1 of 21Joseph Maldonado/CNET
Where else can you encounter a robotic turtle, a power station that follows you into the sunlight or washer-dryer combos that actually work well? It’s CES, the yearly tech showcase in Las Vegas, and CES 2026 is still going strong this week.
These aren’t just things we’ve dreamed up after a night on the town; they’re real products we’ve seen, and we’re moving on to the third official day of the show. Here are 20 of the most interesting things CNET’s editors and writers in Las Vegas have found so far. Check back to see what else we discover during the week.
Don’t miss: Check out the official CNET Group Best of CES 2026 Winners.
2 of 21Celso Bulgatti/CNET
Three phone panels for the tablet experience anywhere
Not just the next line of foldable phones, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold has just been named the overall winning product in the Best of CES 2026 Awards.
Although the Galaxy Z TriFold was announced prior to CES, this was the first opportunity CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti had to get hands-on time with. (Our colleague Prakhar Khanna nabbed the first experience in Dubai shortly after it became available there.) She found it to be impressively sleek when open and “is all about getting things done on a portable scale.”
3 of 21Scott Stein/CNET
Very short range wireless communications for all your personal devices
Another tech trend in recent years is the number of personal devices available to carry or connect to your body: smartwatches, rings, AI necklaces, glasses and of course your phone. They all rely on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi wireless networking, but more devices adds congestion and sometimes miscommunication. The Ixana Wi-R is a protocol and chip that creates a hyperlocal field close to your body, enabling low latency and 5 Mbps data transfer.
4 of 21David Lumb/CNET
A responsible way to deal with loose plastic bags
Somewhere in the back of a cabinet in my kitchen is a dense wad of plastic grocery bags that, as long as they’re out of my sight, effectively don’t exist. Most are too flimsy to use again, and our local recycling stopped taking loose bags because they clogged the industrial equipment.
Startup Clear Drop has a solution, the aptly named Soft Plastic Composter. You feed the trash can-looking device plastic bags, and when it’s getting full, it heats up the plastic and presses it into a brick. Then you use a premade envelope to ship it to a processing facility. The Soft Plastic Composter was named the winner of the Best Sustainability category in the Best of CES 2026 Awards.
5 of 21David Watsky/CNET
A portable food lab that detects potentially dangerous allergens
Food allergies can be serious, and venturing out to restaurants or other people’s houses can be anxiety-inducing. People with dairy or gluten allergies may soon have a portable laboratory that will screen for potential risks. The Allergen Alert analyzes food samples you put into a single use pouch and delivers results in minutes. It’s currently being used in trials by chefs to test food before it leaves the kitchen. Allergen Alert was named as the winner of the Best Startup category for the Best of CES 2026 Awards.
6 of 21Willo Technologies
Tech to power your devices without connecting them to anything
Do you remember when you first heard about Wi-Fi and its miraculous ability to send data without plugging into a wired network or a phone line? (If this all sounds Jurassic, ask your parents.) Now we take laptops to coffee shops and hotels and just expect to connect to the internet wirelessly.
The next frontier is wireless power, where you can charge your devices simply by positioning them in a field generated by a power source. Finnish company Willo has emerged from years of stealth research with technology that it says can deliver on this promise. “I’m seeing. I’m believing,” wrote CNET’s Katie Collins in her overview of what Willo demonstrated to her.
It was impressive enough to garner a win in the Best Energy Tech category of the Best of CES 2026 Awards.
7 of 21James Bricknell/CNET
A solar charger that chases the sunlight
Power stations with solar charging capabilities are great, as long as they’re in the sun. But that means you need to periodically reposition the device or connected solar panels to ensure it’s getting the most charge. Instead, let the power station do all that work. Jackery’s Solar Mars Bot is an autonomous, roving battery backup with retractable solar panels. It tracks the sun and moves itself as needed. This is the little power puppy you didn’t realize your campsite was missing.
8 of 21CNET Group
A new cross-device AI assistant platform
AI is everywhere in tech right now, or at least in every press release. Making it work across devices and platforms, though, requires a deep level of integration. That’s the goal of Qira, developed by Lenovo and Motorola, is designed to understand context and suggest follow-up actions, all from the system level. Look for Qira in Lenovo devices early in 2026 and in upcoming Motorola smartphones.
9 of 21Katie Collins/CNET
A smartphone camera that thinks outside the slab
The difficulty in implementing lenses into smartphone cameras is the lack of space. A phone needs to be thin and light, but also capture subjects far away with clarity – there’s just not much room in a device already packed with battery and circuitry. So Honor decided to implement an exterior camera on a robotic arm that acts like a small gimbal. CNET’s Katie Collins was able to see — but not touch — an Honor Robot prototype at CES 2026; here’s hoping Honor brings the finished device at Mobile World Congress in March.
10 of 21David Watsky/CNET
A combo washer-dryer that’s finally worth it
When your washer or dryer has spun its last cycle, you need to decide whether to replace one or get a new pair. Wouldn’t it be easier to have just one device that did the entire clothes washing and drying? That’s not a new idea, but water-dryers typically take hours to dry a single load.
LG’s new Signature washer-dryer ventless machine just might be the combo unit that actually gets the job done in a reasonable amount of time. CNET’s David Watsky noted that a single 10-pound load of laundry can be entirely done in about 90 minutes.
