It looks like Google Daydream is dead. Google confirmed that the new Google Pixel 4 smartphones will not support the Daydream virtual reality platform, and will no longer sell the Daydream View headset.
“Over time we noticed some clear limitations constraining smartphone VR from being a viable long-term solution,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We noticed some clear limitations constraining smartphone VR from being a viable long-term solution. Most notably, asking people to put their phone in a headset and lose access to the apps they use throughout the day causes immense friction.”
It’s kind of a fitting end for Google Daydream to die alongside the Pixel 4. Daydream was first launched as a platform alongside the original Pixel phone, and a number of smartphone manufacturers added support for it in the following years. That said, adoption seems to have been relatively slow, and no new phones this year officially support the platform — including the Pixel 3a that was released earlier in the year.
Of course, just because Daydream as a platform is on its way out, that doesn’t mean that virtual reality, in general, is a dying concept. Most major tech companies are investing a ton of cash into augmented reality tech, and much of that is mobile-based. Apple, for example, has been putting a ton of work into ARKit, a set of developer tools for implementing augmented reality experiences on the iPhone. Google’s version of that is ARCore. Most of these AR experiences involve using a phone, such as Wayfair’s app that allows you to see what its furniture would look like in your home.
Most of the top virtual reality experiences these days involve either connecting a headset to a high-performance computer for high-end games, or playing slightly lower-power games on stand-alone headsets like the Oculus Go. Virtual reality headsets may not have hit the mainstream the way that some companies, like Oculus, would have liked, but in certain niches like immersive gaming, there are some great apps on offer.
We’ll have to wait and see if Google makes another attempt at virtual reality at some point in the future. The company is no stranger to killing apps and platforms and trying again later, as it has done time and time again when it comes to messaging.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.