The long-awaited Volkswagen ID.Polo electric vehicle has made its world debut with a breakthrough entry-level price of just 24,995 Euros (approximately £21,000).

This all-electric successor to the best-selling hatchback aims to democratize EV ownership without compromising on the quality or tech usually reserved for premium segments.

While pre-sales have already kicked off in Germany, UK drivers can expect the ID. Polo to arrive in showrooms in late 2026. The lineup features three power levels, ranging from a city-friendly 85 kW (116 PS) to a punchy 155 kW (211 PS) top-spec version.

Range anxiety is tackled head-on with two battery options. The larger 52 kWh battery delivers a range of up to 454 kilometres (282 miles), while the smaller 37 kWh unit provides up to 329 km (204 miles). Charging is equally efficient, with DC quick-charging capable of boosting the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in about 23 minutes.

Inside, VW claims the ID. Polo is a tech powerhouse. The “Innovision” cockpit features a 26 cm (10-inch) digital instrument cluster paired with a massive 33 cm (13-inch) central infotainment screen. In a win for ergonomics, VW has brought back physical buttons on the steering wheel and console, replacing the controversial touch sliders of previous ID models.

The entertainment suite includes an optional 425-Watt Harman Kardon sound system with 10 speakers and a “retro display” mode that skins the digital dials to look like a classic Mk1 Golf. Standard features include voice control, inductive smartphone charging, and App Connect for seamless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration.

Practicality remains a core strength, claims the manufacturer. Thanks to its new front-wheel-drive layout, the ID. Polo offers 441 litres of boot space, eclipsing even the larger Volkswagen Golf. It even doubles as a mobile power bank; the vehicle-to-load function allows you to plug in and charge external devices like e-bikes directly from the car.

Standard safety tech is robust, featuring Lane Assist and Side Assist. For those wanting more, the optional Connected Travel Assist introduces automatic traffic light recognition – a first for this vehicle class.

Says Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand and Head of the Brand Group Core:

“The ID. Polo brings a Volkswagen bestseller into the electric age. For decades, the Polo has been part of people’s everyday lives.

“With the ID. Polo, we are making electric mobility accessible to many more people: with clear and timeless design, intuitive operation, strong quality and technologies from higher segments. A genuine Volkswagen just like our customers expect from us.”

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This is having a huge impact on digital industries, including the digital entertainment industry. Through 2026, casino online operators will keep reengineering their systems to take advantage of high-speed connections. Smoother live dealer streams will create more immersive experiences, while faster odds updates will redefine what real-time betting truly means. 5G connection also improves KYC and payment processes, allowing for instant wallet updates and faster verifications.

In online gaming, too, mobile players can now compete from anywhere. With high-speed connections and sub-10ms latency, even highly competitive titles where every millisecond counts can seamlessly be played. And as cloud gaming services keep evolving, 5G ensures viability on mobile with near-zero latency connections making console-quality gaming possible even on low-spec devices.

Platforms Are Now Adapting to Mobile-First Design

The rise of 5g adoption also means mobile-first optimisation is beginning to underpin the digital industry. Digital platforms continue to optimise each step in the customer experience for touchscreens and one-handed use. This trend will only increase in importance throughout 2026.

Thumb-friendly navigation with larger buttons that are optimised for one-handed use has replaced desktop-inherited layouts. Websites are now expected to run smoothly on smartphones, with adaptive designs that adjust to the individual screens and lighter assets that load faster becoming the norm. This also affects the content presented, which now tends to be shorter and smarter for easier reading and scanning on small screens.

This goes as far as how companies engage with their customers, as promotions, updates, and news increasingly get communicated via push notifications directly on the user’s phone instead of emails. As customers seek more seamless experiences, payment processes also continuously get streamlined for mobile users. Mobile payment solutions such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are becoming a default for online providers that allow for one-tap payments and easy biometric authentication on the go. As 5G fuels mobile adoption around the world, frictionless mobile payment options will continue to shift from a nice-to-have to a baseline expectation.

AI is Also Making Platforms Smarter and More Personal

Alongside 5G development, one of the largest tech trends is also reshaping digital industries. Artificial intelligence has already had a major impact on anything from personalisation, support and marketing to fraud prevention, and this will only increase.

