The Swedish music streaming giant Spotify reported earnings Tuesday: A $100 million loss in the quarter gone by but monthly active users up 11%, nearing 700 million.
Not sure what hold music they used for the earnings call today, but my gut tells me it wasn’t anything by the Velvet Sundown. That’s the band with 1 million monthly listeners that became a kind of viral sensation on Spotify when some internet detectives found signs that the band actually wasn’t a human band and that its songs were most likely made with artificial intelligence.
As of right now, Spotify isn’t labeling AI-generated music as AI-generated. But should they?
Nika Danilova, an indie synth pop recording artist, goes by the stage name Zola Jesus. She agreed to listen to Velvet Sundown and give a real-time review.
Danilova admitted the singer was surprisingly soulful. But overall, she’s not a fan. She said if she has to share a streaming platform with robots, listeners should know when they’re listening to AI.
“To put me alongside Velvet Sundown or whatever, it’s like, it feels a little condescending in a way. It kind of degrades the context of what I devoted my entire life for,” she said.
Spotify has not said publicly how much of its library it thinks is AI-generated and the company declined an interview request.
When French music streamer Deezer launched its own program to identify AI songs earlier this year, chief innovation officer Aurélien Hérault was surprised at just how prolific the robots were.
“It’s almost 20% of what we receive every day, not every year. It’s every day,” he said.
While identifying AI music isn’t a perfect science, Ed Newton-Rex, an AI music expert at the nonprofit Fairly Trained, said it’s technologically easier than identifying AI-generated text.
But he said the burden of saying something is made with AI should extend to AI music startups and their users.
“It needs to be made clear to everyone that when you generate a song and you distribute it on streaming platforms, you have to be open and honest about the fact that you’ve used AI to generate it,” he said.
Of course all this presumes that listeners will in fact prefer human-created music to AI creations.
Nika Danilova said she has changed her musical style in response to AI — more stripped down vocals and piano, less synth and computers. She said her fans have loved it.
Editor’s Note: Power Rankings is a feature after every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race in which INDYCAR.com staff writer Eric Smith ranks the top-10 current drivers in the series based on objective recent and season-long performance statistics and the subjective “eye test” of what he sees during race weekends.
Alex Palou captured his series-leading eighth victory of the season July 27 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, defeating Christian Lundgaard by 3.7965 seconds.
Lundgaard’s runner-up finish burnished a strong season for Arrow McLaren. The team boasts 11 podium finishes this season between Lundgaard and fourth-place finisher Pato O’Ward, a team record. The previous high was 10 between O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi in 2023.
After 14 races, O’Ward trails Palou by 121 points heading into the next race, the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland, on Sunday, Aug. 10 at Portland International Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Here are the updated Power Rankings following the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey as the series heads into an off weekend:
↑10. Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet; Last Rank: NR)
Power returns to the Power Rankings for the first time since mid-June, following the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. He earned his second consecutive Firestone Fast Six appearance and finished seventh at Laguna Seca, his second top-10 in the last four races.
↓9. David Malukas (No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet; Last Rank: 8)
Though Malukas finished 13th at Laguna Seca, he holds on to a spot in the rankings with two top-10 finishes in his last three starts. He enters Portland 10th in the points standings.
↑8. Christian Rasmussen (No. 21 Liquid Science Chevrolet: Last Rank: NR)
Rasmussen earned his third top-10 finish in the last four races by finishing ninth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This marks the highest he has climbed in the Power Rankings.
↓7. Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 JM Bullion Honda; Last Rank: 4)
Kirkwood’s slide continues with his third finish of 16th or worse in the last four races. Despite five top-eight finishes in the last eight starts, including two wins, his recent inconsistency is concerning.
↓6. Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda; Last Rank: 5)
Armstrong finished eighth Sunday, his seventh top-10 result in the past eight races. The lone outlier was a 14th-place finish in Toronto, where a pit lane penalty disrupted a promising run that began with a third-place start.
