As TechRadar's Homes Editor for floorcare I've seen my fair share of unusual contraptions among the ranks of the best robot vacuums – but I've never seen anything quite like the xLean TR1. This is a robot vacuum that can also be used as a manual stick vacuum – and it can mop and vacuum in both modes.

The shapeshifting design isn't the only interesting thing about this gadget though: it's also kitted out with a 'self-evolving intelligence system' that means it learns your own cleaning techniques while it's being used in manual mode, and can then replicate them in robot mode.

I had a chance to check it out at CES 2026, and it's certainly an intriguing prospect (it's currently still in development, and not yet available to buy). When it's time to switch from robot to manual mode, the LiDAR puck on the top of the robovac will retract, leaving a hole that becomes a port into which a wand and handle slots. What was the robot vacuum then becomes the floorhead of the manual vacuum.

There are a small handful of robovac models, such as the Eufy E20, that have manual and robot components that share a dock, with the idea that if you have a robot vacuum, you'll then also need something handheld to clean stairs, furniture and the like. That's not the idea here, though, because in manual mode the cleaner is too bulky and heavy for use off the ground.

In fact, this looks like it's geared towards use on hard floors only. The mopping part is more sophisticated than you'd find on your average hybrid robot vacuum – it's more similar to the setup I'd expect from one of the best wet-and-dry manual vacuums. There are two roller mops rotating in opposite directions, with each being continually fed with clean water while the dirty stuff is siphoned off. The dock can clean both the robot and itself.

Learning opportunities

The option to use the xLean TR1 as a manual vacuum adds versatility for on-the-spot cleaning – with the added benefit of all the mechanics being included in the 'floorhead' section, which makes it feel lighter and easier to maneuver than if the weight and bulk were in the handle. However, it also plays an important role in feeding into the independent learning.

xLean says it uses something called 'Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF)' to evolve while it's being used in manual mode – picking up tips for things like obstacle avoidance, and how to free itself if it gets stuck. It also has a mildly terrifying-sounding 'Hunting Mode', where it'll scout your floor for hidden or neglected messes that need tackling. The ultimate aim is to deliver 'human-like' cleaning.

xLean launched in 2022, and has been developing this one product since then. So it isn't one of the big names in robot vacuums quite yet, but the specs included on the robot vacuum look solid – there's carpet detection, the ability to recognize 400+ objects, and 17,000Pa of suction.

As mentioned, this model is not yet available to buy, but I'll be watching with interest to see if it does eventually make it to market.

Dreame makes some of the best robot vacuums on the market, and I had a sneak peek of its newest flagship at CES 2026. The Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete is available for preorder now in the US, and it boasts a number of big upgrades over its predecessor. Given that model scored a near-perfect 4.5 stars in our Dreame X50 review, I have very high hopes for this updated version.

The X50 is one of a few Dreame robot vacuums to be showcased at CES – other models include the Cyber10 Ultra, with an arm that can pick up different tools, and the Cyber X, which comes with a pod that'll enable it to climb up and down stairs. (In fact, these eye-catching bots weren't even the most headline-grabbling part of Dreame's showcase: the brand used CES to announce its expansion into a massive number of new tech categories – but that's a different story.)

However, the X60 is the flagship, and the option that's the most realistic choice for most people. Let's take a look at three big ways it improves on the X50...

1. It's much thinner

The headline feature that Dreame is focusing on is how thin the new bot is. Like its predecessor, the Dreame X60 Max has a top-mounted LiDAR puck that can retract until it's flush with the top of the robot. This happens when the robot senses it's entering a low-height space.

However, the X60 is significantly thinner than the X50 in the first place. With its puck retracted, it comes in at 3.13 inches / 7.95cm tall (in contrast, the older version came in at 3.5 inches / 8.9cm). That's down there with the shallowest robot vacuums on the market – in line with the likes of the Roborock Saros 10R, or possibly even a touch thinner.

Why is height important? It affects where the robot can and can't clean. It might, for instance, be the difference between the bot being able to vacuum under your sofa or not. That's a big benefit, because these inaccessible places will often collect dust, and are out of reach for manual vacuums too, unless you commit to a big furniture reshuffle.

2. It has scorching hot mop washing

Like most premium robot vacuums, the X60 has a dock that can clean the bot's mop pads. Here, Dreame has increased the temperature of the mop washing to a scorching 212F / 100C – boiling point. The idea is that it'll cut through any lingering grease and ensure your pads are squeaky clean before their next mopping session. In comparison, the X50 could clean up to 176F / 80C, which is still nice and hot.

3. It can vault itself over even taller thresholds

The X50 introduced Dreame's ProLeap system: tiny little feet that raise the bot up and enable it to cross steps up to 2.4 inches / 6cm in height. For the X60, that system has been improved, and the robovac can now manage obstacles of up to 3.47 inches / 8.8cm.

Like the thinner build, this improvement is all about expanding the number of places this bot can reach. If you have a particularly tall threshold, that could potentially make a room – or even a whole section of your home – inaccessible to the robot vacuum. That is, unless you take the time to lift it over the threshold manually each time, which somewhat negates the hands-off benefit of opting for a robovac in the first place. With the new ProLeap system, the X60 can roam free, bumping itself over steps and obstacles as it goes.

Big benefits

Those are the big, headline improvements, but there are plenty more tweaks and changes under the hood that could make a big difference to certain users. For example, the X60's dock has a dual-solution compartment that means it can dispense not only regular floor cleaner but also a specific solution designed to eliminate pet odors. The basics have also had a boost, with Dreame promising faster navigation and speedier responses, improved sensors that can detect things like pet hair and pale liquids, and more powerful suction.

At present, the X60 Max Ultra Complete is US-only – it's available for preorder from dreametech.com now, with shipping from 10 Feb. At list price it costs $1,699.99 (equivalent to around £1,260 / AU$2,525), but I suspect it won't regularly be sold at that price – the current 'super early bird' offer knocks $340 off, and bundles in accessories, cleaning solution and an extended warranty.

Dreame has a strong presence in the UK and Australia, and I anticipate the X60 making its way to both markets before long.

The 2026 FIFA Cup is set to be the biggest yet, with 48 teams set to battle it out for football’s biggest prize, in front of a global audience of billions.

But away from the pitch and behind the scenes, the tournament is hard at work on what is also set to be the most technologically advanced World Cup ever.

FIFA has signed up Lenovo as its official technology partner for the tournament, and at the recent CES 2026 event, we got to hear more about this partnership, and why fans everywhere should be excited for some intriguing new offerings.

"Extremely exciting" AI possibilities

“We definitely want to leverage this sport to promote our brand and our AI, but meanwhile, Lenovo technology can empower this sport,” Yuanqing Yang, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Lenovo, said at a Q&A session during CES 2026.

“We think the coming 2026 World Cup will be the most embedded AI event. You will see football AI. You will see AI for the most famous players, and you will see referee cam, which will be very attractive to the audience.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined Yang on stage during Lenovo’s striking CES 2026 keynote at the Las Vegas Sphere, highlighting the possibilities improved technology (especially AI) can bring.

The two organizations have partnered to provide Referee View, a stream showing matches from the official's perspective, giving additional streams to broadcasters and unique viewing experiences for fans, with the picture quality boosted by Lenovo’s AI-driven stabilization overlay.

The pair have also launched Football AI Pro, a new AI-powered assistant which will offer up data to all 48 teams at the World Cup using plain language questions, helping deliver extra insight and analysis across the board.

"There's a high affinity and a high resonance between Lenovo's mission of smarter AI for all...with the world's most popular and largest sport,” Art Hu, SVP & Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology and Delivery Officer, Solutions and Services Group, Lenovo said at CES 2026.

“It’s fundamentally the match and the ambition - advancing the sports and bringing the spectacle, the excitement and the drama to the fans around the world, and working on technology (which) brings the best of Lenovo on what’s possible…and matching it with deeply ambitious goals.”

“It’s extremely exciting, and it’s a chance to put the leading edge technology into creating some really good outcomes for fans.”

“Until 2010, there was really no technology integrated into the game itself, or for TV or radio,” notes Johannes Holzmüller, FIFA Director of Innovation, “but at FIFA, and talking about football in general, we have a clear mandate now not to use technology for the sake of it…but for the best experience.”

Holzmüller outlined how the new upgraded VAR tools should also help improve the fan experience, with improved avatars making the use cases a bit more vivid.

“One very important element (of implementing VAR) was that we are not only providing a tool for the referees -but also of course explaining it in the best possible way for the fans.”

Making VAR more realistic will also help fans understand more clearly, he notes, “3D avatars are bridging the gap between the physical world and the virtual world.”

“When you’re working at the peak of the industry, in this case with sport, it really pushes us as partners,” Hu notes, “you put (the technology) under the most extreme conditions…and those are things that we value, because they validate, but they also push us to be better as we co-innovate.”

Hu added that as technologists, having demanding partners such as FIFA also leads to ever-increasing complexities, with Lenovo having to seek effective solutions to the problems an event like the World Cup 2026 poses.

“With generative AI, you may now get much more technology and capability without all the coding…which is great because it’s unleashing business appetite and innovations.”

“What I love about all of this work is that we are helping innovate at the frontiers of what is possible, to evolve the sport and make it next generation, and inspire the next generation of fans.”

Roborock announced a few new robot vacuums at CES 2026, including one that has leggy stilts that mean it can just lift itself up and walk over any kind of uneven terrain. But the one that I suspect is going to win out on the general market is the Saros 20 – the successor to the outstanding Roborock Saros 10R. The 10R was one of the best robot vacuums we tested in 2025, but the 20 looks even better.

At the risk of confusing everyone, both versions also have sister models: the Saros 10, and the new Saros 20 Sonic (the slight shift in naming is the result of some copyright complications, I am told). The key distinguishing feature is the mop pad type – the 10R and 20 both have dual, spinning mop pads, whereas the 10 and 20 Sonic have a D-shaped pad. A Roborock rep shared with me that it has found the dual spinning mop pad style the most popular by some margin, so it tracks that the Saros 20 will be the one to watch of the new additions.

All clear? Great! Let's take a look at the Saros 20's 3 coolest upgrades...

1. It can hover above your carpet

The big news is that the Saros 20 has a new version of Roborock's AdaptiLift feature. This is essentially all the tech surrounding the little feet that boost the robot vacuum over tall thresholds. On the upgraded version, not only can the robot conquer even taller steps (it can manage single steps up to 1.77in / 4.5cm in height, or a double step totaling 3.34in / 8.5cm), it also uses the feet to improve its cleaning performance on thick carpet.

Once turned on in the app, the Saros 20 has a feature that enables it to hover at exactly the right height to effectively clean a deep-pile carpet without getting stuck. It has eight different height options, and the robot will intelligently choose the right one for the thickness of the carpet it's dealing with. Roborock says it can cope with a pile of up to 1.18 in / 3cm.

2. It will be able to swap its mop pads

This one isn't quite here yet, but is on its way: the Saros 20 will be able to switch between different mop pads for different areas of the home. Like its predecessor, the 20 has two circular, spinning mop pads that attach magnetically.

However, Roborock is now introducing multiple pad types for different scenarios, and a dock that can automatically dispense the correct pair of pads for the situation. The bot will be able to automatically drop off its old pads and pick up a new pair as required, for an effective clean with no cross-contamination between areas.

This isn't a new idea – Dreame launched a mop-swapping dock in September 2025 (read our full Dreame Matrix10 Ultra review for more info), and the Roborock version looks essentially the same.

At CES Roborock was showing a version of the mechanism with a transparent front, but not the actual final dock. A rep informed me that the Saros 20 mop-swap-dock is at the fine-tuning stage of development, and although it won't launch with the Saros 20, it hopefully won't be too far behind.

3. The dock won't show your grubby fingerprints

The Saros 10R came with a glossy mirrored dock that I love the look of. However, I will concede that it's not the most practical choice for busy households – the shiny finish shows up smears and fingerprints particularly badly. It makes sense, then, that Roborock has opted for a less glam but more functional finish on the dock for the Saros 20. It's just matte black plastic, but promises to be far more fingerprint-friendly than its predecessor.

There are further tweaks and upgrades under the hood. Notably, the suction has had another boost – the Saros 20 can deliver a ridiculous 35,000Pa of power, compared to 20,000Pa on the Saros 10R. And on top of the upgrades, you're still getting all the best bits of the excellent 10R, from automatic brush and mop lifting (depending on floor type) to hot water mop pad washing and warm air drying.

The Roborock Saros 20 will begin its international rollout this year. Exact dates and pricing are TBC, and I'll have a full review with you as soon as possible.

The recent CES 2026 was, as usual, a showcase for the best OLED TVs, with LG and Samsung trotting out new flagship models with brighter screens, sleeker designs, and all manner of AI-based features to enhance both picture quality and the overall user experience.

At this year’s show, however, there was an even greater sense of urgency to the OLED TV unveilings I attended. And that may be because OLED TVs, which consistently earn our highest praise year after year, are now under threat from a formidable new contender for the best TV crown: RGB mini-LED.

TechRadar provided extensive coverage of RGB mini-LED tech and its variants both before and during CES. A key takeaway from the show was that RGB mini-LED will be available in smaller sizes in 2026, with 55- and 65-inch screens featured alongside the monster-sized models slated to arrive from Samsung, Hisense, TCL, LG and potentially other TV brands.

The first RGB mini-LED TVs to be released in 2025, such as the Hisense 116UX and Samsung 115-inch Micro RGB, were extremely large and expensive. We expect the forthcoming smaller-size offerings to be significantly more affordable, though, as examples of first-generation tech, they will likely be more expensive than their regular mini-LED TV counterparts out of the gate.

From what I’ve seen so far of this tech, it’s capable of OLED-level contrast, shadow detail, black uniformity, and viewing angles – ie, all the things that OLED used to beat the competition on, year after year.

Many new models also have a claimed 100% BT.2020 color space coverage, which is a benchmark that OLED doesn’t match. (The LG G5 topped out at 81.3% when we measured it, and the Samsung S95F at 89.3%.)

The new RGB mini-LED TVs slated to arrive in 2025 are likely to be priced higher than the same-size OLED models, even the flagship ones such as the LG G6 and Samsung S95H. But if history is any indication, those prices will quickly fall, while OLED prices will keep stalling, and the real competition with OLED will then kick in, and I don't expect the tide to turn in OLED's favor.

A tale of two OLEDs

Another CES TV takeaway was that the OLED TV category is not just facing an existential threat, but is starting to split into two distinct camps: luxury OLED and everyday OLED.

The main example of the luxury trend on the CES show floor was the new LG OLED evo W6 Wallpaper TV. This series features a 9mm, pencil-thin Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 display panel – the same one used in the company’s 2026 flagship G6 OLED TV – that’s wirelessly tethered to LG’s latest-gen Zero Connect Box, an external connection box that supports lossless 4K 165Hz transmission.

LG hasn’t released pricing information yet for the W6, but we expect it to arrive at a premium over the G6 OLED series. It was the star attraction of LG’s CES tech briefings, and appears to be a main focus for the company, which touted its innovative design, flush-mount installation features, and also its reflection-free screen and ability to display artworks from LG’s Gallery+, a subscription-based platform that lets viewers select from a library of over 4,500 still and motion images to display in ambient mode.

In Samsung’s off-site CES display, the new flagship Samsung S95H OLED TV also impressed with its bright QD-OLED display panel featuring a Glare Free OLED screen coating that thoroughly eliminated reflections. Samsung says that the S95H is 35% brighter than last year’s Samsung S95F and features refined tone mapping that lets it process HDR sources mastered at up to 4,000 nits with ease.

We always expect to see year-over-year improvements such as these in Samsung’s flagship OLED TVs, but the most notable changes were a new metal ‘art frame’ that gives it an elegant floating effect when wall-mounted, and support for the Art Mode found in the company’s The Frame TVs. The S95H features built-in connections, but can also optionally be paired with the company’s Wireless One Connect Box for a cable-free installation, even to have up to eight HDMI ports.

Compared to these very design-forward TVs, LG and Samsung’s more affordable, mid-range OLED offerings at CES looked comparatively bland. For 2026, LG has opted to split its trusty C-series lineup into two, with the larger 77- and 83-inch models getting the same Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 display panel found in the flagship G6 and W6 series, while the smaller screen sizes will carry over the same type of OLED panel used in last year’s LG C5.

With the ‘better’ C6 version (LG calls it the C6H) limited to large screen sizes – and potentially priced higher due to the upgraded OLED panel – the smaller, more mainstream models in the 2026 C-series don’t appear to have advanced much over last year’s LG C5, which in itself represented only an incremental improvement over the previous year’s LG C4.

And then there’s LG’s budget B-series OLED models. A new B6 series wasn’t revealed at the show, but LG confirmed it's coming – and given the direction the C6 series is taking, I don’t expect it to be much different than last year’s LG B5 series, which again was only an incremental improvement on the previous year’s LG B4 series.

As for Samsung, the company’s new S90H OLED series was announced at the show. Similar to last year’s Samsung S95F, we expect only the 65-inch model to feature a higher-performance QD-OLED display panel. The full S90H series does gain the Glare Free screen tech used in Samsung’s flagship TVs, however, which will make it a more enticing option for bright room viewing.

Again, we know a budget-friendly Samsung S85H OLED model is coming, but it looks set to be extremely similar to the Samsung S85F from 2025.

Cheaper OLED TVs: Winter is coming

So, the story for OLED TVs in 2026 is essentially that flagship models are brighter, more beautiful, and more packed with innovative features than ever.

The midrange and budget models, in contrast, will be basically the same versions we’ve seen over the past few years, with only minor enhancements – and yet the world of competitor TV tech is moving fast around them

If RGB mini-LED TVs (or other variants such as TCL’s SQD mini-LED) end up priced competitively with the more affordable OLED TVs, while offering higher brightness and otherwise equivalent or even better performance, the market for even mid-range OLED, let alone budget models like the LG B-series and Samsung S85-series, could quickly evaporate.

I’d fully expect that fancy, design-savvy, wireless OLED TVs with much higher than average brightness and effective anti-glare screen coatings will continue on well into the future.

As for cheaper, basic OLED TVs… it was nice knowing ya.

Dreame began life as a robot vacuum brand, before going on to add other air-focused appliances like manual vacuums and hair dryers to its roster. It's only been around since 2017/18, but in that time it has established itself as a major player in these markets – it features prominently in both my best cordless vacuum and best robot vacuum rankings.

So I was excited to see what Dreame would be showcasing at CES 2026. I was expecting a new robot vacuum, perhaps some innovative air purifiers. What I was not expecting was for Dreame to announce its entry into literally every corner of the home. I'm not exaggerating – if you can think of a home appliance, Dreame now has one in its lineup.

It has a TV, soundbars, a projector, a surround sound speaker setup. There's a Dreame action camera, smart rings, smart glasses and a smartwatch. It has smart lights in all shapes and sizes. It has security cameras, smart locks and motion sensors.

There are fridges, a dishwasher, a microwave and a selection of ovens. There are air fryers, coffee machines, and a stand mixer. It has a washing machine, tumble dryer, and steamer. There's a chainsaw and a hedge trimmer, electric toothbrushes, razors, IPL machines and an LED face mask.

It's still at prototype stage, but there was even a car sitting incongruously on the Dreame stand.

The vision, according to the press release, is to evolve from "a standalone smart device brand to a comprehensive provider of connected lifestyles with an ecosystem now covering the home, garden, outdoors, and on the move". The tagline it's going with is "All dreams in one Dreame", which makes no sense at all.

Too far, too soon?

I've tested a number of Dreame gadgets, and have almost always been impressed, but I'm wary of this latest expansion. It all just seems too fast and too wide-reaching for it to have been done with the required care and expertise. The difficulty I've had in getting any information about the individual products I was most interested in hasn't reassured me any further.

Previously, Dreame's category expansions have made sense. There's crossover between the mechanics of a vacuum cleaner and a hair dryer, for instance. I can see how a brand that knows its way around a robot vacuum could also make a great lawnbot.

But I'm struggling to see how those skills might translate into coffee machines or TVs – both categories that are highly specific, and which require specialist knowledge and skills to excel in. The same goes for things like smartwatches and action cameras.

Of course, I haven't tested any of the new gadgets yet – I've only seen them displayed and demoed, which isn't a reliable way to judge any product. The proof will be in the testing, and I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

It’s no secret that in recent years, CES has turned into a bit of an automotive show, with car manufacturers, suppliers, and partners displaying the latest in infotainment, autonomous driving, and EV tech. At this year’s CES, the automotive focus clearly shifted towards physical AI and robotaxis. So let’s dive into the most interesting car tech I saw at CES 2026.

Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride Flex platform

Most vehicles on the roads today use separate computers for infotainment and ADAS (advanced driver assistance system). This is done for safety, since you don’t want your car suddenly veering into a ditch because your music player crashed. On the flip side, having two computers, often with chips from separate vendors, increases complexity and cost.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride Flex platform solves this problem by combining infotainment and ADAS into a single SoC without compromising safety. The guardrails between the two domains are handled with the same kind of mission-critical, real-time software used in aerospace. Another benefit of Qualcomm’s unified platform is power efficiency and flexibility.

Snapdragon Ride Flex is able to scale from basic, economy cars all the way up to expensive, luxury vehicles. Beyond combining infotainment and ADAS functionality into a single chip, it also provides support for GPS navigation and routing, AI voice assistants, 3D rendering for complex on-screen graphics, 5G connectivity, and even driver monitoring.

Basically, Snapdragon Ride Flex applies Qualcomm’s smartphone and mobile SoC expertise to modern SDVs (software defined vehicles). It supports ADAS in cars equipped with as little as one forward-facing camera, a single front radar unit, and a driver monitoring camera, to vehicles integrating multiple cameras, radar units, lidar sensors, and high-definition maps.

