Author Archives: Mat Smith

The Morning After: ASUS stops making some NVIDIA GPUs due to memory supply crunch

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If you thought we were exaggerating, the hunger for memory and GPUs is making many companies reassess their priorities. YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed discovered ASUS has stopped producing the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB due to the ongoing memory crunch. Both GPUs are 16GB models, making them more expensive to manufacture in the current climate.

“Demand for GeForce RTX GPUs is strong, and memory supply is constrained. We continue to ship all GeForce SKUs and are working closely with our suppliers to maximize memory availability,” an NVIDIA spokesperson told Engadget.

At CES 2026, we saw PCs and computing in the next 12 months will have higher prices and more limited availability for consumers. At the end of 2025, RAM prices skyrocketed, driven by demand from AI data centers. That’s not stopping anytime soon.

— Mat Smith

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Getty

Matthew McConaughey filed trademark applications to prevent AI companies from using his likeness without permission, and the US Patent and Trademark Office has approved eight so far.

Trademarks were for video and audio clips featuring the actor staring, smiling and talking. One was for an audio recording of him saying “alright, alright, alright,” his catchphrase from the movie Dazed and Confused. Under the law, it’s already prohibited for companies to steal someone’s likeness to sell products. However, given the vague rules governing the use of someone’s likeness, McConaughey is taking a proactive approach. McConaughey himself is an investor in ElevenLabs and has partnered with the AI startup to create a Spanish version of his newsletter. Está bien, está bien, está bien.

Continue reading.

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AMAZON

The second season of Amazon’s excellent Fallout show is currently streaming, but the company is already looking to generate more revenue from its license to the well-regarded game series. Prime Video has greenlit an unscripted reality show titled Fallout Shelter. It will be a 10-episode run with Studio Lambert, the team behind reality projects including Squid Game: The Challenge and The Traitors.

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Following numerous complaints and several state and national investigations, X is revising its policies on Grok’s image-editing capabilities. New safeguards will place Grok’s image-generating features behind X’s subscription offering, and it will geoblock all users’ ability to generate images of real people in… well, less clothing, in regions where it’s illegal.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta cited one analysis that found “more than half of the 20,000 images generated by xAI between Christmas and New Year depicted people in minimal clothing.” That’s been the primary use?

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121506027.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Apple will use Gemini to power Siri AI

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Apple and Google have confirmed that Gemini’s models power the new version of Siri and other generative AI features. CNBC broke the news, but Apple and Google soon followed up with a lengthy joint statement. Here’s part of it: “Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models… Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”

In June, it was reported that Apple was considering partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic for Siri (the voice assistant can currently tap ChatGPT for certain queries as part of Apple Intelligence). Two months later, Google emerged as a contender. Another report suggested Apple might build the new Siri using a custom version of Gemini — and that it would pay Google around $1 billion a year for the privilege. However, no official deal numbers were shared.

It’s also notable that current iPhones have direct access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But how long for?

— Mat Smith

TMA
Netflix

Netflix’s hit show Adolescence received four awards, including best limited or anthology series. It also won best actor (Stephen Graham), supporting actor (Owen Cooper) and supporting actress (Erin Doherty) in a miniseries or television film.

KPop Demon Hunters — which my nieces refuse to stop talking about — won best animated feature and best original song. “I just want to say this award goes to people who have had doors closed on them, and I can confidently say rejection is redirection. So never give up.”

It’s not all good news. Netflix also won best performance in stand-up comedy on television for Ricky Gervais: Mortality. Apple and HBO Max each won three, and Hulu got one award on the night.

Continue reading.

A few years ago, NASA announced it was pushing the Artemis 2 mission back to April 2026. The agency now says it could launch as early as February. NASA is finalizing preparations for the mission and will soon roll out the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission to the moon since the Apollo program’s final flight in 1972. The 10-day mission will have four astronauts, who’ll test whether Orion’s critical life-support systems can sustain human passengers on future longer-duration missions. They will first orbit the Earth twice before making their way 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon.

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Lego

Pre-orders for the first three Lego-Pokémon kits are open now. One of the debut pocket monsters is, of course, Pikachu. You can build the 2,050-piece kit to show Pikachu either at rest or leaping out of an open Poké Ball into battle. It costs $200.

