Gizmodo’s Best of IFA 2026 Awards: See the Winners

It’s only a concept device, but Tecno’s bezelless phone was fully working. Without any black borders around the display, it shows what the future of bar-style phones could look like if they’re all screen.

Nobody got to touch it and full specs weren’t announced, but the buzz around Xiaomi’s 18 Fold was still pretty strong. The book-style foldable could be a strong competitor for the upcoming foldable iPhone, at least outside of the U.S.

Touted by Lexar as the “world’s thinnest SSD,” the Lexar Muse Ultra-Slim Portable SSD tapers from 3.8mm at its center to 1mm on the sides. It’s a portable SSD, so it can be used with any device like a laptop for storage, but we’re awarding it our favorite mobile accessory at IFA 2026 because it also comes with a MagSafe sleeve that bolts it to an iPhone for recording 4K ProRes video. Its 1,050 MB/s read and 1,000 MB/s write speeds are super fast, too.

On the surface, Belkin’s UltraCharge Pro Slim Power Bank looks like another slim battery bank with 5,000mAh or 10,000mAh capacities. But inside, it’s using semi-solid-state battery technology that not only allows it to be more compact than other similarly sized battery banks, it should also last up to 3x longer than other battery banks over time.

Lenovo’s ultra-colorful IdeaPad Vibe laptops ooze personality from every pore, including the keycaps. These lightweight laptops include swappable keycaps and plenty of ports, made to be the kind of everyday laptop that doesn’t make you feel like a creature in a cubicle.

We’ve already seen laptops extend vertically, so why not horizontally? Lenovo’s Project Swan concept unfurls its wings thanks to a flexible display hidden in the lid, turning a 14-inch laptop into a 17-inch ultrawide screen with more real estate than normal.

Just like the new IdeaPad Vibe, the IdeaCentre AIO i is packing in a relatively affordable processor into a very cute, very colorful screen. The all-in-one desktop comes in either 24- or 27-inch sizes and supports an Intel Core 7 350 processor that’s good enough for daily tasks. A curated selection of ports round out a relatively cheap desktop that will actually accent your desk setup.

Epomaker’s retro-themed RT series of mechanical keyboards already look excellently old school with a miniature screen shaped like a CRT monitor. The Epomaker RT75 makes it even better since you can remove the TFT screen and instead replace it with more switches. Plus, it feels great with either of Epomaker’s tactile or silent switches.

Eufy’s Omni E35 has some cool stuff going on. Inside of the robot’s dustbin is a miniature cyclonic filter for separating dust from debris, the kind you see on many stick vacuums. It also features 35,000Pa suction, which is among the highest in the industry, and is the first—and so far, only—robot vacuum to be certified as “Asthma & Allergy Friendly” by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, making it potentially a great choice for anyone who suffers from such things.

Eufy gets the nod in the robot vacuum category for its triple navigation system that uses LiDAR, NRTK, and vision cameras to ensure it can keep mowing even without a satellite connection, and the fact that it not only has an edge-trimming arm on its side, but because it can edge trim vertically and horizontally.

Battery life isn’t everything in a pair of wireless headphones, but when you can get up to 90 hours (60 hours with noise cancellation), it’s a feat worth noting. In addition to a beefy battery, the Beyerdynamic Aventho Y have a USB-C dongle for low-latency streaming that tucks inside the earcups and a lot of repairable, modular touches that make them feel well worth the $150 price tag.

Sleep tracking without a wearable is what the Anker Soundcore SleepLab Pro promises. Using a 60GHz radar, Anker says this sleep-focused speaker can track heart rate and sleep stages and (naturally) play soothing sounds to lull you to sleep. It’s an ambitious speaker, but products like this are what IFA is all about.

Open wireless earbuds are all the rage these days, and Anker Soundcore’s AeroClip 2 get a boost from the company’s Thus chip, which should improve call quality greatly. Calling isn’t the sexiest feature, but it’s one of the best use cases for open earbuds, and being able to take calls without your voice being drowned out by background noise is enticing.

