ICYMI: the week’s 7 biggest tech stories from LG’s massive OLED TV news to glorious Whoop clones
This week, the TV world really heated up as Sony, TCL, and LG made major announcements.
Best of all, the trio might not just revolutionize the already best-of-the-best displays, but also their cheaper models.
7. Whoop clones have thrown us for a loop
It’s been a while coming, but we’ve finally published our reviews of two screenless, fabric-covered fitness trackers – subscription-less rivals to the Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG bands, which we rated as technically excellent but far too expensive.
The Polar Loop was solid in heart rate tracking, but a letdown with its confusing software choices. The Amazfit Helio Strap, on the other hand, was both cheaper than both Whoop and Polar, and very good, both in terms of the hardware’s capabilities and the app’s quality, making our best fitness trackers list.
The reviews come at an interesting time, as CES 2026 showcased the next wave of Whoop clones from Luna and Speediance. It looks set to be a crowded category.
Following a successful trial run in New Zealand, Spotify is bringing Prompted Playlists to the US and Canada – a new playlist-creating tool that puts you in control of the algorithm.
Building on Spotify’s AI playlist tool, which launched in April 2024, Prompted Playlists takes a similar approach but gives you full control over where you steer the algorithm. In its news blog, Spotify puts it quite simply: “You’re not just asking for music, you’re shaping how Spotify goes about discovering it for you.”
The biggest difference with Prompted Playlists is that you can amend them to update daily or weekly, just like Discover Weekly, but you can tailor them much more. After spending some time with it, I can see it becoming one of Spotify’s most intelligent features, and it will be even more powerful once its infancy issues are resolved.
5. OLED TVs fought back
OLEDs have been revered as the go-to premium TV tech, but the ‘new’ brighter and cheaper kid on the block – mini-LED – is threatening to eat its lunch.
At least, that was until LG clapped back with its OLED SE, which promises a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as 1,000 nits of brightness, which is far more than the 668 nits we measured on the affordable LG B5 – so the LG B6 could be a real affordability winner if it boasts this tech.
LG Display told FlatPanelsHD that it will make OLED SE panels in five sizes to begin with: 48 inches, 55 inches, 65 inches, 77 inches, and 83 inches, and we’re excited to see how it’ll use these panels in the coming year.
4. Netflix got a universal boost
Despite initially teasing that it would get Universal’s live-action flicks exclusively on its platform starting in 2027, it seems the deal has started a lot earlier than we expected.
According to Netflix itself, “We can confirm that the live-action film pay-1b licensing deal is starting earlier than announced, with the first film being Megan 2.0.”
It’s not clear when exactly other films will follow, but this is certainly another trophy for Netflix to add to its cabinet.
3. We tried Sony’s clip-style buds
The audio titan that is Sony debuted new clip-style open earbuds with its new LinkBuds Clip; we’ve tried them, and unfortunately, this might be a rare miss for the headphones experts.
The fit felt at times looser than we’d want; the lack of deep bass meant music lacked its full resonance or a thumping, punchy beat, and even the treble struggled.
Based on our initial tests, we’d expect these earbuds to cost about half their $229 / £180 / AU$329.95 price, which is definitely disappointing given Sony’s track record.
2. Sony and TCL teamed up
Sticking with Sony, the brand just announced that its TVs will now be made in a “joint venture” with TCL, suggesting a major shift for how its displays are developed, designed, and manufactured.
Interestingly, TCL will own 51% of this new joint project, giving it a majority share. It’s worth noting that this might simply be due to Chinese rules that limit foreign ownership in joint ventures to 49% – TCL is a Chinese electronics company, while Sony is headquartered in Japan.
Exactly what this means for us is yet to be seen, but it might mean Sony pivots away from OLED as TCL avoids the tech completely, and perhaps instead focuses on improved mid-range and budget options using TCL’s impressively cost-effective manufacturing.
1. ChatGPT got ads
Despite its CEO once calling ads a “last resort” for its business, OpenAI has announced that ads are coming to ChatGPT for free and ChatGPT Go-tier users.
The news dropped very late last week, so we couldn’t include it in ICYMI then, so we’ve rolled it into this week’s, as the announcement is a massive pivot for OpenAI.
As part of the reveal, OpenAI shared some examples of how ads might work, such as a sponsored grocery list appearing below the answer to a dinner-related question.
This obviously raises big questions about how trustworthy responses are – for example, with the dinner plan, did the AI recommend those meals because it knew it would fit better with a sponsorship? There’s a lot we frankly don’t know, and we expect this won’t be the last advertisements we see – even if Google promises Gemini ads aren’t in the works.
