SpaceX has declared that it’s going to make Starlink Mobile a “major” mobile carrier. The Elon Musk-owned company has already deployed thousands of direct-to-cell satellites, but its next big challenge is building out its 5G network here on Earth.

As part of its plans to rival AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, SpaceX has inked a deal with Qualcomm, which will deploy its cellular technology across tens of thousands of 5G cell sites starting in 2027. SpaceX is also reportedly in talks to buy Boost Mobile, potentially allowing it to launch Starlink Mobile through the service. Another report suggests SpaceX may tap into 80,000 cell sites across the US to build out its network.

SpaceX’s big plans have garnered some reactions in the telecom industry. Tim Höttges, the CEO of T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, said he takes SpaceX’s plans “super serious” but that it could cost Musk more than $200 billion to pull off.

Follow along for the latest updates on Starlink’s major mobile carrier ambitions.

• What will it take for SpaceX to launch its “major” mobile network?
• SpaceX is working with Qualcomm to build its Starlink Mobile 5G network
• SpaceX could buy Boost Mobile as part of its big mobile carrier plans
• SpaceX’s mobile carrier push reportedly involves tapping into 80,000 cell sites
• SpaceX announces plan to become a ‘major mobile carrier’
• SpaceX is coming for T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon

There are optimistic plans for spaceflight, and then there are optimistic plans.

AST SpaceMobile is a Texas-based, publicly traded company building very large satellites to provide direct-to-cell communications on Earth. But it has been having trouble finding rides to space. So on Friday, AST announced that it is developing a medium-lift rocket, named Blacklift, which will have the capacity to lift 20 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. Oh, and the company said it would start launching commercially in late 2028.

"The Blacklift rocket is the springboard to significantly expand our total addressable market, providing AST SpaceMobile with regular unconstrained access to orbit and providing for most favorable owner's economics in the industry," said Abel Avellan, founder, chairman, and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, in a news release.

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Apple's iPhone Duo has been officially on sale for two weeks, and the company said today that the App Store now has over 100,000 apps that are built for the foldable.

"It's been wonderful to see how quickly developers have embraced iPhone Duo, and we're grateful for their creativity and innovation," Susan Prescott, Apple's VP of Worldwide Developer Relations, says in a statement. "Today there are well over 100,000 apps built for iPhone Duo already live on the App Store, and thousands of optimized apps are being added to the store each day." Prescott adds that "the enthusiasm has been incredible, and we're excited to see the pace of updates …

Read the full story at The Verge.

When I first read Allison and Nilay's Verge review of the iPhone Duo, I was immediately struck by one of their complaints: that the cover display is too small. That's not how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels, I thought. Had they got it wrong?

After a week and a half using the Duo, I know exactly what they mean - and it's not the screen's fault at all. Apps that feel comfortable on Samsung's short foldable and the similarly sized Xiaomi 18 Fold are often cramped and compact on the Duo's cover screen, robbed of screen space by a right-hand rail that most apps don't make use of anyway.

That's just one of the ways that Apple's first foldable …

Read the full story at The Verge.

It's a bad time and maybe also a great time to make a new smartphone.

Brennan Jordan and Austin Boer are two-thirds of the trio behind the Enough Phone, a small phone that will run your choice of stock Android or the minimalist OdysseyOS. They're currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, and just a day after launching, the project is over halfway to its $250,000 goal.

The Enough Phone's target specifications include a 5.3-inch display, 3,500mAh user-replaceable battery, MediaTek Dimensity 7500 chipset, a 50-megapixel Sony sensor in the rear camera, and 8GB of RAM. The dimensions listed on the Kickstarter page suggest an iPhone Mini-ish siz …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The head of T-Mobile's parent company is casting doubt on SpaceX's plans to make Starlink Mobile a "major" carrier in the US. During an earnings call on Thursday, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says he takes the Elon Musk-owned company "super serious," but that it will cost at least $200 billion to pull off:

He [Musk] has now bought 76 megahertz of spectrum. By the way, we have 400. So if you now say he can buy the spectrum prospectively, do your math. These are kind of triple-digit billions which are needed to gain the spectrum position. If he has the money, go for it. Then he has to build a network. I can tell you, we have 85,000 tower …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Motorola is trying something it hasn't attempted in the modern smartphone era: to make an all-out flagship slab-style phone.

Previous high-end Edge devices never quite hit the mark, and lacked features that would put it in the highest flagship tiers. The company has had plenty of success with its Razr clamshell foldables, leaning on brand nostalgia and daring to make phones that actually look good. But it's trying something different with its new Signature line, which until now hasn't been available in the US. The Signature 27 goes a step further toward premium, daring to take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Motorola is leanin …

Read the full story at The Verge.