At CES 2026, Qualcomm was demoing the Snapdragon Ride Flex platform in a modified Lincoln Aviator, but the chip is used in vehicles recently launched in China, like the ARCFOX Alpha T5 and Dongfeng Nissan N6, and will soon be coming to US-market cars.

[Disclaimer: Qualcomm provided accommodations and meals for my trip to CES 2026, but did not offer any other compensation and did not have any editorial control over my content.]

BMW iX3 Alexa+ integration

If you have an Echo smart speaker at home, you’re probably familiar with Alexa+, Amazon’s LLM-powered voice assistant. The company wants to bring its generative AI tech to more devices, including cars.

At CES 2026, BMW announced that it’s partnering with Amazon to bring Alexa+ to its Neue Klasse EVs starting with the iX3 electric SUV later this year.

Alexa is already widely available in modern vehicles, but the iX3 is the first car to incorporate a customized version of Alexa+. This integration lets you have a natural conversation with your car by saying “Hey, BMW.” You can ask for a drugstore on the way to your destination or for food recommendations near you, and you can ask about the weather or current news.

You can even ask the voice assistant to play music, adjust the climate, or control your smart home devices. Alexa+ remembers context, so you can start a conversation on your Echo at home and continue where you left off in your BMW. That’s nice, but voice assistants in cars have mostly been frustrating so far, and people avoid using them – myself included.

I was able to experience BMW’s Alexa+ integration for myself at CES, and it’s definitely an improvement over previous in-vehicle voice assistants. You even get a cute little animated talking head in the middle of the iX3’s Panoramic Display when the AI responds. While the experience was mostly glitch-free, it was clearly still a work in progress.

The biggest issue I see with this integration is that you’re stuck with Alexa+. If you prefer using Gemini for your voice assistant – as I do – or ChatGPT, you’re out of luck. None of your chat history and AI context follows across devices, and that's a major limitation.

Waymo Ojay electric robotaxi

Autonomous driving and robotaxis were all over CES 2026. Amazon’s Zoox autonomous pod is already operating in Las Vegas, Lucid debuted a Gravity robotaxi in partnership with Nuro and Uber, and Tensor displayed its robocar in collaboration with Lyft. But the star of the show was definitely Waymo’s Ojay robotaxi, the van formerly known as Zeekr RT.

Now in its final form, the Ojay robotaxi looks almost identical to the Zeekr RT Waymo showcased at CES 2025, and is being tested in several of the company’s markets, including my neighborhood in San Francisco. This electric AV (autonomous vehicle) will complement and eventually replace Waymo’s existing fleet of Jaguar i-Pace autonomous EV.

The van, which is built on Zeekr’s SEA-M 800V architecture, packs a 76kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery and boasts a spacious pillar-less design. After being assembled by Zeekr in China, it’s outfitted with Waymo’s sensor suite here in the US. This sensor suite consists of 13 cameras, six radars, four lidars, and an array of external microphones.

If you’re counting, that’s less than half the number of cameras on Waymo’s current Jaguar i-Pace. Heaters, sprayers, and tiny wipers keep the sensor suite clean in inclement weather. And, unlike prototypes, the Ojai robotaxi still features pedals and a steering wheel. Waymo's other new robotaxi, based on Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 EV, was also on display at CES.

I use Waymo quite regularly, so I’m looking forward to riding in the new Ojay robotaxi when it finally enters service in San Francisco later this year. Keep an eye out for my first impressions.

Donut Lab solid-state battery

Solid-state batteries have been hyped as the Next Big Thing (™) for years now, but have never left the lab – until now, apparently. At CES 2026, Donut Lab, the Finnish company best known for its power-dense hubless in-wheel electric motors, showcased the “world’s first” solid-state battery used in a production EV, namely the Verge Motorcycles’ TS Pro ($30,000+).

Obviously, let’s take Donut Lab’s claim with a grain of salt. Solid-state batteries are the holy grail of battery tech – cells that are energy dense, lightweight, affordable, and charge fast, run cool, and don’t turn into a fiery mess when damaged or abused. Imagine getting 30 percent more range from an EV with a solid-state battery pack of identical size and weight.

I’m taking game-changing tech here. Here’s what we know about Donut Lab’s solid-state battery. A single 125Wh cell consists of a prismatic pouch the size of a large smartphone and delivers a whopping 400Wh/kg of energy density. Forty cells can be arranged into briefcase-like 5kWh modules that offer 350Wh/kg of energy density and weigh 14kg (30.8lbs).

The icing on the cake (ahem) is that Donut Lab promises a lifespan of 100,000 charge cycles for its solid-state battery, vs. 1,500 charge cycles for a modern lithium-ion cell. As for Verge Motorcycle’s TS Pro, it packs up to 33kWh of Donut Lab’s solid-state batteries, delivers 370mi of range, charges at 200kW, and reaches 62mph in 3.5sec. That’s some tasty stuff.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen if Donut Lab can mass-produce its solid-state batteries in quantities beyond those required by a boutique electric motorcycle manufacturer. Time will tell.

That’s (not) all, folks

So here you go. This is the car tech that stood out for me at CES 2026. But obviously, I’m just scratching the surface here. There were other interesting automotive goodies to sample at this year’s show, like Longbow Motors’ Speedster EV, iM Media Labs’ partnership with AT&T, Sony Honda Mobility's Afeela EV (yet again), and Strutt’s EV1 autonomous mobility scooter.

Announced at CES 2026, the Samsung S95H is the flagship model in Samsung’s 2026 OLED TV lineup. The S95H is the successor to the Samsung S95F, one of 2025’s best TVs and TechRadar’s TV of the Year.

We only got a brief look at the S95H at CES, but we’ve gathered all the confirmed information we have about Samsung’s new top OLED TV below.

Samsung S95H: Prices & release dates

Samsung hasn’t yet released pricing information for the S95H, but we can speculate based on launch pricing for last year’s S95F series, which was as follows:

• 55-inch: $2,499 / £2,499 / N/A
• 65-inch: $3,399 / £3,399 / AU$5,295
• 77-inch: $4,499 / £4,299 / AU$7,995
• 83-inch: $6,499 / £6,799 / AU$9,995

We know the S95H will be available in the same sizes: 55, 65, 77 and 83-inches. It will also continue to use a QD-OLED panel. While we would usually anticipate a price increase due to year-on-year inflation, last year's S95F was actually priced the same, if not marginally cheaper, than its S95D predecessor.

It’s unclear whether the pricing situation will remain the same with the S95H, which has undergone some design changes, including a new metal frame. This new design update could lead to higher pricing, but we’ll have to wait and see.

No official launch date has been confirmed for the Samsung S95H, but we can speculate that it will be March or April based on previous years. Flagship OLED TVs are typically the first models to be released by Samsung and LG.

Samsung S95H: Features

The S95H will use a QD-OLED panel and be available in 55, 65, 77 and 83-inch sizes. Last year’s 83-inch S95F instead used an RGB Tandem OLED panel, but it’s not clear if this will be the case for the S95H.

Samsung claims that the S95H will be 35% brighter than the S95F, which we measured at 2,135 nits peak brightness. That means the S95H may hit over 2,800 nits, easily making it the brightest OLED TV on the market.

The S95H has undergone some design changes from its predecessor. It will have a new metal frame for wall mounting. The biggest change, however, is the removal of the One Connect Box used for the Samsung S95F. The One Connect is an external box that houses connections for external devices such as game consoles and soundbars, and it links to the TV using a single fiber optic cable.

It seems odd that Samsung has removed this feature from the S95H, instead putting connections onto the rear of the TV, but Samsung confirms you can optionally add its Wireless One Connect Box, a wireless version of the One Connect box that beams video and audio signals losslessly to the TV. Interestingly, you can use both the Wireless One Connect Box and the TV’s ports, meaning there’s up to 8 (!) HDMI 2.1 ports on offer for those with plenty of source devices.

Elsewhere, the S95H will use Samsung’s latest NQ4 AI Processor, which will feature several AI upgrades, including improved 4K upscaling, Auto HDR Remastering (upscaling of SDR content to HDR) and an AI customization mode that can adjust picture settings to your preferences based on the content, such as sports and movies.

Speaking of sports, there is a new AI Soccer mode that will automatically adjust motion settings and other picture elements when the TV detects a soccer game on screen. There are also AI sound features, including AI Sound Controller, where you can adjust individual layers in soundtracks such as dialogue and music.

Finally, the S95H will be the first OLED TV to support Samsung’s Art Mode, which was first introduced in Samsung’s The Frame TVs and then migrated to its new QLED and Neo QLED models in 2025. Art Mode displays artworks when the TV is in standby. A basic set of images is provided, and a paid subscription gives you full access to the more extensive collection in Samsung’s Art Store.

Samsung S95H: What we still need to know

The S95F was one of 2025’s best gaming TVs, supporting 4K 165Hz, AMD FreeSync, and for the first time, Nvidia G-Sync, along with ALLM and HDR10+ gaming. It also features Samsung’s Gaming Hub built in with cloud gaming options from Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox and more. While we expect the S95H to have very similar gaming features, none have been officially confirmed.

The S95F housed a 4.2.2-channel, 70W speaker array, which provided solid overall performance. We don’t yet have details on the S95H’s speaker array, but we’re guessing it will be similar to the one found in the S95F.

As TechRadar's Senior Health and Fitness Editor, I've used a lot of movement-tracking tools, from the best smartwatches to gait analysis and even AI tools to calculate movement efficiency.

I've also spoken to people responsible for making some of the best running shoes on the planet, who have made it their lives' missions to understand the complex biomechanics of the human foot and body – how the foot splays as it falls, how the position of the knee affects the efficiency of the stride, what kind of adjustments to make to the shoes to mitigate issues, and so on.

What I've learned from all this is that the human body is a sophisticated mechanical object, constantly making micro-adjustments we aren't even aware of even during simple walking movements.

So, when I sat down at my desk to cover the first day of CES 2026, and heard about the latest humanoid robots folding laundry, playing chess and walking around, I was expecting a bunch of awkward-looking, pincer-armed machines with black screens in lieu of faces. I'd seen the early Boston Dynamics videos of those clumsy robots being stress-tested (read: bullied), and expected more of the same.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I watched a video of the goings-on at CES and for the first time, understood how lifelike humanoid robots were becoming. I saw Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot begin to break into a run, then slow itself down to a halt. It lifted its leg and placed itself in a martial-arts-like stance, spinning its claws (terrifying) while gesturing to an inert robot to its left. It squatted down to pick up an imaginary object in a way that looked very natural, despite twisting its ball-socket legs and torso in ways that would impossible for a human to replicate.

I was fascinated. As someone who looks at the intersection of human performance and technology on a regular basis, that little run felt like a landmark moment. The Atlas' walking demonstration at CES, which you can see below in a video taken by our own Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff at his Atlas experience, still looked a little gawkish; like a shuffling, half-squat walk with small steps in case it fell over, rather than a confident stride.

However, watching the majority of the demonstration both thrilled and unnerved me. Atlas was so lifelike while it was moving, and yet the moment the robot came to a halt I was left cold by how unnaturally still it became. The contrast between this statue-like assemblage of metal and plastic and a living, breathing person was jarring.

How on earth did Boston Dynamics get its Atlas robot to copy a movement in this degree of detail?

Motion capture and VR

The CBS news show 60 Minutes aired a segment – you can see the video below – on Boston Dynamics and Atlas, which featured a visit to the Hyundai factory in which the robot is being tested, and included a look at the way new movements are taught to the robot.

My use of 'taught' rather than 'programmed' is deliberate: the development team uses AI and repetition to encourage the robot to learn a movement, rather than follow a pattern precisely. The reason for this is that the robot's body is very different to a human body, despite its similar size and proportions, and must find the most efficient pathway on its own. Boston Dynamics dubs this method 'kinematics'.

I've embedded the video below, but the long as the short of it is that Boston Dynamics records patterns of human motion by getting a human model to perform the movement. They're wearing either an Xsens motion-tracking bodysuit for full-body movements, or a virtual-reality headset and handsets for more dexterity-based tasks, such as tying a knot.

This turns physical motion into digital data, which can be 'retargeted' or mapped from a human body onto a robot body to account for the different proportions and joints of the robot.

Once that's done, the robot learns how to perform the movement in a simulation environment. In the 60 Minutes video you can see thousands of virtual robots performing a basic jumping jack. Some of them fall, stumble or perform the move incorrectly, but many of them get it right. Each simulated movement creates more data.

Once the robot's collective hive mind (also terrifying) has figured out the best way of doing the movement, this data is rolled out to a whole fleet of robots, so the robotics team can train new movements at scale with massive efficiency. In this way, a whole army of robots can be trained to perform a new movement pattern in an afternoon, such as operating a new production line – but hopefully not more complex patterns, such as moving in sync to rise up against their former masters.

Xsens, in a blog post, describes this pipeline in far simpler terms: "Capture human motion → Retarget to the robot → Train at scale in simulation → Deploy to hardware → Repeat."

Despite the fact that robots can move in unnatural ways, they aren't yet anywhere close to moving as efficiently as humans can, or with as much complexity. However, they're certainly getting there, and it looks like we're only a few short years from seeing genuinely humanoid robots in the home, the workplace and all sorts of other arenas.

Revealed at CES 2026, the LG C6 is the mid-range offering in LG’s 2026 OLED TV lineup. The big news for the C6 series this year is that it has been separated into two models: the C6 and the C6H.

The C6 series will use the same OLED panel as its predecessor, the LG C5. The C6H, on the other hand, gets the biggest upgrade we’ve ever seen in the C-series lineup to date: a new OLED panel.

The LG C5 was one of the best TVs of 2025, and although it wasn’t a big upgrade over its LG C4 predecessor, it still earned five stars in our review thanks to its exceptional picture quality, intuitive smart TV platform and superb gaming performance.

We only got a short look at the LG C6 in person at CES, but we’ve collected all the information we have about the 2026 C-series models below.

LG C6 OLED TV: prices & release date

LG hasn’t yet released any official pricing or a release date for the C6 or C6H. Even so, we can speculate based on last year’s C5 series pricing upon release.

• 42-inch: $1,399.99 / £1,399.99 / AU$2,199
• 48-inch: $1,599.99 / £1,499.99 / AU$2,499
• 55-inch: $1,999.99 / £1,899.99 / AU$3,299
• 65-inch: $2,699.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$4,299
• 77-inch: $3,699.99 / £3,699.99 / AU$5,999
• 83-inch: $5,399.99 / £5,799.99 / AU$7,999

Obviously, with the C-series split into two different models, things will be a little different this year. The standard C6 will be available in 42, 48, 55 and 65-inch sizes, whereas the C6H will only be available in 77 and 83-inch sizes.

We would usually anticipate a price increase due to inflation for the standard C6, but last year, we were surprised to find that the C5 was cheaper at launch than its C4 predecessor. It’s unclear which way LG will go, so we’ll keep an eye on prices. As for the C6H, because it uses a new panel, we expect prices to be higher upon launch than last year’s 77- and 83-inch C5 models.

The release date for the LG C-series has consistently been in March or April of each year, and we expect 2026 will be no different.

LG C6 OLED TV: Features

As noted above, the biggest feature of the LG C6H is a new OLED panel. This will be the Primary Tandem RGB OLED 2.0 panel, the same one that will be used in the flagship LG G6. Expect a big brightness boost, better color and contrast and finer textures. In fact, LG says the C6H should match the G5’s HDR peak brightness, which we measured at 2,268 nits – a huge step up over the 1,180 nits delivered by the C5’s standard OLED panel. The standard LG C6 will use the same panel as last year’s C5.

The other big feature coming to both C6 models is the new Alpha 11 AI Gen 3 processor, the same one used in the flagship G6 series. With this processor comes new AI features such as an AI Hub that houses AI Concierge and Search (first introduced in webOS 25), as well as an AI TruMotion feature that can adjust motion settings based on the genre of content. There will also be an AI Super Upscaling feature that optimizes picture upscaling based on genre and scene.

LG said that SDR to HDR picture conversion will get a boost in both C-series models, thanks to the Alpha 11 processor. It also enables support for Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, which will feature in LG’s Sound Stage wireless speaker system.

LG C6 OLED TV: what we still need to know

LG C-series TVs are typically among the best gaming TVs year-on-year, and while we expect the C6 to carry the same features as the C5, we don’t yet have official confirmation of that. We expect its four HDMI 2.1 ports to support 4K 144Hz, Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, HGiG, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming, but the C6 could also support 4K 165Hz.

The C-series has always had a built-in 2.2-channel Dolby Atmos speaker array, and this is likely to be the same for the C6. Could the C6H have an upgraded sound system to match its new panel? We’ll see.

While we don’t expect a big brightness boost from the C5 to the standard C6, the inclusion of the new Alpha 11 Gen 3 processor in the latter could result in higher brightness. LG, however, has not confirmed any brightness boost as of yet.

We expect to see big performance differences between the two C-series models when we separately test them later in the year. Until then, any new information we receive will be added to this guide.

Every once in a while, you stumble on a gadget that haunts your nights and can pop up unbidden in your daydreams. You imagine it on your desk, next to your best 4K TV, or filling a wall like a vertical box of delicious donuts.

IKEA's quirky, donut-shaped Varmblixt lamp is that product, and I haven't stopped obsessing over the Bluetooth lamp since I saw it at CES 2026.

Varmblixt isn't brand new, but this version represents a significant update, with a fresh glossy finish and a multitude of colors. Let's start with the basics, and I'll try to explain why I'm so smitten with the $99 illuminator.

First of all, IKEA's Varmblixt is shaped like a giant donut (roughly one foot in diameter). At first glance, it has no visible seams and, though I spotted a power cord running out of it, I wasn't sure how IKEA fed it into that perfectly smooth torus shape. Naturally, I flipped the lamp over to see the well-hidden plastic base, which, in addition to the power cord entry, houses a slot for wall hanging.

Varmblixt invites you to touch it. Even before IKEA reps explained the new product, I was running my hands over the smooth glass surface and admiring its glow.

The CES 2026 IKEA setup featured almost a dozen of these lamps, which was fitting since the upgraded Varmblixt now supports 12 distinct colors, including the original orange, and new white, amber, red, pink, lavender, and turquoise, among others.

The other big upgrade here is the Matter over Thread integration, which means Varmblixt now works with virtually any smart home platform, including Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home.

I'm glad, though, that IKEA chose to keep the tiny physical remote, which means that even if you don't want to hook the lamp up to an app, you can access all 12 colors (app control raises the customization level to 40 distinct hues).

There's the other reason I'm obsessing over Varmblixt: I used that remote. Unlike most other Bluetooth LED-based lighting systems that make hard, almost jarring switches between colors, Varmblixt takes it slow.

With each press of the remote, I watched as the color shifted almost imperceptibly, then slowly transitioned to the new, fully-dimmable hue. Not only that, but the color diffusion under the molded glass is near perfect. It's simply beautiful to watch, and I loved basking in the glow.

Function follows form

None of this would work so well if there weren't such a clear marriage between the design and color choices. Dutch artist Sabine Marcelis clearly designed the pair to be a marriage of hue and form. Even the way the colors change is more like a symphony than a switch, and is the perfect match for the Varmblixt's smooth looks.

Perhaps the other thing that attracted me to the Varmblixt is its fundamental simplicity. No hubs, just a choice to use the remote or the app.

One wonders if the Philips Hue lineup of smart lighting products would be the same kind of sensation if it paid as much attention to design and simplicity.

I remember thinking that Varmblixt would be perfect if it were also rechargeable and truly wireless; then my secret dream of a wall of them could come true.

The other thing I loved is that even though this is a more powerful and smarter version, Varmblixt will still cost just $99 (prices will vary outside the US) when it ships in April.

I know this is just a lamp, but the best technology products are often the ones that do one thing and do it very well. Varmblixt appears to succeed on that level, but it will do more than that because when you have one or more of these donut lamps in the home, they will be instant conversation pieces. And whether you're using your app, voice, or the handy remote to control them, I bet you elicit more than a few 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

There is, by the way, another Varmblixt option, a large hanging LED pendant light, which looks like a random bunch of hanging 'U's. It currently only supports white light and also ships in April for $149. I do not dream about that lamp.

• MSI’s mini PC handles AI workloads locally without relying on external servers
• MSI AI Edge supports up to 128GB unified memory for large models
• Developers can run natural language, image, or mixed-input AI models

MSI has entered the growing market for mini PCs powered by the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, joining a crowded field that currently includes over 30 devices.

The new AI Edge device is designed to handle AI workloads on the desktop while also providing general computing capabilities for work and gaming.

It includes RDNA 3.5 graphics with 40 compute units and XDNA 2 NPU architecture delivering up to 50 TOPS.

Huge memory for on-device AI workloads

The AI Edge supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5X 8000 unified memory, with 96GB dynamically allocated to the GPU, a configuration which enables large language models up to 120B parameters to run at around 15 tokens per second.

The AI Edge fits into a small 4-liter form factor, which aims to save desk space while maintaining full desktop functionality.

It also features a built-in power supply, and users can choose either Windows or Linux for their preferred computing environment.

The system can also provide gaming performance comparable to a GeForce RTX 4060-class GPU.

With this level of gaming performance, MSI uses the Glacier Armor thermal design, which applies advanced heatsinks to key components and helps sustain consistent performance during long AI inference or gaming sessions.

Bundled software on the AI Edge leverages on-device computing resources for productivity tasks such as generating notes, creating mind maps, and processing personal datasets.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology allows users to query local datasets securely, ensuring sensitive data remains on the device.

Financial records, for example, can be analyzed for insights directly on the AI Edge without cloud involvement.

The AI Edge supports real-time AI inference for multimodal models, making it suitable for developers testing natural language, image, or mixed-input models.

Local AI workloads can run independently without external servers, reducing latency and preserving privacy.

