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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
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Ryzen to the top: How AMD innovated in the gaming CPU market

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Remember when choosing a gaming CPU was simply a decision that revolved around which Intel CPU to buy? If you cast your mind back to the previous decade, Intel was the undisputed king of gaming CPUs, its dominance so absolute it seemed unshakable. AMD, meanwhile, was struggling. So, Intel eventually became a default choice for many people looking to put a gaming PC together.

But then, like a bolt from the Red, AMD’s Ryzen arrived on the scene — a plucky underdog with a chip on its shoulder, and a mission to disrupt the status quo. It wasn’t an immediate knockout, but rather a calculated, relentless assault. In this article, we’ll detail how AMD managed to take the gaming performance crown away from Intel, and where each company stands now.

Intel’s iron grip (2011 – 2017)

(Image credit: Intel)

In the early to mid-2010s, the PC-gaming scene revolved almost entirely around Intel’s quad-core “Core i” series chips, kicked off by the Conroe processors. Ivy Bridge parts such as the Core i7-3770K offered the best frames-per-second money could buy, edging past their Sandy Bridge forebears, and were more popular than AMD’s FX line, despite similar performance. Haswell followed in 2013, and its 2014 refresh, Devil’s Canyon, cemented Intel’s dominance.


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The formula was simple, consistent, and highly profitable for Intel: deliver quad-core processors (often Hyper-Threaded for eight threads) with strong single-core performance and high clock speeds. Year after year, Intel iterated with modest architectural tweaks here, slight frequency bumps there, and perhaps minor power efficiency gains.

The core count, however, remained stubbornly fixed at four for the mainstream desktop flagship. Gamers seeking the pinnacle of performance had one destination: Intel’s Core i7 CPUs (or the enthusiast HEDT platform, which was even more niche and expensive).

During this era, AMD’s strongest answer was the eight-core FX-9590, whose thermal and single-thread deficits made it an afterthought for gamers, leaving Intel free to execute small, reliable uplifts each generation. Even as innovation slowed (Skylake and Kaby Lake delivered <10% gains in many titles), Intel’s iron-fisted grip held strong because alternatives could not match its per-core performance, and resulting gaming performance.

But by 2016, cracks were forming in Intel’s iron gauntlet. Its mainstream desktop platform had been capped at four cores and eight threads since 2009. While annual refreshes delivered higher frequencies and new chipsets, they offered little else.

AMD’s Zen architecture (2017 – 2018)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Intel’s equilibrium was shattered in March 2017 when AMD released the first-generation Ryzen 7 1800X. The CPU featured eight Zen cores, sixteen threads, and an MSRP of just $499, which was half the price of Intel’s octa-core Core i7-6900K it dared to challenge. In our review from 2017, we noted that in games like Battlefield 4, the Ryzen 7 1800X provided the “same performance as Intel’s Core i7-6900K,” but at half the price.

AMD’s strategy was bold and disruptive: Ryzen offered significantly more cores and threads at every price point compared to Intel’s entrenched lineup. The flagship Ryzen 7 1800X delivered double the number of cores and threads for the price of Intel’s quad-core, 8-thread Core i7-7700K.

While many raw gaming benchmarks still favoured Intel, Ryzen delivered then-workstation-class multi-thread muscle to mainstream boards, and platform features such as unlocked multipliers across the stack, alongside affordable AM4 motherboards, which only amplified its value proposition.

Reviewers quickly framed Ryzen as the CPU for everything else: streaming, content creation, and heavy multitasking. Cinebench scores that tied or beat chips twice its price, and gaming results only a few percentage points shy of Intel at 1440p and above, meant builders could pocket the savings for a better GPU or SSD.

In 2018, the Ryzen 2000 series (Zen+) refined the formula, closing the gaming gap slightly further and solidifying AMD’s position as a serious contender.

In our review of the 2700X, Tom’s Hardware said: “If you’re searching for a more productivity-oriented processor, Ryzen 7 2700X is incredibly attractive. It offers superior performance compared to the Core i7-8700K in many of our threaded tests, and is much more competitive in lightly threaded applications than previous-gen models.”

The “bang for the buck” factor was undeniable. Gamers who also streamed, edited videos, or ran demanding applications alongside their games found immense value in Ryzen’s core-heavy approach. AMD successfully reframed the conversation, forcing reviewers and consumers to look beyond just peak gaming FPS and consider overall system performance, efficiency, and value.

In short, Ryzen rewrote the cost-per-core equation and convinced enthusiasts to reconsider AMD for the first time in a decade. Intel still held the ultimate gaming crown, but the foundations of its dominance were visibly cracking under AMD’s high core counts and aggressive pricing. Following this, the Zen 2 chips, such as the Ryzen 3600, released in 2020, offered great value to users, especially when paired with the low-cost B450 chipset AM4 motherboards, ensuring that AMD was competitive in the mainstream.

Intel strikes back (2017-2020)

Just seven months after Ryzen’s debut, Intel pulled the curtain early on 8th-gen “Coffee Lake.” For the first time since Core 2 Quad, mainstream Core i7s jumped to six cores and twelve threads, Core i5s to six cores, and even Core i3s gained true quad-cores.

The flagship Core i7-8700K paired its expanded core count with 4.7 GHz turbo clocks, restoring Intel’s gaming lead while closing the multi-thread gap that Ryzen had exposed. This was a massive, almost panic-induced shift, validated by the significant performance leap it delivered, especially in multi-threaded tasks. Suddenly, the quad-core i7-7700K looked outdated overnight.

Coffee Lake also marked a philosophical shift. Intel abandoned its leisurely “+200 MHz and done” cadence, revised its 14 nm process (14 nm ++), and launched an all-new Z370 platform expressly to feed the hungrier silicon. Intel also relentlessly pushed clock speeds to their thermal and power limits.

This megahertz war yielded impressive peak gaming numbers but came at a cost: skyrocketing power consumption and significant thermal challenges requiring expensive cooling solutions. It was a brute-force approach, leveraging Intel’s mature 14nm process (stuck in “+++” iterations) to its absolute extreme.

Beyond core counts and clocks, Ryzen forced Intel to confront architectural and efficiency shortcomings it had neglected during its unchallenged years. AMD’s Zen architecture, built on a more modern process (initially GloFo/Samsung 14nm, then TSMC 7nm), offered compelling performance per watt.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A subsequent Intel 9th-gen refresh added soldered heat-spreaders, bumped i7s to eight cores, and introduced a mainstream Core i9 (for years a HEDT exclusive), illustrating how thoroughly Ryzen had reset the competitive baseline.

Intel’s struggles with transitioning to 10nm (later Intel 7) became a major liability, hindering its ability to respond efficiently. The pressure from AMD ultimately pushed Intel towards more significant architectural redesigns (like the hybrid core design in 12th-Gen Alder Lake) and a renewed, albeit still challenging, focus on process technology advancement.

While AMD’s Zen 3 architecture dominated when it debuted, Intel managed to take back the performance crown from AMD’s impressive Ryzen 9 5950X. But one thing was clear: the era of effortless Intel dominance was over. AMD had fundamentally changed the market, forcing innovation and delivering tangible benefits to consumers through intense competition. The stage was set, and a war was brewing.

Alder Lake and Rocket Lake vs Zen 3 (2020-2022)

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware, Shuttestock)

By late 2020, AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series processors had solidified the company’s position as a formidable challenger to Intel’s long-standing dominance. The Zen 3 architecture delivered impressive performance gains, with the Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950X offering exceptional multi-core performance that often outpaced Intel’s 10th-generation offerings. However, Intel wasn’t sitting idle.

The launch of 11th-generation Rocket Lake processors in March 2021 marked Intel’s counter-attack, with the i9-11900K claiming up to 19% IPC improvements and attempting to reclaim single-threaded performance leadership.

The competitive landscape was intensely tight. Intel’s Rocket Lake chips managed to edge ahead in single-core performance, with benchmarks showing the i9-11900K achieving higher single-threaded scores than AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X.

Gaming performance remained closely contested, with Intel claiming 2-8% advantages in various titles. However, AMD maintained its multi-core superiority, particularly in the higher-end segments where Intel was limited to 8 cores while AMD offered 12 and 16-core options.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The situation grew more complex with Intel’s 12th-generation Alder Lake launch in November 2021. This hybrid architecture, combining Performance cores and Efficiency cores, represented Intel’s most significant architectural shift in years. The flagship Core i9-12900K delivered substantial performance improvements. In our review, we said:

“The Intel Core i9-12900K is the fastest gaming processor on the planet, while the Core i5-12600K offers unprecedented gaming performance at its price point. Whip in superior pricing and excellent performance in all other types of workloads, and both Alder Lake processors handily beat competing AMD models.”

Alder Lake had reclaimed gaming performance leadership, with the 12900K often outperforming AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X despite having fewer traditional cores. However, continued intensifying competition led to another breakthrough for AMD.