↑5. Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet; Last Rank: NR)
Lundgaard storms back into the rankings after his runner-up finish at Laguna Seca, his second podium in five races and fifth of the season. In comparison, he had just three podiums in 52 starts with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren car had four podiums in 81 starts before his arrival.
↑4. Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda; Last Rank: 7)
Herta moves into the top five for the first time since the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in April. His third-place finish at Laguna Seca marked his third top-four result in the last five races. He had only two in the nine races before that.
↔3. Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda; Last Rank: 3)
Dixon surged from 19th to fifth at Laguna Seca, earning his seventh consecutive top-10 finish. The streak includes a win at Mid-Ohio and a runner-up at Iowa Speedway.
O’Ward qualified second and finished fourth at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for his seventh top-five finish in the last eight races, six consecutively.
↔1. Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda; Last Rank: 1)
Palou rebounded from a 13th-place finish in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto to lead 84 of 95 laps after claiming the NTT P1 Award in qualifying to take his third victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Palou has two wins in the last three races.
Still, after three years he was ready to “move back to the front end of fashion,” meaning the creation. In 2021, Curwen reached out to Velez, then a budding industry name, and offered to assist her. He stayed for three seasons, developing runway pieces, before moving on to Jane Wade, another New York up-and-comer, where he leaned into the production aspect of the job. (Wade was at Sunday’s event too.)
Curwen started developing this collection—a tight capsule of 11 looks—in February. “This is my way of introducing myself to an industry I love, one to which I’m giving all of myself to in a way that feels romantic,” he says. And indeed, his devotion to fashion is contagious and beguiling. You could sense it on Sunday night, as his peers gathered to watch the show, and it was written all over his face as he took his final bow, visibly trembling from the—let’s be frank—shock of having pulled it all off.
The skirt in his opening look, a shape he’d been “thinking about for years,” required three bolts of cotton voile to make. On subsequent looks, he shirred and shredded silk into shearling-like shapes that included a top, a bustle, and a cascading voluminous skirt, and cut the sharpest of shoulders into both suit jackets and a hoodie.
Asked to describe his own work, he turned to metaphor. “It’s difficult to say the words vulnerability and fantasy in the same sentence. Fantasy is the world that we escape to; vulnerability is showing a person a map to your safe place. But I wanted this to feel like that. This is where fashion could go. What fashion can feel like. A lot of fashion can get very sterilized and I wanted to make it exciting.”
Curwen’s inspirations—in particular the work of Alexander McQueen—were palpable in both look and spirit. That’s not a criticism, it’s a compliment. Few young designers are producing work worthy of comparison. He may be influenced by the way fashion looked and felt when he was coming of age, but what Curwen evoked with this debut was the rawness and sincerity of those times. He plans to keep the project small early on. “I’ve seen designers white-knuckle it, but I don’t see this growing quickly,” he said, “I want to keep this ship on a steady course.” All that to say, it’s too early for Curwen to be able to clearly chart his path forward. Often, the hardest thing to do is just start. He managed that part with aplomb.
Hello, baby! Jessie Inchauspé, better known online as the Glucose Goddess, welcomed a baby boy two months ago. “It’s been the most humbling experience of my life,” she tells Vogue in her first interview since. “Honestly, I think that was good for me. I tend to be quite confident about things—I like having a plan, feeling in control. This journey definitely didn’t allow for that.”
Inchauspé’s entire career has been built on planning and knowledge. The French biochemist and New York Times bestselling author has offered herself up as a guinea pig—wearing a continuous glucose monitor and tracking how different foods spike her blood sugar, which in turn affects mood, brain fog, nerve function, and more—and sharing the quantifiable data online.
