Xiaomi 18 Pro launches as DeepSeek details Agent sandbox and iOS beta curbs shake ads

Xiaomi’s 18 Pro starts at 5,999 yuan for 12GB + 256GB and uses a sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, a 6.4-inch display, a 7,000mAh battery, a 200MP main camera, a 200MP periscope telephoto and a 50MP ultra-wide. The 18 Pro Max starts at 6,999 yuan for 12GB + 256GB, has a sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 Super Elite chip, an 8,500mAh battery and the same rear camera setup. Both have an integrated flat rear display, hardware-level privacy protection and HyperOS 4. Transparent editions cost 9,999 yuan for the 18 Pro 16GB + 1TB and 10,999 yuan for the 18 Pro Max with the same memory. Xiaomi also released the Pad 9 and Pad 9 Pro from 2,999 yuan and 3,799 yuan, the Watch S5 41mm from 1,299 yuan, a transparent Watch S5 limited to 5,000 units at 2,499 yuan, a Band 11 ceramic edition, and a Mijia three-drum washer.

DeepSeek published details of DSec, the production sandbox it uses for Agent training and evaluation, in a paper submitted to arXiv on September 19 with Liang Wenfeng among the authors. The paper describes a platform, not a new model. DSec offers four sandbox backends through a unified SDK: function calls, containers, micro virtual machines and full virtual machines. It loads images on demand from a distributed file system to reduce concentrated download pressure. A production unit of about 160 nodes handles about 3 million sandbox instances per day, with peak concurrency above 380,000 and more than 5,000 instances created per second. DeepSeek V3.2 to V4.1 reinforcement learning training and evaluation sandboxes run on DSec. The figures come from the team’s system report and have not been independently measured.

According to Afaner/APPSO testing, iOS 27.2 Beta 2 adds a setting called Restrict Motion Data for Apple accounts in China. Under Settings, Privacy & Security, Motion & Fitness, users can limit an app’s access to accelerometer and gyroscope data. Restricted apps can no longer use phone shakes to trigger splash-ad jumps, though ordinary splash ads and tap or swipe interactions remain. The setting follows the App Store account region, not the phone’s sales region; switching to a non-China account removes the entry and the configured app list.

Nio founder William Li said the ES9 reached 30,000 deliveries 119 days after launch, with a handover ceremony in Suzhou. Nio said the pace continues to set a delivery-speed record for a Chinese high-end battery-electric vehicle in its price band. The ES9 went on sale in late May as Nio’s flagship electric SUV, with an 900V architecture, steer-by-wire and an active-suspension Tianxing chassis.

Multiple iPhone 18 Pro users posted night photos showing green patches or halos near bright objects. Interface News reported the phenomenon is more obvious in low-light and warm-light environments and at some telephoto focal lengths; some users said the preview looked normal while the final photo or video showed green ghosting. Interface News asked Apple customer service as a consumer and was told the company had not received related feedback and had no official announcement. Pan Tianhong, founder of the video review outlet Yingshi Jufeng, noted obvious flare when the main camera’s variable aperture is fully open. A photography-focused WeChat account attributed the green ghosting to lens flare, a judgment that cannot prove all reports share the same cause.

Microsoft will open a quantum computing center in Maryland to give DARPA researchers direct access to the Majorana 2 chip and related systems. Previously, external researchers could only access the hardware remotely through Microsoft facilities in Redmond and Europe. On-site access will let DARPA use its own startup sequences and testing methods instead of relying entirely on Microsoft-provided interfaces. DARPA aims to judge by 2033 whether different quantum computing routes have economic value, while Microsoft plans a commercial system by 2029. Majorana 2 follows Microsoft’s topological approach. The center near Washington is meant to let government researchers continuously verify stability, control methods and scaling.

