Xiaomi G24i 2026 | R3,299 R2,899

There’s no room for error when it comes to online gaming, and a decent monitor plays a big part in ensuring the path to victory is clear. The Xiaomi G24i understands this better than most, delivering a 200Hz 23.8in monitor that’ll stand up against even the most tactical first-person shooter out there. It’s not just about boosting those frames per second, though. 

Xiaomi’s little gamer takes things a step further with HDR 400 support, digging deep into the shadows of your favourite game. And with the 95% DCI-P3 colour gamut on the uber-fast FHD IPS panel and 400 nits of brightness, the G24i never compromises on your experience. Better yet, it boasts a 1ms response time for those split-second decisions. 

It’s not all about gamified specs, of which the G24i has hundreds. On top of VRR support and TÜV Low Blue Light certification, Xiaomi’s given the G24i a makeover in the looks department, allowing it to slot right into your current gaming set-up, no tweaking required. 

The most important aspect of any monitor isn’t its visual fidelity or even the ultra-fast refresh rate; it’s the price. Xiaomi’s gone to great lengths to captivate as many gamers as possible with a price of R2,899 RRP, leaving them to dig into their budget elsewhere. 

Xiaomi G27i 2026 | R3,999 R3,299

Need a bit more real estate? The Xiaomi G27i falls right into the gamer ‘sweet spot’ with a gorgeous 27in IPS LCD panel that has no trouble keeping the response time to a minimum of 1ms. Where others might sacrifice colour accuracy in favour of a larger screen, Xiaomi offers the best of both worlds a with a superb ΔE<2 rating. 

In essentials, that means the Xiaomi G27i has no trouble reproducing 16.7 million colours on the big screen with almost scary accuracy. That’s thanks to 95% DCI-P3 colour coverage, which Xiaomi is rightly proud of here. It’s a boon for gamers, sure, but turn your attention toward something on the entertainment side, and you won’t be complaining. 

Like its smaller sibling, the G27i boasts an impressive 200Hz refresh rate that you won’t find replicated at this price, especially when dealing with a larger 27in display. Also carried over are the same 400 nits of brightness, VRR support, and a durable-but-customisable stand. All that for the relatively low price of R3,299 RRP. Well, what are you still doing here? 

Xiaomi G27Qi 2026 | R4,999 R4,799

Most gamers will tell you that a solid refresh rate is the most important aspect when it comes to choosing a new monitor. But what if you could have the best of both worlds? Xiaomi’s G27Qi does exactly that, offering a speedy 200Hz refresh rate, VRR, and 1ms response time on the QHD IPS panel, capable of delivering an impressive 1440p res. 

Rain or shine, game or work, the G27Qi always looks its best. You can thank the ΔE<2 rating, 400 nits of brightness, 10-bit depth, and 100% sRGB and 95% DCI-P3 colour gamut not only for bringing out the very best in your game, but also for getting the creative juices flowing. It’s more than a match for any professional-grade editing you’re able to throw at it.  

Where comparable monitors might present their owners with some difficult port choices, the G27Qi ditches that anxiety. Two HDMI (2.0) ports are up for grabs, joined by a single DP (1.4) and a standard audio jack for when those headphones start getting a bit sweaty. 

Ready to take your build to the next level? The Xiaomi G27Qi suits any budget with a R4,799 RRP price. 

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You can also have it for R750/m on contract. For folks with photographic glory on their vision board, this one should be worth the monthly premium. The Mate 80 Pro has plenty going for it, but the camera is definitely the headliner.

Go for gold

Before we get to the impressive circular bump on this smartphone’s rear, it’s worth getting into just how good this phone looks. It’s not the slimmest or most compact, but if you’re a fan of shiny objects… Very shiny, as it happens. The gold back panel and reflective circumference wouldn’t look out of place on an oligarch’s desk. The build materials are visibly premium. It’ll be a shame to stick the phone into anything other than Huawei’s provided clear hard plastic case. At least the case adds very little bulk to the 80 Pro.

No matter what you do to protect it, the Mate 80 Pro’s camera sensor will dominate. That’s not hard to do, since the physical keys and ports/audio/SIM tray occupy their usual places (top right and bottom edge, respectively). Still, the phone seems somehow minimal in design.

