Gizmodo’s Best Tech of 2026 Awards: Our Favorite Phones, Laptops, Smart Home Gear, and More

Sure, most of the focus on Apple’s iPhones this year has been on its high-tier models, but that doesn’t mean the Cupertino company can’t still make an amazing budget phone. The iPhone 17e is a lot of bang for your buck, with double the starting storage of the previous model, a new A19 chip, and a Ceramic Shield 2 glass screen.

Once again, Samsung takes the crown for the best Android phone with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. With four optical lenses on the rear camera, long battery life, and a new “Privacy Display” that can prevent strangers from peeking at your display, the S26 Ultra has it all. Hell, the S Pen is still present.

Apple somehow topped its already class-leading iPhone 17 Pro. The iPhone 18 Pro doesn’t have one standout feature, but a collection of them that add up to an even better premium iPhone. We’re talking a variable aperture for more creative camera shots, a larger vapor chamber for improved sustained performance, and even longer battery life. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max also have a smaller Dynamic Island and come in eye-catching colors like Burgundy and Glacier.

Samsung didn’t reinvent the wheel with the Galaxy Z Flip 8, but it’s still the best flip-style foldable phone we’ve seen this year. It’s slightly slimmer, lighter, and easier to open and close. And the software has improved with new, thoughtful AI features that can help you be more efficient by suggesting actions based on your personal context.

Apple’s first foldable phone was worth the wait. Unlike other Android book-style foldables, the iPhone Duo has a barely visible crease on the inner display thanks to a nano-texture layer that also fends off reflections. The hinge is super smooth and can fold to various angles, which allows for different uses of the iPhone Duo. The best part is that Apple has optimized iOS 27 really well for the dual-screen device; multitasking feels incredibly intuitive.

The best iPad for the majority of tablet lovers is inevitably going to be the M4 iPad Air. Now with iPadOS 27, the mid-range tablet is the best bang for buck with excellent performance for everything from rendering to gaming, a compatible Magic Keyboard, and a slim frame. The new A20 Pro iPad mini makes for a great backup tablet, but the Air model still remains the best dedicated iPad for most people.

The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra is still a huge tray of a tablet at 14 inches, but good god is the screen stunning. Movies and websites look incredibly immersive, and despite the device’s ultra-thin design, it still packs in dual rear cameras, booming sound, and long battery life. Pair it with Samsung’s Pro Keyboard and an S Pen, and you’ve got a solid laptop replacement.

The tech underlying Amazon’s new Kindle Colorsoft hasn’t changed much, but its body sure has. It has a new flush screen design, a uniform plastic body, and a repositioned power button. Sure, you’re opting into the Kindle ecosystem here, but it’s hard to beat Amazon when it comes to sleek, easy-to-use e-readers.

If you’re looking for the one MacBook that’s still the best for everyone, it’s the M5 MacBook Air. There are more powerful options above and below it, but the slimmest MacBook is still an absolutely powerhouse for everyday work, and its slight frame makes it easy to take around in your backpack, on a plane, or wherever else.

The Asus Zenbook Duo takes a ludicrous concept and makes it extremely appealing. Using two OLED displays alongside a magnetic keyboard makes it easy to turn a simple 14-inch laptop into a massive two-screen setup at the drop of a hat. The Intel chip inside also proved great for everyday tasks, editing, and even some light gaming—just with even more screen than usual.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra doesn’t mess around, becoming one of the most premium laptops to arrive in 2026. Its solid shell, unique magnetic USB-C port, and ultra-bright screen are already enough to set it apart, but its Nvidia N1X chip is similarly interesting, offering some impressive GPU capabilities for gaming, AI, rendering, or other high-compute tasks.

Despite every major PC maker trying their hand at affordable laptops, the MacBook Neo remains unbeaten in every way that matters. It has a solid shell, a bright screen, good sound, and a trackpad that doesn’t make you rage. It also comes with a mobile chip that’s all the more incredible for the fact that other laptop chips still struggle to top it in terms of CPU capabilities for its sub-$1,000 price.

Razer’s top-end Blade 16 models are better than ever, not only for their slim size but also because they feature an Intel chip with better battery life than before. It’s a sleek gaming machine, yes, but its bright OLED screen makes it equally great for watching or generating content. It comes with a discrete Nvidia GPU, so depending on your model, you can expect some impressive graphics performance depending on how much you want to spend.