There’s also a 587-piece model of Eevee, for $60. On the bigger side is a set featuring a trio of Pokémon: Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise. This kit has 6,838 pieces and can show the group together in battle formation or separately in their own mini environments. It retails for $650 and is a bit much.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-151521620.html?src=rss

The Morning After: The best of CES 2026

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We’re wrapping up coverage of the biggest tech show in the world. CES 2026 is almost over, and while we have more stories and wrap-ups to come, here are the most interesting products we’ve spotted, written about and critiqued/praised. That includes our picks for the best of CES. We gave out 15 awards as well as our best of show, and you might be surprised by some of our picks — I know I was.

Read on for some of the best things to come out of Las Vegas this week, but first up, our Best of the Best winner, which was Lego Smart Play. As Engadget’s editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris put it, “Lego could almost be seen as the antithesis of the typical CES product.”

Regardless of trends, Lego has always persisted. And in 2026, it’s getting much smarter.

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Lego

The system consists of a Smart Brick, Tags and Minifigures. They’re packed with modern technology, so they can respond to how you play with them or the sets you build. The Smart Brick has a 4.1mm ASIC chip, which Lego says is smaller than a standard Lego stud. It senses things like motion, orientation and magnetic fields, but also has a tiny built-in speaker, which produces audio “tied to live play actions,” not just canned clips.

It’s hard to explain it in only a few words (we’ve got a deep-dive hands-on right here), but what immediately drew me in was the lack of smartphone pairing and screens. The ability of each part to detect and interact with others can lead to some ridiculous setups, whether it’s ducks and police officers or a helicopter or an X-Wing.

Naturally, it’s a little pricier than basic Lego, but not out of the realm of being a special gift or birthday present. One of the first sets, with a smart Darth Vader Minifigure, one Smart Brick and one Smart Tag, is $70.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled newsletter next week. Have a great weekend!

— Mat Smith

TMA
Engadget

With no further ado, here are our winners.

Best robot: Switchbot Onero H1

Best accessibility tech: WheelMove

Best TV: LG’s Wallpaper TV

Best AI hardware: Subtle Voicebuds

Best smart home: IKEA Matter-compatible smart home

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Engadget

Best home theater: Samsung HW-QS90H

Best audio: Shokz OpenFit Pro

Best outdoor tech: Tone Outdoors T1

Best toy: Lego Smart Play

Best PC or laptop: Dell XPS 14 + 16

Best health tech: Eyebot eye test booth

Best gaming tech: ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo

Best mobile tech: Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold

Most promising concept: Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable

Best emerging technology: IXI autofocus lenses

TMA
Engadget

On Monday, which feels like an age ago, Jensen Huang shared the latest from NVIDIA. While the presentation was more a refresher than a barrage of new announcements, it was a pretty low-key presentation, with lots of AI chat. One announcement was Alpamayo, a family of open-source reasoning models designed to guide autonomous vehicles through difficult driving situations. The centerpiece is Alpamayo 1, a 10-billion-parameter chain-of-thought system NVIDIA says can drive more like a human.

When it comes to tech we all might use, we had to wait for a separate event, when NVIDIA announced DLSS 4.5 and G-Sync Pulsar. For both features, you’ll need a 50-series GPU. You got one, right?

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-193045065.html?src=rss

IXI’s autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

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While wave upon wave of smartglasses and face-based wearables crash on the shores of CES, traditional glasses really haven’t changed much over the hundreds of years we’ve been using them. The last innovation, arguably, was progressive multifocals that blended near and farsighted lenses — and that was back in the 1950s. It makes sense that autofocusing glasses maker IXI thinks it’s time to modernize glasses.

After recently announcing a 22-gram (0.7-ounce) prototype frame, the startup is here in Las Vegas to show off working prototypes of its lenses, a key component of its autofocus glasses, which could be a game-changer. 

IXI’s glasses are designed for age-related farsightedness, a condition that affects many, if not most people over 45. They combine cameraless eye tracking with liquid crystal lenses that automatically activate when the glasses detect the user’s focus shifting. This means that, instead of having two separate prescriptions, as in multifocal or bifocal lenses, IXI’s lenses automatically switch between each prescription. Crucially — like most modern smartglasses — the frames themselves are lightweight and look like just another pair of normal glasses.

IXI autofocus lenses
Mat Smith for Engadget

With a row of prototype frames and lenses laid out in front of him, CEO and co-founder Niko Eiden explained the technology, which can be separated into two parts. First, the IXI glasses track the movement of your eyes using a system of LEDs and photodiodes, dotted around the edges of where the lenses sit. The LEDs bounce invisible infrared light off the eyes and then measure the reflection, detecting the subtle movements of your eye and how both eyes converge when focusing on something close.

