USB-C first arrived, it seemed like we had finally achieved the digital dream of one, universal plug that could do everything. The reality, however, is much more annoying. While everything from your laptop to tablet to phone can connect to the same cable or charger, they can get very different results, depending on which charger or cable you’re using. Worse yet, it’s not always clear why.

This issue stems from two major problems. The first are cables that conform to different USB specifications, without necessarily being labeled as such. And the second is charging blocks that provide different levels of power, more often with at least some kind of label, but less clarity on what those labels mean.

There’s a decent chance that you’ve encountered this problem without even realizing it. A friend of mine, for example, had an external portable monitor that connected to her laptop solely via a USB-C cable—a specific cable she called the “magic cable.” She called it this because, for reasons she couldn’t figure out, any other cable would simply not work. Those other cables were useful for charging a phone or connecting a peripheral, but not for this portable monitor. 

If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation, here’s what makes those cables so magic.

Why not all USB-C cables are created equal

To demonstrate the main issue here, what do you imagine when I say “USB-C”? If you pictured a squat little oval connector, you’re right! If you pictured that oval connected to a cable, however, well that’s a bit of a different story. Technically—and for this explanation, we’re gonna have to get pretty technical—”USB-C” refers only to the port and connector type itself.

Beyond that, USB specifications are used to denote minimum data transfer speeds and power supplied. This can get complicated, but the important part for charging purposes is a cable or charger’s Power Delivery rating. 

Power Delivery (often written as USB-PD) is a subset of USB specifications that allows a cable to provide enough power to charge your devices. “Enough” is a pretty relative term, though. Every USB port provides a little bit of power—that’s why your wired mouse or keyboard turn on when you plug them in, after all—but when it comes to charging devices like your smartphone or tablet, the electricity demands get higher.

Why using the right charger matters

Power Delivery was a feature added to the USB specifications so that manufacturers can’t denote just how much power a particular charger can supply. This is usually measured in watts (or W). For example, a laptop might come with a 100W power supply, while a smartphone might only require a 20W charger for fast charging.

That also brings us to another complicating factor: fast charging. Technically, if you plug a lower-wattage charger into a higher-power device, it can still charge off of it; it just might take a long time. A 5W charger might power up your phone overnight, while a 20W charger will fill its battery over an hour or two.

For devices like laptops or tablets, the amount of power you consume just by using your device can actually exceed how much power a slow-charging cable can provide. This is why my friend’s portable monitor needed a specific cable. Powering on a bright screen takes quite a bit of power, and the non-magic cables were likely only designed for things like plugging in a mouse or charging headphones. If the device you’ve plugged in demands more power than the cable or charging block can provide, it will either continue to drain the battery (though perhaps a bit slower), or shut off entirely.

If you’re plugging a cable into a standalone charging block, that’s another important piece of the puzzle. Charging blocks that connect to a wall outlet don’t always provide the maximum amount of power to the cables plugged into them. Some blocks that have multiple outlets might even provide different levels of power to different plugs.

It’s important to make sure that whatever you’re using to charge your devices, you make sure that every step in the chain is up to the task. The power outlet in your home provides enough power (we’d hope), but beyond that, the charging block, the cable, and even the device itself all need to support the amount of power delivery you need.

So, how do you find the right charging cable?

The most annoying part about all of this is that between the standards agency that manages USB specifications, and manufacturers trying to distinguish their own products, labeling USB cables has become a nightmare. To put it in perspective, cables that are capable of transferring up to 5Gbps have, over the last decade or so, been referred to as USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, and USB 3.2 Gen 1. These labels all, somehow, refer to basically the same thing.

So, forget all of that. If all you’re concerned with is how fast you charge your gadgets, there are two main things you should look for:

• What charger came with the device? This is the easiest one. If a charger or cable came with your device, that’s the one that will probably charge it the fastest. If you use a slower cable, the device will slow down to match it, and if you use a faster one, the device won’t charge faster than it’s programmed to do.

• What is the wattage of the charger? If you’re buying third-party, many manufacturers will list the maximum wattage of their products. This is usually a bit more common for charging blocks than cables themselves, but in general, higher is better. Your phone absolutely does not need a 100W charger, but your laptop might. And, as mentioned before, your devices will default to the slowest element in the chain.

In some cases, you can find a label on a charger that lists how much power it supplies, like “100W,” though if it’s not printed directly on a device, you can look up its model online. Another handy trick, if a cable doesn’t have a label but you know what device it came with, is to look up the product itself. If, say, your smartphone says it requires a 20W charger for fast charging, then it’s safe to assume that any cables it came with support at least that much.

What happens if you use the “wrong” charger?

The good news is, in the vast majority of cases, you won’t damage your devices if you use the wrong charger on them. A 100W charger can still fast charge your phone even if it doesn’t use its full capacity. Even a too-slow charger will provide power; it just might take a while. In fact, if you had a smartphone before companies started advertising “fast charging,” that’s basically what was happening.

The only major way things can go wrong is if you try to use your device to do something that takes more power than the charger can provide. Gaming laptops are particularly susceptible to this. Even high-powered 100W USB-C chargers can’t always provide enough energy to offset the demand from AAA games that run your GPU hot. Incidentally, this is why gaming laptops are one of the few devices that still come with a giant honking charging brick.

Even in that case, you’re not likely to damage your device, but it will rely on whatever battery power it has to keep going. It will drain more slowly, since it’s trying to draw power from both the battery and the wall at once, but if you’re doing anything too demanding, it will eventually die.

When it comes to peripherals—like my friend’s portable monitor—that don’t have their own batteries, however, they simply won’t turn on. If you’re plugging in a device that needs power via USB, but it won’t turn on, there’s a good chance you’re either using a cable that’s not rated to transfer enough power, or the device you’re plugging it into isn’t able to give it enough.