The Vergecast

All episodes(25)

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  AirPods, Touch Bars, and the rest of Tim Cook's legacy

  Published Apr 24, 2026

  Now that we've had a few days to digest the Apple CEO succession news, Nilay and David get some help from Daring Fireball's John Gruber to discuss Tim Cook's legacy, the potential for change under John Ternus, and whether the Touch Bar actually could have been great. Then, Nilay and David react to some breaking news: Microsoft is going back to the Xbox. And everything is an Xbox now. Finally, in the lightning round, we have a round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, a very 2026 new microphone, a BMW we

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  The Vergecast Vergecast, 2026 edition

  Published Apr 21, 2026

  We get a lot of questions about how we make The Vergecast. And why we make The Vergecast. And how we make money, and journalism, and everything. So every once in a while, we try to answer those questions! In this episode, David and Nilay are joined by The Verge's publisher, Helen Havlak, to talk about video podcasts, ads, subscriptions, Nilay's jackets, and much more. Curious about those video podcasts we discussed? Check us out on YouTube. Jealous of those Verge subscriptions we discussed? Subs

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  Apple’s got a new CEO: The Vergecast Livestream

  Published Apr 20, 2026

  For the first time in 15 years, Apple is getting a new CEO. Tim Cook is stepping down, and John Ternus is taking the biggest job at one of the biggest companies in the world. News this big can only mean one thing: emergency Vergecast! Nilay and David broke down the news, their immediate reactions, and what they think might be in store for Apple going forward. To watch our livestreams as they stream live, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscr

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  The 'AI is inevitable' trap

  Published Apr 17, 2026

  The AI vibes continue to find all-time lows. David and Nilay open the show by talking through the absurd Allbirds pivot to AI, the attacks on Sam Altman, and the increasing divide between what AI companies say is inevitable and what people actually want. Then, the Hype Desk crew talks Coachella and RAMageddon, before David and Nilay catch up on the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly suit and the increasing price of everything. In the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a dummy, satelli

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  Ben McKenzie vs. crypto

  Published Apr 14, 2026

  During the height of the cryptocurrency craze a few years ago, the actor Ben McKenzie found himself wondering why no one else was seeing what he was seeing. He joins the show to explain his yearslong attempt to understand Bitcoin and the crypto world, all of which is in his new documentary Everyone Is Lying to You For Money. (You can probably guess how he feels.) After that, The Verge's Victoria Song tells us about her testing of continuous glucose monitors, which have gone from medical device t

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  Fear and loathing at OpenAI

  Published Apr 10, 2026

  In a week filled with important news about important people, David and Nilay start the show with the biggest news of all: their silly tech projects. After some updates on iMac repurposing and vibe-coded productivity tools, the hosts turn to the state of OpenAI, and the big story from The New Yorker about whether we should trust CEO Sam Altman with the future of AI. After that, it's time for the lightning round, with the latest Brendan Carr is a Dummy shenanigans, and the New York Times' latest a

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  The case for banning cookie banners

  Published Apr 7, 2026

  Cookie banners — those pop-ups that appear on practically every webpage demanding you accept their tracking systems — are one of the most consistent low-grade annoyances of life online. But Kate Klonick, a professor and writer, argues they're actually much worse than that, and the only plausible solution is to get rid of them entirely. After that, The Verge's Allison Johnson tells us about her AI-enhanced Google Maps experience, and why the new Ask Maps feature has the potential to be both incre

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  Apple's best product ever

  Published Apr 3, 2026

  We love a ranking here on The Vergecast, and it’s time for the hardest one yet: David and Nilay compare notes on the 50 best products Apple has ever made, and see how their answers stack up to the many, many voters on The Verge this week. Before that, though, it’s time for a bit of AI news — surprise, it’s enterprise software! — and the comeback of the Hype Desk. After all that, and after the rankings, we do a round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, talk about the fediverse, and repurpose our old iMac

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  Apple at 50: the good and the bad

