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Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 version 26H2 is the last release of Windows 11 that will support PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 850 processor. The company added the notice to the Windows 11 Home and Pro page on its lifecycle website, which now states that "Windows 11, version 26H2 is the last version that will support devices with Snapdragon 850 processors." Snapdragon 850 devices remain eligible for the new release, which Microsoft started rolling out on September 29, 2026.

Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12 Plus, its new flagship Android tablets, with prices starting at $1,400 and $1,200 in the US. Both models go on sale on October 7 in Gray and Silver, and Samsung says the new generation brings better performance, longer battery life, and its latest Galaxy AI features. The two tablets run on MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 chipset and ship with One UI 9 based on Android 17.

Microsoft has opened its Xbox Disc-to-Digital program to all players on Xbox Series X|S, allowing owners of physical Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One game discs to receive a digital license for those games. Xbox announced the rollout on September 29, 2026, after Xbox Insiders tested the feature for about a month, and says it works with most Xbox Series X and Xbox One physical discs. The program creates a digital license for a disc as if the game had been bought on the digital Xbox Store.

A New Mexico jury has found that Facebook violated the state's Unfair Practices Act (UPA) more than 43 million times, according to the New Mexico Department of Justice. The verdict in State of New Mexico v. Facebook, Inc. concludes that Meta's social network made misleading statements to consumers in the state about its data practices, and the company now faces civil penalties that could reach billions of dollars.

Rockstar Games has revealed new GTA 6 details, confirming hurricanes and tropical storms, more than 170 animal species, and six regions in the fictional state of Leonida. Rockstar developers shared the information in a cover story interview published on September 29, less than two months before Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 19.

Mozilla has released Firefox 157, rolling out the browser's new design to everyone on desktop and mobile, according to a September 29 post on the Mozilla Blog and the official Firefox 157 release notes. Mozilla describes the update as the biggest visual refresh in years, with a modernized look across toolbars, the sidebar, menus, and individual features. Testers have been using the new design in Firefox Nightly for the past few months.

Signal has released version 8.30 of its messaging app, bringing encrypted on-device backups to iOS and the desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux. With this release, Signal says its secure backups feature is available on every supported platform, completing the first phase of a project that started on Android nearly a year ago. Secure backups let users create end-to-end encrypted copies of their chats and restore them on another device, for example after losing a phone.

Microsoft has released the Windows 11 2026 Update, also known as Windows 11 version 26H2, as announced on September 29 in a Windows Experience Blog post by John Cable, Vice President of Product Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery. The update is available now for eligible devices running Windows 11 version 24H2 or 25H2, and Microsoft is shipping it through a controlled feature rollout rather than to every PC at once. For most users, the move to 26H2 is small.

OpenAI is preparing an always-on assistant for ChatGPT called "o," after the unannounced feature briefly appeared in the list of benefits for the $100 ChatGPT Pro plan. Users spotted the line "o, your always-on assistant" on the plan page before it was removed. OpenAI has not confirmed or denied that it is working on the assistant, and the feature is not currently available to any ChatGPT subscribers.

Microsoft is testing a version of Excel that lets a single cell hold more than one value, a break from the spreadsheet's long-standing one-cell, one-value model. The preview adds lists, arrays in cells, and nested arrays, according to a Microsoft 365 Insider blog post by Jake Armstrong, senior product manager for Excel. The feature is opt-in and currently limited to Microsoft 365 Insiders in the Excel Beta Channel on Windows and Mac.