The latest iteration of the Mac mini is just as powerful as you’d expect it to be, given the inclusion of Apple’s latest M6 chip—which is to say it’s extremely powerful. Plus, it’s super light and small, and it has plenty of ports for daily use.

Googlebooks are still a nascent breed, and we’ll have to wait until the operating system is in a better state. However, our favorite Googlebook we used all year ended up being the Lenovo Googlebook 15, not just for its larger OLED display but because it packed extra features and ports in such a sturdy shell.

Despite newer handhelds offering better performance, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 defines its own spot with a brilliant OLED display, refined controls, and a bounty of upgrades that makes it feel extra comfortable. It’s one of the few handhelds released in 2026 that feels right for its (admittedly high) price point.

If you’re not familiar with open-back headphones, the H6 Air are a great way to get acquainted. The open earcup design of the H6 Air allows your ears room to breathe so you can still hear your surroundings when you game as well as your voice, which helps mitigate that muffled sound you get when your ears are blocked. It helps that the sound and sense of space on this gaming headset are great, and so is the mic quality.

The word ‘budget’ seems oxymoronoic in a year of mass component price hikes. Besides that, of the systems available, the iBuyPower Element Pulse X pre-built PC offers the right amount of performance with an excellent case.

Maingear’s reprised fishbowl case, packed with the latest and greatest components, made for our favorite gaming desktop tower of 2026. It manages great airflow, but added benefits like the separate stage for stacking your favorite Lego kits and the excellent cable management put it over Zero over the top.

When it comes to big, honking desktop replacement laptops, the Alienware 16 Area-51 has the competition beat. It claims great performance for its specs, plus the keyboard and display feel premium in ways that other laptops struggle to match up to.

Valve’s second version of its Steam Controller finally makes trackpad controls make sense. It’s one of the only controllers I can recommend for playing traditionally mouse-focused PC games. Plus, TMR joysticks and an all-around great feel make this controller worth the cost.

Sony’s flagship audio products are pricey; there’s no getting around that, but the good news is, for that price, you get nuanced, crisp sound and noise cancelling that competes with titans in that category like Bose. These wireless earbuds excel at the stuff that really matters in a pair of wireless earbuds.

Apple’s non-in-ear wireless earbuds got even better this year with 1.5x better active noise cancellation, richer sound quality, and 1 hour longer listening time on a single charge. The version with the wireless case even includes swipe volume controls. For the money, AirPods 5 offer the best value for ANC wireless earbuds without stretching into premium pricing.

Open wireless earbuds have exploded in recent years, and Bose is still at the forefront of that. Sure, the Ultra Open (2nd Gen) are pricey, but they improve on the original in every way. The sound is better, there’s more volume, and they look cooler thanks to some new colors and finishes.

Noise cancelling is a big deal in today’s world of earbuds and headphones, but that didn’t stop us from loving the WH-CH530, which is an affordable pair of on-ear headphones. The colors are fun, the sound is better, and with the snug fit, passive noise cancelling goes a long way for making up for the lack of active noise cancellation (ANC). You’d be hard pressed to find a better value at this price range.

Nothing put a “Pro” next to its Headphone 1, and the results are really something to get excited over. The Headphone 1 Pro are built for both the studio and everyday carry. The soundstage is big, there’s a useful feature that gives you a “flat” EQ with a push of a button, which is great for mixing, and the look… If you want to make a visual statement, these are the wireless headphones to do it with.

Ah, yes. The AirPods Max. They’re mighty in stature but also in their quality, with pristine sound and other-wordly ANC. They’re wildly expensive but also annoyingly nice to have on your head, and if you have an iPhone, they feel ever more worth the premium since the two play very nicely together.

Sonos is back in the game with its portable Play speaker. We love the Play for its look (Sonos is great at making minimalism seem classy instead of lazy) and its good all-around sound. Bonus points for its Wi-Fi capabilities, stereo capabilities, and its usefulness as surround sound with some Sonos soundbars.

Bose set out to eat Sonos’ lunch with its Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, and it got pretty darn close. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is a wired speaker with Wi-Fi capabilities, and, thanks to upfiring drivers, it has lots of oomph. They’re pricey, but if you have the money, they’re worth buying two for immersive stereo sound.

There are tons of wireless earbuds in the world, but the Ear 3a get our vote for the mix of audio quality, noise cancelling, and maybe most importantly, the style. While there are other wireless earbuds in this range that compete on sound and features, Nothing still knows how to make a gadget look special even if it’s technically more budget-friendly.