Using infrared with just a "handful of analog channels" takes far less power than the millions of pixels and 60-times-per-second processing required by camera-based systems. IXI’s system not only tracks eye movements, but also blinking and gaze direction, while consuming only 4 milliwatts of power.

IXI autofocus lenses
Mat Smith for Engadget

Most of the technology, including memory, sensors, driving electronics and eye tracker, is in the front frame of the glasses and part of the arms closest to the hinge. The IXI prototype apparently uses batteries similar in size to those found in AirPods, which gives some sense of the size and weight of the tech being used. The charging port is integrated into the glasses’ left arm hinge. Naturally, this does mean they can’t be worn while charging. IXI says that a single charge should cover a whole day’s usage.

The prototype frames I saw this week appeared to be roughly the same weight as my traditional chunky specs. And while these are early iterations, IXI’s first frames wouldn’t look out of place in a lineup of spectacle options.

The team has also refined the nose pieces and glasses arms to accommodate different face shapes. Apparently, when testing expanded from Finland to the UK, British faces were “...different.” A little harsh when talking to me, a Brit.

Eiden pulled out some prototype lenses, made up of layers of liquid crystal and a transparent ITO (indium tin oxide) conductive layer. This combination is still incredibly thin, and it was amazing to watch the layers switch almost instantly into a prescription lens. It seemed almost magical. As they’re so thin, they can be easily integrated into lenses with existing prescriptions. It can also provide cylindrical correction for astigmatism too.

Autofocus lenses could eliminate the need for multiple pairs of glasses, such as bifocals and progressives. Even if the glasses were to run out of power, they’d still function as a pair of traditional specs with your standard prescription, just lacking the near-sighted boost. IXI’s sensor sensitivity can also offer insight into other health conditions, detect dry eyes, estimate attentiveness and, by tracking where you’re looking, even posture and neck movement. According to Eiden, blink rate changes with focus, daydreaming and anxiety, and all that generates data that can be shown in the companion app.

IXI autofocus lenses
Mat Smith for Engadget

Hypothetically, the product could even potentially adapt prescriptions dynamically, going beyond the simple vision correction of Gen 1. For example, it could offer stronger corrections as your eyes get fatigued through the day.

IXI appears to be putting the pieces in place to make these glasses a reality. It still needs to obtain the necessary medical certifications in order to sell its glasses and get all the production pieces in place. It’s already partnered with Swiss lens-maker Optiswiss for manufacturing. Eiden says the final product will be positioned as a high-end luxury glasses option, selling through existing opticians. The company hopes to finally launch its first pair sometime next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ixis-autofocusing-lenses-multifocal-glasses-ces-2026-212608427.html?src=rss

Samsung Display at CES 2026: Playful demos and mysterious prototypes

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Samsung Display is the part of its giant parent company that makes OLEDs, LCDs and other screens for both Samsung devices and anyone else that can afford them. This year, it’s going all-in on OLEDs of the future. And that meant things like foldable displays with invisible creases, robots hurling basketballs at supertough OLED panels, and OLED screens packed into baffling form factors for no good reason.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Samsung Display

The “seamless” foldable display that might be a part of a future foldable iPhone disappeared from the booth during our tour, reappearing when it was time to leave. (This is an image provided by Samsung Display.) The device was labelled as an R&D concept, but it somehow disguised the crease in the center of the main display, making the (unlabelled) Galaxy Z Fold on the left look like a messy first-iteration foldable. There's still a crease there Will it actually form part of Apple’s foray into foldables, or just part of the Z Fold 8?

Why not both?

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

This isn’t a record player you’ll ever buy. You don’t need an OLED display on the side of your wireless headphones, but you could have them. I liked the cute OLED pendants; a customizable near-future button badge, but a lot of this is just devices for the sake of making them.

