Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Bo-yang's choice of phone became local news, but the real story is a tightening and increasingly tense race with incumbent Chiang Wan-an.

• Shen was spotted with Apple's new high-end folding iPhone Duo, which starts around NT$75,000, and said he finds it useful for reading documents.
• Polling shows Shen with a slim lead over Chiang, but analysts caution the race is still close and far from decided, with the real test still ahead.
• Chiang's campaign team gave him a rare "mandatory" order to rest after he fell ill the night before, canceling his schedule; Shen wished him a quick recovery.
• A data breach at Taiwan's election commission exposed personal ID data for over 1,500 candidates, including both Shen and Chiang, blamed on a contractor's coding error.
• Commentators warn the ruling party is pouring heavy resources into Shen's campaign, treating the Taipei race as a trial run for the 2028 presidential election.

Outlook: With under a month until the vote, expect the race to stay a tight back-and-forth, with health, data-security fallout, and party mobilization all shaping the final stretch.