The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours. 

  1. 7 HR AGO

    This phone starts fires on purpose

    While most phone makers work hard to ensure their products don’t start fires, Oukitel made a phone that starts fires on purpose. This week on The Vergecast, Dominic Preston joins Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel to wrap up all the weird and wonderful phones he and the team saw at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Then, Sean Hollister takes us through Google and Epic’s enemies-to-lovers saga: A secret $800 million deal, a non-disparagement agreement, and something about the metaverse for some reason. Plus: Nilay just had the best home movie experience of his life thanks to the Kaleidescape 8TB solid-state server, Dom’s charging his smart phone on a mini racecar, and Sean delivers some disappointing news about the Lego smart brick we were all rooting for. And Brendan Carr is still being a dummy. Further reading: ⁠Nothing is finally covering up with the slim, metal Phone 4A Pro⁠ ⁠Nothing couldn’t wait to show off the Phone 4A⁠ ⁠Nothing’s Headphone A are something worth considering⁠⁠ Honor’s Robot Phone is a bad robot, an interesting camera, and maybe your friend⁠ ⁠Honor claims its Robot Phone will launch later this year⁠ ⁠Honor’s Magic V6 is the first foldable with an IP69 rating⁠ ⁠Xiaomi’s Leica Leitzphone mostly earns the name⁠ ⁠Xiaomi, unlike Google and Samsung, thinks camera hardware comes first⁠ ⁠Xiaomi 17 is a small(ish) phone with a big(ish) battery⁠ ⁠Here’s the upgrade to my favorite phone camera of last year⁠ ⁠Tecno is doing a modular phone (again)⁠ ⁠Lenovo made a Framework-like laptop with modular ports — and a second screen⁠ ⁠ Google isn’t waiting for a settlement — the 30 percent Android app store fee is dead⁠ ⁠Here’s how Google describes its fee-reducing Apps Experience and Games Level Up programs⁠ ⁠Epic and Google have signed a special deal for a new class of ‘metaverse’ apps⁠ ⁠Tim Sweeney signed away his right to criticize Google until 2032⁠ ⁠Fortnite is returning to Google Play globally⁠ ⁠FCC Chair Brendan Carr is pushing for US-based call centers⁠ I’m not ashamed to admit the Kobo Remote is the best gadget I’ve bought this year⁠ Did Live Nation punish a venue by taking Billie Eilish away?⁠ I charge my phone on a racing car. Do you? ⁠ ⁠Investigating the 61-pound machine that eats plastic and spits out bricks Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 44m

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e, and iPad Air: The Vergecast Livestream

    Apple released a bunch of new iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Studio Displays this week. The Verge’s Nilay Patel and David Pierce tried them all this morning, and are back to share their thoughts live. Further reading: All the news about Apple’s MacBook Neo, iPhone 17E, and more Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1 hr

  3. 3 DAYS AGO

    The 6G, modular, robot phones of the future

    Most mainstream phone options are kind of the same, year in and year out — but that doesn’t mean there’s no innovation to be found. The Verge’s Allison Johnson is at Mobile World Congress, and joins the show to report on all the modular phones, robot phones, small phones, big phones, and (alas) 6G phones set to hit the market this year. After that, The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed explains the phenomenon of the gadget strap, and makes the case that they’re an increasingly useful accessory as our phones become even more important to our daily lives. (Yes, even if you have pockets.) Finally, The Verge’s Jay Peters helps David answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about whether the metaverse, however you want to define it, is ever going to be realized. Further reading: Oh great, here comes 6G  Honor claims its Robot Phone will launch later this year  Lenovo made a Franken-laptop with modular ports and a second screen  Vivo’s next phone will launch with a professional camera rig  Tecno’s latest concept phone is lit by neon  Honor’s Magic V6 is the first foldable with an IP69 rating  The Motorola Razr Fold is shaping up to be pure flagship Xiaomi’s super-slim power bank costs extra in orange.  Honor’s thinnest tablet doesn’t come cheap.  Peak Design has wearable gadget straps for people who hate bags  Apple’s misunderstood crossbody iPhone strap might be the best I’ve seen  Meta confirms Reality Labs layoffs and shifts to invest more in wearables Meta’s VR metaverse is ditching VR Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 14m

