TapeOut, launched by developer Blonskr on Aug. 15, 2026, is trying to move parts of digital circuit design, verification, manufacturing, and composition onto the blockchain. The project starts from the lowest layer of computation rather than smart-contract application logic, turning NAND and LATCH components into onchain assets and using them to build circuits, processors, and higher-level applications. Its early proof point was Behemoth, a 4-bit onchain CPU built on BNB Chain. The protocol’s economic loop is driven by Proof of Design, or PoD, where developers submit circuits to solve defined tasks and, once verified, register them as mining machines eligible for rewards in $BEM. TapeOut opened PoD mining and launched $BEM on BNB Chain on Aug. 21, 2026, with a total supply of 21 million tokens. Since then, the ecosystem has expanded beyond the core protocol into web infrastructure, launchpad tooling, trading terminals, data explorers, games, experiments, and educational portals. Projects highlighted in the ecosystem include TapeKit for serving websites from BNB Chain, TapeHub for templated token launches and mining economies, trading platforms such as Firsto and TapeOut Market, data products like TapeOutScan and tapeout.work, and a wide range of experiments from browser games to machine-learning circuits and Conway’s Game of Life implementations. Together, they show TapeOut shifting from a single developer’s hardware experiment into a broader, composable developer ecosystem.

Huawei and Apple have both rolled out new foldable phones since September, and the launch cycle is reshaping demand for flexible printed circuits, or FPCs, across the handset supply chain. The biggest change is not only in unit usage, but also in specifications and value per device. Traditional flagship slab phones generally use 10 to 15 FPCs, while one forecast cited in the report says Apple’s iPhone Duo could require more than 50 due to its hinge and dual-screen structure, with tri-fold models potentially using even more. A report from Counterpoint published in September projects global foldable smartphone shipments will rise 24% year over year in 2026, and says cumulative shipments will top 100 million units by the end of this year. Interviewees cited by CLS said leading suppliers including Avary Holding and Hongxin Electronics are already shipping FPC products into mainstream foldables, while gross margins in those businesses improved in the first half. The report also says the bottleneck has shifted from simply making boards that can bend to ensuring performance does not drift after long-term bending, especially under tight bend radii and harsh temperature or humidity conditions. Higher-end ultra-thin multilayer FPC production is raising technical barriers and pushing orders toward large manufacturers. Industry participants quoted in the piece say those process capabilities are starting to extend beyond foldables, with AI glasses viewed as the most certain new hardware direction over the next 12 months.

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro went on sale on Sept. 18, but an on-the-ground visit by ABMedia to a department store launch site found none of the long overnight lines often associated with a new iPhone release. Arriving at 6 a.m., the reporter was 14th in line, and the atmosphere was described as calmer than expected. The report said that with Apple’s foldable Duo still waiting to launch, this year’s upgrade demand may be split across different timelines. In Taiwan, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at NT$44,900 and is being marketed around battery life, a 2nm A20 Pro chip, and a main camera with a physical variable aperture. Apple’s EU product data lists the A3714 model at 4,056mAh, up about 25.7% from the iPhone 13’s 3,227mAh and about 1.7% from the iPhone 17 Pro’s 3,988mAh. Apple Taiwan also lists video playback at up to 34 hours, compared with 19 hours for the iPhone 13 and 31 hours for the 17 Pro. The report also focused on upgrade economics. Under Apple Trade In estimates, an iPhone 13 can fetch up to NT$6,300, leaving a buyer to pay NT$38,600 for an entry iPhone 18 Pro if the highest quoted value is applied. ABMedia noted that department store channel promotions, credit card rewards, installment offers, and anniversary sale incentives can materially affect the final cost.

