Winner and loser of the week: e-bikes getting cheaper, iPhones getting buggier

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First, an honorable mention for Motorola. Despite not quite making it as our winner of the week this week, the Lenovo subsidiary made a huge statement on Wednesday with the unveiling of its $999 Motorola Edge+ smartphone. The launch marks the return of the brand to the smartphone big leagues after years of focus on the mid-range segment of the market. Time will tell if Motorola still has what it takes to compete with the like of Apple and Samsung, and whether consumers are willing to pay a grand for a Motorola device in 2020, but we're happy to see them reaching for the skies once again. The Motorola Edge+ looks cool, and we're excited to check it out.

Winner of the week: e-bikes are coming down in price

This week Dutch e-bike manufacturer VanMoof launched its new electrified S3 and X3 e-bikes. When I reviewed the S2 last summer, I fell in love with it. The design was both minimalistic and futuristic. The turbo button was genius and made pulling away from the crowds at traffic lights an absolute joy. Half fashion statement, half practical e-mobility solution, the VanMoof S2 takes the stress out urban cycling. The only problem I had with the e-bike was that at £2,598 in The UK, it was rather expensive.

Fast-forward to 2020 and VanMoof has now acquired its supply chain and, as a result, is able to drastically bring down its prices. The new, improved S3 comes in at €1,998/£1,750/$1,998. That's a drop of £848 for those in my home country. In Europe, the savings are even bigger at around €1,400 less for the S3 than the S2 cost. Not only are you getting an upgraded e-bike with a new automatic four-gear system, but your wallet will thank you for it. I, for one, can't wait to get my hands on an S3 to put it through a full road test.

Loser of the week: Apple's iPhone mail app is vulnerable to hackers

There's bad news for Apple iPhone users this week after reports surfaced on Friday that Apple's default mail app is wide open to potential hackers. A bug in the app, which allows attackers to read, modify, or delete emails, has been discovered by security company ZecOps. The news comes at an unfortunate time for the Cupertino giant, as it coincides directly with the first deliveries of the much-hyped iPhone SE for 2020. The $399 iPhone, which features the top A13 Bionic processor and the classic home button, could be dangerous right out of the box.

Apple is already working on a fix, and will no doubt patch the bug for the launch of iOS, 13.4.5. But as things stand, the issue is affecting all iPhone users worldwide. Hackers are able to create emails designed to flood the memory of a device, which in turn bypasses Apple's current protections.

If you are currently using an iPhone, Satnam Narang, principal research engineer at the cybersecurity firm Tenable, has this advice: "In the interim, the only mitigation for these flaws is to disable any email accounts that are connected to the iOS Mail application, and use an alternative application, such as Microsoft Outlook or Google’s Gmail."

Who were your winners and losers of the week just gone? Let us know in the comments section below.