Business Articles

The global laptop is set for a dramatic downturn in 2026. Rising costs driven by AI chips and memory shortage are pushing laptop prices sky-high and scaring off buyers. While the rest of the industry is bracing for a sharp decline, Apple is bucking the trend and seeing rapid growth thanks to its wallet-friendly MacBook Neo.

CheckMag With the new ThinkPad T laptops, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 and ThinkPad T16 Gen 5, Lenovo has announced a major update to its "bread and butter" models for corporate customers. We were able to talk to the product manager, Christoph Blindenbacher, about the new repairable ThinkPads.

BYD, the Chinese EV giant, is hitting the brakes. Too many BYD electric cars are being used as taxis, which is damaging its premium image among private customers. The solution is the new Linghui brand. The premium electric model e7 comes with completely free flash charging for one year, saving frequent drivers the equivalent of over $2,300 or €2,000.

Sony Japan has announced the suspension of sales of select CFexpress and SD memory cards due to semiconductor shortages, affecting camera owners who need them for work. The affected cards are also listed as out of stock in the US.

Epic Games’ latest round of layoffs, which cut roughly 1,000 roles, has drawn renewed scrutiny after reports that a longtime programmer with terminal brain cancer lost his employer-sponsored life insurance immediately upon termination. While the company offered severance and six months of continued health coverage, the employee’s family says a pre-existing condition prevents obtaining new coverage, prompting outreach to Epic executives and an update that discussions are now underway.

Apple says its new Apple Business platform is designed to help companies manage devices, apps, and support through a single service.

GitHub’s latest roadmap post signals a broader security push for Actions, centered on secure-by-default behavior, stronger policy enforcement, and better CI/CD observability.

The B3 G1 series can be equipped with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 vPro 265H, 96 GB DDR5-5600 RAM and 6 TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage. Both sizes feature 1200p and 1600p IPS screens and the 16-inch model has a 1200p touchscreen option.

Volkswagen appears to be responding to criticism of its touch-heavy interiors. According to TopGear, brand boss Thomas Schäfer has said that real buttons and proper door handles will once again play a bigger role in future models.

Omnissa says Windows devices in its enterprise telemetry dataset saw 3.1 times more forced shutdowns than macOS in 2025, alongside higher crash and app-hang rates.

The European Union is putting an end to cheap, duty-free parcels from China by introducing new fees that will greatly impact platforms such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress. Recent media reports have missed a crucial detail of the new EU customs reform, which is set to become a major cost trap for online shoppers starting July 1, 2026.

Sony and Honda's ambitious EV project has come to a surprising end. Despite recently opening a showroom in California, the joint venture has completely halted development of the Afeela 1. This is due to a drastic change in Honda's strategy, collapsing US markets and huge financial losses.

The Gigabyte A16 Pro promises a lot: a slim chassis, RTX 5070 Ti, a bright display, and solid battery life—all at a relatively low price. But in everyday use, unexpected weaknesses show up in connectivity, drivers, and efficiency. Can it still deliver as an affordable creator laptop?

Ford is expanding the Transit family. The new Transit City is designed for inner-city use as a compact electric van. Read on for all the facts about range, payload and why the EV is especially appealing to fleet operators.

Warner Bros. has announced another Lord of the Rings film alongside The Hunt for Gollum, one that will take a more detailed look at some of the early chapters Peter Jackson left out of his film adaptation. As if that were not surprising enough, the idea reportedly came from Stephen Colbert, who is co-writing the project together with his son Peter McGee.

Ride-hailing company Uber, together with Verne and Pony.ai, is bringing autonomous taxis to European roads. The first commercial robotaxi network is launching in Croatia.

OpenAI has changed how ChatGPT handles long pasted text, with content over 5,000 characters now converted into attachments for Plus, Pro, and Business users.

Google has begun an early stable rollout of Chrome 147.0.7727.24/.25 for Windows and Mac, but the company has not yet published a detailed desktop feature or security breakdown in the release notes.

The German automotive industry is gradually grinding to a halt. It is currently experiencing an unprecedented decline. Consequently, its most important export markets and core regions are also being pulled towards the abyss. The bare figures for the past year reveal an unprecedented turning point that poses a massive threat to the survival of the entire industry.

With the release of Panther Lake to the commercial segment with vPro that includes popular business brands like the Lenovo ThinkPad and HP EliteBook, Panther Lake is now fully on the market.

Dell is introducing its new Dell Pro lineup. The new Dell Pro 5 laptops, available in 14- and 16-inch, include the most options by far, including AMD and Intel CPUs, plus LPCAMM2 memory - a groundbreaking innovation.

Back from the Dell hell: After killing the Dell Latitude 7000, Dell brings it back! The new Dell Pro 7 laptops are set to compete with machines like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s and ThinkPad X13.

Intel has released a new graphics card with up to 32 GB of VRAM. Also leveraging up to 32 Xe2 cores, the Arc Pro B70 will soon be joined by the cheaper Arc Pro B65, which Intel claims are 'cost-effective' yet 'high-performance solutions'.

E-commerce giant Amazon has just acquired Swiss delivery robot start-up Rivr, known for its autonomous delivery robots. The goal is total automation through robotics and AI, further streamlining Amazon's delivery operations and cutting down on costs. Meanwhile, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has bigger ideas.