The bright, flat 6.75in OLED display conceals a triple-sensor array. Don’t get too excited on the photography front, though. There’s only a single 13MP lens there. The other two are time-of-flight sensors for facial biometrics and other computational wizardry. To make up for the deception, there’s a humongous 100W charging brick and cable in the device’s box.

Mirin’ Kirin

Huawei still has to use its own computing hardware for its flagship devices, thanks to losing out on the kit everyone else has access to. Still, the Kirin lineup, and the Kirin 9030 Pro found in our 512GB/16GB model of the Mate 80 Pro, aren’t too shabby. There’s a ‘lesser’ version found in the 80 Pro that ships with just 12GB of RAM, but it’s not, as far as we know, available here.

The 6.75in OLED hits all the highlights a modern smartphone screen is supposed to, including brightness. Huawei has gone all the way up to 3,000 nits at peak. Daylight viewing shouldn’t be an issue. Nighttime might blind you, unless you’ve got the adaptive display turned on.

There are no complaints to be had for phone performance with this loadout. That includes internet speeds, since this Kirin chipset supports 5G. Everything you launch will be quick and snappy. Swapping between apps and functions is similarly speedy. The only downside? Huawei has loaded its phone with tons of software. We get the defensiveness, given that it’s tough to get certain apps on the device, but do we really need all of Huawei’s apps, Microsoft’s suite, most common AI platforms, and Meta’s social media stuff? Google’s suite is also preinstalled, forestalling possible complaints about EMUI 15.

Snap? Happy. 

But, as we said at the very beginning, it’s camera performance that the Huawei Mate 80 Pro really delivers. The catch? The cameras haven’t changed from the Mate 70 Pro. It’s still an impressive set, with the main 50MP variable aperture sensor, the 48MP periscope telephoto, and the 40MP ultrawide working together to deliver some of the best shots you’ll find this side of a dedicated camera. There’s one minor upgrade — the f/2.1 telephoto has gone from 3.5x optical zoom to 4x. That’ll scoot you just a little closer to your target, but it’s not enough reason to upgrade from the previous model on its own.

That… isn’t really a problem for South Africans, at least. It’s possible to buy the previous model, but it’s a pain in the ass. Huawei never officially released it here, but it did release the Pura 80 Pro. If you’ve already got one of those… then the camera systems are very similar. The Mate 80 Pro dispenses with the 1in main sensor, but the backups offer the same performance and zoom levels.

You’ll snag better photos from the Pura 80 Pro, purely because of the hardware upgrade. Huawei’s software hasn’t changed, though, and it’ll still be a shade too enthusiastic when ‘improving’ your shots. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Most of what you’ll snap will go right from your phone to socials and family groups with no need for editing… unless you suck at framing. That’s on you.

Huawei Mate 80 Pro verdict

Huawei phones, at least here at the top end, are uniformly well made and well presented. The company has overcome a ton of headwind to pull that off. The Mate 80 Pro is just the latest handset that’s supposed to knock your socks off (or at least tug on them vigorously). The hardware is sound, the cameras are as good as ever (if a touch familiar), and the company has gone some way towards making you feel like Google support won’t be missed. It goes a little too far, overdoing what’s installed at boot, but it’s more understandable here than when, say, Samsung or Honor do it.

The Huawei Mate 80 Pro was a good call when it came out. It was a far, far better one when Huawei dropped the price to R13k. You should kick yourself for missing that. We know we are. But even at current retail pricing, the 80 Pro is a contender for your attention, especially if you’re mostly going to be snapping photos with it.

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Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby.

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Classic Samsung…

That was until SammyGuru managed to get their hands on the yet-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy Glasses Manager app, which is where you’ll — you guessed it — manage your Samsung Galaxy Glasses. Inside the app, we got our first proper look at the glasses themselves. We also got a peek at the included charging carry case.

Yup, that’s them. This model, specifically, is the Warby Parker-made pair. If the rumours are correct, we’ll likely see one developed by Gentle Monster, too. That way, Samsung can cover a broader range of styles, without eliminating a huge chunk of their customer base. Not everyone can land a contract with Oakley or Ray-Ban.

Read More: What to expect at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked [this] month

The Galaxy Glasses app will act as the central hub for everything Galaxy Glasses. It’s where owners will install updates, change settings, or import images after they’ve been shot. The glasses should be able to do this automatically — once it’s earned the necessary permissions. Interestingly, SammyGuru spotted a few strings of code that point to the glasses being controlled by the owner’s Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring.

