Apple has reportedly canceled the development of a new iPhone SE. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company recently told suppliers it would not release a fourth-generation SE model sometime in 2024. In a Medium post spotted by MacRumors, Kuo said the device would have been the debut of Apple’s first in-house 5G modem, adding that the company had planned to test and fine-tune the chip on the SE before rolling it out more broadly to the iPhone 16 and beyond. Instead, Kuo suggests Apple is now more likely to continue using Qualcomm modems through 2024.

Kuo doesn’t say why Apple shelved the fourth-generation iPhone SE or if the performance of its own 5G chip had anything to do with the decision. For the better part of a decade, Apple has tried to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. In 2019, the two ended their bitter patent feud and signed a “multiyear” wireless chip supply deal. Months later, however, Apple bought the majority of Intel’s mobile modem business. Then, at the end of 2020, the company disclosed it was working on its own cellular chipset. There’s been little news about the project since.

Google has turned to India’s Supreme Court as a “last hope” to block an order that has the potential to reshape the Android ecosystem. Last October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google $161.9 million and barred the search giant from requiring OEMs to preinstall Google apps and services on their phones. On Wednesday, an appeals tribunal rejected the company’s request to block the ruling, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 19th. According to court documents seen by Reuters, Google filed a challenge against the tribunal’s decision with the country’s top court on Saturday. The company reportedly sees the effort as its last and best hope at preventing the CCI’s order from impacting its business. Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.

While the $161.9 million fine is tiny for Google, the order is likely to force the company to change its deals with Android manufacturers dramatically. The CCI seeks to prevent Google from including “anti-fragmentation” clauses that bar Android forks. The order would also force the company to allow third-party app stores on Google Play, and allow users to uninstall first-party apps they don’t want on their phones. India is a critical market for Google. The country is home to about 606.6 million smartphone users, and about 97 percent of the phones in India run Android. In other words, the company can’t afford to exit the market.

Citizen, the provocative crime-reporting app formerly known as Vigilante, is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. On Thursday evening, it doxxed singer Billie Eilish, publishing her address to thousands of people after an alleged burglary at her home.

Shortly after the break-in, the app notified users of a break-in in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood — including the home’s address. As reported by Vice, Citizen’s message was updated at 9:41 PM to state that the house belonged to Eilish. According to Citizen’s metrics, the alert was sent to 178,000 people and viewed by nearly 78,000. On Friday morning, Citizen updated the app’s description of the incident, replacing the precise address with a nearby cross-street.

Although celebrity home addresses are often publicly available (usually on seedy websites specializing in such invasive nonsense), a popular app pushing the home address of one of pop music’s biggest stars to thousands of users is... new. Unfortunately, it’s also just the latest potentially destructive move from Citizen.

When Citizen launched as Vigilante in 2016, Apple quickly pulled the title from the App Store based on concerns about its encouraging users to thrust themselves into dangerous situations. So it rebranded as Citizen with a new focus on safety, and Apple re-opened its gates. The app began advising users to avoid incidents in progress while providing tools to help those caught in a dangerous situation. Although that sounds reasonable, at least one episode reveals an overzealousness company prioritizing attention and profit over social responsibility.

Citizen

In May 2021, CEO Andrew Frame ordered the launch of a live stream, encouraging the app’s users to hunt down a suspected wildfire arsonist (based on a tip from an LAPD sergeant and emails from residents questioned by police). He offered a $10,000 bounty for finding the suspect, which grew to $30,000 later in the evening. As the hunt continued, the CEO reportedly grew more frantic, with one of his internal Slack conversations encouraging the team to “get this guy before midnight” in an ecstatic, all-caps message.

A staffer was ignored in a Slack chat when they warned the team about breaking the app’s terms of service, which prohibit “posting of specific information that could identify parties involved in an incident.” When police announced that night that they had made an arrest, the team celebrated, believing their feverish hunt for notability had led to the capture. The only problem? Citizen had the wrong guy. In Frame’s apparent eagerness to legitimize his app’s purpose with a high-profile citizen arrest, he placed a public bounty on a wrongfully accused suspect.

