Echoes of Demand: Tech in Turmoil

Some weeks, it just feels like everything is up in the air all at the same time. Nilay and David are joined by The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes to talk about all the unrest, starting with the ever-changing tariff rules that are making gadgets hard to price, hard to find, and hard to bet on going forward. (Maybe that’s why it seems everyone on Earth tried to pre-order a Switch 2 this week.) After that, the hosts catch up on the Meta and Google antitrust trials happening this week, and try to figure out who might be interested in the internet’s most popular browser. Finally, in the lightning round, we talk Brendan Carr (who is a dummy), the wood-backed Motorola Razr Ultra, and the 20th anniversary of YouTube.

Further reading:

• Nintendo Switch 2 preorders were a total mess — at first
• Nintendo Switch 2 preorders are sold out everywhere
• GameStop’s Switch 2 preorders started poorly, too
• Auto industry tariffs are doing what now? 24 hours of White House confusion
• Did Tim Cook finagle a special tariff deal? Senator Warren wants to know
• The US hikes tariffs on solar products from Asia
• DHL halts international deliveries to US consumers worth over $800
• Game Boy clone maker Anbernic suspends all shipments to US
• Ayn, like Anbernic, is pausing retro handheld shipments to the US.

• Perplexity wants to buy Chrome if Google has to sell it
• OpenAI tells judge it would buy Chrome from Google 
• Former DOJ antitrust chief says a Google break up will benefit the internet
• Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says Zuckerberg “saw us as a threat”
• Instagram launches its CapCut clone, Edits
• Threads adds more ads
• Former Google exec testifies about the company’s attempt to buy WhatsApp.
• Google’s antitrust trial begins with a fight over Chrome, money, and AI
• Google is paying Samsung an ‘enormous sum’ to preinstall Gemini
• Google reveals Gemini AI has 350 million monthly active users.
• Apple and Meta hit with the EU’s first DMA antitrust fines
• The EU isn’t happy with Apple’s tax on alternative app stores



• Brendan Carr is a dummy
• From Puck: David Ellison’s Carr Trouble
• The Trump FCC’s Coercion Cartel
• Motorola’s new Razr Ultra brings the wood back panel back
• YouTube’s TV changes include a redesign and more multiview
• YouTube is everything and everything is YouTube
• 20 years ago, the first videos uploaded to YouTube were short and swee

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

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