Cacher in the die (2022-2023)

It was against this backdrop of intensifying competition that AMD unveiled its ace card: the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Announced at CES 2022 and launched on April 20, 2022, this processor represented AMD’s most audacious engineering gambit yet. Priced at $449, the 5800X3D was positioned as the “Ultimate Gaming Processor,” promising to reclaim the gaming crown from Intel’s freshly minted Alder Lake lineup.

The 5800X3D’s core specifications told a story of strategic compromise in service of a singular goal. Built on the same 7nm process and Zen 3 architecture as its siblings, the chip featured 8 cores and 16 threads, but with notably reduced clock speeds compared to the standard 5800X.

Base clocks dropped from 3.8GHz to 3.4GHz, while boost clocks fell from 4.7GHz to 4.5GHz. This reduction was not accidental but rather a necessary trade-off to accommodate the chip’s new stacked 3D V-cache technology. The chip featured 96MB of L3 cache – triple the 32MB found in the standard 5800X. This was achieved by adding 64MB of SRAM directly atop the existing 32MB L3 cache.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The result was a processor that could store vastly more game data closer to the CPU cores, dramatically reducing the need to access slower system memory.

However, this breakthrough came with significant compromises. The 5800X3D was completely locked from traditional overclocking, with AMD disabling both manual multiplier adjustments and Precision Boost Overdrive. This limitation stemmed from the 3D V-Cache’s sensitivity to voltage, with the stacked cache unable to handle voltages above 1.3-1.35V, significantly lower than the 1.45-1.5V range typical of other Ryzen processors.

The additional cache also generated more heat and complicated thermal management, as structural silicon spacers placed over the CPU cores to maintain die flatness impeded heat dissipation.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Future)

Despite these limitations, the 5800X3D’s gaming performance was nothing short of huge. In CPU-intensive games, the additional cache delivered substantial performance gains, with some titles showing improvements over both the standard 5800X and Intel’s flagship 12900K. In our review of the 5800X3D, we said:

“The $449 Ryzen 7 5800X3D’s 3D V-Cache tech represents an innovative engineering effort that conquered the technical challenges associated with bringing the first desktop PC chip with 3D-stacked SRAM to market, and to great effect. The end result is a comparatively low-power chip that delivers incredible gaming performance, dethroning Intel’s $589 Alder Lake Core i9-12900K and $739 Core i9-12900KS from the top of our gaming charts.”

The chip particularly excelled in games that benefited from large cache sizes, such as strategy games, simulators, and certain competitive esports titles. It was a specialist, but one with a devastatingly effective specialty: pure gaming dominance. The 5800X3D, throughout its lifespan, would be regularly discounted, making it an excellent choice for those who hopped on the Ryzen bandwagon early, as it was a simple drop-in upgrade for AM4 users through a BIOS update.

Even today, AMD is still releasing 3D V-Cache-equipped AM4 chips, most recently, the 5500X3D, for the Latin American market. In 2023, AMD would release the 5800X3D’s Zen 4 successor, the 7800X3D, on the new AM5 platform.

In 2023, ex-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger revealed that the company was developing its own 3D silicon technology, though with a different approach than AMD’s. Rather than placing cache on top of CPU cores, Intel planned to stack CPU dies on top of cache tiles, effectively inverting AMD’s design philosophy. However, this technology was years away from commercial deployment and notably excluded desktop processors in favor of server applications.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

AMD’s second-gen 3D-V Cache (2024-Now)

In late 2024, AMD’s second-generation 3D-V Cache technology arrived with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. In our testing, the chip thrashed Intel’s Core Ultra 285K by 35% on average in our testing suite, and it thwarted the Core i9-14900K by 30% in gaming workloads. It is a monstrous chip for gaming workloads, and to this day, it has no rival.

The chip brought the most revolutionary structural change yet to 3D V-Cache technology. AMD completely inverted the traditional stacking approach, moving the 64MB cache die from above the core complex die (CCD) to below it. This seemingly simple change had profound implications for thermal management and performance.

By placing the cache underneath the cores, AMD eliminated the thermal barrier that had previously prevented the CPU cores from making direct contact with the cooling solution. It also led to higher clock speeds, which were previously limited compared to its predecessors.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The trajectory of CPU gaming performance has undergone a complete reversal since the introduction of 3D V-Cache technology. Where Intel once maintained an iron grip on gaming performance leadership, AMD now holds an almost unassailable position in this crucial market segment.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D exemplifies this transformation, delivering gaming performance that exceeds Intel’s flagship processors by margins that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The implications of this reversal extend far beyond raw performance numbers. AMD has effectively captured the gaming crown that Intel had dominated for over a decade. The combination of superior gaming performance, full overclocking support, and competitive pricing has created a value proposition that Intel currently cannot match, at least at the high-end.

18A-PT could enable Intel to compete

While Intel’s Arrow Lake stuck to familiar core layouts, the future might hold something different. The upcoming Nova Lake may feature 52 cores in total, built on new process technologies such as Intel’s 18A and TSMC’s 2nm-class nodes.

18A-PT, a high-performance variant of 18A, is on the cards, and that technology might enable Intel to utilize 3D die stacking to potentially compete with AMD’s gaming crown.

However, this is not expected to land until at least 2028, meaning that AMD could have years to gain market share among gaming enthusiasts.

According to the Steam Hardware Survey, things don’t exactly look catastrophic for Intel, as they currently stand. As of July 2025, Intel still maintains a lead over AMD, capturing 58% of users, compared to AMD’s 41%. So, while AMD might hold the power crown, the battle for overall market domination still rages on, and it remains closer than ever before.



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Reolink's New Floodlight Camera Uses Sensors and AI to Detect Where It Can't See
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Reolink’s New Floodlight Camera Uses Sensors and AI to Detect Where It Can’t See

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Reolink rolled out a new smart home security camera at IFA 2025 that the company says can see beyond its dual camera lenses. It’s called the TrackFlex Floodlight WiFi, and it looks kind of like the Reolink Elite Floodlight WiFi, a camera I recently reviewed, but with a ball-shaped camera housing that rotates to see things that three sensors above them have detected.

This sensor-based approach gives the camera a 270-degree detection range at any given time, according to a press release that Reolink emailed to Gizmodo. The three motion sensors wrap around the front and sides of the unit. A representative I spoke with at Reolink’s IFA booth suggested installing the camera on the corner of your home, surveying a driveway that stretches from the street to a garage farther back, a scene impossible for one fixed-view camera to cover—the TrackFlex could detect that a car is entering the driveway, swivel to face it, then watch it as it drives to the garage.

© Wes Davis / Gizmodo

Like other Reolink cameras, this one stores recordings locally, either with microSD cards (up to 512GB) or Reolink’s NVR and Home Hub devices. Saving videos to a network-attached storage (NAS) device via FTP is also an option. This is Reolink, so expect to be assaulted with options in the company’s app.

As for the TrackFlex’s dual cameras, they’re not recording one broad field of view like the Elite Floodlight WiFi. Instead, one is a standard wide view while the other is a 6x zoom, capable of capturing a lot more zoomed-in detail than the wide lens can. The two floodlights looked exactly like those of the Elite, and can articulate to point up or down, or to bathe a wider area in light. They also offer the same brightness and temperature adjustment as the Elite.

The camera uses the company’s new local AI system called ReoNeura Core, which enables the TrackFlex to do the same sorts of natural language video search that we’re seeing with a lot of other connected-camera AI systems. (See SwitchBot’s new AI Hub.) So, if you want to search your locally stored video for a moment, like when a person with a brown shirt walked into your garage last, you can do that. The Reolink rep I spoke with took me to a pair of displays that showed me what was happening behind the scenes.

© Wes Davis / Gizmodo

On the left, it was a view of what a user might see while using the event notifications screen; you see the camera’s live feed. While on the right, a list of events with descriptions that were mostly pretty accurate—there were people interacting at a convention, and others were walking around in the background—but it got some details wrong. We weren’t at an outdoor event, for example (although it was quite bright in there).

© Wes Davis / Gizmodo

Meanwhile, on the right, the screen showed individual characteristics of the things the model was identifying. Seeing everyone broken down by their attributes had a very police-station-surveillance vibe. ReoNeuro identified one person as a middle-aged male wearing a green, short-sleeve shirt, along with a hat and a bag. In the bottom panel, another middle-aged male—although that person definitely looked younger than me, and I’m still in my prime, I swear—is identified as wearing a long-sleeve shirt with pants, both blue, and as having short hair. All of that detail is effectively keywords for your searches later, and they all seem like things you’d type if you’re looking for specific events that you know the TrackFlex recorded.

But woof, it’s more than a little unnerving to see this in action, and it felt a little off-key to have a Reolink rep so proudly showing it to me. It’s great that this is all happening on device, as I’d rather that than have it happening in a cloud server over which I have no control. It’s convenient and there’s no doubt that I want the convenience of casually searching my footage, but that sure didn’t stop seeing how the sausage is made from giving me the willies.



