Mobile Tech & Gadgets

With the new increase, the Netflix plan with ads already costs more than what it cost to watch the platform without advertising two years ago

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Netflix has just confirmed a new price increase in Spain. When the platform presented the plan with ads in 2022, it did so as the economic option for those who did not want to pay the full rate. Four years later, as Antonio Ortiz emphasized in Xthat plan with advertising costs more than the old basic plan cost without any type of advertising, which was eliminated in 2023. The new prices. The increase affects the three rates available in Spain. This is how they look: Standard Plan with ads: It goes from 6.99 to 8.99 euros per month, an increase of two euros or close to 29%. Standard Plan without ads: It goes up from 13.99 to 14.99 euros. Premium Plan: Access to four simultaneous screens, 4K resolution and without ads, scale from 19.99 to 21.99 euros, surpassing the barrier of 20 euros per month for the first time. This is the second price increase in less than two years, since in October 2024 the company increased its rates in Spain. The new prices are now active for new users and will apply to current users in the next billing cycle. Ten years reviewing upwards. Netflix arrived in Spain in October 2015. Since then, the evolution of its rates describes a trajectory without exceptions. In 2017 the Standard plan increased by one euro and the Premium plan by two. The same pattern was repeated in 2019 and 2021. In 2022 it introduced the plan with ads at 5.49 euros, and in 2023 it eliminated the basic plan of 7.99 euros to push towards that advertising option. Already in 2021 we were talking about how the Premium plan had risen 50% in four years. It has not stopped doing so: currently it costs 21.99 euros, in 2017 11.99. Almost double in nine years. The paradox of the cheap rate. As we say, when the plan with advertisements arrived in Spain it did so 5.49 euros per month. Subsequently It went to 6.99 euros and now stands at 8.99 euros, which represents a joint increase of around 64% since its launch. That is, Netflix’s cheapest option has gone above what the old Basic plan without ads cost, which remained at 7.99 euros until its final elimination. In other words: whoever today wants to pay as little as possible on Netflix accepts advertising and pays more than what those who had a completely ad-free subscription paid two years ago. Because. The company often justifies these revisions as necessary to sustain investment in content. Netflix plans to allocate about $20 billion to this aspect in 2026, 10% more than in 2025. But there is a very clear reason for these increases to arrive at a fixed and almost biannual cadence: Netflix has more than 325 million global subscribers and previous increases have not caused significant falls in its user base. Put into practice: the plan with ads accumulates more than 190 million monthly active users and represents 55% of new registrations in markets with enabled advertisingaccording to the company’s own data. It is the segment that has grown the most, and also the one that suffers the greatest percentage increase in this last round. The end of the climbs? At the beginning of this month, a court ruling in Italy It could mark a before and after in the relationship between the platform and the continent’s regulators. A court in Rome ruled that price increases applied by Netflix in Italy between 2017 and 2024 are illegal under the national consumer code, which requires specific and advance justification of any price change. Premium subscribers active since 2017 could receive refunds of up to 500 euros and those on the Standard plan, around 250. Netflix has 90 days to notify all those affected through its website and national media, under penalty of 700 euros per day for delay. The judges’ decision is a good blow for the finances of Netflix, which is going to appeal the ruling, and which could affect the platform’s more than 5.4 million subscribers in Italy. The potential bill for the platform could exceed 2 billion euros. The door to similar litigation in other European countries remains open, although the transposition of European Directive 93/13/EEC on which the Italian court’s decision is based varies between legislations. In Spain, for now, it can be applied but a comparable judicial resolution has not yet been reached, although FACUA has filed a complaint before the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which could also end the platform in court. In Xataka | 29 years later, Netflix has become the television it promised to replace. That’s why Wall Street has punished her

Two neobanks without offices are putting Spanish banks in trouble. And the worst for the IBEX is yet to come

