Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

Does Marques Hate OnePlus?

February 13, 2026

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  • The hosts are temporarily renaming the podcast to the "Crash Out Podcast" because the topics discussed this week are expected to provoke strong reactions. 
  • A significant portion of the audience is willing to pay for music lyrics, contrary to Marques' initial assumption that most users default to Googling them. 
  • The introduction of ads in ChatGPT, mocked by Anthropic's Super Bowl campaign, has sparked public conflict between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic, highlighting the intense competition in the AI space. 
  • Major smartphone manufacturers are hesitant to adopt silicon carbon batteries due to corporate risk assessment concerning capacity, charge rate, longevity trade-offs, and the potential for catastrophic financial fallout from failures, as exemplified by Samsung's past Note 7 issues. 
  • Shen from HTC explained that battery adoption involves balancing multiple technical levers (capacity, charge rate, longevity), and companies with high market share prioritize safety and stability, making them slower to adopt unproven new chemistries. 
  • Andrew detailed an extremely frustrating, multi-day ordeal with Xfinity customer service following a downed cable wire, highlighting systemic issues with automated support systems and the difficulty of reaching specialized technicians for exterior repairs. 
  • The hosts, particularly Marques, expressed extreme frustration with the deceptive and unhelpful customer service practices of internet providers like Xfinity and Verizon Fios, citing instances of withheld service capabilities and poor technician scheduling. 
  • A recurring theme in the segment is the hosts 'crashing out' over service failures, leading to a self-titled segment conclusion, 'The Crash Out Episode,' which also included brief rants against Sam Altman and Ferrari. 
  • The trivia segment revealed that the guitarist for U2, 'The Edge,' shares a name with a line of Samsung Galaxy phones (e.g., Galaxy Edge), a fact that surprised most of the hosts. 

