Over 4,000 exhibitors flocked to Las Vegas, Nevada this week to showcase their wares at CES 2026. The Engadget workforce, as standard, was out in full drive overlaying the present. The week started with press conferences from large corporations on the present, principally crammed with AI buzzwords, obscure guarantees and fairly little in the best way of exhausting information.
Multiple firm even determined to forgo asserting issues throughout their conferences to make approach for extra AI chatter, solely to publish press releases later quietly admitting that, sure, truly, they did make some client know-how. It's acceptable, I assume, that as we're starting to really feel the knock-on value results of the AI business's insatiable urge for food for compute sources — larger utility payments and machine costs — corporations would somewhat use their flashy conferences to bolster AI's supposedly must-have attributes somewhat than truly inform the general public about their new merchandise.
We're certainly not AI luddites at Engadget, but it surely's honest to say that our workforce is extra excited by tangible merchandise that enrich our lives than iterative enhancements to massive language fashions. So, away from all the bombast of NVIDIA's marathon keynote and Lenovo's one way or the other concurrently gaudy and boring Sphere present, it's been a pleasure to judge the gang of bizarre new devices, home equipment, toys and robots vying for our consideration.
Over the course of a number of days of exhaustive dialogue and impassioned pitching, our CES workforce has whittled down the lots of of merchandise we noticed to select our favorites. Beginning with an preliminary shortlist of round 50 candidates throughout a various vary of product classes, we finally landed on 15 winners and our singular greatest in present.
In the event you've been with us all week, keep tuned for lots extra to come back — regardless of publishing nearly 200 articles from the present already, there's nonetheless lots we’ve got to inform you about. For now, although, listed below are our winners, every launched by the editor most conversant in it. — Aaron Souppouris, Editor-in-chief
Finest robotic: Switchbot Onero H1
We noticed numerous robots displaying off intriguing and helpful capabilities at CES 2026. Whereas numerous robots impressed us, there have been fewer corporations keen to commit to truly making them obtainable. However Switchbot's Onero H1, which we watched choose up garments and cargo a washer, is a helper robotic the corporate intends to promote this yr.
The demo we noticed was restricted, however Switchbot claims it may assist with an array of family chores (even when it would do them extra slowly than a human). It's additionally sort of cute. The corporate hasn't mentioned how a lot Onero will value, although it guarantees the droid might be lower than $10,000. An almost five-figure price ticket continues to be out of attain for many, but it surely a minimum of provides us hope we'll see it someplace outdoors of the CES showfloor. — Karissa Bell, Senior reporter
Finest accessibility tech: WheelMove
WheelMove gives a easy improve for guide wheelchairs that would make it a lot simpler for the rider to navigate tough surfaces like grass and uneven filth paths. The add-on is affixed to the entrance bars of the wheelchair and might carry the small caster wheels off the bottom, along with offering energy help with 5 pace choices. It's moveable, has a good vary of about 15 miles — with the choice to swap out its battery on the go — and will give wheelchair customers better entry to areas that will in any other case be tough to maneuver about in. It will possibly additionally maintain the wheelchair from rushing up when an individual is touring on a downward slope.
This feels very very like a product that may truly see the sunshine of day, and could possibly be genuinely useful. It builds upon an current class of wheelchair equipment to handle an actual situation in a approach that doesn't overcomplicate issues, and would work with the wheelchairs folks already use. — Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend editor
Finest TV: LG Wallpaper TV (OLED Evo W6)
I’ve seen loads of TVs at CES this yr, however few stopped me in my tracks like LG’s OLED Evo W6. It’s the resurrection of the corporate’s “Wallpaper TV,” however this time it’s even thinner (concerning the depth of a pencil), and it’s now not tied to a soundbar. It additionally makes use of LG’s wi-fi management field to scale back cabling — the one wire it’s good to conceal is the one for energy.