The booth tour had a small segment dedicated to portable gaming OLED, adding more possibilities whether that’s an eye-sight for FPS games or extra HUD for the most important info.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Reaching 4,500-nit brightness, I had to squint when sat in front of this beastly OLED. For reference, consumer-level TVs typically peak at around 2,700 nits. Compared to other display technologies, OLED can achieve deeper contrast and more accurate color reproduction, but it often lacks the brightness of rival TV technologies. Not for this prototype. Let me get my sunglasses.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

I didn’t consider OLED displays to be more fragile than other display technology, but that didn’t stop Samsung Display from installing a robot arm that throws a basketball at a hoop with a backboard made of 18 foldable OLEDs. With a bang, making Samsung Display execs and engineers nearby increasingly anxious as the days of CES go on.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

After Samsung finally solved the problem of weight and thickness with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it made life hard for itself again with the TriFold, with 50 percent more foldable screen. But it's worth seeing how Samsung’s foldables have evolved over the past few years. A solid reminder that the first Galaxy Fold (2019) was beefy.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Samsung Display has begun mass production of its 360Hz QD-OLED panel, with new “V-Stripe” RGB pixel structures. Inside each pixel, subpixels are vertically aligned, which appears to improve the clarity of text edges and other small contrast objects. While it was framed at the booth as a boon for office workers, a corner was dedicated to gaming applications.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Digital cockpits are the lifeblood of a CES showfloor, and Samsung Display’s version is predictably loaded with yet more OLEDs. The centerpiece is a “Flexible L” display that flows into the dashboard. A dedicated 13.8-inch display on the passenger side also slides out of the dash.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-display-ces-2026-playful-demos-and-mysterious-prototypes-220407696.html?src=rss

Samsung Display at CES 2026: Playful demos and mysterious prototypes

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Samsung Display is the part of its giant parent company that makes OLEDs, LCDs and other screens for both Samsung devices and anyone else that can afford them. This year, it’s going all-in on OLEDs of the future. And that meant things like foldable displays with invisible creases, robots hurling basketballs at supertough OLED panels, and OLED screens packed into baffling form factors for no good reason.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Samsung Display

The “seamless” foldable display that might be a part of a future foldable iPhone disappeared from the booth during our tour, reappearing when it was time to leave. (This is an image provided by Samsung Display.) The device was labelled as an R&D concept, but it somehow disguised the crease in the center of the main display, making the (unlabelled) Galaxy Z Fold on the left look like a messy first-iteration foldable. There's still a crease there Will it actually form part of Apple’s foray into foldables, or just part of the Z Fold 8?

Why not both?

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

This isn’t a record player you’ll ever buy. You don’t need an OLED display on the side of your wireless headphones, but you could have them. I liked the cute OLED pendants; a customizable near-future button badge, but a lot of this is just devices for the sake of making them.

The booth tour had a small segment dedicated to portable gaming OLED, adding more possibilities whether that’s an eye-sight for FPS games or extra HUD for the most important info.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Reaching 4,500-nit brightness, I had to squint when sat in front of this beastly OLED. For reference, consumer-level TVs typically peak at around 2,700 nits. Compared to other display technologies, OLED can achieve deeper contrast and more accurate color reproduction, but it often lacks the brightness of rival TV technologies. Not for this prototype. Let me get my sunglasses.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

I didn’t consider OLED displays to be more fragile than other display technology, but that didn’t stop Samsung Display from installing a robot arm that throws a basketball at a hoop with a backboard made of 18 foldable OLEDs. With a bang, making Samsung Display execs and engineers nearby increasingly anxious as the days of CES go on.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

After Samsung finally solved the problem of weight and thickness with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it made life hard for itself again with the TriFold, with 50 percent more foldable screen. But it's worth seeing how Samsung’s foldables have evolved over the past few years. A solid reminder that the first Galaxy Fold (2019) was beefy.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Samsung Display has begun mass production of its 360Hz QD-OLED panel, with new “V-Stripe” RGB pixel structures. Inside each pixel, subpixels are vertically aligned, which appears to improve the clarity of text edges and other small contrast objects. While it was framed at the booth as a boon for office workers, a corner was dedicated to gaming applications.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Digital cockpits are the lifeblood of a CES showfloor, and Samsung Display’s version is predictably loaded with yet more OLEDs. The centerpiece is a “Flexible L” display that flows into the dashboard. A dedicated 13.8-inch display on the passenger side also slides out of the dash.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-display-ces-2026-playful-demos-and-mysterious-prototypes-220407696.html?src=rss

Samsung Display at CES 2026: Playful demos and mysterious prototypes

Posted on by

Samsung Display is the part of its giant parent company that makes OLEDs, LCDs and other screens for both Samsung devices and anyone else that can afford them. This year, it’s going all-in on OLEDs of the future. And that meant things like foldable displays with invisible creases, robots hurling basketballs at supertough OLED panels, and OLED screens packed into baffling form factors for no good reason.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Samsung Display

The “seamless” foldable display that might be a part of a future foldable iPhone disappeared from the booth during our tour, reappearing when it was time to leave. (This is an image provided by Samsung Display.) The device was labelled as an R&D concept, but it somehow disguised the crease in the center of the main display, making the (unlabelled) Galaxy Z Fold on the left look like a messy first-iteration foldable. There's still a crease there Will it actually form part of Apple’s foray into foldables, or just part of the Z Fold 8?