“My eating habits pre-pregnancy were (and still are) built around balancing my blood sugar levels, or glucose,” Inchauspé says. “There are a few core tenets to that: Starting every day with a savory, protein-rich breakfast with 30 to 40 grams of protein—favorite culprits being skyr yogurt, eggs, or any leftover protein from dinner. I make sure to eat vegetables first at my meals to help flatten the glucose spike of the meal, as veggies contain fiber, which coats the intestines with a protective mesh. I eat carbs at most lunches and dinner, but I always ‘clothe’ them—meaning I pair them with protein, fat, or fiber. I also love sugar and anything chocolate-y, so I implement hacks to eat those with less impact on my glucose levels: always after meals, never on an empty stomach. Pre-pregnancy, I also had coffee every morning, but didn’t drink alcohol.”
During her pregnancy, she made a few changes to her eating habits. First up, caffeine. “I cut out coffee, which I think helped. That’s anecdotal, of course—but both times I got pregnant, it happened in the month I stopped drinking coffee. I believe removing that stressor made a difference for my body, and some small studies suggest that caffeine might interfere with conception and implantation, so I gave it a try.”
She also began altering her diet before she was pregnant, known as epigenetics. “There’s a common myth that the baby will just take whatever nutrients they need from you—but that’s not true,” she says. “Your nutrient levels matter a lot in terms of what will be available in the womb for your growing child. So I wanted to build up my stores beforehand. A main focus, for instance, was increasing my omega-3 levels—especially DHA, which is essential for fetal brain development. It takes time for DHA to build up in the body, so I started early with some high-DHA supplements daily.”
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) released a statement Tuesday calling for “greater transparency and fairness in how adult games are moderated and actioned across major platforms” following the recent delisting and censorship of NSFW, adult-content video games from platforms including Steam and Itch.io.
The IGDA said it was “alarmed by the vague enforcement of policies delisting and deplatforming legal, consensual, and ethically-developed games, especially from LGBTQ+ and marginalized creators.” The removal of these games and change in policy came amid pressure from Itch.io’s payment processors’ objections to the adult-content games.
The game developers organization says “developers deserve clear rules, fair warnings and the right to appeal” in these cases, but notes that IGDA “is advocating for reform, developer voice, and platform accountability, not for the defense of harmful material.”
IGDA says it is now “gathering anonymized data to assess the real impact of recent content removals” and will be using those results to “inform our advocacy on behalf of affected developers.”
Last week, Itch.io joined Steam in deindexing NSFW games from its browse and search pages following backlash from payment processors.
“We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change,” Itch.io creator leafo said in a blog post updated July 28.
The post continued: “Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled ‘No Mercy,’ which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms.”
See more gaming news from this week in the roundup below.
TRAILERS
VR studio Survios launched the “Evolution” trailer for “Alien: Rogue Incursion – Part One: Evolved Edition” at San Diego Comic-Con.
Per Survios, “Set in the Alien film universe, Alien: Rogue Incursion – Part One sees players suit up as rogue Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks on a mission to the planet Purdan (LV-354) in search of a former squadmate. After a sudden attack, Zula and her Synthetic companion, Davis 01 find themselves in Gemini Exoplanet Solutions’ hauntingly desolate research facility, Castor’s Cradle.”
The new version of the VR game, which has been re-envisioned for PlayStation 5 and PC, will launch Sept. 30.
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Activision debuted the launch trailer for Season 05 for “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” and “Call of Duty: Warzone,” which will debut Aug. 7.
Per the Microsoft-owned game studio, the update will add four new multiplayer maps, a mix of new and returning modes, the conclusion of the “Black Ops 6” Zombies storyline, an new limited time mode in “Warzone,” and store bundles like “The Replacer Commander Battleman” and “I Know What you Did Last Summer” bundles.
DATA
Developer Mythical revealed that arcade-style mobile football game “FIFA Rivals” has now surpassed 1 million players since its launch last month. Additionally, Mythical says the game has reached 1 million downloads, 5 million matches and 16 million goals.
RELEASE DATES
“EA Sports” announced it is extending the Deluxe Edition early access window for “Madden NFL 26” to seven days, meaning the game will now be available Aug. 7 ahead of its Aug. 15 wide release.
