The Greatest Sensible Residence Tech at CES 2026

No good lock has all of it, however the V7 Max feels prefer it’s shut. Wi-fi optical charging, palm and finger vein scanning, facial recognition, Matter assist, and indoor and out of doors touchscreens and video cameras—all in a slick-looking, slender mortise door lock—make it one of the crucial compelling good locks on its solution to the market. Will or not it’s costly? Oh my, sure—Lockin hasn’t introduced pricing, however its predecessor, the V5 Max, started at 39,990 New Taiwan dollars, or round $1,270 U.S. {dollars}.

Sensible thermostats have nearly completely been the area of Nest and Ecobee for years, however Aqara debuted what might be a banger of another at CES 2026: the Thermostat Hub W200. It’s greater than only a thermostat; it has a millimeter wave presence sensor (that’s the type that may inform if an individual is within the room even when they’re sitting nonetheless), can work as a video doorbell monitor with Aqara video doorbells, and features as a wise residence hub for each Aqara and third-party Matter gadgets. Aqara can also be the primary firm to announce compatibility with Apple Residence’s new Adaptive Temperature and Clear Vitality Steering options.

Govee’s new Ceiling Light Ultra lies in a murky space between good mild and show, because of a 616-LED array of lights sitting beneath its plastic cowl. With these, the 21-inch mild can present vibrant colours, positive, however it may possibly additionally show photographs with much more element than one thing like its Curtain Lights. In consequence, at CES 2026, I might make out the fuzzy animated visible of a rotating Earth just below this Matter-compatible mild’s cowl. There was loads of lighting on the tech present, however the Ceiling Gentle Extremely was essentially the most fascinating that I noticed, by far.

Signify’s Philips Hue didn’t have something in the best way of latest merchandise to point out, however nonetheless managed to impress me with its new SpatialAware feature. The characteristic enables you to use your smartphone’s digicam and LiDAR sensor to establish the place Hue lights are positioned relative to 1 one other, with a purpose to use that data in scenes. Within the firm’s CES 2026 suite, that meant that one scene unfold colour over many lights in order that they resembled a sundown. One brighter, yellow mild served because the solar, whereas the remaining shades of yellow, orange, pink, and crimson appeared to radiate out from that to the opposite lights, their hue relying on the place they have been within the room. The characteristic is coming in spring 2026, however solely to house owners of the Philips Hue Bridge Professional.

The Saros Rover can climb and clear stairs, one thing robotic vacuum corporations have been racing to attain in recent times. That probably beats even what I noticed just some months in the past with the still-unreleased Eufy Marswalker or Dreame Cyber X, each of that are little mech fits/headcrab-likes that permit separate robotic vacuums drive up and down stairs to get between flooring, however not clear the steps themselves. At CES 2026, we noticed the Saros Rover actually might climb and clear stairs (very slowly). In fact, whether or not it’s price paying nonetheless many hundreds of {dollars} that Roborock will presumably ask for the Rover relies on whether or not or not it’s truly a very good robotic vacuum moreover.

Aqara, which already makes the FP2, among the best millimeter wave presence sensors I’ve used, is stepping up its recreation with the Spatial Multi-Sensor FP400. For the uninitiated, presence sensors are a bit like occupancy sensors, however extra exact and in a position to inform if somebody is within the room even when they’re not shifting, and may set off automations based mostly on particular areas of a room. The FP400 builds on that by with the ability to observe as much as 10 folks directly, and by triggering automations based mostly on when somebody stands, sits, or lies down, in response to the corporate. Like previous Aqara presence sensors, it’ll be Matter-compatible. Aqara didn’t announce a launch date or pricing.