  Published Mar 31, 2026

  It's Apple 50 week, so we've got an Apple-filled podcast. First, longtime Apple journalist Jason Snell joins the show to talk about the state of the company as a hardware maker, a software maker, a force for good in the world, and more. Then, blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash explains why he's worried about the rise of video podcasts, and the role Apple could play to make it better. Finally, The Verge's Allison Johnson helps answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email

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  Meta's court losses could be just the beginning

  Published Mar 27, 2026

  We start with some important business: Nilay has a flight to catch, and is very worried he won't catch it. Also, it's Apple's 50th anniversary next week, and we're going to spend the week debating which Apple products are the best Apple products. (Head to the ad-free Vergecast feed to hear our selection show!) But mostly, this episode is about social media. In two key trials this week, juries found social platforms liable not for the content they display but for the actual structure and features

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  Welp, I bought an iPhone again

  Published Mar 24, 2026

  David is bored with his iPhone. Over the last few months, he has been testing every other phone he could get his hands on, from the Pixel to the Razr to the Unihertz Titan. And at the end of it all... David bought another iPhone. The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to recount some of her own phone-testing experiences, to litigate the quality of foldable and flippable phones, to debate Android vs. iOS, and ultimately to help David decide whether he actually bought the right phone. After al

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  Why people really hate AI

  Published Mar 20, 2026

  David and Nilay start the show by exploring the increasing disconnect between the people who make AI products, and the people who keep saying they don't want them. (Or, at least, don't want to pay for them.) The AI industry is starting to retrench to a business-first approach, because there's simply no killer app for it yet. Speaking of no killer apps! Allison Johnson then joins the show to talk about the shockingly short life of the Samsung TriFold, and her bizarre journey to try and review the

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  The future of code is exciting and terrifying

  Published Mar 17, 2026

  A new era of software development is upon us. Career coders are no longer writing code, but rather managing teams of agents that do the work on their behalf. You can Claude Code your way through seemingly just about any problem. So what does that mean for the software we use, and the people who make it? Paul Ford, a writer and technologist who both writes about code and manages a team of coders, joins the show to explain his somewhat conflicted excitement about the new crop of AI tools, and his

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  The MacBook Neo's a winner

  Published Mar 15, 2026

  David and Nilay bought new computers this week, as the MacBook Neo turned out to be a surprisingly great cheap Apple laptop. The hosts discuss their experiences with the machines, from the processor to the keyboard to the mess that is MacOS Tahoe. After that, they talk about the future of Xbox, Project Helix, and what it might mean for every gaming PC to become an Xbox... and for the Xbox to become a gaming PC. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest on

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  The twist in the Ticketmaster antitrust fight

  Published Mar 10, 2026

  Last week, it appeared the US Department of Justice was off to a strong start in its antitrust case against Live Nation Ticketmaster. Then, this week, the two sides surprised everyone by settling. The Verge's Lauren Feiner joins the show to explain the stakes of the case, the facts of the settlement, and why things aren’t entirely over just yet. Then, The Verge’s Hayden Field catches us up on what’s happening between Anthropic, OpenAI, and the Department of Defense. OpenAI got the contract, but

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  Version History: Furby

  Published Mar 8, 2026

  Version History

  In 1997, David Hampton and Caleb Chung took one look at a Tamagotchi and decided they could bring the virtual pet craze into the real world. Their robotic companion, Furby, packed a bunch of advanced technology into a small, adorable, often annoying package. But for all the irritation it caused (Furby famously had no on-off switch) there was a surprising amount of thoughtful philosophy in its design. The Verge’s Vee Song, Sean Hollister and host David Pierce are joined by Coco the Furby to discu

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  This phone starts fires on purpose

  Published Mar 6, 2026

  While most phone makers work hard to ensure their products don’t start fires, Oukitel made a phone that starts fires on purpose. This week on The Vergecast, Dominic Preston joins Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel to wrap up all the weird and wonderful phones he and the team saw at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Then, Sean Hollister takes us through Google and Epic’s enemies-to-lovers saga: A secret $800 million deal, a non-disparagement agreement, and something about the metaverse for some reason