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Revolut accumulates 6 million customers in Spain. Trade Republic has doubled its own in ten months. When Revolut grants mortgages, we will talk about a war that escalates. Why is it important. It is not common for actors outside the system to appear in a sector as large and historic as banking (without a network of branches or lobby nor the level of advertising of the large ones) and achieve a scale comparable to that of medium-sized entities, in a very short time. They have also done so by attracting younger clients with a greater propensity to operate: exactly the profile that generates the most commissions and that is most difficult for traditional banks to recover. The context. Spain has been a seemingly impenetrable financial market for years: highly banked, highly concentrated after the 2008 crisis and dominated by four or five entities that control the majority of the retail business. The digital commitment of big banks (Imagin from CaixaBank or Openbank from Santander) is working well, but the essence of the matter has not changed: they are subsidiary brands that do not threaten the core business of their parent companies. Revolut and Trade Republic, on the other hand, are independent entities with no internal conflict to resolve. In figures: More than 6 million Revolut customers in Spain at the end of 2025, with a penetration of 13% of the population, close to ING and ahead of Banco Sabadell. 3,990 million euros in total Revolut deposits in Spain according to the Bank of Spainwith a growth of 74% in 2025. 2 million Trade Republic clients in Spain, doubled in just ten months, with a projection of reach 3 million before the end of 2026. Spain is already Revolut’s second largest market in the EU, and the third globally, only behind the United Kingdom and France. The two sides of the same phenomenon. Revolut and Trade Republic attack different but complementary flanks. Revolut is going after the everyday bank: checking account, card, currency exchange, savings, personal loans, soon business credit… and considerable success when it comes to positioning itself as a card for travel or online purchases. Trade Republic goes for savings and retail investing: ETFs, stocks, cryptocurrencies and a 2.75% APR interest-bearing account with no balance limit. Together they cover practically the entire banking customer value chain retail. What used to require two or three banking relationships now fits into two applications. Between the lines. The most revealing data about Trade Republic is the speed at which they are growing: one million new users in less than a year, a rate that exceeds that which the entity itself registered in Germany during its initial expansion. It is a sign that in Spain there is a latent demand for alternatives that traditional banking has never fully satisfied, especially among the group of savers under forty years of age. The average age of the Trade Republic customer is around 35 years old. They are exactly the clients that IBEX banks need for their next decade. Yes, but. Growing customers is not the same as capturing their money. Revolut has 13% penetration in Spain but barely 0.25% of the system’s total deposits, according to a Citi analysis collected by The World. Only 1% of payrolls reach Revolut. Most of its users use it as a secondary bank: for trips, for specific payments or to park some savings with better remuneration than their usual bank. Trade Republic has not yet published its deposit figures in Spain. Traditional banking has been using this argument as a shield for some time: having many clients with a low average balance is not a business model, it is an acquisition model. The real test will come with the credit. The decisive moment. The big unknown (and the biggest threat to conventional banking) is the mortgage. Revolut has confirmed that it plans to launch it in Spain between 2026 and 2027. The model you have announced is completely digital, without negotiation: an offer. Take it or leave it. Ignacio Zunzunegui, Revolut’s growth director for southern Europe, said this in an interview with The World: “You could press a button and start being much more aggressive with credit.” If that works, Revolut stops being “your other bank” and becomes the first, as happened to ING in the first decade of the century. The mortgage is the product that anchors a client for decades, the one that generates the deepest relationship and the greatest income over time. It is the last moat that protects traditional banking. Meanwhile, its CEO has confirmed that Revolut will not go public before 2028: a company with almost 2,000 million euros of profit that prefers to remain unlisted publicly while it consolidates markets. Featured image | Sophie DupauTrade Republic In Xataka | Revolut wants more than your savings: it’s going after Spanish millionaires

chatbot is not working and OpenAI says it is investigating an issue

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If you are a user of ChatGPT and this afternoon you wanted to ask the chatbot something, you’ve probably been left without an answer – it’s time to use your brain again. It is that the famous service powered by artificial intelligence (IA) has been giving errors for several minutes. OpenAI, for its part, has launched an investigation to understand the origins of the problem. The outage entered the scene around 4:00 p.m., preventing users from around the world from using ChatGPT normally. As we can see in the screenshot, the chatbot refused to respond, offering error messages such as ‘Hmm… something seems to have gone wrong’, which in Spanish means ‘Mmm… something seems to have gone wrong’. In development. Images | Solen Feyissa In Xataka | What is Cloudflare, how it works and why a crash or block causes half the Internet to fail

The science of learning dismantles the mathematical rule of the fashionable study method