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Best VPNs We've Tested (September 2025)
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Best VPNs We’ve Tested (September 2025)

by admin


When shopping for a virtual private network, you’ll need to figure out the best VPN for your needs and budget. Here’s what to look for.

Internet speed loss

VPNs somewhat lower your internet speed because you’re routing your traffic through an encrypted server before communicating with apps, websites and other internet services rather than a direct connection. The fastest VPNs feature an average download speed loss of 25% or less.

This table shows the speeds we experienced in our testing. Your speeds will vary depending on factors like your internet service plan and connection type. The percentage of speed lost is intended as a general indicator of how much the VPN slows down your connection; lower numbers represent a faster overall connection.

ProviderSpeed loss NordVPN 3%Proton VPN 16%ExpressVPN 18%Surfshark 21%Mullvad 24%

Privacy

At a minimum, we recommend a VPN with 256-bit encryption (for OpenVPN and IKEv2 VPN protocols) or ChaCha20 (with WireGuard), a strict no-logging policy and DNS leak protection. Because logging is tough to verify, look for regular third-party audits. You can and should be skeptical of your VPN provider’s zero-log claims. Still, VPN audits are important even if they don’t provide the full privacy picture.

Additionally, transparency reports offer peace of mind. We also suggest sticking with a VPN that includes a kill switch, which shuts your internet off in case your VPN unexpectedly disconnects.

More privacy-concerned folks such as investigative journalists or political activists will appreciate advanced features such as obfuscation (which makes it harder for ISPs to determine that you’re using a VPN), Tor over VPN (for additional encryption using the Tor network) and a double VPN (which relies on a second VPN server connection to enhance encryption). Folks with critical privacy needs should consider a VPN provider with jurisdiction outside of the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing communities for even stronger peace of mind.

Server network

When considering VPN server networks, look at the overall number of servers, as well as the individual country locations. For instance, one virtual private network company may have twice the total number of servers as a competitor but half the different country locations, meaning you’ve got fewer international choices. Anything over 60 countries will work for many folks.

You’ll sometimes find specialty servers, such as Tor (The Onion Router) over VPN, Double VPN or obfuscated servers. Onion over VPN and Double VPN servers provide extra privacy by bolstering your encryption even further when compared with a standard VPN connection. On the other hand, obfuscated servers make it more difficult for apps, websites or internet service providers to determine that you’re using a VPN.

Device support

Most virtual private network services offer apps for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android/Android TV, iOS/iPadOS and web browsers. Apple TV apps are increasingly common, with ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN, PIA, NordVPN, PrivadoVPN and IPVanish offering TVOS applications. ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton and PIA boast Linux GUI apps, making them compelling choices for Linux VPNs” target=”_self.

Most VPN companies let you install an app on as many gadgets as you wish, but you’re sometimes limited to simultaneous devices. ExpressVPN allows eight, while NordVPN and Proton give you 10. Surfshark, PIA and IPVanish are unlimited. Even with a provider like Express, Proton or Nord, you can still install a VPN on as many devices as you wish, but you’ll be able to have only a handful of active sessions at once. You can also install a VPN on your router for whole-home coverage, although this will typically void the warranty on the router.

VPN device compatibility

Wondering which VPN services work on which devices? We’ve got you covered.

ExpressVPNNordVPNSurfsharkProtonVPNMullvad Windows (x86 and Arm) ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️MacOS ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Linux ✔️ (with GUI)✔️ (with GUI)✔️ (with GUI)✔️ (with GUI)✔️ (with GUI)Android/AndroidTV ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️iOS/iPadOS ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Fire TV ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Smart TV* ✔️ ✔️✔️✔️✔️Apple TV ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Router ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Browser plugin** ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️Simultaneous connections 810Unlimited105

*Smart television sets running Google TV/Android TV or Fire TV can download VPN apps directly, while LG’s webOS, Samsung’s Tizen OS and Roku TVs require a router VPN.

**For Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Microsoft Edge, Opera and Vivaldi.

Streaming capabilities

VPNs can be great for privacy. They’re also helpful for unblocking region-restricted entertainment content. A VPN lets you stream services like Peacock (for NFL games), Max or Hulu from your home country while traveling abroad. Conversely, VPNs also unlock access to foreign libraries on platforms like Netflix (to watch Wednesday), Disney Plus (for Marvel’s latest shows) and Amazon Prime Video (currently featuring Reacher). You may even be able to save money by using a VPN for streaming. For more info, check out the best VPNs for Amazon Prime Video and the best VPNs for streaming.

Cost

With most VPNs, you can buy virtual private network service on a monthly, bi-annual, annual or multi-year plan. Although multi-year deals typically net you the most savings, we usually recommend sticking with an annual plan for the best savings with the lowest risk. The virtual private network you sign up for may initially be fast, private and great for geo-unblocking, but may become slower, suffer a data breach or stop allowing access to foreign Netflix libraries over a year, at which point you’ll probably want to switch services

Make a budget, then find a VPN provider that fits the bill while being mindful of price hikes. Notably, there are plenty of ways to save money on your VPN subscription, like avoiding raised renewal rates by taking advantage of seasonal discounts like Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. If you’re on a budget, you may want to consider one of the best cheap VPNs, like Surfshark, PIA or Mullvad.



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Tesla Proposes a Trillion-Dollar Bet That It's More Than Just Cars
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Tesla Proposes a Trillion-Dollar Bet That It’s More Than Just Cars

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Tesla launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, earlier this summer, but it’s unclear whether the vehicles driving around the city are technologically advanced enough to count toward that 1 million robotaxi goal. (The proposal specifies that the robotaxis must not have a “human driver,” and the vehicles in Texas have safety monitors sitting in their front passenger seats for city rides and in the driver’s seats for highway trips.)

Meanwhile, the company is reportedly falling well short of its goal to produce 5,000 units of Optimus, its humanoid robot, by the end of this year, having produced only a few hundred. Musk has said that Optimus could one day revolutionize the global economy by replacing the majority of human labor, but The Information reported in July that the Optimus team was having particular trouble with the robot’s hands. The company’s vice president of Optimus robotics, a nine-year Tesla veteran, left in June.

“For Musk to receive the full pay package, Tesla will need to be the leader of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots in a number of countries,” says Seth Goldstein, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, a financial services firm.

Musk’s past pay packages have been unconventional and controversial. Unlike other CEOs, Musk does not receive annual compensation or incentives but is instead paid according to Tesla’s long-term performance. His 2018 pay package, worth more than $50 billion, is still in legal limbo after a shareholder lawsuit accusing the Tesla board of insufficient transparency and independence led to a Delaware judge striking it down last year. (Tesla responded by reincorporating in Texas.) The board granted Musk an interim $29 billion stock award last month.

The proposal demonstrates that, despite Musk’s controversial moves, Tesla’s board sees him as a crucial part of the automaker’s success and that the Musk era is far from over. “This new pay package should keep Elon Musk at Tesla for at least the next decade,” says Goldstein.

The package’s goals double down on the messages of Tesla’s “Master Plan Part IV,” a lofty mission statement posted this week exclusively on X, Musk’s social platform. Tesla’s Master Plans were once cheeky blogs posted directly by Musk onto Tesla’s website, complete with back-of-the-envelope energy cost calculations. The new plan points to Tesla’s more civilizational ambitions. “Autonomy must benefit all of humanity,” one section reads; “Greater access drives greater growth,” reads another, complete with renderings of Optimus robots serving cocktails and watering plants.

But if Musk wants to change the world and make his trillion, he’ll have to stay in his lane—and out of President Donald Trump’s, for whom he once served as “First Buddy”. The board-run committee that put together the pay proposal has met with Musk 10 times since February, the Tesla board wrote in its filing. Among other things, the filing reads, the committee received “assurances that Musk’s involvement with the political sphere would wind down in a timely manner.”



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Zuckerberg caught on hot mic telling Trump ‘I wasn’t sure’ how much to promise to spend on AI in the US

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Mark Zuckerberg has certainly come a long way in his relationship with President Donald Trump. Almost exactly a year after the president threatened the Meta CEO with imprisonment, the two sat side-by-side at a White House dinner, alongside numerous other tech CEOs.

The nearly three dozen CEOs and execs in attendance took turns praising and thanking Trump. But Zuckerberg’s comments were especially notable. In one moment that was widely shared on social media, Trump turns to Zuckerberg and asks “how much are you spending, would say, over the next few years?” Zuckerberg responded that it was “probably going to be something like, I don’t know, at least $600 billion through [20]28 in the US.” Trump seemed to approve. “That’s a lot, thank you Mark, it’s great to have you.”  

But it was a hot mic moment captured later between the two that was especially telling. Zuckerberg, turning to Trump, apologizes and says “sorry, I wasn’t ready …I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.” 