Segments

Weather App Recommendations
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(00:02:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Breezy, sourced via F-Droid, and Overmorrow, which defaults to Celsius, are recommended alternatives to the Google Weather app.
  • Summary: Marques shared two highly suggested weather apps following listener feedback. Breezy requires downloading the F-Droid store first, while Overmorrow is available on the Play Store but defaults to Celsius for US users. The hosts also briefly referenced Groundhog Day predictions.
YouTube Music Lyrics Paywall
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(00:06:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Approximately 28% of polled users indicated a willingness to pay for lyrics within their music application, suggesting it is a more lucrative feature than anticipated.
  • Summary: YouTube Music is restricting lyrics access to Premium subscribers, offering only five free views before prompting payment. Andrew’s poll showed that 18.8% would pay specifically for lyrics, and another 9.6% would pay at the right price. Andrew shared a personal anecdote about mishearing lyrics in an Everclear song.
YouTube App on Vision Pro
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(00:12:02)
  • Key Takeaway: The official YouTube app has finally launched for the Apple Vision Pro, allowing for native discovery and full-screen viewing environments.
  • Summary: The launch of the native YouTube app ends the necessity of using the browser workaround on the Vision Pro. The hosts speculated that this makes the device an ideal, large-screen flight theater experience, especially with downloaded Premium content.
Anthropic’s ChatGPT Ad Attack
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(00:14:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Anthropic released Super Bowl ads satirizing OpenAI’s plan to introduce ads into ChatGPT, prompting an 11-paragraph defensive reaction from Sam Altman on Twitter.
  • Summary: Anthropic’s ads effectively mimicked AI interactions devolving into bizarre suggestions, which Sam Altman admitted were funny before launching into a lengthy rebuttal. The ads were designed to paint OpenAI’s move as a step toward surveillance, contrasting with Anthropic’s perceived focus on safety. Target and William Sonoma are confirmed early advertisers using keyword-based targeting.
Ring Camera Privacy Concerns
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(00:29:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Amazon Ring’s new pet-finding feature, which relies on a connected neighborhood network, raises significant privacy alarms due to its default activation and the company’s history of data sharing.
  • Summary: The feature allows users to search for lost pets across neighbors’ Ring feeds, which critics argue opens the door for broader surveillance, especially given Ring’s partnership with Flock security cameras. Listeners noted that community help often happens organically without centralized surveillance technology. Ring officially denies that this feature accesses facial recognition data.
Discord Age Verification Backlash
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(00:38:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Discord is implementing mandatory face scanning or ID upload for users suspected of being minors to restrict access to age-restricted content, causing significant user backlash.
  • Summary: Users who are not verified as adults will be blocked from age-restricted servers and Discord Stages, with unknown sources filtered. The company claims the face scan uses an on-device AI model that never leaves the device, though many users are skeptical. The move is seen as Discord attempting to become an ’everything app’ by enforcing stricter content control.
Waveform Trivia Segment
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(00:45:45)
  • Key Takeaway: The trivia question centered on the Grand Coulee Dam’s maximum capacity compared to the 1.21 gigawatts required by the Back to the Future flux capacitor.
  • Summary: The trivia question asked for the maximum gigawatt capacity of the Grand Coulee Dam, referencing Sam Altman’s claim that 10 gigawatts could fund either curing cancer or tutoring every child. The hosts referenced the 1.21 gigawatts needed for time travel in Back to the Future.
Silicon Carbon Battery Risks
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(00:51:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Major smartphone companies avoid silicon carbon batteries due to corporate risk assessment, not necessarily inherent flaws.
  • Summary: Marques addressed the perception that he hates OnePlus by explaining his recent video focused on why major manufacturers avoid silicon carbon batteries. Shen confirmed that companies with high market share are wary of new chemistries due to the high energy density and potential for thermal runaway or swelling issues. Companies must balance capacity gains against potential trade-offs in charge rate and longevity when assessing new battery technology.
Battery Testing and Longevity
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(01:01:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Battery testing involves standardized safety guidelines, but real-world usage always reveals blind spots that influence corporate risk tolerance.
  • Summary: Battery testing protocols, including retaining 80% charge after 800-1,000 cycles, are generally consistent across major companies. Manufacturers must account for physical expansion space within devices due to temperature changes or off-gassing. Despite accelerated testing, companies acknowledge a persistent blind spot regarding long-term, real-world usage variables.
Battery Supply Chain Considerations
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(01:04:12)
  • Key Takeaway: Large companies prioritize second-sourcing components like batteries to mitigate supply chain disruption risks, even if it slows adoption of new tech.
  • Summary: New battery technologies often suffer from limited suppliers, prompting large manufacturers to require second sourcing to prevent business interruption. This requirement can delay the adoption of cutting-edge components unless an exception is formally approved. Furthermore, companies often adjust specifications across different suppliers to ensure performance parity, though minor differences can occasionally be noticed by consumers.
EV Interior Design Critique