Bose’s noise-cancelling wired earbuds might be a lot pricier than your run-of-the-mill EarPods, but they also come with ANC, which is not something you get in every pair. If you can, get your hands on the Dewdrop Mint colorway for extra pizzazz.

Insta360’s turn toward every camera product once dominated by DJI has resulted in one of the best tracking cams available. It comes with two lenses—namely, a wide and telephoto lens—that allow for a variety of shots aided by its excellent subject tracking.

The new king of 360 cameras pushed the game even further with a larger sensor offering better low-light shooting. The Insta360 X6 also adds a bevy of linear shooting modes that help it stand above the competition.

Apple’s biggest and most rugged smartwatch got a major internal upgrade this year. It has new continuous heart rate monitoring thanks to a redesigned optical and electrical sensor, Siri AI connectivity from the S11 chip, longer battery life at up to 50 hours, and soon, it’ll have Audio Intelligence features. The Apple Watch Ultra is long overdue for a design refresh, but this year, all of these internal features suffice.

The pebble-shaped design is unchanged, but underneath the hood, the Pixel Watch 5 is a major upgrade over its predecessor. More RAM allows for smoother Gemini, a new GPS is 2x more accurate for route tracking, and there are several health guardian features that make it easier to monitor your health using the heart rate data. The most exciting feature is integration with the new Google Health app, which uses AI to make sense of all the Pixel Watch 5’s tracked data and then provide coaching and suggestions.

The Pebble Time 2 reminds us of olden days in a way that goes beyond mere nostalgia. The simple smartwatch offers excellent customizability with loads of community-made apps and watch faces. It’s fast, has heartbeat and step sensing, and shows you your phone notifications. It doesn’t need to do any more, especially considering its incredible multi-week-long battery life.

Oura has been the gold standard for smart rings, and with the Ring 5, the company took things to new heights by shrinking down the overall volume by 40%. Thinner and narrower, the Ring 5 looks more like a regular ring than one packed with electronics. Oura also redesigned the sensors to sit closer to your skin for more accurate heart rate and fitness tracking.

Challenging Whoop, Google’s Fitbit Air delivers a screenless health and fitness tracker that’s lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear for a week without needing a charge. Seriously, this may be the most comfortable wrist-based fitness tracker we’ve ever used. The wide range of replaceable band styles, including a Steph Curry and Pokémon Sleep edition, also adds to the device’s charm.

TP-Link’s Deco BE77 comes at a pretty standard price for a mesh router system and offers plenty of software options and port selection to put it above its competitors. Sure, these are big devices, but they’re not awful to look at, and they make up for their size by being super fast and stable. Plus, TP-Link offers tiered subscription plans to potentially save you a few bucks per month (depending upon your needs) over options like Eero.

Robovacs all seem to come with the same quirks and qualms, even the luxury ones—except Eufy’s Omni E35, that is. For once we found a robot vacuum that actually has great object avoidance and strong all-around mopping and sweeping. Add in the good battery life, Asthma & Allergy Friendly certification, and Matter compatibility, and you come out with a robovac that’s actually worth its luxury price.

Philips Hue makes some of the best standard smart lights around—and some of the wildest, more experimental ones, too. The Liane 360-degree rope light certainly isn’t for everyone, but it’s really showing off what smart lighting could be. It’s a worm-like string of lights that kind of looks like a flexible neon tube, hangable from a ceiling or wall. You’re guaranteed to see some jaws drop when your friends walk in.

Aqara’s Smart Lock U400 may look like lots of other smart locks, but its most impressive feature is invisible: you can just walk up to it with your iPhone in your pocket, and it’ll lock and unlock automatically. Samsung users can tap to unlock, and it’s got a fingerprint sensor if you want to take your phone out of the equation entirely. Best of all: it’s stable, fast, and easy to install.

Early robot lawn mowers were finicky and difficult to automate, but Segway’s worked out most possible kinks with its Navimow X4. This robot mower is actually fairly consistent in its mowing, with Network Real-Time Kinematics built in for relatively seamless navigation. It’s got an easy mapping system, is super quiet, and can handle even challenging yards.

Sonos is back in the game with its portable Play speaker. We love the Play for its look (Sonos is great at making minimalism seem classy instead of lazy) and its good all-around sound. Bonus points for its Wi-Fi capabilities, stereo capabilities, and its usefulness as surround sound with some Sonos soundbars.