Due to the downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025, Epic Games is laying off over 1,000 employees in a move aimed at keeping the company afloat. Alongside these job cuts, the company also identified over $500 million to save in contracting, marketing, and closing open roles.

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has just published paradoxical quarterly results. While its new electric vehicle business, centered around the top-selling SU7 and YU7 models, is outperforming competitors such as Tesla and BYD with record margins, profits in the smartphone sector have plummeted. Exploding hardware costs are taking a toll.

The golden age of dating apps is over. Alongside dating pioneer Tinder, competitors such as Bumble are now also struggling with a massive drop in user numbers. It seems singles have grown tired of "endless swiping". Now, the industry leader from the US is responding to the growing frustration by implementing a plan that has been on the back burner for over a year.

As SpaceX gets the vast majority of its revenue from Starlink satellite Internet subscriptions, it is aiming to improve the service and its reach. The odds that the SpaceX IPO will happen in March have also increased.

With Game Pass Ultimate straining budgets, Microsoft may add more lower-cost alternatives. An article from The Information builds on rumors that hinted at a free ad-supported plan. A Netflix bundle could also reduce the burden caused by the October 2025 Xbox Game Pass price increase.

HP has unveiled a new 14-inch laptop powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 platform. Available with up to a Snapdragon X2 Elite and 64 GB of RAM, the EliteBook 6 G2q also comes with a 5G modem, up to 28 hours of battery life and optional OLED or 800-nit IPS displays.

Seiko keeps asserting its dominance on the watch industry - it has a rich heritage, in-house innovation, and solid pricing on multiple models. From quartz to Spring Drive, its massive portfolio and steady, ongoing evolution has helped it stay relevant across segments while competitors keep chasing trends.

HP has updated its Elitebook 8 range with new AMD and Intel variants. Available in multiple sizes, the EliteBook 8 G2a and EliteBook 8 G2i feature up to 64 GB of RAM with multiple IPS and OLED display options.

The new HP ZBook X G2i is here. This workstation laptop has a 16-inch screen and the Nvidia RTX Pro 3000 Blackwell and 128 GB of RAM.

HP has announced two new LaserJet printers which feature quantum-resistant protection. The printers, which are designed for SMBs without an IT team are easy to set up, manage, and more efficient than the previous generation, claims the company.

While the state sector has long restricted the use of foreign networking equipment, the Federal Communications Commission’s recent actions mark a significant escalation. Now, "all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries" are banned from being imported to the US.

The official Cyberpunk Trading Card Game (TCG) appears to be on track to become one of the biggest crowdfunding successes of the year on Kickstarter. The campaign by WeirdCo and CD Projekt Red launched on March 17, 2026 and has already raised more than $12 million. That means the original funding goal of $100,000 was surpassed by more than 120 times less than a week after launch.

According to yet another leak, OnePlus could be set to close its doors in several markets around the globe. Business is expected to continue as usual back home in China, but the company could exit both the US and European markets in short order.

UK Steam users are now automatically included in a certified lawsuit against Valve, led by Vicki Shotbolt, with an opt-out window open until June 11, 2026. The claim covers game purchases from 2018 to 2024.

LG has begun production of an LCD panel for laptops capable of variable refresh rates (1 Hz to 120 Hz). The panel uses an unspecified oxide that holds an electrical charge longer than conventional LCD technology and reduces the need to constantly refresh the panel at a high frequency, similar to Sharp IGZO panels.

The new Lenovo Thinkpad T1g Gen 9 is an update of one of the most expensive ThinkPad series: It is a premium 16-inch laptop for the multimedia segment with Nvidia GeForce GPUs. The newest model has Intel Panther Lake CPUs, and the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 with 12 GB VRAM.

WordPress.com has opened up its platform to AI agents, allowing these autonomous bots to create and update content on their own. Business and personal website owners can simply command their favorite MCP-enabled AI, including Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT, without having to do the hard work of manual updates.

Reinstated Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill alleges publisher Krafton violated a court order by leaking Subnautica 2’s planned May early access launch window, arguing that only he was authorized to set release plans after Judge Lori Will’s ruling. Krafton denies wrongdoing, saying the internal memo cited in reports merely celebrated a prior milestone determination and did not constitute an improper announcement.

Google has rolled out Chrome Dev 148.0.7739.3 for Android on Google Play, marking the latest pre-release update in the Chrome 148 development cycle.

IO Interactive has ended its MindsEye publishing partnership with Build A Rocket Boy, with the studio now taking over sole publishing responsibilities and canceling the planned Hitman crossover.

SecurityWeek and Hudson Rock point to infostealer-exposed credentials as a possible entry point, but Stryker’s investigation is still ongoing and the company has not confirmed the intrusion path.

Sony has introduced the IMX908, a new 4K security camera sensor with 1.45 µm LOFIC pixels, 96 dB dynamic range, and single-exposure HDR.

Samsung has unveiled HBM4E at Nvidia GTC 2026 while showing commercial HBM4 for the Vera Rubin platform, alongside broader AI memory, storage, and AI factory plans.

Samsung has added a 34-work SFMOMA collection to its Art Store, giving The Frame and related Art TVs a more credible museum-backed gallery pitch.

An unexpected update: Lenovo is already replacing the ThinkPad P1 Gen 8 with the next gen model, the new ThinkPad P1 Gen 9. This new version is only a small update, focused mainly on internal changes.