The Best Devices of January 2026

In the world of client tech, Christmas is available in January. Not actually, however CES, which takes place simply after the New Year, tends to precipitate devices in volumes that will make even Santa say, “Damn, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?”

This yr—to nobody’s shock—wasn’t any completely different, and in the event you’re the kind of one who loves gawking at new tech, properly, there was so much to gawk at—and never all of it was due to CES. For your ogling functions (shout out to all of the oglers), we’ve gone forward and compiled the most effective devices we noticed this previous month, and boy, had been there so much.

I didn’t count on Lego to make its option to our month-to-month “best gadgets” listing, however right here we’re. At CES 2026 (the corporate’s first-ever CES), Lego unveiled a sensible brick that’s full of sensors, permitting it to work together with different sensible tiles which can be close by. The result’s an interactive Lego expertise with lights and sound that’s not like something Lego has achieved earlier than. Plus, Lego is prioritizing discovery, permitting builders to experiment by introducing sensible bricks and tiles throughout universes. What occurs whenever you put a T-Rex subsequent to an X-Wing? There’s just one option to discover out.

On one hand, it appears unsuitable to make sensible Legos in an outdated man waving your fist on the sky sort of manner, however I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I wasn’t intrigued concerning the prospects.

See Smart Bricks at LEGO

Open-ear audio is nice in loads of methods, but when there’s one factor that it’s been sorely missing, it’s noise cancellation. The motive that open wi-fi earbuds historically haven’t had noise cancellation is as a result of they only don’t go in your ears—they sit on the skin. The loopy geniuses at Shokz appear to have discovered a option to sidestep all of that, although, giving their most up-to-date open-ear wi-fi earbuds “noise reduction” tech.

I attempted the OpenMatch Pro wi-fi earbuds on the present ground at CES 2026 and was impressed with their degree of noise cancellation in addition to their sound. Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds have lengthy been one in every of my favourite open wi-fi earbuds, however Shokz seems poised to unseat Bose, particularly since they’re newer, cheaper, they usually have noise discount.

See Shokz OpenMatch Pro at Best Buy

Leave it as much as Lenovo to up the ante within the wacky laptop computer sport. This yr, the corporate pushed the boundaries (no pun supposed) with a rollable laptop computer display screen for avid gamers, turning its Legion Pro 7i into one thing ridiculous.

The Legion Pro Rollable expands from a 16-inch gaming laptop computer to an ultrawide orientation of as much as 24 inches in “arena” mode. This isn’t Lenovo’s first experiment with a rollable display screen, however it’s the first time gearing the entire rollable factor towards a gaming laptop computer. The wild half is that the Legion Pro Rollable would possibly truly get made, too, at the very least if its ThinkBook Gen 6 Rollable is any indication.

After 5 lengthy years, Apple has up to date its AirTag, bringing a number of perks to its solely official merchandise tracker. First, there’s a brand new Ultra Wideband chip, which permits the brand new AirTag to be situated from 50% farther away in comparison with earlier generations. There’s additionally improved Bluetooth and Precision Finding, which works with Apple Watch Series 9 or later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later.

If that wasn’t sufficient of an improve, Apple additionally made its new AirTag louder—like, so much louder. According to Apple, the brand new AirTags at the moment are loud sufficient that they are often heard from “up to 2x farther away” in comparison with the unique.

Luckily, Apple is pricing the brand new AirTag the identical as the unique, that means you may get one for $29 or a four-pack for $99. Better and cheaper? Say no extra.

See AirTag (2nd Gen) at Amazon

Fender Mix

Fender made its entry into the over-ear wi-fi headphone sport with the Fender Mix this previous month, and its first product seems like a surprisingly sturdy begin. Maybe my favourite factor concerning the Fender Mix is that it comes with a USB-C dongle stashed contained in the earcups that permits for hi-fi playback with very low latency.

On prime of that, the Fender Mix additionally give attention to modularity, permitting customers to swap out earcups, headbands, and the battery when it begins to lose cost completely, as batteries do over time. From my temporary listening time with them at CES, they sound fairly good, too. Fender would possibly simply be licensing its identify for these wi-fi headphones, however the Mix could show that a little bit little bit of branding isn’t a foul factor.

It’s onerous to imagine, however Samsung’s tri-screen foldable is an actual factor with an actual worth, we received an opportunity to see it for ourselves. At almost $3,000, the Galaxy Z TriFold can and will push the boundaries, and from our hands-on time, that’s precisely what Samsung did.

When folded, the Galaxy Z TriFold has a 6.5-inch cowl display screen, however when unfurled, it expands right into a 10-inch pill. Sure, this factor continues to be a tank when it’s closed up, however when totally open, it’s extremely skinny. There are nonetheless loads of query marks that should be answered earlier than we will name the Galaxy Z TriFold a breakthrough (battery life, for one), however so far as cellphone improvements go, Samsung actually gave us one thing to be enthusiastic about.

See Galaxy Z TriFold at Samsung.com

Lenovo isn’t having all of the enjoyable within the wacky laptop computer world. Asus’ Zenbook Duo takes laptops to new heights (actually) with a dual-screen setup that sits vertically. To unlock the facility of the Zenbook Duo, all you need to do is detach the magnetic keyboard to disclose one other OLED display screen beneath after which prop the entire thing up with a kickstand. Oh, and you should use it book-style, too. Because, why not?

It’s excessive, nevertheless it’s additionally sort of superior in the event you’re the kind of one who needs to work away from dwelling however doesn’t like leaving the consolation of two displays. Not to say, it’s additionally surprisingly performant due to Intel’s Panther Lake chip. Sure, you need to be cool with being That Guy, whenever you use the Zenbook Duo, however so long as you’re okay going there, there’s so much to like in one in every of Asus’ wackiest laptops to this point.

Racing simulation is a complete factor, however simply because folks spend ungodly sums of cash to get near the expertise of burning rubber IRL doesn’t imply common outdated controllers can’t have some enjoyable.

The GameSir Swift Drive shoves a steering wheel inside a controller, and whereas which will sound like a questionable concept, Gizmodo Staff Writer Kyle Barr received an opportunity to make use of this factor at CES, and the outcomes are fairly nice. Inside this controller, there’s a miniaturized drive motor and three different haptic motors that supply a extra tangible driving expertise when utilizing the wheel. Other key variations embody using a small nub as a substitute of the fitting thumbstick, which needs to be effective since all you’re doing is racing with the Swift Drive.

The GameSir Swift Drive gained’t be accessible till the second half of 2026, and it’ll probably value round $150, however in the event you’re on the lookout for a greater option to race with an everyday controller, this might be your one-way ticket to a extra immersive expertise.

It’s onerous to get excited over work laptops, however that doesn’t imply they’re all created equally. Lenovo’s ThinkPad P1 Gen 8 is a minimize above. Sure, it’s not probably the most performant laptop computer you should buy, nevertheless it’s received a 3.2K OLED display screen, an excellent keyboard, and it’s comparatively skinny and light-weight so far as workstations go.

Like different ThinkPads, the P1 Gen 8 has all of the attraction of a jet fighter, however these are enterprise laptops, in any case. If you need one thing wacky, you should buy one in every of Lenovo’s bizarre rolling display screen machines.

Is Ikea’s donut lamp probably the most high-tech gadget on the earth? No, no, it’s not. But typically type goes a good distance, and the Varmblixt lamp has that in spades. While a earlier model solely got here in an amber colour, a brand new model can shift between colours, which is nice if you might want to change up the vibe. And sure, it’s Matter suitable.

It’s a little bit expensive at $99, however to cite one Homer Simpson: mmm, donuts.