The Verge
Spoot: Spotted Early keeps The Verge in one place: 7 stories so far. The section currently leads with “The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much”, “Apple's smart-home anchor finally has a date, and a mini entourage to match”, and “Samsung's tag gets smaller, sips battery, and finally talks to iPhone”. The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much. October 13th. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every The Verge story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much
The M6 Mac Mini finally stops pretending it costs that much. Apple's latest pint-sized powerhouse debuted at $899, a full $300 jump from the M4's launch price, and for a machine that's mostly unchanged apart from a 20 percent faster chip, that stung. But October Prime Day just clawed $119 off the base model, bringing it to $779.99 at Amazon. That's the first real discount on this thing, and it flips the math completely. Best Buy is still asking $799 for the older M4 version with the same 256GB storage and 16GB RAM, which now feels like a trap. Don't get that one. The M6 is faster, cheaper, and finally priced like the sensible little box it always was. If you've been circling, this is the tab to keep open.
Apple's smart-home anchor finally has a date, and a mini entourage to match
October 13th. Circle it, charge the HomePods, and clear a spot on the wall. Apple's long-rumored smart home hub finally has a date, and it's bringing a mini entourage. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the new 6-inch display hub, which mounts or sits like a tiny countertop Picasso, will debut alongside a fresh HomePod mini and an upgraded Apple TV. The whole crew is built to flex Siri AI, Apple's overhauled assistant. The hub is reportedly about as thick as an iPhone, with bezels that'll make you nostalgic for older iPads. That's a delightfully chunky little anchor. It's a new category for Apple, so the skepticism is warranted, but the specs here feel right. The real question is whether Siri finally catches up.
Samsung's tag gets smaller, sips battery, and finally talks to iPhone
Samsung's tag just got smaller, sips battery, and finally talks to iPhone. The Galaxy SmartTag 3 drops the key ring cutout entirely, so you're either buying a case or living dangerously with a loose tracker in your bag. That's a bold move for a gadget that lives to be attached to things. The squircle design keeps things familiar, but the real news is cross-OS support, which means you can share tracking info with friends who refuse to leave Apple's walled garden. It's a quiet little rebellion, and I respect it. The IP67 rating holds up, so rain won't kill it. If you're hunting for more gadget gossip, our piece on Philips' new toothbrush tracks your brushing and costs less than last year's is worth a brush-by.
Philips' new toothbrush tracks your brushing and costs less than last year's
The new Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige costs $379.99, which is fifty bucks less than last year's model, and that's before you factor in the added display and tracking smarts. That's a pleasant surprise in a category where "prestige" usually means a price hike. It doesn't floss for you, sure, but it also isn't the $499 Dyson CameraJet, which some early adopters are already grumbling about. We'll take the boringly reliable brush over the one filming your molars, thanks. The rollout starts in Europe and the US now, with a wider global push in 2027, so most of us are waiting a while. If you want a closer look at the camera-toting competition, our piece "We got our hands on Dyson's camera-toting toothbrush, and we have thoughts" is right there. Stay spooty.
Apple's own code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends
Apple's code just whispered three new gadgets before the year ends, and honestly, that's the kind of gossip we live for. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris dug up images and details pointing to a refreshed HomePod mini, an iPad mini 8, and an Apple TV 4K, all expected after this month's iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone Duo debut. The HomePod mini 2 reportedly keeps the original's shape from late 2020, which is fine, but I'm side-eyeing the color situation. The current model pops in orange, yellow, and blue; if the leak's images suggest a muted palette, that's a quiet downgrade for a speaker that made brightness its personality. We'll see what ships.
Honor's new flagship packs a camera Arri helped shape and a battery that refuses to quit
Honor's Magic 9 Pro Max has a camera island that looks like it was machined from a 1937 Arriflex 35 turret, complete with knurled grip texture, and that alone made me sit up straighter. The battery is colossal, the mossy green finish is genuinely handsome, and Arri's influence runs deeper than aesthetics: you get LogC3 capture and 14 preset Look LUTs baked in. That's a serious tool for anyone who wants cinema color without the rig. It's also Honor's first flagship since the Arri deal went public, so the pressure was on. I'm gently skeptical about whether the software holds up, but the hardware is talking loud. For more gadget weirdness, our piece on Philips' new toothbrush tracking your brushing is a fun contrast. Stay spooty.
The iPhone 18 Pro's aperture is a four-trick pony: until you side-load
Four clicks. That's the whole aperture dial on the iPhone 18 Pro's main camera in the native app: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. It feels stingy for a variable iris that should be a playground. But here's the razor clam: Apple's SDK lets third-party apps grab granular control, and BlackMagic's free Camera app is already poking at it. So the hardware isn't the limit; the software just plays it shy. I love that. It turns a spec-sheet footnote into a dare for developers. Who is this for? Anyone who wants their phone to stop pretending a four-step ladder is a staircase. If you're hunting for other hardware that hides its best tricks, Honor's new flagship, with that Arri-assisted camera, is worth a peek.