Space and health: two technological firsts
SpaceX has taken an important step in the Starship program: during the fifteenth test flight, the company caught the second stage of the rocket returning from orbit with the launch tower's mechanical arm for the first time, according to IT之家. The maneuver did not involve full recovery of the vehicle, but it is presented as a significant milestone for the project; the investigation into the aborted landing of the first stage remains open.
On the health front, JW Therapeutics' (药明巨诺) CAR-T therapy relinafusp autoleucel (瑞基奥仑赛) has entered China's national healthcare system for the first time. According to the source, the price for patients would fall below 100,000 yuan thanks to domestic production of key raw materials. The announcement was made at the 2026 innovative drug development conference, together with the new reimbursement drug lists.
Rumors about Apple and Intel, denials and confirmations
Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman has reiterated that Apple will unveil the iPhone 18 and 18e in spring 2027, equipped with the A20 chip. The report remains a prediction based on unofficial sources. Around the same period, speculation is circulating about a possible Intel-Apple chip manufacturing agreement; at the moment there is no confirmation from either company.
On the semiconductor front, Huawei has released new details about the Kirin 9050 chip, including a next-generation Ma Liang GPU with second-generation hardware ray tracing and an ISP with AI features, which the company says enables 200-megapixel image fusion for the first time. This is information provided by the company itself and not verified by third parties.
Xiaomi, for its part, has reportedly launched a confidential collaboration with HWA, a company founded by a former AMG executive, to develop a high-performance car. The report, published by the Italian monthly Quattroruote and picked up by IT之家, is based on anonymous sources and has not been confirmed by the parties.
IT outages and the accessories market
A fault in a 20-year-old router is reportedly behind the flight disruption in the United States, according to a CBS journalist cited by the source: the Federal Aviation Administration reportedly narrowed the problem to a specific model of device, which was overloaded. The exact causes, however, remain to be clarified.
Also on the outage front, a widespread Microsoft services disruption had repercussions on global financial markets, to the point that some traders reportedly went back to using fax and phone to complete transactions, writes the Singapore Business Times. Microsoft, meanwhile, has introduced a redesigned "Run" window, with dark mode support, in Windows 11 preview versions, with a general release expected in December.
Finally, according to ChannelGate, Asus and Gigabyte have applied cost-price increases to graphics cards: +1,000 yuan for the RTX 5080 series and +150 yuan for the RTX 5060. This is a supply-chain rumor that could be reflected in retail prices, but it has not been officially confirmed by the companies.