Why not both?

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

This isn’t a record player you’ll ever buy. You don’t need an OLED display on the side of your wireless headphones, but you could have them. I liked the cute OLED pendants; a customizable near-future button badge, but a lot of this is just devices for the sake of making them.

The booth tour had a small segment dedicated to portable gaming OLED, adding more possibilities whether that’s an eye-sight for FPS games or extra HUD for the most important info.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Reaching 4,500-nit brightness, I had to squint when sat in front of this beastly OLED. For reference, consumer-level TVs typically peak at around 2,700 nits. Compared to other display technologies, OLED can achieve deeper contrast and more accurate color reproduction, but it often lacks the brightness of rival TV technologies. Not for this prototype. Let me get my sunglasses.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

I didn’t consider OLED displays to be more fragile than other display technology, but that didn’t stop Samsung Display from installing a robot arm that throws a basketball at a hoop with a backboard made of 18 foldable OLEDs. With a bang, making Samsung Display execs and engineers nearby increasingly anxious as the days of CES go on.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

After Samsung finally solved the problem of weight and thickness with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it made life hard for itself again with the TriFold, with 50 percent more foldable screen. But it's worth seeing how Samsung’s foldables have evolved over the past few years. A solid reminder that the first Galaxy Fold (2019) was beefy.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Samsung Display has begun mass production of its 360Hz QD-OLED panel, with new “V-Stripe” RGB pixel structures. Inside each pixel, subpixels are vertically aligned, which appears to improve the clarity of text edges and other small contrast objects. While it was framed at the booth as a boon for office workers, a corner was dedicated to gaming applications.

Samsung Display at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

Digital cockpits are the lifeblood of a CES showfloor, and Samsung Display’s version is predictably loaded with yet more OLEDs. The centerpiece is a “Flexible L” display that flows into the dashboard. A dedicated 13.8-inch display on the passenger side also slides out of the dash.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-display-ces-2026-playful-demos-and-mysterious-prototypes-220407696.html?src=rss

This game controller has a force feedback steering wheel lodged in the middle

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Not everyone remembers the unique controllers that never quite made it. As third-party peripheral makers attempt to offer gamers something different to the likes of DualSense and Joy-Cons, they often have to go in a different direction. GameSir’s Swift Drive (apparently a working product name) is definitely that. And if you remember 1998’s JogCon for the PS1, there’s definitely some shared DNA.

It features a compact steering wheel at the center of an otherwise typical controller design. It’s also got force feedback, tech usually found in (full-size!) steering wheel controllers. GameSir says it has a “high precision” Hall Effect encoder built in for “ultra-accurate” steering.

GameSir Swiftdrive hands-on at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

You will be able to adjust the steering range from 30 to 1080 degrees, but you’d likely want to keep it high – it’s the entire point of this controller. GameSir has added Hall-effect sensors to its more typical joysticks and buttons, while each trigger has its own haptic motor to simulate wheel slip and braking. Several RGB lights across the top of the controller will even attempt to replicate your in-game RPMs, which is a cute touch.

On the show floor at CES, I drove a big rig in a demonstration area that was stripped down to wireframe ramps and curved surfaces. The force-feedback is powerful and it’s a surprisingly satisfying driving experience as I wheeled around, rotating the steering wheel with both thumbs. The steering wheel can also be customized with different plates. It felt like a miniaturized steering-wheel controller and would lock out when I oversteered or stopped. You may be concerned about battery life, but the controller should last 20-30 hours on a single charge.

A GameSir spokesperson said the controller is expected to go on sale later this year, but pricing has not yet been confirmed.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-game-controller-has-a-force-feedback-steering-wheel-lodged-in-the-middle-034521141.html?src=rss

CES 2026: Hyperkin and Gamesir made a modular game controller for your smartphone, tablet and even your Switch

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I’ve been using the same smartphone controller on my iPhone for years. That’s partly because most options are so similar. Announced at CES 2026, the X5 Alteron couldn’t be more different. It’s a collaboration between GameSir (which loves unusual peripheral dalliances) and Hyperkin (retro-leaning controller maker).

