Foldable iPhone in shops, Galaxy Buds On dated, MacBook Pro without euro prices
Three stories this week turn on what Europe gets, and when. Apple’s foldable iPhone reached the shops, Samsung put a European date on its open-ear earbuds, and Apple took MacBook Pro orders with US prices only. Fairphone, meanwhile, gave buyers a reason to look at repairability.
Monday 26 OctoberPhones & tablets
iPhone Duo reaches the shops, still without a European price
Apple’s first foldable iPhone, covered in Monday’s digest, went on sale on Friday 23 October in more than 70 countries and regions, among them the UK, France and Germany. Apple said another 28 countries and regions would follow on 30 October. The US starting price is $1,999. On Monday Apple had not given European pricing in its releases, and that remains the open thread for us.
Samsung, for its part, says sales of the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra in Europe rose 45% in the nine weeks after launch, against the Galaxy Z Fold7 a year earlier. Samsung gives no unit numbers, so the percentage says little about the size of the market.
Wednesday 28 OctoberAudio & TV
Galaxy Buds On get a European date, but no price
Wednesday’s audio digest carried the detail that matters in Europe: Samsung says Galaxy Buds On, its open-ear earbuds, reach the US in early November 2026 at $229, while Europe has to wait until early 2027. On Wednesday Samsung had not given a European price, according to the announcement.
Samsung says each earbud weighs 6.65g and plays for up to 9.5 hours, or up to 38 hours with the case. The IP54 rating covers the earbuds only, not the case. Open-ear buds rest outside the ear canal, so they trade noise cancelling for awareness of traffic and people. Our reading: that suits running more than commuting. Whether Samsung undercuts other clip-on buds is something we can only judge once a price appears.
Thursday 29 OctoberComputing & gaming
MacBook Pro gets touch and a new M6 model, priced in dollars only
On Thursday Apple presented two MacBook Pro models. One has a touchscreen and a tandem OLED panel, which Apple says reaches up to 2000 nits peak HDR and SDR brightness. Its US price starts at $2,899. The other is a 14-inch model with the M6 chip, which Apple lists at $1,999 in the US.
Pre-orders opened on 28 October, with deliveries from 6 November in the countries and regions Apple names. Neither release gives a European price. Apple’s footnotes also say Siri AI is unavailable in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, and list no Dutch or German for Siri AI on the macOS 27.2 beta. The next thing to watch is whether euro prices appear on Apple’s own stores before 6 November.
This week we favour
The Fairbuds 2. Fairphone points out that most earbuds become e-waste once the battery degrades. Here it lists seven replaceable parts, with separate batteries in each bud and the case, and an iFixit repairability score of 10 out of 10. Of the week’s audio items, they are the only ones on sale now with batteries you can replace, through fairphone.com.
Sources
Written with AI from the makers' announcements and checked against the sources below. We did not test these devices.
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This piece is based on the following public sources.
- Press releaseiPhone Duo arrives at Apple Store locations worldwide (opens in a new window)Apple Newsroom
- Press releaseSamsung Continues to See Record Sales for Galaxy Z8 Series in Europe, with Galaxy Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra Up Almost 50% (opens in a new window)Samsung Newsroom UK
- Press releaseSamsung Brings Galaxy Buds On to the US for Comfortable, Open-Ear Listening (opens in a new window)Samsung Newsroom UK
- Press releaseFairbuds 2: Certifiably better in many ways (opens in a new window)Fairphone
- Press releaseApple unveils groundbreaking MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display (opens in a new window)Apple Newsroom
- Press releaseApple introduces the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 (opens in a new window)Apple Newsroom