News written by Petteri Pyyny (January, 2026)

Pioneer of the television industry and Japanese quality brand Sony is ending the manufacturing of its own televisions.

In a press release, the company says it has reached an agreement with Chinese manufacturer TCL to establish a new joint venture.

The new joint venture will be responsible for designing and manufacturing all televisions sold under the Sony brand and Sony's Bravia brand. TCL will hold a slim majority stake in the joint venture (51%), while Sony retains the remaining ownership.

Going forward, all televisions sold under the Sony brand will be based on TCL's technology. The joint venture is expected to begin operations in March 2027, pending approval from competition authorities.

Sony has been one of the last Japanese manufacturers to remain relatively competitive in the increasingly tough television market. Chinese (TCL, HiSense) and Korean (Samsung, LG) brands have year after year squeezed Japanese manufacturers into an ever tighter corner.

Many long-established TV makers have, of course, ended up with similar or even more radical arrangements. For example, Philips has for years been a brand licensed from the Dutch "original" Philips to Hong Kong-based TPV Technology, and is used on televisions manufactured by TPV.

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The signs had already been there earlier, when Taiwanese electronics giant Asus revealed that it would not be launching any new smartphones at all in 2026.

Now, however, the company's chairman has confirmed (in Chinese) that Asus is withdrawing completely from smartphone manufacturing.

According to Asus' Jonney Shih, the company will continue to provide software updates, servicing, and support for its existing smartphones. However, no new phones will be released by Asus going forward.

Asus was the last major Android manufacturer still producing compact smartphones. The company's final small handset was the Asus Zenfone 10, launched in 2023. After that, the company shifted its focus to gaming phones under the ROG Phone series.

Advertising giant Google has secured a brand-new web address for itself.

The company has been reshuffling its domains over the past year as well. In the spring of 2025, the company shut down its country-specific Google domains, and redirected them all to a single google.com address.

Google's latest domain works a little differently. G.AI also redirects to google.com, but instead of opening the regular search tab, it takes users directly to the AI Mode tab.

AI Mode is a conversational interface that looks and feels very similar to, for example, ChatGPT in terms of functionality. However, Google's AI Mode is designed primarily for information retrieval rather than for open-ended conversations with an AI.

With its new robot vacuum, Roborock has solved what has long seemed like one of the last major challenges in robot vacuum development.

Unveiled today, the Roborock Saros Rover can actually climb stairs.

Over the years, several other companies have showcased various concepts of stair-climbing robot vacuums, but little has been heard of them beyond demo stages. Roborock's new model, however, is set to go on sale for real.

Saros Rover also stands apart from every other stair-climbing robot vacuum we've seen before in that it cleans the stairs while climbing them.

Rover's agility is not limited to stairs alone. The device operates on two wheeled legs that can freely extend and retract. Thanks to this design, the robot can also avoid obstacles on the floor, climb over thresholds, and free itself from various types of jams.

Roborock says the Saros Rover is still in the development phase, and the exact launch date has yet to be confirmed.

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The Taiwanese electronics giant Asus is best known as a manufacturer of computers and PC components.

However, the company is also a smartphone maker - and has been producing phones for years. For a long time, Asus was effectively the only major brand still making compact smartphones. Its last small Android phone, the Zenfone 10, received high praise from various reviewers - but apparently didn't sell well enough.

Now, though, the company appears to be pulling back from the smartphone business - at least temporarily.

According to DigiTimes sources, Asus does not plan to release any new smartphone models during 2026. The company has not said it is exiting the phone business entirely, but for now, nothing new is expected this year.

Asus has, in any case, become a marginal player in the smartphone market over the years. The company already scaled back its lineup in the late 2010s, narrowing its focus to two product categories: compact flagship phones (Zenfone) and gaming-focused smartphones (ROG Phone).

Even those lines have since been wound down. Asus discontinued compact phones after the Zenfone 10, and the most recent ROG Phone gaming handset was launched in early 2025 -- nearly a year ago.

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