You can watch the whole moment play out in the clip below:

While Zuckerberg has spent the last year trying to curry favor with Trump, their interactions show just how much those efforts have been paying off. A year ago, the then-former president was threatening the Facebook founder with jail time. Now, after donating $1 million to his inauguration, changing Meta’s policies and renouncing DEI, adding a pro-Trump booster to his board, paying $25 million to settle a four-year-old lawsuit  and several private meetings, the two seem to have patched things up. Not only is Zuckerberg promising to spend massive amounts on money in the US on AI infrastructure, he’s seemingly confirming that Trump approves of the specific number.



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The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2025
Gaming Gear

The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2025

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Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well and — thanks to bigger batteries and better robot brains — rarely get tired of doing their job. Over the last few years, they have gone from being utilitarian devices that sweep your floor to full-fledged home robots that can vacuum and mop your home and then trundle off to clean themselves to be ready for the next run.

I’ve been testing robot vacuums for seven years and have run over 70 robot vacuums all over my house. These are my top picks if you’re looking for the best: a robot vacuum that can do it all with limited intervention from you.

Along with my top picks, I have options to fit specific needs, such as mopping or besting pet hair. The good news is that there are a lot of great options. Whether you have a 3,000-square-foot home and three shaggy dogs or a small, stylish apartment you share with a goldfish, there’s a robot vacuum to suit your needs.

$1000

With top-notch vacuuming performance, an easy-to-use app, and built-in voice control, the S8 MaxV Ultra is a superb vacuum and good mop.

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$230

Tap’s RV30 Max Plus is a robot vacuum / mop hybrid with room-specific cleaning, carpet boost, smart navigation, and an optional auto-empty dock.

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What I look for

How I test robot vacuums

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I test robot vacuums constantly. At any time, there are seven or eight of these busy little bots roaming my floors. Alongside everyday use, I put them through a gauntlet of specific tests. This includes testing object detection and avoidance with phone chargers, socks, a pencil, and fake pet poop. I throw in Cheerios or popcorn to see if they know to vacuum that up rather than avoid it. I also run them over oatmeal and flour to see how well they pick up fine debris and have them tackle both thick and low-pile carpets. I watch to see how they handle rug tassels, skinny chair legs, and room transitions.For mopping prowess, I test them on hardwood and tile floors with dried milk, fresh OJ, and ketchup. I monitor how quickly they fill up their bin / auto-empty dock and how efficiently they use water and clean their mop pads.I also set schedules, hook them up to voice assistants, and play with any advanced features in the app. I evaluate how well they map and how easy the maps are to edit and use, as well as test and unique features such as home security camera capabilities, AI cleaning programs, and auto-mop removal.

Cleaning and mopping power

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It’s not all about suction. In my testing, the brush is also a big factor in how well a robot will clean your floors. A large rubber roller brush is much better than a small bristle brush at picking up debris. It’s also less prone to getting tangled up with hair. Two brushes are better than one, and a brush housing that has some flexibility — so it can move with the contours of the floor — is also more effective.It’s hard to find a robot vac that doesn’t have some form of mopping, but not all mops are created equal. I looked for mopping bots that could get up dried-on stains, like milk and ketchup, and scrub up small wet spills without messing themselves up. Oscillating, spinning, or vibrating mop pads clean better than bots that just drag a wet rag around, but the new self-cleaning roller mops that are beginning to appear are even more effective. Auto-carpet sensing is also important since it prevents the robot from accidentally mopping your rug.

Convenience

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A big bin means you don’t need to empty it as often. The largest I’ve seen is 800ml, but anything over 500ml is decent. With many bots now pulling double duty as mopping robots, plus the popularity of self-empty dock / charging bases, it’s getting harder to find small robot vacs with big bins. But they’re worth considering — especially if you have carpets and pets. I love self-empty docks, but sometimes you don’t have space for them, and if you like your robot to be out of sight (living under your bed or sofa), you’ll want a big bin and no dock.Self-emptying docks are becoming standard now and coming down in price (thankfully). A self-empty dock turns the charging base for your robot into a motorized emptying station that sucks out the dirt from its bin. (Warning: this process can be loud!) This saves you from having to pull out the bin after every few runs and empty it yourself. Instead, you’ll have to replace the bag (and buy new ones) when it gets full, generally about once a month. Many robots now have a self-empty dock option you can add later, although buying them together is generally cheaper.

How smart they are

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Another nice-to-have feature, AI-powered obstacle detection helps your robot “intelligently” detect and avoid clutter (and a potential poop apocalypse if it encounters pet waste). These models use cameras (worth noting) to see objects in their path and onboard processors to “decide” how to approach them based on what they see. All AI is not created equal, however, and some are much better at this than others. The end result is that robot vacuums with AI detection are less likely to get stuck when cleaning, so you’re more likely to come home to a clean floor rather than a beached bot.A robot that maps your house will get into every nook and cranny better than one that bumps and rolls around. Mapping also lets you send the robot to clean specific rooms rather than the whole space and add virtual walls to prevent your bot from going where you don’t want it to. These are crucial if you have delicate objects or areas in your home that regularly trap robots. Most robots use variations on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology, such as lidar or vSLAM.

Are they easy to use?

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A good app has easy controls to stop and start your vacuum, scheduling options (including do-not disturb hours), plus good mapping features. Nice-to-have features are room-specific cleaning and settings (so you can tell your vacuum to clean the kitchen or have it mop and vacuum the kitchen but only vacuum the living room). My biggest frustration with apps is maps that are fiddly to update and / or crash and must be rebuilt constantly. Most vacuums now have voice control (see FAQs), but some offer more in-depth control, such as telling Alexa to have the robot clean twice under the dining room table.

Good battery life and repairability

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Nearly all robot vacuums can “recharge and resume” — take themselves back to their dock when they’re low and recharge before picking up where they left off. But a vacuum with at least 120 minutes of runtime (180 is ideal) will clean the whole house in one go. If it takes too long, noisy robots that are constantly running will get shut off by annoyed family members who aren’t about to clean the room for you.Robot vacuums are quite an investment, and it’s important to be able to buy replacement parts to keep them going for longer and have access to good support in case your robot has a serious issue.

$1000

The Good

  • Excellent vacuuming performance
  • Good sonic mopping
  • Extendable side brush gets into corners better
  • Very good app

The Bad

  • Dock is still quite ugly
  • Mopping tray is hard to clean
  • Expensive

Dustbin capacity: 270ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, 20mm / Mop washing: Hot water and heated air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 10,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Dual rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Apple Home via Matter

Roborock’s S8 MaxV Ultra ($1,799.99) is an exceptional vacuum cleaner and a very good mop. Its dual rubber roller brushes and 10,000Pa suction make it great on carpets; its sonic mopping is very good on hard floors, and its improved AI-powered obstacle detection means it will most likely get the job done without getting trapped or derailed.

The S8 MaxV Ultra is the best in the category of “hands-free” robot vacs, bots that do virtually everything for you: empty their bins, refill their mop tanks, and clean and dry their mop pads. Roborock invented this category with the S7 MaxV Ultra and has been steadily improving it.

The S8 MaxV Ultra brings back the RGB camera last seen on the S7 MaxV Ultra, which makes it much better at navigating obstacles.

That’s the big selling point here; this bot is basically hands-free. Fill the S8 MaxV Ultra’s clean water tank and empty its dirty water once a week and change out the dust bag every couple of months. The robot will take care of the rest.

For $100 more, you can dispense with dealing with the water tanks entirely and buy the Refill & Drainage System model. This lets you plumb the charging base directly into your home’s water supply. I’ve not tested this on the Roborock, but my experience with the SwitchBot S10 with the same feature leads me to recommend this option if you can swing it.

The S8 MaxV Ultra uses two small appendages to better get into corners and clean along edges.

The S8 MaxV Ultra comes with excellent AI-powered obstacle detection, bringing back the camera it last had on the S7 MaxV Ultra. It’s not quite as good as Roomba’s obstacle detection — it sometimes confused a pile of Cheerios for a charging cable and avoided them — but it’s much better than the Roborocks that rely on non-camera obstacle detection. It deftly navigates around most household clutter, allowing you to get the job done without having to tidy up.

Roborock has caught up to Roomba on cleaning prowess, and the S8 MaxV Ultra’s dual rubber brushes and 10,000Pa of suction power tackled the pet hair on my fluffy carpet and demolished my oatmeal test.

It also did a better job at mopping than Roomba’s mopping bots, though not quite as well as the Narwal Freo X Ultra or Dreame X40 Ultra, though it’s a better vacuum than either.

Its sonic mopping system — which vibrates its mop pad 4,000 times a minute — ably simulated scrubbing and wiped out my OJ and ketchup tests, though I did have to set it to deep scrub. Plus, the addition of a side mop and flexi-arm brush that extends from the bot helped with cleaning edges and corners.

Roborock’s mobile app is easy to use and comes with a laundry list of features and customizations that give you ample control over your cleaning. The S8 MaxV Ultra also has a built-in voice assistant, which makes getting the bot to clean the mess your kid made after dinner as easy as saying, “Rocky, clean here.”