The AI Edge offers a straightforward set of front-facing ports for everyday connectivity.

Users can access a USB-C port for fast data transfer and potential power delivery, while two USB-A ports allow connection of standard peripherals such as external drives, keyboards, or mice.

A 3.5mm audio jack supports headphones or microphone input, ensuring the system can handle basic audio needs without additional adapters.

An SD card slot also enables quick access to external storage or media, supporting workflows that rely on portable storage and file transfer.

In a market crowded with over 30 Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PCs, MSI’s AI Edge will likely compete through its high memory capacity, on-device AI capabilities, and gaming performance.

Its success will likely depend on how well these features meet the needs of developers and professionals seeking a compact, versatile AI desktop.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Mechrevo’s Yaoshi 18 Pro made its debut at CES with minimal fanfare
• The laptop features an unusually large 18-inch display for mainstream devices
• Nvidia RTX 50 Series GPU handles graphics and AI tasks

Mechrevo quietly showcased a large performance laptop at CES 2026 under the name Yaoshi 18 Pro, drawing limited attention despite unusually bold hardware claims.

The device appeared with prominent Intel and Nvidia branding, suggesting a collaboration focused on high-performance computing rather than consumer portability.

Its presence at the show was understated, yet the specifications shown on nearby signage immediately raised questions about accuracy and intent.

Yaoshi 18 Pro – large but unnoticed?

The most visually dominant feature is an 18-inch display that anchors the physical identity of the system.

Mechrevo’s booth materials emphasized scale and immersion, using the phrase “Immersion, more than just big” to describe the screen experience.

No resolution or refresh rate figures were visible, leaving the panel’s actual technical merit unclear despite the marketing emphasis on size.

An 18-inch format already places the device among the largest laptops currently circulating in mainstream markets.

The Yaoshi 18 Pro was labeled as running an Intel Core Ultra 300HX series processor, a designation that Intel has not formally announced.

HX-class chips traditionally indicate high power limits and desktop-level ambitions, but the specific numbering suggests a generation that Intel has not publicly detailed.

Whether this reflects an internal roadmap reference or a display error remains unresolved.

Graphics branding was more straightforward, with repeated confirmation of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 Series Laptop GPU.

Nvidia promotional cards referenced “RTX. It’s On.”, reinforcing expectations around ray tracing, AI acceleration, and advanced compute workloads.

Another display card mentioned Personal LLMs, implying local AI tasks rather than purely gaming scenarios.

At the event, the poster offered very limited information about the device itself.

Several icons suggested features related to cooling, performance tuning, and productivity, but there were no measurable specifications, benchmarks, or comparisons to support the claims.

At the time of writing, no information is available regarding pricing, launch timelines, or regional availability.

The Yaoshi 18 Pro appears to sit within a growing class of oversized laptops that trade mobility for raw computing power.

Uncertainty remains around the listed processor. If the information is accurate, it would point to an unusually early public appearance of unannounced hardware. If not, it likely reflects a simple but consequential typo that escaped attention.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

When Victrola announced its space-saving new Soundstage speaker for turntables, I had obvious concerns. It's effectively a soundbase, for people who remember when those were popular for TVs – a slab of a speaker that sits underneath something else, and uses the good internal volume you get from a low-profile but large footprint to deliver deep and impactful sound.

The obvious problem with this plan is: speakers vibrate, and turntables need to be kept steady. Putting the latter on top of the former seems like asking for trouble.

So at CES 2026, I tracked down Victrola to get not only a first listen to the Soundstage, but also to get my hands on it and feel whether the vibrations are a concern.

As you'll have seen, it's a nice-looking bit of gear, available in walnut or black finishes. The styling, size, and finishes are an exact match for Victrola's Wave turntable, though you can use it with anything that fits on its 42.95 x 38.37 x 8.95cm frame.

There's an RCA connection for your turntable, plus a 3.5mm jack, USB-C audio, and Bluetooth – making it a nice modern music center as well as a vinyl addition.

Let's start with the bass rumble. The Soundstage has a system Victrola calls the 'Symmetric Drive Woofer' to deliver bass, and it's a force-opposed dual-diaphragm bass system, firing up and down simultaneously from a single driver.

It's very much like the Sonos Sound Motion bass driver used in the Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar (you can read all about the development of that speaker here), in that it's designed to provide big bass in a small space, but with a force-opposing configuration to avoid vibrations.

Force-opposing speaker systems mean that you have two identical diaphragms facing opposite directions. When speakers play, they push air forward, which means there's an equal force pushed the other way, into the speaker enclosure, in the form of vibrations. But in a force-opposed system, those vibrations then meet the exact same vibrations coming the other way from the other diaphragm, so they cancel each other out, and you end up with no major shaking at all (or close to it, and the rest can be absorbed by a well-built enclosure).

The double bass driver has the effect of giving this speaker a surprising amount of thump for something not very tall, but placing my hand on the sides, back, and top of the unit, I could barely feel any vibration in it. There is some, but nothing different from what you'd expect if you had your turntable on top of a piece of furniture with two speakers on either side of it.

You can feel a lot more vibration on the front of the unit, where the forward drivers are, but since I couldn't feel the effect of this heavily on the sides and back, it seems like the bracing and build of the speaker can absorb this well enough without it passing it through to the turntable (which will have some protection against vibration of its own, of course).

Victrola says of the front speakers that a "Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) technology delivers exceptionally wide, even dispersion, creating a spacious, natural stereo image that stays clear and detailed anywhere in the room" and my experience with this is that there's very little stereo on offer here, despite these promises – if that's your priority, you've got to go with separate speakers.

But Victrola told me that even dispersion around the room was a big focus for the speaker system, and it absolutely nails this – I moved around to really off-center positions to see if the sound balance would alter drastically and weaken, and actually, it barely changed compared to being right in front of it.

That's impressive, and makes it super-flexible for listening positions, which again, makes sense for something designed for people with little spare space.

As for the overall sound itself, I would say that it's quite warm – leaning into vinyl's tendency that way, perhaps – and trends somewhat bass-ward. Mid-range and treble seemed present and correct enough, but I didn't get the sense of there being a ton of fine detail and expression from my demo.

Naturally, we'll reserve judgment until we can test in a proper environment, but my initial impression is that you may get finer hi-fi results from a pair of active stereo speakers matching the $349 price of the Soundstage, but probably less deep bass. It may be a question of choosing the fullness and impact of the sound versus the resolution and imaging.

But in some ways, that dilemma also misses the point: this compactness. This speaker sits under the turntable, with no extra space and no extra components needed. In that way alone, it might be exactly what you've been looking for.

• Gigabyte Z890 AORUS motherboard is capable of 256GB DDR5-7200 memory
• The motherboard requires two 128GB CQDIMM modules instead of four smaller sticks
• Optimized BIOS and motherboard design ensure stability at extreme memory frequencies

Gigabyte has introduced the Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE CQDIMM Edition motherboard at CES 2026, targeting high-performance consumer applications.

The motherboard relies on two DIMM slots rather than the traditional four, which requires users to install the more expensive 128GB modules to reach a total of 256GB of memory.

The innovation centers on CQDIMM hardware combined with optimized BIOS tuning.

CQDIMM technology

The motherboard circuitry reduces memory channel load, which improves signal integrity and supports stable operation at full capacity.

The BIOS architecture manages timing, voltage, and signal synchronization, enabling DDR5-7200 frequencies even with high-capacity modules.

These hardware and firmware optimizations overcome long-standing trade-offs between capacity, frequency, and stability that have historically constrained consumer-grade DDR5 memory.

By using two 128GB CQDIMM modules instead of four 64GB CUDIMMs, the motherboard achieves 256GB at DDR5-7200 without compromising performance.

Traditional configurations require four modules, which forces frequencies down to DDR5-4400 because of electrical and signal constraints.

Gigabyte’s approach streamlines the system layout, reduces channel loading, and allows higher stable frequencies at extreme capacities.

Professional testing, including CPU-Z verification, confirms that the motherboard boots and operates reliably under these conditions, setting an industry milestone for consumer platforms.

Gigabyte has partnered with major memory manufacturers, including Adata, Kingston, and TeamGroup, to co-develop compatible CQDIMM modules.

These collaborations aim to ensure maximum compatibility and performance across the growing ecosystem of high-capacity, high-frequency memory.

Through these partnerships, CQDIMM technology reaches higher frequencies and stability, addressing the demands of AI computing, content creation, and other data-intensive workloads.

We still do not know how much the Gigabyte Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE CQDIMM Edition motherboard will cost.

However, it is likely to carry a high premium given the memory configuration it requires, as right now, 64GB DDR5 modules sell for about $10 per/GB, so 128GB sticks could easily cost much more.

This means that two 128GB modules might total around $5,000 just for the RAM.

Considering the potential cost of this device, some observers note that it may make more sense to buy a Threadripper Pro system and fill it with cheaper 64GB modules to achieve the same total capacity.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Ayaneo AM03 packs Intel Core i9 power into a small, quiet, high-performance mini PC
• Dual-channel DDR5 memory reaches 64GB for smooth multitasking and heavy workloads
• Integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics handle multi-display setups and hardware acceleration

Ayaneo has expanded its hardware lineup with the AM03, a mini PC which leans heavily on visual restraint while carrying high-end internal components.

At first glance, the device resembles a neutral household object rather than a performance-oriented computer, which appears to be a deliberate design decision.

The enclosure adopts a minimalist form intended to blend into workspaces rather than dominate them, drawing on retro aesthetics while avoiding obvious gaming cues.

Minimalist design with high-end performance

Despite its compact body, the device houses an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, a 12th Gen Alder Lake-H chip with 14 cores and 20 threads, capable of turbo speeds up to 5.0GHz.

This hybrid CPU architecture balances 6 performance cores with 8 efficiency cores, delivering strong multi-threaded performance while maintaining energy efficiency at a 45W TDP.

Integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics supports multi-display setups and hardware acceleration, making the AM03 suitable for productivity, creative workloads, and moderate gaming.

The Ayaneo AM03 offers dual-channel DDR5 memory support up to 64GB at 3200MT/s, paired with dual M.2 NVMe SSD slots. One slot supports PCIe 4.0x4 while the other supports PCIe 3.0×4, allowing up to 8TB of total storage.

The device’s storage interface remains flexible, supporting both PCIe and SATA drives, which allows efficient upgrades and expansion.

For cooling, the AM03 uses a large high-pressure turbine fan combined with dual heat pipes and an aluminum fin array totaling 74,738.4mm².

This design allows the system to operate quietly, dissipate heat quickly, and sustain high performance without throttling, providing desktop-grade stability in a compact chassis.

The AM03 features a foldable front panel that conceals dual USB-A 3.2 Gen2 ports, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm audio jack, preserving a clean, minimalist look.

Function keys include power, ambient lighting control, volume toggle, and two custom buttons, all managed through the AYASpace 3.0 software.

A curved “Skyline” RGB ambient light adds a subtle visual accent, and its modes can be customized to match desktop aesthetics.

Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, and multiple display outputs via HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4, both supporting 4K at 120Hz.

It includes built-in dual stereo speakers that provide adequate sound without external peripherals.

Starting at ¥2,699, approximately $399, the Ayaneo Mini PC AM03 is now available in limited first-batch stock.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

With AI PCs continuing to grow in popularity, AMD has said this is the year it expects the technology to become mainstream.

Speaking to TechRadar Pro at the recent CES 2026, Jason Banta, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Client OEM at AMD, told us 2026 would be a significant year for adoption of AI-enabled devices.

"2026 is the year we expect to see the AI PC crossover,” he said, “we're expecting more AI PCs to be sold than non-AI PCs.”

"Crossover point" for AI PCs

“Having this crossover point this year, we think, is important,” Banta added, “that’s not just people saying an AI PC is what I expect to buy - but (for developers) that also it makes sense to adopt these capabilities and infuse them into your workflows and applications because there’s such a large base of who you can address.”

Asked if mini PCs can be used for users to pave the way to AI devices, Banta agreed, noting, “mini PC (adoption) is growing faster than a lot of people expected.”

“I think it is an important stepping stone - AI PC has been a combination of hardware and experiences in a horse race between each other,” he added.

“Mini PC is growing faster than a lot of people expected,” he said, “mini PCs are really having a moment, people are seeing the advantages of having them. Previously, you thought, OK, a big giant desktop - I get a lot of performance, a notebook - I have to make these trade-offs, but a mini PC, it's a little closer to the notebook, but now you're seeing great performance out of notebooks, great performance out of desktops - and the mini PC is really solving a lot of needs, of having that capability, just sitting on your desk.”

Banta notes that when AMD started its AI PC journey in 2023 with the 7000 series mobile, the hardware and neural processing was all there, but the experiences needed to be improved.

Since then, he says, the AI experiences and tools have improved hugely, particularly from Microsoft Copilot, and as adoption increases, as well as third party developers getting involved, meaning interest and adoption has soared.

"Experiences breed adoption - but adoption also breeds experiences,” he said, adding that this change is being recognized by developers, who are obviously keen to build for the most popular platforms.

“What we’re seeing right now is that everything is starting to come together in a much more cohesive way,” he says, referencing not only to AI PCs, but local LLMs, neural processing, and the use of GPUs for AI.

“We're getting to a point in the adoption curve where what I think you're going to see in 2026 is a lot of creative developers are going to change the world.”

Where have all the small phones gone? From the best cheap phones all the way up to the best Android phones and best iPhones, it’s extremely difficult to find a handset with a screen smaller than six inches.

In fact, it’s been years since we’ve seen a small phone launched by a mainstream brand. The last notable release was the ASUS Zenfone 10 back in 2023, but with the Zenfone line switching to larger displays in 2024 and ASUS stepping back from phone releases in 2026, it seems that small phone fans will be left looking elsewhere this year.

However, at this year’s CES, one small phone maker stepped out with a design for a new kind of phone altogether – a concept that keeps things compact while taking hints from the best small-screen experiences of the modern day.

I’m talking about the MindOne Pro by Ikko, a Hong Kong-based tech company that, until now, has specialized in making earbuds and earphones.

The MindOne Pro is a “card-sized phone” with a 4-inch almost-square display, a 50MP camera on a flip-up hinge for selfies, and a host of AI tools that can connect to the internet for free in 60 regions, including the US, UK, and Australia.

All of that sounds pretty neat, but really it’s that small display that’s caught my eye. As someone who dearly misses his iPhone 5S, another 4-inch phone, it’s cool to see at least one company returning to a truly portable mobile form factor.

However, the MindOne Pro isn’t exactly like the funsize candy bar phones of old – as mentioned, its display is near-enough square, which makes it look more like a Galaxy Z Flip 7 or Motorola Razr (just, you know, without the ‘flip’). The phone measures 86mm x 72mm and 8.9mm thick, not including the flip-up camera module.

That’ll be music to the ears of anyone who loves using flip phones for their cover display. I personally find myself using the cover screen on flip phones for quick Google searches and even to play video podcasts while I’m doing other things; it can be really useful to have a compact and unobtrusive option when you need to check something but don’t want to get lost in a huge display.

Indeed, here at TechRadar we think flip phone cover displays are so important that we maintain an entry for the best cover display in our list of the best folding phones. The MindOne Pro seems like it could offer a similar experience for people who don’t really care about the 'folding' part of the equation.

I can see the Ikko MindOne Pro landing really well folks like me who just miss small phones but want something more powerful than, say, the Light Phone or 'dumbphones' like it. The MindOne runs Android 15, as well as its own Ikko AI OS companion software, so it can run a full suite of essential daily apps (though there’s no saying how well-optimised apps might be for its unusual screen).

We covered the MindOne project last year over on TechRadar Pro, but its appearance at CES gives us a much better look at the handset (via Android Authority) and suggests that Ikko is getting serious about bringing the phone to market.

That’ll be reassuring for long-time followers of the MindOne, because although the Ikko MindOne's Kickstarter campaign wrapped up in August 2025, the phone is yet to ship, with the company's own estimates suggesting a February 2026 release date.

The campaign page suggests a non-Pro model, with standard tempered glass rather than sapphire glass and no free internet access for those AI tools, will follow the MindOne Pro, though we don't know when.

As a matter of principle, I won’t usually recommend spending money on a product that isn’t yet available. So as cool as the MindOne Pro is, I’d suggest waiting for it to become available before parting with your hard-earned cash. At an MSRP of $499 / £379 / AU$759, not including any early-bird discounts, the MindOne Pro is fairly affordable, but it's still a lot of money to leave hanging.

That Kickstarter campaign was extremely successful, raising a total of HK$11.5m, which works out to about $1.4m US dollars at the time of writing. It’s also worth noting that Ikko has successfully crowdfunded at least one past product, its ActiveBuds earphones.

Personally, I’d hope that this successful crowdfunding raises a few eyebrows at the R&D departments of larger phone makers. I can’t see Apple making a compact phone like the MindOne Pro, but I’d love to see Samsung put out a similar device based on the Galaxy Z Flip 7.

In reality I think it’s more likely that one of the experimental brands operating out of China would take on this new form factor; Xiaomi comes to mind thanks to its track record of experimentation and emulation (check out the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max to see what I'm talking about).

Anyway, that’s well within the realm of speculation. Still, it’s always fun to see quirky and unique phones coming to life; last year marked a nadir for boring phone design, so I genuinely hope the intriguing MindOne Pro makes it from its CES booth to customer doorsteps soon.

• Bolt Graphics is building a RISC-V based GPU to challenge Nvidia
• CUDA support on RISC-V could lower software barriers for alternative accelerators
• Zeus targets path tracing, HPC, and large memory workloads over traditional shaders

Bolt Graphics is pressing ahead with its plan to challenge Nvidia and AMD by building a graphics processor around a RISC-V controlled architecture rather than a conventional GPU design.

The Sunnyvale, California based startup’s Zeus architecture is a ground up rethink of graphics, rendering, and high performance compute workloads.

Instead of relying on traditional shader heavy designs, Zeus combines fixed function hardware for rasterization, ray tracing, and path tracing with an in house SIMD engine.

A standalone Linux system

Command and scheduling duties are handled by a RISC-V processor that also functions as a general purpose CPU, allowing Zeus to run as a standalone Linux system rather than relying entirely on a host processor.

We wrote about Bolt and Zeus in 2025, and the company used CES 2026 to showcase its plans which seem even more viable following Nvidia’s move to bring CUDA support to RISC-V systems.

With CUDA no longer tied exclusively to x86 or Arm hosts, a RISC-V based accelerator stack becomes more practical for developers already invested in Nvidia’s software ecosystem.

Zeus cards support Vulkan and DirectX 12, alongside engines such as Unreal and Unity, while also supporting common programming environments used in HPC, including Python, Fortran, and OSL compiled through LLVM.

The prototype add in card uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface and pairs LPDDR5X graphics memory with DDR5 SODIMM slots for the RISC-V processor.

Depending on configuration, total memory capacity can reach 384GB on a single board.

Bolt plans several Zeus variants, including the Zeus 1c26-032, Zeus 2c26-064, Zeus 2c26-128, and Zeus 4c26-256, spanning single chip PCIe cards and multi chip 2U server designs with combined memory capacity exceeding 2TB.

Networking is addressed through integrated 400Gbps and 800Gbps interfaces intended for render farms and clustered workloads. Those interfaces are designed to allow direct GPU to GPU connections without separate network interface cards.

The board also includes BMC and IPMI hardware, features more commonly found in servers than consumer graphics cards.

Power draw is restrained for its class, with the card relying on a single 8 pin PCIe connector for up to 225W, while higher end server configurations scale up to 500W.

Bolt has made some intriguing (pinch of salt) performance claims, including path tracing throughput multiple times higher than Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and extreme gains in FP64 simulation workloads.

Those figures are naturally enough based on internal testing and simulations, with real hardware validation still pending.

If CUDA on RISC-V gains traction, Bolt’s approach could face fewer software barriers than similar efforts in the past.

That still leaves execution risk of course, but the technical direction suggests Bolt is betting on ecosystem shifts rather than brute force scale alone.

Via TechPowerUp

• Compact RTX 5090 targets creators needing high AI performance in smaller systems
• Unusual audio jack and USB C port set it apart from other flagship GPUs
• Drops wood trim and SSD ideas seen on the earlier ProArt RTX 5080

Asus has introduced the ProArt GeForce RTX 5090, a compact take on Nvidia’s flagship consumer GPU aimed at creators and workstation users.

The card focuses on high AI throughput while keeping to a slimmer physical profile that fits into small form factor systems and multi card setups.

It carries 32GB of GDDR7 memory, 21,760 CUDA cores, and a quoted 3352 AI TOPs figure, placing it firmly at the top end of Nvidia’s current lineup.

Is that a headphone jack?

The ProArt RTX 5090 is based on the Blackwell architecture and supports DLSS 4, including multi frame generation and updated ray reconstruction features.

Unlike many large flagship cards, it uses a 2.5 slot design, which leaves room for additional PCIe cards or a second GPU in supported systems.

Cooling follows the Founders Edition layout with a vapor chamber, heat pipes, and two 115mm axial fans pushing air through a double flow through backplate.

Asus uses liquid metal between the GPU die and heatsink, a choice normally reserved for more premium designs due to its handling requirements.

This approach reportedly improves thermal efficiency while keeping overall card size down compared to bulkier triple fan designs.

One of the more unusual features is a built in 2.5mm headphone jack, something rarely seen on modern graphics cards.

The audio output sits alongside DisplayPort and HDMI connections and is joined by a USB Type C port for displays and peripherals.

That USB C port replaces one of the usual DisplayPort outputs and is intended for creators using portable or daisy chained monitors.

Visually, the card keeps a restrained industrial look without RGB heavy styling or decorative materials.

This marks a clear change from the earlier ProArt RTX 5080, which leaned heavily on wood effect trim and even integrated an M.2 SSD slot.