And we're back. After canceling our CES plans in 2022 (and not even having the option of attending in person in 2021), the Engadget team sent a dozen staffers to CES 2023 this week, including reporters, editors and videographers. It's too soon to say how many stories and videos we've published — in fact, we have more good stuff coming — but suffice to say, it was a lot. Though our team swears the show still wasn't as busy as pre-pandemic years, they were kept busy enough that it felt like a true return to form, not just for us, but for the tech industry at large.

One thing that never stopped was Engadget's annual Best of CES Awards program, although this year marks the first time in three years we've been able to base our judgments off of a full slate of in-person hands-on experiences. All told, we're handing out a dozen awards this year, including the most prestigious: Best of the Best. As always, our awards attempt to capture what we think people will still be talking about weeks, or even months, after the show concludes, from wireless TVs to an electric Ram concept truck to a $1,000 stand mixer that should make dough blending almost foolproof.

As ever, too, we endeavored to weed out the vaporware, not to mention the things that got attention solely for being dumb. (Hello, multiplesmart pee gadgets and a $3,800 "self-driving" stroller that only works when the baby isn't on board!) If you're curious about all the frivolity anyway — and who can blame you? — you'll find all of our coverage, serious and irreverent, right here. But for just the good stuff, you're in the right place. – Dana Wollman, Editor-in-Chief

Best Accessibility Tech: L’Oréal Hapta

L'oreal

Rather than showing up to CES with a viral beauty gadget, L’Oréal debuted an assistive lipstick applicator that will be useful to millions. The cosmetics company worked with utensil maker Verily, which produces stabilizing and leveling cutlery for people with limited hand and arm mobility, to create Hapta. The result is a sturdy grip-and-gimbal system that lets those with limited finger dexterity or strength more independently apply lipstick. Though there are some quirks the company needs to iron out before releasing the Hapta in December, it’s impressive that this is both a finished product and has a relatively affordable suggested retail price of $150 to $200. It’s also a device that caters to an often overlooked segment of consumers, and can be expanded to work with more makeup applications. Of all the accessibility-related products we saw this CES, the Hapta is the most unique, while being actually helpful. — Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor, Reviews

Best Gaming Product: Sony Project Leonardo

Sony

Project Leonardo is Sony’s first piece of gaming hardware designed specifically for people with limited motor control, and it happens to look pretty neat at the same time. Project Leonardo is a controller kit that’ll work out of the box with the PlayStation 5, offering two circular gamepads lined with swappable buttons, third-party accessory ports and other customizable inputs. The controllers lie flat on a table or they can be mounted on a standard tripod, and they can be paired with a DualSense to turn all three devices into a single gamepad, offering plenty of flexibility for players.

To build its new PS5 accessory, Sony partnered with advocacy organizations including AbleGamers and SpecialEffect, just like Microsoft did with the (wildly successful) Xbox Adaptive Controller. Project Leonardo represents another positive step for accessibility tech in video games, a market that’s filled with surprises and primed for growth in 2023. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

Best Heath & Fitness Product: Valencell blood pressure monitoring prototype 

Valencell

Valencell has been making optical heart-rate sensors for years, but at CES 2023 it unveiled a new fingertip monitor that offers “cuffless” blood pressure monitoring. Instead of an unwieldy inflating sleeve, this fingertip clip uses photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors to measure blood flow patterns. This information is combined with algorithms and the user’s age, weight, gender and height to create a blood pressure measurement, without the need for calibration. We might have seen similar technology in earlier stages of development, but Valencell’s technique of combining data makes for the most compelling device yet. Valencell plans to eventually offer the blood pressure monitor to clinics and hospitals, alongside an over-the-counter version for personal use, pending FDA approval. — Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief

Best Home Theater Tech: LG Signature OLED M3

Engadget

LG unveiled several new OLED TVs at CES this year, but the standout was the Signature OLED M3, a 97-inch 4K giant. What’s most interesting about the M3, however, isn’t its screen – it’s the tech inside of it. More specifically, the M3 is designed to receive video and audio wirelessly, through a separate box that LG says you can place up to 30 feet away from the TV. Outside of a power cord, the M3 itself is cable-free; instead you plug your media streamers, cable box or game consoles into the breakout box, and all of it is beamed over a wireless link.