Roborock also sells the S8 Max Ultra (no V) for $1,599.99. It has the same cleaning hardware as the MaxV but no camera, so its obstacle detection will not be as good. However, you also don’t have to worry about a camera in your house. It has a lower 8,000Pa of suction and lacks a voice assistant, too, which makes it seem overpriced since it’s currently only a couple hundred dollars less than the MaxV.

There are several great vacuum / mop hybrids in this guide. Of them, the S8 MaxV Ultra is the best at vacuuming and obstacle detection, and it’s a very good mop. It can also do both in one run, as it can lift its mop 20mm, which will clear all but the highest-pile rugs. If you have a lot of those, go for the Dreame X40, with its automatic mop removal. Its vacuuming and object detection are a notch below the Roborock’s, but its mopping is a notch above. The Narwal Freo X Ultra is an even better mop than the Dreame, but its obstacle detection isn’t great, and its vacuuming is merely pretty good.

Read my Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra review.

$230

The Good

  • Cheap, even with the auto-empty dock
  • A dual mop and dustbin means no swapping
  • Room-specific cleaning
  • Carpet boost

The Bad

  • Short battery life
  • Slow to recharge
  • Docking can be spotty
  • Basic obstacle detection

Dustbin capacity: 300ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: No / Mop lift: No / Mop washing: No / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: No / Suction power: 5,300Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single rubber bristle hybrid / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts

For around $300, the Tapo RV30 Max Plus is a very capable robot vacuum and mop with some key features usually only found on vacuums that are more than twice its price. These include room-specific cleaning, multiple suction and water levels, smart lidar-based navigation, and an auto-empty dock. With brands like Roomba and Roborock, you’re often paying double for the privilege of not having to empty the bot’s bin.

The Tapo RV30 Max Plus includes a compact auto-empty charging dock.

Thanks to lidar navigation, the RV30 did an excellent job of navigating my house, cleaning the perimeters of the rooms, and then using a mesh grid to clean inside the rooms. I did have to tidy up before it ran, though, as there’s no camera on board or AI-powered obstacle detection — so cables and socks will trip it up.

Its 5,200Pa suction power is impressive on a bot at this price, and ably sucked up Cheerios and dry oatmeal on hard flooring. It left some of the finer dust and debris, as its single bristle / rubber brush isn’t super effective. It fared less well on carpet. However, in the app, I could set it to clean a room three times for each job, after which it had generally picked up all visible debris.

Mopping was better than average for a mop with no pressure or oscillation. It has a wide mop pad, and the bot has a big 300ml tank (which also incorporates a 300ml dustbin), so it applies enough water to do a good surface clean.

Another unique feature for a budget robot is the ability to set customized cleaning for each room, choosing from five suction levels and three water levels as well as the three rotations.

5,200Pa suction power is impressive on a bot at this price

The Tapo app is very simple to use, with an easy-to-edit map that lets you add virtual walls and no-go zones, add furniture, and designate carpet areas. There’s no carpet sensing, so you need to tell it where carpets are if you don’t want it to mop them. You can even set the cleaning direction and build up to four maps — again, features usually only found on higher-end robots.

It’s also super easy to start a clean, and I really like that you can just tap on the map to send the robot to that spot. The biggest downside of the Tapo is its tiny battery, which is just 2,600mAh. That is half the size of most vacs, and it couldn’t clean my entire 800-square-foot downstairs without needing to go back and recharge. It also takes a while to charge and occasionally had trouble repositioning itself on its dock. You can get the RV30 without the auto-empty dock for around $80 less if you prefer an even simpler robot vacuum setup. This way, it will fit under a couch or bed, but you’ll have to manually empty its bin.

Best mopping robot vacuum for hard floors

$550

The Good

  • The best mopping robot
  • Also good at vacuuming
  • Very quiet
  • Big water tanks mean less refilling

The Bad

  • Middling laser-based obstacle avoidance
  • Wonky app
  • Huge charging dock

Dustbin capacity: 1L / Self-empty dock option: No / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop washing: Yes, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 8,200Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, conical rubber bristle hybrid / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts

The Narwal Freo X Ultra is one of the best mopping robots I’ve tested — and it’s a good vacuum, too. Its spinning triangular mop pads rotate at 180RPM with 12n of downward pressure. Combined with its ability to swing slightly to get closer to baseboards, the Narwal does a very good job on hard floors. Its dual four-liter water tanks will keep you going longer than most other mopping bots as well, the majority of which feature smaller tanks.

The Narwal has some innovative features, including dirt sense — which analyzes the dirt level in the water and prompts it to remop — and an ability to adapt the pressure of its mop based on the type of floor, applying more pressure to tile and less to hardwood. “Freo” refers to the bot’s ability to make cleaning “decisions,” including going back to clean dirty floors.

Its charging dock is very big, though, giving off a real Wall-E vibe. But despite the size, there’s no spot for an auto-empty dustbin; instead, Narwal’s disposable onboard bin compresses the dust, and Narwal claims you won’t need to empty it for up to 60 days. It wasn’t close to full after two weeks of testing. A bonus here is that there’s no loud noise, as is the case with most auto-empty docks.

Its charging dock is very big, giving off a real Wall-E vibe

In fact, the Freo X Ultra is one of the quietest bots I’ve tested. Even at full power, it was so quiet that I had to check that it was working. Its anti-tangle brush and 8,200Pa suction did a good job on most carpet, but its 12mm mop lifting isn’t good for plush carpets.

The Narwal can use disposal dustbins that compress dirt, so you don’t have to empty it as often.

Narwal’s obstacle detection is also only okay; there’s no camera, and it routinely eats cables. Its three lasers can identify objects as small as a sock and move around them, and it did pass my fake pet poop test.

The app is very hard to follow, making it tricky to access all of the bot’s features. Mapping was fast, but it didn’t recognize all my rooms on the first go. It did better the second time, although splitting up rooms and naming them in the app was painful. The lack of a camera also means its navigation is spotty, and sending it to clean specific rooms wasn’t always successful. But if you’ve got a lot of hard floors to keep clean, it will do an excellent job.

Best robot vacuum / mop hybrid

$850

The Good

  • Self-removing mop pads
  • Mop extension reaches under edges
  • Self-cleaning washboard
  • Dirt detection tech

The Bad

  • Middling AI obstacle detection
  • Single rubber roller brush
  • App can be flaky

Dustbin capacity: 300ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 20mm / Mop washing: Hot water, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 12,000Pa / Remote check-in: Yes / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single, rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts

The Dreame X40 is the best robot vacuum / mop hybrid because it can drop its mop pads automatically, extend them, and swing them to get under your cabinets and consoles. I watched the X40 spread its mops wide apart and swing behind my TV console, allowing it to access the dust wedged a good inch under it. That’s impressive.

The X40 also features an extending side brush arm to reach corners — like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra — and its dual oscillating mop pads are more effective than Roborock’s thin microfiber pad. If you have a mix of carpeted rooms and hardwood floors with high-pile rugs, the Dreame is the best robot vacuum for you.

The Dreame X30 Ultra shows its splits.

Its signature feature is its ability to automatically remove and reattach its mop pads, depending on whether it’s vacuuming or mopping. This solves the problem of how to vacuum and mop without getting your rugs wet. The robot will do this procedure multiple times during cleaning to ensure carpets are vacuumed and floors are mopped. Genius.

While it’s a superb mopper, its vacuuming prowess is slightly behind the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra because, despite its 12,000Pa suction power, it still only has a single roller rubber brush. The Roborock’s dual rollers are simply better at getting dirt out of carpets and tackling pet hair.

If you have a mix of carpeted rooms and hardwood floors with high-pile rugs, the Dreame is the best robot vacuum for you

Roborock’s app is also more stable and easier to use than Dreame’s, which often crashes and can take a while to load. While the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is my top pick overall, the Dreame X40 is a very good vacuum, and the two companies are neck and neck regarding innovative features.

The X40 can also clean its washboard, something the Roborock can’t. That area can get quite grungy, so it needs a cleaning every few weeks. The X40 has AI-powered smart dirt detection that uses its cameras to identify spills like milk or particularly dirty areas. When it spots something, it will slow down and do a more thorough cleaning. I also like Dreame’s option to vacuum first and then mop, which the Roborock doesn’t offer.

The X40 has AI-powered obstacle detection, although Roborock’s is just a bit better. However, both still get tripped up occasionally by pencils and other small items — something that never happens with the Roombas with this feature.

Best midrange robot vacuum / mop

$550

The Good

  • Good AI-powered obstacle detection
  • Effective mopping
  • Excellent value
  • Nice dock

The Bad

  • Single rubber / bristle brush
  • Lower suction power
  • No heated mop washing
  • Some navigation issues

Dustbin capacity: Unknown / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop washing: Yes, hot air drying / Mapping: Yes, lidar / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: 8,000Pa / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Single rubber / bristle hybrid / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home

The Eufy X10 Pro Omni combines the Eufy Clean X9 Pro mopping robot vacuum and the Eufy X8 Pro self-empty robot vacuum. It’s the first Eufy with a multifunction auto-empty / wash / fill dock, and unlike many bots in this price range, it comes with AI-powered obstacle detection.