Those features aren’t to be found here, and likely won’t be mourned by many users.

There’s no word on pricing or availability yet, but the ProArt RTX 5080 GPU with the faux wooden frame cost $1,469 at launch, a premium of nearly $500 over standard RTX 5080 cards.

Given it’s aimed at the creator market, and factoring in the added costs tied to its compact design and custom cooling, you can expect to pay considerably more for the RTX 5090 model.

Every tech category has its moment, and for robots, that moment was CES 2026. There were dozens of humanoid robots (and a fair number of vacuum robots that grew legs) turning the tech event into a sort of carnival of inhuman oddities.

There were boxing robots, card-playing robots, ping-pong-playing robots, dancing robots, robots that did the laundry, bots that sorted parts, and robots wearing elaborate costumes. It was an eye-popping and extraordinary display of engineering and AI-based training.

The unbeatable bots

Even as bots beat me at Tic-Tac-Toe and took my virtual money in a game of blackjack, I enjoyed them all. Still, if I'm being honest, most of them paled in comparison to Boston Dynamics and the first public demonstration of its Atlas humanoid robot.

To understand the stunning achievement that is Atlas, I think we have to categorize and address some of the robot competition.

There were, for instance, quite a few robots with a torso, head, and arms, but lacking legs and instead either fixed or moving about on rolling bases.

I saw two solid examples of this in LG's CLOiD and Switchbot Onero H1, both of which purport to help you sort, do, and fold your laundry.

First, I watched as the wheeled bot CLOiD took the LG CES press conference stage and very slowly grabbed a towel from an LG executive and then carefully placed it in an LG washing machine. It was only impressive because this was the most I'd ever seen CLOiD do.

Next, I watched as Onero H1 attempted to perform a similar task. It grabbed a bright yellow garment from a couch and then rolled over to the washing machine, pulled open the door, and placed the clothing inside. Then the tall, pale robot closed the washing machine door. Unfortunately, the H1 failed to ensure that the clothing was entirely inside the machine, and once the robot tried closing the door, it failed. Worse yet, the robot didn't even notice or attempt to fix its error.

Playing games

At another point, I played chess against Senserobot Chess Mini. It was fun, but do I really need a robot to move chess pieces when I can play on my phone with the Chess app against either the onboard computer or someone else around the world?

Even the relatively skilled Ping Pong robot I saw was still attached to a giant immovable base, and I knew immediately it would be no match for Marty Supreme

Walk it out

More realistically humanoid and bipedal robots, on the other hand, ranged from simple sorting routines (red balls go on red plates and blue balls go on the blue) to gimmickry. I saw far too many robots dancing like awkward middle-aged dads at their daughter's wedding, and a bizarre number of robots that enjoyed performing a good roundhouse kick.

Engine AI showed off some impressive, pint-sized humanoids who could tumble, dance, and queue up to box each other. Weirdly, no robot ever landed a punch. Metal and gear Rocky Balboas, they were not.

Sometimes the robots fell over or failed in their tasks. I played Tic-Tac-Toe against a Fourier robot, which could not seem to place the foam cube playing pieces in the allotted spaces. Sometimes, I impulsively reached in to properly position a piece. Sure, it beat me, but did it do it neatly?

I shook hands with an awkwardly shuffling Zeroth M1 robot, but like so many of them, it appeared to be teleoperated. And then there was Limix Dynamic's Tron, a squat little robot dressed in a full-sized animatronic dinosaur costume. It was kind of amazing but also pointless. Dynamic's Olli humanoid showed off some smooth dance moves but offered no indication that it could do much without someone pulling the digital strings in the background.

The Atlas difference

It's not clear how long any of these companies have been working on these robots, though I think it's clear that some of their training has, in recent months, been accelerated by AI.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas is clearly also benefiting from generative AI and fresh models backed by NVIDIA's platform (and soon Google's Gemini), but it is also an old robot soul compared to these newcomers.

I first saw Atlas in person (or at least a version of it) more than a decade ago at a DARPA robotics competition. Those bots were huge, heavy, awkward (a little scary), and struggled to climb over obstacles and perform basic tasks like opening a door. As one Boston Dynamics exec reminded me last week at CES, "It couldn't do anything."

The all-electric Atlas, especially the new production model on display at CES 2026, is an entirely different beast.

In the demonstration I saw, it was laid out flat on the ground in an awkward position that I would struggle to get up from. Atlas effortlessly stood up (while moving its joints and body in ways no human ever could) and then casually stepped forward. There were waves, dances, and poses that reminded me of bodybuilders in a pose-down. In other demos, it showed off how it could perform factory work.

None of Atlas's skills appeared to be gimmicks or built just specifically for the day. Atlas has a better sense of its surroundings and more command of its skills than the majority of robots on display at CES.

It's also built to head to factories, not homes. Most of the humanoid robots that might end up in homes this year were not at the show. Tesla Optimus showed up briefly but left with Elon Musk. 1X Neo was not around, nor was Figure AI's Figure 03.

Even though they're designed for different markets, Atlas is probably the truest representation of the current state of humanoid robots. It may, in fact, be the best of them. It does not overpromise and underdeliver as I think many of these home robots surely will. Instead, it's headed to a Hyundai manufacturing facility (Hyundai is now a major Boston Dynamics investor) in 2028. There is no timeline for the home, but when it's ready, I bet Atlas is the first home humanoid robot that doesn't disappoint.

• Lenovo Yoga Pro 27UD-10 monitor combines QD-OLED visuals and USB4 power
• The monitor’s six-speaker system supports both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
• A detachable 4K webcam defines the physical identity of the Yoga Pro 27UD-10

Lenovo unveiled the Yoga Pro 27UD-10 monitor at CES 2026, introducing a QD-OLED display with integrated audio, a detachable 4K webcam, and support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

The 26.5-inch UHD business monitor uses a 3840 x 2160 QD-OLED panel and a 120Hz refresh rate.

It is easy to identify this device by its detachable 4K webcam, which features a 1/1.8-inch Sony CMOS sensor mounted above the panel.

Detachable 4K webcam and conferencing hardware

The camera supports Deskview, allowing it to tilt downward and capture the workspace in front of the display.

Four integrated microphones accompany the camera, reducing reliance on separate audio accessories.

The webcam’s visibility is likely the most recognizable physical feature when seen in person - designed to expand the display of laptops, the Yoga Pro 27UD-10 features Color Sync Mode, which activates when paired with the Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition.

The feature aligns both displays to a shared color space, aiming to reduce discrepancies when moving content between screens.

Color Sync activates automatically, although users can disable it manually through the monitor settings.

Outside compatible Lenovo systems, the display functions as a standard OLED 4K monitor without access to this synchronization layer, which limits the feature’s broader usefulness.

Its connectivity centers on USB4, delivering up to 40Gbps data transfer and 140W power delivery through a single Type-C cable.

The monitor also supports daisy chaining via DisplayPort in and out, alongside HDMI 2.1 support.

An integrated hub adds three USB-C and two USB-A ports, reinforcing the goal of minimizing peripheral clutter.

This monitor sits within Lenovo’s PureSight Pro branding and claims wide color coverage across sRGB, DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB, alongside Delta E values below one.

Certification support includes DisplayHDR True Black 400 and peak brightness figures reaching up to 1000 nits in limited HDR scenarios.

Eyesafe 2.0 certification is also included, suggesting a focus on extended viewing comfort rather than raw luminance alone.

The Yoga Pro 27UD-10 includes six built-in speakers arranged across two channels, with four 7W drivers and two 3W units.

According to Lenovo, it is the only Windows PC monitor that supports both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.

The speaker system can operate independently or synchronize with the six-speaker array inside the Yoga Pro 9i, extending the perceived soundstage without the need for an external soundbar.

The Yoga Pro 27UD-10 is expected to launch in February 2026 with a starting price of $1,499.99.

This price places it firmly in premium territory, especially given that some features deliver maximum benefit only when paired with specific Lenovo laptops.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• At CES 2026, Nvidia revealed new advancements in its 'ACE' in-game AI technology
• Team Green claims 2026 will be the year we properly see AI-powered guides and teammates in games
• However, it seems like we're still a long way off from this tech being widely implemented

At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Nvidia had a lot to talk about. The reveal of DLSS 4.5 was the headline news, with new 6X frame generation arriving to boost framerates to even more ridiculously high numbers. We also saw new display tech, upgrades for the GeForce Now cloud gaming service, and unsurprisingly, a whole host of AI stuff.

I'll be honest – I skimmed past some of the AI-related announcements shown in Nvidia's presentation last week. A decent chunk of it isn't really my ballpark; LLM building and generative video models are the territory of my colleague Graham Barlow and the TechRadar AI team.

But there was one section that immediately piqued my interest – and not just because it was something already familiar to me. When Nvidia starts talking about its ACE tech I always listen up, but I don't always like what I hear.

ACE in the hole

For the uninitiated, Nvidia ACE is a framework for creating fully AI-powered non-player characters (NPCs) in games. It's mostly only been a theoretical thing so far – after all, Nvidia can't force developers to use it – but its few appearances have been fairly impressive. In fact, it actually outfoxed me when I tried to mess with it in a tech demo back in 2024.

Now, Nvidia is ploughing ahead with bold plans for ACE. No longer will these LLM-driven NPCs be confined to tech demos; at CES, Nvidia showcased several new use cases for ACE, including a player assistant for Total War and fully AI-driven teammates in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. ACE is also being deployed in Korean developer WeMade's upcoming MIR5 to power a 'learning boss battle', and to create dynamic interrogations in murder mystery title Dead Meat.

I've got mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, deploying AI tech like ACE specifically to make games more challenging and engaging is a potentially interesting use case. To be clear, I am not endorsing MIR5 overall here, because I was disappointed to learn that it's NFT blockchain garbage that has no place in gaming; but the general concept of an evolving boss fight that learns from your encounters and adjusts its behavior accordingly is a solid one. Just don't tell WeMade that Alien: Isolation effectively did that years before modern generative AI made its meteoric debut...

On the other hand, some of these ACE ideas are just... utterly antithetical to the goals of gaming as a form of art and entertainment. Dead Meat isn't taking you on a lovingly crafted narrative journey – it's essentially outsourcing the dialogue to a chatbot. Krafton's 'Co-Player Characters' in PUBG aren't some revelation to multiplayer gaming – they're just glorified bots, which frankly defeat the purpose of playing a competitive online game like PUBG in the first place.

With great power comes great responsibility

Nvidia might be the creator of ACE, but of course it's fundamentally down to individual developers when it comes to how it actually gets used in games. So it's fair to say that I'm more frustrated with companies like Krafton right now – sorry, but the 'Co-Player Character' thing is absolutely nuts. Personally, I'd be furious if I found out the person who just killed me in a multiplayer game was actually someone's AI ally, not a real player who beat me with their own skill.

"But Christian!" I hear the AI apologists cry, "What if someone doesn't have friends to play squad-based games like PUBG with?" And to that I say: cry me a river, you losers. It's literally never been easier to find a community to play online games. Get your ass onto Reddit or Discord. If I'm playing a multiplayer game, I want it to be with other real human beings, dammit!

The 'Pharaoh' ACE advisor for Total War is frustrating, but for different reasons. The demo video essentially shows it providing step-by-step advice on how to play the game, making the smartest possible recommendations to ensure victory. 'Depth and complexity are hallmarks of PC gaming,' proclaimed one of the slides in Nvidia's CES presentation – except the Pharaoh advisor effectively removes that depth and complexity by spelling everything out for the player.

You don't have to follow its advice, obviously, and Nvidia contends that it's a useful tool for new players who aren't familiar with the strategy genre, but come on – figuring things out through trial and error, and slowly improving as you learn how a game works is literally part of the experience. By removing that, you're essentially removing the fun of mastering a game yourself.

Hardware needs

Of course, there's another problem with ACE being implemented in games. Nvidia is championing it as an example of on-device AI, meaning it runs locally on your hardware – ideally, an RTX 5000-series GPU from Nvidia. I don't think local AI is inherently evil; it's generally better to run AI models locally where possible, as it's more secure and reduces the load on datacenters (which are becoming a real problem for gamers right now).

But if we start locking actual gameplay elements behind specific hardware requirements, that's a bridge too far for me. Graphics and performance are one thing; people might complain about tools like DLSS and Multi Frame Generation being exclusive to newer Nvidia hardware, but PC gaming has always been like that. If you've got newer hardware, your games are going to look better.

They shouldn't play better, though. If I need a next-gen graphics card to get the full experience from a game, I'm straight up just not buying that game. I do actually have an RTX 5070 in my desktop rig, but it's the principle that matters; and a dreadful irony here is that AI is currently making it harder than ever to buy a new graphics card at a reasonable price.

Still, control ultimately rests with the developers, which is why I'm not panicking too much about Nvidia ACE seeping into more projects. I spoke to Nvidia's PR recently about my concerns with ACE, and they raised the excellent point that it's simply another string to the bow of game devs; like ray-tracing, motion controls, and even 3D graphics before it, there will still be fantastic gaming experiences built without AI, and there's no guarantee that ACE will even end up being that popular with devs. When I interviewed 'GeForce Evangelist' Jacob Freeman about the tech back in 2024 he acknowledged that in some cases, deploying ACE was actually more work for developers than simply scripting a conventional NPC.

And after all, one of the biggest releases of 2025 was Hollow Knight: Silksong, a game made by three dudes with virtually none of the fancy 'innovations' of modern gaming. The development landscape might shift, but those games aren't going away – no matter how much the tech industry tries to force AI onto us.

• Birdfy unveiled three new bird feeder cameras at CES 2026
• Chief among them was the Feeder Vista, a world-first 360-degree model
• Birdfy Ornisense was also debuted, adding natural language interaction to Birdfy's app

We're still wrapping up our CES 2026 coverage, such was the breadth of tech on display, and I just had to put the spotlight on Birdfy's new range of bird feeder cameras revealed at last week's show in Las Vegas.

As someone who has reviewed their fair share of the best bird feeder cameras, I must say that the new Birdfy Feeder Vista looks like the new model to beat for immersive views of backyard birdlife.

It's a world-first 360-degree bird feeder camera, designed to be placed freestanding in a backyard, that delivers 6K video with slow motion recording up to 120fps, plus 14MP stills.

Birdfy also unveiled Bath Pro and Hum Pro feeder cameras, plus Birdfy Ornisense, the latter of which it describes as the "world’s first LLM-powered birdwatching AI", improving Birdfy's app with natural language interactions.

While rival Birdbuddy added the ability to identify birds by their song with the new and affordable 2 Mini also at CES, for me it's Birdfy's new bird feeder cam that I'm most intrigued by.

The ultimate bird feeder camera experience?

Like any of the best 360 cameras from the likes of Insta360, the Birdfy Feeder Vista features twin ultra-wide angle lenses to cover off the full 360-degree view, and users can choose between a 360-degree image, or a single lens ultra-wide image (which would presumably be between 2K and 3K).

An unimpeded view necessitates an entirely new design, which has ultimately resulted in Birdfy addressing a common headache with standard bird feeder cams – keeping seed fresh and free from contamination.

Traditional bird feeder cams utilize a gravity-based seed compartment surrounding the camera, with seed potentially piled up dormant for some time, whereas Birdfy's has a new bottom-up air pump system.

Bird feed is kept within an airtight antibacterial container, and then delivers seed to the top mounted feeding tray. Users can control how much feed is released via Birdfy's app.

The feeder is also equipped with precision weight sensors which trigger the camera to capture feathered visitors, rather than traditional motion sensors which are liable to capture random movement.

And Birdfy's app has been improved with Birdfy Ornisense, an LLM named Joy that encourages natural language interaction. For example, you can ask Joy questions about any of your feathered visitors such as "is this bird fat?", or hone down finding specific videos such as recorded territorial fights, plus the reasoning behind bird identification.

Given the design, Birdfy's new feeder needs to be positioned where it can enjoy a 360-degree view rather than being attached to a tree. However, with a bottom-up seed container, the perch is out in bright light which should return the best possible image quality.

My first impressions are that the Birdfy Feeder Vista looks like the new bird feeder camera to beat, even if I'm unsure how (or if) it can utilize continuous solar power, and I'll be getting a sample in for testing as soon as possible, when I will further unpack what this innovative device is capable of.

There's no pricing on sales start date information yet, but there's a notify when available page at the Birdfy website.

Typically, wet-and-dry vacuums are chunky beasts. Sure, they'll get your hard floors sparkling clean, but you might need a sit-down after using one, and an XL cleaning closet to store it too.

Tineco – one of the leading brands in this area – has brought out a new model that aims to change all that. The FLOOR ONE i7 Fold is a wet-dry vacuum that looks (and moves) almost like a cordless stick vacuum. I had a chance to try one out at CES 2026, and I was impressed with how compact and nimble it was.

The only wet cleaner I've used that can beat it on lightness and maneuverability is the Dyson WashG1, and that model doesn't include any suction – quite a crucial difference.

The i7 Fold weighs just under 8lbs (3.6kg) – which is actually less than some regular stick vacuums, including the Shark PowerDetect cordless (8.38 lbs / 3.8kg). It's impressively streamlined for this type of cleaner, but the feature that really stands out when it comes to usability is that it can hinge forwards in the middle.

That means it can bend to an L-shape for easier cleaning under furniture. It's an idea borrowed from the best cordless vacuums, and it's a game-changer if you don't want to have to get right down on the floor to clean under the cabinets. This model can also lie completely flat, and Tineco has helpfully added a tiny wheel to the underside of the main body for easier maneuvering in this position.

The forward-bending body also means this cleaner can be folded in half for more compact storage.

A Tineco rep explained to me that shrinking down the body of this wet-dry vacuum was a serious feat of engineering. Impressively, there are no major compromises in terms of performance either – it has just a smidge less suction power than Tineco's full-sized options, and will typically last around 20-30 minutes per charge, too (or up to 50 in Eco mode), which is decent for this type of cleaner.

The Floor One i7 Fold is featured on the US Tineco site but is not yet available to buy. I'm confirming launch dates and pricing and will update this article when I know more.

Head over to TechRadar's CES 2026 news page for all the biggest stories and our hands-on verdicts from the event, covering everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for our highlights from the CES show floor!

On day four of CES, I was flagging. I was still waking up at 4am every day (thank you, jet lag) and the combination of dry Vegas air and dry air-con air in the convention hall meant I was starting to feel unpleasantly crispy. Then a tour of the Dreo booth managed the impossible: it perked me right up.

It was all thanks to a new series of fans called the TurboCool, six examples of which blasted me with a powerful wave of air, all while enveloping me in a dreamily cooling haze of fine mist. I could have stood there all morning.

Misting fans are having a bit of a moment right now, thanks perhaps to the popularity of the Shark FlexBreeze (which sits at the top of my best fan guide). But in many ways, Dreo's version is better – especially if misting is your priority.

There are three models in the range. My favorite is the 516S – a cheaper, more compact version designed for indoor use. However, if you want more intense indoor cooling, there's a tower version (the 765S). And you can even take the party outside with the 765S – a misting tower fan for outdoors.

All three have integrated water tanks and misting built-in as standard – although it can of course be switched off. One big USP here is how the misting is handled on the indoor options.

The outdoor version can emit large mist particles for maximum cooling impact. But indoors, there are soft furnishings to worry about.

To remove the possibility of damp sofas and carpets, Dreo has meticulously fine-tuned the mechanics here. The indoor TurboFans emit an 'ultrasonic' mist that's so fine it'll evaporate almost the instant it leaves the fan.

I can attest to its effectiveness: I stood for several minutes with my face right up to the fan display, with all models on full blast. My hair wasn't the slightest bit damp when the Dreo rep gently suggested it was time to move on.

Although the particles disappear quickly, the cooling effect is still significant – the tower version can cool a room by up to 10F (~15.5C) while the mini version can drop temperatures by up to 5F (~2.5C).

(For clarity: a regular fan doesn't actually lower the temperature in a room, but a misting fan can, so this is the type to go for if you want some genuine chilling power.)

I was also pleased to see there's plenty of control here. On the indoor tower fan you can choose from 12 speed options and 4 mist levels, and on the compact version there are 6 fan speeds and three mist levels. There's also smart control via Dreo's companion app.

The Dreo TurboCool is due to launch in the US and UK in April 2026. It'll cost $99 for the smaller indoor fan (516S), $179.99 for the outdoor tower fan (711AS), and $199.99 for the indoor tower fan (765S) – UK pricing is expected to be roughly equivalent, so around £75 for the 516S, £135 for the 711AS and £150 for the 765S.

Head over to TechRadar's CES 2026 news page for all the biggest stories and our hands-on verdicts from the event, covering everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for our highlights from the CES show floor.

I saw tons of cool gadgets at CES 2026, but the one I've been lusting after the most isn't from a traditional tech brand at all; it's from IKEA.

The Swedish homeware powerhouse made its debut at the Vegas-based product extravaganza this year, and alongside a smart version of its iconic donut lamp and a dinky, portable speaker, it launched a larger speaker that I need on my wall right now.

The SOLSKYDD range (pronunciation suggestions welcome) includes three, disc-shaped Bluetooth speakers. The biggest (11in / 29cm in diameter) is designed to be wall-mounted, but the medium (18in / 45cm) and small (8in / 19cm) come with their own removable pedestal bases, which means you can use them in a variety of ways.

You could pop one on your wall, you could leave it on its pedestal stand on a sideboard, or you could take the stand off but keep it portable. The IKEA designer I spoke to showed me it lying flat on a coffee table like a classy object d'art, with sound drifting from the top.

The press release says the range was "designed around the idea that products bringing sound into a room should also add presence and character, even when they are not in use". They certainly added something to the living room demo suite.

