Dell's XPS 14 now costs over $2,000. An AMD executive predicts that PC builders will likely make piecemeal upgrades this year, instead of building entirely new systems. And new AI supercomputers from NVIDIA and AMD are gobbling up the RAM market. At CES 2026, it was hard not to notice the dire year ahead for the computing industry, one that will likely lead to higher prices and more limited availability for consumer goods across the board.Really, though, the show just confirmed what was apparent since RAM prices skyrocketed over the last few months, driven by demand from AI datacenters. As Samsung's marketing leader, Wonjin Lee, told Bloomberg at CES: "There's going to be issues around semiconductor supplies, and it's going to affect everyone. Prices are going up even as we speak."Dell's new XPS 14 and XPS 16 are among the earliest systems hit by these demands. Last year's models started at $1,699 and $1,899, respectively, and we were initially told the new models would actually come in cheaper at $1,650 and $1,850. But Dell later announced a shocking price jump: The XPS 14 now starts at $2,050, while the XPS 16 is $2,200. While it didn't take much to configure the earlier models upwards of $2,000, it's genuinely wild to me that the entry-level models are already starting there. And meanwhile, Apple still hasn't budged its $1,599 MacBook Pro 14-inch pricing. At least Dell still comes in cheaper than the $2,499 MacBook Pro 16-inch.On the desktop front, AMD's David McAfee, Corporate Vice President and GM of Client Channel Business, noted that the longevity of the company's AM4 and AM5 platforms might be a boon for gamers, since they can upgrade their CPUs without buying new RAM kits and motherboards. That allows for a pathway to better performance without paying out the nose for over-priced RAM."I think that will be potentially a trend that we see in 2026 with more component upgrades, as opposed to full system swap outs and, and altogether rebuilds," he said in a group interview with Engadget and other outlets. "Some of the most popular CPUs that are still running in gamers platforms are parts like the 2600 back to the Pinnacle Ridge days, or 3000 series... Stepping even from there into a little bit more modern 5,000 series processors in an AM4 socket and motherboard, there's a pretty big boost there."McAfee added that around 30 to 40 percent of AMD's business still revolves around the AM4 platform, even without the specter of a wild memory market."There's no product that has memory in it that's immune to some of these forces around DRAM pricing and, and what it's doing to the market," he said, when asked about potential GPU price increases. "I think the, the truth is the volatility that we've seen over the past two months or so has really been unprecedented." Looking ahead, he said he expects prices to settle within the first three to six months of the year, but he didn't discuss his reasoning further. As an aside, he also noted that AMD's X3D chips, which feature 3D V-cache, actually don't see much of a hit from slower RAM. Their high amounts of onboard L2 and L3 cache make up for less ideal memory transfer speeds, McAfee said.That McAfee commented at all about the state of RAM is noteworthy. Every PC maker Ive asked, including Dell and Acer, refused to comment on the volatile state of the memory industry ahead of CES. Perhaps they were hoping things would calm down before they had to price their new systems. Ultimately, theyre beholden to an increasingly limited supply of RAM. And where is all that memory going? At CES, NVIDIA announced its new Vera Rubin AI supercomputer, which supports up to 54TB of RAM across 36 Vera CPUs and 20.7TB of memory across 72 GPUs. AMD, as well, announced its new Helios AI rack, which supports up to 31TB of memory across 72 AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs. Given the endless appetite for computing to power AI model building and inferencing, theres likely going to be a significant demand for these beastly systems.Put simply: Our global supply of memory is being sacrificed to appease the AI industry. Thats good news for the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft and NVIDIA, but bad news for anyone who cares about PCs and the consumer products we use every day. Get ready for a year of price hikes. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/ces-2026-proved-the-pc-industry-is-hosed-this-year-174500314.html?src=rss
Clicks is an apologetically gadgety company, making gear that feels charmingly out-of-place in a world where almost every smartphone out there is an all-screen slab. That was obviously two years ago when the company first revealed its keyboard case that brought tactile typing to the iPhone and eventually other Android devices. Rather than that being a one-off curiosity, the company had two new announcements at CES 2026: a magnetic keyboard accessory that also doubles as a battery bank and small, squat mobile phone with a keyboard. And while there isnt a working prototype of the Clicks Communicator available for the press to see, I got to check out the new Power Keyboard talk with Clicks co-founder and former BlackBerry marketing director Jeff Gadway about where he thinks his products fit into the smartphone world.At first glance, the $79 Power Keyboard feels like a big improvement over the original Clicks Keyboard case. It magnetically attaches to any phone with Qi2 and connects over Bluetooth. The keyboard itself is similar to the original Clicks keyboard, but theres a dedicated number row which is a nice improvement. But the thing that really caught my eye was its old-school slider form factor. When closed, the Power Keyboard sits on the back of your phone like a thick wireless battery pack but it satisfyingly slides up to reveal the keyboard like the Palm Pre or BlackBerry Torch smartphones of old. The magnetic, sliding Clicks Power Keyboard.