With 8,000Pa suction and oscillating dual spinning brushes for mopping, the X10 has all the same functions as the top-of-the-line, all-in-one bots — but it’s not quite as good at any of them. Which is sort of the definition of “midrange.”

The X10 has all the same functions as the top-of-the-line, all-in-one bots — but it’s not quite as good at any of them

The Eufy performed excellently in my mopping tests, even eradicating dried stains with its 1kg of downward pressure. Thanks to an onboard water reservoir, it didn’t have to head home to fill up as frequently as some mopping bots do. It also has heated mop drying to help prevent the base from getting stinky — a first in this price range. (There’s no hot water washing.)

An edge-hugging mode makes the robot swing its behind into the baseboards to help mop edges. With its square-ish shape, it got into corners better than most of the round bots. But its 12mm mop pad lift over carpet wasn’t effective, resulting in its pads getting hung up in a few places.

The Eufy uses a single rubber / bristle roller brush that isn’t as good as top-of-the-line Roombas and Roborocks.

The X10 has great object recognition, allowing it to suck up Cheerios and piles of oatmeal while deftly navigating fake dog turds and cables. However, its navigation sometimes got screwy; it would go into a corner and stay there for a while, trying to figure itself out.

While its vacuuming is good, particularly on carpet and tile surfaces, the single rubber / bristle roller brush lets it down and is a good illustration of my point that it’s not all about suction power; it’s also about the brushes and how you use them. The Eufy’s brush is supposedly anti-tangle — a cutting tool inside the robot should shred the hair — but this wasn’t effective.

The Eufy Clean app is very easy to use, and the lidar-powered mapping was fast and accurate, dividing my rooms correctly on the first try. There are many customization options — including room-specific cleaning, zone cleaning, and customized cleaning — but the app is clear and well laid out.

Best robot vacuum for pet hair

$599

The Good

  • Excellent vacuuming
  • Superior AI obstacle detection
  • Smart scrub feature works well
  • Attractive dock that doubles as a table

The Bad

  • Small mop pad
  • Limited cleaning customization
  • Mapping can take a long time
  • Navigation can be buggy

Dustbin capacity: 250 ml / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop lift: Yes, up and over / Mop washing: Yes / Mapping: Yes, vSLAM / AI-powered obstacle detection: Yes / Suction power: N/A / Remote check-in: No / Keep-out zones: Yes, virtual / Brush style: Dual rubber / Works with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri Shortcuts, Apple Home via the Matter protocol.

While Roombas may have fallen behind the competition in terms of features and innovation, there’s one area in which they reign supreme, and that’s cleaning prowess. Their dual rubber roller brushes rotate in opposite directions to effectively dig up dirt from carpets, and they are by far the best at tackling pet hair on all surfaces. They are also one of the most self-repairable robot vacuums you can buy, with spare parts for most of the bot’s bits readily available.

The newest model, the Combo 10 Max, is the best Roomba for pet hair as it ties for the highest suction power of the current Roomba line, plus it can clean its own mop. It also has top-notch AI-powered obstacle detection that is able to tell the difference between pet poop and a pile of popcorn (and vacuum up one while avoiding the other).

While its mopping isn’t great — the pad is tiny, and there’s no swinging to get along baseboards — it does a decent job, and its retractable mopping system is handy if you have a lot of carpets. All of this makes the Combo 10 Max a great buy for pet parents who are in a daily battle with shedding and occasional muddy paw prints.

The Combo has a redesigned dock that’s very large — to accommodate two water tanks and a dust bag — but it doubles as a table.

The Combo is the first Roomba with a multifunction dock that can refill its mopping tank and self-wash its mopping pad, meaning less hands-on time for you. (The j9 Combo Plus has the same suction power and can refill its mopping tank but can’t wash the mop pad.) The SmartScrub feature that tells the robot to wiggle its butt to scrub your floors works surprisingly well, but it’s really only effective on small areas, making it good to run in hallways and around pet bowls for an extra clean.

The Dirt Detect feature remembers the dirtiest rooms, actively seeking out spots my hairy Wirehaired Pointing Griffon hangs out

The Dirt Detect feature remembers the dirtiest rooms, and I found that meant it actively seeks out the spots my hairy Wirehaired Pointing Griffon hangs out. The 10 Max can also be set to mop only, which is a new option and is handy for deep cleans. But there’s no hot water washing or hot air drying of the mop as there is on similar Dreame and Roborock models, so you’ll want to throw the pad in the washing machine every now and then.

iRobot’s app is also a bit of a pain point. While I appreciate its simplicity, I miss the deeper cleaning customization options that most other high-end robot vacuum apps offer. And it’s recently started popping up ads for Roomba products when I navigate between screens — which is one of the features I did not want to see migrate over from the competition.

The mopping pad is barely there.

While its mapping is very good, it can take a really long time (Roombas use vSLAM, not lidar), and it doesn’t seem to adapt to changes in my home as easily as other robots. (It also doesn’t lose my maps as often as other robots.) I’ve also noticed that the newer Roombas (j9 and 10 Max) suffer from the occasional navigation glitches, occasionally getting confused and needing to be rebooted.

I really like Roomba’s dock design, which, while large enough to accommodate two rather small water tanks, is the most stylish of all the multifunction docks. Plus, because you access the water tanks from the front rather than the top (as on most other models), it can be used as a table. That’s a small quality-of-life upgrade I enjoy.

Overall, it’s a good-looking robot that vacuums really well and is smart enough to get the job done with limited intervention. If you’re not interested in mopping at all, however, save some money and get the Roomba j9 Plus. It has similar cleaning prowess, a self-empty dock, and no messing with mopping.

Other robot vacuums to consider

Dyson’s newest robovac claims to have double the suction power of any other robot vacuum.

  • The 360 Vis Nav ($499.99 $999.99), Dyson’s first robovac in the US in almost a decade, is a powerful beast and the best robot vacuum for carpets I’ve tested. But its navigation needs a lot of work. If you have a simple floor plan with a lot of carpets, it is worth considering, but the short battery life and lack of an auto-empty dock are major cons. Read more in this hands-on.
  • The Roomba j7 ($599.99) is a previous top pick that has great AI-powered obstacle detection, excellent navigation skills, and superior cleaning power. It can be a bit rough with furniture, but it is aggressive at getting your floors clean and is a great vacuum-only Roomba.
  • The Dreame X30 Ultra ($599.98 $899.99) is the older version of my top pick for a vacuum / mop hybrid and is a great buy if you can get it on sale. It does most everything the X40 Ultra does, just with lower suction power (8,3000Pa) and no flexi-arm.
  • The Roborock Q8 Max Plus ($379.99 $659.99) is the bigger brother to the Q5 Pro (my pick for pet hair in my budget robot vacuum guide), adding better obstacle detection (still no camera) and better mopping. However, it has a smaller bin to make way for a much bigger water reservoir for mopping (350ml). If you like the idea of the Q5 Pro but want better mopping, this is a good option.
  • The Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 ($399.99 $699.99) was my previous runner-up pick for a midrange option that self-empties its bin, vacuums, and mops. It mops very well, but you have to manually fill and attach the mop reservoir and empty the bin.

What I’m testing and what’s coming next

Robot vacuum testing involves all members of my household.

