Mark Gurman reports Apple’s smart home hub will be named ‘HomeView’, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) launches investigation into 20 companies over potential import violations, and Microsoft introduces the Microsoft-Decision-1 low-cost model.
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Show Notes
Apple Is About to Close the Biggest Hole In Its Ecosystem With HomeView
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple’s Smart Home event on Tuesday will reveal the smart home hub will be called HomeView, powered by an A18 chip, and there will be two versions. A countertop model will have a metal speaker base and a wall-mounted version will have a flat, square base to sit against the wall under the display. There will, reportedly, a difference in color options between the two units. Countertops units will offer: space gray, silver, starlight and pink. Wall-mounted units will be limited to the space gray and silver. Gurman says the HomeView will not have an App Store and supports a limited selection of Apple apps.
Source: Bloomberg and Engadget
Apple planning huge iPhone Duo demo experiences at select retail stores: report
Gurman also reports Apple is planning for its flagship stores to have huge demo experiences for the first foldable iPhone. As an example, he says “The Fifth Avenue location in New York City is expected to have more than 150 units” and smaller stores are only expected to receive around twenty units. The iPhone Duo launches October 23rd and prices start at $1,999 USD.
Source: 9to5Mac
Apple is reportedly giving the MacBook Pro a touchscreen
In the last bit of Apple news for the day, Bloomberg’s PowerOn newsletter also mentions a planned event, on or around October 27th to possibly introduce touchscreen MacBook Pro laptops, a new iPad Mini, and other updated Macs. Apple initially planned for a touchscreen laptop back in 2025 before delaying. Codenamed K114 and K116m the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models would feature touchscreen OLED displays, and could add an iPhone-style dynamic island alongside tweaks to MacOS Golden Gate to improve touch interactions.
Source: Digital Trends
Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our model for fast decision-making
Microsoft introduced Microsoft-Decision-1 a new decision-scoring model designed for fast, low-cost structured choices over open-ended text generation. The announcement post uses routing, classification, prioritization, and workflow controls as examples. It is trained on Alibaba’s open-weight Qwen3.5-9B architecture and will also be re-based on other models, including Microsoft AI (MAI) and OpenAI. In Microsoft’s internal benchmark tracking it ran 35 times quicker than GPT-6 Sol. Microsoft-Decision-1 is available now through Microsoft Foundry and OpenRouter.
Source: Microsoft Command Line
Synopsys looks to work with Chinese AI labs to speed up chip design
Synopsys, a multinational electronic design automation firm, is exploring partnerships with Chinese large language model builders to speed up chip development while remaining within US export control rules. Back on September 30th, Synopsys announced a multi-year deal with OpenAI to develop GPT-Synopsys, for automating and accelerating chip design processes, and is looking to make similar deals with Chinese firms.
Source: Nikkei Asia
US probes Foxconn, Luxshare and 18 others over AI server power patents
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) launched an investigation based on a complaint filed on behalf of Vicor Corporation, which “alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain vertical power delivery systems, components thereof, and computing systems containing the same that infringe certain claims of the patent asserted by the complainant”. The investigation covers 20 companies, including Foxconn, Luxshare and Quanta. Vicor wants a range of products from those 20 companies barred from the US.
Source: The Next Web
As Xbox and PlayStation sales reach new lows, analyst says the “US hardware market has not been in a more precarious position since the early 80s”
Mat Piscatella reports Circana’s US Retail Tracking Service shows that in the 2026 YTD, which ended in August, Xbox hardware unit sales are down 33% from 2025, and PlayStation hardware units are down 25%. This makes the Xbox YTD US hardware unit sales an all-time low and PlayStation’s lowest since 2013. Piscatella added “The average price a consumer has paid for a new Xbox console in 2026 YTD ending August is $529, 26% higher than a year ago, while the average PlayStation console has sold for $597, 20% higher than last year”.
Source: EuroGamer
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