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When it comes to studying anything, almost all of us want to have a system that allows us learn quickly and efficient. This is where we can turn to the Internet, where there are numerous pages that promise us almost miraculous systems to pass easily, and one of them is the 2-7-30 method. But… What does science say about this system? What is it about? This method focuses on a system where you have to review the information exactly 2, 7 and 30 days after having addressed it on the first occasion. Something that is quite similar to what we want to achieve with the flashcards. Something that a priori seems quite simple to put into practice, but which can generate quite a bit of fear by leaving a topic shelved for so many days in the last round. It gives good results. But it is the best from the point of view of science, and to understand it, we have to go to the basics of how our memory works. And this method is based on the spacing effectwhich undoubtedly far surpasses the classic ‘binge’ the night before an exam, where you try to get all the data in in a matter of hours. Here, a classic meta-analysis published in 2006 in Psychological Bulletin, analyzed 839 measures in 317 experiments and confirmed that distributing practice over separate intervals dramatically improves retention. But even in the past, other studies suggested that repeating material over time consolidates memory much more efficiently. Recovery practice. There is no point in spacing out the reviews if, when day 2 or day 7 of the method arrives, we limit ourselves to passively rereading the notes. Here different studies have shown that actively trying to remember information produces much more lasting learning than passively re-studying it. In this way, forcing the brain to “rescue” that data strengthens neuronal connections, and science points to the advantage of active remembering over traditional binge-watching methods, such as making conceptual maps. The enemy to beat. The concept of reviewing in increasingly longer windows of time is born from the need to combat our natural decline in retention. This is where a work on the “forgetting curve” by Hermann Ebbinghaus comes into play, which demonstrated that we lose most of the newly learned information within hours or days if we do nothing to retain it. More modern replications of this idea confirm that this initial rapid forgetting is real and useful to contextualize the problem, although researchers depend on different factors and not only the strict passage of time. That is why the idea we should stick with is that every time we review the information, the forgetting curve resets and its slope becomes gentler so that it takes longer to disappear. The myth of exact numbers. Although it has been shown that spacing study days, in reality science does not identify 2, 7 and 30 days as a universally valid pattern for all learning and people, but will depend on many factors. Here, a study published in 2008 showed that the optimal interval between reviews depends on the retention interval we are looking for, but that the spacing changes radically if the objective is to remember something for an exam that is due in a week versus if we want to remember something in a year, as can happen in an opposition. In this way we get the following pattern: If the exam is in 1 week, the reviews should be separated by just 1 or 2 days. If the exam is in 1 year, Reviews should be spaced several weeks or even a month apart. Images | freepik In Xataka | SQ3R technique: the study method that helps you understand the subjects, not just remember them

In silence, the US is arming Spain’s most uncomfortable neighbor on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar in a big way.

