Intro

Today on the show, it’s all about the future of phones… and your data. The Verge’s Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about the new Samsung Galaxy S25, what’s new in this high-end phone, and what it means for all the other smartphones coming this year. After that, Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, talks us through how to think about the privacy implications of RedNote, TikTok, DeepSeek, and all the other tech that puts us in contact with China. Finally, we enlist The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy to help us answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline all about the Meta Portal. Remember the Meta Portal?? If you’re missing yours, we have some ideas.

Further reading:

• The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t so ‘ultra’ anymore
• Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus hands-on: more of the same
• Samsung Galaxy S25 vs. S25 Plus vs. S25 Ultra: specs comparison
• Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days
• TikTok’s service providers still risk billions in penalties for bringing it back online
• TikTok is still on shaky ground in the US
• Chinese social media app RedNote tops App Store chart ahead of TikTok ban
• As Americans flock to RedNote, privacy advocates warn about surveillance
• Will RedNote get banned in the US?
• RedNote: what it’s like using the Chinese app TikTokers are flocking to
• Why everyone is freaking out about DeepSeek
• DeepSeek’s top-ranked AI app is restricting sign-ups due to ‘malicious attacks’
• US Navy jumps the DeepSeek ship.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Facebook’s new Portal Go is great for video calls, but not much else

Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.

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