Eufy’s Video Doorbell S4 is tough to beat. It features a 180-degree 3K fisheye camera, making it possible to see basically everything in front of your door. There’s also a mode where you can zoom in on its picture slightly using the Eufy app, then tilt your phone to look around the image.

There’s not much special about the Eufy Window Camera E10—it’s plug-in-only, records 2.5K video, and although it tilts, the tilt is entirely manual, using a small dial on the back. What’s cool about it, though, is where and how you place it. The Window Camera E10 just attaches, via hook-and-loop, to a sticky ring you slap on your window, making it one of the easiest outdoor-watching security cameras we’ve ever seen.

Anker is taking a stab at a full-on smart home ecosystem, complete with an AI voice assistant, with the MindBase. Resembling a large tower router, it’s got a built-in 26 TOPS AI chipset that enables local control, as well as natural language search of both your security camera footage (up to 16 cameras) and files stored locally on internal storage or any NAS-style hard drives you might add. The MindBase is also Matter-compatible, so you’ll be able to integrate and control any Matter smart home devices with it.

Philips Hue’s Liane 360° Indoor Rope Light is a delightful, thick rope light that’s super bendy and comes with clips that let you arrange it in snakey shapes on your wall. Besides being just a neat kind of light, it also outputs bright, even lighting and features very smooth color gradients, all the way around its tubey form.

The SwitchBot Lock Ultra Max sounds like a great retrofit smart lock. It’s got a super-fast unlock speed, two built-in back-up batteries, and like its predecessor, the Lock Ultra, you can buy an adapter to slip it on over existing locks’ thumbturns. Combined with the company’s Keypad Vision Pro accessory, SwitchBot claims the Lock Ultra Max offers 19 different ways to unlock it.

Several big projectors at IFA 2026 promised to finally hit 4K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. While several could claim better brightness specs than the Xgimi Aura 3 Max, the short-throw projector also offers better contrast in the resulting image thanks to its dual-iris optical system. The Aura 3 Max also supports all major HDR standards and even has a Filmmaker Mode at a much more reasonable price point.

The Canvas L HiFi soundbar easily blew away its competition in terms of pure raw sound quality. Yes, it’s an absolutely massive sound system, but Canvas tries to hide the humongous boombox look with a few wooden slats that are supposed to work with Samsung’s high-end TVs. Even without the facade, the Canvas L with its Bacch 3D+ spatial audio sounded clear and full in person.

While there are more companies promising 1080p LCD monitors that can hit well above 1,000Hz, Alienware is trying something different for pro gamers. The Alienware AW2527HX is an OLED display with a high brightness spec in both SDR and HDR that can top out at a 500Hz refresh rate. You have to give Alienware credit for trying to change the esports landscape, even if pro gamers may be loathe to change.

Acer’s Predator Atlas 7 is essentially a slimmed-down version of the Predator Atlas 8, but being smaller does not necessarily mean it’s worse. The gaming handheld PC still hits the same top 40W TDP and can come with either an Intel Arc G3 or Arc G3 Extreme chip. The Atlas 8 is going to cost $1,300, so we’re hoping the Atlas 7 can come in at a more reasonable price.

DJI’s first 360 camera was already pretty good, but with a few tweaks the Osmo 360 II is set to be a much better shooter. It’s promising the ability to shoot at 8K and 60 fps—something the competition still lacks—plus better low-light performance. Also, you can finally replace the 360 camera’s lenses if they ever get damaged.

In a world dominated by the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch, more smartwatch choice is always a good thing. Motorola’s Moto Ultra has a 1.5-inch round screen, a Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chip, built-in LTE, and most importantly, runs Wear OS 6 so you can access all the apps you need. The smartwatch also comes with two AI assistants, Google’s Gemini and Motorola’s Quira.

Available in Slim and Pro options, the Circular Ring 3 is noticeably more compact compared to the previous Ring 2 series and supports two features other smart rings like the Oura Ring 5 don’t have: NFC for mobile payments and vibrations for alarms, medication reminders, and other health-based alerts and notifications. Battery life also lasts 12 days, up from 7 days.