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The scene took place in the 1980s, when the United States discreetly used bases in southern Spain to launch air strikes on Libya, an operation that showed to what extent the strategic balances in the Mediterranean could depend on little visible agreements for public opinion. Decades later, that same board moves again, although along less obvious paths for Spain. A silent turn in the Strait. In the surroundings of Strait of Gibraltar A fundamental strategic change is taking place that does not respond to a single movement in itself, but to an entire accumulation of decisions sustained over time that are strengthening Morocco. as a key military actor on the southern European flank. This movement, although it is still not public, has now acquired character official with the signature of a road map of defense between the governments of Rabat and Washington for the next decade, a movement that is neither trivial nor an isolated gesture, but the formalization of a broader commitment in which the United States consolidates Morocco in the next 10 years as itsyour preferred partner in North Africa, with direct implications for regional balance and, no doubt, for Spain’s position. From regional partner to strategic platform. Yes, because the relationship between both countries has evolved to make Morocco more than an allygoing on to play the role of operational and technological platform from which the United States projects influence towards Africa and the Mediterranean. There are several examples, for example, the exercises as African Lionwhich integrate troops, industry and technology, and reflect this transformation, as well as the incorporation advanced capabilities as the Link-16 systemwhich brings Morocco closer to NATO standards. This leap not only improves military interoperability, but also places the country in a privileged position within the Western security architecture. Access to advanced technology. The reinforcement of this alliance translates into a military modernization unprecedented, with a significant increase in defense spending and access to systems that until recently were out of reach, from helicopters Apache attack up to guided munitions and potentially the almighty F-35 Lightning II fighters. Added to this is the development of a self defense industrywith production, maintenance and training plants that allow Morocco not only to acquire capabilities, but to begin to consolidate them autonomously, reducing its external dependence in the long term. A rearmament to change the balance. Be that as it may, and despite this progress, Spain maintains a clear superiority for now in structural termsespecially in the naval field and in its technological and industrial base, which allows it to retain a significant advantage over Morocco. However, this advantage is no longer as large as in the past, and the trend and agreement with Washington aims for a progressive convergence, driven by Moroccan economic growth and its sustained investment in military capabilities. If you like, the result is not an immediate balance, but an increasingly competitive environment in which the distance between both countries is reduced constantly. Technology, influence and projection. Plus: Morocco’s objective is not limited to improving its military capacity, but is very possibly part of a broader strategy to increase its geopolitical weight in the Maghreb, the Sahel and the entire western Mediterranean. American support, along with its approach to other partners like Israelreinforces this idea and ambition, allowing Rabat to position itself as a central actor in regional security and as a privileged interlocutor of the great powers in the area. Gradual change. In short, the panorama that draw ten years view is not that of an abrupt and total break, of course, but rather that of a progressive transformation in which Morocco gains capabilities, influence and room for maneuver thanks to the US support. In this process, Spain will continue to be the dominant actor on the military level, but it no longer operates in a static environment, but in one in which its neighbor to the south, often uncomfortable depending on the circumstances, is getting stronger constantly, slowly altering the balance in one of the most sensitive points of Europe, and nuclear from Spain. Image | US Africa CommandNARA In Xataka | The tunnel between Spain and Morocco seemed like a chimera. Now a tunnel boring machine manufacturer says it is viable In Xataka | The US threatened to take the Rota base to Morocco. Spain has buried it with an unbeatable offer: more territory

that of quantum chips

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Manufacture a qubit, the physical device that implements the minimum unit of information in the quantum computersit is not at all a piece of cake. There are several types: superconductors, ion traps, neutral atoms or ions implanted in macromolecules, among other variants. Not all of them are equally complex, but until just two years ago it was not possible to manufacture any of these qubits in an industrialized way that opened the door to large-scale production. This scenario changed in March 2024. Intel and QuTech, the research institute specialized in quantum computing that belongs to the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands, they managed to manufacture for the first time a qubit in an industrial way, and, what is even more important, using the same processes and the same technology that is currently used to manufacture semiconductors. It was a very important milestone for a crucial reason: this innovation opened the door to the massive scaling of qubits that can be integrated into a quantum computer. Now GlobalFoundries has decided to follow in Intel’s footsteps. Semiconductors open the door to universal quantum computers The qubit that Intel and QuTech researchers managed to manufacture using industrial procedures is, as we can guess, a semiconductor qubit. The most obvious advantage of this type of qubit is that it benefits from the development that integrated circuit production technology has undergone for decades, so it is presumably easier to produce a semiconductor qubit than one that uses an ion trap or a neutral atom. Furthermore, it is evident that Intel is well versed in the processes involved in chip manufacturing. Quantum Motion has recently opened an office in San Sebastián “It’s kind of like we started writing with calligraphy and suddenly switched to using a printer.” This statement belongs to Anne-Marije Zwerver, the QuTech researcher who led this project, and emphasizes the possibility of using this technology to manufacture semiconductor qubits on a large scale. Furthermore, according to Intel, the performance they have achieved using this manufacturing process is 98%. This simply means that 98 out of every 100 semiconductor qubits produced with this technology work correctly. GlobalFoundries has embarked in a project very similar to that of Intel, although it has not done it alone; It has done so with Quantum Motion, an emerging company specialized in the development of semiconductor quantum bits. An interesting note: this last company has recently opened an office in San Sebastián (Spain). Their plan is to demonstrate that it is possible to manufacture qubits using CMOS technology, which is commonly used in the integrated circuit industry. However, GlobalFoundries’ strategy goes further: it wants to adapt its 12 and 22 nm nodes to the manufacturing of quantum chips without having to reorganize its plants from scratch. An interesting note: the materials used by Intel to manufacture its semiconductor qubits are similar to those currently used to produce transistors, such as silicon oxide. However, everything is not done yet. Intel and QuTech have demonstrated that it is possible to manufacture semiconductor qubits using industrial processes, but now need to refine and improve the quality of its multi-qubit spin control system. Whatever they have achieved, it is very important and invites us to look once again towards the future of quantum computers with optimism. Image | Intel More information | GlobalFoundries In Xataka | They are called giant super atoms and they are going to be crucial for something: the future of universal quantum computers