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetThe Power Keyboards last trick is that it can charge your phone up when attached. The battery itself isnt huge, so youre not going to fully recharge a modern smartphone. But its still a nice addition for if you need some power in a pinch. You can also set it up so it doesnt charge your phone and instead uses all the battery to power the keyboard; in that situation, the keyboard will last weeks without a charge. Or you can designate a percentage that can only be used by the keyboard for example, if the battery packs charge drops below 20 percent, itll stop charging your phone and instead save that power for the keyboard.The Clicks Power Keyboard, without a phone attached.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetAs someone who has never owned a smartphone with a keyboard, I cant say how good the Clicks keyboard actually is there would be a definite learning curve before I got comfortable with it. It certainly feels tiny to me, but if you just type on and trust autocorrect you should get the hang of it before too long. Whether the benefits of using a physical keyboard matter are up to you to decide. Its nice seeing a bigger screen unobstructed by the virtual keyboard, but I feel far too set in my touchscreen ways to consider switching it up. But some people just loved their keyboards, and for them this gadget might hit the spot.The Clicks Communicator is the more unexpected of the two new devices the comapny is working on, but without a working demo model I cant render any judgement about how it will actually work. When it was announced, Clicks specifically said they were targeting people who used multiple devices, a demographic that I wasnt fully convinced was large enough to justify the Communicators existence. But Gadway assured me the company had done plenty of research before moving into the hardware production phase. You've got people who are mandated to carry a second device for corporate deploy. Then you've got people who are small business owners and want to have a separate phone for their small business, he said. In markets like Europe, there's a requirement for employers to give people the option to have a separate device and create more separation. You've got travelers who want a second SIM, and then you've got this growing cohort of digital detox, digital minimalism, digital well-being people. None of those segments might be huge on its own, but add it all up and the Clicks team felt like they had a decent opportunity. The Clicks Communicator has an LED Light on its side button that you can customize for different notifications.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetThe other half of the thought process was making the Communicator different from an iPhone or Pixel instead of having two essentially identical devices, Clicks wanted to make the Communicator with a distinct focus. Our thought process was that complementary devices in tech are on the rise, Gadway said. You wear an Oura Ring and you wear a smart watch; you carry an e-reader for reading and a tablet for content consumption. So why shouldn't your second phone be better at certain things than your first phone instead of just being a straight duplicate?Thats where the squarish, 4-inch touchscreen, keyboard and custom implementation of the Niagara Android launcher, which is a list-based UI rather than a grid of apps. The custom Clicks implementation of it focuses on your messaging apps and quickly triaging through new items (hence the Communicator name). The keyboard itself is touch sensitive and can be swiped across to navigate and take actions on what you see. But the Communicator is just an Android phone at heart which means you can install any apps that you find essential though its form factor changes what it is best used for. You can download whatever apps you want, but we've optimized it to be better at specific things, Gadway said. So, you know, do you want to watch letterboxed TikTok videos on this? Probably not. You could, but it's not the thing you#39;re going to reach for to do that. But we're not going to give you a product that restricts what you can do.The good thing about being a smaller hardware maker is that Clicks doesnt need to sell millions of these theyre just interested in offering an alternative for people who might enjoy it, just as theyve done with their keyboard accessories. Of course, the Communicator is a bigger investment; its up for pre-order now for $399 (thats Pixel 9a territory, for comparison). Once it launches in the second half of the year, well find out if it can find its audience. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/the-clicks-co-founder-explains-who-its-tiny-communicator-phone-is-for-170000501.html?src=rss
Meta has announced three new agreements to purchase nuclear power for its AI infrastructure as well as the Prometheus supercluster, a 1-gigawatt data center being built in Ohio. The social media giant is partnering with power companies Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo to deliver an expected 6.6 gigawatts of generation to its projects by 2035.
