Apple’s busy week, iPhone Duo troubles and Poco X8s debut, Week 43 in review

Another week in the books, so let’s do a recap. Apple had a packed few days, announcing new MacBook Pro models with OLED touchscreens, an OLED iPad mini, and a major Creator Studio update. The iPhone Duo also drew attention for reports of inner display damage, while Poco unveiled the X8s.

The new MacBook Pro models add tandem OLED displays and touchscreen support to the Mac lineup for the first time. Apple calls the panels PROLED XDR; they support refresh rates from 10Hz to 120Hz and peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits. The new models retain the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and replace the notch with a Dynamic Island. They start at $2,899 and go on sale November 6.

Apple’s updated iPad mini gets an 8.5-inch OLED display and the A20 Pro chip. There’s a catch: the 128GB and 256GB versions use a binned chip with one fewer CPU core and half the NPU power of the 512GB model. The display still runs at 60Hz.

The iPhone Duo’s inner display problems were another major story this week. Apple acknowledged reports of damage on a small number of units and advised affected owners to contact AppleCare for a replacement. A separate report alleged Apple lowered its quality inspection standards to get more units to retailers ahead of the holiday season. The claim came from an unnamed Foxconn employee; the same report said a batch of components had been replaced, while quality control standards had not changed.

Poco introduced the X8s for global markets with a 6.35-inch 1.5K LTPO AMOLED display, a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness. It runs on the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The phone also has a 6,330mAh battery with 100W charging, an IP68 rating and three rear cameras: 50MP main, 50MP telephoto and 8MP ultrawide.

Apple is rolling out iOS 27.2 with fixes for more than 160 security vulnerabilities. The update expands Siri AI to French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese on supported iPhone models, and adds Apple Pencil USB-C support on iPhone Duo. It also brings new features to Messages, Photos, FaceTime and Apple TV.

Apple’s subscription bundle for creative apps is getting its biggest update since launch. Final Cut Pro for Mac now integrates MotionVFX tools, including templates, graphics, transitions and tools for rotoscoping, tracking and color grading. The app also gets Apple’s Content Hub, new Pixelmator Pro integration and 23 additional transcription languages.

A new leak claims the iPhone 18e will have a 6.12-inch LTPS OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and Apple’s A20 chipset. A spring 2027 launch is possible, based on the timing of the iPhone 17e’s debut, though these details remain unconfirmed.

A Portuguese retailer listed the Motorola Signature 27 with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for €1,594.90, though it is currently marked as out of stock. The listing also mentions the upcoming Razr Flex. The Signature 27 is described with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, a 200MP periscope camera and a 50MP main camera.

Instagram is testing a new format called Features that lets users upload horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. The trial is aimed at select creators, including podcasters, and begins by showing clips in Explore with an option to watch the full video. Instagram also plans to bring the format to its TV app at a later point.