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Sofia Pitt, CNBC

Apple is planning a big upgrade to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its watch with a new device dubbed the “Watch X,” according to Bloomberg.

The Watch X will reportedly feature a thinner case, and designers are considering a magnetic band that is sleeker and takes up less space than the original Apple Watch bands. The watch will also reportedly include a microLED display, which offers better color and clarity, and a way for users to monitor blood pressure.

The company is also reportedly scheduled to release its Apple Watch Series 9 lineup at an event in September, where new iPhones are also expected. The watches will feature new colors and faster processors, according to Bloomberg. These changes are rather minor compared with what Apple has in store for the Watch X, which it will unveil in 2024 or 2025.

But it shows that Apple knows most folks are still buying their first Apple Watch. Unlike an iPhone, for example, consumers yet don’t upgrade their Apple Watches every year. Bloomberg had earlier said Apple is also planning a fresh version of the high-end Apple Watch Ultra, although it’s unclear what might be new.

Apple doesn’t break out sales for its watches, which are instead included in the “Other Products” category with other gadgets like AirPods, HomePods and Apple TV. That segment reported $8.28 billion in revenue for the fiscal third quarter, up 2% year over year.

Shares of Apple are up around 37% year to date as of early trading Monday. The Nasdaq Composite has risen around 30% for the same period.

Apple did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Read more at Bloomberg.

Apple earnings beat soft expectations driven by 8% services growth

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Trump backs off sending National Guard to San Francisco after Huang, Benioff phone calls

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Trump backs off sending National Guard to San Francisco after Huang, Benioff phone calls

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he hosts a Rose Garden Club lunch at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 21, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump said in a post on Thursday that the National Guard was preparing to “surge” San Francisco, but he was swayed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Salesforce Marc Benioff and others to hold off on the deployment.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he also spoke with Democratic Mayor Daniel Lurie, who “was making substantial progress” on crime.

“Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great,” Trump wrote.

The reversal marks a major political win for the city of San Francisco and Lurie, who is in his first term.

“The president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco,” Lurie said in a statement. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.”

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Lurie, a moderate Democrat, has taken a different approach with Trump than other California officials, like Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Governor Gavin Newsom, who publicly fire back at the president’s administration. Instead, Lurie consistently does not evoke Trump by name publicly or privately.

In recent addresses on the potential for a deployment, Lurie has touted the city’s progress on business development and crime, often citing data that shows San Franciscans feel the city is on the right track.

“We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery,” Lurie said.

The potential Guard deployment became a larger flashpoint when Benioff told the New York Times that he’d support Trump’s call for federal troops to be sent to San Francisco.

His sentiments were publicly supported by Elon Musk and David Sacks, high-profile techies with close ties to the Trump administration.

On Friday, facing mounting criticism, Benioff backtracked.

“Having listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials, and after the largest and safest Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco,” he posted on X.

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent fires a non-lethal round at protesters as they clear a path for vehicles to enter Coast Guard Island on October 23, 2025 in Oakland, California. Federal agents have arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area for immigration operations.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The data show a changing tide in the city.

Crime rates are down 30% from 2024, homicide levels hit their lowest levels in 70 years and car break-ins haven’t been at current levels in 22 years.

Meanwhile, event bookings and tourism are on the rise, residential real estate is becoming more scarce and the office market is heating up.

Business momentum in the city is largely built on the AI boom, post-pandemic. New CBRE data show venture funding in 2025 is expected to surpass the record reached in 2021, thanks in large part to AI investments in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

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Trump admin not negotiating equity stakes with quantum firms: Commerce official

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Trump admin not negotiating equity stakes with quantum firms: Commerce official

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks at a business reception at Lancaster House in central London, with attendees including government ministers from both the UK and US and representatives from major UK companies, as part of the second state visit to the UK by US President Donald Trump. Picture date: Thursday Sept. 18, 2025.

Jordan Pettitt | Via Reuters

The U.S. government is not in talks with quantum computing companies to take equity stakes in the firms in exchange for federal funding, a Commerce Department official told CNBC.

“The Commerce Department is not currently negotiating equity stakes with quantum computing companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The denial comes after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said that the Trump administration was in talks with companies including IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum.

During trading on Thursday, Rigetti was up 7%, IonQ was up 7%, D-Wave was up 13%, and Quantum Computing was up 5%.

The Trump administration has taken recent equity stakes in companies and industries seen as vital to U.S. national security.

In August, it took a 10% stake in Intel, the nation’s leading semiconductor manufacturer. It also took a 15% stake in MP Materials, which mines rare earth elements. China has restricted exports of rare earths.

Experts say that the U.S. government’s growing interest in taking stakes in private companies is unprecedented in recent decades.

Trump administration officials such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have argued that the government should benefit from a company’s success, especially where federal funds are involved.

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Quantum computing has attracted significant attention in recent years, with some of the most powerful institutions in the world spending millions in a race to develop and build the first useful and practical quantum computer, which could be completed in the next five years, according to optimistic predictions.

When there is a useful quantum computer, it would be able to do tasks that would require so much computing time on a traditional computer that it would be infeasible, such as discovering molecules that could be useful medicines or factoring large numbers.

Right now, there isn’t anything useful that quantum computers can do. The machines are purely for research.

But governments keep a close eye on the technology because it has military implications, including the potential to be able to decipher encrypted military communications.

Although the industry is attracting billions in investments, including from the federal government, it has not generated significant revenue yet.

Quantum computing companies generated under $750 million in revenue in 2024, according to a McKinsey report.

On Wednesday, Google claimed a quantum breakthrough in which it conducted research that showed that a quantum computer can run an algorithm over 13,000 times faster than a traditional computer, and that it could be verified by a second quantum computer, an advancement over past research.

Google shares jump after announcing quantum computing advancement

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Super Micro shares fall 6% on weak preliminary results

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Super Micro shares fall 6% on weak preliminary results

Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro, speaks at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 1, 2023.

Walid Berrazeg | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Super Micro Computer shares fell 6% on Thursday after the company released weak preliminary results for its fiscal first quarter of 2026.

The server maker said it expects to report $5 billion in revenue for the quarter, down from the $6 billion to $7 billion guidance that the company had previously issued.

Super Micro said “design win upgrades” pushed some expected first-quarter revenue to the second quarter.

“We see customer demand accelerating, and we are gaining AI share, reiterating revenue of at least $33B for FY 2026 with the expectation of delivering more.” Super Micro CEO Charles Liang said in a statement.

Super Micro said it has had “recent design wins” of more than $12 billion, and that delivery has been requested during its fiscal second quarter.

The company will provide further updates on its expected second-quarter deliveries and revenues during its earnings call on Nov. 4, when it will officially report its first-quarter results.

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Super Micro year to date stock chart.

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