Google is shaking up the way Android handles notifications in its upcoming Android 16 release—and not necessarily in a way everyone asked for. Meanwhile, Samsung just unveiled a slew of new devices during its Galaxy Unpacked event, raising eyebrows with price hikes across the board. And if that wasn’t enough, the Google Pixel 10 Pro has leaked again, this time through a rather unusual channel. Let’s dive into all the biggest tech news you need to know, brought to you with a dash of honest commentary from me, C. Scott Brown.
🤖 AI Takes Over Android Notifications: Organization and Summaries
Android notifications have long been one of the platform’s standout features, especially when compared to iOS. For years, Android has smartly categorized notifications into two buckets: alerting and silent. This setup makes sense—messages from friends and family deserve your attention, while less urgent alerts (like your quirky uncle’s questionable Facebook posts) quietly wait in the background.
But in Android 16, Google plans to shake things up with generative AI stepping in to both organize and summarize your notifications. Yes, this is literally something no one asked for, but here we are.
AI-Powered Organization
Imagine you post a viral update on social media. Normally, your notifications would flood in one by one—likes, shares, comments—quickly becoming overwhelming. Google’s vision is for AI to recognize these patterns and group related notifications together, making your notification shade less chaotic.
Similarly, when breaking news hits and multiple apps ping you about the same topic, AI would intelligently cluster those notifications, so you’re not bombarded with redundant alerts.
Google seems to be borrowing from its Gmail email categorization system, with categories like:
- Promotions (sales, new features, etc.)
- News (top stories, editorials, and more)
- Social (likes, new posts, reposts)
- Suggested content (newsletters, recommended media)
While the feature hasn’t been seen in action yet, we did uncover its settings page—and thankfully, there will be a toggle to turn it off for those who prefer the traditional notification experience.
AI Summaries: Proceed With Caution
Summarizing notifications with AI is a delicate matter. Apple’s earlier attempt with Apple Intelligence on iPhones was fraught with issues, including bizarre and sometimes alarming summaries that confused users.
Google plans to avoid these pitfalls by limiting AI summaries to only messages you receive—not news stories or app alerts—and only for conversations that exceed a certain length. This should give the AI enough context to avoid misunderstandings. For example, if your mom texts, “Your father nearly died laughing at the new movie we just saw,” the AI shouldn’t misinterpret that as a dire alert.
Once again, users will have the option to disable this feature if they want.
Personally, I’m leaning toward turning both of these off. I prefer reading full messages from friends and family rather than AI-generated summaries, and my current notification setup works just fine without AI intervention. What about you? Excited or ready to kill this with fire? Let me know in the comments.
📱 Samsung Galaxy Unpacked: Thin Foldables and Pricey Smartwatches
Samsung’s latest Galaxy Unpacked event was packed with announcements. The company introduced five new products and a slight refresh of an older smartwatch. But the biggest takeaway? Prices are going up, and many fans are not thrilled.
Galaxy Z Fold 7: The Thinnest Foldable Yet
The headline here is thinness. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the thinnest foldable Samsung has ever made. Folded up, it’s barely thicker than the Galaxy S25 Ultra and even weighs less.
This leap helps Samsung catch up with Chinese competitors like Honor, Oppo, OnePlus, and Xiaomi, who have been making impressively thin foldables for years. In fact, the Z Fold 7 is not only the thinnest foldable available in the U.S. but also thinner than many recent models from those brands.
But thinness isn’t everything. The phone also packs:
- Snapdragon 8 Elite processor
- Larger inner display
- Upgraded main camera sensor
- Several other improvements
All this comes at a hefty price: $1,999. Seriously, who can afford a two-thousand-dollar smartphone in 2025?
Galaxy Z Flip 7: Smaller, Edge-to-Edge, But Exynos Inside
If the Fold 7 is out of your budget, Samsung also launched the Galaxy Z Flip 7. It’s smaller, less expensive, and features a new edge-to-edge cover screen with a finally respectable 120Hz refresh rate. It’s wild it took seven generations for Samsung to bump the cover display refresh rate above 60Hz.
Here’s the catch: the Flip 7 uses an Exynos processor, not the Snapdragon chip that American Samsung fans usually get. Unfortunately, this time around, the U.S. market is stuck with Exynos too. This downgrade didn’t lead to a price drop—the Flip 7 remains at $1,099, just as expensive as last year’s Snapdragon-powered model. Ouch.
Smartwatches: Price Hikes and a New Color
Samsung also launched two new smartwatches:
- Galaxy Watch 8 – Price increased by $50 to $349
- Galaxy Watch 8 Classic – Price increased by $70 to $499
Additionally, the Galaxy Watch Ultra got a refresh with a new Titanium Blue color and doubled internal storage up to 64GB. Aside from that, it’s the same watch from last year.
Preorders for all these new Samsung devices are now open.
📸 Google Pixel 10 Pro Leak: The Weirdest Place Yet
The Google Pixel 10 Pro has leaked multiple times already—from behind-the-scenes commercial shots to prototype leaks. But this week’s leak comes from an unexpected source: a Chinese auction site.
Stranger still, the auction wasn’t for the phone itself but for its motherboard. The seller confirmed it’s a prototype, and images show it’s a DVT (Design Validation Test) model. The weird symbols on the back further suggest this isn’t a retail unit.
It’s baffling that someone got hold of a Pixel 10 Pro engineering sample and chose to auction off the motherboard rather than selling it to a tech outlet that would pay handsomely for the leak.
As a side note, Android Authority doesn’t buy leaks like this, but plenty of other sites do—just ask around.
Aside from the unusual backstory, the leak confirms what we already knew: the Pixel 10 Pro will have a larger camera bar but will otherwise be very similar to the Pixel 9 Pro, with few hardware upgrades aside from switching to the TSMC-made Tensor G5 chip.
Expect an official launch date announcement in the coming weeks.
📌 Conclusion
Android 16’s AI-driven notification management promises to bring a new era of organization and summarization—but whether users embrace it remains to be seen. Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event delivered impressive hardware but left many questioning the steep price hikes, especially with processor downgrades in some models. And the Pixel 10 Pro continues to tease us with leaks, this time from an unlikely auction platform.
As always, stay tuned for more updates, and feel free to share your thoughts on these developments. Are you excited about AI managing your notifications, or are you ready to opt-out? How do you feel about Samsung’s pricing strategy? And what do you think about the Pixel 10 Pro leaks?
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Will I be able to turn off AI notification organization and summaries in Android 16?
Yes, Google plans to include toggles so users can opt out of these AI features if they prefer the traditional notification experience.
What categories will AI use to organize notifications?
Google is likely to use categories similar to Gmail’s email organization, including promotions, news, social, and suggested content.
Why is Samsung using an Exynos processor in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 for the U.S. market?
Samsung has not provided a clear explanation, but this marks a departure from previous years when the U.S. typically received Snapdragon variants.
What upgrades can we expect from the Google Pixel 10 Pro compared to the Pixel 9 Pro?
The main hardware upgrade is the switch to the TSMC-made Tensor G5 chip and a larger camera bar, with most other features remaining similar.
Where can I preorder the new Samsung devices?
Preorders are open now through various retailers and Samsung’s official website.