Listen up

Circular speakers like this aren't a new idea, but these ones have been done with IKEA's trademark flair – and at IKEA's usual reasonable prices, too. The designs went on sale globally in December 2025, and are priced at $89 / £29 for the small, $100 / £50 for the medium, and $140 / £80 for the large.

• View the SOLSKYDD range at IKEA

For that price you wouldn't expect the most premium sound quality or cutting-edge features, but they're not super-basic either. Each speaker has three sound modes you can toggle for different listening experiences (one is good for things like podcasts, for example).

The whole thing can be controlled via the companion app, or if you want to keep things old-school, there are physical buttons on the side of the speaker itself to adjust volume, play and pause, or shift between the modes. You can also pair multiple speakers (from the same range or compatible IKEA ranges) for an enveloping effect.

My favorite is the classy off-white version, but if you'd prefer a bit of color, there are two playful, patterned options designed in collaboration with designer and color specialist Teklan.

MSI’s big updates for the year mostly focused on the company’s business and AI devices, between laptops, desktops, and all-in-one PCs.

MSI also brought out a new glacier blue colorway for the Claw 8 AI+ and updated its desktop components line for a fresh new ecosystem. But there were four new products that truly shined in MSI’s new lineup and they weren’t just a chipset refresh or new coat of paint.

Raider 16 Max HX

This year, CES didn’t come with all-new gaming processors, but that didn’t stop MSI from updating the Raider 16 for even more power. Promising an astounding 300W of power, the Raider 16 Max HX is MSI’s “most powerful laptop ever.” Which is saying a lot considering the sheer power of last year’s Raider A18 HX.

The Raider 16 Max HX’s incredible 300W of total device power will be split between the laptop’s Intel Core Ultra 200HX CPU and its Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 or 5090 GPU with a split of 125W to the CPU and 175W to the GPU.

Plus it's got a quick-access panel on the bottom cover to more easily upgrade memory and storage. So even if the Raider 16 Max HX costs more than your rent, you’ll be able to hold onto it for years.

Prestige 14 Flip AI

The Prestige 14 Flip AI is similar to last year’s Summit 13 AI+, though it's got the new, sleek Prestige design rather than the Summit’s black and gold color scheme and features Intel’s new Core Ultra 300 series CPUs.

With the MSI Pen 2 and a 360-degree convertible hinge, the Prestige 14 Flips is the most portable and versatile of the new Prestige lineup.

Vision RS AI 2nd Gen

MSI also updated the Vision RS AI desktop this year. Sporting a curved seamless glass panel and all-white case, the Vision RS AI 2nd Gen is a powerful, liquid cooled beast of a machine that can run your AI models or games without missing a beat.

And it just looks pretty. Instead of the usual RGB heavy gaming design, the Vision RS AI 2nd Gen is clean and understated. Plus it can be kitted out with an Intel Core Ultra 9 and Nvidia RTX 5090.

MPG 27QRF X36

Fast OLED displays are all over CES this year, but the MPG 27QRF is one of the better iterations with a 360Hz, 0.5ms panel featuring Nvidia’s G-Sync Pulsar motion clarity and variable refresh rate.

It also has a built-in webcam and ultra clean design with a sturdy base.

The CES show floor is often a wild, seemingly lawless place where you’ve got e-Bikes and vacuum cleaners next to dancing robots and beauty tech. While the show does attempt to categorize all the vendors into specific areas, the boundaries are often wobbly and it's easy to get lost in the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center or the Venetian Expo for days.

While the more sensational displays dominate most headlines, CES is still fundamentally a consumer electronics show. Of course, most attendees are dazzled by various iterations of the Boston Dynamics robot dog and autonomous cars, you can still find some gems of various computing innovations from VR and AR headsets to holographic displays to quirky design concepts.

After a few days of wandering the CES floor, these are the highlights of computing for CES 2026.

Asus ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses

The ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses could have easily gotten lost in the deluge of products Asus debuted at CES this year, except that they’re exceptionally cool and stood out anyway.

Asus has debuted AR glasses before, but the new XREAL collab version comes with an ROG Control Dock which allows you to easily switch between device inputs on the glasses. So you can switch between your PC, your game console, or your handheld with a “single click.” No more fiddling with clunky wires or bluetooth pairing.

Outside of the ROG Control Dock, the R1 glasses feature the same premium build quality XREAL is known for with 0.55-inch, 1920 x 1080, Sony OLED displays with a peak brightness of 700 nits, and a 57-degree field of view. This essentially makes the ROG XREAL R1s an Asus-branded version of the XREAL One Pro glasses.

OneXPlayer Sugar 1 handheld

OneXPlayer can always be trusted to have a few bonkers handheld devices on show, and this year was no different. The OneXSugar Sugar 1 handheld is a dual-screen handheld gaming PC that can be converted between a single screen or dual-screen layout, and the controller grips can even swing around for a Nintendo DS style setup.

And that means the OneXSugar Sugar 1 could become the flagship handheld for Nintendo DS emulation, since traditional single-screen devices often struggle to cope with the way DS games were built to utilize the dual-display in gameplay.

Of course, the actual tech specs of the OneXSugar Sugar 1 handheld leaves a lot to be desired. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 processor, the OneXSugar will struggle to play more modern games. The OneXSugar Sugar 1 exists more as a proof of concept than a full consumer device, though it is on the market. But the joy of the Sugar 1 isn’t how well it works, but what it represents.

And I’m here for the continued evolution of the handheld gaming PC market, because it's one of the few genuinely exciting aspects of modern gaming.

HyperX Clutch Tachi Leverless Xbox Arcade Controller

Arcade controllers are getting fancier than ever, and the HyperX Clutch Tachi Leverless Xbox and PC Arcade Controller just might be the most extra of them all.

Not only is the product’s name about 4 descriptors too long, the Clutch Tachi also features TMR switches for lightning-fast inputs, fully mappable keys, customizable RGB, adjustable legs, and open source files to customize the faceplate and buttons to match your favorite arcade cabinet.

Wacom MovinkPad

Wacom is an industry standard for digital artists and illustrators, though most professionals stick to Wacom’s Cintiq line of artist tablets rather than the more entry-level Wacom One. While the company is known for its artist displays, tablets are becoming more and more popular as a digital art solution, and thus the Wacom MovinkPad was born.

It’s a small, light Android tablet with Wacom’s custom studio software pre-installed, though it is an Android device so you can load whichever design apps you prefer.

While the Apple iPad Pro will likely still reign as the artist tablet king for now, seeing some competition in the space is always great. And Wacom’s pens are some of the best options on the market. Plus, who doesn’t love a good Evangelion collab?

Arkalink One

The Arkalink One is a tabletop roleplaying game expansion accessory that can enhance your gameplay experience with voice-driven animations and app-based customization options for the screen animations. It’s got a magnetic faceplate that you can swap out, or 3D print custom options to match your game and character style.

Whether you use it to track stats and spell slots, use it as part of your tabletop terrain, or make it into a digital prop, there’s plenty of uses for the Arkalink One. Combined with its Arca Studio software for session recaps and recordings, and it’s the kind of D&D accessory that could be a lifesaver for groups with terrible schedule management.

Hyper HyperDrive Next USB-4 V2 M.2 PCIe enclosure

PCIe enclosures are hard to make interesting. It’s a box you slap a drive into, and let it do its thing.

What makes the HyperDrive Next USB-4 V2 enclosure fascinating is its tech specs. Offering 80Gbps speeds, modular PCIe expansion, IP55 protection, and 25W of power delivery, it’s one of the better drive enclosures in terms of flexibility, ease of use, and durability. Plus, you can use it for more than just SSDs. If you want, you can use the HyperDrive to add an M.2 AI accelerator to your laptop or desktop without needing a full CPU overhaul.

Sharp Poketomo

AI companion devices were big at CES this year. And for folks who live in apartments that aren’t pet-friendly or who have lives that aren’t conducive to pet ownership, I can see the appeal of having a virtual companion. But many of the other AI companion bots look like Cyberpunk Furbies.

The Sharp Poketomo is a cute, adorable little AI companion that doesn’t look like it’ll haunt my dreams. The companion bot expresses feelings through LEDs and sounds, but it’s cute face and tiny 12cm body makes it easy on the eyes. It’s also easy to carry around, comes with cute outfits, and there’s an entire online community dedicated to making more cute outfits for these little AI companions in a way that feels wholesome and not creepy, which is more than I can say for most of the other AI companion bots out there.

MSI Claw 8 AI+ Glacier Blue

Technically, the Claw 8 AI+ isn’t a new product. It’s been seen at various tradeshows since it debuted behind glass at Computex in 2024, but for the show this year MSI trotted out a brand new colorway for its critically acclaimed Claw 8 AI+ handheld.

While I wouldn’t often waste time in a CES roundup talking about an older product, the fact is, I’m bored of the same black, white, and silver tech. It’s popular, but it’s also boring. So I’d like to reinforce MSI’s decision to go with bold colors on the Claw lineup. Give me more blue, purple, and neon green gaming hardware, thanks.

Gigabyte had a massive focus on AI at CES this year, particularly on the data center side. But for consumer tech, the company focused hard on its laptop wing and accessories with refreshed systems across the line.

If you’re trying to pin down the Gigabyte launches most worthy of your time, these are the three to keep an eye on.

Aorus Master 16 AMD

The Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 was one of TechRadar’s best gaming laptops from Computex last year, and Gigabyte is showing off an AMD model at CES this year which you won’t want to miss.

With an AMD Ryzen Ryzen 9 9955HX3D processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU up to the RTX 5090, and a 16-inch, 240Hz OLED display the Aorus Master 16 AM6H is a worthy refresh of the 2025 Aorus Master 16. Of course, the major difference between the two versions of the Aorus Master 16 is the CPU, but the chassis is also 17% thinner than the 2025 model. Shaving down a gaming laptop by 17% is no easy feat in general. But if Gigabyte’s newer, slimmer Aorus Master 16 can get the same RTX 5090 performance, it’s an impressive bit of thermal engineering.

RTX 5060 Ti AI Box

While it is branded for AI, the RtX 5060 Ti AI Box is an eGPU enclosure that brings Nvidia Blackwell graphics to any laptop or handheld device thanks to its Thunderbolt 5 connection.

If you’ve got an older gaming laptop or an iGPU device that could use some extra gaming or LLM processing power, the RTX 5060 Ti AI Box is a solid way to upgrade without buying a whole new computer. And unlike the RTX 5090 AI Box, you can actually afford the 5060 Ti.

While the 5060 Ti AI Box isn’t exactly designed to be an on-the-go eGPU, it’s significantly more portable than the water-cooled RTX 5090 AI Box, which is another point in its favor. While neither Gigabyte eGPU is upgradeable, if you’re going to get an eGPU, it helps if you can take it on the go without worrying about your spinal integrity.

MO27Q28GR OLED

We’ve seen plenty of interesting monitors this year, between 5K IPS displays and low-latency OLEDs. But the Gigabyte MO2728GR stands out because of its proprietary Hyper-Nits technology, which can boost HDR brightness by up to 30% to increase screen brightness without blowing out highlight details or crushing lowlights.

The MO27Q28GR is a tandem OLED with a 1440p max resolution and a refresh rate of 280Hz, which is more than enough for most games. And it’s got an ultra-low latency with a 0.03ms response time.

Asus makes quality consumer electronics, whether you’re talking about laptops, desktops, keyboards, mice, or other accessories. And the ROG and TUF gaming brands provide a great balance between premium gaming performance and affordability.

With a veritable deluge of new products announced at CES 2026, the Asus lineup may feel intimidating. But these are the four computers from Asus that are worth your time.

Zenbook Duo

Last year’s Zenbook Duo was stymied by poor battery life, but powered by Intel’s new Panther Lake (Core Ultra 3 series) processors, this year’s Zenbook Duo just might have real staying power since Intel promises up to 27 hours of video streaming battery life.

Plus, Panther Lake’s integrated graphics performance is good enough you can use the Zenbook Duo for heavy video edits without needing a discrete GPU, which will save you on weight, thermals, and battery life. In fact, the 2026 Zenbook Duo is incredibly light, weighing just 3.64 pounds (1.65Kg) thanks to its Ceraluminum chassis which is pretty impressive for a laptop with dual OLED screens.

ROG G1000 Desktop

If you’re a fan of Asus ROG’s AniMe Vision, this is the desktop PC you absolutely need to save for. It may be a pricey beast, but the ROG G1000 case features Asus’ new AniMe Holo technology on the side panel, bringing full-color hologram technology to your desktop case.

The ROG G1000 is currently designed to handle an AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPU up to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card up to the RTX 5090, though Asus has confirmed the case will be upgraded to handle any new developments on the CPU and GPU front that may be coming later this year.

The G1000 sports the ROG X870 motherboard with support for up to 128GB of DDR5 U-DIMM 4800 MT/s memory, and 2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD slots with preconfigured models offering up to 64GB of memory and 2TB of SSD storage.

ROG Zephyrus G14

I love a good 14-inch gaming laptop, and the Zephyrus G14 now comes in both Intel and AMD flavors, so there’s something for everyone, assuming you don’t want a bulkier, desktop replacement gaming laptop, that is.

In the revamped, sleeker chassis that debuted in 2024, the G14 is still a slim, ultra-portable gaming laptop that’s sure to be an absolute powerhouse, packing the latest Intel and AMD processors along with discrete graphics up to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080.

Weighing just 3.31 pounds, the Zephyrus G14 is actually lighter than the Zenbook Duo, which is a little wild for a laptop packing a discrete GPU.

TUF Gaming A14

The TUF Gaming A14 is one of the lightest gaming laptops I’ve ever held in my hands, and that’s not even the most impressive thing about the TUF A14. Previous versions of the TUF Gaming A14 have had some fantastic battery life, ranging up to 10 hours of web surfing. The 2026 model ups the ante with an AMD Strix Halo (Ryzen AI Max 300 series) processor and 73Whr battery.

While the new TUF Gaming A14 doesn’t have a discrete Nvidia graphics card, AMD’s Strix Halo APU does have graphics performance that rivals the RTX 4070 mobile, and just may offer better battery life in the bargain.

• Khadas Mind Pro mini PC crams desktop-level GPU and memory into a tiny case
• Mind Graphics 2 Dock adds RTX 5060 Ti and extra connectivity ports
• Mind xPlay display converts Mind Pro into a portable workstation or a laptop alternative

Khadas, a plucky startup which became the first company to put a Lunar Lake mini PC on sale, has released three new devices at CES 2026.

Of these, the Mind Pro mini PC takes the center stage by cramming an RTX 5060 Ti graphics card, 64GB RAM, and 2TB NVMe SSD all in a 0.43-liter case.

This is not the first time the company has crammed a fast GPU in a mini PC. The previously released Khadas Mind 2 and Mind 2S mini PCs may be tiny, but they pack a mean punch.

Modular performance and expansion

The Khadas Mind Pro modular mini PC is powered by an unspecified Intel processor and supports a dedicated graphics dock as well as an external display.

To enhance graphical capabilities, the Mind Pro can be paired with the Mind Graphics 2 Dock, featuring an RTX 5060 Ti GPU with 16 GB of GDDR7 video memory.

The dock also provides two HDMI 2.1a ports, a DisplayPort 1.4b, multiple USB Type-A and Type-C connections, a memory card reader, and a 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet port.

When attached, the system is capable of handling tasks that would normally exceed the capacity of most compact mini PCs, offering flexibility for demanding workflows.

The Mind xPlay, an external display, also complements the mini PC by transforming it into a mobile workstation.

The LCD panel has a resolution of 2880 x 1920, a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m², and a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and also includes a webcam and microphones, as well as being able to serve as an external display for other devices.

This allows the Mind Pro to function either as a compact laptop alternative or as an auxiliary screen in a desktop setup, providing multiple practical use cases.

The Mind Pro offers video output via two Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as an HDMI port.

Also, high-bandwidth expansion modules can connect through four PCIe 4.0 lanes for further system customization.

While its specifications suggest extreme performance in a miniature package, adoption by mainstream users or integration into broader product ecosystems is uncertain.

The company has also not yet disclosed any cooling or thermal management details, leaving sustained performance uncertain.

The Khadas Mind Pro is expected to be available for pre-order from January 27, 2026, but information on its price remains under wraps.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Minisforum's AI X1 Pro-470 targets heavier local AI workloads than Ryzen AI Max+ systems
• First Ryzen AI 9 HX470 mini PC debuts ahead of wider market adoption
• High memory and storage limits position compact system as workstation alternative

At CES 2026, Minisforum unveiled its latest mini PC, the AI X1 Pro-470 - marking the first system built around AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX470 processor.

Aimed at creators, developers, and power users who want solid local AI performance in a small footprint, the 12 core, 24 thread chip offers boost speeds up to 5.2GHz, paired with Radeon 890M integrated graphics.

Live demos showed how the machine handles AI assisted tasks, content creation, and everyday productivity, working as a compact alternative to full size workstations.

Ryzen AI 9 HX470 vs. AI Max+ 395

Compared with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 found in a growing number of AI focused mini PCs, the Ryzen AI 9 HX470 targets heavier workloads.

Its higher core count and faster peak clocks give it more headroom for demanding local AI models, sustained multitasking, and heavier creative workloads.

While the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 suits general AI and creative tasks, the AI 9 HX470 is aimed at users pushing larger models and more complex projects, particularly when paired with large memory and fast local storage.

AI workloads are handled by an onboard NPU rated at 86 TOPS, supporting local inference, creative tools, and AI enhanced applications.

The AI X1 Pro-470 has two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, supporting speeds up to 5600MHz and capacities up to 128GB.

On the storage side, there are three M.2 2280 NVMe slots inside the chassis.

Two of those slots support PCIe 4.0 x4 drives up to 4TB each, while a third PCIe 4.0 x1 slot supports up to 4TB, allowing up to 12TB of internal storage.

Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, while wired networking is handled by dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports.

Display output covers HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.0, and two USB4 ports, each supporting resolutions up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz.

Audio support includes dual speakers, HDMI audio output, a 3.5mm combo jack, and dual digital microphones.

The front and rear I/O selection also includes USB Type A ports, an SD card slot, OCuLink for external GPUs, and a dedicated Copilot button.

A fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello support is built in, alongside a Kensington lock slot for physical security.

The system runs Windows 11 Pro and is powered by a 134.9W internal DC adapter.

Physically, the device measures 195mm x 195mm x 42.5mm to 47.5mm and weighs 1.5kg.

While pricing has yet to be announced, Minisforum says the AI X1 Pro-470 will be available worldwide "soon".

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Micron 3610 NVMe SSD offers the world’s only 4TB capacity in a single-sided M.2 2230
• Random read and write performance scales proportionally with the drive’s capacity
• Endurance increases with size

At CES 2026, Micron unveiled the 3610 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD, a QLC-based drive for mainstream OEM PCs and notebooks.

This launch occurred weeks after Micron's December 2025 announcement that it would be discontinuing its Crucial consumer-SSD brand to focus on the enterprise and AI markets.

Micron says, the launch is the world’s first Gen5 G9 QLC client SSD, supporting PCIe Gen5 and NVMe 2.0 in multiple M.2 form factors.

Read and write speed upgrade

This device features a compact single-sided 2230 form factor that supports 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB storage capacity, allowing it to accommodate a range of ultra-thin laptops.

Micron claims sequential read speeds improve up to 57%, and sequential writes increase by 45% compared with Gen4 QLC drives.

The Micron 3610 NVMe SSD reportedly reaches sequential read speeds of up to 11,000 MB/s, but the write speeds vary depending on the storage capacity.

While the 1TB model hit write speeds of 7,200 MB/s, the 2TB and 4TB variants record around 9,300 MB/s.

The device’s random read and write performance increases with capacity, reaching 850 KIOPS read and 1,500 KIOPS write at 1TB, and up to 1,500 KIOPS read and 1,600 KIOPS write on larger capacities.

Its typical read latency is 50ms, while write latency remains at 12ms, which contributes to responsive multitasking, smooth media workflows, and faster application launches.

This level of performance, combined with AI-ready speed, reportedly enables multi-billion-parameter AI models to load in under three seconds.

The 3610’s endurance scales with capacity, with the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB models rated at 400 TBW, 800 TBW, and 1,600 TBW, respectively, while all drives share a mean time to failure of two million hours.

The drive incorporates Micron G9 QLC NAND and supports hardware AES 256-bit encryption.

It also provides power-loss protection, host-controlled thermal management, block sanitization, crypto erase, and compliance with TCG Opal 2.02 and Pyrite 2.01 standards.

With Micron’s AWT technology, the device maintains consistent performance during extended workloads.

Benchmark results for the Micron 3610 NVMe SSD have been positive, with PCMark 10 scores increasing by up to 30% and 3DMark results rising by approximately 20%.

Performance per watt reportedly improves 10% compared to Gen4 QLC and 43% versus Gen4 TLC, gains which are achieved without additional power draw, suggesting that the drive may improve system responsiveness for mainstream computing workloads.

Despite its benchmark improvements, the 3610’s use of QLC NAND and a DRAM-less architecture may limit sustained performance under heavy workloads.

This makes alternative Gen5 TLC drives potentially more suitable for users requiring consistent high performance during prolonged operations.

"The 3610 SSD combines cutting-edge PCIe Gen 5 technology, Micron's most-advanced G9 QLC NAND and a sleek, single-sided design to deliver premium performance, capacity and power efficiency," said Mark Montierth, senior vice president and general manager of Micron's Mobile and Client Business Unit.

"The 3610 will enable ultra-thin devices that meet the growing demands of on-device AI, immersive streaming and performance-intensive workloads."

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 relies heavily on branding rather than actual hardware improvements
• AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor powers the laptop without new changes
• Memory and storage options remain the same as those of the standard ProArt PX13

Asus has revealed the ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 at CES 2026, adding design and workflow updates while the hardware remains the same.

