It’s almost the end of 2025, but the tech news shows no signs of stopping. We’ve got seven more essential stories you need to follow on iRobot, Samsung, OnePlus and more.
The biggest among our seven include Meta destroying its third-party VR headsets and iRobot going bankrupt, and to catch up on these two stories and five other stories, just scroll down.
7. iRobot went bankrupt, but is not dead yet
The iRobot Roomba was a pioneer of robot vacuums, with the first model launching in 2002. Unfortunately, strong competition in the robovac space forced iRobot to declare bankruptcy this week – but that’s not the end for the much-loved brand.
It was acquired by Picea Robotics, a company that was already building Roombas for iRobot. For now, iRobot says there will be no immediate changes that Roomba owners should worry about, and the vacuums will continue to work as usual. The future is a little more uncertain, however, and iRobot co-founder Colin Angle told us the bankruptcy was “a tragedy for consumers.”
6. ChatGPT finally has an app store
ChatGPT has been steadily rounding up handy plugins for Photoshop and Kayak over the past few months – and this week, OpenAI has collected them all in an app store for us to browse.
The “App Directory,” available in the app or on the web, already has a number of useful options, including Spotify and AllTrails. Once you’ve added them, you can use the apps in your ChatGPT conversations to create playlists or discover new hiking routes. We’ve rounded up our top favorites below.
5. Warner Bros. rejected Paramount
The final episode of the hit entertainment drama we hate to love aired this week: Warner Bros. Discovery announced that its head had not been turned by Paramount’s advances – instead, it was sticking with its true love, Netflix.
But just like a rom-com franchise milked dry, this won’t be the last time we see this love triangle dynamic. This is simply WBD executives rejecting the offer and pointing out its problems in a letter to their shareholders – WBD shareholders could still choose to sell their stock to Paramount’s hostile takeover.
Additionally, Paramount could come back with a better offer — something its CEO, David Ellison, slyly teased in leaked texts to WBD CEO David Zaslav, in which he pointed out that the offer did not include the words “best and final.” If so, a bidding war will almost certainly materialize.
4. Your TV was called a “mass surveillance system”
What if we told you that your TV watches what you watch and uses that information to create a profile and then provide marketing and other details and offers based on that? This, among other things, is the assertion of the Texas Attorney General, who is currently suing the largest TV manufacturers, including Samsung, TCL, Hisense, LG and Sony.
And spoiler alert: we found the Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) setting on one of our LG TVs (no one knows if it was turned on by default or not), and we can show you how to turn it off.
3. Micro-RGB is coming to smaller TVs
Samsung surprised us earlier this year with a 115-inch Micro RGB TV that seriously impressed us after a hands-on experience. However, at this size and high price, it wasn’t for most consumers. That should change next year, however.
As CES 2026 approaches, Samsung has confirmed that it will expand its Micro RGB lineup to include more sizes, including smaller models such as 55-inch and 65-inch, all of which still feature micro RGB technology for brighter, more immersive colors and a more compelling viewing experience. Samsung isn’t sharing pricing yet, but the hope is that introducing Micro RGB TV technology in more sizes will expand pricing beyond just one option. Time will tell.
2. The OnePlus 15R has arrived
The OnePlus 15 may have only debuted in October, but OnePlus is back with the 15R – a cheaper device but one with impressive specs, including a larger 7,400mAh battery than the 15 proper.
Other highlights of the OnePlus 15R include its 6.83-inch AMOLED display, 32 MP front camera, 50 MP main camera, and 12 GB of RAM.
Although it comes with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset and an 8 MP ultra-wide snapper. So the 15R doesn’t quite compete with the OnePlus 15, but at just $699.99 / £649, it doesn’t need to be. OnePlus is not officially available in Australia.
In a move that was as expected as it was disappointing, Meta revealed this week that it has “paused” its third-party VR headset development program – meaning the announced Asus and Lenovo HorizonOS headsets will not see the light of day. At least not running Meta’s operating system.
Announced over a year and a half ago, this writing was undoubtedly on the wall when neither device showed up at Meta Connect 2025.
Meta is committed to “focusing on creating the world-class, best-in-class hardware and software needed to advance the virtual reality market.” Although our resident XR expert can’t help but wonder if this meta could have cemented Android XR as the Android of XR instead of Horizon OS.
