Top Smart Home Gadgets from CES 2026

The smart home landscape is shifting from a focus on flashy new categories to a more practical evolution, where core devices like lights, locks, and cameras are becoming smarter, more affordable, and finally working together seamlessly. This progress, highlighted at the latest industry showcase, stems largely from the growing adoption of the Matter interoperability standard. With manufacturers spending less effort on proprietary integrations, they can channel resources into innovation and cost reduction. The result is a wave of compelling gadgets that enhance everyday life without complicating it.

A charming example is the Ikea Varmblixt smart lamp. This stylish furnishing item includes a simple remote for adjusting warmth and cycling through twelve preset colors. For deeper integration, it connects via Ikea’s Dirigera hub to the HomeSmart app, leveraging Matter-over-Thread connectivity to unlock full color control, brightness settings, and compatibility with other smart home ecosystems. Priced at $99.99, it’s scheduled to arrive in April 2026.

Lifx brings a similar blend of design and intelligence to the bathroom with its new smart mirror. This device uses front and back LEDs to provide perfect facial illumination while creating ambient wall lighting. It includes practical features like a defogger and a makeup check that simulates different daylight conditions. Three configurable buttons on the front can be set to control other Lifx products or any Matter-connected device in your home, such as a bathroom fan or entryway lights. Expect this versatile mirror to launch in the second quarter for under $200.

The concept of a centralized control point finds a natural home in the Aqara Thermostat Hub W200. This dual-purpose device acts as both a climate controller and a full Aqara Matter hub, supporting Wi-Fi, Thread, and Zigbee to bridge devices to major platforms. Its touchscreen serves as a video doorbell viewer, showing snapshots from a connected Aqara doorbell, and can even unlock your door when paired with a compatible smart lock. Built-in mmWave sensing wakes the display as you approach and provides occupancy data to optimize heating and cooling. It also supports Apple’s Adaptive Temperature features. While pricing is still to be announced, it’s positioned as a mid-range offering coming soon.

For those seeking ultimate security and convenience, the Lockin V7 smart lock is a powerhouse. It introduces a novel wireless optical charging system called AuraCharge, which uses a small plug-in puck to deliver power without physical contact. This unlimited power enables advanced features like three biometric unlock methods (finger vein, palm vein, and 3D facial recognition), dual cameras for a built-in video doorbell, and interior and exterior touchscreens. The exterior screen can display a personal avatar and functions as a keypad, while an AI system monitors activity, logs deliveries, and offers safety alerts. Supporting Matter, the V7 is slated for release later this year.

A more futuristic, though perhaps less imminent, vision came from LG with its CLOiD robot. Designed to augment a smart home by handling physical tasks, demonstrations showed it folding laundry, loading appliances, and retrieving items. Its intelligence is powered by an integrated LG ThinQ hub, allowing it to communicate with and orchestrate other smart appliances. As a supporter of Matter and the Home Connectivity Alliance, CLOiD represents a future where a single robot could manage compatible devices from various brands throughout the home.

Practical home automation is also advancing with products like the GE Lighting smart roller shades. These stylish, easy-to-install blinds use Matter over Thread for reliable connectivity and extended battery life. Starting at just over $300, they are available in light-filtering or blackout options. Their development story underscores Matter’s impact; after acquiring high-end shade company J Geiger, GE Lighting adapted the product to be more affordable and easily connectible without a proprietary hub.

On the security front, Aqara’s G350 indoor camera stands out as one of the first to support the new Matter 1.5 specification. This pan/tilt camera offers 4K coverage with a 9x zoom and also functions as a Matter controller and Thread border router. Video can be stored locally on a microSD card or via cloud services. Aqara’s separate Home Station can also bridge feeds from older cameras into the Matter ecosystem.

In the kitchen, the GE Profile Smart 4-Door French-Door Refrigerator takes a thoughtful approach. A built-in Android tablet in the dispenser area manages shopping lists, recipes, and meal planning. A barcode scanner and voice assistant simplify adding items, which sync to the GE SmartHQ app for Instacart shopping. An interior camera provides clear snapshots of the produce drawers, helping track what’s inside. The tablet is also designed to be user-replaceable, preventing obsolescence in a major appliance.

Finally, the entertainment center gets smarter with Amazon’s Ember Artline TV. This art-focused TV features swappable frames and includes far-field microphones, making the screen itself an Alexa smart speaker. A built-in mmWave sensor can detect presence and trigger routines, like turning off the TV when you leave the room. A redesigned FireTV interface dedicates a tab to smart home controls, allowing quick access to connected devices. These interface updates are rolling out to all FireTVs, with future models expected to include Thread radios, potentially positioning the television as a central smart home hub. The Ember Artline launches this spring, starting at $899.

(Source: The Verge)