Users are already conditioned to expect tailored suggestions by services like Spotify and Netflix, and this dynamic, data-driven approach will also shape experiences. Generic homepages and promotions will be replaced by hyper-personalised, tailored customer journeys and promotions driven by real-time AI analyses.

AI chatbots already handle the majority of support queries at major platforms, helping reduce queues and handle routine requests in seconds. As AI evolves, smarter, agentic AI chatbots with memories of previous chats, the ability to proactively support users, make decisions, and automate more complex tasks will deliver faster solutions and more intuitive support around the clock.

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Meta is under pressure to explain why it cancelled a major contract with a company it was using to train AI, shortly after some of its Kenya-based workers alleged they had to view graphic content captured by Meta smart glasses. In February, workers at the company, Sama, told two Swedish newspapers they had witnessed glasses users going to the toilet and having sex. Less than two months later, Meta ended its contract with Sama, which Sama said would result in 1,108 workers being made redundant. BBC 

The tech company Meta has been found to be in breach of EU law for failing to prevent children under 13 from using its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Issuing the preliminary findings of a nearly two-year investigation, the European Commission said on Wednesday that Meta did not have effective measures in place to stop under-13s accessing its services. The US tech company was unable to meet its own terms and conditions that set 13 as the minimum age to access Facebook and Instagram safely, the commission said. The Guardian

The conflict in Iran has “supercharged” the “boom” in renewable power, the United Nations’ climate chief has said. It comes as electric vehicle numbers in Britain hit a record high of two million yesterday, amid a worldwide buying spree. In a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump, who has pursued a policy of “energy dominance”, Simon Stiell, head of the UN’s climate body (UNFCCC), said: “Those who’ve fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom.” Sky News 

Citroën’s upcoming sub-£15,000 electric car will have “exactly the same purpose as the 2CV did in the late 1940s” in reigniting buyer demand in a stagnant European car market. The French brand’s new city EV – expected to be previewed by a concept at the Paris motor show in October – will channel the spirit of the iconic rural runaround in being cheap to build and cheap to buy, as part of a drive to give “buying power” to a large portion of the population that has been priced out of the new car market. CEO Xavier Chardon last week confirmed Citroën was “working on” proposals for a new A-segment EV priced under €15,000 – as previously reported by Autocar.

We’ve long been hearing about a new, even higher-end MacBook Pro coming in the next year. And there’s been talk about how it’ll sport an OLED display with touchscreen functionality – a first for a MacBook. However, it now looks like it will never happen. That’s not because the next-level MacBook itself won’t appear, but it is unlikely to sport the “Pro” name. Sources claim that the all-new, enhanced laptop will be the first in Apple‘s new Ultra range. According to MacWorld, Apple is set to extend its Ultra branding across each of its main product lines – including MacBook, iPhone and iPad. T3.com

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AI chatbots trained to be warm and friendly

There have been further listings of confidential health records of UK volunteers on the Chinese website Alibaba since the breach reported last week, and the government is braced for further leaks, the science minister has said. Addressing a House of Lords debate on the attempted sale of data belonging to 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers, Patrick Vallance said the government had worked with Chinese officials to remove additional postings on the online marketplace. “New listings will emerge – there have been additional listings posted since the government were made aware of the issue last week – and we continue to work with the Chinese government to remove them quickly,” Lord Vallance said. Guardian

This is the long-awaited and breakthrough Volkswagen ID. Polo, which moves the game on for VW by putting a hallowed nameplate on a clean-sheet electric car, one with a sub-£25,000 price tag. Bristling with tech and spaciousness – it equals or beats the Volkswagen Golf in some key dimensions – the supermini EV will go on UK sale in late 2026. And like the famous Polo and Golf combustion hatches, the ID. Polo is front-wheel drive, the opposite of VW’s four existing ID models. Autoexpress 

If you’re tired of interacting with a bot that spews Nazi propaganda or refers to itself as MechaHitler, you could sign off of Elon Musk’s xAI. Or, just to be sure, use an LLM whose training data ends in 1930, three years before the Nazis took power in Germany and nine years before World War II started. A trio of AI researchers has released a 13-billion-parameter “vintage” language model they call Talkie, which has been trained solely on digital scans of English-language books, newspapers, periodicals, scientific journals, patents, and case law that were published before the end of 1930. The Register 

Apple will add new Apple Intelligence photo editing tools to the Photos app in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, reports Bloomberg.

