The end of the Sony era in TVs

There aren’t many tech companies that can claim Sony’s level of influence in how we live our lives. From the Walkman to the PlayStation to the Trinitron, Sony has been making excellent gadgets in multiple categories for decades, which makes this week’s news just a little sad. Sony’s new joint venture with TCL isn’t the end of Sony TVs — and it might even be good news — but it’s certainly the end of an era. On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David discuss the Sony / TCL deal, Sony’s legacy in televisions, and what it all might mean for anyone shopping for a new set. The deal isn’t done, and we don’t know all that much about it yet, but it’s already pretty clear what’s in it for both parties. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Vergecast-Tile-Large.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all] Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here. After that, the hosts wade into the week’s AI news, which all seems to center on a single question: how is anyone supposed to make money from all this technology? OpenAI apparently thinks the answer is ads, because of course it does, because so does everyone else. Apple apparently thinks the answer is hardware, for the same reasons. The hardware discussion leads us to a bigger question about AI gadgets: what is the best form factor for AI? We don’t know. Maybe the answer is none of them. But we rank some ideas anyway. Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for another installment of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, plus some talk about Netflix’s upcoming mobile redesign, some unimpressive Telly numbers, the Trump Phone, and the latest real estate plans for Nilay’s hometown. Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first in TV news: * Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL * What a Sony and TCL partnership means for the future of TVs * From Spyglass: Make TVs Great Again And in AI news: * OpenAI’s 2026 ‘focus’ is ‘practical adoption’ * OpenAI releases a cheaper ChatGPT subscription * Ads are coming soon to ChatGPT, starting with shopping links * Apple is reportedly working on an AirTag-sized AI wearable * Apple is turning Siri into an AI bot that’s more like ChatGPT And in the lightning round: * From The New York Times: FCC Targets Colbert and Kimmel in New Crackdown on Late-Night TV * Netflix will revamp its mobile UI this year * Free TV startup Telly only had 35,000 units in people’s homes last fall * 600,000 Trump Mobile phones sold? There’s no proof. * Microsoft wants to build 15 data centers in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin * From 2020: The 8th wonder of the world* * YouTubers will be able to make Shorts with their own AI likenesses