In a week of varied tech news, Meta reported substantial losses in its virtual reality division, Deezer took steps to combat AI-generated music, Apple added a new member to its design team, PopSockets expanded its product line, and Nothing announced a change in its phone release strategy.
Meta's investment in virtual reality continued to be a costly endeavor. According to the company's earnings report released Wednesday, its Reality Labs unit, responsible for VR development, lost $19.1 billion in 2025, slightly exceeding the $17.7 billion lost in 2024. The unit generated $955 million in sales in the fourth quarter and $2.2 billion throughout 2025, but these figures were dwarfed by the losses. These losses led to layoffs earlier in the month, where 10% of the Reality Labs staff were cut, reportedly impacting as many as 1,000 employees. Despite the financial setbacks, during the company's earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed optimism about the company's VR technology.
Deezer announced on Thursday that it is making its AI detection tool available to other streaming platforms. The tool, which automatically tags fully AI-generated music and removes it from algorithmic and editorial recommendations, aims to address the rise of AI and fraudulent streams. Deezer reported that 85% of streams from fully AI-generated tracks are deemed fraudulent. The service now receives 60,000 AI tracks per day, totaling 13.4 million AI-detected songs. This is a significant increase from June of last year, when fully AI-generated music made up 18% of daily uploads, surpassing 20,000 tracks.
Apple's design team gained a new member with the addition of Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of Lux, the company behind iPhone photo and video apps like Halide and Kino. De With announced his move on X, stating, "So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products." This marks de With's second stint with Apple, having previously worked on iCloud and Find My. Prior to Lux, he held design roles at Sony, T-Mobile, and Mozilla. According to a Reddit post by Ben Sandofsky, de With's co-founder, Halide will continue to be developed by Lux.
PopSockets unveiled a new version of its Kick-Out Grip, the Kick-Out PopWallet. The Kick-Out PopWallet can store a few credit cards while propping your phone up for hands-free use.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei confirmed in a video on the brand's YouTube channel that there will be no Nothing Phone 4 released in 2026. "There's no new flagship this year," Pei said, emphasizing that last year's Phone 3 will remain the brand's flagship phone. He teased improvements for the 4A series instead.
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