Not only did MWC excite us with a host of excellent tech launches and innovative concept designs, but Apple gave us new iPads and MacBooks, and AMD wowed us with an affordable GPU.
To catch up on all this and more scroll down for the week’s seven biggest news stories for the week of March 8, 2025.
When you’re finished, check out our picks for the 7 new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (March 7).
7. We found the best tech of MWC 2025
This year’s Mobile World Conference (MWC 2025) was host to a lot of smartphone, computing, audio, and health tech – and we know because we attended the show to check it all out. But among the crowds were a few diamonds that we decided were the best gadgets of the event.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra was the Best Phone launch with our Xiaomi 15 Ultra review calling it one of the best camera phones ever made thanks to its 50-megapixel wide-angle, 50-megapixel ultrawide, 70-megapixel 3x telephoto and 200-megapixel 4x telephoto lenses; meanwhile the Lenovo Yoga Solar PC won Best Laptop because of its built-in solar panel innovation.
We also awarded prizes to smart contact lenses from Xpanceo, Honor’s Earbuds Open, Honor’s Watch 5 Ultra, and the ZTE Nubia Flip 2 5G to name just a few more of our 10 total award winners.
6. Apple treated us to a cheaper MacBook Air
The arrival of a new MacBook Air M4 this week wasn’t exactly a surprise, given the weeks of leaks – but its pricing certainly was. Yes, despite getting a processor upgrade, two new Thunderbolt 4 ports and some new Center Stage camera tricks, Apple cut $100 / £100 off its price tag in a distinctly un-Apple move.
That doesn’t happen often at launch, and it makes the new Air (which starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699) a major contender for the top spot in our guide to the best laptops. Then again, Apple did also discontinue the M3 MacBook Air in the process (and made the M2 MacBook Air harder to find), leaving us short of even cheaper options. First it giveth, then it taketh away…
5. Apple launched new iPads too
Apple’s iPad Air may no longer be the thinnest iPad (see the iPad Pro M4) but it is shifting into performance and productivity mode.
The latest iPad Air (11- and 13-inch) looks almost exactly like the last one (save the removal of the “iPad Air” label from the back) but it has an all-new brain in the powerful M3 chip that’ll support all sort of activities ranging from video editing and art creation to Apple Intelligence tasks.
But Apple has now paired it with a new, optional (and more affordable) Magic Keyboard that includes a function key row and a noticeably larger trackpad. This is a tablet ready for productivity work, and for some it might be, with that keyboard, a decent ultra-portable substitute.
As for the base, 11-inch iPad, it also got a chip update but only to the A16. Now, that’s a great piece of Apple Silicon but it does not support Apple Intelligence. We bet the target market won’t miss it.
4. Dyson’s pro r hair dryer joined the main range
Previously a professional-only hair dryer, the Supersonic r has now been added to Dyson‘s main consumer range. Sure, it looks a bit weird, but it’s 20% smaller and 30% lighter than the original Supersonic, and more powerful too. So if you’re seeking speedy styling without the arm-ache (and have suitably deep pockets), it’s well worth a look.
The r boasts a wide range of compatible, magnetic styling attachments. These include the intriguing-sounding PowerfulAir and SmoothNozzle, alongside the fan-favorite FlyAway attachment. As with the current range-topper, the Supersonic Nurall, the dryer knows which one is attached, and will automatically switch to your last-used settings for each.
The Dyson Supersonic r is already available in the US, is due in the UK from April 2. This version is identical to the original pro version, save for a shorter cable (home-length, rather than salon-length), and some cool new colorways.
If you missed your chance to get last year’s see-through Ray-Ban smart glasses, then you’re in luck – Meta is releasing another limited-edition batch but they’ll be in even shorter supply.
A teaser on Meta’s website says something new is coming straight from the runway, with a promise that limited-time smart specs are launching this month, though the image also highlights a “0001/3600” stamp – suggesting that this new batch will have less than half the availability of last year’s 7,500 limited run.
Beyond the see-through frame, we don’t know anything more about the drop, but based on the runway comment we suspect this might have a connection to the recent Milan Fashion week which is where A$AP Rocky debuted as Ray-Ban’s first-ever creative director. He’s already showcased a couple of standard glasses designs, and this announcement could be teasing his first smart glasses.
2. Xiaomi revealed the first ever Wi-Fi earbuds
In easily one of the top 3 ground-breaking earbuds innovations we saw at MWC25 this week, Xiaomi unveiled the first earbuds with Wi-Fi, delivering hi-res audio up to 4.2Mbps. You want lossless audio over Wi-Fi without ruining battery life? Xiaomi’s gone and done it, with the new Buds 5 Pro. They launched in Europe, in two variants – a standard (non-Wi-Fi) Buds 5 Pro, and the Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi. Both models have an imposing spec-sheet, but the Wi-Fi ones are particularly impressive, because they can apparently deliver lossless audio at up to 4.2Mbps using their Wi-Fi connection, which is leaps and bounds ahead of anything you’ll get with Bluetooth.
The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi have Qualcomm’s S7 Pro chip and Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite, which can support up to 96kHz/24-bit hi-res audio. Of course, there’s a ‘but’: it’ll only work with certain smartphones. Xiaomi says a list of compatible devices will be posted on its website soon – but right now, the only known supported phones are the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra. (Your iPhone? Don’t get your hopes up.)
1. We reviewed AMD’s bargain gaming graphics card
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is AMD’s first RDNA 4 card to hit the market and it’s a banger, nearly matching Nvidia’s pricier GPUs in 4K and 1440p performance for $599. It ranks close to the RTX 4080 and surpasses older AMD cards, with a 304W TGP that remains manageable at this performance level.
While it lacks top-tier ray tracing and AI compute, it excels at raster and gaming workloads, staying more affordable and less prone to price inflation. Ultimately, it’s the best value for gamers looking to upgrade without breaking the bank.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