  • Roborock’s Saros 10 ($1,299.99 $1,599.99) and 10R ($1,599.99) are upgrades to the S8 MaxV Ultra. Both can automatically remove their mop pads when not needed — a new option for Roborock — and feature an AdaptLift chassis to climb high room transitions. The 10R features 19,000Pa suction power, StarSight 2.0 navigation, and oscillating mops. The Saros 10 has 22,000Pa of suction power, lidar navigation, and the vibrating flat mopping pad of the S8 MaxV.
  • Roborock also recently released the Saros Z70 ($2,599), which is the first mass-produced robovac to feature a robotic arm that can pick up objects like socks and tissues. The arm itself isn’t particularly reliable, but the Z70 still functions as an excellent robot vacuum with 22,000Pa suction power, support for Roborock’s StarSight navigation system, and an AdaptLift chassis. Read our review.
  • In March, iRobot announced a new Roomba lineup that starts at $299 and goes up to $999. All of the robovacs come with lidar navigation and mapping, 7,000Pa suction power, and four suction levels. The pricier 405 and 505 models are the first Roombas to feature dual spinning mopping pads, while the 505 also offers heated mop drying, which is something even the higher-end Combo 10 Max lacks.
  • In April, iRobot also introduced the Roomba Max 705 ($599 $899.99), which comes with an auto-empty dock. The Matter-compatible robovac brings back iRobot’s dual rubber roller brushes, which, based on our previous testing, do an excellent job of picking up pet hair; the 705 also features AI-powered obstacle detection, lidar navigation, and 13,000Pa of suction — the most of any Roomba to date.
  • iRobot recently released the Roomba Max 705 Combo ($1,299.99), an upgraded version of the Roomba Max 705. The step-up model comes with a new self-deploying mop cover to protect carpets from getting wet, along with an extendable mop that cleans corners and wall edges for a more thorough clean.
  • The new Eufy Robot Vacuum Omni E28 ($799.99 with code WS24T2352111 $999.99) is a self-emptying, self-refilling, and self-washing robot vacuum / mop hybrid. The vac comes with a deep cleaner integrated into the charging dock, which you can use to spray clean water on stains before sucking everything into a separate wastewater tank. It’s also powerful, boasting up to 20,000Pa of suction power, and offers AI-powered obstacle detection and Matter support.
  • The Dreame X50 Ultra ($1,259.99 $1,699.99) adds a “motorized swing arm” that acts like a leg, allowing the robovac to climb a transition up to 6cm tall. Otherwise, it’s a lot like the X40 Ultra, only with higher suction power.
  • The Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni ($899.99 $1,399.99) is the first Deebot with a roller mop. It features an extendable mop that can clean itself, boasts 18,000Pa of suction power, and comes with a redesigned auto-empty fill dock.
  • The Switchbot K10 Plus Pro Combo ($379.99 with on-page coupon 399.99) is an upgrade to the compact K10 Plus, a previous pick for the best robot vacuum for small spaces. It has better obstacle detection and a bump up to 3,000Pa of suction power. Plus, its auto-empty dock incorporates a manual stick vacuum.
  • The Switchbot S20 robot vacuum / mop hybrid ($640 with code SLOD20 $799.99), which looks like the Switchbot S20 Pro announced at CES, launched in early August. It features an extendable roller mop and side brush, as well as 15,000Pa of suction power, which is more than twice that of our previous pick for the best mopping vacuum (the last-gen S10).
  • SharkNinja’s PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro 2-in-1 robot vacuum / mop ($699.99 $999.99) can lift itself over rugs by up to 20mm. Uniquely, its automatic empty /wash / dry cleaning station doesn’t require bags.
  • Roborock’s Qrevo Curv ($1,099.99 $1,599.99) can raise itself to clear thresholds up to 40mm. The svelte-looking bot gets its name from a curved FlexiArm Arc side brush, which helps prevent hair from tangling as much.
  • Narwal’s Freo Z Ultra ($949.99 with on-page coupon $1,499.99) is an upgrade to my current pick for the best mopping bot. It features dual cameras and dual AI chips for seeing and identifying objects, which should help with obstacle detection and vacuuming methods.
  • The Eufy S1 Pro ($949.99 with on-page coupon $1,499.99) has a long roller mop that self-cleans as it mops and features a square-ish design that allows it to get into corners more easily. A single rubber roller brush, 8,000Pa of suction, and 3D-powered obstacle detection tackle the vacuuming.
  • The Matic is a $1,095 robot vacuum that doesn’t need a cloud connection and uses cameras to navigate. It’s also the first robovac mop I’ve seen that can suck up wet spills as well as dry ones. Here’s some video of it in action.

Robot vacuum FAQ

Does suction power matter in robot vacuums?

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Suction power is measured in pascals (Pa), and while most vacuums offer between 5,000 and 8,000, we’re starting to see robots with 18,000 and even 22,000Pa. Higher suction power will do a better job getting the fine dust and debris off your floor, but it’s important that it’s paired with effective brushes. The real key to a clean floor with a robot vac is consistency. Run it daily if you can; it won’t keep up as well if it only runs once a week. If you want hands-free cleaning everywhere, you’ll want to budget for one per floor or be prepared to move it around. You can also buy extra charging bases, and most models can map multiple floors.

Do all robot vacuums work with voice control?

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Yes, every Wi-Fi-connected robot vacuum worth its salt today works with Alexa or Google smart speakers for voice control. However, some are limited to stop, start, pause, and maybe suction level, whereas others can be told to go clean specific areas. Here’s how to set up a bot with Alexa voice control or Google Home voice control. A couple of manufacturers now also work with Siri Shortcuts, so you can use Apple’s Siri voice assistant to command your bot. Robot vacuums are now part of Matter, meaning more opportunities for smart home integration and native Siri voice control for robot vacuums.

Which robot vacuums will work with Matter?

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Matter is a new smart home standard that allows connected gadgets to work with any smart home platform, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. When connected to your smart home platform through Matter, you should be able to control basic robot actions including start / stop and changing cleaning modes, as well as get alerts directly in the app, meaning you won’t need to use the manufacturer’s app for these functions.The latest Matter spec, Matter 1.4, adds support for cleaning specific areas, so while you will still need the manufacturer app to set up a map, you will be able to use your smart home platform app and / or voice assistant to direct the robot to do things like clean the kitchen or clean downstairs. Samsung SmartThings and Amazon both support robot vacuums in Matter; Apple added it to iOS 18.4, and Google said support is coming soon.While Amazon Alexa and Google Home have supported robot vacuums for years via the cloud, Matter will bring this control locally. It will also bring support to Apple Home for the first time, allowing you to control them with Siri through HomePods and add them to scenes and automation.There are still relatively few robot vacuums that support Matter. As of September 2025, that list includes:Ecovacs X8 Pro OmniEcovacs Deebot X2 ComboSwitchBot S20SwitchBot S10SwitchBot K10 Pro PlusSwitchBot K10 PlusDreame X50 UltraDreame X40 UltraRoborock Saros 10 and 10RRoborock Saros Z70Roborock S8 MaxV UltraRoomba Combo 10

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Update, September 5th: Adjusted pricing / availability. Sheena Vasani also contributed to this post.

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An image of iPhone 17 dummy units in five shades
Gaming Gear

Apple will need to show off truly unique AI features for the iPhone 17 to convince me to upgrade

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Apple’s next big iPhone event is just around the corner, and the iPhone 17 lineup is likely to take center stage. I’ll be looking to see how Apple melds the new hardware with its AI ambitions. Because unless there’s something unique to the new devices, specifically relating to AI, I’m not sure I really want to upgrade.

There have been rumors flying around Apple’s AI plans ever since Apple Intelligence started rolling out. But that has mostly seemed like just the same set of AI features available on every device with an occasional Apple twist. If the company wants this launch to stand out, it’ll need to show how the iPhone 17 can do something that no other Apple device, perhaps no other smartphone, can do using AI. Something connected to the hardware.

My high expectations fit with Apple’s teasing of “Awe Dropping” news. Presumably, that’s not just because of how much the high-end version of the new phones will cost. But Apple will need more than just a coat of AI paint on the otherwise impressive piece of technology.


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Unique AI

Apple has come off as pretty cautious about AI until now. Sure, Apple Intelligence can help with rewriting emails, summarizing notes, and making personalized emojis, but it’s hardly rewriting how people live their lives.

I admit I’m not sure what my ideal announcement would be. But it shouldn’t be just another text editor or image generator. I want an AI feature that feels like it couldn’t exist on anything but this phone. Something so tightly tied to the hardware, sensors, and Apple ecosystem that it becomes immediately obvious why this phone couldn’t have come out last year or even last week.

Perhaps it’s an AI model that can read my expression and start giving me directions home just from a confused look on my face. Or turning a still into an AI-powered GIF faster than I could type a description of one.

I’m not expecting a holographic AI double of myself to appear in the air or anything, but so many ideas we’ve accepted as common features would have been far-fetched at best a few years ago. And the new iPhones are certain to have the hardware to power some wild ideas. Faster processors, keen sensors, and neural engines that can mimic human conversation at an astonishing level are capable of doing much more than creating an emoji of a dog with a cowboy hat.

So if Apple wants to win me over at this upcoming iPhone event, I don’t need another time-lapse video of Cupertino drone shots and a Jony Ive knockoff voice; I want to see AI doing things my phone never could. Otherwise, I’m happy sticking with my already quite powerful device that’s already paid for. When Tim Cook says there’s one more thing, it should be something I won’t be able to see anywhere else.

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Pete Hines, Vice President of Bethesda Softworks, speaks during the Bethesda E3 conference at the Event Deck at LA Live on June 10, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. The E3 Game Conference begins on Tuesday June 12. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Gaming Gear

Former Bethesda marketing VP says he fought against reusing the Prey name for Arkane’s 2017 immersive sim: ‘I definitely pissed some people off internally over that’

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Arkane’s 2017 immersive sim Prey is a genuinely great videogame, with a genuinely weird name—shared with a pre-existing shooter and a famously cancelled sequel that it has absolutely nothing to do with. Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio said a few years ago that he really did not want to call it Prey, and it turns out he was not alone on that: Former Bethesda marketing and communications boss Pete Hines said in an interview with Dbltap that he was dead-set against it too.

“I definitely pissed some people off internally over that because I fought so hard against using that name,” Hines said. “I’m the head of the spear, but I had a lot of people across my team—brand, PR and community—and we feel like we’re burdening it with a name where we spend more time explaining why it’s called Prey than we do talking about the game.”