RayNeo is getting deeper into the smart glasses game with the iO. If you’re put off by camera glasses, there’s good news: these are camera-free. They do have a display, though, making them akin to other display glasses like Even Realities’ Even G2. The addition of a “smart crown dial” for controlling the UI is a nice touch.

Wireless earbuds are agentic now. The Plaud One Explorer Edition are a pair of AI earbuds that not only record meetings, but can actually take actions on your behalf—drafting emails, making presentations, etc… AI gadgets are only as good as the AI inside them, but in theory, these are a pair of wireless earbuds that people who take a lot of meetings could find useful.

If you thought the Boox Palma smartphone-sized e-reader was petite, the Boox Picco is absolutely micro. The e-reader with a 3.97-inch screen is so small in the hand that you can easily pocket it on the go and get a bit of reading done on the bus or train.

Lenovo’s Yoga Tab Plus Gen 2 may finally be one of those Android tablets that can claim to meet or beat devices like the iPad Pro. It features a 13-inch 4K display, the highest-end Qualcomm mobile chip, and a new feature-packed pen and keyboard attachment that actually has us considering it as a potential laptop replacement.

Dyson’s CameraJet is exactly what you’d expect from the company’s first electric toothbush. It has an AI camera that assists a water flossing function—every time the CameraJet sees a space, it deploys a jet of mouthrinse, so you can water floss as you go. There’s even a live camera feature so you can see inside your mouth, which feels very unnecessary but could be great if you want to get weird with it.

The Dyson Corrale CoolShine hair straightener improves on its 2020 predecessor with a new cooling attachment that—you guessed it—cools your hair down as soon as heat is applied to straighten your precious locks of hair. Dyson says it helps prevent hair damage from heat and makes hair appear shinier and stay locked into place for up to 24 hours. The straightener is also no longer cordless, which was a major complaint about the original model.

Hypershell has finally come out of its shell with the Halo. The new exoskeleton features motors centered on the knees and cuffs that sit on your calves to better enhance mobility when tackling ramps or stairs. The assistive movement technology also dampens the impact of short drops and makes it easier to get up from sitting, making it a versatile device for people who want to hike but suffer from knee issues.

Most people won’t need to upgrade their networks to Wi-Fi 8 yet, but if you’re looking toward the future, the Archer 8 Ultra is leading the pack with 18 “high-performance antennas” that can deliver “up to 19 Gbps of aggregate wireless speeds and 10 Gbps wired connectivity,” according to TP-Link. Fast Wi-Fi speeds are only part of the appeal of Wi-Fi 8; reliable and expansive coverage that doesn’t drop out is another reason to consider next-gen networking gear.

Dreame’s best known for its robot vacuums, but at IFA 2026, it announced the LumaTempo, a smart fish tank. Yes, really! By smart, you get 20 customizable lighting modes, control of the built-in feeder, and a way to monitor the tank’s water temperature, all via an app. It’s not for everyone, but definitely for someone.

iRobot’s Roomba Duo may be just a concept, but it’s one of the coolest and most practical-seeming robots we saw at IFA 2026. It’s a large, two-stage, can-shaped robot vacuum that can vacuum and steam clean carpets. When it’s time to go places the big bot can’t, the Roomba Duo pulls its head off and places it on the ground, releasing a smaller robot vacuum to go take care of areas under furniture or between chair legs.

We stumbled on the Universe Time and found it to be a delightful throwback to Sharper Image catalog widgets and gizmos that you might find on desktop offices—little trinkets that delight you with a simple trick of physics. The Universe Time uses magnetic levitation to hover a small, spinning ball over a mostly featureless, gray “clock.” You can watch as the ball circles the face at a pace of seconds, minutes, or hours, and if you choose a planet in its connected smartphone app, it matches the spin of that planet, at least according to Gravity.

When we think of handheld PCs, we rarely consider actually plugging them into a monitor to use them as we would a “personal computer.” Acer’s DualPlay Mini concept is extra surprising in-person for how well it’s designed, from the center-hinged screen to the relatively spacious keyboard. With a few tweaks to the ergonomics, the DualPlay Mini could change the way we think about gaming handhelds.