Technology
Data stories on the technology shaping 2026: AI chips and the semiconductor companies behind them, plus the device pricing trends running through phones, storage, and smart hardware.
Biggest Crypto Hacks Ever
Binance lost a record $6.36bn. DefiLlama's hack records show attacks on keys, people and infrastructure are 24% of incidents but 71% of the money.
Which Asian Countries Actually Run on Solar?
In 2024 Lebanon got 30% of its electricity from solar and China 8%. Forty-nine Asian countries ranked, plus Pakistan's rooftop boom IRENA missed.
How Many Watts of Solar Can $1 Buy? Panels, 2015 to 2026
A bare panel buys 6.1 times the watts it did in 2015, but a finished US rooftop is only about 1.4 times cheaper.
EV Range, 0-60 Times and Self-Driving: Claimed vs Actual
Claimed against actual for the numbers carmakers lead with. Each claim gets a verdict, the figure that settles it, and a link to the full data behind it.
Which Driverless Cars Actually Drive Themselves?
California publishes every autonomous testing mile. Four of twenty companies have driven without a human aboard, and Waymo is 93 per cent of those miles.
Is EV Range Still Getting Better?
The highest EPA-rated range peaked at 520 miles in 2022 and has slipped to 512. Meanwhile the median electric car went from 82 miles to 295.
Do the Fastest EVs Really Hit Their 0 to 60 Claims?
Tesla claims 1.99 seconds for the Plaid, measured with a one-foot rollout. Here is what Car and Driver and MotorTrend actually recorded, for it and fourteen other runs.
How Does a Fan Car Hold Itself Down?
Suction, not a wing. Every fan car since the 1970 Chaparral presses down harder than it weighs, and only one has ever been shown driving upside down.
Can the Tesla Roadster Actually Fly?
Tesla’s Roadster climbed a ramp upside down and flipped over a row of cars. The footage is real, but it is not flight: here is how the suction and thrusters actually work.
Milking Robots: Automated Milking Systems Are Popular In Europe
Nearly half of Swedish dairy farms milk with robots; the US manages about 4%. Eighteen countries ranked, with the herd-size and budget arithmetic.
40% of US Identity Theft Reports Involve a Credit Card
Credit cards feature in 39.6% of identity theft reports to the FTC, but state shares run from Wyoming's 26.7% to Florida's 50.1%.
Which US State Has the Most Data Centers? Virginia, Then Texas
Volunteers have mapped 1,378 US data center buildings in OpenStreetMap. Virginia leads with 291, but count campuses instead and Texas wins.
2.2 Billion People Are Still Offline in 2026: Where They Live
Three quarters of the world was online in 2025. Of the 2.2 billion who were not, roughly 1.9 billion already live under a mobile broadband signal they do not use.
Are Folding Phones Getting Cheaper? Launch Prices, 2019-2026
Folding phones have cost about $2,000 since 2019 - which means they have quietly become a quarter cheaper.
Two Companies Make 65% of China's Lithium Batteries
CATL and BYD made 65% of every vehicle battery installed in China in 2025. Only one of the top fifteen is foreign.
Did Google Actually Raise Pixel Pro Prices This Year?
Pixel 11 Pro's $1,099 looks like a hike over the 10 Pro's $999, until you match the storage tiers.
Is Poco Still a 'Flagship Killer'? Launch Prices, 2018–2025
Poco's flagship-chip phones cost 142% more than the 2018 original in nominal dollars — and 97% more even after inflation.
Is Digital Storage Still Getting Cheaper? Price per GB, 2008–2026
Storage got a million times cheaper from 1980 to 2022 — then a 2025 NAND shortage sent SSD prices climbing again while HDDs kept falling.
Does Apple Actually Raise iPhone Prices Every Year?
The base iPhone price moved only twice between 2017 and 2025 — once downward. What climbed was the ceiling: new premium tiers, not blanket increases.
Nvidia and the Chipmakers Powering the AI Boom
A tier-by-tier look at the world's 10 biggest chipmakers by revenue: Nvidia's AI-driven $215.9B lead, TSMC, the Samsung, SK hynix and Intel tier above $50B, and the rest of the field.