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(01:28:37)
  • Key Takeaway: The Ferrari EV interior, designed with input from Jony Ive’s firm LoveFrom, is criticized for having beautiful individual elements that clash when viewed as a whole interior design.
  • Summary: The Ferrari EV, codenamed Luce, features an interior developed with LoveFrom, potentially marking Jony Ive’s first direct automotive interior involvement. While individual switches and displays are praised for being clean and well-executed, the overall aesthetic is deemed ugly, mixing retro elements with modern screens like a giant Apple Watch Ultra. The presence of physical buttons and knobs was noted as a positive contrast to fully screen-based interfaces.
Andrew’s Xfinity Customer Service Crash Out
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(01:36:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Xfinity’s customer service proved abysmal following a downed wire, characterized by automated systems blocking access to technicians and staff providing contradictory or false scheduling information.
  • Summary: After a tree downed a cable wire across Andrew’s driveway, Xfinity’s automated system failed to connect him to exterior repair technicians, instead routing him to standard technical support. Over several days, scheduled repair windows were repeatedly missed without communication, culminating in a representative claiming an email confirmation couldn’t be sent because his internet service was down. This experience highlighted the frustration of dealing with large companies that use call center labor as a buffer against accountability.
Xfinity Customer Service Nightmare
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(01:45:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Xfinity support agents provided contradictory and dismissive information regarding service outages, exemplified by one agent claiming an email confirmation couldn’t be sent because the customer lacked internet, despite the customer calling via phone.
  • Summary: A customer experienced severe frustration when Xfinity support failed to confirm a technician appointment, citing the lack of internet as the reason for not receiving an email, even though the call was made on a mobile phone. The speaker felt agents were used as ‘punching bags’ to dodge responsibility for service failures. The speaker strongly advised others to switch away from Xfinity if possible.
Gigabit Speed Deception by Xfinity
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(01:46:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Xfinity was allegedly capable of delivering promised Gigabit speeds but intentionally withheld them from a customer paying a premium price, only activating the full speed temporarily via live chat support.
  • Summary: A customer paying $80-$90 monthly for Xfinity Gigabit service consistently received speeds around 30-100 Mbps, despite repeated complaints. After months, a live chat agent temporarily boosted the speed to Gigabit, admitting via text chat that they had a dashboard button to ‘give us gigabit’ but were refusing to hit it based on management instruction. The full speed reverted four days later.
Comcast/Verizon Fios Service Issues
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(01:47:47)
  • Key Takeaway: When attempting to cancel poor service from Comcast (or a similar provider in college), the company immediately offered a free upgrade to the highest tier plan, suggesting service limitations were artificial rather than technical.
  • Summary: Another host shared a college experience where Comcast service was intermittent and slow (3 Mbps down), but upon demanding cancellation, the company instantly upgraded the service to 300 Mbps up and down at no extra cost. Verizon Fios installation technicians also frequently failed to show up during scheduled windows, sometimes not showing up at all without notification, though one technician left behind tools, including a hard hat.
Dangerous Wire Reporting Failures
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(01:50:26)
  • Key Takeaway: Internet service providers were negligent in responding to reports of a downed wire, with agents suggesting the customer should determine if the wire was electrically charged, despite the line being visibly dangerous.
  • Summary: The host reported a downed wire that was potentially dangerous, but support staff were unhelpful, suggesting it might only be a cable line without electricity. Technicians were scheduled days later, even while the host was screaming about the immediate hazard, highlighting a severe lack of urgency for physical infrastructure issues.
Episode Conclusion and Rants
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(01:51:22)
  • Key Takeaway: The segment concluded with hosts declaring the episode ‘The Crash Out Episode’ and briefly listing targets of their frustration, including Xfinity, Sam Altman, and Ring cameras.
  • Summary: The hosts formally labeled the episode based on the collective frustration expressed. They briefly mentioned an issue with WhatsApp regarding Meta AI and ChatGPT integration being blocked by the European Commission, which was forcing Meta to allow third-party AIs.
Trivia Segment: U2 and Samsung
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(01:53:22)
  • Key Takeaway: The shared connection between the band U2 and Samsung’s smartphone lineup is the name of U2’s lead guitarist, The Edge, which mirrors Samsung’s ‘Edge’ branding on devices like the Galaxy Note Edge.
  • Summary: The trivia question focused on a shared element between Samsung and U2, which was revealed to be ‘The Edge,’ the name of U2’s guitarist and a former Samsung phone designator. The hosts also reviewed the current trivia scores, with Andrew leading at 17 points.
Trivia: Most Viewed YouTube Video
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(01:56:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Discord accidentally broke the record for the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours in 2024 by embedding an April Fool’s joke video that looped across 1.4 billion views.
  • Summary: The correct answer to the trivia question about the company that accidentally broke the 24-hour YouTube view record was Discord. This occurred because a short, looping April Fool’s video was embedded across billions of views on their platform, artificially inflating the count. The hosts also noted Discord’s annoying new ‘quest’ pop-ups.