On-device ‌Apple Intelligence‌ will be able to make subtle changes to image quality, positioning, and focus, with the new capabilities joining Clean Up, the sole AI editing feature that Apple has released to date. The ‌Photos‌ app in ‌iOS 27‌, iPadOS 27, and ‌macOS 27‌ will have an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ Tools section when editing an image. Options will include Extend, Enhance, and Reframe. MacRumors

Renault’s new electric Twingo fits easily into the French carmaker’s portfolio. It is a modern mini passenger car meant for urban European drivers, but it also tells a story about changes in the broader auto industry.  Renault developed the new Twingo over a breakneck 21 months in Shanghai, following an initial design phase in France.  The car is now in production in Slovenia, arriving this month at dealers with a price tag just under €20,000 ($23,000). The continent-hopping Twingo is a snapshot of a hypercompetitive auto industry and its new center of gravity in China. There, many legacy carmakers are developing new models by focusing on speed, cost and technology. DW

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Britain’s electric vehicle (EV) revolution has reached a major landmark, with new statistics revealing that two million EVs are now registered across the UK.

Figures released today, Wednesday 29 April 2026, show a 15% increase in electric car ownership over the last year, with March 2026 marking the highest demand ever recorded in the country.

One of the key drivers behind this surge is the Government’s Electric Car Grant (ECG), which has already helped over 100,000 motorists to make the switch. The grant provides a discount of up to £3,750 off the price of a new electric vehicle, effectively slashing upfront costs.

High-demand models fuelling this growth include the Ford Puma Gen-E, Vauxhall Frontera Electric, Renault 5, Skoda Elroq, and the Volkswagen ID.3. According to recent data, these government incentives mean that electric cars are now, on average, cheaper to purchase than their petrol counterparts for the first time.

External economic pressures are also accelerating the transition. High and fluctuating prices at the pumps – exacerbated by ongoing conflict in the Middle East – have made traditional internal combustion engines increasingly expensive to run.

By switching to electric and utilising cheaper domestic electricity rates, the Government estimates that drivers can save up to £1,400 a year in running costs compared to petrol models.

To support this rapid uptake, the Government is investing £7.5 billion in the transition, including £600 million specifically for charging infrastructure. There are currently over 119,000 chargers available, nearly twice the number of fuel pumps, with hundreds of thousands more planned.

Says Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport: 

“Today, over two million EVs are now registered across the UK – a landmark moment in the UK’s transition to electric, backed by £7.5 billion in government funding. And as global fuel prices continue to fluctuate, making the switch has never made more sense.

“We’ve made it cheaper and easier than ever to buy an EV, helping over 100,000 drivers save up to £3,750 off the cost of a new electric car. We’re also investing £600 million to deliver hundreds of thousands of additional chargers to support this uptick.”

Vehicle licensing statistics. 

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After years of speculation, patent filings and prototype rumours, 2026 is shaping up to be the landmark year when Apple finally enters the foldable market.

Under the leadership of new Chief Executive John Ternus, the tech giant is preparing to challenge the dominance of Samsung and Google with a device that promises to redefine the iPhone’s architecture.

From a revolutionary crease-free display to a potential price tag that could make it the most expensive consumer phone in history, here is a complete breakdown of everything we know so far about Apple’s first foldable.

What’s in a name? Why iPhone Ultra?

While many early reports referred to the device simply as the “iPhone Fold,” recent leaks suggest Apple will lean into its established high-end branding. A report from Macworld indicates that the device will most likely be called the iPhone Ultra.

This naming convention aligns the phone with the Apple Watch Ultra, signalling it as a premium, rugged, and top-tier category. By using the “Ultra” moniker, Apple can position the foldable not just as a variation of the standard iPhone, but as a distinct flagship that sits above the Pro and Pro Max models. This branding is expected to expand further into the ecosystem, with rumours of a touchscreen MacBook Ultra and an iPad Ultra following in its wake.

Design: An iPad in Your Pocket?

The iPhone Ultra is expected to adopt a “book-style” design, opening horizontally to reveal a massive tablet-like display. Current mock-ups and dummy units suggest a device that is wider and more compact than competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, making it easier to fit into a pocket.