Which, incidentally, may get a sequel later this month, too. Whether it does or doesn’t happen, Samsung seems set to reveal the Galaxy Glasses soon. We can’t picture the company building out a whole app for a product that’ll be stuck in development for the next several months. If they show up anywhere, expect to see them at the next Galaxy Unpacked.

Source

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The shift isn’t surprising from the industry-focused South Korea. Companies like Samsung have sunk massive amounts into supply chains and tech expansion, to the point where you can furnish most of your home with Samsung products. It’s just a pity you can’t buy the Samsung-produced K9 Thunder 155mm howitzer under the company’s branding anymore. It’s a hell of a conversation piece when it’s sitting in your driveway.

Humanoid solutions

Humanoid robots are in pretty much everyone’s sights right now. Honor is making running robots; others are being deployed in combat; more and more of them are entering service at airports and factories; and even Meta is looking to take a crack at (humanoid) robot hardware again. It almost doesn’t matter that they’ve still got considerable issues to overcome.

South Korea’s government plan will chuck R14 trillion at a combination of robots and AI chip production. It’ll mean more of the country than just Hyundai (which now owns most of Atlas-maker Boston Dynamics) can create bipedal robots. It also leaves the door open to a partially government-funded assistant robot from Samsung. It doesn’t exist yet, but I’m certain the company is already drawing up blueprints.

The plan, for South Korea, is to position the country as a prime source of resources for both the AI boom (however long it lasts) and the humanoid robot phenomenon (which looks cool enough that folks still aren’t really asking feasibility questions).

View of the future

The country’s President Lee Jae-myung said to the BBC, “We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country. Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centres are the triple axis for a great leap forward.” Whether he was intentionally referencing the 20th-century communist Chinese industrialisation initiative is something I’ll leave up to you. Hopefully South Korea’s plans aren’t also accompanied by a countrywide famine or some other disaster. If the AI bubble pops at the right moment, that’s, unfortunately, not out of the question.

Most of the country’s funding — $576 billion of the total $880 billion — is going towards new chip fabrication facilities. It’s not like the world doesn’t need increased production, given what the advent of AI is doing to the price of consumer tech. But the uptake and compensation won’t be immediate enough to make the next few years any easier for folks who buy things at retail prices. Pity.

Of course, this also means that South Korea will be the first non-Chinese country to tackle the problem of getting its citizens to accept humanoid robots. Right now, human-shaped robots are only curiosities that pop up on mainstream news when they do something exceptional. More specialist interests (like mine and, presumably, yours) are better aware of the current scale of development. How that will translate once these things can be purchased at retail, and how much convincing the average person will take to buy one, is anyone’s guess.

South Korea is positioning itself as one of the first countries to start answering these questions. Either it’ll pull it off and create a roadmap, or it’ll run into massive resistance and… create a roadmap of what not to do.

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Time to get that bread

“From 1 July, FNB Easy, Aspire and Prime Life customers who shop at Boxer and swipe their cards in-store will qualify for the 99c bread benefit from the following week, for up to four loaves of bread per month.”

FNB also confirmed that more of its customers are now eligible for the benefit. Instead of only allowing its Easy customers in on the action, FNB Aspire and Prime Life customers can also secure a 99c loaf of bread once a week. All they need to do is swipe their FNB card at any Boxer store, and they’ll qualify for a loaf the following week. Swipe your card again when buying that loaf of bread, and you’ll be in for another cheap loaf the next week.

Read More: FNB and Standard Bank tackle Home Affairs queues in big Smart ID rollout

Thus far, the program has certainly proved useful for Saffas. More than 6.3 million loaves have since been issued on Pick n Pay’s behalf, saving customers a massive R9.6 million. With more than 300 stores under Boxer’s belt, we can see that figure skyrocketing within a few months of the launch. The initiative kicks off today, 1 July 2026.

“By expanding our 99c bread benefit through a like-minded partner such as Boxer, with its extensive footprint reaching into rural and semi-rural communities, we are able to take this value even further, ensuring it reaches the customers who need it most, in a way that is both accessible and sustainable,” said Lytania Johnson, CEO of FNB.

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Usually, firmware updates tend to register on the boring side of the scale. But owners of Sony‘s flagship headphones might not think that of this update.