The biggest upgrade to Amazon’s streaming stick this year is that it finally has a USB-C port. It’s got newly redesigned remote, too, which is a big enough quality-of-life update that it’s definitely worth considering. The stick itself runs on a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor and comes packed with a maximum of 8GB of internal storage. Otherwise, it supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and Bluetooth Low Energy for connectivity.

Say what you will about Meta and its smart glasses, but from a technical standpoint, they’re still the best show in town. The third-gen Ray-Ban Meta have more battery life and a few hardware tweaks that make them more comfortable, like adjustable temple tips. They’re the best generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses yet, even if they’re an iterative upgrade.

There were a surprising number of pairs of video glasses that came out this year, but the Viture 2 Pro are a great mix of everything you want at an entry-level price. With a micro OLED screen, 1,600 nits of brightness, and a 120Hz refresh rate, the display feels premium and is further buoyed by solid app support that allows a spatial computing-like experience and 3D video playback. Plus, if you wear glasses, the built-in diopters are a handy touch that competitors don’t have.

Valve is one of the few people in the headset space still thinking of gamers first. The Steam Frame is the lightest, most comfortable headset of its kind so far. While it lacks in battery life, it makes up for it with some of the best and easiest VR streaming from a PC available now thanks to its innovative dongle and foveated streaming capabilities.

Logitech’s innovative haptics-based gaming mouse is still the most exciting rodent tech we’ve seen all year. Their initial G Pro X2 Superstrike proved to be a unique and ultra-fast mouse with haptics-based clicks instead of the regular optical sensors. The X3 Superstrike redistributes some of the weight to make it better built for gaming pros. It’s the better product, but the X2 Superstrike is still available for less if you want to try out a completely unique clicking experience.

Nintendo’s penchant for getting weird with it brought us an unlikely favorite: a recreation of the company’s biggest flop ever. The Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 slots in either handheld, letting you play some of the original stereoscopic 3D console’s unique titles in a plastic body that recreates the original from its knobs and dials all the way down to its red filters. Let’s hope Nintendo can consider similar accessories for its other past consoles.

As far as printer tech goes, we’ve seen 3D printers take the maker space to a whole new level. Anker helped show us a new future with its first UV printer. It’s a homebound machine that can print on practically any material. It can also print multiple layers to create a 3D effect. We’re just hoping future UV printers can fix the odor and waste problems.

With many graphics cards becoming completely unaffordable in 2026, the best GPU to arrive this year is a mid-range Radeon RX 9070 GRE. It had already been available overseas, but its U.S. release brought us a card that is capable of 1440p gaming with its cut-down 12GB of VRAM. For all that, it manages to hold its own for its price point.

AMD’s best CPU for gaming didn’t need much of an upgrade, but that’s exactly what we go with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. While it’s not boasting the obscene core counts of the 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, its price point makes it easily the best bang for buck CPU when plugging into a desktop for gaming.

There are tons of agentic AI chatbots and services to choose from, but Hark rose to the top for a simple reason: it’s beautiful. Hardware won’t debut until 2027, but with the CEO of Figure AI leading the startup and a former Apple industrial designer heading up design, Hark Pro crept up without us expecting it. Turns out the best way to get you to hate AI is to make an interface that’s pretty, intuitive, and anticipating—something you’d actually want to engage with.

AI gadgets have tried quite a few form factors—pendants, pins, colorful rectangles—but wireless earbuds may be the most practical. Soundcore’s Liberty 5 Pro Max make a case for AI-forward gadgets by imbuing wireless earbuds with transcription, translation, and voice assistance and pairing them with a screen-clad case that lets you control and augment those features. One fun detail is that pairing the earbuds and the case together actually allow for two-way translation without having to share one gadget. It doesn’t hurt that the sound is solid and the noise cancellation is incredible, either.

The new hotness for TVs in 2026 was mini-RGB, a new type of backlit screen built to offer obscene brightness and deeper colors than an older QLED. Well, that’s exactly what Sony offered with its flagship Bravia 9 II. It’s an ultra-bright TV built with cinephiles in mind, and its quality anti-glare filters and performance finally manages to rival another high-end OLED.

There is a mountain of 240Hz OLED monitors available this year you can sort through, but my personal pick for a 27-inch gaming monitor comes from Lenovo, with its stellar glossy picture, high brightness, and reasonable price tag making it the best of all worlds.

Alienware went for broke with its 39-inch QD-OLED monitor. It maxes out at a WUHD resolution at 165Hz, but what’s best about this display is the pure image quality, with some great contrast and high brightness for HDR content. If you were looking for an absolutely stacked monitor in 2026, this is your best bet.