The company's agreement with TerraPower will fund the development of two new reactors capable of delivering up to 690 megawatts of power as early as 2032. The deal also gives Meta rights to energy from six other reactors that could deliver an additional 2.1 gigawatts by 2035. All this power would come from TerraPower's "Natrium" reactors, which use sodium instead of water as a coolant.
A partnership with Oklo will bring 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear power online as early as 2030. Meta says the agreement opens the door to the construction of multiple Oklo reactors, which it claims will create thousands of construction and long-term operations jobs in Ohio. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is one of Oklo's largest investors, and owns just over 4 percent of the company.
Metas agreement with Vistra focuses on keeping existing nuclear plants running longer and boosting their output. Through new 20-year deals, Meta will buy more than 2.1 gigawatts of electricity from some of Vistras existing plants in Ohio, while also backing added capacity at those sites, plus another in Pennsylvania. Vistra expects the added capacity, totaling 433 megawatts, to come online in the early 2030s.
Big tech is increasingly turning to nuclear to power its AI ambitions. Meta signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation Energy for nuclear power last year. Meanwhile Microsoft is famously reopening Three Mile Island and will be the plants sole customer as part of a 20-year deal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-announces-a-slew-of-nuclear-energy-agreements-165337159.html?src=rss
LG opened CES 2026 by outlining its vision to reduce the physical effort and mental burden of life. Buy enough of the devices its presently working on and youll exist in an environment of ambient care, coddled by the machinery in your home. It sounds positively utopian: When the sensors in your bed know youve not slept well and are getting a cold, a robot will wake you with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. When youre in a rush to get to work, the robot will make you a sandwich for you to eat on the go, sparing you the effort of making it yourself. The more I roamed the halls of the show after that, the more I couldnt help feeling uneasy about what so many companies here were pitching. To me, the vision of the future on show here is equal parts solitary and infantilized.Theres obvious reasons for this: AI swallowed the tech industrys oxygen, sapping any chance of innovation in consumer hardware. The advent of Panther Lake is a win for Intel, but its not going to enable dramatic changes in how people work with their PCs on a daily basis. The US policy shift away from EVs and toward fossil fuel-powered vehicles, too, means that the big names in auto manufacture have similarly shied away from the show. That left CES full of various robotics startups offering early visions of humanoid robots designed to work on production lines, take care of your home and replace your pet. I saw more than a few stands where booth attendants were pretending to delight in teaching their wheeled robot pets to play fetch. At least, I hope they were pretending.Im painfully aware of how many devices felt like they were only a hop, skip and a jump away from the Sharper Image catalog. Gadgets that are designed to fill some perceived hole in your life that wont actually make things better or easier in the long run. Im leery about denigrating assistive technology that offers a vital lifeline to people with accessibility needs. Im also leery about knocking devices that may enable people to keep working despite wrestling with long term injuries I've got one eye on the raft of exoskeletons exhibited at the show which might help me work in the garden despite the weakness in my lower back. But Im also not quite sold on how many toilet computers, massage chairs and scootcases we all need in our daily lives. Theres also the elephant in the room that many of these innovations seem intent on acting as a replacement, substitute or supplement for real interaction. Robotic panda bears scuttling around your home to save you the effort of caring for a real flesh-and-blood pet. Holographic AI waifus that will obsequiously respond to whatever you ask of it with nothing but flattery and agreement. The sheer volume of AI Labubus operating as friend, enemy, companion or a combination of all the above. Cuddly home robots that are little more than a tablet on a moveable base thatll keep your kids entertained so you dont have to. Yes, Im being unfair, but sometimes shows like this make me sound like someones grandpa angrily insisting you darn