Who doesn’t like a free feature update?

More specifically, the 3.1.5 firmware update adds support for the Bluetooth LE Audio Gaming Audio Profile, or GMAP as the Bluetooth SIG calls it. The big advantage? Lower latency.

In gaming mode, total audio latency is supposed to be reduced to under 40 milliseconds—30ms for wireless transmission and 10ms for audio processing in the headphones. The standard also specifies that latency between the left and right channels must not exceed 100ms.

The other great thing about this update is that it’s baked into the Bluetooth standard, meaning devices could support it even if the manufacturer doesn’t have its own low-latency mode. They’ll just need to support Bluetooth LE.

To cash in on your free feature update, you’ll want to open up Sony’s Sound Connect app and download firmware version 3.1.5. You’ll need to have your headphones connected, obviously. From there, you might also need to tweak the Bluetooth settings to ensure you’re using the new profile when you’re connected to the devices you want low latency with.

For device-specific instructions, look here — WH-1000XM6 or WH-1000XX.

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Not console prices, though. The company has at least spared us on that front. Instead, Sony’s gaming division is reportedly planning another PlayStation Plus price hike. This follows PlayStation’s last PS Plus price hike back in May, which saw newcomers to the service hit by a sizeable hike. South Africa, fortunately, got off free.

PlayStation Plus (may) strike again

We’re not so sure we’ll be quite as lucky this time. Sony teased the hike in a recent investor Q&A, after the company was asked about “the pace and scale of future PS Plus price increases, given its importance as a profitability driver?” As a consumer, even the question is worrisome. PlayStation’s reply, even more so.

“PS Plus offers strong value to players, and we continually balance that value against customer cost. We are using multiple levers to improve profitability, including pricing, tier mix and content acquisition efficiency. Higher tiers now account for 40% of subscribers, which reflects strong demand for the service,” it said.

That isn’t necessarily a death knell for PS Plus subscribers. But as PlayStation Lifestyle points out, the last time Sony used similar verbiage, prices were hiked. It said back then that it intended to cover the costs of servers and network infrastructure solely from PS Plus’ generated revenue. If those prices go up, so does PS Plus.

If Sony sends a hike our way, we’re betting it’ll target those under the Extra and Premium tiers (Deluxe in South Africa). Driving up pricing for the most basic tier — Essential — may just scare off those subscribers for good. The two tiers above, which offer access to a rather vast library of games, are already the most profitable. Upping the price could make them more so. Only time will tell if Sony is headed in that direction.

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This is because renewable energy works very differently from coal. It needs a different kind of electricity system and new ways of planning and managing the grid.

The transition also requires major changes at the state-owned electricity utility, Eskom, which has long dominated South Africa’s power sector. It involves transforming an electricity system built around a few large coal-fired power stations into one that can absorb power from many renewable energy producers while keeping electricity reliable, affordable and accessible.

I’ve been working in the field of energy and economic regulation in South Africa for 40 years. I sat on the Eskom board for six years until I resigned in 2024 and I was involved in drafting key energy policies.

Based on my experience, I argue that there are five key factors slowing down the energy transition:

• Eskom’s dominance over the country’s electricity system
• inconsistent and politically driven government electricity planning, favouring certain technologies and restricting private energy providers
• a grid that has not been designed to keep up with technological change
• crumbling municipal electricity distribution networks and high levels of local government debt to Eskom
• inability of rooftop solar to sell surplus power into the grid.

These five problems are closely linked to slow-moving institutions, outdated ways of thinking, poor management and corruption. Many countries face similar challenges, but South Africa is a politically fractured society, with low trust in government, weak education systems and high rates of crime. All this shows in the slow pace of the energy transition.

The slow pace comes at a cost. Communities living near coal-fired power stations continue to face health risks. And South African exports could become less competitive as the European Union introduces border taxes on products produced with coal-fired electricity. The country’s coal-fired power stations continue to produce high levels of greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.

Five bottlenecks

I have ranked the factors slowing the transition from most to least influential. Others may rank them differently.

The first bottleneck is Eskom: state-owned and slow to respond to change. It controls electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Because it controls so much of the system, Eskom has had the power to influence who can connect to the grid and how quickly new competitors can enter the market.

