The Verge
The Verge on Spoot: Spotted Early: a running collection of 4 stories we have gathered and hand-picked because they are worth your time. Every post here touches on the verge in some way — the news, the analysis, the deep dives, and the occasional surprise find. # Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns, concept designs, tiny… New stories are added to this page as we find them, so check back if you want to keep up with what is happening around the verge, or subscribe to the RSS feed to get them as soon as they are published. Browse the collection below, or head back to the homepage to see everything Spoot: Spotted Early is covering right now.
Philips' new toothbrush tracks your brushing and costs less than last year's
The new Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige costs $379.99, which is fifty bucks less than last year's model, and that's before you factor in the added display and tracking smarts. That's a pleasant surprise in a category where "prestige" usually means a price hike. It doesn't floss for you, sure, but it also isn't the $499 Dyson CameraJet, which some early adopters are already grumbling about. We'll take the boringly reliable brush over the one filming your molars, thanks. The rollout starts in Europe and the US now, with a wider global push in 2027, so most of us are waiting a while. If you want a closer look at the camera-toting competition, our piece "We got our hands on Dyson's camera-toting toothbrush, and we have thoughts" is right there. Stay spooty.
Apple's own code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends
Apple's code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends, and honestly, that's the kind of gossip we live for. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris dug up images and details pointing to a refreshed HomePod mini, an iPad mini 8, and an Apple TV 4K, all expected after this month's iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone Duo debut. The HomePod mini 2 reportedly keeps the original's shape from late 2020, which is fine, but I'm side-eyeing the color situation. The current model pops in orange, yellow, and blue; if the leak's images suggest a muted palette, that's a quiet downgrade for a speaker that made brightness its personality. We'll see what ships.
Honor's new flagship packs a camera Arri helped shape and a battery that refuses to quit
Honor's Magic 9 Pro Max has a camera island that looks like it was machined from a 1937 Arriflex 35 turret, complete with knurled grip texture, and that alone made me sit up straighter. The battery is colossal, the mossy green finish is genuinely handsome, and Arri's influence runs deeper than aesthetics: you get LogC3 capture and 14 preset Look LUTs baked in. That's a serious tool for anyone who wants cinema color without the rig. It's also Honor's first flagship since the Arri deal went public, so the pressure was on. I'm gently skeptical about whether the software holds up, but the hardware is talking loud. For more gadget weirdness, our piece on Philips' new toothbrush tracking your brushing is a fun contrast. Stay spooty.
The iPhone 18 Pro's aperture is a four-trick pony: until you side-load
Four clicks. That's the whole aperture dial on the iPhone 18 Pro's main camera in the native app: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. It feels stingy for a variable iris that should be a playground. But here's the razor clam: Apple's SDK lets third-party apps grab granular control, and BlackMagic's free Camera app is already poking at it. So the hardware isn't the limit; the software just plays it shy. I love that. It turns a spec-sheet footnote into a dare for developers. Who is this for? Anyone who wants their phone to stop pretending a four-step ladder is a staircase. If you're hunting for other hardware that hides its best tricks, Honor's new flagship, with that Arri-assisted camera, is worth a peek.