11 of 21Katie Collins/CNET
The robot turtle with broader aspirations
This year it’s difficult to get far at CES without running into a robot of some type — sometimes literally, as they’ve been known to wander the aisles and lobbies. Beatbot’s RoboTurtle, however, is one you won’t soon forget. Yes, it’s a swimming turtle, mimicking the way real turtles move through the water. For power, it swims to the surface and recharges via solar panels. The RoboTurtle is an environmental research tool that will be used to monitor coral reefs and fish populations in a less obtrusive way compared to a human diver or typical submersible.
12 of 21Maria Diaz/ZDNET
A helpful breastfeeding monitor
When CNET’s James Bricknell cared for his premature daughter, there was a need to monitor her weight and milk intake — which at the time could only be estimated, as she was being breastfed. Coming later in 2026 is a tool he wished he’d had then. Coro is a silicone nipple shield with an integrated flow rate monitor accurate to 0.01 milliliters. A companion app records the measurements and tracks intake over time, as well as across each breast. “The peace of mind that would have given us as new parents of a tiny baby would have been easily worth the $299 estimated price,” he wrote. Coro is the winner of the Best Parent Tech category of the Best of CES 2026 Awards.
13 of 21Lego
Lego bricks with smarts
I’m not a Lego obsessive, but I did spend some enjoyable, zen-like time during the holidays assembling an F1 race car from the inside out. The variety of forms Lego creates for its pieces is impressive, but in the end, they’re all just plastic. And the car now just sits on my desk.
However, the company is about to make those pieces a lot more interesting. It showed off Lego Smart Bricks, regular-sized blocks packed with circuits, sensors, speakers and lights that can intelligently react when they’re in proximity with others. It doesn’t hurt that the first sets to get the new tech will be Star Wars kits on March 1.
14 of 21David Watsky/CNET
A machine that makes ice in less time than I can make a cocktail
If I’m going to have ice in my drinks, I need to remember to fill plastic trays with water early enough so the freezer has plenty of time to freeze them. That’s fine for most days, but limited when the house is full of guests. The Euhomy Leopard X1 creates bullet ice in 5 minutes.
The company also showed off the Rock Pro Sphere, a machine that creates crystal clear, perfectly smooth spheres of ice for your fancy whiskey presentations.
15 of 21Alexandra Able/CNET
A modern BlackBerry with a clicky keyboard
Do you miss the days when mobile phones were tactile? All-screen models like the iPhone pushed out the original BlackBerry and other phones that included a physical keyboard below the screen. Your fingertips are probably itching to use the Clicks Communicator, an Android phone that can work standalone but is also designed as a distraction-free companion to a full-featured smartphone. And it even has a headphone jack.
16 of 21Ty Pendlebury/CNET
A giant 130-inch TV with great color
CES has always showcased the latest TV technology, so it’s a given that each year there will be giant TVs (like The Wall) and the latest display technologies. For CES 2026, Samsung’s Micro RGB Backlit R95H TV has caught our attention — and not just because it’s a 130-inch television. The Micro RGB LEDs potentially offer more colors, which Samsung says can achieve 100% of the HDR-ready BT.2020 wide color gamut. It includes Samsung’s proprietary Glare-Free technology, which will be important on such a wide expanse of display. Pricing and available are not yet announced.
17 of 21Josh Goldman/CNET
First look at a folding phone from Motorola
Everyone (well, almost everyone) is getting into the foldable phone game at the start of 2026. Motorola debuted its Razr Fold, a book-style design coming this summer with a 6.6-inch external display and an 8.1-inch internal display. Specific details are still sparse, but it’s good to see more competition in this space.
18 of 21Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET
A lollipop that plays music as you eat it
Now here’s a concept you probably never considered. The Lollipop Star is a double dose of pop, both candy and music. It’s a sweet treat you can eat… that also plays music. When it’s in your mouth, it uses bone conduction (sound vibrations that go through your skull’s bones to your inner ear) to play three tunes when you’re biting down with your molars. There are three artists, each with a particular flavor: Ice Spice (peach), Akon (blueberry) and Armani White (lime). Each lollipop costs $9 and will be available online and at select retailers.
19 of 21Ajay Kumar/CNET
A ceiling light that acts like a skylight
Skylights sound like a great way to bring natural light into a dark room, but you can’t (or shouldn’t) just cut into any ceiling, especially if you’re in a rental. And skylights are notorious for not keeping out the weather.
Govee has alternatives that are designed to mimic natural light in a circular lamp that attaches to the ceiling or wall. The Govee Ceiling Light Ultra uses a 616-pixel LED matrix and reportedly outputs 5,000 lumens of brightness. The Sky Ceiling Light isn’t as sophisticated or bright, but could be just the thing to warm up dark corners.
20 of 21Owen Poole/CNET
This smart ring catches the conversations you forget
Don’t you wish you could remember more details from everyday conversations with people, or record your thoughts when your phone or pen and paper aren’t nearby? The Vocci AI ring can record audio when you trigger it with the press of a button — it doesn’t record all the time — and then generates a transcript when done. Tapping the button also sets a marker that flags that part of the audio and provides AI-generated insights based on those notes.
21 of 21Ajay Kumar/CNET
A wireless smart lock that doesn’t require a battery
A smart lock with no power is just a waste of money, and it can feel like supplying it with batteries is even more expense. Lockin’s V7 Max has created a smart door lock that “requires no sunlight, no manual charging and provides an infinite power supply,” according to the company. How? Through optical wireless charging. A base station in your house positioned within 4 meters of the door with a clear line of sight provides all the power the lock needs. And that charge enables three types of biometric security: finger vein, palm vein and 3D facial recognition.