Additionally, EA announced the game will be offered on Amazon Luna at launch, where it is now available for pre-order.
Per EA, “‘Madden NFL 26’ leverages a new AI-powered machine learning system to convert thousands of plays from nearly a decade of real NFL data into more explosive gameplay—with new player-specific traits, authentic play-styles, and adaptive counters that match on-field tendencies and strategies of NFL quarterbacks and coaches.”
EARNINGS
“Subnautica 2” publisher Krafton announced its latest earnings results Tuesday, with South Korea-based company saying it hit its “best-ever first half” of the year. Compared to the same April 1-June 30 period in 2024, Krafton says revenue rose 11.9% and operating profit increased 9.5%.
Per Krafton, “On PC, growth was led by ‘PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS,’ thanks to strong live service updates and the successful introduction of the ‘Contender’ character upgrade system in April.”
“Looking ahead to the second half of 2025, KRAFTON plans to deepen player engagement with high-profile collaborations, including France’s luxury carmaker Bugatti and global K-pop sensation aespa,” the publisher said. “The company also aims to broaden the ‘PUBG’ universe with new games across genres and platforms. ‘PUBG: BLINDSPOT,’ a top-down tactical shooter, will debut globally at Gamescom in August, and the extraction shooter Project Black Budget is set for a closed alpha test later this year.”
COLLABORATIONS
On Tuesday, Grammy Award and Brit Awards-nominated artist FKA Twigs teamed with “The Sims” maker Electronic Arts to debut a music video for “Perfect Stranger” featuring the singer as a Sim.
Per EA, “The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature Expansion Pack’s world of Innigreen becomes a whirlwind of enchantment as FKA twigs’ Sim flutters through town as the resident matchmaker… bringing together five likely (and unlikely) couples during her escapades… and maybe even running into Mother Nature and Spruce Almighty themselves.”
The video featured content made by creator Solita Sims.
NEW RELEASES
Cozy life sim “Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game” released Tuesday from developer Wētā Workshop and publisher Private Division across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.
Per Wētā Workshop, “In this heart-warming ‘The Lord of the Rings’ game, live the cosy life of a Hobbit in the wonderfully serene landscape of The Shire. Discover, decorate, and share in this peaceful corner of Middle-earth while playing a big part in helping the quaint town of Bywater flourish. Bring comfort to your home as you decorate your own Hobbit-hole and prepare homemade meals to share with fellow Hobbits. Relish in the outdoors by tending to your garden, fishing at serene ponds, and foraging wild bounty in the peaceful forests. Trade goods amongst townsfolk and foster relationships that turn into forever friendships, all in the town of Bywater. Your arrival marks the start of your story, which you can play at your own pace. It’s up to you to complete the Tales, or simply explore and thrive in your cosy Hobbit life for as long as you wish.”
HOUSTON, July 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: VTOL), the global leader in innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions, today announced it will release its second quarter 2025 financial results after market close on Tuesday, August 5, 2025. In connection with the release, Bristow has scheduled a conference call for Wednesday, August 6, 2025, to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET (9:00 a.m. CT).
Investors may participate in the call by using the following link, which is now open for early registration: https://www.veracast.com/webcasts/bristow/webcasts/VTOL2Q25.cfm
A replay of the call will be available through August 27, 2025 and can be accessed using the same link. The accompanying investor presentation will be available on August 6, 2025, on the investor section of Bristow’s website at www.bristowgroup.com.
About Bristow Group
Bristow Group Inc. is the leading global provider of innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions. Bristow primarily provides aviation services to a broad base of offshore energy companies and government entities. Our aviation services include personnel transportation, search and rescue (“SAR”), medevac, fixed wing transportation, unmanned systems and ad-hoc helicopter services. Our business is comprised of three operating segments: Offshore Energy Services, Government Services and Other Services. Our energy customers charter our helicopters primarily to transport personnel to, from and between onshore bases and offshore production platforms, drilling rigs and other installations. Our government customers primarily outsource SAR activities whereby we operate specialized helicopters and provide highly trained personnel. Our other services include fixed wing transportation services through a regional airline in Australia and dry-leasing aircraft to third-party operators in support of other industries and geographic markets.
