What impressed me most at CES 2026: 10 innovations worth watching

CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is a weeklong event in Las Vegas where brands from all over the world, including Italy, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and more, come together to showcase the latest and greatest in tech innovation. Think robot dogs, self-cleaning vacuums, self-driving cars, and more, all taking over the Strip in Las Vegas.

This year, thanks to Qualcomm and Snapdragon, I was able to attend my first-ever CES as the founder of Nakhra, and below, you’ll find the 10 innovations that most impressed me at the event. These aren’t the biggest, shiniest, or “coolest” ones—these are the ones I think consumers will get the most use out of.

1) Snapdragon X2 Series Chip‍

I can’t start this article without talking about Snapdragon, who graciously invited me to tour their exhibit featuring the new X2 chip and the power it brings. The X2 Elite chip was released last year, and a bunch of new laptops from Samsung to HP carry it. That said, if you’re an everyday laptop user and want something more affordable, you’ll want to pick up one of the latest laptops with the X2 Plus chip. It carries immense power but comes in at a more affordable price point —  worry, all-day battery life and a seamless app experience are still guaranteed.

2) LEGO Smart Bricks

‍I absolutely love building LEGO (even though I’m really not the best at it), but the main reason I enjoy it so much is the storytelling aspect behind it — creating worlds and characters and concocting some crazy make-believe story involving my LEGO bricks. LEGO’s latest smart bricks bring this to life, adding sound and changing the way LEGO behaves to create a tactile storytelling experience. LEGO Smart Bricks are the building blocks for LEGO’s new Smart Play system. They pack in synthesizers, a color-recognition scanner, and a built-in accelerometer. A smart brick can bring a helicopter or a race car to life, depending on which new smart set you purchase.

3) NuraLogix Longevity Mirror‍

Ever wanted to keep an eye on your health but don’t want to go to the doctor? Backed by 50,000 clinical studies, this neuro-longevity mirror uses Transdermal Optical Imaging (TOI) to read changes in blood flow under your skin to make near-accurate predictions about your health. This includes your cardiovascular health, biological age, metabolic health, and even your stress levels. My scan gave me a longevity score of 88% and let me know that I was not at risk of anything, including hypertension or fatty liver disease — which was cool to hear.

4) Samsung Micro RGB TVs‍

Samsung announced the very first 130-inch Micro RGB TVs at CES this year. Micro RGB is a really cool technology, basically using no additional color filter to deliver clear visuals. Both the brightness and the preciseness of colors are nothing like I’ve seen before, and the contrast looks great, too. If you were to place this TV under a bright light source, you would still get balanced visuals every time. Samsung also says the TV adds depth and dimension to movies and TV shows like never before. Previously, you could only shop a 115-inch Micro RGB model from Samsung, but the brand is bringing more apartment-friendly models to the market this year as well.

5) Aiper EcoSurfer Senti‍

Ever step into a pool and have to worry about manually cleaning up fallen leaves, stray bugs, and anything else that somehow creeps onto the surface of clean blue water? Aiper’s new pool skimmer is built to solve exactly that problem. The brand is known for its powerful pool robot cleaners, including one they released this year that packs AI technology for smarter cleaning — whether that’s getting to tiny bits of debris along the edge or managing weekly cleaning schedules with ease. For me, the winner was the EcoSurfer Senti, the world’s first AI-powered skimmer that also doubles as a water management tool. It won’t just automatically clean and pick up debris across waters — it will also test water quality instantly to let you know whether the pool is safe for use, making it extremely easy to maintain a larger pool.

6) Dreo Misting Fan

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‍I love Dreo’s tower fan — I’ve used it for years. This year at CES, the brand debuted its upcoming Dreo misting fans, which can run a full seven hours, offering comfortable cooling all night long. I stood in front of the misting feature and immediately thought I was in front of an air conditioner. The fan oscillates, has a sleek design, and is whisper-quiet, which makes it a must-have in any apartment. Right now, Dreo is coming out with two sizes: one that can sit on your desk and one that’s larger and works more like their tower fan design.

7) Fender Elie 6 Speaker‍

Fender’s Elie speaker doesn’t just look great — it offers room-filling sound in an extremely compact design. I had the chance to test these out at CES and loved the big bass, which sounded clear even at high volumes, and the speaker’s ability to deliver clean sound, even on heavier rock tracks. You can pair two Elie speakers for an even more immersive listening experience, and the way I’d describe these Fender speakers is that they’re built for a listening experience — they're not background speakers. This audio device has a wooden top, tactile controls, and can even be paired with accessories (which the brand plans to release), making it an all-in-one device for both creators and casual music listeners.

8) Samsung GalaxyZ TriFold

‍Okay, might be cheating to mention Samsung twice, but if you saw the trifold phone in person, you’d want to do the same. This triple-screen phone is almost as large as a tablet (with a 10-inch screen) and has so much screen real estate that you can multitask across various apps at once without missing a beat. Like the Fold, the crease is a little visible (as it will be on any foldable phone), but once you have a video playing, you’ll barely notice it. The phone folds neatly and fits into your pocket with no issues, despite its slightly thick design. It runs on the Snapdragon 9 Elite processor, which not only gives your phone all-day battery life but makes it run lag-free for hours and converts your phone into a mini-laptop — yes, really. Just add a Bluetooth keyboard and you’re good to go.

9) Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow Series

‍‍Roborock has made some of my favorite robot vacuums, but this futuristic option, which packs a self-rinsing mop, might be the best one yet. It can clean carpets and tough messes and won’t leave any dirt or debris around. The best part is that the mop cleans in real time, so what’s touching your floor is always clean. Excess water is automatically removed, too, so you won’t have to worry about wet streaks on the floor after cleaning. Of course, it will dock when it runs out of battery, and you can set schedules and do all the fun things you could with other Roborock vacuums — although this one will automatically clean better given its technology (and yes, that includes edge-cleaning, too).

10) Lollipop Star‍

This weird invention apparently claims that you’ll hear music while you suck on your lollipop. I unfortunately wasn’t able to try this out, but they had both Ice Spice and Akon lollipops available at CES. Apparently, each Lollipop Star is meant to put on a concert in your mouth. Each flavor will have its own symphony and beat. I’m not entirely sure how this is going to work or whether this is a gimmick, but the brand did a great job advertising and drawing crowds at CES.

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