Instagram Stories has grown to become one of Facebook’s best products to date. As of last year, roughly half of Instagram’s users — or 500 million people — were interacting with Stories on a daily basis. That’s nearly double the entire daily active user base of all of Snapchat, which first popularized the Stories format. Now, it appears Instagram is testing a way to expand the Stories experience, making it a more of a central focus in the Instagram app. The company is newly testing a feature that will allow Instagram users to see more Stories at once, both on the home screen and in a new Stories-only experience. In the test, users will initially see two rows of Stories instead of one at the top of the screen when they first open the Instagram app. A button will also appear beneath this expanded Stories area that lets you click to “See All Stories.” This will then launch a new screen where you can view and scroll through all your available Stories in a full-screen experience. The feature was first spotted by California-based social media manager Julian Gamboa late last week, who shared a screenshot of the new Stories interface to Twitter. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch this is a test with a small number of users for the time being. The company declined to provide further details, but said the test has been live for over a month. It’s not surprising to see Facebook toying with ideas that would allow it to push more users to engage with Stories, given the product’s massive appeal, growth and increasing importance to Facebook advertisers. In Q3 2019, Facebook called Stories one of its biggest growth areas, noting that then 3 million of its 7 million total advertisers were now advertising across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger Stories combined. By Q4, the number of advertisers using Story Ads had grown to 4 million. To cater to advertisers’ needs, Facebook last year introduced customizable templates where businesses can upload their photos and videos, then choose from different layouts, color and text options to make more engaging Stories. And to make it easier to participate in Stories, Facebook now allows advertisers to buy across Facebook, Messenger and Instagram all at once.

In less than one week, Samsung will host the Unpacked event online, during which the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Z Fold 2 are expected to be announced. The timing of the August event is curious, because just a couple weeks back Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, an update to the Galaxy Z Flip that launched earlier this year. Samsung's Unpacked event takes place virtually on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT. Unpacked follows similar events by companies like Apple, which have shifted events online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Samsung will stream the event live from South Korea. But you can join CNET before, during and after the event on its livestream hosted by Senior Editors Iyaz Akhtar and Bridget Carey, along with Editor At Large Jeff Bakalar. Senior Reporter Shara Tibken will make a special guest appearance before the event. In a post in Samsung's online newsroom, the head of Samsung's mobile business, Tae-moon Roh, shared that the company will introduce five new devices at the event. Leaks and rumors point to two Galaxy Note 20 devices and the Galaxy Z Fold 2, which would be a follow-up to last year's Galaxy Fold. Members of the media received an Unpacked event invitation with a picture of a copper-colored liquid splash. This could be a clue to the color of some, if not all of the new devices that will be announced. The video above shows the tip of an S-Pen stylus that comes with Galaxy Note devices. A circular drop of the copper-colored liquid drips from its tip. Samsung will host a livestream of the event on its website.