We've Found the Coolest, Most Futuristic Tech at CES 2026. And the Show Just Started

Razer's always good for a couple of neat concepts at every CES, though they don't necessarily work well as eventual products. The first one is Project Ava, a hologram-in-a-tube avatar that works with AI software, essentially giving your chatbot a face (and body too). 

On one hand, it's definitely cool-looking (if you can get past the mental cringe visual of clones in tanks), and the fact that it's holographic. On the other hand, I find things that move (or flicker) in my peripheral vision to be distracting. I would also just prefer my AI respond in bullet points. As I have been frequently told, however, I am not typical.

"It's not as weird as you'd think. Or maybe it is." That's how Scott Stein summarizes his impression of Razer's headphones with cameras, intended as a kind of, well, alternative to smart glasses. 

One way to use them is while you game to offer real-time advice. Scott suggested they'd be good for people who have extreme prescriptions for their eyeglasses, which a lot of smart versions don't support, and he should know. 

I've been obsessing about cats for decades (I used to do adoptions for a rescue), and I've been looking at CES pet tech almost as long. The AI Tails smart food and drink system for felines doesn't look perfect -- I have questions -- but at least it's bringing some useful new capabilities to your cat's table. 

It can measure your cat's food and water intake, temperature and facial expressions to notice any deviations from the norm. And it's got some style, too.

Can smart locks be cool? I'm not sure, but if any qualify, it's these, which are useful for doors where you can't run wires, like apartments, and use optical wireless charging to top up. Plus, they look pretty sleek to me. 

I don't know a lot about smart locks, but Ajay Kumar does, so when he calls it "ingenious," I believe him. If it's the wireless charging that appeals, the DeslocV150 Plus charges off solar power.

Wearable displays are a growing trend for a lot of reasons, but generally because when a display's that close to your eyes, things look huge without the corresponding physical display size. So they're great for gaming with a handheld console; Xreal's got updated glasses to pair with the Nintendo Switch 2 at the show, too, for example.

TCL's new $299 RayNeo Air Pro 4 glasses take it up a notch, bringing bright, vivid micro-OLED screens that can hit up to 1,200 nits of brightness. They're relatively inexpensive, but that's because they're wired rather than wireless.

Read more: TCL's New Display Glasses Are the First I've Seen With HDR, and the View Is Vivid

I've been testing robotic webcams for a while, but none of them will nod at you encouragingly or play peekaboo. Honor's Robot phone promises to, with its collapsible camera and gimbal, among (hopefully) other things. Announced as a concept in October, it arrived for in-person viewing at CES -- though no touching was allowed. I'm not sure I can fully grasp the usefulness of it, but its capabilities are not yet clear. However, it certainly earns props for being "the most unconventional phone design" Katie Collins has seen in years.

At Mobile World Congress in February, the company is supposed to divulge specs, so we'll wait and see.

Read more: Honor's Audacious Robot Phone Is Real and I Just Got a First Glimpse

An ice maker always finds its way on our list of coolest products at CES -- after all, they're literally the coolest appliances in a show packed full of domestic wares. The Leopard X1 churns out "cubes of frozen water" in under 5 minutes, "a full 3 minutes faster than any other at-home bullet ice maker on the market," according to Home and Kitchen guru David Watsky, who timed it in action.

It'll be available in April for $150.

Read more: The Coolest Thing at CES? You Won't Believe How Fast This Ice Maker Makes Ice

Describing it as "a Tamagotchi-inspired pocket pet, an AI companion that grows physically bigger as it matures," the Sweekar starts as an egg that you hatch, revealing a screen with eyes, then grows as it ages -- and dies if you neglect it. 

It will be available via Kickstarter later this year for $150.

Read more: Finally, I've Found a Worthy Successor to My Iconic '90s Tamagotchi

We've been seeing boatloads of domestic laundry-folding robot concepts at CES over the years (or cleaning, lawn mowing and so on), but this is one of the first multifunctional models to come from a major appliance manufacturer. According to the company, CLOiD can handle tasks such as "retrieving milk from the fridge, placing a croissant in the oven for breakfast and folding and stacking garments after laundering," as well as coordinate with other smart appliances in LG's ThinQ ecosystem. I have a dumb home, so I just like the aesthetics.

Read more: Everyone Wants a Robot That Folds Laundry. LG Brought Its First One to CES 2026

Solid state batteries use a solid material to pass ions between the nodes of a battery, compared to the liquid electrolyte used by, say, alkaline and lithium batteries. The solid chemistry allows them to hold more charge in a given size battery, be less volatile and cheaper to produce, along with host of other advantages. Donut Labs has paired with Verge Motorcycles to incorporate the new battery in its Verge TS Pro electric motorcycle.

According to CNET transportation maestro Antuan Goodwin, "Solid state battery tech making its way onto the road is a huge deal, even if motorcycles aren't your thing. The battery's advantages are even more pronounced on larger cars, where the weight savings and increased charging speeds should scale even more."

Read more: This Phone-Sized Solid State Battery Is Already Powering a Production EV

While it shipped elsewhere in December, the dual-folding, three-panel Galaxy Z TriFold we've been eagerly anticipating was available for us to get our grubby American paws on for the first time at CES. After using it for a while, Abrar Al-Heeti, who's tested a lot of phones over the years, said, "At last, it seems foldables are approaching their long-desired goal: a two-in-one device that fits neatly in your pocket."

It's slated to ship in the US by the end of March; the price is still unknown.

Read more: This May Be the Phone-Tablet Hybrid We've Been Waiting For