kids get off your screens. I feel some of these gadgets are specifically designed to enable a degree of detachment from our own bodies. Were spending so much time getting dopamine from our devices that were no longer able to pay attention to how our bodies are feeling. In LGs vision of the future, moving around for ourselves and making our own food is a thing of the past, which will, surely, put a dent in our physical and mental health. We lose the ability to connect with the people around us because weve spent too long being flattered by our AI lackeys. We need a machine to monitor the food we eat and the crap we excrete because were not willing to pay attention to what were doing. Much in the same way that AI encourages us to take shortcuts rather than enjoy the process of being creative, the rest of the tech industry seemingly wants us to shortcut the fundamentals of life.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ces-2026-offered-a-lonely-vision-of-the-future-160000993.html?src=rss
There were no idle hands at Sharpa's CES booth. The company's humanoid may have been the busiest bot at show, autonomously playing ping-pong, dealing blackjack games and taking selfies with passersby. On display wasn't just the robot and its smarts, but also SharpaWave, a highly dexterous 1:1 scale human hand. The hand has 22 active degrees of freedom, according to the company, allowing for precise and intricate finger movements. It mirrored my gestures as I wiggled my hand in front of its camera, getting everything mostly right, which was honestly pretty cool. Each fingertip contains a minicamera and over 1,000 tactile pixels so it can pick up objects with the appropriate amount of delicateness for the task at hand, like plucking a playing card from a deck and placing it gently on the table. Sharpa's robot was a pretty good ping-pong player, too. We've seen ping-pong robots plenty of times before, but these typically come in the form of a disembodied robotic arm, not one that's humanoid from the waist up. The company's products are meant to be general-purpose, with the ability to handle a wide range of jobs, and its humanoid wore a lot of hats at CES to drive the point home. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/sharpas-ping-pong-playing-blackjack-dealing-humanoid-is-working-overtime-at-ces-2026-150000488.html?src=rss
NASA has decided to bring the Crew-11 astronauts home a month earlier than originally planned due to a medical concern with one of them. This is the first time in its history that the space agency is cutting a mission short due to a medical issue, but it didnt identify the crew member or divulge the exact situation and its severity. The astronauts will be heading back to Earth in the coming days. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency will be releasing more details about their flight back home within 48 hours. The agency previously postponed an International Space Station (ISS) spacewalk scheduled for January 8, citing a medical concern with a crew member that appeared the day before. NASAs chief health and medical officer, James JD Polk, said the affected astronaut is absolutely stable and that this isnt a case of an emergency evacuation. The ISS has a robust suite of medical hardware onboard, he said, but not enough for a complete workup to determine a diagnosis. Without a proper diagnosis, NASA doesnt know if the astronauts health could be negatively affected by the environment aboard the ISS. That is why the agency is erring on the side of caution. Crew-11 left for the space station on August 1 and was supposed to come back to Earth on or around February 20. After they leave the station, only three people will remain: Two cosmonauts and one astronauts wholl be in charge of all the experiments currently being conducted on the orbiting lab. The teams replacement, Crew-12, was supposed to head to the ISS mid-February, but NASA is considering sending the astronauts to the station earlier than that. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-is-ending-crew-11-astronauts-mission-a-month-early-140000750.html?src=rss