The X5 Alteron is apparently the world's first fully modular mobile games controller. While the headline feature might be the stick/d-pad/button modules, the X5 Alteron has a very accommodating vice grip that works with devices from iPhone and Android phones through to the Switch series and even iPads. There’s even Bluetooth if you want to use it with a PC. 

Hyperkin x Gamesir X5 Alteron hands-on at CES 2026
Mat Smith for Engadget

On the showfloor, Gamesir had a non-working prototype model with swappable modules, able to replicate most of your favorite layouts, including asymmetric analogue sticks, a yellow stick that’s aspiring to be a Gamecube controller and even a six-button array for those wanting to scratch that Sega Saturn itch. And if you want symmetrical sticks, you maniac, you can have that too. Rumble motors will also be built into the controller.

The modules lie flush when magnetically attached to the controller, although on the early prototype, they were difficult to remove. It’s pretty much fully customizable: there will be adjustable stick heights and hot-swappable buttons. Hyperkin and Gamesir are promising GameCube and N64 modules, and even a trackpad module for FPS games.

There’s contemporary technology too. The X5 Alteron will have capacitive sticks, not Hall-Effect ones. This should offer much more precision: the technology remains pretty rare in controllers. There are Hall-Effect analog triggers on the rear of the controller. It’s early days, with no release date or pricing set yet, but I'm intrigued — and I suspect many mobile gamers are too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hyperkin-and-gamesir-x5-alteron-modular-game-controller-ces-2026-221853624.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Sony Honda’s new car, Lego’s first CES press event and more

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Welcome to your first CES edition of TMA, attempting (almost futilely) to distill the biggest product reveals and announcements. Despite two days of briefings and conferences, today is merely day one. However, we’ve already seen Sony Honda reveal its next car — and the Afeela 1 isn’t yet on sale. We’ve got a deep dive on what we’ve seen so far, right here.

AMD announced new Ryzen AI 400 laptop processors and updated desktop chips, including the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, with a new focus broadly on AI processing improvements. NVIDIA had a lengthy, dense press conference showing off its dominance in AI tech, but it lacked major consumer announcements — until overnight, when it revealed next-gen G-Sync tech and an upgraded version of DLSS. The new tech can handle up to 4K 240Hz path traced performance. It also adds an improved version of Super Resolution Transformer, with more stability.

This year’s wildcard CES press conference was… Lego? It revealed Smart Bricks, which adds sensors, audio and wireless communication to traditional Lego pieces. The system is launching with Star Wars sets later this year — and perhaps crucially, no smartphone or screen is needed to play.

There’s also LG and Samsung to get into — more on those below!

— Mat Smith

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Engadget

After launching its double-folding smartphone in Korea, Samsung is giving its newest foldable the press tour at CES 2026 and, despite reservations, it’s slick. The key difference between the Z Trifold and the Z Fold series is a second fold-out wing, turning it from a traditional smartphone into a more tablet-like form factor, closer to what we’re used to. Farewell square-ish screens.

This is what we were promised when foldables first appeared: a larger screen that offers greater utility than traditional smartphones, without compromise. Sam Rutherford tested one out. Read on for his impressions.

Continue reading.

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Engadget

The big reveal at Samsung’s First Look CES press conference was literally big: a flagship 130-inch Micro RGB TV framed by a giant metal easel with embedded speakers. It’s much more in the realm of concept than reality — no price, no release date. It works as a halo product for more realistic TV sets using Samsung’s new preferred display technology. This year it’ll be offering TVs in 55-, 65- and 75-inch sizes. And if you’re curious, we explain what Micro RGB TVs are.

Continue reading.

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Engadget

CES 2026 marks the return of LG’s ultra-thin Wallpaper TV. The latest version sports a gorgeous OLED screen and wireless connectivity, and it’s about as thin as a pencil. We checked out the new Wallpaper TV during a CES preview event, along with LG’s Gallery and Micro RGB sets. If money were no object, I’d want a 100-inch LG Wallpaper TV. According to Devindra Hardawar, it looks “shockingly thin” in person.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-ces-2026-press-day-174444560.html?src=rss