Bristow currently has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, the Falkland Islands, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the United States (“U.S.”). To learn more, visit our website at www.bristowgroup.com.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bristow-group-announces-second-quarter-2025-earnings-call-302515996.html
Nurses could play a key role in helping health systems incorporate the Kidney Disease – Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Kidney Supportive Care (KSC) framework, elevating care quality and access for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) around the world, according to a recent report.1
Nurse can play key role in helping health care systems implement new palliative care strategies to improve quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. | Image credit: NanSan – stock.adobe.com
The systematic review, published in BMC Nephrology, synthesized the perspectives of health care professionals to establish an evidence base for enhancing the clinical dissemination and implementation of the KSC framework for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Although the review sought to contextualize the perspectives of all health care professionals, nurses were crucial contributors to KSC implementation, highlighting their essential role in developing tailored intervention strategies for CKD populations around the globe.
“Nurses’ strategic formulation of integrated intervention frameworks requires prioritization as pivotal KSC stakeholders,” wrote the authors. “This initiative is imperative for enhancing care delivery in ESRD clinical practice.”
In 2013, the KDIGO conference created the KSC as a palliative framework for patients who’ve benefited little from dialysis treatment or opted to forgo treatment.2 The KSC framework aims to mitigate disease burden and optimize patient quality of life, particularly for elderly patients.3
Differences in how clinicians and patients understood illness and its meaning hindered effective implementation of KSC.1 During its developmental phase, KSC faced global dissemination challenges, with adoption largely limited to developed countries such as the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Sweden. The authors said the disparities highlighted the need to examine key implementation barriers and facilitators from the perspectives of patients, clinicians, and families. Building on prior studies of clinician perceptions, the present study explored broader factors influencing KSC adoption.
Researchers utilized a qualitative meta-aggregation methodology to conduct a literature search of 5 English and 4 Chinese databases through February 29, 2024. Two reviewers independently extracted data, and the researchers examined conflating findings across diverse health care settings. Contextual factors, such as cultural norms and resource allocation, as well as methodological limitations (eg, sampling bias and data collection heterogeneity), were considered to help explain variations in perspectives on KSC.
This systematic review included 8 original qualitative studies published after 2016, drawing data from 5 countries: the US (n = 3), UK (n = 2), China (n = 1), Australia (n = 1), and Canada (n = 1). The cohort comprised 149 nephrologists, 80 nurses, 48 physicians, 15 allied health professionals, and one palliative care specialist. Seven studies used semi-structured interviews, while 1 involved secondary analysis of existing qualitative data.
Using the PRISMA framework, the review identified 5 major themes reflecting clinician perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to implementing KSC:
Professional role challenges
Pre-implementation cognitive-ethical conflicts
Post-decisional operational barriers
Systemic and institutional issues
Patient-centered and ethical care
Clinicians described how the shift toward KSC disrupted traditional care models by requiring multidisciplinary collaboration, proactive communication, and new decision-making roles—particularly for nephrologists adapting to co-management and advisory responsibilities. Many reported ambiguities around professional boundaries and insufficient institutional support to define and coordinate roles across primary and renal care teams.
Sociocultural factors further complicated implementation. Nephrologists and nurses cited family dynamics, cultural expectations, and emotional conflicts as key obstacles to shared decision-making, particularly around dialysis withdrawal. In Western settings, clinicians often navigated tensions between honoring patient autonomy and managing family guilt. In contrast, in collectivist cultures (eg, parts of Asia), clinicians deferred to family consensus, creating additional ethical and emotional challenges.