With smartphone sales tanking by around 20 percent compared to 2025, Qualcomm is looking to data centers to help boost its bottom line. During its Q4 2026 earnings call, the company laid out its plans to make a splash in the AI data center business, through partnerships with companies like Amazon and Meta announced earlier this year. The company expects that portion of its business to grow quickly, forecasting around $650 million in data center revenue during the first quarter of 2027. But it anticipates that will reach $5 billion by the end of 2027 and $15 billion by 2029.

Considering the company's total revenue for 2026 was $10.4 billion, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Much like a great recipe, it started with a stick of butter.

This wasn't real butter; it was a friend's new phone grip, complemented by a phone case with bold stripes. Butter is in vogue now, or at least that's what a 12-year-old told me a few months ago. This stick of butter was labeled "unsalty" and committed to the bit by including the appropriate tablespoon markings, just like the real thing. I was enamored. "Where did you get that?" I asked. It was a PopSocket-branded combo, and I found it so irresistible I ordered an equally eye-catching grip a few weeks later. After years of carrying buttoned-up, minimalist tech, I finally said, "To …

Read the full story at The Verge.

AT&T's smart home security system now integrates with Gemini for Home. The company says its Connected Life system is the "first" home security product to integrate with Google Home Premium, enabling a bunch of Gemini-powered features that can summarize home events, search your video history, and more.

With the update, Gemini for Home can provide detailed descriptions about events captured by your security cameras, such as who delivered a package and how many items they dropped off. You can also search recorded video footage using natural language questions, like "What dug up the yard last night?" or "Who let the dogs out?", as well as revie …

Read the full story at The Verge.

SpaceX is teaming up with Qualcomm to build out its nationwide mobile network. Under the multi-year deal, SpaceX will bring Qualcomm's Dragonwing technology to "tens of thousands" of 5G cell sites across the US, with the first deployments set for 2027.

The news of the partnership comes as part of SpaceX's push to make Starlink Mobile a "major" carrier in the US, competing directly with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. The Elon Musk-owned company has already snapped up a swath of spectrum, while recent reports suggested that SpaceX was exploring an acquisition of Boost Mobile.

Now, SpaceX is planning to use Qualcomm's Dragonwing Cellular Infras …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple will now let Siri AI perform actions across third-party apps. As part of the iOS 27.3 update rolling out on Tuesday, Apple announced developers can now integrate Siri AI's new features in "all apps," allowing the voice assistant to draw on a user's personal context, process natural language prompts, and use on-screen awareness to complete requests.

The update, which is rolling out as part of a Developer Preview, also adds a new "app skills" feature that third-party developers can create to combine several tasks into a single action. In Apple's developer documentation, the company says users won't have to mention an app's name in their …

Read the full story at The Verge.

After introducing true liquid cooling to its gaming phones last year, Redmagic is upping the ante in its 12 Pro by building RGB lights into the transparent cooling loop, too.

And they work! Sort of. The lights do turn on, and they can be set to glow in set patterns, activate for specific apps, or trigger for notifications and calls. The problem is that like last year's 11 Pro, the cooling system itself uses fluorescent blue liquid, which the lights have to work against. Blue or white lighting just makes it look more blue, green turns out turquoise, and red or orange lights mostly produce colored bubbles swimming in a blue tide.

The liquid- …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple CEO John Ternus doesn't have a timeline for when iPhone Duo supply constraints could lift. During an interview with Reuters, Ternus said the company is "working hard to get it to as many customers as quickly as possible, but at this ​point, we're not able to predict when supply and demand will be in balance."

Apple launched its first foldable last month for $1,999, featuring a 5.4 outer display and 7.6-inch inner screen. Preorders for the iPhone Duo quickly sold out, with some shipments expected to arrive in 2027. Apple also made a limited number of iPhone Duo models available in-store at launch.

In his interview with Reuters, Ternu …

Read the full story at The Verge.

When I declared this spring that Vivo's X300 Ultra had the best cameras in any phone, two things made it stand out in my mind: its excellent main camera with a narrow 35mm focal length and what remains the most capable ultrawide in any phone worldwide.

You won't find either in the new X500 Pro Max. It has an impressive camera system with world-leading dynamic range and the same great telephoto lens found in the Ultra. But it's lost a little something of what made its predecessor quite so special.

Vivo X500 Pro Max

Pros	Cons
Fantastic telephoto camera 17 stops of dynamic range on the main camera Big 7,800mAh battery 1440p, 144Hz display	Ultrawide …

Read the full story at The Verge.

SpaceX has discussed a deal with Boost Mobile to launch its own service through the budget-friendly carrier, according to a report from The Washington Post. The deal, which comes as SpaceX aims to make Starlink a "major" mobile carrier, reportedly involves the Elon Musk-owned company acquiring Boost Mobile or accessing its network.

Musk discussed the potential agreement with Charlie Ergen, chairman of Boost Mobile parent company EchoStar, last month, as reported by The Washington Post. Boost Mobile's network is currently powered by T-Mobile and AT&T, meaning SpaceX may need permission from the two carriers to launch its service.

Neither …

Read the full story at The Verge.