CES 2026 Best in Show Innovations Revealed

Las Vegas delivered again. CES 2026 produced a select group of breakthrough products that tell us where consumer and enterprise tech is headed next. From AI-first PCs and mind-blowing displays to shape-shifting phones and high-tech real-world robots, damn if some of this year’s standouts weren’t already ready for prime time.

Why These Winners Matter for the Tech Landscape

The Consumer Technology Association promotes CES as the proving ground for innovation, and this year’s “best in show” class honed three themes: practical AI you can hold, modular designs that fight e-waste, and robotics with a purpose for real humans. The unifying theme is what might be called useful sophistication—smarter, more durable, and more sustainable.

AI PCs and Hybrid Assistants Make Their Debut

Intel’s Core Ultra 300 Series “Panther Lake” platform also got some coverage, leading with a promise of a generational leap in integrated graphics with a rumored maximum of 12 Xe3 cores. The pitch is simple: slimmer laptops that game, create, and train AI models locally, without a noisy GPU.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon debuted a Space Frame form factor that is more serviceable. Exchanging parts instead of the whole machine isn’t just good engineering—it’s smart economics and environmentally friendly, a view that is being echoed by sustainability researchers and right-to-repair advocates.

HP’s EliteBoard G1a is rethinking the keyboard PC with modern mini-PC muscle featuring AMD Ryzen AI 300 silicon, as much as 64GB of memory, and up to 2TB storage crammed inside a portable typing deck. It’s a vintage concept with modern performance—great for mobile workstations and front-of-house applications.

AI also made its way into the software layer. Qira, from Lenovo, takes a hybrid tack—on-device inference for privacy and speed with a cloud component that handles heavier lifting—in line with the way the platform players are all headed. Analysts at both IDC and Gartner have identified this hybrid approach as the sweet spot for user confidence and engagement.

Displays and GPUs Power the Next Wave of Computing

Dell’s UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Monitor (U5226KW) raised the bar for desk-bound canvases: an ultrawide 52-inch, 6K panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, IPS Black contrast, and connections to juggle several feeds at once. It’s mission control on a single slab of glass, for editors and traders and engineers.

Unapologetically extreme at the component edge, MSI’s GeForce RTX 5090 32G Lightning Z is rated for 1,000 watts; it features a 360mm liquid radiator and copper water block with an 8-inch on-card display. Overkill for the vast majority of builds, but a lighthouse for overclockers who like headroom.

Foldables and Rollables Finally Get Practical Designs

Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold felt like the most polished portrayal of pocket-to-tablet metamorphosis—a typical phone that unfurls to something about the size of a 10-inch screen. Hardware refinement: the last time I truly enjoyed a two-in-one was as a demo; it’s now fun to finally have that in my daily driver.

On the gaming front, Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept brings ultrawide immersion to laptops. Rollable OLED has teased the realm of the possible for some time—and seeing it lined up as a companion to portable esports and content creation points toward where premium notebooks are going.

Robots That Are Ready for Real Work Arrive at Scale

Of the humanoids on display, Boston Dynamics’ Atlas was remarkable both for its smooth walking and for a relatively near-term plan to deploy. Hyundai’s production model is going to Hyundai factories, representing movement away from YouTube videos and toward quantifiable productivity in industry.

There was a meaningful step forward in household autonomy. Roborock’s Saros Rover can climb and clean stairs—a well-known edge case for robot vacuums—thanks to bent, independently controlled legs. Beatbot’s AquaSense X unveiled the first self-emptying pool cleaner dock, flushing filters and bagging debris so owners don’t have to.

Health and Accessibility Breakthroughs Take Center Stage

Peri, a wearable for people who are perimenopausal, tracks problems including hot flashes and night sweats in order to suggest interventions—from lifestyle changes to conversations about hormone therapy. It’s a vivid case of women’s health finally receiving sensors and software built just for them.

Dephy’s Sidekick exoskeleton—a pair of “bionic footwear” that support the calf with each step—provided instant, confidence-building reinforcement in demos. With an eye toward granting real freedom and independence, Strutt’s Ev1 mobility scooter injects some autonomous mapping and obstacle avoidance into the mix to answer a core accessibility need with accessible tech.

Jennie, Tombot’s realistic robot puppy, continues to demonstrate potential in dementia care with its soothing, responsive interaction. Meanwhile, in a similarly proactive wellness vein, Satellai’s collar and Petsense AI are designed to alert owners to nuanced behavior changes in their pets before they become apparent issues.

Smart Home and Daily Usefulness Get Thoughtful Upgrades

Samsung’s S95H OLED TV wowed us with its claimed 35% bump in brightness, support for both wired and wireless modes, and anti-burn-in tech strong enough to moonlight as an art display. For audio, the Samsung Music Studio 5 combines a 4-inch woofer, dual tweeters, and ecosystem codecs into an elegant single-speaker package.

Not every winner was grand and flashy. Ecoldbrew produces cold brew in five minutes through a combined grinder and brewer that screws onto a standard thermos, while Lego’s Smart Play brick brings light, sound, and proximity sensing to classic builds to transform them into interactive games.

On the safety side, Allergen Alert unveiled a portable device about the size of an EpiPen that for now costs approximately $200, but which can be brought to bear on samples of food to determine whether they have been contaminated with allergens—technology licensed from a leading biotech outfit. If execution meets the promise, we could be looking at a must-carry for families dealing with serious allergies.

Power and the Sensor Edge Show Bold Ideas and Demos

Willo showed alignment-free wireless power that can charge multiple moving devices, no coil or pad needed. This is very early days and will still need to go through regulatory approvals as well as safety vetting, but the demo suggests genuinely room-scale charging situations that standards bodies like the FCC will scrutinize quite carefully.

And for those looking into AI companions, Lepro’s Ami focuses on human-like interactions as opposed to accomplishing tasks—a good reminder that assistants don’t have to be focused on tools, especially when they can provide value by being there even if nothing is being done at all.

What Comes Next as These CES Innovations Hit Reality

The ultimate litmus test for any CES darling is in how it ships: cost, availability, longevity, and software polish. As AI PCs gain maturity, foldables harden up, and robots tackle unsexy drudgework, 2026 is shaping up to be a year when headline tech becomes household tech. We’ll be keeping an eye on how these winners fare outside the convention hall—and which of them rewrites expectations once they land on actual desks, in actual homes, and on actual factory floors.