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  MacBook Neo, iPhone 17e, and iPad Air: The Vergecast Livestream

  Published Mar 4, 2026

  Apple released a bunch of new iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Studio Displays this week. The Verge’s Nilay Patel and David Pierce tried them all this morning, and are back to share their thoughts live. Further reading: All the news about Apple’s MacBook Neo, iPhone 17E, and more Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 86

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  The 6G, modular, robot phones of the future

  Published Mar 3, 2026

  Most mainstream phone options are kind of the same, year in and year out — but that doesn’t mean there’s no innovation to be found. The Verge’s Allison Johnson is at Mobile World Congress, and joins the show to report on all the modular phones, robot phones, small phones, big phones, and (alas) 6G phones set to hit the market this year. After that, The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed explains the phenomenon of the gadget strap, and makes the case that they’re an increasingly useful accessory as our phon

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  The Galaxy S26 is a photography nightmare

  Published Feb 27, 2026

  Samsung just launched its newest phones, the Galaxy S26 lineup, and wow is it full of Vergecast stories. There’s the very cool new Privacy Display, which seems genuinely useful; there’s the AI-powered camera, which seems like a disaster waiting to happen; and there’s the new agentic AI in Android, which Google and Samsung might be positioned to actually pull off. After talking through all the new stuff, Nilay and David discuss the recent executive shakeup at Xbox, and try to figure out why Micro

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  How Claude Code Claude Codes

  Published Feb 24, 2026

  Few AI products have found the kind of product-market fit we’ve seen from Claude Code. On the eve of the product’s first anniversary, Anthropic’s Boris Cherny explains why Claude Code is so powerful, all the work left to do, and why he no longer writes any code himself. After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field joins the show to talk about how we should think about giving our data (and our computers) to AI, even when it seems useful. Finally, The Verge’s Allison Johnson helps David answer a question

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  The speech police came for Colbert

  Published Feb 19, 2026

  Once again, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and his bad ideas about free speech have rankled a late night host. And once again, Nilay and David talk through what the equal-time rule actually means, why organizations keep caving, and why it's apparently up to people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to fight back. After that, the hosts discuss the facial recognition feature Meta hopes to launch for its smart glasses, plus the gadgets we're likely to see Apple launch in the couple of weeks. In t

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  Your next laptop could be a foldable phone

  Published Feb 17, 2026

  The Verge's Allison Johnson has recently been doing the unthinkable: she's been leaving her laptop at home. Allison joins the show to explain how she turned her Samsung foldable into a useful computer, and why it feels so good to do so. Then, Sportico's Jacob Feldman joins the show to talk about the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the overall state of sports streaming in 2026. (Unfortunately, it's all still very complicated.) Finally, David answers a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call

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  Ring's adorable surveillance hellscape

  Published Feb 13, 2026

  Did you see Ring's Super Bowl ad and see happy puppies reunited with their owners? Or did you see the seeds of a complete, always-on surveillance nightmare coming for us all? David and Nilay discuss which is the right answer, why so many people don't want to trust tech companies, and why Ring might not care much about the difference. After that, the hosts discuss the ads coming to ChatGPT, the surprising number of AI executives quitting their jobs and issuing dire warnings on the way out, and th

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  Could the Trump Phone be a good phone?

  Published Feb 10, 2026

  The Trump Phone is real! Ish! The Verge’s Dom Preston has seen a T1 on a video call, that we can say for sure. Dom joins the show to explain what’s new about the phone, whether it has a chance to be a decent device, and why it’s taken so long for Trump Mobile to ship the thing. After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field explains the excitement around OpenClaw and Moltbook, and whether either one is a big moment for the AI industry. Finally, The Verge’s Andy Hawkins helps us answer a question on the Ve

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