And better of all, the OLED Evo W6 options LG’s newest OLED know-how, which guarantees to be about 20 p.c brighter than earlier generations. Video demos appeared completely beautiful, with all the great distinction and black ranges we’ve come to like from OLED. Nevertheless it’s additionally a murals when it’s turned off, one which virtually disappears when seen from an angle. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior reporter
Finest AI {hardware}: Delicate Voicebuds
Delicate’s Voicebuds are earbuds with a twist: They characteristic an AI mannequin that’s educated to transcribe your voice precisely in very noisy environments, or when it's under a whisper in quiet areas. We’ve seen this stuff in motion on the bustling CES present ground, the place they managed to transcribe a number of sentences amid the chaos. The one downsides is that the Voicebuds require web entry to make use of the perfect transcription fashions, and it’s good to subscribe to the Delicate app to make use of it. With out the app, it depends on a smaller native mannequin for transcription.
Whereas we nonetheless have to put the Voicebuds by their paces, they’re intriguing as a result of we haven’t seen many genuinely helpful AI {hardware} merchandise. Plus, it’s been some time since we’ve seen a tiny startup ship {hardware} attempting to tackle the likes of Apple. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior reporter
Finest good residence: IKEA Matter-compatible good residence
The most effective good residence gadgets I noticed at CES had nothing to do with AI or robots. It appears each different firm, from Bosch to LG to Samsung, had one or each of the buzzy applied sciences baked into their new good residence choices. However IKEA got here to its first CES with a easy lineup of primary, Matter-enabled good plugs, sensors, lamps and remotes at screamingly good costs. Perform paired with accessible pricing is form of what IKEA is understood for, so the lineup didn’t precisely shock me as a lot as make me admire that somebody is lastly simplifying and democratizing good residence stuff.
There are 21 Matter-compatible gadgets in all. They embody a $6 good bulb, an $8 good plug, a $6 good distant and a slew of residence sensors. A barely pricier ($15) globe bulb appears to be like very pretty. Lastly, there’s a sensible bulb you’d truly wish to take a look at — one which doesn’t value $50. One other standout is the BILREA distant management. Not solely is it an intuitive controller for IKEA’s good gadgets and new good lamps, it additionally has a magnetic mount so that you don’t lose the factor. Matter gadgets require a hub to operate. Right here, you possibly can both go for IKEA’s personal DIRIGERA or use a Matter hub you already personal. The brand new lineup ought to land at IKEA’s web site and shops someday in January. — Amy Skorheim, Senior reporter
Finest residence theater: Samsung HW-QS90H
Many corporations declare their soundbars have sufficient bass that you simply don’t want a separate subwoofer. These guarantees hardly ever pan out, even when the corporate devises new know-how to unravel the issue. With the HW-QS90H, Samsung is pledging to do the identical with its Quad Bass woofer system. These woofers transfer in two instructions, producing much more low-end tone than most soundbars are able to on their very own. What’s extra, Samsung included its Convertible Match Design tech that debuted final yr, so you possibly can lay this speaker flat or mount it on a wall and the built-in sensors will robotically modify the driving force output accordingly. So, for those who’ve longed for deep bass on a soundbar with out a big or ugly sub within the nook, you could lastly get your want later this yr. — Billy Steele, Deputy editor
Finest audio: Shokz OpenFit Professional
In the case of open match earbuds, corporations that declare to supply energetic noise cancellation (ANC) normally don’t ship; It’s tough to successfully block exterior sound when your ears aren’t fully sealed off. Shokz is without doubt one of the few that has cracked the code with its OpenFit Professional. The over-the-ear hook design permits the earbuds to take a seat outdoors of your ear for a transparent line to your environment. While you want a bit extra quiet, the corporate’s noise discount tech does effectively to silence average sounds in a restaurant, workplace and extra. It’s severely spectacular how a lot noise discount you’ll get right here, and the truth that nothing is caught in your ear canals makes them very snug to put on. Plus, Shokz improved total sound high quality with new drivers, and tacked on Dolby Atmos for good measure. — Billy Steele, Deputy editor
Finest out of doors tech: Tone Outside T1
Out of doors device corporations have more and more proven up at CES, particularly those that supply a spread of battery-powered gear. Tone Outside isn’t your standard energy device outfit although; it’s a spin-off of the aerospace engineering firm Whisper Aero. By means of its improvement of quieter electrical airplane engines, Whisper Aero realized its know-how had different makes use of. Enter the T1 leaf blower.