The black metal chassis, CNC-engraved accents, cyan keyboard lighting, and bundled sleeve of this laptop reinforce its crossover branding, but the hardware foundation mirrors the existing ProArt configuration.

At its core is the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 3950X processor, combining 16 CPU cores with boost frequencies of up to 5.1 GHz, a peak TDP of up to 85 W, and an integrated NPU rated at up to 50 TOPS.

Hardware continuity beneath the branding

Memory options extend to 128 GB of LPDDR5X at 8000 MHz, paired with storage capacities reaching 1 TB over PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Asus says it used “Performance in Motion” to describe sustained editing workloads, but these specifications align closely with previously announced ProArt Ryzen AI models.

Its CPU and NPU capabilities remain unchanged, including support for AI-assisted features in applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 features a 13-inch 360-degree convertible design with a Lumina OLED panel at 2880 x 1800 resolution, delivering 100% DCI-P3 color coverage and factory calibration rated at Delta E below 1.

This display supports refresh rates from 48 Hz to 120 Hz, a 0.2 ms response time with no significant differences from previous ProArt models.

It also supports stylus input and includes the ASUS DialPad for on-device creative control, though it does not add new functionality.

One notable addition is a dedicated GoPro Hotkey, which launches the GoPro Player with a single press.

The key is designed to provide immediate access to 360° footage and quick previews, simplifying the workflow for creators who work extensively with GoPro media.

Alongside this, integration with StoryCube automates cloud syncing and file sorting, enabling faster organization of large footage libraries without manual intervention.

These features simplify access rather than expand capability, relying on software integration instead of new processing pipelines.

There is a MicroSD card reader with cyan accents, though its throughput and supported standards remain unchanged.

The device meets MIL-STD 810H standards for shock, temperature, humidity, and vibration, reflecting its tough, military-grade design as a rugged laptop.

It weighs approximately 1.39 kg and runs Windows 11 Home, with Copilot+ and bundled trials for Adobe Creative Cloud and CapCut included.

Sadly, beyond the branding, aesthetic tweaks, and a single hotkey, the GoPro Edition adds little substance, making it hard to justify as a meaningful update.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

CES 2026 has officially come to a close and it’s been another mammoth year for TVs. The real talk of the town has been RGB TVs, known as RGB mini-LED, Micro RGB or RGB mini depending on which brand you’re speaking to. There’s also been plenty of OLED upgrades, super sized screens and even some additions to the world of gallery and lifestyle TVs.

Some of TV’s biggest hitters were at CES this year and nearly all of them have adopted RGB TVs into their repertoire for 2026. Elsewhere, LG and Samsung announced brighter OLEDs with some new AI-based OS upgrades, Hisense introduced the world to RGB Evo and RGBY MicroLED, and TCL showed off its new SQD (Super Quantum Dot) mini-LED X11L TV. There’s even more to talk about, but I’ll get into it below.

As TechRadar’s TV reviewer, I’m lucky enough to test the best TVs each year and there were more than a few models announced at CES, including some from the list above, that joined my testing wishlist. Now, these aren’t necessarily TechRadar’s best TVs of CES 2026, just my personal list of most anticipated sets I’m hoping to get my hands on throughout 2026. Of course, I’d love to test everything, but the models below are my top picks

LG C6H

Probably one of the most surprising announcements of CES was that LG was splitting its LG C-series into two. The LG C6 will use a standard W-OLED panel (or what LG now just calls Tandem WOLED) and will be in 42, 48, 55 and 65-inch sizes. This will be the closest model to last year’s LG C5, one of the best OLED TVs of 2025.

The other C-series model will be the LG C6H. It will use a Tandem OLED panel – a more advanced OLED panel that promises higher brightness, stronger contrast and bolder color. In fact, it's the same Tandem OLED panel that will be used in the flagship LG G6!

While the C6H will only come in 77 and 83-inch sizes, which dampened my excitement somewhat, it’s nonetheless a great development for the C-series. It’s been due a panel upgrade for a number of years and this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the C6H will live up to the hype.

Samsung S90H

A rival to the LG C6, the Samsung S90H is Samsung’s mid-range OLED for 2026. The big news here is the S90H will come with Samsung’s OLED Glare Free anti-reflection screen, a matt screen that is effective at reducing mirror-like screen reflections. This was previously reserved for flagship OLEDs such as last year’s Samsung S95F, and then introduced to flagship Neo QLEDs such as the Samsung QN90F.

One of my frustrations with LG’s C-series is how reflective it is. Introducing an anti-reflection screen into the mid-range OLED market makes the S90H a viable alternative for people with a bright room. I found that Glare Free was improved in 2025 to maintain better black on the S95F, so hopefully it’s the same story for 2026.

I actually picked the S90H over the C6H as my more anticipated mid-range OLED, due to the S90H’s matte screen and the C6H’s limited screen sizes. I’m hopeful that the S90H isn’t subject to the same panel lottery as the S90F – which was the reason why we only tested the 65-inch S90F. If it isn’t, the S90H could be a really exciting TV for 2026.

Hisense UR9 and UR8 RGB mini-LED

When I tested the Hisense 116UX RGB mini-LED last year, I was impressed by its vibrant colors, excellent detail and high brightness. Contrast and black were also solid, but there were some screen uniformity issues. I was excited to see an advance for mini-LED, but 116-inch is not a realistic size for most people, so I hoped to see it come to smaller screens over the next couple of years.

Imagine my surprise when Hisense announced at IFA 2025 that RGB would come to 85-inch screens at the very least and then revealed at CES 2026 that RGB would be coming to screens as small as 55-inch! It’s unclear what sort of brightness or contrast we can truly expect from the smaller RGB mini-LED screens, but I’ll be eager to test them.

While no pricing has been announced, Hisense did say its prices would be competitive with other brands' RGB TVs – though no other brand has announced pricing yet either. Here’s hoping it competes with OLED, its main rival.

Samsung Micro RGB TVs

Don’t be fooled by the different name: Micro RGB is RGB mini-LED. This is Samsung’s name for the new panel tech, which has also been adopted by LG for its own RGB TV. What's interesting is that Samsung is also bringing Micro RGB to screens as small as 55-inch. So, there’s already competition for 2026.

I actually saw Samsung’s 115-inch Micro RGB TV in action last year. It was next to an unnamed RGB mini-LED TV (which had to be the Hisense 116UX as it was the only other RGB TV available). Samsung's colors were more vibrant and bold, but the Hisense felt more natural and true-to-life. The Samsung also demonstrated strong contrast, better shadow detail and blacks.

I expect Samsung’s Micro RGB TVs will be pricier than Hisense’s RGB mini-LED sets, but it’ll be interesting to see if the price upgrade is worth it. Hisense’s conventional mini-LEDs, such as the Hisense U8QG, have really caught up to Samsung in recent years. Will that carry over to RGB?

LG G6 and Samsung S95H

OK, so this one’s a bit of a cheat. Both LG and Samsung’s flagship 2026 OLEDs are boasting higher brightness, faster processing with new AI enhancements, and design changes for 2026. So it’s tough to choose between them.

The LG G6 is said to be 20% brighter than last year’s LG G5 thanks to Brightness Booster Ultra, and it comes with the new Primary RGB Tandem OLED 2.0 panel, which LG says will improve picture quality over the 1.0 Tandem panel in the G5. It also will have reduced screen reflections compared to the G5, and boasts a full suite of gaming features including a new motion boost that means games can be played at 1080p 330Hz on PC.

The Samsung S95H’s changes are more cosmetic. Samsung says it will be 35% brighter than last year’s Samsung S95F, but the big update here is the new metal frame and the removal of the One Connect Box (the external connections box that housed ports for other devices). The ports are back on the rear of the TV, but Samsung says you can optionally add the Wireless One Connect Box, which would give you up to eight HDMI ports in total.

Both these TVs sound superb, but really neither of them were as headline-grabbing as their mid-range counterparts, the C6 and S90H. But, as the brightness battle continues, I’m still keen to test both models.

• Lexar AI-Grade Storage Stick introduces a hot-swappable AI-Grade stick for high-performance AI laptops
• Modular design promises instant storage expansion without shutting down systems
• Practical adoption remains uncertain due to unknown pricing and vendor support

Lexar has debuted a modular AI-Grade Storage Stick designed to expand next-generation storage capacity instantly on compatible business laptops and mobile workstations.

Revealed at CES 2026, The storage stick supports hot swapping, allowing users to expand storage capacity instantly without powering down devices.

While this approach is technically appealing, pricing and adoption by device vendors remain entirely unclear, leaving questions about its practical relevance in real-world scenarios

Designed for AI Workloads

The AI-Grade Stick is engineered for high-performance computational tasks, promising blazing speeds suitable for AI-driven applications.

Its compact, modular design emphasizes portability and immediate accessibility, suggesting potential value for professionals who require flexible storage solutions on the go.

When plugged in, this device integrates directly with the host system rather than behaving like a passive external device.

Lexar says it is not an alternative for internal SSDs, but offers a new expansion tier for systems where built-in capacity is increasingly limited

What differentiates it from conventional SSDs is its focus on AI workloads. It is built to deliver consistent and sustained performance during long-running tasks.

“First, AI-Grade Storage Stick is not a single finished product or SKU, but a new storage form factor built on Lexar’s AI Storage Core,” a spokesperson of the company told Techradar Pro.

“Because of that, final performance, capacity, and pricing will vary by implementation and target device and will be shared closer to launch.”

Without benchmark data, the practical performance under sustained workloads remains unknown.

Security features are a notable aspect of Lexar’s 2026 devices, and the stick is expected to benefit indirectly from the company’s focus on encrypted storage.

Lexar’s TouchLock portable SSD reveals that NFC dual-encryption and smartphone-based unlocking are feasible in a compact format – suggesting similar possibilities for the stick.

Alongside the stick, Lexar also launched its AI-Grade SSD, designed to handle heavy AI workloads with sustained throughput and low latency.

While the SSD supports larger capacities and traditional form factors, the modular stick aims to provide flexibility and swappability.

That said, the stick’s real-world relevance is difficult to assess because no manufacturer announcements indicate support for the device.

Compatibility, cost, and reliability will be critical factors in determining whether it becomes widely used or stays a niche experiment.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• GMKtec launches EVO-T2 mini PC with Intel Core Ultra X9 388H processor
• EVO-T2 offers expanded memory, fast storage and network options for AI users
• Intel CEO endorses EVO-T2 at CES 2026 with public visit and signed prototype

GMKtec has announced the EVO-T2, a new mini PC built around Intel’s Core Ultra X9 388H consumer mobile processor, produced on the 18A process.

Launched at CES 2026, the device promises peak AI throughput at 180TOPS, which is around 50 percent higher than offered by systems running AMD’s rival Ryzen AI Max+ 395.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan visited the GMKtec booth during the show and tested the EVO-T2 in person. Afterward, he signed the prototype, marking a rare public endorsement from Intel’s top executive.

From laboratory to desktop

“As the world’s first flagship consumer device to bring Intel’s 18A process from the laboratory to the desktop, the GMKtec EVO-T2 represents a critical step in making high performance AI computing accessible at the desktop level. It sets a new benchmark for compact, high-efficiency system design,” Tan said.

Intel’s processor is based on the chipmaker's Panther Lake architecture and combines RibbonFET gate all around transistors with backside power delivery.

Single thread performance is more than 10 percent greater compared to the prior generation, while power consumption is over 40 percent lower.

Graphics output sees a roughly 50 percent improvement over Lunar Lake platforms.

Jim Johnson, SVP and general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group said, “With the Series 3 processors, we focused on improving energy efficiency, enhancing CPU performance, and integrating industry-leading GPUs. This delivers outstanding local AI capabilities alongside reliable x86 application compatibility - forming a solid foundation for the next generation of AI PC experiences.”

The EVO-T2’s compact steel and aluminum enclosure measures roughly the size of a thick paperback book, making it easy to fit on a crowded desk.

It keeps GMKtec’s signature square design, and vents on all sides to channel heat away during sustained workloads.

Power scales up to 80W, with 45W set as the balanced default. GMKtec says fans stay quiet under moderate use but will spin up noticeably during heavy model training or inference runs.

The EVO-T2 supports up to 128GB LPDDR5x memory, and up to 16TB of SSD storage via two M.2 slots, one PCIe 5.0 one PCIe 4.0. It can drive four 4K screens, so it will be useful for creative workflows as well as AI work.

Connectivity includes 2.5G and 10G Ethernet, a full USB4 port with 40Gbps transfers, and a dedicated OCuLink port for external GPU expansion.

The EVO-T2 mini PC is planned for release in Q1 2026, with pricing and global availability unknown for now.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Broadcom repurposes the APU label for networking silicon rather than graphics integration
• The BCM4918 shifts packet handling away from CPUs through dedicated offload engines
• Wi-Fi 8 access points increasingly resemble compact edge computing platforms

Broadcom has introduced the BCM4918 network processor for high-end Wi-Fi 8 residential access points, reviving the accelerated processing unit label in a context far removed from its original meaning.

Historically, the APU term described AMD processors that combined a general-purpose CPU with integrated graphics on one die.

In contrast, Broadcom applies the phrase to a system-on-chip that integrates compute cores, networking offload engines, security blocks, and on-device AI logic, without any GPU capability at all.

Compute and packet handling architecture

At the center of the BCM4918 sits a quad-core ARMv8-compatible CPU complex intended for control-plane operations and customer software.

Instead of handling traffic directly, the CPU is complemented by a dual-issue runner packet processor that manages wired and wireless data paths independently.

This design allows most network traffic to bypass the CPU entirely, reducing contention and avoiding software bottlenecks under sustained throughput demands.

Such separation between control and data planes is common in higher-end networking equipment, though its effectiveness in residential access points will depend on vendor firmware implementations.

Broadcom includes its Neural Engine as part of the BCM4918, enabling local inference for selected machine learning tasks.

This capability supports the idea of access points functioning as edge computing platforms rather than simple connectivity devices.

However, the available documentation does not quantify inference performance, supported models, or realistic workloads.

Without these details, the practical significance of on-device AI remains difficult to assess beyond general claims of autonomy and responsiveness.

The networking subsystem combines acceleration engines with integrated multi-gigabit Ethernet PHYs, including support associated with 10GbE Connectivity for wired backhaul scenarios.

Expansion options include four PCIe Gen3 interfaces and dual USB controllers, allowing additional radios or peripherals to be attached.

For security, features such as secure boot and cryptographic acceleration are built directly into the silicon, which should help residential networking hardware handle sensitive data and frequent software updates.

Broadcom emphasizes reduced board complexity by consolidating CPU cores, AI logic, networking acceleration, and security features into a single 19 x 19 mm FCBGA package for standard residential temperatures.

The BCM4918 appears less focused on current access point performance and more on future software-driven differentiation, assuming vendors can exploit capabilities that remain broadly described.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Lenovo CEO tells us more AI PCs are coming to a workplace near you soon
• Cost is a worry, but productivity and efficiency boosts mitigate this
• Predicting the future and developing a robust roadmap is also a challenge, Lenovo admits

The CEO of Lenovo has predicted around half of enterprise-ready computers will be AI PCs by the end of 2026 as the technology becomes more commonplace.

Yuanqing Yang, also known as YY, told TechRadar Pro he was hopeful about the continuing spread and availability of AI PCs, but admitted cost would be an issue in pushing for 100% adoption.

"Our prediction is that by the end of this year, around fifteen percent of PCs will be AI PCs," he told us at a media Q&A at CES 2026, hinting that devices embedded with Lenovo's new Qira AI model would help push adoption even higher.

AI everywhere

Lenovo unveiled a host of new enterprise devices at CES 2026, ranging from super-powered ThinkPad Carbon business laptops through to full PC towers.

This confidence from the world's biggest PC maker was clear during its spectacular keynote at the Las Vegas Sphere, where YY welcomed partners including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

Stating his belief that "AI is definitely not a bubble," YY also declared his belief that AI will become a central part of our working lives looking forward.

"Nobody can avoid AI, but AI will not replace humans, it will only empower each of us in the future, help you remember more, do more, and be more creative...it will help you be more competitive in every area," he added.

"One of the fundamental principles with which we develop AI is our belief in responsible AI," added Tolga Kurtoglu, SVP & Chief Technology Officer, Lenovo.

"I don't see a world without AI," he said, "we think of AI as unleashing human potential, we think of it augmenting people...almost like a symbiotic team which is an extension of you, helps you be more productive and efficient in what you want to get accomplished."

Asked how far ahead the company looks in terms of its development strategy, Kurtoglu admitted the fast pace of AI development poses issues for companies the size and breadth of Lenovo.

"For the AI era, I think a five-year roadmap is a pipe dream," he said, "I always emphasize three things, it's about agility, adaptability and speed - it's not about predicting what will be happening in five years time, it's about changing what the dynamics of the market and always increasing your rate of learning from the market."

"That doesn't mean we don't have a roadmap - but with the pace of innovation we see, five years is way too long...(and) our aim is not to predict the future, our aim is to learn as fast as possible, from the end users perspective, so we can innovate on top of that knowledge."

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Asus unveils NUC 16 Pro 0.7L mini PC built on Intel Panther Lake platform
• Core Ultra X9 388H delivers up to 180TOPS of platform AI compute
• Arc B390 iGPU impresses although Radeon 8060S remains faster for graphics

Asus has launched the NUC 16 Pro, setting its sights on the fastest mini PC category with Intel’s new Panther Lake platform. The system is built around the Core Ultra X9 388H, the same processor used in the GMKtec EVO-T2, which also debuted at CES 2026.

The Core Ultra X9 388H is produced on Intel’s 18A process and delivers up to 180TOPS of total AI compute. That figure combines CPU, GPU, and NPU performance, including Intel’s latest NPU 5, and puts the NUC 16 Pro well ahead of current Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PCs in raw AI throughput.

Graphics are handled by Intel’s Arc B390 iGPU, which features 12 Xe cores. In practice, this gives the NUC 16 Pro enough headroom for modern 1080p gaming without a discrete GPU, along with strong media and compute performance for creative workloads.

Arc B390 graphics

The Arc B390 is impressive for an integrated solution, although it isn’t expected to outperform AMD’s Radeon 8060S iGPU found in the Ryzen AI Max+ 395.

That still holds the edge in peak graphics performance, particularly in synthetic benchmarks and GPU heavy games.

Even so, the B390 raises the bar for integrated graphics in a mini PC. It allows the NUC 16 Pro to balance AI workloads, light gaming, and professional applications without stepping into the power and thermal demands of a discrete graphics card.

The NUC 16 Pro is squarely targeted at creators, developers, and enterprise users. The system supports up to 96GB of LPDDR5x memory running at up to 9600MT/s, alongside dual fan cooling designed to sustain performance under prolonged loads.

Connectivity includes dual 2.5G Ethernet, WiFi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0. Built in firmware TPM 2.0 support adds hardware level security for managed environments.

The compact 5x4 NUC chassis uses a tool less internal design and supports dual M.2 storage across PCIe Gen5 and Gen4.

Additional I/O, including RS-232 and PCIe x1, opens the door to POS, IoT, and industrial use cases.

While the Arc B390 won’t dethrone the Radeon 8060S as the fastest iGPU, the combination of strong graphics, edge focused features, and 180TOPS of AI compute certainly makes the NUC 16 Pro one of the most capable mini PCs we've seen announced so far.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

Lenovo had a massive presence at CES 2026, with a huge collection of new releases available to both business and consumer customers.

But with so much to look through, we thought we'd pull out the most exciting and intriguing new releases from Lenovo at CES.

So if you're in the market for a new business laptop this year, here's our pick of the latest Lenovo device - plus something else exciting which might be coming along real soon.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14th Gen

We'll start with something which might seem ordinary, but really it's anything but. Lenovo has released 13 previous generations of its ThinkPad, but the 14th generation offers some huge steps forward.

The new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14th Gen is its most powerful yet, boasting some seriously powerful hardware, all of this is packed into an incredibly thin and light build that weighs in at under 1kg.

But that's not all - the device also sports a new space-frame build which features a dual-sided motherboard to create more space in the system. Along with a removable back panel, users can also use the new removable keyboard panel to access components from both top and bottom, allowing users to replace items such as the keyboard, battery, and USB ports.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist

If you've ever wanted to really go hands-on with your laptop, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 could be one for you.

Previously shown off at CES 2025 as a concept, it's now a real product, with the striking addition of a dual rotational hinge which pivots the 14in display to follow and move with you as you present or move around a room.

The device, which is powered by an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processor, up to 32GB RAM and up to 2TB storage, also uses audio cues to turn on, open up or turn into tablet mode, as well as Lenovo's knock to unlock feature.

ThinkCentre X AIO Aura Edition

If you're after something which will stay in one place, the company also showed off its latest all-in-one PC offering.

Lenovo says the ThinkCentre X AIO Aura Edition is built for power and productivity, with its innards including up to Intel Core Ultra Series 3, up to 64GB RAM and 2TB storage, and a host of connectivity ports such as USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and an audio jack

It also adds some interesting productivity tools, including a 16MP desk camera offering not only 1080p HD video recording and 4 mics, but also the ability to scan items such as handwritten notes before transcribing them into proper sense for you.

ThinkCentre X TWR

If you're a fan of pure old-fashioned power, Lenovo's addition to the tower PC landscape will be right up your street.

The ThinkCentre X TWR is a proper retro build, standing 425mm x 225mm x 495mm, making it an imposing presence in any space. Inside, it's also a powerful proposition, offering hardware up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, up to 4x64GB DDR5 RAM, and up to 3x M.2 PCIEe 2280 SSD.

This makes it a true performance heavyweight, ideal for high-end tasks like video editing and rendering, with Lenovo saying it can support up to 70 billion parameter AI models.

AI Sensor Hub

For those of us who enjoy micromanagement, the Lenovo AI Sensor Hub uses contextual awareness to adjust performance as you use your device.