one recommendation for each price range

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In recent months, Samsung has been launching a new batch of mobile phones, so the brand now has a selection of models that is wide (and renewed) enough to choose from depending on our budget. Which ones do we recommend the most? We are going to discuss it in this article. For less than 200 euros Samsung Galaxy A17 If what we are looking for is a mobile phone that is capable of calling, sending messages and little else, the Samsung Galaxy A17 It is the most interesting based on its quality-price ratio. And it is a phone that 180 euros It stands out above all for its screen AMOLED with 90 Hz refresh ratewhich means that in addition to seeing the content well, it will look very fluid. And pay attention to another detail: the basic model only has 128 GB of storage, but this mobile has microSD card slotsomething that we do not see in the mid-range or high-end. Samsung Galaxy A17 (128GB) – LTE The price could vary. We earn commission from these links For less than 500 euros Samsung Galaxy A26 He Samsung Galaxy A26 It does not fit within the previous price range by very little, and right now it can be found for a price of 207.99 euros. Here we notice a big change with respect to the previous Galaxy A17: it comes with more RAM (6 GB specifically in the minimum configuration), your processor is better and the screen has a higher refresh rate, 120 Hz in this case. Samsung Galaxy A26 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy A36 Entering fully into the mid-range, the Samsung Galaxy A36 It does not evolve too much compared to its previous generation, but it continues to offer practically the same good value for money. Here we have a battery that supports 45W fast chargingwhich reduces the time it takes to charge. Its price in this case is 269.99 eurosso right now it is not much more expensive than the Galaxy A26. Samsung Galaxy A36 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy A56 If your previous mobile phone falls short, the Samsung Galaxy A56 It is one of the best in this price range. And it is because 339.99 euros We are talking about a mobile phone that, despite having some similarities with the Galaxy A36, Its processor is a little faster and its cameras are better. Samsung Galaxy A56 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy A37 If what we want is to make the leap to the latest generation, the Samsung Galaxy A37 It just arrived and is now available for a price of 379 euros. As we saw with the arrival of the Galaxy S26, the brand is once again betting on its processor for the Galaxy A37, which is none other than the Exynos 1480. For everything else, the mobile is very similar to its previous generation. Of course, one of the strong points is artificial intelligence, offering a good assortment of functions. Samsung Galaxy A37 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy A57 The same thing happens a bit with the Samsung Galaxy A57 (459 euros), since it does not vary too much with respect to its previous generation. What does change is the Exynos 1680 processor, which is more current than that of the Galaxy A56. It is also a slightly lighter mobile and its screen offers a FullHD+ resolution. Like the Galaxy A37, this phone also comes with many artificial intelligence features. Samsung Galaxy A57 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links For less than 1,000 euros Samsung Galaxy S24 and Samsung Galaxy S24+ If we move on to the high-end range of the brand, there is a lot of fabric to be cut here because some mobile phones from a few generations ago are still selling, and at very good prices. It happens with the Samsung Galaxy S24 (569 euros) and Samsung Galaxy S24+ (732.99 euros), two very similar brothers but with some differences: The screen of the Galaxy S24+ is larger (6.7 inches) than that of the Galaxy S24 (6.2 inches). The battery of the Galaxy S24+ is larger (4,900 mAh) than that of the Galaxy S24 (4,000 mAh). The RAM of the Galaxy S24+ is 12 GB, while that of the Galaxy S24 is 8 GB. Beyond these two particularities, in essence we are talking about the “same mobile.” They come with a good processor such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3they have a very good construction and the cameras are at a good level. Samsung Galaxy S24 (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S24+ (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra However, the most complete of its generation is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. It is currently at a price of 629 euros Reconditioned and stands out for many things. First of all, it comes with the largest battery of the Galaxy S24 reaching 5,000 mAh, its screen is also the largest at 6.8 inches, the processor is the same as in its smaller brothers and the set of cameras is much superior to these offering a very interesting photographic experience. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S25+ One generation ahead we have the Samsung Galaxy S25 (739 euros) and Samsung Galaxy S25+ (899 euros), two mobile phones that also look similar but have certain differences: The screen of the Galaxy S25+ is larger (6.7 inches) than that of the Galaxy S25 (6.2 inches). The battery of the Galaxy S25+ is larger (4,900 mAh) than that of the Galaxy S25 (4,000 mAh). Internally, both incorporate the Snapdragon 8 Gen Elitethe best processor for Android phones in … Read more

