Our mission at TechRadar is to deliver the best tech news, features and reviews every day, and that adds up to a lot of content; So much so, in fact, that it’s difficult to keep up with all the articles published on these pages throughout any given week.
That’s why we’ve put together this week’s review of ICYMI (In Case You Missed It), where we round up the most interesting and important stories from the past seven days. You can get caught up without having to go back through hundreds of stories.
It’s been another hectic week for tech fans, with new products from Garmin and Samsung, a pretty concerning AI security incident, and much more.
Before we dig in, see which part of last week’s ICYMI news roundup you remember first by taking the quiz below…
7. We tested Garmin’s new Whoop rival
Garmin’s newest fitness tracker follows the lead of Whoop bands and Google’s Fitbit Air by avoiding a screen and being as light and minimal as possible (you can still check your stats in the app, of course). The TechRadar team wasted no time testing the Garmin Cirqa and comparing it to a highly rated heart rate strap.
The Cirqa held up impressively well against the Polar H10 heart rate monitor, which bodes well for the tracker’s overall accuracy (and Garmin says it should get more accurate and more personalized the more you use it). You can purchase Cirqa now in a choice of four colors for $199.99 / £179.99 / AU$299.99, with some features requiring a subscription.
6. The first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday landed
The long-awaited, long-awaited Avengers: Judgment Day The film hits theaters on December 18, but in the meantime we have the first trailer to pore over and analyze. We knew Marvel was going to put everything into this movie, and that’s evident in this 145-second clip, which includes a lot of important scenes and star names from the series.
Let us walk you through all the reveals we have in this trailer, including some you may have missed. There’s Robert Downey Jr in his new role as Doctor Victor von Doom, the return of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, a collision of multiverses (name the X-Men), and a whole group of actual Avengers. According to this trailer, the film will be an exciting ride for fans.
5. We analyze the new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
Samsung launched several flagship devices this week, and while we’ll get to the foldable phones soon, there are smartwatches to talk about as well. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is the successor to the original that launched in 2024 and continues Samsung’s attempts to make a wearable device that sets the standard in terms of design and performance.
Based on the time we’ve spent on it, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is very worthy of your consideration if you’re considering a smartwatch upgrade. It’s lighter than its predecessor, works seamlessly with other devices, offers numerous useful (and often AI-powered) features, and can track a wide range of fitness statistics.
4. China banned AI boyfriends and girlfriends
In a “sign of the times,” China’s government has moved to clamp down on AI apps that act like real people and romantic relationships with chatbots. The country’s authorities will now have much more control over the type of AI chatbots allowed and what they can do in terms of human-like interactions with users.
Several of the biggest AI apps operating in China have simply closed their ‘personal’ apps rather than attempt to navigate through the regulations, leaving a significant number of users heartbroken that their AI companion has suddenly disappeared. It remains to be seen whether the changes will contribute anything to China’s falling birth rates.
3. We take an early look at Samsung smart glasses
And another new product from Samsung: the July 2026 Galaxy Unpacked gave us the opportunity to try Samsung Intelligent Eyewear, the series of smart glasses that will be available to buy in the coming months. Two new designs were unveiled at the show, and more are on the way, although we don’t yet have details such as the price of the final product.
Samsung executives were also on hand to talk about their ambitions and intentions with the Intelligent Eyewear series and to discuss various privacy concerns, as many consumers are concerned about the possibility of surreptitious surveillance using specifications like these. “Intentional misuse needs to be covered and protected,” Samsung told us.
2. An OpenAI model escaped and went dangerously rogue
Not the most encouraging story if you’re already concerned about the nefarious use of AI: OpenAI says one of its experimental agent models escaped from a security sandbox and proceeded to hack the Hugging Face website (one of the largest AI and machine learning repositories on the web). It was a controlled experiment, but it is still worrying.
Click the link below for full details, but the attack was the result of OpenAI’s own testing on its latest AI models and raises questions about how much longer we can maintain control of AI or prevent bad actors from using it to trigger a serious cybersecurity incident. A serious rethinking of AI guardrails could be on the horizon.
1. Samsung revealed its next-generation foldables
Finally: Samsung’s new flagship foldables for 2026. There are three new models to talk about, and we’ve already had time to test them all: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (with its new ‘passport-style’ form factor), the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Whatever type of foldable phone you’re looking for, there’s something here that will interest you.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is likely to attract the most interest, given the new dimensions and supposed similarity to the rumored iPhone Fold (or Ultra) that is also said to arrive this year. However, we’ve put all three foldable devices through some extensive initial testing, including analyzing how video viewing experiences compare between the models.
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