The T1 is considerably quieter than most handheld gasoline fashions, clocking in at simply 52 decibels of peak noise on common. It’s additionally extra highly effective than most of them with 880 CFM of airflow quantity. The T1 can run longer too, and an upcoming backpack will lengthen run time for a number of hours. However an important development right here shouldn’t be annoying your neighbors — or your self — when it’s time to do some yard work. — Billy Steele, Deputy editor
Finest toy: Lego Sensible Play
Lego is consistently evolving, however hardly ever does it make as large a transfer because it did with Sensible Play. The system is designed to take commonplace Lego units and make them extra interactive due to a tech-packed Sensible Brick. These bricks have a tiny chip the scale of a Lego stud that allows issues like movement, colour and proximity sensing. Additionally they have a tiny speaker that additional helps convey Lego builds to life.
The Sensible Brick is usually a clean slate, however pairing it with Lego's Sensible Tags and Sensible Minifigures is what permits these new play eventualities. Unsurprisingly, Lego launched the Sensible Play system alongside Star Wars units that make these new immersive parts extra apparent. An X-Wing piloted by Luke Skywalker can get right into a dogfight with Darth Vader's TIE fighter, and also you'll hear the engines roar to life, the characters exclaim as they arrive underneath hearth and the spaceship explodes if it will get hit too many occasions. And Sensible Play requires no setup, that means that the know-how packed into the Sensible Brick fades away and lets children (and children at coronary heart) get right down to the enterprise of enjoying. You don't have to know the way it works — it simply does. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy editor
Finest PC or laptop computer: Dell XPS 14 + 16
In a approach, this award is for Dell’s newest flagship laptops but in addition the corporate itself. Final yr, Dell confirmed up with a brand new naming scheme for all of its {hardware} that included changing the enduring XPS line with the phrase “Premium.” And regardless of our objections, the corporate adopted by with the rebrand. However now at CES 2026, not solely has Dell admitted its mistake, it’s righting wrongs with two new members of the XPS household which might be precisely what we needed all alongside.
On the XPS 14 and XPS 16, we’re getting model new chassis that includes the most recent chips from Intel, beautiful tandem OLED shows and precision engineering that embodies the whole lot we beloved about XPS laptops from earlier years. Dell additionally streamlined its designs with the bigger XPS 16 dropping a complete pound in comparison with the earlier technology. The corporate even addressed various our earlier critiques by switching from capacitive contact controls again to a traditional row of operate keys and reverting to segmented touchpads as a substitute of seamless glass ones that made it exhausting to maintain observe of your cursor.
However maybe the perfect half is that Dell isn’t stopping right here, as a result of the corporate additionally teased a brand new model of its legendary XPS 13 slated for later this yr, the thinnest and lightest member of the household but. There are additionally placeholders for 2 extra XPS fashions slated to reach within the not too distant future. — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter
Finest well being tech: Eyebot imaginative and prescient check sales space
Wouldn’t or not it’s good if getting an up to date eyeglasses prescription wasn’t as prolonged a course of as it’s proper now? Eyebot’s new kiosk is designed to automate the method of visiting a health care provider’s workplace to 3 minutes rocking as much as a machine. It makes use of a mixture of analog and digital wizardry to determine what it’s good to see correctly very quickly in any respect. Even higher is that the prescriptions need to be signed off by a licensed eye physician, so you possibly can nonetheless depend on a level {of professional} rigor. We like Eyebot as a result of it proved itself in our assessments: its temporary examination matched my professionally accomplished prescription from final yr. However its means to make efficient eye care accessible and reasonably priced in a approach that it isn’t at current is much more compelling than the tech itself. — Daniel Cooper, Senior reporter
Finest gaming tech: ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo is large, bizarre and probably awkward to arrange. However actually, what sort of gamer doesn’t need extra screens? Even for those who can’t use its second show in the midst of a firefight, extra actual property means further room for Discord, construct guides or anything you would possibly want. Moreover, ASUS included not one however two good OLED panels with as much as 1,100 nits of brightness and colour accuracy so good you received’t have an issue enhancing photographs or movies. You additionally get a ton of ports, and with assist for as much as an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, the ROG Zephyrus Duo has greater than sufficient efficiency to deal with something you possibly can throw at it. — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter
Finest cell tech: Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Samsung may need introduced the most recent iteration of its foldable smartphones in Korea, however CES was the primary likelihood for many people to see the Galaxy Z TriFold in individual. It’s a 10-inch Android pill hidden inside a 6.5-inch smartphone kind issue.
