This week in the tech world, Samsung canceled the date for Unpacked 2026, Apple found its new AirTag, and Claude showed ChatGPT how it’s done in the world of AI.
To catch up on all this and more, scroll down for our ICYMI roundup of the seven biggest tech news stories of the week.
7. Samsung set a date for Galaxy Unpacked
Samsung has finally announced its first Galaxy Unpacked of 2026, which will take place on February 25 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (5am AEDT on the 26th). The event itself will be streamed live from San Francisco, California, and while the invite doesn’t reveal much, it does hint that Galaxy AI will be a big part of the event.
We expect Samsung to reveal the Galaxy S26 line, led by the Galaxy S26 Ultra, at the first Unpacked of the year, which is usually used to introduce the classic candy bar Galaxy S line. We just have to wait a little longer, but it should be a solid lineup with some interesting new features, especially for the flagship model, judging by recent rumors and leaks.
Just as ChatGPT adds ads in what could be a watershed moment for OpenAI, Anthropic has made several premium Claude tools free for all users, including file creation, connectors, and customizable skills.
The company also improved the free version of Claude to hold longer conversations and offer better interactive screens, voice features, and image search, which should seem like a major update for people who previously could only experiment with these options.
Best of all, as you’d expect from the company that used its Super Bowl ad to mock ChatGPT ads, Claude remains ad-free.
5. Discord sparked controversy over new age verification.
It hasn’t been a great week for Discord or its fans. On Monday, it announced that age controls would be rolled out globally for all users starting in March. That announcement lit the fuse, and the controversy continues to burn strongly several days later.
The problem for many is that Discord’s age checks, which involve taking a selfie video or sending an ID to Discord partners, seem at best intrusive and at worst a privacy risk. Discord later attempted to calm fears, stating that facial scans never leave your device.
Unfortunately, it faces an uphill task in retaining disgruntled users, especially those who remember the October 2025 incident in which one of Discord’s third-party services leaked 70,000 ID photos.
Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent yourself to raise the bar. That is the lesson of the new AirTag or AirTag (Second Generation). Apple’s update to its Bluetooth tracking tag maintained the look, shape, and feel while significantly increasing range and sound quality.
These two updates mean that the new AirTag is much better at its main task: helping you find your lost things. Oh, and did we mention it now works with your Apple Watch 9? The icing on the cake is that the AirTag still has the same price.
3. The world’s first sodium-ion electric vehicle landed
One of the biggest tech stories of 2026 is new battery technology: we’ve seen solid-state batteries make their way into production, and this week, sodium-ion batteries made headlines thanks to a new electric vehicle in China.
It may not be a household name, but the Changan Nevo A06 will become the first electric vehicle to be sold with a sodium-ion battery later this year. What are the benefits? These Na-ion packs are supposed to be safer, cheaper to produce, and capable of delivering more power in extremely cold climates compared to their lithium-ion rivals.
Still, with lithium-ion packs also improving rapidly, we will all hopefully benefit from this emerging battery technology dispute.
2. Sony WF-1000XM6 headphones fell out
Sony has finally unveiled its latest flagship headphones and has updated them inside and out. There’s a new design that’s 11% slimmer, a little deeper, and now much easier to take out of its case, which is a nice touch. There’s an updated processor and more microphones than ever to power what Sony says is a 25% improvement in active noise cancellation.
There is a new speaker driver design and different settings to provide a more audiophile sound profile. And there are plenty of smart new features, as you’d expect from any Sony release. So these must be the best elite headphones currently out there, right? Oh well, not so fast… we’ve been testing them for two weeks and have some opinions.
1. Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 attacked Apple MacBooks
The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is almost a MacBook killer. If you’ve been using Windows laptops and Android smartphones, you may have been jealous of how Apple’s ecosystem of products, including MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones, can interact with each other. Samsung has been working diligently to replicate this, and the new Galaxy Book6 Ultra comes incredibly close, as you can pair it with your Samsung phone or tablet to quickly share files, swap controls, and more.
Even if you don’t own other Samsung devices, we found the Book6 Ultra to be a brilliant (albeit expensive) laptop that packs some of the latest and most powerful mobile technologies, including Intel’s latest Panther Lake processors.