  4. 27 FEB

    The Galaxy S26 is a photography nightmare

    Samsung just launched its newest phones, the Galaxy S26 lineup, and wow is it full of Vergecast stories. There’s the very cool new Privacy Display, which seems genuinely useful; there’s the AI-powered camera, which seems like a disaster waiting to happen; and there’s the new agentic AI in Android, which Google and Samsung might be positioned to actually pull off. After talking through all the new stuff, Nilay and David discuss the recent executive shakeup at Xbox, and try to figure out why Microsoft just can’t win in games. Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, some truly remarkable charts, and much more. Further reading: ⁠Samsung Unpacked 2026: live updates from the Galaxy S26 ⁠⁠announcement event ⁠ ⁠Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus hands-on: More of the same ⁠ ⁠Samsung AI photos⁠ ⁠Google Gemini can book an Uber or order food for you with new agentic AI features ⁠⁠Google and Samsung just launched the AI features Apple couldn’t with Siri⁠ ⁠I’m super impressed with the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s new Privacy Display ⁠ ⁠Samsung announces Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro at Unpacked 2026⁠ ⁠Xbox shakeup: Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are leaving Microsoft ⁠ ⁠Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft ⁠ ⁠Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo about leaving Microsoft ⁠ ⁠Sarah Bond is leaving Xbox ⁠ ⁠Read Xbox president Sarah Bond’s memo about leaving Microsoft. ⁠ ⁠Inside Microsoft’s big Xbox leadership shake-up ⁠ ⁠Read Microsoft gaming CEO Asha Sharma’s first memo on the future of Xbox ⁠ ⁠New Microsoft gaming CEO Asha Sharma says “hear you” to complaints about a lack of Xbox exclusives.⁠ ⁠New Xbox CEO: ‘The plan’s the plan until it’s not the plan.’ ⁠ ⁠Microsoft says today’s Xbox shake-up doesn’t mean game studio layoffs ⁠ ⁠Billions of dollars later and still nobody knows what an Xbox is ⁠ ⁠Chairman Carr Announces Pledge America Campaign⁠ ⁠Does Anthropic think Claude is alive? Define ‘alive’⁠ ⁠Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas AI Scenarios chart⁠ ⁠Youtube Chair Drama⁠ ⁠OpenAI’s Stargate struggles. ⁠ ⁠OpenAI’s first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ⁠ ⁠Subscribe to The Verge⁠ for unlimited access to ⁠theverge.com⁠, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ⁠ad-free podcast feed⁠.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to ⁠vergecast@theverge.com⁠ or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 36m

  5. 24 FEB

    How Claude Code Claude Codes

    Few AI products have found the kind of product-market fit we’ve seen from Claude Code. On the eve of the product’s first anniversary, Anthropic’s Boris Cherny explains why Claude Code is so powerful, all the work left to do, and why he no longer writes any code himself. After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field joins the show to talk about how we should think about giving our data (and our computers) to AI, even when it seems useful. Finally, The Verge’s Allison Johnson helps David answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11) about whether you should go buy a phone, like, right now. Further reading: Claude Code is suddenly everywhere inside Microsoft Claude has been having a moment — can it keep it up? The AI security nightmare is here and it looks suspiciously like lobster  OpenClaw’s AI ‘skill’ extensions are a security nightmare  Humans are infiltrating the social network for AI bots  Anthropic connects Claude to Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive  MCP extension unites Claude with apps like Slack, Canva, and Figma  The RAM shortage is coming for everything you care about  Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 21m

  6. 19 FEB

    The speech police came for Colbert

    Once again, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and his bad ideas about free speech have rankled a late night host. And once again, Nilay and David talk through what the equal-time rule actually means, why organizations keep caving, and why it's apparently up to people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to fight back. After that, the hosts discuss the facial recognition feature Meta hopes to launch for its smart glasses, plus the gadgets we're likely to see Apple launch in the couple of weeks. In the lightning round, we get some bleak news on Tesla's self-driving skills, a robovac security disaster, and the future of Warner Bros. Further reading: Why CBS Didn't Broadcast Stephen Colbert's Interview With James Talarico Stephen Colbert says CBS banned him from airing this James Talarico interview  Why Everyone's Talking About Stephen Colbert, CBS, The FCC And James Talarico Meta reportedly wants to add face recognition to smart glasses while privacy advocates are distracted From the NYT: Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses Apple’s doing something on March 4th  Apple is reportedly planning to launch AI-powered glasses, a pendant, and AirPods  Apple starts testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messages on iPhone  Apple’s Podcasts app will let you ‘seamlessly’ switch between audio and video shows  Looks like we can expect more AI from the Galaxy S26 camera. | The Verge Google announces dates for I/O 2026  Western Digital says it’s “pretty much soldout” for 2026.  Valve’s Steam Deck OLED will be ‘intermittently’ out of stock because of the RAM crisis  Switch 2 pricing and next PlayStation release could be impacted by memory shortage  Tesla’s robotaxis have crashed 14 times in 9 months.  Tesla won’t use the term ‘Autopilot’ in California anymore Why are Epstein’s emails full of equals signs? 4chan’s creator says ‘Epstein had nothing to do’ with creating infamous far-right board /pol/ DJI’s first robovac is an autonomous cleaning drone you can’t trust The DJI Romo robovac had security so poor, this man remotely accessed thousands of them DJI says yes, it will fix its other Romo robovac security hole within weeks Samsung ad confirms rumors of a useful S26 ‘privacy display’  Warner Bros. Discovery gives Paramount one week to present its ‘best and final’ offer  WordPress’ new AI assistant will let users edit their sites with prompts  Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 31m

