Apple iPhone Fold, Samsung gaming OLED on sale, and Google TV streamer leak

• 💰 Lots of Samsung devices are on sale – if you know where to look

• 🖥️ Its 49-inch curved gaming OLED is nearly $900 on Amazon (was $1,599)

• 🏆 We actually gave this monitor an Editor’s Choice award at last year’s CES

• 📈 The price has been fluctuating, so get it before it’s gone

Amazon: Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 deal

Testimonials from my loyal followers on X (thanks, guys!) ⤵️

Get a $300 Amazon giftcard with Fold 6

Get a $200 Amazon giftcard with Flip 6

• 🍎 Apple will reportedly launch a foldable iPhone in the next 24 months

• 📆 The ‘iPhone Fold’ could launch as soon as early 2026, reports The Information

• 🙌 It’ll give you that small phone feel in the hand again while on the go

• 😏 Conveniently leaks on the heels of Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 6 (we reviewed)

🙏 Are you ready to fold your iPhone in half? And mean to do it internationally this time? It could happen in 24 months, as Apple is reportedly working on a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 (which we just reviewed).

Beyond the iPhone 16 slated to launch in September and next year’s iPhone 17, Apple is said to be working on a clamshell-style iPhone Fold that could launch as early as 2026, according to The Information.

This means my dream of a skinny iPhone that unfolds into a small iPad mini tablet (a lot like the Galaxy Z Fold 6) has yet to be realized.

🍎 Dive Deeper: Apple iPhone Fold news

• 🤖 AI-generated app reviews and FAQ summaries expand

• 🦸‍♂️ Curated Spaces launches (Comics section in Japan today)

• 🎮 Google Play on PC allows for multi-game gameplay

• ✂️ Discount: 80% off Google Play Pass discount

• 🎁 Weekly giveaways and in-person activations

Google invited The Shortcut (Kevin and me) to try its redesigned Play Store, which has been optimized with AI. The goal? Google wants you to spend more time in the app but spend less time finding exactly what you want. The Play Store, in effect, is becoming more of a destination than a drive-by digital store.

We saw Apple do this with editorial in its App Store several years ago. Now Google is doing it with AI via curation and automation.

Dive deeper: Read about Google’s changes

• 📦 Amazon successfully sold millions of Alexa devices but lost billions

• 😅 The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon lost $25 billion in just 4 years

• 🔈 Echo speakers, Kindles, and other devices were sold at or below cost

• 💰 Amazon’s plan may be to charge for bigger and better new Alexa

📦 Dive deeper: Read WSJ’s Amazon report

• 📺 Sleek, new ‘Google TV Streamer’ leaked with remote, reports 9to5Google

• 🪦 RIP: Google Chromecast HDMI dongles may be over and done with

• 🍎 It may rival Apple TV 4K given its larger size (room for good performance)

• 📆 Check back soon: it revealed at Google’s August 13 Pixel 9 Pro launch event

Dive deeper: See 9to5 Google’s report

• 🏆 Notion just crossed the 100 million users mark

• 🦄 It’s now a $10 billion productivity service unicorn

• 🪦 CEO Ivan Zhao detailed on X how it almost closed early on

• 📏 Notion started in 2013 with only a horizontal tool

• 🎁 Notion 2.0 relaunched the company in 2018 with a Product Hunt tool to help users find their favorite products

• 🥇 It got to 1M users in 2020 right before the pandemic

• 🔮 The plan from here on out? Build the AI Everything App

Read Ivan’s journey on X for inspiration

• 🗺️ Apple Maps quietly launched a beta for the web

• 📱 Its mapping program has been confined to iOS & macOS apps

• 🆚 Apple is slowly rivaling Google Maps, the dominant map provider

• ⏲️ It’ll take time. This is a beta and saving locations isn’t possible

Try it out: beta.maps.apple.com

• 📺 New “Prime” tab filters movies & shows your subscription includes

• 🎥 Add other subscriptions tabs: Max, Crunchyroll, Paramount+

• 🤖 AI compiles recommended “For you” titles tailored to your interests

• ⛹🏻 Live TV & Sports content get new dedicated tabs

Finally, Amazon is rolling out a redesigned Prime Video app with a new “Prime” that will show only things included with your subscription to watch. This welcome change will take the aggravation out of browsing Prime Video only to realize you’re looking at Freevee programs or something that requires an additional rental fee.

On top of highlighting Prime Video content, Amazon is also bringing external streaming services like Max, Crunchyroll, and Paramount Plus into its app, allowing you to browse multiple catalogs without needing to quit one and then launch another app. It looks so seamless I wish all TVs had a UI that worked like Amazon’s new redesign. Lastly, Prime Video added new tabs for Live TV and Sports.

Get an Amazon Prime 30-day free trial

• 📱 Samsung rumor: two Galaxy Tab S10 tablets & a “Fold 6 Slim” are on the way

• 🤔 But this ‘Fold 6 Slim’ could easily be a China-only variant, the Galaxy W25

• 📦 So don’t hesitate to buy the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Amazon deal before it expires

• 📐 It may have a large Cover Screen & slim design but no S Pen support

• 🔀 The tablets may use a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+, not a Qualcomm’s chip

• 📆 This rumored launch event in October for the S10 Ultra and Tab S10+

Read the full story from Kevin Lee

• ⌚ Nomad has launched an Olympics-themed Apple Watch Sport band

• 🇺🇸 The red, white and blue colors celebrate the Paris 2024 games

• 💰 The band is $60 on its website in the sizes 49mm/45mm sizes

⌚ See Max’s photos & hands-on

Buy it from Nomand

Refer a friend = get a paid free sub

We’re expanding our discount codes for paid subscribers as a pack-in. It’s sort of like CD-ROM pack-ins for subscribers of 90s magazines.

😬 Can’t afford it? Totally fine. I’m opening up more ways to be a paid subscriber for people who can’t spare the $5/mo ($4.16/mo) to keep us going. Support us in other ways by referring your friends & family to The Shortcut. Help us grow!

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• 🟦 $100 PlayStation giftcard for $85

• 🟩 $50 Xbox Gift Card for $43

• ❎ Xbox Game Pass discount 50% off $27 (Microsoft’s MSRP is $51 and soon to be $60 for 3 months)