Integrating cameras, microphones, radar, and environmental sensors, the system processes data locally to adjust performance characteristics, privacy behavior, and power efficiency in real time.

And also...ThinkPad rollable XD Concept

To finish - here's one for the future (hopefully), as Lenovo showed us one very cool concept - the ThinkPad rollable XD.

With a simple stroke of the top panel, the screen expands from 13.3in to 16in, with the extra space rising up vertically, giving you more space for all the most crucial tasks.

You can even watch the process unfold, with a transparent Gorilla Glass cover giving you access to the gears and innards working, and even doubling up as a separate e-Ink display.

In practice it looked very cool - now let's hope this concept sees the light of day soon!

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

CES 2026 is one of the biggest events in the tech calendar, and this year it has been home to a wealth of announcements, including phones, TVs, projectors, laptops, and more.

But there were also loads of new accessories shown off, and below, we’ve highlighted five of the best accessories for smartphones that we first saw at CES 2026.

These cover everything from battery packs to chargers, controllers, and even an AI assistant. So read on – and perhaps you’ll find just the accessory you’ve been waiting for. And for stand-out devices, check out the 25 best gadgets we saw at CES 2026.

1. Loona Deskmate

The Loona Deskmate is one of the more interesting and unusual smartphone accessories that we saw at CES 2026, as this essentially turns your phone into an AI robot. Or at least, it does if you have an iPhone, as that’s all it’s compatible with.

If you do, then you can attach your phone to the Deskmate, which is essentially a MagSafe charging stand. But while your phone is attached, the Deskmate’s companion app will automatically run on it, turning your phone’s screen into an AI assistant, complete with a personality-filled face.

This assistant can set reminders, add things to your calendar, respond to voice commands, answer questions, provide suggestions, and integrate with the likes of Slack and email apps. The stand can also rotate and tilt, to make this feel more like a robot that’s watching and engaging with you.

The Loona Deskmate isn’t out yet, but a Kickstarter for it will be launching in March, and it will cost under $300 (roughly £225 / AU$450).

2. GameSir x Hyperkin X5 Alteron

The GameSir x Hyperkin X5 Alteron is a mouthful to say, but it could be a joy to use for any mobile gamers.

This collaboration between GameSir and Hyperkin is billed as "the world's first fully modular mobile gaming controller." So it can attach to your phone, and you can change the included buttons and their layouts, with options for things like dedicated GameCube, Nintendo 64, or fighting game controls. So whatever you want to play, there’s likely to be a module to suit.

And while this is largely for phones, its arm can even extend far enough to attach it to the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and iPads – or you can use Bluetooth to connect it to a PC.

Sadly, pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed, but we expect it will go on sale soon.

3. Anker Nano Charger

A charger might not sound very exciting, but it becomes slightly more so when it has a screen, as this one does.

The Anker Nano Charger’s display can show over 20 different interfaces, highlighting charge level, charging power, and what mode it’s using – with the option of standard charging or a TÜV‑Certified Care Mode that can reduce battery temperatures.

Display aside this is a compact 45W charger, with prongs that can be oriented in two different positions, so it can easily fit in most outlets.

It’s designed primarily for recent iPhones and iPad Pro models though, and it sounds like some of the display features won’t work if you plug something else into it.

If you like the sound of it, you’ll be able to buy this new Anker Nano Charger on January 20 for $39.99 – though currently it’s only confirmed for the US.

4. Belkin UltraCharge Pro Power Bank

Belkin used CES to unveil a number of new accessories, including an UltraCharge Pro Power Bank, which you can magnetically attach to your phone.

This 10,000mAh battery pack offers 25W of Qi2 wireless charging power or you can charge via USB-C at 30W. It has a tiny display to show the current capacity, and there’s a built-in kickstand. But arguably the real highlight is that it has a second magnetic ring on it, so you can still attach magnetic wallets or other magnetic accessories to your phone with this attached.

It’s TSA-approved, so you shouldn’t have any issues flying with it, and it’s launching in “select markets” in February for $99.99 (around £75 / AU$150).

5. Baseus PicoGo AC22 Ultra Mini Power Bank

If your priority in power banks is simply keeping them compact, then the Baseus PicoGo AC22 Ultra Mini Power Bank could be the device for you.

Despite having a hefty 10,000mAh capacity, this is only around the size of an AirPods case, so you can easily slip it in a pocket and not feel like you’re carrying a brick around with you.

It also has a built-in cable and a display, and it can deliver 45W of charging power, so this may be small but it sure sounds mighty. The Baseus PicoGo AC22 Ultra Mini Power Bank will be going on sale in February, for $59.99 (approximately £45 / AU$90).

TechRadar has been extensively covering this year's CES. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

This week was a surprisingly quiet one in the world of tech. We just had this one small event called CES 2026, not sure if you've heard of it?

Joking aside, CES is the biggest tech show of the year, and as you'd expect, a lot of news came out from it. From Lego Smart Play to Samsung's TriFold, it was something else and gives us a good taste of the biggest tech trends of 2026.

Plenty of non-CES things happened, too, and to catch up on all of it, scroll down for our recap of the week's biggest tech stories.

7. We picked our best gadgets of CES 2026

This week has been a fever dream of AI robot barmen and musical popsicles – and that’s all been thanks to CES 2026. The Las Vegas staple is still the biggest tech show of the year, but what are the best new products we’re actually going to buy?

Fortunately, our tech experts were on the ground at CES 2026 and have curated their highlights across everything from TVs to fitness trackers and robot vacuums. If you want to see the potential gadget stars of this year – or just get a taste of what’s coming – make sure to read our roundup below.

• Read the full story: The 25 best gadgets we saw at CES 2026 — smart Lego, big TV innovation, a robovac with legs, and much more

6. Lego got an upgrade

Lego announced a major upgrade to its bricks this week with the Smart Brick. This special block can detect special sensors inside certain minifigures and tile pieces to activate sounds, flash lights, and generally enhance the play features of Lego’s sets in a way we’ve not seen before.

The Smart Brick is debuting in Star Wars sets, and did so to fairly mixed reactions, but TechRadar’s Jacob Krol got to see the piece firsthand and thinks it could be a fantastic new option in Lego’s repertoire.

The first three Smart Brick sets are now available for preorder ahead of their March 1 launch, with the cheapest option starting at $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.99.

• Read more: The Lego brick just got its biggest upgrade yet with Smart Play

5. ChatGPT got a medical update

There are now so many people using ChatGPT for health advice (40 million people a day at the last count) that OpenAI has finally decided to do something about it.

ChatGPT Health is a dedicated Health section of the app, coming soon, where you can securely upload your medical records and receive in-depth answers tailored to your specific circumstances. It can also pull in personal health data from apps like Apple Health, if you allow it.

OpenAI envisions ChatGPT Health as a tool to assist in your diagnosis and treatment, rather than as a diagnostic tool, but for the hypochondriacs amongst us, it sounds like the perfect way to get a second, third, or even fourth opinion.

• Read more: ChatGPT Health is a new space for medical questions

4. IKEA made a splash at CES

IKEA made its CES debut at this year’s event, and it was a roaring success to say the least. The company had quite the reaction to the new version of its Varmblixt donut lamp, which received a handful of new smart upgrades – but its Kallsup speaker was another stand-out.

One of the latest additions to the IKEA family of audio devices is an entry-level Bluetooth speaker that's just $10. It comes in three bright colors, including lime green, pink, and white, and is set to arrive in April.

Though its size means that its audio isn’t the most powerful, it’s still a mighty speaker in other aspects. It supports Bluetooth 5.3 and lets you connect up to 100 devices with a simple tap, and it runs on rechargeable, replaceable batteries, allowing you to extend its lifespan.

• Read more: The 5 best gadgets IKEA announced at CES 2026

3. Fujifilm debuted the weirdest Instax ever

Following the launch of the wonderfully weird, half-frame-inspired X half digital camera last year, Fujifilm has quickly delivered on its promise to introduce more concept cameras in 2026.

The latest surprise comes in the Super-8-style shape of the Instax Mini Evo Cinema, which is an instant camera like no other – the first that also shoots video, and which features a quirky 'eras' dial. With a setting for each decade dating back to the 1930's, the Mini Evo Cinema replicates popular looks such as 1960s Super 8 and 1980s color negative.

We only have the Fujifilm Japan press release to go on, but fingers crossed, the quirky hybrid digital-instant film camera gets a global release; we're eager to try it out!

• Read more: Fujifilm’s new Super 8-style video camera could be the most fun Instax ever

2. We saw the latest robot vacuum with legs

Robot vacuums are evolving fast – last year, Roborock gave us one with a mechanical arm, and at CES 2026 this week, it showed off its first model with legs. Can the Saros Rover’s limbs do anything more than scare your dog? Well, yes, actually, as they’re also designed to help clean almost any home staircase.

According to Roborock, that’ll include not just straight staircases but spiral ones as well. The Saros Rover’s clambering powers should make it a strong contender for multi-level homes. Sadly, it’s just a prototype for now, but Roborock told us it is a real product that’s coming to market. Maybe give your dog a heads-up, just in case.

• Read the full story: I saw Roborock's new robot vacuum with legs, and it promises to make no-go zones a thing of the past

1. We tried the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold

We got to try Samsung's TriFold phone, and it might finally be the pocket-sized tablet foldables have been promising to be since their inception.

Lance Ulanoff went hands-on with the phone at CES 2026 in Las Vegas and came away impressed by its thinness and the performance he experienced.

Now it’s still not perfect. The camera setup won’t wow everyone, there’s still no S Pen support, and the cost is expected to be very high, but this is definitely one of the phones to watch in 2026, and even at this early point in the year, it could be in contention for phone of the year.

• Read more: I finally tried the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold and couldn't believe my eyes

CES 2026 is over – and a weary TechRadar team is now back home recovering with their AI emotional support pets.

It was another monster of a tech show, and we've already picked the 25 best gadgets we saw at this year's CES. But what about the bigger picture stuff? What tech trends did we see that give us a taste of what we'll see over the next twelve months?

That's what we've summed up for you below. While it doesn't encompass every single tech trend of 2026 (that would be a very long list), CES is traditionally a strong indicator of the ideas and themes that will dominate the rest of the year.

So if you want to take a break from your floundering new year's resolutions and get a glimpse of the near future, here's what the world's biggest tech show has predicted...

Want to know the best of the best from our time at the show? Check out the video below!

1. Foldables will go creaseless

Phones don't traditionally have a big presence at CES these days, but Samsung bucked that trend this year by showing off its creaseless folding OLED display.

While it was only a tech demo, it was still a big deal. A folding screen that's completely smooth and blemish-free when unfolded has been a holy grail for foldables for the past seven years. Ironically, the rumored iPhone Fold could be the main beneficiary.

The rumors suggest Apple could be the first to use this new OLED screen later this year because the panel has been made by Samsung Display (a separate entity from Samsung). Unfortunately, it's likely to be very expensive, which is why we've argued that, for Android foldable fans, seeing it debut on the iPhone Fold could still be a blessing in disguise.

• Read the full story: Samsung just won CES 2026 with its creaseless folding OLED – but I hope the iPhone Fold gets it first

2. It will be the year of RGB LED TVs

At CES 2025 last year, it became clear that RGB LED backlighting was the next big thing in TVs – and at this year's show, we got a good glimpse of the sets that are actually going to hit the market.

What exactly is this new tech? The tech giants all have their own names for it, with Samsung and LG both calling the tech 'Micro RGB', and Hisense and TCL going for RGB MiniLED. But the big benefits across the board are a wider range of colors plus improved brightness (or the same brightness as today with lower energy use).

You can read our in-depth guide to RGB TVs for the full low-down, but the standout at CES 2026 was Samsung's 130-inch Micro RGB TV. After encountering one at the show, we described it as a beautiful beast of a TV, with the only downside being that it's just a showpiece right now. Still, it features the same tech as you'll find in Samsung's Micro RGB TV lineup, which will arrive in 55- to 115-inch screen sizes, so start saving.

• Read the full story: The best TVs of CES 2026: brighter OLEDs, 130-inch screens, and RGB mini-LED everywhere

3. We'll all get AI emotional support pets

From SwitchBot's KATA Friends to Ecovacs' LilMilo, AI-powered pets were all over CES this year. Most can respond to gestures and petting, follow you about with lifelike eyes, recognize your voice, and some can even tell what kind of mood you're in.

AI gives them a personality and enables them to learn as you play with them. While they can definitely be seen as toys – most have the option to purchase natty outfits and accessories, like a souped-up Build-A-Bear – many brands stress that they can have real value as emotional support companions, providing company and comfort for those who perhaps can't have a real pet.

We certainly found them surprisingly easy to form a bond with. And while some have Funzo from The Simpsons vibes, we reckon a large number of people will welcome a furry, AI-powered pet into their lives this year.

• Read the full story: Ecovacs' new launch nearly made me cry during my CES booth tour

4. AI wearables will become your second brain

AI hardware has been something of a flop so far – remember the Rabbit R1 from CES 2024, or the poor Humane AI Pin? But that didn't stop tech giants from cooking up more contenders at this year's CES, and they all had one thing in common.

The big theme was AI wearables that want to be your second brain. For example, the Pebble Index O1, a smart ring that lets you add notes to your calendar, transcribe notes and more. Or the Switchbot AI Mindclip, a little lapel pin (yes, another one) that records and summarizes conversations.

This is clearly the direction of travel for AI gadgets in 2026. There were dozens of other examples – from the Lenovo's pendant-housed Qira assistant to Anker's Soundcore Work – and we've separately heard that OpenAI's mysterious ChatGPT gadget could take the form of an AI-powered pen. Will we actually buy these things? That's harder to say, but we certainly won't be short of options this year.

• Read the full story: Forget fitness trackers — external brains are the hot new wearables at CES this year

5. Lawnbots will get LiDAR eyes

Robot lawn mower navigation capabilities have come a long way in the past few years, and the new hot tech making its way to your yard in 2026 is LiDAR.

It works by bouncing beams of light off static objects to create a 3D map of a space, and is already the standard in the best robot vacuums. In smaller yards with plenty of objects to bounce off, it's a great way of delivering accurate navigation without the need to rely on good satellite signal.

Pretty much every lawnbot brand we saw at CES 2026 – from Segway Navimow to Mammotion and Roborock – was showcasing at least one LiDAR-based model, so expect the tech to become the norm this year.

• Read the full story: I just watched Mammotion's new flagship lawnbot scale an astroturf mountain, and it was mesmerizing

6. 'Longevity' will be the new health-tracking buzzword

'Longevity' may not sound like the most inspiring fitness aim, but it was biggest health tech buzzword at CES 2026.

Firstly, there was the NuraLogix Longevity Mirror, which can pull a huge number of metrics – including your physiological age and more – just from looking at your poor, tired January face. Naturally, it does that through a combination of AI wizardry and a built-in camera.

Then there was the Withings Body Scan 2, a set of smart scales that promises to be your 'longevity station'. To support that claim, it tracks over 60 biomarkers – from your hypertension risk to artery health and metabolic efficiency – to predict your long-term health.

Not everyone will want to see their health dissected in such ruthless detail, but if you do there'll be an army of accessories willing to give you a glimpse into your fitness future.

• Read the full story: The top 5 health gadgets at CES this year, from Garmin nutrition-tracking to that notorious AI smart mirror

7. Smart glasses will go truly mainstream

With only a couple of false starts along the way, CES 2026 is where smart glasses seemed to finally go mainstream – as everyone and their aunt had a pair of specs to debut. Expect them to truly take off this year.

We covered several in our best smart glasses of CES roundup – with highlights including the Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR with 240Hz refresh rate for gamers, and RayNeo’s Project eSIM teasing the first truly phoneless smart glasses.

What really made smart glasses feel like a major trend of the show, however, were all the other glasses we couldn’t squeeze into our round up, because it would otherwise have been a mile long. We even got a major Meta Ray-Ban Display update as part of CES, though it wasn’t all good news.

• Read the full story: The 5 best smart glasses from CES 2026, including the first with HDR10

8. Intel will mount a major fightback

The past couple of years haven’t been great for Intel. While the company has long been the market leader when it comes to processors, its seen its dominance threatened by Apple ditching its products for its own Arm-based M-series chips, a resurgent AMD getting plenty of critical and commercial acclaim for its rival products, and Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon chips becoming ever more popular in laptops.

So, it was great to see the company come out swinging with its new Panther Lake mobile processors, also known as the Intel Core Ultra Series 3. From what we’ve seen it could be Intel’s best chance to fight back thanks to improved performance, better power efficiency (for longer battery lives) and integrated graphics.

To prove that point, CES saw the likes of Dell, Asus, Acer and Lenovo all launch laptops powered by Intel’s new chips. 2026 could be the year Intel fights back.

• Read the full story: The Intel Core Ultra series 3 processors look impressive enough, but the Arc B390 iGPU is the real game-changer here

9. Solid-state batteries will be tantalizingly close

Another big buzzword you'll hear a lot in 2026 will be 'solid-state batteries' – and while the next-gen battery tech is exciting, you can also expect to see a lot of smoke and mirrors.

The big announcement at CES 2026 was Verge Motorcycles announcing that it will become the first manufacturer to put an all solid-state battery into production “in the coming months”. If that's true, it'd be a real game-changer – and promises to unlock electric motorcycle figures like 370 miles on a charge, with a 10-minute top up providing an extra 186 miles of range.

Exciting stuff in theory, but we'll be waiting to see how this plays out before getting too excited. On a similar theme, we've also recently heard about semi-solid state battery packs (which use a gel-like electrolite substance) arriving for phones, promising improved safety and greater longevity. If you're an early adopter of new battery tech, 2026 could be your year.

• Read the full story: Verge announces world-first motorcycle with solid-state batteries – and it promises a 370-mile range with 10-minute charge times

10. Retro tech will give us our attention back

If you think the golden age of tech was around CES 2012, then you'll be heartened to know that retro tech was out in full force at this year's show – and it wasn't just about nostalgia.

Some of these throwbacks – the Blackberry-style Clicks Communicator (above), for example – are about wrestling your attention back from endless doomscrolling by offering a modern tech experience, but with the guardrails of simplicity.

The Clicks Communicator is all about productivity and hammering away on its physical keyboard, while the new Pebble Round 2 (which ships in May) is a smartwatch that isn't too smart, thanks to its color e-paper display and seven days of battery life.

Naturally, there was tons of other nostalgia tech at CES 2026 – from Stern Pinball machines to My Arcade's new mini Sega arcade machines (we'll take the Streets of Rage one, thanks). But it's the 'anti-brain rot' gadgets, like mini ereaders, that will be the real tech trend of 2026.

• Read the full story: Missing your BlackBerry? The Clicks Communicator brings back the physical keyboard – and a 3.5mm headphone jack

11. Humanoid robots will try (and fail) to enter our homes

Robots are a CES staple, but this year they were particularly keen to be center stage. Unfortunately, they only really managed to prove that they're still not quite ready for prime-time in 2026.

On the first day of CES 2026 we watched LG's CLOiD robot take what felt like hours to to put a single wet towel into a self-opening washing machine, while later we met the SwitchBot Onero H1 (below) and saw it attempt to do some laundry with very mixed results.

In many ways, this year's CES was a helpful real-world antidote to the hype we've seen lately around humanoid robots like the 1X Neo. The latter costs $20,000 (or $499-a-month) and, for the many tasks it can't manage autonomously, you have to let an X1 employee remotely guide it through the chore.

Robotics has made incredible strides in the last decade and will continue to do so in 2026 (expect to see a lot more humanoid hype). But the dream of a robot butler still seems a way off, and for now the smart money is on robot vacuums with legs and arms filling the gap.

New projector launches typically happen at industry shows such as CEDIA and IFA that land in the September timeframe, but there has been a growing projector presence at CES over the past few years. Multiple projectors were announced at CES 2026, and some were even seen in action, beaming images to the best of their ability beneath the bright show-floor lighting.

Several of these projectors are portable, lifestyle-oriented models designed to be broken out and set up on demand when the need for a big-screen image arises. But others are sophisticated home theater models designed to compete with the best projectors and deliver the real deal for movie watching or gaming. Below are the six top projectors I saw at CES.

Samsung The Freestyle+

• Samsung doubled the brightness to 430 ISO lumens
• Auto Wall Calibration compensates for uneven wall surfaces

The first two generations of Samsung’s The Freestyle portable projector impressed us with a super-compact design and flexible installation features. It's a projector that’s easy to just plop anywhere and start streaming movies or playing games, and it automatically configures itself for the best picture quality once powered up.

Samsung's new The Freestyle+ takes picture quality and auto calibration to the next level, doubling brightness to 430 ISO lumens and adding an Auto Wall Calibration feature that digitally compensates for uneven wall surfaces. Bottom line: you don’t have to worry about finding a perfectly smooth, white surface to project on with this new version of Samsung’s portable projector.

Samsung says that new AI features in The Freestyle+ help with keystone adjustment and focus, so you’ll get a crisp, rectangular picture anywhere you point the projector. It also now supports the same Samsung Q-Symphony feature found in Samsung TVs to enhance sound, though we’ll have to see how effective it is on such a small projector.

Hisense PX4-Pro

• Brightness boosted from 3,000 to 3,500 ANSI lumens over the PX3-Pro
• New IRIS system adjusts the lens aperture and exposure based on ambient lighting conditions to maximize contrast

The Hisense PX3-Pro currently ranks at the top of TechRadar’s best ultra short throw projectors guide. But as good as it is, the new Hisense PX4-Pro looks to be an even better offering from the company.

The PX4-Pro steps things up with a brightness boost from 3,000 to 3,500 ANSI lumens. It features a new IRIS system that adjusts the lens aperture and exposure based on ambient lighting conditions to maximize contrast and, like its predecessor, uses a trichroma laser light engine to deliver full BT.2020 color space coverage.

