Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast
Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

Phones Will Cost More, but This Camera Is Free?

January 16, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

  • The Format: Casual weekly tech news roundup and banter session among three hosts, blending gadget reviews, industry rumors, trivia, and wild analogies from cars and sports.
  • The Key Players:
    • Marquez, Andrew, and David – the core trio from the MKBHD (Marques Brownlee) YouTube empire. Marquez drives deep dives (e.g., Xiaomi phones), Andrew handles snarky trivia, David brings production insights. Their chemistry is brotherly ribbing with seamless tangents.
  • The Vibe: Fun and geeky – high-energy laughs over tech absurdities, zero pretension, like geeking out at a bar.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

Casual dive into 2026 tech shifts, from flagships to AI drama, with hilarious non-tech analogies.

  • Gadget Spotlights: Xiaomi 17 Ultra as a Leica-branded "camera phone" with a haptic zoom ring (fun but gimmicky); Fujifilm X half drops to $600 (or free with XT5 kit) after $850 tariff-hit launch – vibes over specs for Gen Z digicam fans.
  • Apple Moves: Creator Studio bundles Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc., for $13/mo (insane $3/mo student deal); Siri powered by Gemini foundation model (bye, ChatGPT?), privacy via Private Cloud Compute – delayed but promising reboot.
  • Price Hikes & Subs: RAM shortages to spike smartphone costs 30%+ (Carl Pei warns Nothing phones hit hard); Tesla FSD now sub-only; everything's pri

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:23) **Podcast Intro & Teasers**
  • 2 (05:50) **Xiaomi 17 Ultra Camera Phone Hands-On**
  • 3 (12:27) **Apple Creator Studio Suite**
  • 4 (20:23) **Tesla FSD Subscription-Only Shift**
  • 5 (22:04) **Apple Adopts Gemini for Siri**
  • 6 (38:57) **Rising Smartphone Prices from RAM Shortage**
  • 7 (48:43) **Fuji X-Half Camera Pricing Drama**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

In this week's episode the cast is joined by Mariah Zenk and we discuss a phone that feels more like a camera than a phone, why a certain Fuji camera is being given away, everything is a subscription, and we wrap up the episode by explaining some non-tech news in tech terms. Enjoy!


Shop the merch:

https://shop.mkbhd.com

Links:

Apple Creator Studio

Carl Pei's Tweet

Free Fuji X half



This Episode is brought to you by:

Monarch: https://www.monarch.com/

Shopify: www.shopify.com/waveform



Music provided by:

Epidemic Sound


Social:

Waveform Threads: https://www.threads.net/@waveformpodcast

Waveform Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waveformpodcast/?hl=en

Waveform TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@waveformpodcast


Hosts:

Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd

Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli

David: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel

Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17

Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin

Mariah: https://www.instagram.com/totallynotabusinessacc/


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Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast