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A “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required businesses to make it easy for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships, has been blocked by a federal appeals court just days before it was set to go into effect.The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes, adopted in October, required businesses to obtain a customer’s consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals, and programs linked to free trial offers.The FTC said at the time that businesses must also disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them.The administration of President Joe Biden included the FTC’s proposal as part of its “Time is Money” initiative, a governmentwide initiative that was announced last year with the aim of cracking down on consumer-related hassles.The FTC rule was set to go into effect on Monday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said this week that the FTC made a procedural error by failing to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules whose annual impact on the U.S. economy is more than $100 million.The FTC claimed that it did not have to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis because it initially determined that the rule’s impact on the national economy would be less than $100 million. An administrative law judge decided that the economic impact would be more than the $100 million threshold.The court decided to vacate the rule.“While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission’s rulemaking process are fatal here,” the court wrote.The FTC declined to comment on Wednesday.The agency is currently moving forward with its preparations for a trial involving Amazon’s Prime program. The trial stems from a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.The trial is expected to take place next year. Michelle Chapman, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Just over a month ago, Samsung did something strange to start hyping up its next foldable phone announcements. Those phones, which Samsung revealed today, are officially called the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7, but in a blog post from early June, the company teased the news as “the Next Chapter of Ultra.” Bestowing its flagship branding on new foldables would have been a big show of confidence, especially amid reports that Samsung is scaling back foldable phone production this year. But that didnt actually happen. While Samsung says the Fold7 and Flip7 address a lot of the complaints people have about foldable phones, don’t expect any kind of major rebranding or strategic pivot. As before, the phones will have to speak for themselves. A thinner Fold with better cameras Samsung is at least being honest now about the reasons people have avoided foldable phones until now, because it claims to have addressed them. The Galaxy Z Fold7, for instance, is only about 9% thicker than a Galaxy S25 Ultra or iPhone 16 Pro Max when folded shut, and at 215 grams it’s even a little lighter than those phones. The camera system is also closer to flagship quality now, with a 200 megapixel wide-angle lens and a 44% larger image sensor, though its 10 megapixel telephoto and 12 megapixel ultrawide lenses still lag behind the Ultra’s 50 megapixel versions. Samsung’s also giving up on hiding a front camera behind the inner display, and will instead use a camera cutout with a higher-quality 10 megapixel version. [Photo: Samsung] The Galaxy Z Fold7 looks more like a normal phone when it’s folded shut as well, with a 6.5-inch outer screen that’s wider than previous models. The inner screen now stretches to 8 inches as a result, and Samsung says it’s improved the hinge so the crease on the inner screen isn’t as noticeable. “We’re really excited about this device,” says Blake Gaiser, head of mobile phone management for Samsung Electronics America. “We think that a lot of those barriers that have kept customers from choosing a foldable over a traditional bar-type phone are continuing to be eliminated or minimized.” Better and cheaper Flips Samsung’s smaller foldables had their own set of compromises, which the company’s trying to address with the Galaxy Z Flip7. The phone is wider now, giving the inner screen a 21:9 aspect ratio that matches most regular phones. The outer screen also has smaller bezels and matches the smooth 120 Hz refresh rate and brightness of the inner screen. Because the 4,300 mAh battery is larger and the processor is more efficient, Samsung says the Flip 7 lasts eight hours longer in video playback tests on a single charge. The Flip7 is also about 8% thinner than the Fold 6 when folded shut, and it’s about 12% thinner than a Galaxy S25+ when unfolded. The camera system is the same, with 50 megapixel wide and 12 megapixel ultrawide lenses, though it’ll be aided by a new image processing system. “We had to make some sacrifices with that compact form factor, but I think that’s something we’ve addressed in the last generations, and something we’ll continue to address with Flip7,” says Peter Park, Samsung Electronics America’s senior product manager for foldables. The pricing problem Even as Samsung chips away at what bothered people about foldable