Dolby may have announced Dolby Vision 2 a few months ago, but the company gave the new platform its first big reveal at CES 2026. I got the chance to see the improvements in person for the first time, thanks to a variety of demos and Q&A sessions. Dolby Vision 2 will be available this year, but initially, it will be limited. As such, Ive compiled the info on where the image engine will be available first, and whats likely to come next in terms of where and how you can use it. But first, lets quickly summarize what Dolby Vision 2 will even do for your TV. What is Dolby Vision 2?Dolby Vision 2 is Dolbys next-generation image engine that the company announced in September. The new standard will do several things to improve picture quality on your TV, including content recognition that optimizes your TV based on what and where youre watching. This first element will improve scenes that many viewers complain are too dark, compensate for ambient lighting and apply motion adjustments for live sports and gaming. Dolby Vision 2 will also deliver new tone mapping for improved color reproduction. I witnessed this first hand in various demos at CES, and this is the biggest difference between the current Dolby Vision and DV2 for me. Theres also a new Authentic Motion feature that will provide the optimal amount of smoothing so that content appears more authentically cinematic, according to Dolby. This means getting rid of unwanted judder, but stopping short of the so-called soap opera effect. Essentially, Dolby is taking advantage of all of the capabilities of todays TVs, harnessing the improvements to display quality and processing power that companies have developed in the decade since Dolby Vision first arrived.What TVs will support Dolby Vision 2?Lifestyle photo of the TCL X11L SQD-Mini LED SeriesTCLThe biggest Dolby Vision 2 news at CES was the first three TV makers that have pledged support for the new standard. Hisense is bringing it to its 2026 RGB MiniLED TVs including UX, UR9 and UR8. The company also plans to add it to more MiniLED TVs with an OTA update. TCL's 2026 X QD-Mini LED TV Series and C Series will support Dolby Vision 2 via a future update. It will be available on TP Visions Philips 2026 OLED TVs, including the 2026 Philips OLED811, and OLED911 series as well as the flagship OLED951.There are sure to be other companies that announce Dolby Vision 2 support in 2026. Sony doesnt announce its new TVs at CES anymore, so thats just one of the bigger names thats yet to reveal its hand. Any upcoming TVs that seek to leverage the full suite of tools that Dolby Vision 2 offers will need to have an ambient light sensor as thats one of the key facets of Dolbys upgrade. What content will be available in Dolby Vision 2?Peacock is bringing Dolby Vision and Atmos support to more live sports offerings.PeacockThe other big piece of Dolby Vision 2 news at CES 2026 was the first streaming service that will support the platform. Peacock grabbed that honor, and so far its the only streamer to pledge support. However, several services support the current version of Dolby Vision, including Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Paramount+. Like the additional TV support thats sure to be announced throughout the year, I expect more streaming services will jump on board soon as well. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/dolby-vision-2-is-coming-this-year-heres-what-you-need-to-know-140000034.html?src=rss
Even as CES 2026 wraps up soon, theres no shortage of standout hardware hiding in plain sight. From genuinely quieter yard tools to ultra-light EVs and companion robots that want to remember your family, Day 3 was all about tech that felt a little more considered and in some cases, refreshingly practical.If you cant get enough of CES, be sure to check out our picks for best of CES 2026, which highlights the most impressive new tech weve seen in Las Vegas. Weve also rounded up the CES gadgets you can buy right now if youre itching to place an order, along with a look at the weirdest tech at CES 2026, because it wouldnt be CES without a few delightfully unhinged ideas.Tone Outdoors T1 leaf blowerTone Outdoors T1Billy Steele for EngadgetThe Tone Outdoors T1 leaf blower is one of the rare CES gadgets that makes an immediate, obvious impression mostly because its shockingly quiet. Whisper Aeros aerospace-derived motor redesign delivers 880 CFM of airflow at around 52 decibels, which we could confirm even amid the noise of the show floor. It also runs up to 50 minutes in Eco mode, supports a forthcoming battery backpack and even includes an LED for nighttime cleanup. Pre-orders are open now for $599, with shipping expected in September.GE Profile Smart FridgeFinally! A reasonably sized fridge screen.Sam Rutherford for EngadgetThe GE Profile Smart Fridge is the first smart fridge weve seen that feels like it was designed around real problems instead of just slapping a massive screen on the door. GEs AI assistant can answer practical questions like where your water filter is, scan groceries via a built-in barcode reader and keep tabs on produce with a crisper drawer camera. The eight-inch display feels refreshingly restrained, while integrations with Instacart and recipe suggestions add utility. It launches