This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
The end of OpenAI, and other 2026 predictions
14 Dec 2025, 2:29 pm by David Pierce
Here’s a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to that people actually start falling in love with their iPhones. We may not be prepared for what happens next.
On this episode of The Vergecast, Sexy Siri is just one of the topics at hand. Nilay and David are joined by Joanna Stern, senior tech columnist at The Wall Street Journal, to talk through their most mild, medium, and spicy predictions for the year to come.
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There are some re …
I’m finally beginning to trust Microsoft’s handheld Xbox
14 Dec 2025, 2:00 pm by Sean Hollister
I still wouldn’t buy an Xbox Ally, and I still don’t think the tweaked version of Windows that shipped with it is ready for primetime. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) needs work. But two months after I panned the cheaper $600 white Xbox Ally and wasn’t quite sold on the $1,000 black one, one of my most-hated Windows issues is getting better.
I didn’t stop testing these handhelds after my October review; I’ve been playing Hollow Knight: Silksong and Blue Prince on them. I installed FSE on an MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, too. And after too many updates to count, I’m finally beginning to trust two of these handhelds to save my game (and battery l …
A new old idea about video stores
14 Dec 2025, 1:00 pm by David Pierce
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re staying warm, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about Google Maps and shopaganda and life as a pop star, finally getting to watch F1 now that it’s streaming, rewatching the first two Avatars ahead of the next one’s release, pretending the new Taylor Swift tour doc is a reasonable replacement for actually seeing the tour, buying a bunch of Ikea smart buttons now that they’re on sale in the US, playing with the excellent new Obsidian up …
AI image generators are getting better by getting worse
14 Dec 2025, 1:00 pm by Allison Johnson
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and digital imagery – real or otherwise – follow Allison Johnson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Remember the early days of AI image generation? Oh how we laughed when our prompts resulted in people with too many fingers, rubbery limbs, and other details easily pointing to fakes. But if you haven’t been keeping up, I regret to inform you that the joke is over. AI image generators are getting way better at creating realistic fakes, partly thanks to …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