The bounce from the almost-square display screen ratio of Samsung’s previous foldables to roughly 4:3 is a serious enchancment. It is a machine that I may fortunately watch total films on. There’s extra horizontal area to learn, extra room to kind and extra vivid, vivid AMOLED the whole lot. Unfurling the perimeters is extremely satisfying and, maybe as a result of it’s thicker, it has a reassuring heft, too. The remainder of the spec sheet displays one other modern Galaxy cellphone with a 200-megapixel predominant digital camera and the largest battery but in a Samsung foldable.
It’ll possible be costly although. Samsung hasn’t confirmed pricing within the US, however primarily based on its launch value in Korea, it could possibly be round $2,500. — Mat Smith, UK bureau chief
Most promising idea: Lenovo Legion Professional Rollable
Idea gadgets are exhausting to evaluate as a result of even those with a ton of potential is perhaps too tough to make or too area of interest to convey to market. However with the Legion Professional Rollable idea, Lenovo created one thing with a easy but highly effective premise: A gaming laptop computer with a display screen that will get wider on the contact of a button.
To make the Legion Professional Rollable, Lenovo took a daily Legion Professional 7i after which swapped its commonplace 16-inch show for a versatile one that may develop all the best way as much as 23.8 inches — with a bonus cease in between. This implies you could have the choice to select from 16:10, 21:9 and even 24:9 relying on the scenario, which appears like an unimaginable technique to improve racing video games, flight sims and anything that may benefit from further huge side ratios. Granted, when its display screen is totally deployed, it does look a bit ungainly. However of all of the ideas we noticed this yr at CES, the Legion Professional Rollable is the one we hope survives to turn out to be a correct retail product sometime. — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter
Finest rising know-how: IXI autofocus lenses
IXI’s autofocusing glasses have been a late addition to our discussions, however we have been impressed by what could possibly be a major development in spectacle know-how — one thing that’s been largely static because the Nineteen Fifties. IXI’s glasses characteristic a sublime, distinctive, cameraless eye-tracking system that makes use of ultra-low-power LEDs and photodiodes to exactly monitor the person's eye motion and focus convergence. This information drives a liquid crystal lens layer, enabling a spotlight swap between close to and much distances in roughly 0.2 seconds. Focus your gaze elsewhere, and your glasses return to their regular prescription. Consider them as a high-tech tackle the usually thick and clunky multifocal lenses we’re at the moment caught with.
IXI is now finalizing the manufacturing course of, growing manufacturing and gaining the mandatory medical certification to promote its glasses, but it surely has already struck offers with lens producers in Europe. The corporate has a busy yr forward because it turns its know-how right into a client product. — Mat Smith, UK bureau chief
Finest in present: Lego Sensible Play
There's maybe no place higher than CES to spotlight how rapidly business developments die. Through the years the present has been a driver of cornerstone applied sciences just like the VCR, DVD, flatscreen TVs, PDAs and extra. Some developments stick, some don't.
Lego may nearly be seen because the antithesis of the standard CES product: The corporate's core idea of inventive play has remained in place all through its lengthy historical past, boosted by a gradual and ongoing evolution of block sorts and model tie-ins.
Introduced at its first-ever CES press convention, Sensible Play represents a considerate integration of know-how to the traditional toy. A tiny chip the scale of a single Lego stud permits the corporate's Sensible Bricks to sense what's round them, opening up new methods to play. The system will debut with a trio of Star Wars units, however we’re positive Lego has plans for a variety of licensed and unlicensed choices.
Our workforce immediately fell in love with Sensible Play, and Deputy editor Nathan Ingraham had the chance to each construct some units and discuss with a number of the folks behind the know-how. Amid parental anxieties about screentime, it's refreshing that Sensible Play doesn't require an app or a display screen to get began. Youngsters can simply get constructing. — Aaron Souppouris, Editor-in-chief
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadgets-best-of-ces-2026-all-the-new-tech-that-caught-our-eye-in-las-vegas-200057123.html?src=rss