• Displays: The device will reportedly feature a 5.5-inch outer cover screen and a 7.8-inch inner display.
• Crease-Free Technology: Apple is reportedly obsessed with achieving a completely crease-free design  – a feat that has eluded mainstream manufacturers so far.
• Dimensions: When folded, the device may be as thin as 9mm to 11mm, expanding to a nearly paper-thin 4.5mm when unfolded.
• Materials: To ensure durability, the hinge is rumoured to combine stainless steel and titanium alloy, while the casing will utilise titanium only.

Key features and specifications

Apple is expected to market the iPhone Ultra based on four pillars: durability, performance, the crease-free display, and the “iPad effect”. By framing the device as an “iPhone with an iPad inside,” Apple hopes to entice users who want a larger 4:3 aspect ratio for content consumption and productivity without carrying two devices.

• Processing Power: The Ultra will likely boast the A20 chip, built on TSMC’s 2nm process, which is predicted to be 15% faster and 30% more efficient than previous generations.
• RAM and Battery: Reports suggest 12GB of RAM and a mammoth battery capacity between 5,400mAh and 5,800mAh – the largest ever in an iPhone.
• Security: Due to space constraints, Face ID may be absent. Instead, a Touch ID sensor is expected to be housed in the power button, similar to the iPad mini.
• Cameras: A dual-lens 48MP rear setup is expected, along with a potential 24MP under-screen camera on the inner display.

Price: the most expensive iPhone ever?

Potential buyers should start saving now, as the iPhone Ultra is predicted to carry a staggering price tag. Industry analysts, including Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, suggest that the cost of engineering a crease-free foldable will push the starting price well beyond the $2,000 mark.

According to leaked pricing structures, the costs could break down by storage capacity as follows:

• • 256GB: $2,320 (£1,720)
  • 512GB: $2,610 (£1,940)
  • 1TB: $2,900 (£2,150)

While these prices are high, they are intended to boost Apple’s average sales price and position the Ultra as a luxury productivity tool rather than a mass-market device.

Availability and launch strategy

Apple is expected to shift its traditional launch strategy to accommodate the iPhone Ultra. Reports indicate that the September 2026 keynote will be reserved exclusively for the iPhone Ultra, the iPhone 18 Pro, and the 18 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 18 may be delayed until Spring 2027 to give the high-end models the spotlight.

While the announcement is set for September 8 or 9, 2026, availability might follow a staggered release. Similar to the launch of the iPhone X, Apple may unveil the foldable in September but delay actual shipments until December 2026.

This would allow the company to finalize software optimization and ensure the complex manufacturing process meets its rigorous quality standards before reaching consumers.

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Anthropic’s Claude AI agent wiped the entire database and all backups of PocketOS, a SaaS (sofware-as-a-service) platform for car rental businesses, in a catastrophic event lasting just nine seconds.

The incident occurred when an AI agent running Claude Opus 4.6 via the coding tool Cursor was tasked with a routine maintenance job in a staging environment.

The disaster unfolded when the AI made a “guess” that deleting a staging resource would not impact production systems. Without verifying system architecture or asking for human confirmation, the agent issued a destructive command that targeted the live production database.

Because of the way the company’s cloud provider, Railway, handled storage, the single API call used by the AI to remove the main database simultaneously wiped all associated backups stored on the same volume.

Infrastructure failure

PocketOS founder Jer Crane noted that while the AI’s autonomous decision-making was the trigger, the lack of infrastructure safeguards turned a mistake into a total wipeout.

The system allowed high-impact deletions without confirmation and kept backups in the same environment as live data, leaving months of customer information unrecoverable in seconds.

The fallout has forced the startup into a gruelling manual recovery process. With the most recent viable backup being three months old, the team is currently attempting to reconstruct lost data using payment records, emails, and calendar integrations.

The event serves as a stark warning about the risks of “agentic” AI tools – systems granted the power to take high-impact actions without human checks or isolated “sandbox” environments.