The company dubs this wireless transmission tech “Zero Connect” and claims this proprietary standard can provide three times the speed of WiFi 6. Among other connections, the Zero Connect box includes three HDMI ports that can play in 4K at 120Hz, including one eARC port. While it does require line-of-sight to work – there’s a rotatable antenna built into the box – in our brief experience with the set, we found the signal quality remained steady even in a crowded room. If Zero Connect can eventually make its way down to LG’s more reasonably priced TVs, it could provide an exciting new level of versatility. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Commerce Writer

Best Laptop: Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Lenovo

By axing the traditional, physical keyboard and putting two 13.3-inch OLED screens on the Yoga Book 9i, Lenovo could potentially shake up modern laptop design in a way we haven’t seen since the original Surface Pro a decade ago. And while there are some issues that will need to be ironed out, the potential this new design offers is undeniable. When you prop up the Yoga Book on its kickstand, it becomes much more than a standard clamshell. You can have two screens stacked on top of each other or side-by-side depending on your needs. Meanwhile in standard laptop mode, you have the freedom to choose between a virtual or detachable Bluetooth keyboard – both with customizable widgets, not to mention built-in stylus support. It’s a level of flexibility and adaptability that traditional laptops simply can’t match. And unlike overly ambitious concepts in the past, this dual-screen notebook is actually coming out (sometime this spring for around $2,000) so we can see how it will truly fare in the real world. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Writer

Best Mobile or Tablet Tech: WPC Qi2 charging standard

Engadget

When Apple added MagSafe charging to the iPhone back in 2020, it created an incredibly simple and convenient way of juicing up its phones. And now, at CES 2023, the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) has released details on the Qi2 charging standard that will finally bring similar functionality to the rest of the handset market. Not only does the new spec include support for Magnetic Power Profiles which will pave the way for handy charging disks that can snap onto the back of your phone, it will also allow for important features such as foreign object detection and up to 15-watt charging with the potential to raise power output even further in the future. And perhaps most importantly, because Apple is a member of the WPC, Qi2 shouldn’t be a weak MagSafe knock-off when it arrives on retail devices later this year in Q4 2023. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Writer

Best Robot or Drone: KEYi Loona

Loona

Historically, robot pets tend to be lacking in the cutesy department. Loona, the futuristic companion from KEYi, with its big puppy dog eyes and wiggling ears has the adorable thing locked down. Loona is smart enough to scurry around your living space without running into walls or off of countertops, but the real magic is in its expressiveness. It’s impressive what you can do with a small display, four wheels and two “ears.”

Beyond her charms, Loona also comes loaded with sensors for responding to your voice, gestures and touch and a collection of games that turn the virtual pet into quite the clever companion. These same sensors also make her a capable home security bot and something of a STEM tool for kids via a graphical programming option to teach Loona new “interactions.”

Put all this together and you have a capable home robot that just happens to love having its ears tickled. What’s not to love about that? — James Trew, Editor-at-Large

Best Smart Home Product: GE Profile Smart Mixer

GE

Baking requires precision and, depending on the recipe, can often feel like a juggling act. So it impressed us to see GE Profile's Smart Mixer, which has a built-in scale to accurately weigh ingredients, plus voice control so you don’t have to push buttons when your hands are otherwise occupied. The Smart Mixer is a high-end stand mixer in its own right, with a motor that’s speedy enough to whip up emulsions. But it gets its smart home edge from that integrated scale, app connectivity and voice control.