Gaming is also a highlight of the PX4-Pro, which supports 1080p gaming at 240Hz with ultra-low input lag, according to the company. We look forward to gaming on this brighter and overall better Hisense UST projector as soon as it becomes available.

Hisense XR10

• Long throw model with 6,000 ANSI lumens brightness
• Impressive 0.84 to 2.0x optical zoom range

Hisense is best known for its ultra short throw projectors, which the company refers to as a ‘Laser TV’ when paired with an included separate screen. It has also released a run of powerful portable projectors. The new Hisense XR10 marks the company’s entry into the premium long-throw projector space, and with a rated 6,000 ANSI lumens brightness, it may very well steal the spotlight from its competition.

According to Hisense, the XR10 uses an “advanced LPU 3.0 Digital Laser Engine, a fully upgraded chipset, and a pure RGB triple laser light source,” to deliver exceptionally bright images with better than BT.2020 color gamut coverage. Like the PX4-Pro UST model above, it uses Hisense’s new IRIS system to optimize contrast and has a 0.84 to 2.0x optical zoom range to ease installation for screen sizes up to a whopping 300 inches.

Xgimi Titan Noir Max

• Dynamic iris system boosts contrast to 10,000:1
• 1.0-2.0:1 optical zoom and 130% vertical and 50% horizontal lens shift

Xgimi debuted its Titan projector, a ‘professional grade’ 4K DLP model boasting 5,000 lumens brightness, along with a dynamic iris and flexible installation features, at the IFA 2025 trade show.

At CES 2026, the company showcased the Titan Noir Max, a new model designed for home theater setups that appears to be a mashup between the Titan and the Xgimi Horizon 20 Max, a gimbal-style portable projector with even higher brightness than the Titan.

Xgimi didn’t provide a full set of specs for its new projector, but it does feature the company’s “most advanced dynamic iris system to date,” boosting contrast to 10,000:1. It also has an expanded optical range, with 1.0-2.0:1 zoom and 130% vertical and 50% horizontal lens shift. Like other Xgimi projectors, it will feature automatic keystone and focus adjustments.

The company was demonstrating the Titan Noir Max at CES in a bright room that prevented any assessment of its picture performance. Still, the environment did let me appreciate the projector’s well-crafted design, which sets it apart from the industrial look typical of home theater projectors.

The Titan Noir Max will be available for preorder in Q1 2026.

AWOL Vision Aetherion Max

• PixelLock technology ensures precise focus at the edges of the screen and eliminates color fringing
• Anti-RBE (Rainbow Effect) technology eliminates up to 99.99% of DLP rainbow effects

AWOL Vision, sister company of Valerion, maker of the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 projector, was at CES showcasing the new AWOL Vision Aetherion Max, an ultra short throw projector that it says will address some of the traditional shortcomings of the UST projector category.

Specifically, the Aetherion Max features the company’s PixelLock technology, which is said to use optical and mechanical means to ensure precise focus at the edges of the screen. It also eliminates color fringing and features Anti-RBE (Rainbow Effect) technology, which AWOL Vision claims “eliminates up to 99.99% of rainbow effects,” typical of DLP projectors.

Beyond those features, the Aetherion Max supports up to 200-inch screen sizes and is rated has 3,300 lumens of brightness and 6,000:1 native contrast. Gaming features include VRR, ALLM, and Dolby Vision Gaming, and there’s Google TV built in for streaming, with Wi-Fi 7 support.

The Aetherion Max will be available in March 2026 for $4,499.

Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro

• All-in-one mobile theater system
• 7.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos audio using wireless surround speakers

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a home theater on wheels, the Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro has arrived to make that dream a reality.

Introduced at CES, the Nebula X1 Pro is an all-in-one mobile theater system based around the company’s Nebula X1 projector. The Nebula X1 Pro beams images up to 200 inches and has a specified 3,500 ANSI lumens brightness, 110% BT.2020 color gamut coverage, and 56,000:1 dynamic contrast.

Soundcore's design encases the projector in a tower enclosure with wheels for easy portability, and it features slide-out front speakers and detachable wireless speakers to create a 7.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos speaker system. There are even two wireless microphones enclosed, letting you use the system for karaoke.

Nebula’s portable theater is an obvious fit for outdoor movie nights, but it’s also a good option for parties or even business presentations.

The Nebula X1 Pro will cost $4,999 and launch at the end of January.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

Usually, CES isn’t really a big showcase for phones and other mobile-centric tech, but this year’s show bucked the trend a bit. While not awash with smartphones, CES 2026 had a few worth paying attention to.

To anyone who’s been reading TechRadar over the past few months, you’ll know that the Samsung Galaxy TriFold has been stealing the headlines, and it’s worthy of attention. But there are a selection of other phones that I feel are also worth a closer look.

So below you’ll find my picks for the phones that stood out at CES this year. And for a beat-by-beat rundown of what grabbed TechRadar’s attention in Las Vegas, check out our live coverage of CES 2026; also, read our picks for the best gadgets we saw at CES 2026 here.

Samsung Galaxy TriFold — a new foldable frontier

• An uncompromising folding phone that turns into a 10-inch tablet
• It has the specs to match its big screen space

Let’s start with the big one: the Samsung Galaxy TriFold was basically the best phone at CES 2026, with its large 10-inch display packed into a frame that’s not really that much thicker than some of the earlier Galaxy Z Fold phones.

It’s set to be a rather impressive foldable phone-meets-tablet when it gets released, though there’s no word on pricing yet.

Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff went hands-on with the Galaxy TriFold and noted: “The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is an uncompromising and remarkable feat of engineering that offers the potential of truly pocketable big-screen tablet productivity. We didn't spend much time with it, but what we saw, tried, and touched impressed us.”

Motorola Razr Fold — a new challenger has entered the foldable arena

• Motorola’s first book-style foldable phone
• It has an 8.1-inch internal screen, with a 6.6-inch cover display, and boasts 5 cameras

After generations of flip-style foldable phones, Motorola has finally entered the book-style foldable fray to jostle with the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and OnePlus Open.

The Motorola Razr Fold is a bi-folding phone sporting a 6.6-inch cover display that, when opened, reveals an 8.1-inch screen with an LTPO panel, which means it can go from 120Hz down to a power-saving 1Hz. A trio of rear cameras in the standard configuration of main, ultra-wide, and telephoto – all with 50-megapixel sensors – are joined by a sizable flash, while there's a 20MP camera on the internal display and a 32MP front-facing camera embedded on the cover display.

While we’re lacking many specific details, and Motorola isn’t doing anything particularly new in the foldable phone space, if it’s priced well, the Razr Fold could be a compelling device that undercuts many of the best foldable phones.

Honor Robot Phone — arming cameras

• Honor’s Robot Phone adds a robotic arm and gimbal to a rear-camera system
• Some much-needed creativity in the smartphone arena

Announced back in October 2025, Honor's bizarre Robot Phone was on display at CES 2025. And while people couldn’t go hands-on with the phone, it was still an intriguing device.

What looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill smartphone actually has a camera system on a gimbal-meets-robot-arm assembly. The idea here is that such a system should enable more dynamic photography and video. And while details are still scarce, there are hints that an AI system will be able to track interesting things smartly.

While I’m not sure anyone asked for such a feature on a phone, it’s still interesting to see some innovation and creative thinking in the smartphone space, which has become increasingly iterative in recent years. And I, for one, am looking forward to getting a closer look at this Robot Phone.

Motorola Signature — Moto is back in the flagship fight

• A full-fat flagship phone from Motorola, but at a compelling price
• But the chipset could let it down a little

Back to Motorola as the brand revealed the Motorola Signature. While Motorola is usually known for mid-range phones at competitive prices, the Signature is a proper flagship smartphone.

There’s an assortment of high-end specs like four 50MP cameras, a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 5,200mAh battery with 90W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Plus, there’s 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Where the Signature might come unstuck is with the use of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip. Hardly a slow chipset, it’s still not likely to be up there with the Snapdragon 8 Elite feature in the Samsung Galaxy S25 series.

However, at £899.99 (roughly $1,210 / AU$1,800), it’s not priced at the top end of flagship phones, so Motorola may be targeting a flagship phone that aims to compete with the power-and-value might of the OnePlus 15.

Clicks Communicator — BlackBerry mourners rejoice!

• A new Android phone with a physical keyboard
• For people who miss the days of BlackBerry phones

I was never into BlackBerry phones, but I appreciate that some people adored them. And phone keyboard accessory brand Clicks must have some BlackBerry fans, as the company revealed the Clicks Communicator.

With a physical keyboard and a 4.03-inch AMOLED display, this Android phone looks a lot like a BlackBerry from yesteryears. But it has a few tricks up its phone sleeves, one being that it runs a custom version of the Niagara Launcher that puts productivity apps front and center. Other things like cameras are put aside for a focus on getting stuff done, which is why the phone only sports a single 50MP camera.

Available to reserve right now for $399 (about £295 / AU$595), and launching with a full price set at $499 (around £370 / AU$740), I could see the Click Communicator appealing to people who just want a phone as a work tool rather than a bells-and-whistles pocket computer.

TechRadar has been extensively covering this year's CES. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Eversolo has released the SE100 passive bookshelf speakers
• Hardware and specs fit for audiophiles
• They’re designed to fit in Ikea Kallax shelves

One of the loudspeaker standouts of annual tech jamboree CES 2026 has been the tiny $9.99 Ikea Kallsup, designed to be bought and used en masse. However, another brand’s new passive speakers show us what integration with Ikea furniture could really look like.

Audio hardware brand Eversolo has taken a rare foray into speakers, in the form of the brand-new SE100. These passive bookshelf speakers come in a pair so they are not, despite the brand’s name, forever on their own.

Eversolo generally sticks to hi-fi kit such as DACs (otherwise known as digital-analog converters), hi-res music players and amplifiers, and it’s clear that the SE100 continue the brand’s focus on kit for audiophiles. It’s specs include a 5.25-inch paper-pulp cone for textured sound, 25mm silk dome for clarity and a removable fabric grille that's designed for low diffraction, which means they should remain “acoustically invisible” according to Eversolo – although I'd rather take them off to see those glorious offset drivers. Something decidedly '1830s Daguerrotype camera' about them, no?

Judging by Eversolo’s product listing, another focus of the speakers is soundstage. While they’re wired and designed to be used alongside an amplifier, so can’t be spread out too far, they’re engineered to create a holographic soundstage in a range of spaces.

The bookshelf speakers for one bookshelf especially: Ikea Kallax

So far, so-fas (and other furniture) don’t seem relevant – so why was I talking about Ikea? Well, according to Eversolo, the SE100 are designed to fit seamlessly into the Ikea Kallax. If you’re not well versed in your Ikea lingo, these are those grid-style shelves that arrange things into boxes (see above). The SE100 fit perfectly into one of those boxes, without dead space around the sides.

Ikea has quite a few home-made speakers of its own now, ranging from standalone inexpensive shower-friendly Bluetooth boxes to options hidden in lamps, picture frames and lights. But as far as I can tell, Ikea has never released a set of speakers designed specifically to fit into the gaps in its furniture. The similarly named Kallsup, for example (don't get confused here – Kallax is the shelving unit; Kallsup are those little $10 cube speakers), are designed to be portable, not in-shelf fixtures.

Of course, the SE100 will be just as pleasing to people who don’t shop at the Swedish furniture giant, with the square speakers looking just as good in other spaces.

We don’t have a release date quite yet, but expect them to release at some point through 2026. They’ll cost you $499 (roughly £370, AU$750), so they’re pricey, but not pricey pricey in the hi-fi scheme of things. When they do come in, we’ll see if they’ve got the Kallax to fit into our best stereo speakers list.

Kallax themselves range in price, from little 2x1 box options for about $25, to gigantic 5x5 options and everything in between. Some even have TV stands or tables built in.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," noted Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law. We tech reporters like to trot the saying out when we’re impressed … but Wednesday afternoon in a hotel suite in Las Vegas, I saw something that helped me finally understand what Clarke was getting at.

On the table before me were an array of eyeglasses, sufficiently indistinguishable from the selection you might see from Warby Parker or Luxottica or on shelves in your local optician’s store. Baked into the frames was a remarkable technology that lets the lenses automatically change their focus based on whatever you're looking at. If it's near your eye, it will magnify for those of us who need readers. If it's far away, it will take the magnification away so you can see clearly.

It's the result of more than four years of technology magic, $45 or so million in R&D, and technology that’s just a step away from rocket science – because it was invented by an actual rocket scientist.

“We’re redefining eyewear on a really high level,” Niko Eiden, co-founder and CEO of the Finnish startup IXI, told me. “I like to use a camera analogy: fixed focus, manual focus, and then autofocus. What we’re trying to do is autofocus, as compared to fixed focus, which is what we have today.” As one of the 78 million or so Americans who wear progressive lenses (only my mom still calls them bifocals, you know), the concept is instantly appealing.

The graveyard of eyeglass stems, lenses, and eyeglasses of all sorts of shapes and colors before me were meant to help explain the manufacturing process. But it took a second for me to grasp the reality: Eiden was wearing a functioning pair, 22 grams worth of amazing. This isn’t a hypothetical product, CES vaporware. It’s real and it’s spectacular.

Inside the world’s first autofocusing eyeglasses

How does it work? I’m glad you asked. There are three parts to the company’s new product, which will ultimately be called IXI and could probably maybe hopefully sell later this year: lenses that can be tuned, thanks to a unique liquid crystal material sandwiched within two panes of plastic; an autofocus capability, thanks to an eyetracking system that can detect where you are looking and adjust accordingly; and a frame that looks and feels like an ordinary pair of glasses.

And let’s just get this out of the way: yes, you’ll have to charge your eyeglasses, with a USB cable that magnetically grabs onto the frame. I promise you it will be worth it.

A pair of 35mAh batteries sit in the temples at the hinge, small enough that they are unnoticeable but powerful enough for about 18 hours of usage. That’s about 10 times less than what’s in the Ray Ban Meta Gen 2, meaning IXI needs to sip water as parsimoniously as a stranded sailor saving that last jug of water on a desert island.

The electronics doing that sipping are part of a printed circuit board manufactured within the frame of the glasses themselves: There’s a compute unit over the bridge of the nose, circuits tucked neatly into the outside corners, and a series of imaging components for eye tracking. There’s no camera. Instead, the system relies on the reflectivity of the eye itself to measure where you’re looking.

“When an eye rotates with respect to the frame, its fingerprint changes,” Eiden explained. A series of LEDs beam IR light at the eye and a complementary assortment of photodiodes image the reflection that comes back, all at about 60 frames a second – standard rate for eye trackers, he said.

This spectrum of light passes easily through the plastic frame but bounces off of your eye, so it can all be buried from sight like the electronics in your AV cabinet. Because our eyes are actually pretty slow (they take 200-300 milliseconds to refocus), 60fps is much faster. You won’t have time to notice the tuning, in other words.

Eyes on with IXI

To demonstrate, Eiden propped up a sample lens on an arm and beamed a signal to it. A shimmering disc appeared in the center of the lens. With a separate command it vanished, leaving no sign it had been there. I held a lens up to the light and studied it carefully: at just the right angle, I could detect the faintest trace of the electrical circuits sending their tiny commands to the twist of the liquid crystal matter, a series of concentric rings that look a bit like a CD – the sort of thing you’d never notice when wearing a pair of IXIs, of course.

“In some specific reflections you can see something. It’s a Fresnel pattern,” Eiden told me, “but a very special one. It’s not anything you’d find in research.”

In September, IXI acquired the lens manufacturing and development facility of Finnsusp in Finland and has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Optiswiss, one of Europe’s leading independent lens manufacturers. This followed a $36.5 million round of funding. In November, it unveiled the 22-gram prototype. At CES, it was finally ready to show it off.

“In the beginning, we thought let's just license it to tech, but there was no one to license it to. The existing industry is not equipped to do this level of sophistication … so we thought we need to do everything ourselves,” he said. Eiden himself holds a masters degree in aeronautical engineering and started his career at the particle physics center CERN in Switzerland, before making it to Nokia, and now IXI. Oh, and he’s a certified pilot as well (overachiever!).

Data from the eyetracker is fascinating in itself. Blink intervals, for example, provide an intriguing window into behavior and alertness.

“I’ve been wearing these now for five minutes,” Eiden said, checking the screen of a tablet wirelessly connected to his eyewear. “I’ve been 73% anxious, 20% relaxed, and focused, not daydreaming. When you’re working or writing, your blink rate slows down. That’s why you get dry eyes.”

“Baseline blink rate” isn’t necessarily information that you’ll need as a human being, nor is the posture information that can also be extracted. It’s also unlikely to be surfaced in the app you’ll get with the product. But for now, it sure is neat to see.

A pair of IXI eyeglasses won’t be cheap, but they shouldn’t be terribly expensive either. Eiden said they’ll be in the range of high-end eyewear, which can run you €1,000 euros, he said. A small price to pay for magic, no?

TechRadar is extensively covering this year's CES, and bringing you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

Heading into CES 2026, Lego teased that it would be hosting a keynote – but now that the dust has settled, it’s clear the company used the stage to unveil its biggest change to the Lego brick since its modern design debuted in 1958.

The new Smart Play system, and most notably the Smart Brick, is designed to work seamlessly within Lego’s existing play system. That’s intentional. Rather than introducing a new screen or a closed ecosystem, Smart Play keeps the focus on hands-on building and tangible play – the core of what Lego has always been.

It’s also a change that’s been a long time coming.

“Well, you know, the truth of it is, you know, we started this project eight years ago,” explained Julia Goldin, Lego’s Chief Product & Marketing Officer. “So why now is because we are ready. We are ready to go. That’s why now. It’s not because we’re trying to solve some kind of a problem. It’s more because we’re ready with really great innovation.”

That long runway was essential, Goldin said, not just to miniaturize the technology – including a custom chip small enough to fit inside a Lego brick – but to ensure Smart Play could exist as a true platform. Not an entirely new one, though.

“Everything we have done still is part of the system,” Goldin said, noting that Smart Play integrates cohesively with Lego’s existing system of play and is additive by nature. “This just adds a new dimension.”

It’s a different beast from the likes of Lego’s Super Mario sets, which worked with Lego bricks but which relied on a custom Mario figure with a screen and scanner and which largely existed in their own ecosystem.

“We actually learned a lot from the Mario launch,” Goldin said. “We wanted no screens, we wanted no power buttons, we wanted something very seamless… something that anyone could take and fit with any other set and that could actually travel across our whole system as it exists today, but also into the future.”

It’s clear that teams across Lego worked to preserve the tenets of the existing Lego system while elevating interactivity and responsiveness. Given the amount of technology packed into the Smart Brick, I had to ask how Lego views itself today: is it a toy company that also builds technology, or something else entirely?

“I don’t think we can call ourselves a toy anymore because we’re an iconic experience company,” Goldin said, reflecting a broader shift in how Lego now sees itself.

That perspective helps explain why Smart Play avoids many of the pitfalls often associated with connected toys. There’s no screen built into the brick, no app required, and no new, entirely segmented ecosystem to buy into. Instead, intelligence resides within the brick itself, designed to enhance physical play rather than compete with it.

As I saw during my hands-on demo, it’s a classic Lego set at first – say Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing or Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter – but once the Smart Brick is placed inside after being shaken to wake, characters like Luke or Vader can trigger different sounds as they approach the ship, click into place, or even pull off some fun flight maneuvers.

There’s a very low learning curve for the Smart Brick, Smart Minifigures, and Smart Tags.

For Tom Donaldson, Head of Lego’s Creative Play Lab, that philosophy was equally important.

“If you have a screen, they tend to suck you in,” Donaldson said. “And we were very deliberate about saying, no, we love the Lego brick, we love building with Lego bricks, and if we want to magnify that, then certain choices… probably have been advantageous to us.”

That same thinking extends to where Smart Play could go next. While today’s Smart Bricks focus on responsiveness through light, sound, and interaction, Goldin sees the platform as something far more expansive over time.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface,” she said.

While neither Goldin nor Donaldson would comment on what sets might arrive next or how the roadmap could unfold, it’s clear Lego is focused on building a strong foundation for Smart Play – starting with one of the most iconic themes in its lineup, Star Wars – while showcasing just how much technology is quietly working under the hood.

“There are some of the technologies in here that we couldn't have done at all without an ASIC. In particular, the sensing technology,” Donaldson said.

That custom silicon enables the Smart Brick to quietly understand what’s happening around it – detecting nearby Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags, recognizing their relative positions in space, including height and distance, and triggering the appropriate response. Whether it’s a flash of light, a sound effect, or a character's reaction, the experience feels immediate and intuitive on the surface.

Under the hood, however, there’s a level of integration that Lego says simply wouldn’t have been possible without going custom. “The overall capabilities we could not have put together in any meaningful way – size, cost, or even integrated performance – without going to silicon,” Donaldson said.

That approach – hiding complexity inside a familiar brick – is central to how Lego thinks about Smart Play. Rather than asking builders to learn something new, the company is betting on technology that merely stacks on the classic Lego experience.

For now, Lego is focused on laying a strong foundation. Smart Bricks that fit into the existing system. Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags that add a layer of fun without replacing traditional play. And a platform designed to evolve while remaining grounded in the simplicity, creativity, and reusability that have defined the Lego brick for decades.

Lego’s kicked off preorders for the first three Star Wars Smart Play sets, and the line starts at $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.99 for Vader’s Tie Fighter that includes a Smart Brick and Charger, a Smart Minifigure, and a Smart Tag – in total, it’s 473 pieces.

You can also get Luke’s X-Wing for $99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.99 and the Throne Room Duel & A-Wing for $159.99 / £139.99 / AU$249.99. You can read our first look at the Smart Play Star Wars sets here.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!