Eskom is also struggling financially. As more households and businesses generate their own cheaper solar power, its sales have declined. It has tried to slow down the energy transition by challenging licences for electricity traders and by resisting plans to make the national transmission grid fully independent.

It has also backed expensive coal projects. In 2024, Eskom decided to extend the lives of the Camden, Grootvlei and Hendrina coal-fired power stations until 2030 at a cost of about R90 billion (about US$5.5 billion). That money could instead have gone towards new renewable energy projects that would have lasted much longer.

The second bottleneck is the government’s electricity plans (known as Integrated Resource Plans). They are supposed to set out the cheapest ways of providing the country with the electricity it needs. But instead, the government uses them to pick technologies that it prefers, like nuclear and gas, over cheaper renewable energies.

The country passed law setting up a wholesale electricity market, but in contradiction, the government intervenes in the market using the Integrated Resource Plans to limit the operation of market forces.

The third bottleneck is the electricity grid itself. There are two problems here. The first is that South Africa’s grid was built decades ago to carry electricity from coal-fired power stations in the eastern province of Mpumalanga to the country’s main cities and industries. But the best wind and solar resources are mostly in the west of the country. So the grid now needs to become a two-way street, able to move electricity from west to east as well.

The National Transmission Company of South Africa (a wholly owned subsidiary company of Eskom) plans to build 14,500km of new transmission lines over the next decade to help this happen. Until then, some renewable energy projects have to cut back how much electricity they produce because the grid cannot carry it. Coal-fired power stations continue to fill the gap. Years of poor planning and Eskom’s financial problems have made this bottleneck worse.

The second problem is that managing a national grid with thousands of renewable energy providers is more complex than one based on a few coal plants. To keep the system stable, there have to be services in place to respond to sudden changes in power and to restart the grid after a blackout.

Wind and solar need a suite of such services. South Africa is still working out how to organise, fund and allocate responsibility for these services.

The fourth bottleneck is crumbling municipal electricity distribution networks, which create a serious risk to the electricity system. Local governments also owe over R100 billion (about US$6 billion) to Eskom, and this debt is rising fast.

Rising non-payment is worsening the problem, making it harder to fund and maintain electricity services. With weak public finances, government support is limited. Eskom has received R464 billion (US$28 billion) in bailouts. But some of these have gone towards covering losses linked to non-payment, crime and corruption.

The fifth bottleneck is is that renewable energy from rooftop solar systems is being wasted. Over the past five years, solar generation has shot up to about 8%-10% of total generation, powering about 3 million to 4 million households. Excess electricity generated is not used or sold back into the grid because municipalities and Eskom make it difficult and costly to do that.

When people disconnect from the grid, it reduces Eskom’s revenue and raises costs for those who remain. Over time, a weaker grid also makes it harder for large renewable projects to deliver power where it is needed.

What needs to happen next

To address the electricity crisis, the Presidency has set up a National Energy Crisis Committee. This is a collaborative effort by relevant national government departments, Eskom, and representatives from the private sector.

It has made progress but still faces many problems.

There is no magic solution for all these challenges. However, the focus of attention needs to be the establishment of a fully independent National Transmission Company. This will allow private capital to invest in removing the bottlenecks from the grid, and limit some of Eskom’s market power.

• Rod Crompton is a Visiting Adjunct Professor, African Energy Leadership Centre, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand
• This article first appeared in The Conversation

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Okay, maybe you can have one if you can convince the folks at Chrono24 to import it for you (and you have the cash, obviously).

Don’t try to catch them all, you just need one

This limited edition G-Shock looks rather similar to other G-Shocks, except for all the pocket monsters adorning the face, rear, and strap. It features splashes of the iconic red, blue, and green colour scheme from the series’ original 1996 release on the watch hands, buttons, dial, and bezel.

There are apparently 30 different Pokémon featured on the watch’s strap, although we didn’t bother counting them. The 9 o’clock inset dial is a rather obvious nod to the Pokéball with a cool little Pikachu-shaped indicator. Flip it over to see the engraved case back commemorating the 30-year milestone.

As for the watch bits, there’s no reason not to expect the usual toughness you would from any other G-Shock. It can withstand up to 200m of static water pressure, weighs only 72g, and features LED illumination.

Casio isn’t saying how many it plans to produce, so you may not want to delay begging Chrono24 to reserve yours. Pre-orders open tomorrow (1 July 2026) in supported territories.

Source

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