Indeed, the app component will probably be particularly useful for novice bakers, offering over a dozen step-by-step recipes. App guidance for cooking is nothing new, but here, the mixer knows what you’re making and will adjust mixing speeds as needed to ensure nothing is over- or under-worked.

For experienced bakers, the scale, timer and voice control are likely to have greater appeal. Scale and timer readouts appear on the front-facing digital display, which also shows you the mixer’s current speed setting. Changing that setting is as easy as asking Alexa or the Google Assistant to do it for you, provided you have a smart speaker linked. With a starting price of $999, it’s by no means a cheap appliance, but the suite of innovative smart features made this one of the more memorable smart home gadgets we saw at the show this year. — Amy Skorheim, Commerce Writer

Best Transportation Tech: Ram 1500 BEV Concept

Stellantis

The Ram 1500, one of America’s most iconic trucks, is charging into the 21st century with a “revolutionary” battery electric pickup concept. The eponymously named Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept shown off at Stellantis’ CES 2023 keynote packs high tech everything into a sleek and aggressive body design. The BEV concept features dual-motor AWD, four-wheel steering, animated grille emblems, taillights and badging. Additionally, it has an integrated movie projector, AI assistants that respond to voice commands from both inside and outside the vehicle, as well as a Shadow Mode that trains the truck to follow along behind its dismounted driver from a safe distance.

Ram envisions this feature being used on job sites where workers would otherwise have to repeatedly get in and out of the truck between short drives. The BEV Concept itself won’t be entering production — ditto for most concept vehicles — but it will directly inform the design decisions going into the 2024 Ram 1500 EV, which will launch next year alongside Stellantis’ fully electric Jeep. — Andrew Tarantola, Senior Reporter

Best TV Tech: Samsung Micro LED

Samsung

CES has long been a show where tier-one manufacturers show off the latest and greatest in TV technology, giving us a preview of how normal people will be able to deck out their home theater setups once the tech goes mainstream. This year was no exception, even though Sony surprisingly didn't show off any new televisions. What felt most significant in 2023 was Samsung's continued advancements in its MicroLED TVs. The technology first debuted in 2018 with the company's gigantic 146-inch TV dubbed "The Wall" that cost as much as a house, but now we're seeing Samsung bring it to 50- and 63-inch TVs that will actually fit in people's living rooms. Sure, the cost will likely still be prohibitive for all but the wealthy, but hopefully in a few years we'll see these stunning screens available at a price more households can afford. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Editor, News

Best Wearable: German Bionic Apogee

German Bionic

Our favorite wearable this year takes technology beyond the wrist-bound devices we’re used to seeing and puts it on your hips and over your shoulders. German Bionic’s new Apogee exosuit builds upon the company’s Cray X exoskeleton that it showed off at CES last year, resulting in a lighter, smarter wearable. Designed for commercial use, the Apogee exosuit helps workers complete physical tasks without inflicting as much strain on their bodies. The suit can offset up to 66 pounds of load to the lower back per lifting motion, plus it helps reduce fatigue overall with walking assistance.

The Apogee is German Bionic’s lightest exosuit to date and it’s designed to be worn for long periods of time, assisting workers without getting in the way. Plus, the company’s IO architecture constantly collects and analyzes data about workers’ activity while they’re wearing the suit, so it can then provide feedback via the onboard display or audio alerts when unsafe movements are detected. We’re almost disappointed that the Apogee will only be available in warehouses and other commercial settings – various Engadget staffers suffering from chronic back pain are eager to give it a go. — Valentina Palladino, Senior Commerce Editor

Best in Show: Sony Project Leonardo

Sony

Project Leonardo is Sony’s first piece of gaming hardware designed specifically for people with disabilities, and it represents another positive step in the world of accessibility tech. Project Leonardo is a controller kit that will be plug-and-play with the PlayStation 5, working in conjunction with existing Sony hardware and popular third-party accessibility accessories. The controller kit includes two circular gamepads lined with swappable buttons, four 3.5mm AUX accessory ports and other customizable inputs. 