The European Union is very determined that batteries are removable in 2027. And Apple is very determined that they are not

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The European Union has detailed your plan so that phone batteries are removable starting in 2027. A regulation that will arrive in the midst of the greatest revolution in battery capacity in recent years: the democratization of silicon-carbon and the commitment to 100% models eSIM. For years, the industry has abandoned removable batteries for technical reasons. The unibody design has improved water and dust resistance, optimized internal space and increased structural efficiency. It is something that has not been enough for Europe. What’s going to happen. Europe has reconfirmed its plan to make phone batteries be removable by law in 2027. It is a hard blow for many manufacturers, who have been creating a “unibody” design industry for years to improve their resistance to water and dust, as well as a more efficient internal structure (every millimeter inside a smartphone is key). That the batteries have to be removable dynamites the plan that manufacturers have been following for almost a decade, since it is required by law that they be “easily removable.” What does this mean. The novelty in the text has to do, precisely, with what the European Union understands with this concept. The manufacturer will no longer be able to glue the batteries to the plate, something that required them to be removed using a heat gun to remove the adhesive. If a specialized tool is required to remove the battery, it will be provided by the manufacturer itself. The manufacturer will need to include clear instructions on battery removal and replacement. The software will not be able to hinder the process or block phone functions if the replacement has not been done at an official service. Hardware availability must be at least five years. The cost of batteries must be “reasonable and non-discriminatory” in price. Although there are many questions in the air and, as usual, few specificities, what is clear is that starting next year there will be a very powerful change at the industry level. And then, China arrived. China is leading a paradigm shift in smartphone battery technology: the arrival of silicon-carbon. This type of battery allows much higher energy densities in the sizes we already know. Or, in other words, that in the usual batteries we have more capacity than ever. Thanks to China, phone batteries are skyrocketing to cases 10,000mAh. The problem? European restrictions on the transport of high-density batteries are very strict, which is why many of the phones that are marketed in China with enormous batteries end up landing in Europe with noticeably smaller cells. And that, for the consumer, is a problem. Europe moves the industry, but China does not plan to stop. Europe is an important enough market that big technology companies have to completely rethink the hardware of their devices. The best example is Apple, which had to bend to USB-C in all territories of the world due to EU demands. An especially painful move, considering that it was the only manufacturer with its own charging port standard. The mandatory nature of removable batteries will, once again, lead to a change in the industry. But China faces the dilemma between slowing its progress with carbon silicon batteries (something it does not seem willing to do) to give in to European regulations, or assuming the extra cost of manufacturing a model for each region. The latter has been doing so for years and, in fact, pushes some consumers to opt for more complete versions from China. not so fast. Although the headline goes to the return of the removable battery, there is an exception for which manufacturers like Apple have been protecting themselves for years. Commission Communication C/2025/214, which develops and interprets article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, contemplates an exit for durability: if the battery retains at least 80% of its capacity after 1,000 charge cycles (or 83% after 500 cycles) and the phone meets an IP protection standard, the manufacturer may be exempt from the requirement for user replacement. It is no coincidence that, two years ago, Apple will double the number of cycles of its batteriesgoing from 500 to 1,000. Thanks to this exception, both Apple and many manufacturers will be able to continue selling a good part of their phones as we know them today. Summing up. The smartphone industry is on the verge of chaotic change. The cheapest mobile phones seem to be forced to give up the unibody design, China has hit a wall to continue innovating in batteries that can leave the country (it is not easy to continue growing sizes and maintain cycle capacity), and the high-end seems that it will be able to escape if it maintains batteries that maintain 80% of their capacity after 1,000 cycles. A soap opera whose ending we still do not know, but for which the manufacturers will have to start writing the next chapter. In Xataka | How to charge your mobile phone to maximize battery life

