Foldables, Flashes, Levies

By the Orchestra editors · 4 min read

TL;DR

Apple launches its first foldable iPhone at AU$2,770, plus always-listening AI features on Apple Watch
DeepSeek announces v4.1 Flash, claiming it beats v4 Pro on all key metrics at lower cost
Australian government floats a levy on data centre revenue to fund local AI R&D
GPT-6 Astra ships as OpenAI's most capable business model, with deep reasoning and computer use

AI · Worldwide

Apple unveils foldable iPhone Duo with AI-designed hinge and always-listening Watch

Apple's first foldable phone starts at AU$2,770 and uses an AI-optimised hinge mechanism. The new Apple Watch ships with Siri Audio Intelligence features that passively process ambient sound on-device, raising fresh consent and privacy questions even as Apple insists raw audio never leaves dedicated hardware.

DeepSeek v4.1 Flash to launch, claims it beats v4 Pro across the board

DeepSeek says its upcoming v4.1 Flash model surpasses v4 Pro on performance, speed and cost. Once it ships, all Pro API requests will be silently routed to Flash at Flash pricing, giving teams an automatic upgrade.

GPT-6 Astra ships as OpenAI's flagship business model

OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra with stronger reasoning, computer-use capabilities and improved writing and design judgment, positioning it as the company's most capable model for enterprise workflows.

Suno v6 launches with licensed training data from Warner, BMG and Believe

Suno's new v6 generation ships as three models (v6, v6-wild, v6-mini) trained from scratch on label-licensed content. All older models are being retired, and songs can now be edited mid-stream via text commands. Universal and Sony remain absent and continue litigation.

Australian Tech

Canberra considers levy on data centre revenue to fund local AI and R&D

The federal government is weighing a levy on data centre and hyperscaler revenue to channel money into Australian research, startups and sovereign AI capability. The proposal emerged from stakeholder input on the government's data centre framework.

Data centre boom lifts Australian business investment to mining-era highs

New CEDA analysis shows total business investment rose 10.4% in the year to June, driven by data centre and AI spending. The growth rate hasn't been seen since the tail end of the early-2010s mining boom.