The controllers were designed so that they don't need to be held – instead, they lie flat on a table, or they can be mounted on a tripod or stand. Both controllers can be paired with a DualSense to turn all three devices into a single gamepad, offering plenty of flexibility for players. 

To build its new PS5 accessory, Sony partnered with advocacy organizations including AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, much like Microsoft did with the revolutionary Xbox Adaptive Controller. Though there's no release date or price for Project Leonardo quite yet, Sony is seizing on an opportunity to expand the PS5 playerbase while making its hardware more inclusive, and we're likely to hear much more about the controller kit in the coming months. 

The market for accessibility tech in video games is filled with surprises and primed for growth in 2023, and Project Leonardo is at the forefront this year. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

Late last year, Meta expanded the limits of consumer mixed reality when it released the Quest Pro. And now at CES 2023, HTC is hitting back with its own take on a flagship headset with the Vive XR Elite.

Right away, the XR Elite matches a number of the Quest Pro’s highlight specs including support for 2K resolution (1920 x 1920) to each eye, a 90Hz refresh rate and full standalone operation. However, weighing 625 grams (versus 722 for the Quest Pro) and with a more comfortable headband, the XR Elite does an even better job of delivering a breezy portable VR/AR experience. Heck, HTC included the ability to remove its battery and stuff the lens inside a relatively compact canister for traveling. That said you’ll still have to find room in a bag or somewhere else to stash its power pack.

But it was only after I got a chance to test HTC’s headset across a number of demos that I really started to appreciate how much has been packed inside such a small package. Like the Quest Pro, the XR Elite features built-in hand-tracking, so you can easily and intuitively use gesture controls in games. And with support for full-color passthrough, you don’t feel like you’re isolated in the lonely void of VR.

Also, despite HTC opting for a slightly older Qualcomm XR2 chip (compared to the XR2+ chip in the Quest Pro) I was able to play games like Hubris (which originally launched on PSVR) without the need for help from a computer. Thankfully, you still have the option of tethering to a desktop when you want to run PC-based games or pairing with your phone to watch videos.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Granted, the XR Elite’s controllers still have a ring around the top, which makes them a bit more unwieldy than Meta’s Touch Pro gamepads. But that’s a trade-off I can live with. The two major drawbacks of the XR Elite compared to the Quest Pro is its lack of sophisticated eye and face-tracking, though HTC says it’s working on modules that should address those shortcomings.

Unfortunately, despite its high points, the XR Elite also shares a lot of the same flaws as the Quest Pro. Sure, starting at $1,099, it’s a bit cheaper than Meta’s $1,500 rival. But that’s still prohibitively expensive for anyone that’s not a bleeding edge enthusiast. But the bigger issue is that with all these new features, it still feels like there’s a lack of content that can take advantage of the headset’s capabilities. Most of the games I played were demos meant to showcase specific features instead of full-fledged experiences.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

There are some annoying quirks too. While I found the XR Elite more comfortable than the Quest Pro, I had a harder time dialing in my IPD (interpupillary distance) and getting the optics as tack sharp as Meta’s headset. On top of that, as a side effect to HTC’s quest for streamlined portability, there’s so little space between the XR Elite’s lenses and your eyes, there isn’t enough room for people to keep their glasses on while using it. HTC tried to combat this by including diopters that can account for certain levels of nearsightedness, but those settings only go down to -6. So while I don’t wear glasses myself, the headset is a much harder sell for those who do.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Ultimately, this means that as impressive as HTC’s smaller and more portable MR headset is on a technical level, it still doesn’t do enough to convert metaverse skeptics into willing users, or at least not yet. But just like the Quest Pro, in a way, HTC had to build the Vive XR Elite for that future to even have a chance of becoming reality, both now and long after the headset goes on sale sometime in late February.

Well CES is officially underway. The floor is open and hordes of PR reps, journalists and eager entrepreneurs are coursing through the arteries of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Of course even before the LVCC opened its doors today there’s been plenty of news coming out of CES 2023.

