Engadget's best of 2026
The highest-rated devices that we reviewed this year in a variety of categories.
Throughout the year, our reviews team covers a wide range of devices from numerous companies. Products that receive a high score earn recognition, while other category-topping devices lead their respective markets.
We've compiled the highest-scoring products across a range of categories, along with commentary on each one, for our best of 2026 selection.
Best Android phone: Google Pixel 11
Google's Pixel 11 is the definition of an iterative update. It features a similar camera array, a new Tensor G6 processor, double the starting storage and a $100 price bump. Refinements to a winning formula and intelligent software updates make it a compelling choice.
The Pixel 11 is one of few smartphones in its class to have three camera lenses on the back, including a capable 5x telephoto lens. Getting a telephoto camera on a phone that costs less than $1,000 remains a significant advantage.
Useful software additions include Rambler, which turns rambling dictation into concise text, and Proactive Suggestions. Outstanding build quality, fast performance and long battery life round out the package.
Best iPhone: Apple iPhone 18 Pro
Of all the iPhones introduced in 2026, the iPhone 18 Pro stands out as a primary choice among available models.
The iPhone 18 Pro offers a top-tier combination of features for the money, delivering compelling hardware updates.
Variable aperture and pro camera controls are useful for manual photographers, while sensor-signed Apple Reference Image authentication helps educate users on photo manipulation.
A smaller Dynamic Island, improved thermal management and faster battery charging make the iPhone 18 Pro a strong contender for users seeking top-tier performance.
Best affordable laptop: Apple MacBook Neo
The MacBook Neo delivers a budget-friendly notebook that closely matches the feel of premium models like the MacBook Air. It is fast enough for everyday computing tasks, features a bright screen, and includes an excellent keyboard and trackpad.
The MacBook Neo serves as a trendsetter for premium build quality and components in its price bracket.
Best macOS laptop: Apple MacBook Air M5
The MacBook Air remains a leading ultraportable due to its speed with Apple's M5 chip, premium build quality, and portability.
It handles light gaming and video editing easily, operates completely silently without a cooling fan, and maintains high standards for keyboards, trackpads, speakers, and battery life.
Best gaming laptop: ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo features a prominent design with dual 3K OLED displays, a fully detachable keyboard, up to 64GB of RAM, and support for up to an RTX 5090 GPU.
It includes punchy speakers, multiple USB slots, a full-size HDMI jack, and an SD card reader, functioning more like a portable battle station than a standard gaming notebook.
Alternative options like the Alienware 15 offer budget-conscious gamers lower entry pricing, though industry-wide price adjustments have affected costs.
Best desktop: Apple Mac mini M6
The Mac mini features a compact 5-inch by 5-inch case housing Apple's M6 chip, which delivers high benchmark scores and strong computing performance.
Despite rising industry costs, the Mac mini continues to offer a style and performance profile that competes effectively with Windows systems.
Best display: Alienware 39 5K
The Alienware 39 5K provides an expansive 39-inch ultrawide screen suitable for immersive gaming and multitasking.
It features a four-stack tandem OLED panel for increased brightness and a three-subpixel RGB stripe for sharper text. Users can swap between 5K at 165Hz and 1080p+ at 330Hz.
Best wearable: Apple Watch Series 12
The Apple Watch Series 12 features an overhauled health sensing system that takes heart rate measurements every five seconds to calculate a new Readiness score based on activity, sleep, and cardio vitals.
Expanded gesture support, new complications, a ceramic case option, and Sound Recognition add functionality to the wearable.
Best gaming accessory: Valve Steam Controller
Valve's second-iteration Steam Controller features tunnel magnetoresistance joysticks, high-end rumble, four programmable rear buttons, and two trackpads.
It includes a magnetic puck that connects to PCs via USB, acting as both a wireless transmitter and a magnetic charger.
Designed solely for Steam, the controller requires non-Steam games to be added to Valve's client for compatibility.
Best home theater: Sonos Beam Ultra
The Sonos Beam Ultra targets the premium market with upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, additional bass, and revamped sound design.
It supports movie playback and spatial Dolby Atmos music tracks, with options to expand into a multi-speaker surround sound system.
Best overall camera: Sony A7R VI
Sony's A7R VI pairs a 67-megapixel stacked sensor with high-speed RAW bursts at up to 30 fps, accurate autofocus, and reduced rolling shutter distortion.
It captures detailed portraits and landscapes while supporting 8K 30 fps video, though it lacks RAW video options found on certain competing models.
Best vlogging camera: DJI Osmo Pocket 4
The DJI Osmo Pocket 4 features an updated sensor and D-Log capture to deliver 14 stops of dynamic range for low-light and high-contrast environments.
It supports 4K video at up to 240 fps, includes 107GB of internal storage, offers improved battery life, and incorporates Gesture Control.
Availability in the US is currently affected by import restrictions.
Best drone: DJI Lito X1
The DJI Lito X1 offers a 1/1.3-inch camera, a front LiDAR sensor for obstacle detection, 42GB of onboard storage, and 4K video recording at 100 fps.
It provides low-light capabilities, stabilization, subject tracking, QuickShots, 36 minutes of flight time, and video transmission up to 10 miles.
The drone features open propellers and faces sales restrictions in the US market.
Best kitchen tech: Breville Eye Q Toaster
The Breville Eye Q Toaster incorporates built-in optical sensors to monitor browning levels instead of relying on a standard timer.
Dedicated modes for sourdough and bagels allow users to adjust settings via an interactive meter.
The appliance applies modern technology to a traditional kitchen device at a luxury price point.
Upcoming categories
Due to anticipated product launches before the end of the year, we've withheld a few categories until those devices arrive. Those categories include:
• Best accessory
• Best earbuds
• Best headphones
• Best headset
• Best foldable phone
• Best smart glasses
• Best Windows laptop
• Best tablet
Our list of awards will be updated as devices in those remaining categories are reviewed and scored.
How we picked the Engadget Best of 2026 awards
Engadget has been reviewing devices for over two decades. In 2026, we've reviewed over 130 products (so far), from phones and laptops through to smart rings and even a toaster. After comprehensive testing, we categorize products on a 100-point scale, with the range this year falling between 67 and 94 points so far. For Engadget's Best of 2026 awards, our reviewers and editors ran through our testing database to pick the products that impressed us the most.
Deciding on our final awards involved more than just picking our highest-scoring products. The first step was to narrow down the field by only considering products that met our baseline for our Editors' Choice award — 90 out of 100. We then looked at what categories those products fell into, and put some items head-to-head to figure out which came on top for a given award. For example, six laptops earned our Editor's Choice award this year, but only three have made the cut for our Best of 2026 awards so far.
We also considered products that fell just short but still stood out as the best in their field — none of the kitchen tech we reviewed this year may have earned an Editor's Choice award, but we still felt comfortable crowning one of the products the Best of 2026.
Before finalizing the list, we revisited each product to ensure it still met the standards it did at launch, and factored in any price changes (it is 2026, after all) to see if a product was still recommended at its current rate. In some cases, we have decided to delay giving an award in categories where we know significant releases will happen in the final quarter of the year. This article will be updated in the near future to include our final decisions on the best earbuds, headphones, tablet, Windows laptop, foldable phone, smart glasses, and potentially even more categories.
