Technologies

Your Next Android Flagship Phone Will Get These 3 Updates in 2026

Are you due a new phone early next year? There’s plenty to be excited about.

With every passing year, our phones get smarter, more capable and more adept at handling anything we throw at them with speed and precision. Perhaps the biggest contributing factor in enabling this never-ending cycle of improvement is the fresh set of chips that we get on a yearly basis.

When it comes to the top Android phones, almost all of the major manufacturers, Google aside, use Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm. On Wednesday, at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm announced its latest flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

This is the processor that will power your next Android flagship phone — whether it’s from Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor or OnePlus, you can pretty much bet on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 being tucked away inside.

Every generation of chip brings crucial speed improvements to a phone’s performance, and Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the fastest mobile CPU in the world. But that’s not all. Qualcomm has tailored the chip to offer feature-specific improvements — three of which have caught my eye as being particularly exciting. Here’s what to expect.

AI, but personalized

Qualcomm has been at the forefront of making our phones powerful enough to run AI applications, but the latest chip specifically enables a much more personal AI experience.

Qualcomm’s Personal Scribe is an agentic AI assistant that can make recommendations and act on your behalf based on your routine and preferences. For example, the Scribe knows you could use more free time in your day, so it might suggest some non-essential meetings or tasks that you could push to make space.

Personal Scribe is a product of Qualcomm’s new Sensing Hub, which can learn about you and your behavior as you use your phone to enable agentic AI. The premise of agentic AI is that it will sit across your apps and services, deploying the knowledge and understanding it has about you to make recommendations and take action in ways that will benefit you.

One big benefit of Personal Scribe is that, as a Qualcomm chip feature, it can carry that knowledge to the very core of your device, allowing for a super personal experience of using AI.

Pro-level camera tools

If everything is content, everyone with a phone is, to some extent, a content creator these days. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a creator’s dream, as it’s the first mobile platform to record in the Advanced Professional Video Codec. Not only does this mean your HDR video content will look astonishingly crisp, clear and smooth, but it also makes it easier to edit without compromising on any of that quality.

Every phone-maker has its own unique camera setup — a combination of hardware and software that it believes will make your photos and videos look their very best. But some improvements to photo quality have to come from the chip-level tech, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will open up new recording capabilities on any phone that includes it.

Better sound all around

It’s not just camera improvements that will improve your content. The 8 Elite Gen 5 also features Snapdragon Audio Sense, a new microphone technology with built-in wind noise rejection, audio zoom and HDR audio. It allows for the recording of 24-bit audio in any environment, which should, in theory, eliminate the need to use supplementary external mics.

On the listening side of things, Qualcomm’s XPAN technology will allow your phone to connect to your headphones via Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth for superior connection and audio quality. This untethers you from your phone, allowing you to listen to 24-bit, 96kHz lossless music while also being able to receive calls and messages and interact with AI assistant from anywhere you’re wearing your headphones.

Technologies

You’ll Soon Be Able to Buy Walmart Products Through ChatGPT

OpenAI’s chatbot already connects to Etsy and Shopify. Now you can buy bananas too.

OpenAI and Walmart will soon offer shopping via AI through ChatGPT, the retail giant said in a press release on Tuesday.

While using ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout feature, customers can buy groceries, electronics or other essentials within the chatbot interface.

Walmart has its own AI assistant in its app named Sparky. With Sparky, customers can ask questions about products and get summaries of reviews to find the best item.

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«For many years now, e-commerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change,» Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. «There is a native AI experience coming that is multi-media, personalized and contextual. We are running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships including this important step with OpenAI.»

When asked for comment, Walmart referred to its press release. Walmart also said it wouldn’t discuss the financial terms of the agreement at this time.

«We’re excited to partner with Walmart to make everyday purchases a little simpler. It’s just one way AI will help people every day under our work together,» OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a press release.

OpenAI referred to Walmart’s press release when asked for comment.

The latest deal with Walmart comes as OpenAI tries to make ChatGPT an all-in-one shopping experience. AI chatbots are increasingly being used as vehicles for online shopping. They can synthesize reviews from across the internet and give people direct answers to shopping questions. Already, ChatGPT connects with Etsy and Shopify with its Instant Checkout feature, allowing people to buy directly. OpenAI also added more shopping features in ChatGPT Search earlier this year.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Technologies

OpenAI Will Loosen ChatGPT’s Mental Health Guardrails and Allow Erotica for Adult Users

Sam Altman said the company will ease limits for adults after rolling out age verification.

ChatGPT is treading cautiously right now, but the chatbot may become more risqué by the end of the year.

In recent weeks, the generative AI chatbot has been operating under somewhat stringent limitations, as OpenAI tried to address concerns that it was not handling sensitive mental health issues well. But CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X Tuesday that the company would ease some of those restrictions because it’s «been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues.»

Though Altman didn’t elaborate on what tools are being used to address the problem, OpenAI recently announced new parental controls in ChatGPT.

CNET reached out to OpenAI for details, but the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Other changes are also expected. Altman said the company could allow «erotica» for verified adult users as it implements an «age-gating» system, or age-restricted content, in December. The mature content is part of the company’s «treat adult users like adults» principle, Altman said.

Altman’s post also announced a new version of ChatGPT in the next few weeks, with a personality that behaves more like the company’s GPT-4o model. Chatbot users had complained after the company replaced 4o with the impersonal GPT-5 earlier this year, saying the new version lacked the engaging and fun personality of previous chatbot models.

«If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing),» Altman wrote.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

After OpenAI was sued by parents who alleged ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide, the company imposed an array of new restrictions and changes, including parental controls, alerts for risky behavior and a teen-friendly version of the chatbot. In the summer, OpenAI implemented break reminders that encourage people to occasionally stop chatting with the bot.

On Tuesday, the company also announced the creation of a council of experts on AI and well-being, including some with expertise in psychology and human behavior.

This comes as lawmakers and regulators are ringing the alarm on the risks AI tools pose to people, especially children. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed new restrictions on AI companion chatbots into law. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several AI companies, including OpenAI.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 15 #591

Here are hints — and the answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 15, No. 591.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, once you understand the theme. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Going up?

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Not an escalator, but…

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

ROTATE, LOBE, NOPE, RATS, STAR, SAME, LOSE, VOTE, BUTTE, SAMS, BAMS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

ALARM, OPEN, CLOSE, LOBBY, GROUND, BASEMENT

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is ELEVATORBUTTONS. To find it, look for the E that’s three letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind straight up, and then straight down.