Sony

Sony held its big press conference Wednesday night, covering everything from high-end cinema cameras and nano satellites, to video game movies and accessible controllers. The company’s Project Leonardo controller will offer a variety of customizable buttons and other hardware in a kit built for those with limited motor ability. Like Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive controller, Project Leonardo reflects a growing trend in tech, especially in the gaming industry, to better serve those living with disabilities.

The Sony announcement that made the biggest splash though, might have been that the endlessly delayed Gran Turismo movie is coming out in 2023. Personally I’m not a big fan of the Gran Turismo series, or racing games in general, but even I got a bit excited watching the trailer. The camera work in the upcoming Neill Blomkamp film is shaping up to be pretty intense.

And in a weird bit of synergy, Sony also unveiled a car of its own, the newly christened “Afeela” concept which was born out of partnership with Honda. The first Sony Honda Mobility vehicle won’t be ready for the road until 2026 at least.

AMD

AMD also made a splash two CPUs and a GPU. The beefiest of the bunch is definitely the new Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU which packs an insane 144MB of cache using the company’s 3D V-Cache technology and reaches boost speeds of 5.7GHz. The other two AMD announcements focused on the mobile side, including the first RDNA 3 GPUs for laptops and a lineup of performance-focused Ryzen HX CPUs.

Razer

Another company focusing on raw power this CES was Razer which announced two new laptop models – the Blade 16 and Blade 18. They’re loaded to the brim with high-end components like Intel Core-i9 HX chips and NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line RTX 4090 graphics cards.

But personally I think the most interesting feature is the Blade 16’s dual mode screen that can run either 4K at 120Hz and peak brightness of 1,000 nits or full HD plus at 240Hz and 600 nits, depending on whether speed or resolution are more important at that particular moment.

Razer also finally gave us a release date for its Edge cloud gaming handheld which will land on January 26th.

Lenovo

Sam Rutherford / Engadget

The biggest dump of news, though, probably belongs to Lenovo. It announced two laptops, a giant tablet, an e-ink notepad and even a “Think” branded phone. The ThinkPhone finally brings some of Lenovo’s enterprise expertise to bear on Motorola mobile devices while the Smart Paper tablet syncs handwritten notes with audio recordings, so you can scrub through a lecture and immediately see the notes associated with that moment.

The most unique device, though, is the dual screen YogaBook 9i. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of concept dual-screen machines before, but the 9i isn’t a pipe dream, it’s an actual product that will go on sale later this year. Lenovo will even bundle all the accessories you need to make the most of its form factor, including a foldable stand, a stylus and a bluetooth keyboard.

You can simply use the foldable as is and pull up a virtual keyboard on the bottom screen, or you can attach the physical one to the screen and use the exposed bit of the display either as touchpad or to show widgets. But you could also set it up as basically a portable dual-screen workstation with the displays either side by side or stacked one over the other.

Google

Google

Switching to the world of automobiles, Google was finally ready to put its major overhaul of Android Auto on display and has started rolling it out to users. The new UI has a split screen mode and puts Maps in easier reach at all times.

And speaking of Maps, Google debuted a new HD version that will be coming to the Polestar 3. These higher-resolution maps will be useful for Pilot Assist, but might prove essential for future self-driving features. Unfortunately, no word on when or if the HD Maps will be coming to other vehicles.

Stellantis

Last, but not least, Stellantis revealed its Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept truck. In the grand tradition of truly outlandish concept vehicles showing up at CES the Revolution BEV has an augmented reality heads up display, a collapsable steering wheel, some sort of 3D animated avatar that the driver can interact with and will even follow you around like some sort of sad puppy dog if you want.

On the more practical side it also sports four wheel steering and an 800 volt architecture that would allow it to get up to 100 miles of charge in just 10 minutes. Of course, you’ll never actually be able to buy the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept. But there is supposedly a Ram 1500 BEV coming in 2024 that will be loosely based on this.

