On The Vergecast: iPad wins, Sonos misses, and right-to-repair tales
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge
The new iPads are out, and they’re terrific. They’re also expensive, and they’re a lot of iPad. Do you really need an OLED screen, an M4 processor, all that engineering to make it so thin and light, and the increasingly great but also increasingly expensive new controllers?
On this episode of The Vergecast, we explore that very question with The Verge’s Chris Welch, who uses the iPad in as varied and powerful a way as you’ll find. We talk about the upsides of OLED, the pros and cons of huge screens, and what really makes an iPad an iPad.
After that, we chat with Chris about what’s going on at Sonos. It appears we’re only a few weeks away from the launch of the company’s first headphones, which will be called Ace and look very nice. We’re also about a week into the lifespan of the new Sonos app, which is… less nice. So we discuss how Sonos is changing, what kind of company it wants to be, and whether it can make a dent in the headphone market.
After that, Vergecast producer Will Poor joins the show to tell us about his latest adventures in the right-to-repair world. New bills are passing, corporate policies are changing, and we’re still trying to figure out what it all means to regular people who just want their stuff to work. Will bought some broken phones and tells us about what happens next.
Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11 or vergecast@theverge.com, we love hearing from you!) about why so many people want the iPad to be more than just an iPad. The answer is complicated — it’s a little about the iPhone and a lot about the fact that making a device that does everything is just really hard to do.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the new iPads:
Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill
The new Apple iPad Air is great — but it’s not the one to get
Apple iPad event: all the news from Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ reveal
And on Sonos:
Sonos announces redesigned app that puts everything on your homescreen
The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy
Sonos says its controversial app redesign took ‘courage’
This is the Sonos Roam 2 portable speaker
These are the upcoming Sonos Ace wireless headphones
Sonos Ace headphones will have magnetic ear cushions and 30-hour battery life
And on right to repair:
Right to repair: all the latest news and updates
Oregon’s governor signs right-to-repair law that bans ‘parts pairing’
Apple will open the iPhone to repair with used parts
The EU’s new right-to-repair rules make companies fix your device after a warranty expires
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge
The new iPads are out, and they’re terrific. They’re also expensive, and they’re a lot of iPad. Do you really need an OLED screen, an M4 processor, all that engineering to make it so thin and light, and the increasingly great but also increasingly expensive new controllers?
On this episode of The Vergecast, we explore that very question with The Verge’s Chris Welch, who uses the iPad in as varied and powerful a way as you’ll find. We talk about the upsides of OLED, the pros and cons of huge screens, and what really makes an iPad an iPad.
After that, we chat with Chris about what’s going on at Sonos. It appears we’re only a few weeks away from the launch of the company’s first headphones, which will be called Ace and look very nice. We’re also about a week into the lifespan of the new Sonos app, which is… less nice. So we discuss how Sonos is changing, what kind of company it wants to be, and whether it can make a dent in the headphone market.
After that, Vergecast producer Will Poor joins the show to tell us about his latest adventures in the right-to-repair world. New bills are passing, corporate policies are changing, and we’re still trying to figure out what it all means to regular people who just want their stuff to work. Will bought some broken phones and tells us about what happens next.
Finally, we answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11 or vergecast@theverge.com, we love hearing from you!) about why so many people want the iPad to be more than just an iPad. The answer is complicated — it’s a little about the iPhone and a lot about the fact that making a device that does everything is just really hard to do.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the new iPads:
Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill
The new Apple iPad Air is great — but it’s not the one to get
Apple iPad event: all the news from Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ reveal
And on Sonos:
Sonos announces redesigned app that puts everything on your homescreen
The new Sonos app is missing a lot of features, and people aren’t happy
Sonos says its controversial app redesign took ‘courage’
This is the Sonos Roam 2 portable speaker
These are the upcoming Sonos Ace wireless headphones
Sonos Ace headphones will have magnetic ear cushions and 30-hour battery life
And on right to repair:
Right to repair: all the latest news and updates
Oregon’s governor signs right-to-repair law that bans ‘parts pairing’
Apple will open the iPhone to repair with used parts
The EU’s new right-to-repair rules make companies fix your device after a warranty expires