Gear News of the Week: Fairphone Lands in the US, and WhatsApp Is Finally on the Apple Watch Leave a comment

The one smartphone producer with a ten/10 iFixit repairability rating is lastly bringing its merchandise to the US, nevertheless it is not beginning with its telephones. Netherlands-based Fairphone introduced this week that it’ll mark its enlargement into the US with the Fairbuds XL, its repairable over-ear headphones. It will be out there on Amazon later this month.

Fairphone says it achieved 61 p.c income development within the third quarter of 2025 in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, although that is possible attributed to the launch of The Fairphone (Gen 6)—the corporate would not launch a brand new cellphone yearly. It bought greater than 100,000 models in 2024, together with telephones and audio merchandise.

Proper-to-repair legal guidelines have been cropping up everywhere in the US, and Fairphone smartphones are the best to restore. The corporate gives a screwdriver, sells spare components for years, and gives long-term software program help. Its units might not be the flashiest or probably the most highly effective, however they’re a extra sustainable answer, additionally making certain truthful mining practices and wages for employees in its provide chain.

Bringing its smartphone over to the US is a bit more difficult than headphones, because it requires provider certifications, however Fairphone tells WIRED it is in “superior discussions” with choose retailers and carriers.

WhatsApp Arrives on the Apple Watch

Meta appears to be on a quest to lastly convey its apps to different platforms. Just a few months in the past, it launched an Instagram app for the iPad; now we’re getting WhatsApp on the Apple Watch. Quite than simply mirroring your notifications and sending fundamental replies, now you possibly can learn full messages on the Apple Watch, report and ship voice messages, see who’s calling, ship emoji reactions to messages, and see extra of the chat historical past on the display screen.

It syncs together with your iPhone, so that you needn’t set it up as a companion system. You’ll be able to’t take calls on the watch itself and even reply them; you possibly can see who is looking and decline. It additionally would not appear as if you possibly can add the WhatsApp app as a complication.

Motorola’s Least expensive Cellphone Now Has 5G

It is a little bit sooner than normal, however Motorola’s newest price range telephones are right here: the Moto G 2026 and Moto G Play 2026. They share the same look and are not too completely different from the design language Motorola has employed on its 2025 Moto G units. What’s most notable is that the Moto G Play could have 5G help, making it one of many most cost-effective handsets with 5G at $170.

Each telephones have 6.7-inch 120-Hz LCD screens, massive 5,200-mAh batteries, and IP52 water resistance. They’re powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 6300 processor with 4 GB of RAM, however they differ in storage measurement, with the Moto G providing 128 GB of inner storage and the Play with 64 GB (each are expandable with a microSD). Cameras are the opposite place the place the 2 telephones diverge, with a 50-MP most important sensor on the Moto G and a 32-MP sensor on the Play. Sure, they nonetheless have headphone jacks.

Motorola says the Moto G Play will arrive first on November 13 at Motorola, Finest Purchase, and Amazon for $170, and the $200 Moto G launches on December 11 at Motorola’s web site first, then at Finest Purchase and Amazon on January 15.

Canon’s R6 III Goes Extra Professional

Courtesy of Canon

Canon has introduced its much-anticipated new EOS R6 Mark III full-frame mirrorless digital camera. The R6 III includes a new 32.5-megapixel sensor (the identical sensor within the EOS C50 cinema digital camera), in addition to the corporate’s newest Digic X processor.