Teen smartphone ban ‘potentially detrimental’, Nintendo confirms Switch 2 will cost £395
A leading academic tasked by the UK government with reviewing the effects of smartphones on teenagers has suggested blanket bans are “unrealistic and potentially detrimental”. Amy Orben, from the University of Cambridge, will lead the work on children and smartphone use that has been commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) along with a team of other academics from a number of UK universities. The Guardian
In another example of Apple’s recent software disappointments it appears that iOS 18.4 is installing completely random apps to users’ phones. This is the latest update to iOS and was supposed to come with the now-delayed revamped Siri and complete the promised Apple Intelligence suite of features. A few days ago the first instance of this bug being reported appeared on an online forum when a user noticed a handful of new apps on their iPhone 13 mini. Phone Arena
After what’s felt like years of rumours, Nintendo has finally lifted the lid on the Nintendo Switch 2. The company’s latest Nintendo Direct wrapped up on Wednesday, marking its biggest hardware launch in almost a decade. The new console features a 7.9in LCD display, magnetically attached Joy-Con 2 controllers, support for mouse-like controls and built-in voice chat. That’s just the new features – there’s also a suite of upgraded internals, including 256GB of storage and 4K support when docked. Launching in June, the UK price will be £395.99 from Amazon. Independent
President Donald Trump says he is “very close” to brokering a deal to find a buyer for TikTok, which faces a US ban if its Chinese owner does not sell the app by the weekend. A bipartisan law passed by Congress last year mandates TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sell the app. Speaking on Air Force One on Thursday, Trump said “multiple investors” were closing in on a deal. He also suggested the US could offer a deal where China agrees to approve a TikTok sale in exchange for relief from US tariffs on Chinese imports. BBC
Google‘s Find My Device platform got a hefty upgrade last year, adding support for offline devices and third-party trackers, and it looks like it’s about to get another significant boost – courtesy of ultra wide-band technology (UWB). This is the precise location tracking protocol that you’ll find in everything from the Apple AirTag to the Google Pixel 9 Pro, and the team at Android Authority just found references to it inside the latest Find My Device app for Android. Phones and other gadgets can already be located via GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, but UWB adds an extra level of accuracy. Tech Radar
Nissan is leading £2 billion worth of investment into its Sunderland plant to prepare it to build the new Leaf and electric successors to the Juke and Qashqai. The first two of those models are imminent: the Leaf will arrive this year, the Juke soon after in 2026. But plans for the next-generation Qashqai EV have quietly been pushed back, due to uncertainty over EV uptake and regulations. Given the continued popularity of the segment-defining family crossover, that’s an understandable move. Autocar