Clinicians also faced substantial operational barriers following treatment decisions. Prognostic communication was fraught with difficulty, especially in cultures where discussing death remains taboo. Providers expressed frustration over systemic inadequacies in facilitating these conversations, highlighting a gap between KSC’s emphasis on transparent end-of-life planning and real-world practice. Emotional distress, distrust from families, and lack of support for sensitive conversations added further strain.
Systemic and institutional barriers—such as time constraints, fragmented care infrastructure, and limited integration of palliative care—were cited across settings. Providers emphasized that conservative care could not be successfully implemented without adequate resources, interprofessional collaboration, and shifts in hospital priorities, particularly in regions where life-extending interventions remain the default.
Despite these challenges, clinicians valued KSC’s emphasis on ethics, quality of life, and patient-centered care. They noted that KSC’s framing—distinct from traditional palliative care—helped make conservative care more acceptable to patients. Strategies included advance care planning, coaching patients to express preferences, and engaging families and care teams to honor those goals. Clinicians stressed the need for cultural sensitivity, standardized communication frameworks, and clear policies to ensure that patients receive care aligned with their values, particularly in the final stages of life.
“Targeted support systems are essential to optimize complex decision-making pathways,” the authors wrote. “Future progress requires continuous improvement through multidisciplinary stakeholder engagement, strengthened policy frameworks, and advancing equitable delivery of comprehensive supportive and palliative care within established clinical frameworks.”
References
1. Li X, Ji W, Wang D, Xu Y, Zhao X, Liang S. Kidney supportive care in advanced chronic kidney disease: a qualitative meta-synthesis of healthcare professionals perspectives and attitudes. BMC Nephrol. 2025;26(1):382. doi:10.1186/s12882-025-04294-x
2. Lupu D, Moss AH. The role of kidney supportive care and active medical management without dialysis in supporting well-being in kidney care. Semin Nephrol. 2021;41(6):580-591. doi:10.1016/j.semnephrol.2021.10.010
3. Davison SN. Personalized approach and precision medicine in supportive and end-of-life care for patients with advanced and end-stage kidney disease. Semin Nephrol. 2018;38(4):336-345. doi:10.1016/j.semnephrol.2018.05.004
Visa is seeing ‘resilient’ trends in discretionary and non-discretionary spending categories
Visa Inc. saw stable growth in payment volume during the June quarter, in a sign that consumers are keeping up their spending despite macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns.
The payment-technology company booked 8% growth in payment volume for its fiscal third quarter, matching the rate seen in the fiscal second quarter. Visa (V) disclosed in Tuesday’s earnings materials that “healthy business driver trends continued through the quarter and into the first few weeks of July.”
The company’s slide presentation showed that U.S. volume growth for the first three weeks of July outpaced the growth seen in June.
“Consumer spending remains resilient, with continued strength indiscretionary and non-discretionary growth in the U.S.,” Chief Executive Ryan McInerney said in the release.
See also: American Express earnings show healthy spending – including on these fancy categories
Revenue in the fiscal third quarter came out to $10.17 billion, up 14% from a year before and ahead of the $9.85 billion consensus view. Visa’s adjusted earnings per share rose 23% to $2.98, topping the $2.85 that analysts tracked by FactSet had been expecting.
Visa’s cross-border volume was up 12% in the quarter, or 11% when excluding transactions made within Europe. Cross-border volume measures payment activity that takes place when someone with a card issued in one country transacts with a merchant based in another. It’s often seen as a proxy for travel spending, though it also includes cross-border e-commerce.
Processed transactions were up 10% in the latest quarter from a year earlier.
Visa expects net revenue growth at a high-single-digit to low-double-digit clip in the current quarter, along with high-single-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share. Analysts were expecting about 10% growth in revenue and 11% growth in adjusted EPS.
The stock was down about 2% in after-hours action Tuesday.
-Emily Bary
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
A foldable version of the company’s flagship smartphone could arrive next fall, CNBC reported Tuesday (July 29), citing an analysis by JPMorgan.