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Taylor Swift has applied to trademark her voice and image amid growing concerns around AI-generated content. The Shake It Off singer submitted three applications in the US last week to trademark her voice and likeness, including an image of herself during the Eras tour wearing a sparkly bodysuit and playing a pink guitar, as well as two audio clips of her introducing herself while promoting her most recent album, The Life Of A Showgirl. Sky News 

Japan’s famously conscientious but overburdened baggage handlers will soon be joined by extra staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport – although their new colleagues will need to take regular recharging breaks. Japan Airlines will introduce humanoid robots on a trial basis from the beginning of May, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage. The Chinese-made humanoids will move travellers’ luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda, which handles more than 60 million passengers a year. Guardian 

An AI agent powered by Anthropic’s leading Claude model has deleted a company’s entire production database, leaving customers unable to access key data. PocketOS, which provides software for car rental businesses, suffered a massive outage over the weekend after the autonomous artificial intelligence tool wiped the database and all backups in a matter of seconds. Independent

The UK government is committed to implementing social media restrictions for under-16s but ministers must “make sure it works” before introducing changes, the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told the BBC. The government is consulting on an outright ban, as well as other measures designed to stop teenagers accessing addictive and harmful material. Phillipson’s comments came after junior education minister Olivia Bailey said the government would “impose some form of age or functionality restrictions” even if it stopped short of a ban. BBC 

The new Honor 600 feels like a real watershed moment for upping the quality of mid-range phones. Typically, this market segment has cut a fair number of corners as manufacturers attempt to cram in a solid feature set in a more affordable chassis, leading to phones that feel a little imbalanced in terms of features. The 600 strikes an excellent balance of form and function, with a sublime redesigned chassis to it, alongside a bright 6.57-inch OLED screen, a capable Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 SoC, great battery life and a capable dual-camera array derived from its flagship handset. Trusted Reviews 

The UK has backed a British scientist’s “self-learning” AI start-up that is promising to leapfrog rivals in the race to superintelligence. Ineffable Intelligence, founded by the former Google DeepMind executive David Silver, has raised a record $1.1bn (£810m) in a deal backed by the taxpayer. The investment is the biggest-ever “seed” round in a European start-up, valuing Ineffable Intelligence at $5.1bn. Telegraph 

A couple of times so far Apple was rumored to call its first foldable smartphone the iPhone Ultra, and now a new rumor ‘confirms’ this (as much as any one rumor can, of course). But this won’t be the company’s only upcoming Ultra-branded device. The foldable will just be called iPhone Ultra, by the way, and not iPhone 18 Ultra, similarly to how the iPhone Air isn’t the iPhone 17 Air. This gives Apple more flexibility – it can come out with new iPhone Ultra generations on a completely different schedule than the mainstream smartphone line. GSM Arena 

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China has officially ordered Meta to scrap its $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup Manus, marking a dramatic escalation in the battle for AI supremacy.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) prohibited the transaction on Monday, directing both parties to withdraw the deal immediately.

While Meta had intended to use the Singapore-based startup to scale its autonomous AI agents across its global platforms, Beijing’s intervention highlights the increasing difficulty Western tech giants face when attempting to acquire high-value assets with Chinese ties.

The deal, which was first announced in December, had already drawn intense scrutiny from regulators on both sides of the Pacific. Manus was originally founded in China before relocating to Singapore, a move intended to bypass the geopolitical friction between Washington and Beijing.

However, the NDRC’s ruling proves that simply moving headquarters offshore is no longer a guaranteed shield against Chinese regulatory reach. Manus had become a highly sought-after target after achieving $100 million in annual recurring revenue just eight months after launching its flagship product, which can handle complex coding and data analysis tasks independently.

Blow to Meta 

This regulatory block creates a massive logistical headache for Meta, which had already begun deeply integrating Manus’s engineering team into its core operations. A Meta spokesperson maintained that the acquisition fully complied with all applicable laws and stated that the company remains hopeful for an appropriate resolution.

Despite this optimism, the reality on the ground appears far more restrictive. Reports from earlier this year indicated that the startup’s co-founders were previously barred from leaving China, signalling that Beijing viewed the loss of this specific intellectual property as a threat to its national “innovation lab” status.

The collapse of the deal also serves as a warning to the venture capital community and other startups attempting “Singapore-washing” to attract American investment. As Washington continues to restrict US capital from flowing into Chinese AI firms, Beijing is countering by ensuring its most promising talent remains within its sphere of influence.

This tit-for-tat regulatory environment suggests that the “spirit of mutual benefit” often cited by international trade officials is being rapidly replaced by a new era of technological protectionism, where AI talent and data are guarded as closely as physical territory.

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