Xianyu published a self-investigation on September 23 after media reports about juvenile-related sexual solicitation and traffic diversion. It said multiple checks found no obscene content in public product information and no pornographic information involving minors, though that conclusion still awaited regulatory investigation. Xianyu said the reported improper chat screenshots came from other platforms, not from Xianyu conversations; some sellers sent off-platform QR codes through video in private chats. The platform reported the merchants, QR codes and chat records to the corresponding platforms and handed materials to public security authorities. It acknowledged governance responsibility as the target platform for diversion, promised stronger keyword recognition and manual inspections, and called for cross-platform cooperation.

WPP opened a production center of about 34,000 square feet in East London combining virtual production, post-production, creator collaboration and AI tools. It is the first flagship center in the global WPP Production network, with initial clients including Coca-Cola, Unilever and Ford. Its virtual production system can change scenes in real time in a studio; in a demonstration, WPP placed a Ford Capri in a Paris street scene without sending a team to build an exterior there. WPP aims to shorten shooting-to-delivery time and cut cross-location costs, and said the facility will train about 10,000 production staff and be replicated in other markets.

At its 2026 half-year earnings briefing, BOE said its glass-based packaging substrate pilot line has been fully connected, with 22-layer and 24-layer products sent to customers for verification. The company previously completed TGV drilling, deep-hole copper filling, build-up and wiring processes and sent samples to some domestic customers. Glass substrates target advanced packaging for large computing chips. Compared with organic materials, glass has potential in flatness, thermal stability and high-density wiring, but mass production still requires chip mounting, electrical performance, signal conduction and system reliability tests. BOE hopes to meet conditions for a mass-production decision in the first quarter or first half of 2027; the current stage remains customer verification.

NHTSA opened a preliminary investigation into Comma.ai’s aftermarket driver-assistance device. The regulator received five reports of vehicles using the device crashing into slow-moving or stationary vehicles in the same lane; two crashes killed three people, and another four crashes reported up to 11 injuries. The investigation targets device and system performance, and the causes cannot yet all be attributed to one software configuration. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation said the reports involved failures to recognize or respond to slow-moving or stationary vehicles ahead. Some crashes may have involved third-party modified versions of openpilot, affecting judgment of responsibility for the original software and device. Comma.ai says drivers must remain ready to take over.

World Labs CEO and Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li told Bloomberg Technology that AI developers must conduct internal evaluations but cannot be the only safety judges. She said World Labs tests model capabilities and safety, and independent institutions outside industry are needed to set benchmarks and verify that vendors have not omitted or downplayed risks. Li advocated ecosystem-level responsibility involving academia, the public sector, government, industry and civil society, with open and closed models in the same comparable framework. She cited Stanford’s Human-Centered AI institute, the Center for Research on Foundation Models and ImageNet as examples of independent benchmarks forming public references before product releases. She rejected the idea that loss of control is inevitable, saying AI risk ultimately depends on human use, governance and responsibility. She extended the principle to Atlas, World Labs’ spatial intelligence model, which generates geometric 3D and 4D environments for design, robotics, healthcare and laboratories; if simulations lack validation, they can introduce bias into physical tasks. Humans must retain control over goals, deployment and governance, she said.

The brief also covered Bentley’s first all-electric Torcal, with the S version producing 888 horsepower; Alibaba’s Qwen-Audio 3.1 adding audio creation and scene understanding; Cangjie 1.2.0 strengthening cross-platform and toolchain features; Doubao Work adding Goal and Plan task modes; Mirage’s Tesseract for AI Agents editing layered video projects; Ant open-sourcing Ming-Image for layout generation and layer splitting; StepFun open-sourcing Step Code for terminal programming and long-task delegation; Geely’s 2.25-megawatt charging station, which charged a test vehicle to 70 percent in four and a half minutes; AB InBev shifting toward smaller beer packages and functional non-alcoholic drinks; Instacart connecting to Meta Muse for grocery orders from shopping lists; YouTube adding Shorts serial dramas with seasons and episodes; and the film Huo Jiu Jiu set for December 31, starring Zhang Yifan and Chen Linong, while Ray Gunn released a first trailer directed by Brad Bird.