“With the upgrades to the iPhone 17 series to be released this fall expected to be fairly limited, investor focus has already turned to the 2026 fall launches with Apple expected to launch its first foldable iPhone as part of the iPhone 18 lineup in September 2026, featuring a book-style fold similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series,” analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote.
The analyst added that the foldable phone would feature a smaller inner and outer display than its Samsung counterpart. The foldable iPhone 18 may also come with a crease-free inner display, given that the industry expects Samsung to roll out similar technology with its Galaxy Z Fold 8 in 2026, the analyst said.
Another prediction: the new phone will cost $1,999 and could introduce a $65 billion revenue opportunity for Apple.
The report adds that other analysts like TF International Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo have also predicted that Apple will make a folding iPhone next year, a device that will come with “premium pricing.”
Last year saw Huawei, one of Apple’s biggest smartphone rivals in the crucial Chinese market, debut its own foldable phone just ahead of the debut of the iPhone 16, which featured Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) offerings.
Meanwhile, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote earlier this month that Apple’s troubles in China are part of a larger range of headaches facing the tech giant.
As that report noted, the company’s share of smartphone shipments was stuck at 13.9%, in fifth place behind domestic brands, such as Huawei. Its installed base, according to recent smartphone sales data, was flat at 23% to 24%, with a slight bump during the second quarter driven by subsidies.
“Geopolitical risk makes that market even more volatile. A crackdown from Beijing on American tech companies could force Apple to exit,” Webster wrote.
“A Taiwan conflict could imperil chip supply. At the same time, Apple faces tariff threats from both the U.S. and China. That leaves Tim Cook navigating a shrinking margin in Apple’s most important growth market while sweating about a fragile supply chain.”
Any income made from increasing the minimum unit price for alcohol in Wales should be reinvested in addiction services, the chair of a Senedd committee has said.
The Welsh government said it was considering the benefits of raising the unit price for alcohol beyond the current 50p.
But one woman, from Gwynedd, who has battled alcoholism said raising the price would only cause “more suffering” to families of addicts.
Charity Alcohol Change UK said the price should be raised to 65p but added that more must be done to help the most vulnerable.
Iola Ynyr, from Caernarfon in Gwynedd, recently won the Welsh Book of the Year prize for her series of autobiographical stories talking about her battle with alcoholism.
She has now been sober for seven years but does not believe raising the minimum price of a unit would have the desired effect.
“I don’t think it would change the drinking patterns of people who are dependent on alcohol.
“Anyone who is addicted or dependant is going to find a way of getting more because that’s the illness and how it effects people.
“The need for alcohol increases and you have to have it, and if that doesn’t happen in a situation where there’s family, it’s them who suffer.”
Iola said that people may cut back on eating or try to cut costs, “especially if there are children it’s going to make the whole situation worse with more suffering to follow”.
Iola Ynyr believes more funding should be invested in recovery services that include the arts and creative ways to deal with addiction.
Plaid Cymru’s Peredur Owen Griffiths is the chair of the Substance Use and Addiction Cross Party Group, and said studies show the increase would drive the number of people being hospitalised and dying down.
“Vast research has been done that shows the policy is working and people are getting help and reducing their alcohol consumption, and what that means is it’s keeping people out of hospitals and out of the morgue.”
He said any additional money raised should go to “frontline services” and the “harm reduction elements that people are crying out for”.
Public Health Wales figures show between 2019 and 2023 there was a rise of more than 50% in alcohol-related deaths.
Alcohol Change UK said it supported raising the minimum unit price for alcohol to 65p but also raised concerns that the most deprived areas could be affected.
Director of the charity, Andrew Misall, said that making alcohol cheaper was not the answer.
He added that those who had an alcohol addiction needed to be supported so they did not suffer.
The Welsh government said it was considering the benefits of raising the minimum unit price for alcohol in Wales, after initial research showed its positive impact since it was introduced in 2020.
It added it was launching a public consultation and would take those into consideration before deciding how to proceed.