  7. 17 FEB

    Your next laptop could be a foldable phone

    The Verge's Allison Johnson has recently been doing the unthinkable: she's been leaving her laptop at home. Allison joins the show to explain how she turned her Samsung foldable into a useful computer, and why it feels so good to do so. Then, Sportico's Jacob Feldman joins the show to talk about the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the overall state of sports streaming in 2026. (Unfortunately, it's all still very complicated.) Finally, David answers a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about whether flip phones might have a future in an AI world. Further reading: YouTube TV reveals pricing for its sports, news, and entertainment packages From Sportico: 2026 Sports Tech: Amazon vs. Youtube vs. ESPN vs. Netflix vs. Tiktok Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: stunning, bendy, and spendy Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) review: looking sharp Logitech’s Keys-To-Go 2 Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 18m

  8. 13 FEB

    Ring's adorable surveillance hellscape

    Did you see Ring's Super Bowl ad and see happy puppies reunited with their owners? Or did you see the seeds of a complete, always-on surveillance nightmare coming for us all? David and Nilay discuss which is the right answer, why so many people don't want to trust tech companies, and why Ring might not care much about the difference. After that, the hosts discuss the ads coming to ChatGPT, the surprising number of AI executives quitting their jobs and issuing dire warnings on the way out, and the fake ad for OpenAI gadgets. In the lightning round, it's time for an extra long Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest Ferrari EV, the future of Siri, and more. Further reading: Jeffrey Epstein’s digital cleanup crew  Jeffrey Epstein might not have created /pol/, but he helped carry out its mission Amazon Ring’s lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance  Wyze is sticking it to Ring Sen. Markey calls on Amazon to “discontinue” Ring monitoring features Ring’s new Search Party feature is on by default; should you opt out? Ring launches upgraded cameras with Retinal Vision 4K recording What the Guthrie case reveals about your ‘deleted’ doorbell footage  FBI releases recovered footage from Nancy Guthrie’s Nest cam  OpenAI’s first hardware slips to 2027 OpenAI’s supposedly ‘leaked’ Super Bowl ad with ear buds and a shiny orb was a hoax  Two more xAI co-founders are among those leaving after the SpaceX merger  OpenAI reportedly disbanded its Mission Alignment team OpenAI fired exec who opposed ‘adult mode’  Read an Anthropic AI safety lead's exit letter: 'The world is in peril' Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw.  What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either ChatGPT’s cheapest options now show you ads  Here are the brands bringing ads to ChatGPT  Claude gets more free features to capitalize on ChatGPT ads Ex-OpenAI researcher has “deep reservations” about its approach to ads Brendan Carr is a Dummy theme submitted by Michiel Vanhoudt on BlueSky FTC says it’s ‘not the speech police’ in letter warning Apple News about its alleged promotion of left-leaning outlets Ferrari’s first EV will have an interior designed by Jony Ive  Here’s what the Ferrari Luce’s buttons, switches, and knobs sound like. The early reviews of the Rivian R2 are starting to roll in Live Nation’s monopoly trial is reportedly fracturing Trump’s Justice Department  YouTube is coming to the Apple Vision Pro Apple keeps hitting bumps with its overhauled Siri  The iPhone 17e could launch soon with MagSafe and an A19 chip  Apple might let you use ChatGPT from CarPlay  Paramount ups its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, again Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1h 41m
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Hosts & Guests

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

The Vergecast is the flagship podcast from The Verge about small gadgets, Big Tech, and everything in between. Every Friday, hosts Nilay Patel and David Pierce hang out and make sense of the week’s most important technology news. And every Tuesday, David leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives – and which ones you should bring into yours. 

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