The Greatest Good House 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 outside touchscreens and video cameras—all in a slick-looking, slender mortise door lock—make it some of the compelling good locks on its strategy to the market. Will 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}.

Good thermostats have nearly completely been the area of Nest and Ecobee for years, however Aqara debuted what could possibly be a banger of an alternate 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 units. Aqara can also be the primary firm to announce compatibility with Apple House’s new Adaptive Temperature and Clear Vitality Steerage options.

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

Signify’s Philips Hue didn’t have something in the way in which of recent merchandise to indicate, however nonetheless managed to impress me with its new SpatialAware feature. The function enables you to use your smartphone’s digicam and LiDAR sensor to determine the place Hue lights are positioned relative to at least one one other, so as to use that info in scenes. Within the firm’s CES 2026 suite, that meant that one scene unfold shade 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 purple appeared to radiate out from that to the opposite lights, their hue relying on the place they had been within the room. The function is coming in spring 2026, however solely to homeowners of the Philips Hue Bridge Professional.

The Saros Rover can climb and clear stairs, one thing robotic vacuum corporations have been racing to attain lately. 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 may climb and clear stairs (very slowly). In fact, whether or not it’s value paying nonetheless many hundreds of {dollars} that Roborock will presumably ask for the Rover depends upon whether or not or not it’s truly a very good robotic vacuum apart from.

Aqara, which already makes the FP2, top-of-the-line 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 capable of 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 having the ability to observe as much as 10 individuals directly, and by triggering automations based mostly on when somebody stands, sits, or lies down, in accordance with the corporate. Like previous Aqara presence sensors, it’ll be Matter-compatible. Aqara didn’t announce a launch date or pricing.