2 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Wearable

The Verge is covering the rapidly evolving world of wearables. We test everything from smartwatches like the Apple Watch, to smart glasses like the Meta Ray-Bans, to fitness trackers like the Oura Ring to find out which ones deliver on their promises. Follow along to find out whether covering our bodies in screens and sensors can actually make us smarter and healthier.

Apple iPhone Duo launch event: The 5 biggest announcements

This year’s iPhone event included Apple’s first foldable, an upgraded iPhone 18 Pro, and much more.

Emma Roth
iPhone 18 live blog: On the ground at Apple’s biggest event

We’re ready for the long-rumored foldable iPhone, along with any new Apple Watches, AirPods, and other surprises.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto, Allison Johnson and 2 more
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Why is Apple’s Watch SE 3 unavailable?

It’s not too surprising that most of Apple’s wristwear is now listed as unavailable on its website for shipment or pickup (but not all — we did see some Ultra models available), with a product event scheduled for tomorrow, but MacRumors points out that the value-priced version of the Apple Watch is unavailable too.

Based on the rumors, we have been anticipating updates for the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3, and maybe the SE 3 is just taking a break in solidarity. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Oura’s IPO inches closer.

The smart ring company filed for an initial public offering on Thursday, revealing over $1.4 billion in revenue between July 2025 and June 2026, along with 5 million paid members.

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
The Steam Frame will get color passthrough after all — with a snap-on aftermarket camera.

Leaked photos and demo videos claim the Arcturus Vision Camera works out of the box! Plug it into the Frame’s nosebridge port, and get 5K60 10-bit HDR color plus spatial video recording. Valve isn’t offering native color passthrough to keep costs down, but looks like its passthrough partner got the greenlight! No price yet.

A shiny horizontal camera bar atop the Steam Frame’s curved front lens.
The Arcturus Vision Camera, as leaked.
Image: Komodo Station leak
Continuous glucose monitors are about to get more complicated

Abbott’s new 2-in-1 CGM will help diabetics monitor ketone levels. But can it avoid the wearable hype cycle?

Victoria Song
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
What’s on your running playlist?

I recently started running again. And, as I started building back to my first half marathon in almost a decade, I realized — my running playlist is hopelessly out of date. Nothing on there is newer than 2018, so tell me what keeps you motivated to power through the pain.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Google is making it easier to manually log workouts in its Health app.

The version 5.07 update will allow you to “add and adjust more metrics” to workouts you manually log, as well as view these changes more quickly in workout summaries. Google also says the Health app’s built-in map now has faster load times and smoother rendering.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
A fashionable facelift for Whoop’s fitness tracker.

The new $149 Meridian Band is a jewelry-inspired housing for the fifth-generation Whoop wearable that’s designed to make it look less like a boring gadget. The band is made from Milanese mesh and comes in a choice of black, silver, gold, and rose gold. You have to remove it to charge the device, however.

The Whoop Meridian band.
The Meridian Band is expensive for a health tracker strap, but Whoop’s subscription model isn’t exactly cheap anyway.
Image: Whoop
Sleep score court is in sessionSleep score court is in session
Allison Johnson
Your Oura Ring can’t measure what’s going on in your skull

A new lawsuit charges the company with duping customers. Who’s at fault?

Victoria Song
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Fitbit founders launch $250 wearable that looks like a pair of AAA batteries.

Available now for preorder and shipping in “early 2027,” Luffu Link is a screenless, LTE-connected health and safety band for families. Featuring built-in GPS, continuous biometric tracking, and AI-powered voice logging, it lets wearers send their location and emergency alerts to contacts without a phone, and lasts for up to five days before needing a charge.

Meant to be worn by families, with a design only a robot could love.
Meant to be worn by families, with a design only a robot could love.
Image: Luffu
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Meta may be working on a physical kill switch for smart glasses sensors.

As Patentlyze reports, the company filed a patent earlier this year for a “hardware privacy mute circuit” for “consumer devices, such as augmented reality devices,” like Meta’s smart glasses. The patent says the mute switch would “provide tamper-resistant privacy controls that cannot be compromised through software exploits.”

Meta glasses are a workplace menace

Public-facing workers are being filmed, harassed, and creeped out by AI-powered smart glasses.

Mia Sato
The wearable future is stuck in weird, experimental, existential limbo

I sat down with Google to discuss its vision for the next generation of wearables. It’s a work in progress.

Victoria Song
Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is promising — but it isn’t finished

8

Verge Score

Think of this as part one of the Pixel Watch 5 review as most of the new features aren’t out yet. That said, GPS rocks.

Victoria Song
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta’s smart glasses are now prohibited for ICE staffers.

The glasses “could unintentionally capture, record or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections,” ICE acting director David Venturella said in a memo to staff, according to The New York Times. Staffers can’t wear the glasses in the “federal workspace.”

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Whoop drops the subscription requirement for its Advanced Labs blood testing.

The wearable company now says the Advanced Labs blood testing service that it launched last year is now available, with prices starting at about $150, even if you don’t have one of its wearable devices or the membership subscription tied to them. It’s also adding the “multi-cancer early detection test” Galleri to the package, which might help it stand out from the increasingly crowded wearable field and alleged lookalikes.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Google’s people-tracking app is now on Wear OS.

Find Hub on Google-powered smartwatches now includes a separate Find People app. As 9to5Google notes, it’s barebones: it shows a list of everyone you’re sharing location with, but to actually change any settings or see their location on a map, you have to open your phone. Perhaps there’s more to come.

Wearables are getting a taste of much-needed minimalism

Going screenless proves you can afford to be intentionally inefficient.

Victoria Song
Nathan Edwards
Nathan Edwards
The biggest moments from Google’s Pixel 11 event.

We live blogged almost 90 minutes of a show that was, honestly, better than expected. Our video team cut it down to eight.

Pixel 11 event live blog: Let’s watch Trevor Noah introduce Google’s new phones

We’re ready for some bad jokes during Google’s celebrity-packed live show.

Jay Peters, Victoria Song and 3 more
Nathan Edwards
Nathan Edwards
Don’t touch that dial!

The Made By Google keynote, hosted by Trevor Noah, kicks off at 6PM ET. Stay tuned to this website starting at 5:30PM for our live blog. Victoria Song will be there live, with Jay Peters, Jake Kastrenakes, and myself following remotely. Let’s see what happens.

Google’s Pixel Watch 5 dives deeper into AI and health

We’re talking offline Gemini, proactive AI suggestions, better GPS maps, insulin resistance trends, and a $50 price hike.

Victoria Song
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Samsung is bringing hearing aid capabilities to its Galaxy Buds.

The FDA-approved hearing aid feature will arrive on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro in the US and select markets later this year. Samsung has also announced that users will be able to perform a hearing test with the buds, which will use the results to amplify the sounds they have trouble hearing the most.

Image: Samsung
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
UK courts are banning smart glasses too.

The Guardian reports that Meta glasses, and any others with cameras, will be confiscated on entering judicial buildings, and returned on departure. It follows New York’s similar ban last month. Taking photos or videos is already prohibited in UK courts, but smartphones are allowed in; smart glasses aren’t getting that benefit of the doubt.

What happens to Bose when headphones become AI?
Play

Snyder on the company’s move into luxury audio, licensing the Bose brand, and what happens to great sound in the AI era.

Nilay Patel