The reason for all that time spent explaining, as previously noted, is that the whole thing was so odd. Prey—the original—was developed by Human Head Studios and released in 2006, and it was quite good. A sequel was planned, although it was more of a spinoff, following the adventures of a completely different character in a completely different setting: A great cinematic trailer set a bar that the planned sequel couldn’t quite clear, and it was ultimately scrapped.


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Years later, Bethesda decided to resurrect the title for a completely unrelated project, and thus one of the best immsims of all time was hung with a needlessly confusing name. Explanations as to exactly why were never entirely convincing, and according to Colantonio, the Arkane founder, nobody at the studio wanted it—and being forced to use the name was part of why he decided to leave Arkane just a couple months after Prey (2017) was released.

Hines told Dbltap he regrets losing his battle against calling the game Prey, but added that “nobody on this planet could have put more of a good faith effort into changing minds on that.”

“My whole point was, look how much time we spend talking about what the game is versus why it’s called this and like, that is wasted energy. That is wasted excitement,” Hines said. “We could be turning that into something positive.”

I sure don’t disagree. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that recycling the Prey name was responsible for its unfortunate underperformance, but it surely didn’t help—and with the option to call it literally anything else on the table, I will never understand why Bethesda was so determined to stick with it. Regardless of that, though, it really is a phenomenal game, and if you haven’t played it yet it’s your lucky day, because it’s currently on sale for 80% off—just $6—on GOG.

This wasn’t the only interesting reminiscence in the interview: Hines also shared some fun memories of the great Fallout 76 canvas bag debacle: “When the fuck did we add a canvas bag to this collector’s edition?”



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10 Indie Genre Films We're Excited for This Fall
Gaming Gear

10 Indie Genre Films We’re Excited for This Fall

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You’d be hard-pressed to be a movie fan if you didn’t find a big Hollywood release to be excited about this fall. Maybe it’s the return of the Avatar, Predator, or Tron franchises. Maybe it’s a new film from an iconic filmmaker like Edgar Wright, Guillermo del Toro, or Yorgos Lanthimos. Or, maybe you can’t wait to be scared by new films in the Conjuring, Black Phone, or Five Nights at Freddy’s franchises. Whatever the case, as usual, Hollywood tries to have something for everyone. But there’s always more.

Below, we’ve got 10 genre films that aren’t from major studios and often don’t have big-name stars, but we’re still excited to see them. There’s some horror, there’s some romance, there’s some animation, and more. But all could potentially be flying under your radar.

Rabbit Trap (September 12)

Dev Patel stars in this Sundance film about a couple who move to the woods only to discover a mysterious, otherworldly sound.

Night of the Reaper (September 19 on Shudder)

We love a good period slasher film, and Night of the Reaper, about a babysitter haunted by the titular slasher, sounds like it’s going to deliver exactly that.

Xeno (September 19)

Kevin Hart produced, but doesn’t star in, this story of a young girl and a mysterious creature who go off on an adventure.

Good Boy (October 3)

An adorable dog witnesses his owner encounter an escalating series of paranormal activities. No, not the movies.

V/H/S/Halloween (October 3 on Shudder)

In what’s basically become an annual tradition, the VHS franchise is back with another series of spooky anthologies, all themed around everyone’s favorite holiday.

Shelby Oaks (October 3)

A woman believes a new discovery may be the key to finding her long-lost sister and the demon potentially behind it all.

Deathstalker (October 10)

The latest film from director Steven Kostanski (The Void, PG: Psycho Goreman) is an epic fantasy horror adventure. Just the way we like them.

The poster for Queens of the Dead – IFC

Queens of the Dead (October 24)

Katy O’Brian stars in this neon-infused horror comedy about what happens when a group of people in a club realizes a zombie apocalypse is happening outside.

Eternity (November 26)

The Scarlet Witch, aka Elizabeth Olsen, returns. Only this time, she’s dead. And in the afterlife, she has to choose between her two husbands.

Scarlet (December)

A new anime from director Mamoru Hosoda, Scarlet follows a sword-fighting princess on an adventure through the afterlife. Originally set for wide release this year, it was recently pushed into next year, but it will get a small, awards-qualifying run sometime in December.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.



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Best Apple Watch for 2025
Gaming Gear

Best Apple Watch for 2025

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Apple Watch Series 10 Apple Watch Ultra 2Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen)Shape SquareSquareRectangularWatch size 42mm, 46mm49mm40mm, 44mmMaterials, finishes Aluminum, titaniumTitaniumAluminum, Midnight, Starlight, SilverDisplay size, resolution 42mm: 1.65-inch OLED 446 x 374 pixels; 46mm: 1.81-inch 496 x 416 pixels1.91-inch, 502 x 410-pixel OLED40mm: 324 x 394, 44mm: 368 x 448Dimensions 42mm: 42 x 36 x 9.7mm; 46mm: 46 x 39 x 9.7mm44mm x 49mm x 14.4mm40mm: 40 x 34 x 10.7 mm, 44mm: 44 x 38 x 10.7 mmWeight 42mm (Wi-Fi): 30 g; 42mm (cellular): 29.3 g; 42mm (titanium): 34.4 g; 46mm (Wi-Fi): 36.4 g; 46mm (cellular): 35.3 g; 46mm (titanium): 41.7 g61.4g40mm GPS: 26.4g, 40mm Cellular: 27.8g, 44mm GPS: 32.9g, 44mm Cellular: 33gColors Jet black, rose gold, silver; titanium: slate, gold, naturalNatural titaniumMidnight, Starlight, SilverAlways On YesYesNoInterchangeable bands YesYesYesGPS YesYes (L1 and L5)YesAutomatic workout detection YesYesYesCompass YesYesYesAltimeter YesYes (operating range: -500m to 9,000m)Always-on altimeterWater/Dust resistance Water resistant up to 50m (5ATM), IP6X (dust)10ATM (100 meters) and recreational scuba diving up to 40 metersWater resistant up to 50m (5ATM)Calls YesYesYes (Cellular only)Microphone YesYes (3-mic array)YesSpeaker YesYesYesVoice assistant Yes (Siri)Yes (Siri, on-device)SiriMobile Payments Yes (Apple Pay)Yes (Apple Pay)Ys (Apple Pay)Sleep tracking YesYesYesPeriod tracking YesYesYesSensors Accelerometer, altimeter, gyro sensor, temperature sensor, compass, third-gen optical heart sensor, electrical heart sensor, ambient light sensor, depth gauge, water temperature sensorSPo2 (blood oxygen), ECG, optical heart, ambient light, high dynamic range gyroscope, high-g accelerometer, water temperature, depth gauge + appSecond-gen optical heart sensor, accelerometer, High dynamic range gyroscope, Compass, Always-on altimeter, Ambient light sensorEmergency features Fall detection, crash detection, Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, noise monitoring, BacktrackInternational emergency calling, Emergency SOS, crash detectionEmergency SOS, International emergency calling, Crash Detection, Fall Detection, Noise monitoring, BacktrackCompatibility iOS 18 and neweriOS 17iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16 and newerSoftware WatchOS 11WatchOS 11WatchOS 11Processor S10 SiP with 64‑bit dual core processor, 4‑core Neural EngineApple S9S8 SiP, 64-bit dual-core, 2-core Neural EngineConnectivity Bluetooth 5.3, 2nd gen Ultra Wideband chipLTE and UMTS, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.3Bluetooth 5.3, LTE/UMTS (Cellular model)Memory and storage 64GB64GB32GBCharging USB-C fast charging cableUSB-C magnetic fast chargingMagnetic charging cable, 80% in ~1.5 hoursBattery life Up to 18 hours normal use; up to 36 hours in low power modeUp to 36 hours; up to 72 hours (low power mode)Up to 18 hoursBattery capacity Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n)UnavailableNot specifiedUS price 42mm: $399 (Wi-Fi); 42mm: $499 (cellular); 42mm: $699 (titanium); 46mm: $429 (Wi-Fi); 46mm: $529 (cellular); 46mm: $749 (titanium)$79940mm GPS: $249, 44mm GPS: $279 40mm GPS + Cellular: $299, 44mm GPS + Cellular: $329UK price 42mm: £399 (Wi-Fi); 42mm: £499 (cellular); 42mm: £699 (titanium); 46mm: £429 (Wi-Fi); 46mm: £529 (cellular); 46mm: £749 (titanium)£79940mm GPS: £219, 44mm GPS: £249, 40mm GPS + Cellular: £269, 44mm GPS + Cellular: £299Australian price 42mm: AU$649 (Wi-Fi); 42mm: AU$809 (cellular); 42mm: AU$1,199 (titanium); 46mm: AU$699 (Wi-Fi/Bluetooth); 46mm: AU$859 (cellular); 46mm: AU$1,279 (titanium)AU$1,39940mm GPS: A$399, 44mm GPS: A$449, 40mm GPS + Cellular: A$479, 44mm GPS + Cellular: A$529



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