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Buckle up for more subscriptions

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Buckle up for more subscriptions

Two weeks ago, Garmin announced it was launching a new subscription. Where the Garmin Connect app had previously offered everything from in-depth metrics and training plans for free, the beloved fitness tech company was now adding premium AI summaries, among other features, behind a paywall. In The Verge comments, my social media mentions, and the r/Garmin subreddit, cries about enshittification ensued.

Then, earlier this week, Garmin-competitor Polar announced that it, too, was launching a premium subscription called Polar Fitness Plan. There was no AI component, but in a nutshell, Polar is now asking long-time users to pay for training plans that it had previously, in some capacity, offered for free.

The march toward subscriptions, particularly in the wearable space, didn’t crop up overnight. You could trace it back to Apple’s infamous services event in 2019 (if not earlier), when the company made a marked shift from hardware to services. But Garmin and Polar’s examples stand out. In the world of premium rugged smartwatches, long-time fans often accepted the several hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars for their hardware because they didn’t paywall features.

“Garmins have always felt a little on the high side price wise, but it was justifiable as there was no ongoing cost,” Threads user aaronpfisher told me when I asked Garmin loyalists how they felt. “Strava have taken more and more and hidden behind a paywall and that’s how I fear this will end up too.”

“Customers are rightly worried that all of the best features will be behind a paywall,” says subscriptions expert Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction. “They have told customers not to worry — that the base software will always be available for free. But they have not been clear about whether or how much they will continue to improve the free version.”

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It’s an understandable frustration. Generally, Baxter says, customers are resistant to subscribing to access features or their variations if they’ve previously received them for free. That’s borne out in recent examples. Oura Health, maker of the popular smart ring, faced immense backlash upon launching a subscription alongside Oura Ring Gen 3 in 2021. Recently, popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, also incurred the internet’s wrath when he introduced a subscription to his wallpaper app. Likewise, BMW also received heat when it tried to add a monthly subscription for heated seats in its cars.

But that anger might be something consumers have to get used to in the coming months. Increasingly, hardware sales no longer keep the lights on — and President Trump’s tariffs will only add fuel to the subscription wars.

Regardless of what the final tariff rates are, experts who have spoken to The Verge largely agree that gadget prices — and the price of everything else — will rise. Should nothing change, it might spur short-term buying, as consumers rush to snap up devices before price hikes. It may lead to people holding onto their devices longer and buying less in the mid-to-long term. In that scenario, charging for services becomes the most obvious way to keep the lights on.

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow.”

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow,” says Baxter, noting that Trump’s tariffs will push companies to focus on accelerating software and software-as-a-service subscriptions. “It also might change how they manufacture their products—designing for long-term stability and software flexibility. If companies designed hardware to last twice as long, and to deliver much of the value through software upgrades, they might be able to funnel more of their revenue through the ‘software’ side than the ‘hardware’ side.”

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The question is whether companies can convince their customers the cost is worth it. Simply slapping on new features without thinking of the value they can provide could alienate loyal users. In fitness tech, athletes have largely decried Strava’s attempt to add value to its subscription through AI summaries, describing the feature as useless. (Or, more cuttingly, like “reading a book report a third-grader wrote.”)

Either way, it doesn’t look like there’ll be any relief for subscription fatigue any time soon.

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It’s the final day of Prime Day 2025, and the deals are still live

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It’s the final day of Prime Day 2025, and the deals are still live

Editor’s note: That’s a wrap, folks! As Prime Day 2025 draws to a close, we’ll no longer be updating this article with additional deals and insights. Plenty of great deals remain, however, so be sure to check out all of our Prime Day coverage for anything you may have missed.

There are mere hours left of Amazon’s extended Prime Day extravaganza. And, yeah, we’re a little exhausted, but after days of lightning deals and all-time low prices, these discounts won’t be around for much longer. So, if you’ve been hesitant to jump on these laptop deals before heading back to school, now’s your time to act. Typically, Prime Day is your last opportunity to take advantage of bottom-dollar prices until Black Friday / Cyber Monday, so it may be a while before you see prices plummet on a gadget you’re interested in buying.