two decades of success with the most stable audiences on television

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The same week in April 2006 that La Sexta premiered broadcasts, ‘El Intermedio’ began its career as one of the channel’s flagship programs and Antena 3 launched the current stage of ‘La roulette de laluck’. Two decades later, both programs celebrate their anniversary (one with special panels, the other with Pedro Sánchez wearing borrowed suspenders) and stand out as true anomalies on a grid in eternal motion. The luck of roulette. ‘The roulette of luck’, a word guessing contest broadcast at two in the afternoon, manages to almost double the share of its own network. In the 2025-2026 season The program presented by Jorge Fernández registers a 21.6% screen share, with an average of 1,564,000 viewers and more than 3.1 million unique viewers. Antena 3, as a network, has averaged 12.4% of share. Its main rivals in that range, ‘Mañaneros 360’, is around 12%, and ‘El Precio Justo’ is timidly approaching 9%. It is not punctual: the format has four consecutive years above 20% and maintains a uninterrupted monthly leadership since May 2020. Poor beginnings. When the current stage of the contest started in 2006, it returned to the small screen with a 26.9% share and 1,318,000 viewers: promising figures that deteriorated in the following years. However, its number of viewers skyrocketed when it began to occupy the 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. slot that ‘The Simpsons’ had until then had, where television consumption is significantly higher. Curiously, ‘La roulette’ has seen its viewer base decrease since the 2020/2021 season, but the share has gone up. The explanation is that linear television as a whole loses audience, but ‘La roulette’ loses it less than its rivals. Not just business days. The robustness of the format also extends to weekends. Since 2020, Antena 3 has been broadcasting reruns of the contest on Saturdays and Sundays, and the program also leads in that slot: in the current season it reaches a 17.8% share and 1,258,000 viewers. All for a proposal that, born in the United States, has had some 60 international versions since 1975, and that arrived in Spain in 1990 with the birth of Antena 3, living a brief stage in Telecinco between 1993 and 1997 and a subsequent hiatus until Jorge Fernández took over the baton in his current stage. The ‘El Intermedio’ case. The satirical news program draws a different, but equally striking curve. In 2026, it averages about 848,000 viewers and reaches between 6% and 7% share (common data in the modest Access Prime Time of La Sexta). All this with specific increases such as the 20th anniversary special broadcast last Thursday, April 16, with which it scored its best quota since February 2022 (10.2%), in an unusually long delivery of more than two hours, and which brought together active politicians (several ministers, Gabriel Rufián or Pedro Sánchez himself) and musicians such as Kiko Veneno, Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel. A complicated hour. ‘El Intermedio’, unlike ‘La roulette’, has never moved from its original space, perhaps the most hostile strip of the entire schedule: the moment in which the viewer chooses where to spend the night. It has ‘El Hormiguero’ on Antena 3 and ‘La Revuelta’ on La 1 as its last direct competitors, but Wyoming has been resisting for two decades. According to a analysis of Barlovento Comunicaciónin 2012 La Sexta designed a strategic positioning of “vertical programming” focused on political and social news. The programs created then (‘The Intermediate’, ‘Al Rojo Vivo’, ‘Better Late’ or ‘Saved’) had the objective of providing street-level information about current events. The Atresmedia umbrella. The two programs share something more than the year of birth: both are from Atresmedia, and both operate in time slots where at least part of the competition cannot find alternatives. In the case of ‘El Intermedio’, the Wyoning program has seen in these twenty years how ‘El Hormiguero’ went from competitor to ally‘First Dates’ on Cuatro took shape as a more stable competitor during the last decade and finally, ‘La revuelta’ appeared, which notably politicized the strip. The numbers. Atresmedia closed 2025 with revenue of 1,002 million euros and maintained its hegemony on television for the fourth consecutive year, with a screen share of 26.1% and a historical advantage of 1.7 points about Mediaset. Antena 3 was once again the most watched channel of the year. These two anniversaries are indicators that the strategy of cheap programs, with rigid structures and a loyal audience continues to be profitable. ‘La roulette’ produces five days a week with a small team and ‘El Intermedio’ works with daily news as raw material, which reduces content development costs. And two decades of holding on. In Xataka | The “audience war” with ‘La Revuelta’ has been very good for ‘El Hormiguero’. Eight million euros of good