phones, price might still be the biggest barrier. “Consumers who were interested in trying a foldable, especially a Flip, for them budget or price was the number one reason why they were not able to make that leap,” Park says. [Photo: Samsung] Samsung doesn’t really have an answer for that yet. It’s releasing a $900 Flip7 FE, which is largely just a rebrand of last year’s Flip6 with the same smaller outer screen and weaker battery life. The Flip7 will still cost $1,100, leaving it on the higher end of flagship phone pricing. The Galaxy Z Fold7, meanwhile, is moving in the wrong direction with a starting price of $2,000. That’s $100 more than the Fold6 and $200 more than the Fold5. For now, it seems that Samsung would rather not release an “FE” variant with last year’s compromises. “We just haven’t seen at this point a dramatic market for the trade-offs we would need to take in order to decrease the price,” Gaiser says. Making the case In lieu of lower pricing, Samsung will have to make the case for its foldables in other ways. Gaiser hopes that simply seeing the phones in all their glory will be enough. To that end, Samsung has been working with wireless carriers on adhesive-mounted security mechanisms instead of bulky claw grips so shoppers can get a better feel for the phones. It’s also leaning on carriers for subsidies in exchange for long-term service plans, though it’s unclear if those will be much different from the discounts they offer on other phones. “At the end of the day, foldable awareness is still far below that of a traditional bar-type phone,” Gaiser says. “One of the things that really excites us about Fold 7 is that, even when I showed it around to people for the first time here in the office, they didn’t realize that it was a foldable.” But what about that whole “Next Chapter of Ultra” business? Is there another phone forthcoming? Did Samsung have a bigger rebrand in mind and get cold feet? Gaiser says the goal was merely to “allow people to understand that this is more like an Ultra that unfoldsÝ and acknowledged the potential for confusion. But when asked about reports of Samsung cutting production plans for this year’s foldables, and rival OnePlus’ decision not to ship a foldable in 2025, Gaiser says Samsung still believes in the category. The evidence is in what Samsung’s announcing this week. “We think that the future of foldables is bright, and we’re uniquely positioned to bring forth the innovation necessary to get more and more people excited about foldables,” he says. “If others don’t see it that way, we’re happy to fill the void.”
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E-Commerce
Since Michael Jordan and Nike changed the rules of sports marketing, signature shoes ranging from LeBrons to Currys have defined basketball footwear. With few exceptions, its only in the last few years that WNBA players have been given similar opportunities. And now, amid a surge of interest in the league, the WNBAs most glamorous player, Angel Reese, has revealed her first shoe with Reebok, called the Angel Reese 1. The mainstay brands of athletic shoesNike and Adidashave been struggling, as a combination of scale and brand fatigue have left windows for smaller competition to grow, and new tariffs threaten the bottom line of the industry. Adidas actually sold off Reebok in 2021 to Authentic Brands Group for $2.5 billion. Authentic Brands manages a variety of recognizable names, including Champion, Eddie Bauer, Brooks Brothers, and Frye. [Photo: Reebok] Since the sell-off, Reeboks profits are up. Focused less on marketing and product innovation than licensing the known name, the companys revenue jumped from $196 million in 2022 to $276 million in 2023. But Reebok, like its larger peers, is focused on rekindling its cultural relevance to establish its next act. The company has declared that its cultural comeback begins with basketballa strategy revealed in late 2024 by Shaquille ONeal, president of the companys basketball division. In his pocket was his very first recruit at Reebok: The 2024 first-round draft pick and Bayou Barbie, Reese. In the two seasons since, Reese has been a force, bringing a new sense of competition and fashion to the WNBAwhile solidifying herself as a two-time All-Star in the process. For her first shoe at Reebok, the Angel Reese 1 in the Diamond Dust colorway, Reese says she wanted a shoe that you couldnt ignore. I wanted something that was really bold to go with my identity, she says, noting that the shoes subtle iridescent finish is meant to capture how she became a star despite coming from nothing in Baltimore. You could be a diamond that shines anywhere. The silhouette itself features an almost old-school layering of textures, reminiscent of vintage Reebok (or, dare I say, dad shoes). However, its low-cut white profile also looks like it could tag in for the ever-popular court shoe in some contexts. Reese herself says she wanted it to cross seamlessly between basketball and street wear, teasing that many more colorways are on the way. As of now, theres no price or release date for the Angel Reese 1. But Reebok says the launch is coming soon.
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E-Commerce
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