Apple released the final version of iOS 27 in the early hours of Sept. 15 Beijing time, three months after its WWDC debut. In a detailed hands-on review, Chinese tech outlet Lei Technology said the update is defined less by headline AI features and more by a long list of practical refinements that regular users will actually notice. Among the changes highlighted were long-requested holiday alarm scheduling in the Clock app, frame extraction from videos in Photos, more customizable camera shortcuts, separate volume controls for alarms and alerts, adjustable transparency for the Liquid Glass interface, richer weather breakdowns, character-component input in the built-in Pinyin keyboard, manual QR code storage in Wallet, finer AirPods noise-control tuning, and time-limited location sharing in Find My. The outlet also pointed to what it called the most important upgrade: better smoothness, with Apple claiming app launch speeds can improve by as much as 30% and photo loading by as much as 70%. The report said iOS 27 still has bugs, though fewer than iOS 26, and argued that users already on iOS 26 may want to upgrade while people on much older versions should think more carefully. Compatibility still goes back to the iPhone 11, but, citing a response relayed by China News Service-affiliated Zhongxin Jingwei, the article said Apple customer service does not recommend upgrading devices older than the iPhone 13. It also stressed that updating to iOS 27 does not automatically bring Apple’s newest AI features: Apple Intelligence has not launched on mainland China devices, the oldest supported model remains the iPhone 15 Pro, and on-device AI models for iOS 27 require 12 GB of memory, limiting support to a smaller list of newer phones.

China released a dense set of policy and market developments on Sept. 14, led by the People’s Bank of China’s August 2026 financial data. Broad money supply, or M2, reached 356.81 trillion yuan at the end of August, up 7.5% year over year and down 0.2 percentage point from the prior month. M1 stood at 115.77 trillion yuan, up 4.1%, while M0 rose 11.2%. Aggregate social financing added 23.91 trillion yuan in the first eight months of 2026, 2.64 trillion yuan less than a year earlier. Experts cited in the source said total credit expansion remained broadly aligned with nominal economic growth, though financing structure had shifted toward faster bond and equity financing growth and slower loan growth. The same day, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a meeting on industrial operations and planning for 2027, calling for stronger demand support, progress on major projects in the 15th Five-Year Plan period, industrial upgrading, and faster development and application of artificial intelligence. Other ministries also moved on consumer and payment policy. The Ministry of Commerce and seven other departments issued an action plan to boost smart home consumption, while regulators including SASAC, MIIT, SAMR, and the CSRC outlined steps to address delayed payments to small and medium-sized enterprises, including cash-payment requirements, tighter disclosure, and penalties for disguised extensions of payment terms.

Anthropic has reportedly chosen Nasdaq for a planned October initial public offering, with its valuation potentially reaching $2 trillion, while the company is also expected to post a second straight quarter of adjusted profitability. The report sets up a clear contrast inside the AI sector: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not go public this year because of ongoing controversy over whether AI could pose an existential threat to humanity, and SoftBank shares fell 11% after that comment. In crypto, capital flows diverged sharply. Bitcoin ETFs posted $463 million in net weekly outflows, while Ethereum ETFs brought in $197 million. Traders are also watching the CLARITY Act vote and this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, with stablecoin regulation and interest-rate risk both in focus. Elsewhere, Symbiosis recovered 15 BTC after a cross-chain bridge exploit and offered a 20% bounty for leads on the remaining funds, while Bitcoin Suisse is set to cut up to half of its Swiss staff and shift business emphasis overseas. The broader market backdrop turned more fragile after a Saudi pipeline shutdown pushed Brent as high as $108.49 in Asian trading. Combined with tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, the move added pressure to a market already reassessing AI spending, consumer weakness, and the price of growth.

According to ChainCatcher, veteran tech reporter Mark Gurman said Apple’s first foldable phone, expected to carry the iPhone Duo name, could help push foldable devices into the mainstream. He also said Apple may release a larger-screen iPhone Duo Max in the coming years, suggesting the company could build a broader product family around the Duo branding. Gurman added that Apple appears to have chosen "Duo" as the series name, with possible suffixes such as "Max" and "SE" in the future. He also pointed to a longer-term industry shift: as technology costs fall, foldable phones could account for more than half of new handset sales over the next decade. For now, foldables make up about 2% of global smartphone shipments, based on the figures cited in the report.

WEEX exchange has opened a trading contest titled "Daily Gifts, Live Draw, Trade to Win iPhone Duo," according to a Sept. 14 announcement cited by ChainCatcher. The event runs from Sept. 14 at 12:00 to Sept. 27 at 23:59 (UTC+8). Users who register and take part in futures trading can compete in daily and cumulative trading volume rankings. Participants will split a daily cash pool of 5,000 USDT, while top prizes include an iPhone Duo and an iPhone 18 Pro Max. After the contest ends, WEEX will host a live award stream. All users who joined the competition and enter the livestream will be eligible for an additional draw, with prizes including four Apple Watch Ultra 4 units, five Apple AirPods 5 units, and WEEX VIP trial cards with a 100% win rate.