Mark your calendars. On January 7, 2026, CNET Group will announce the most comprehensive and compelling class of winners yet for the official Best of CES awards.
In 2025, we came together for the first time as a family of tech media brands to announce the top 11 at CES winners hand-selected by journalists from CNET, PCMag, Mashable, ZDNET and Lifehacker. After discovering many exciting new products at the show last January, we're going to do even more next year to bring the best of CES 2026, presented by CNET Group in partnership with the Consumer Technology Association.
Next month, for the first time, we'll be partnering with friends at the Ziff Davis brands IGN and Everyday Health to help us announce 23 winners in as many categories, with multiple finalists in each category:
- Best age technology
- Best AI
- Best Audio
- Best Deep Computing Technology
- Best Energy Technologies
- The best technology of the future
- Best game
- The best kitchen appliances
- Best laptop
- Best mobile
- Best Parent Technician
- The best technology for pets
- Best robot
- Best smart home technology
- Best Startup
- Better stability
- The best transport
- Best Travel Technology
- Best TV or home theater
- Best Weird Technology
- The best health technologies
- The best technology for the yard or street
And…
What to Expect from CNET Group Reporting
As the world recovers from its New Year's hangover, 74 of our journalists, social media producers and video professionals will be packing their bags for Las Vegas. We'll spend the first weekend of January scouring the show before anyone arrives. By the time CES opens on January 6, 2026, you'll feel like you're there too. Our live blogs, social media posts and exhibition videos will give you an inside look at never-before-seen technology.
On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 8 a.m. PT, CNET Group will announce the official finalists for Best of CES 2026. You can visit CNET to see them all and read key details about each product.
If you were lucky enough to attend CES in person, we encourage you to visit the CTA Main Stage in the main hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center at 4:00 pm PT to watch our Best of CES Awards show live. CNET Large Editor Bridget Carey and PCMag Mobile Editor Iyaz Aktar will invite experts from our brands to join them on stage to review highlights from the show and announce and congratulate our winners. At 6:00 pm PT, we will update our main story on CNET to announce the winners in 22 categories and the top score award.
Don't worry if you miss this announcement. We will work with our partners at the CTA and across all of our sites and platforms to shout the winners from the mountaintops.
How to Submit Your Product to Best of CES
We will be happy to review any product that you feel deserves to be recognized as the best in its category at the show. However, we do have some rules for participation. The product or service must be a CES 2026 exhibitor and meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Include a compelling new concept or idea.
- Solve the consumer's main problem
- Is a new or significant update to an existing product that sets a new bar for performance or quality.
As in past years, we can't promise to respond to every message, and the final decision on which products will win and which won't will be made by our journalists. But we really want to hear your opinion. If you would like to submit a product for review, use this submission form and don't forget to deliver it to us before January 1st.