Really, there’s an overwhelming amount of Prime Day deals, so to make things easier to navigate, we’ve organized all of our favorites by category below. That will allow you to quickly find exactly what you’re looking for — or even uncover a deal on something you didn’t know you wanted.

Tablet and e-reader deals

Soundbar and Bluetooth speaker deals

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Verge favorites and other miscellaneous deals

Update, July 11th: Added several more deals, including those for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Razer’s Kishi Ultra mobile controller, and Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar Plus.

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Massive scam spreading designed to trick you and steal your money

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Massive scam spreading designed to trick you and steal your money

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Look at the image. That’s not the real Omaha Steaks. It’s from a fake site designed to steal your money.

It’s happening all over the internet right now. You see a great deal on name-brand stuff, a new smartwatch, fancy cookware, maybe some designer jeans, and you click. 

Everything looks real. The logos, the layout, even Apple and Google Pay are options. But it’s a scam, and now your credit card info is out there.

5-MINUTE CLEANUP FOR YOUR PHONE AND COMPUTER

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A massive scam targeting you

Silent Push analysts uncovered thousands of fake websites posing as trusted stores like Apple, Michael Kors, Harbor Freight, REI, Omaha Steaks and more. There’s a massive global scam operation that uses real payment methods on fake checkout pages. Like thousands-of-sites massive.

An image of a fake “Omaha Steaks” website designed to steal your money. (Silent Push)

The twist? The criminals, likely based in China, take your payment and ghost you. No product. No refund. No customer service. Total fake-out.

I’M A TECH PRO AND THESE ARE MY SECRETS TO BETTER FLIGHTS AND LUXURY TRAVEL

They cloned sites

They’re copying everything. Logos, layouts, even the checkout process, so much so that you’d swear you were on the real REI website while buying $10 trail shoes. 

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But there were some sites with mismatched logos and products. A Harbor Freight clone showed Wrangler jeans.

photo illustration of person holding a credit card shopping online

FILE PHOTO: A photo illustration of a person shopping online. (iStock)

Even worse: These scam sites are popping up faster than hosting companies can take them down. Many are still up right now.

IS YOUR PHONE LISTENING TO EVERYTHING YOU SAY? IT’S COMPLICATED

Don’t fall for it 

  • Slow down and read. Misspelled words, weird domain names like “nordstromltems.com” (that’s an L, not an I) or random products are huge red flags.
  • Use virtual cards or a credit card. Not a debit card. You need that fraud protection.
  • Stick to the real URL. Skip the sketchy ads. Always type the URL in yourself.
  • If the deal looks too good, it probably is a scam. Period.
Hacking

FILE PHOTO: A photo illustration of a cybercriminal. (iStock)

Bottom line: If the deal looks like it crawled straight out of your dreams, it’s probably from your nightmares. Slow down before you click “buy.” 

Now you know this is happening. This scam campaign is a big one, and you need to stay sharp. Help save the world and use the icons below to share this know-how with your family and friends.

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Here are 58 Prime Day deals you can still nab for $50 or less

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Here are 58 Prime Day deals you can still nab for  or less

Amazon Prime Day is an excellent time to save on a wide range of big-ticket items, including 4K TVs, laptops, and the latest pairs of noise-canceling headphones. But if you, like me, are in the market for something more budget-friendly, rest assured that there are plenty of deals to be had for $50 or less. Thankfully, we’ve sifted through hundreds of discounts to find a host of Bluetooth speakers, charging accessories, video games, smart home devices, and other gadgets that come in under that threshold. It’s the final day of Prime Day, which means these deals aren’t going to be available for much longer.

While Prime Day 2025 runs a little longer than previous installments — the event lasts through July 11th this year — these sub-$50 deals might sell out quickly. The good news is retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy are matching Amazon’s pricing in some instances, giving you more places to shop over the next few days. We’ll continue to update this post as Prime Day progresses, but for now, feel free to browse the options below.

Headphone and earbud deals

Other miscellaneous deals

Update, July 11th: Adjusted to reflect current pricing and availability, and to provide a link for readers to our coverage of Prime Day day four.

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