in March for $4,899, and for once, were genuinely curious what it would be like to live with it.Longbow Motors Speedster EVLongbow Motors SpeedsterBilly Steele for EngadgetLongbow Motors brought one of the most emotionally compelling EVs weve seen to CES, and its unapologetically minimalist. The Speedster uses in-wheel motors from Donut Labs to hit a jaw-dropping curb weight of just 2,200 pounds, lighter than a Miata. Its stripped-back interior, mystery shift lever and exposed motors feel like a direct rejection of touchscreen-heavy modern cars. Its wildly expensive at just under $100,000, but also one of the few EVs here that got us excited to drive.OlloBot companion robotA robot with eyes on top of a screen showing a smile.Cheyenne MacDonald for EngadgetOlloBot might win the award for most charmingly strange robot on the show floor. Designed as a family cyber pet, it responds to voice and touch, develops a personality over time and stores all its memories locally in a removable heart-shaped module. The robot can help find lost items, make calls and eventually control Matter smart home devices. A Kickstarter is planned for summer, with pricing starting around $1,000.Bluetti Charger 2Here's how the Bluetti Charger 2 would work with dual charging sources.BluettiBluettis Charger 2 fixes a very specific but real problem for off-grid users: charging from your engine and solar panels at the same time. The dual-input system supports up to 600W from solar and 800W from an alternator, dramatically speeding up battery top-ups. It also works with multiple Bluetti power stations and can even jump-start your vehicle in a pinch. Early pricing is $349 through February 7, after which it jumps to $499.CES is ending, but weve got more stories to tellThe CES show floor will soon be closing down, but Engadget still has a lot of stories in our pipeline. As the crowds thin out, were continuing to surface the tech that actually stands out whether its solving everyday annoyances or simply doing something bold and different. Stay tuned to our CES 2026 hub for more hands-ons, deep dives and final takeaways even after CES 2026 comes to a close at the end of this week.
Kia has unveiled its new entry level electric vehicle, the EV2. The boxy model strongly resembles the company's Soul (Kia did make an electric Soul at one point) and has very similar dimensions, though it's slightly shorter in height and length. It's not exactly a range monster and will charge a bit slower than the competition. The EV2 launched at the Brussels Motor Show and the company said it has no plans for US availability at this point.
The EV2 uses Kia/Hyundai's E-GMP platform and slots into the bottom of its EV lineup as an "entry point to electric mobility," according to the automaker. Though nearly the same size, it certainly looks nicer than the dowdy Soul and has more room inside. Competition-wise, it's going up against Volvo's EX30 and may cost about the same, though Kia has yet to divulge pricing.
Kia
The EV2 will be offered with two battery options: a 42kWh battery with 197 miles of WLTP range (likely around 170 miles by EPA standards) and 61kWh with 278 miles of WLPT range (around 240 EPA miles). That's not a lot, especially compared to the 261 mile EPA max range of the EX30 so Kia's pricing for the EV2 will be key. As for charging speeds, Kia says the EV2 will charge from 10 to 80 percent in about 30 minutes a bit slower than the 69 kWh EX30. Like other Kia vehicles, the EV2 supports vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-load (V2L/V2G) charging.
Kia calls the vehicle's interior a "Picnic Box" as a way to describe the small but useful space. Kia says its "comparable to larger vehicles" in terms of space, with generous rear legroom and rear cargo capacity up to 403 liters. It will come in four- and five-seat versions.
Kia
As for tech inside, it offers a generous screen setup, with a 12.3-inch instrument cluster, 12.3-inch infotainment screen and a 5-inch climate display. Ambient lighting in the cabin syncs up with specific vehicle functions. At the same time, it offers a fully array of manual controls climate, volume control and more. It comes with multiple USB-C ports (three up front) that support up to 100W charging.
The company has yet to reveal performance figures other than range. Production is set to start in Q1, so deliveries should commence in Europe and other regions later in the year. It doesn't look like the EV2 will arrive stateside any time soon, though, as the company said it "has not announced plans for the US market." This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/kias-budget-ev2-arrives-with-up-to-240-miles-of-range-130038144.html?src=rss