The Congo River has been an insurmountable barrier for the two closest capitals in the world for decades. Until now

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For decades, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been living in a peculiar situation: although they have the nearest capitals at the geographical level of the entire planet (with the exception of the Vatican and some cases special, like Nicosia), both metropolises live behind each other’s backs. At least as far as communications are concerned. Today to travel from Kinshasa (RCD) to Brazzaville (Congo) you need get on a ferry to cross the river that separates both countries or even a plane which covers the journey as long as it takes you to have a coffee and read the headlines in the newspaper. Now that’s about to change. Capitals just a stone’s throw away. The story of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the former Zaire) has been anything but quiet. This has ultimately contributed to both nations sharing a particular condition, beyond the similarities between their names: their capitals are a stone’s throw away. Between Brazzaville (RC) and Kinshasa (DRC) there are a handful of hundreds of meters and a river, the Congo. Depending on the reference we take, between both metropolises there is between one and three kilometers in a straight line. If we except the even more peculiar relationship between the Vatican and Rome (and some curiosities historical), Brazzaville and Kinshasa are often considered the closest capitals. However, despite this proximity, those who want to travel from one city to another right now do not have it easy: they must take a ferry that covers the journey in half an hour or even (if they are in a hurry… and more money), fly over the limited airspace that separates both capitals. What if we build a bridge? The situation is sufficiently anomalous that the authorities have considered on several occasions building a bridge between both banks. The idea can date back at least to the 90s and has been rescued several times since then. Without much success. Whether for political or budgetary reasons or simply because the fear As infrastructure reduces commercial traffic in some influential ports in the DRC, the Kinshasa-Brazzaville viaduct has failed to make it past paper. Coming out of the box. That could change soon. In February the finance ministers of the DRC and the CR reached a bilateral agreement to establish a special tax regime that clears the future of the construction of the viaduct. It may seem like a minor issue, but the infrastructure is expected to be subject to a toll and, beyond the traffic of individuals and tourists, every year moves trucks loaded with thousands and thousands of tons of merchandise. “We have a harmonized tax and customs framework. We also have a bilateral pact, which will allow us to relaunch the call for tenders,” celebrated after the technical meetings Caddy Ndala, from the Brazzaville delegation. An agreement… and something more. If the bridge seems to see (finally) the light at the end of the tunnel, it is not only because of the tax agreement between both countries. The project has also attracted the attention of Africa50an investment platform founded by the African Development Bank (ADB) and African states. The entity is presented in fact as the “main promoter” selected by the DRC and RC to drive the public-private partnership that will shape the infrastructure. Global Highways precise that part of the investment to shape the viaduct will also come from the ADB, which has already financed the feasibility studies. And what will the viaduct be like? The main infrastructure will consist of a short bridge more than 1.5 km which will pass over the Congo River and allow the passage of vehicles and railways. It will also have sidewalks and border control posts. The idea is that the viaduct connects further with the roads that already exist in both countries, facilitating communication between the capitals. “The idea dates back to the mid-19th century,” recognized years ago the president of the ADB, Akinwumi Adesina. To clear its roads, the technicians have selected the narrowest point on the border. In an attempt to put an end to the misgivings that the infrastructure arouses in several commercial ports in the region, it has also been agreed to carry out complementary works of improvements in them. Hunting for goods. The bridge won’t exactly come cheap. In 2017, the ADB estimated that the project would require 550 million dollars, an estimate that has since risen to exceed 700 million. In return, the structure promises to completely change the relationship between both capitals. In 2020 the Africa Investment Forum pointed out that the forecasts involve both triggering the flow of people and goods: the former (people) would go from 750,000 annually now to more than three million; As for the latter (merchandise), it would rise from 340,000 to two million tons. Images | Google Earth and Africa50 In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space

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