And don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come from CES – We’ve only just begun scouring the floor for hidden gems. So for all the details on anything you might have missed, check out our comprehensive coverage on Engadget.com or our YouTube channel. And stay tuned more from CES 2023.

There are few things that piss me off more than having a spotty Wi-Fi connection at home, and it seems MSI agrees because the company brought a rather clever router to CES 2023 featuring antennas that dynamically follow specific devices as you walk around your house. 

Dubbed the RadiX BE22000 Turbo, MSI's top-spec Wi-Fi router is packed with pretty much every feature you can think of (and probably some you haven't) to ensure you get the fastest wireless speeds possible. That's because while the standard is still being finalized, not only is the RadiX designed to support Wi-Fi 7 it also includes MSI's AI QoS tech which can reduce your ping while gaming or prioritize different types of content like streaming video at the touch of a button. And with channel bandwidths of 320MHz, MSI claims the BE22000 delivers 4x faster throughput when compared to a typical Wi-Fi 6 router. 

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But clearly, the RadiX's standout party trick is its antennas, which unlike pretty much every other router out there (aside from TP-Link's Archer AXE200 Omni), have the ability to automatically adjust their position to follow a specific device as it moves around your home to deliver optimal wireless coverage at all times. And I can tell you, after seeing the router in person, it's kind of mesmerizing. 

Unfortunately, before anyone gets too excited, it's important to note that even MSI doesn't expect the BE22000 Turbo to go on sale until sometime in 2024. That's because there are a couple important hurdles like waiting for the Wi-Fi spec to be finalized, along with other challenges like ensuring the motors for the router's antennas can handle months and years of constant operation. Even during the short time the RadiX was on display at CES, I noticed the speed at which its antennas moved became a bit sluggish due to increased heat.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

On top of that, I still have other questions like how does the router know which device (or devices) to prioritize in a home filled with multiple gadgets. And what's the repair process like if one of its antenna motors dies? After all, under ideal conditions, routers should be something you can set and forget. And at this point, I'm sure some of you are wondering what kind of person this robo router is really for?

Is the BE22000 Turbo over-designed? Sure. And while MSI hasn't announced pricing for it either, you can bet this thing won't be cheap. But you can't say MSI isn't trying, and when compared to rival products, a router with automatically adjustable antennas is exactly the type of thing I like to see at CES. 

When we weren't distracted by all the cool stuff at CES, we found some pretty great deals on tech that you can buy right now. Amazon's just-released Kindle Scribe, with both reading and writing capabilities, saw its first-ever discount and Razer discounted many of their 2022 Blade 15 gaming laptops by $400. Not surprisingly for the new year, fitness tech saw some decent discounts, with both the Beats Fit Pro earbuds and the Fitbit Inspire 3 seeing 20 percent discounts. There were a few deals on storage cards, both from Samsung and a Switch Online subscription bundle with a SanDisk card, making this a good time to add some capacity to your cameras and handhelds. The Apple Watch Ultra also saw a $50 discount. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Amazon's Kindle Scribe came out just over a month ago but is already seeing its first discount. This is Amazon's latest top-of-the-line e-reader that also allows you to take notes with an included stylus. Depending on the configuration, you can save between $45 and $60 on the list price right now. The base model with 16GB of storage and Amazon's "Basic Pen" is down to $295 from its usual $340. If you'd like that unit with the premium version of the stylus, which includes an on-board eraser function and a shortcut button, you'll pay $320, or $50 off the going rate. 

If you think you'll need more storage than the 16GB provides, the 32GB model is $335 instead of $390 and the 64GB model is down to $360 from its usual $420. Both of the higher capacity models come with the Premium Pen. All models include the option of four months of Amazon's Kindle Unlimited service at not extra charge, which gives you access to the entire Kindle library of audio and e-books as long as you're paying for the service. Note that the subscription will auto-renew after four months (currently $10 per month) so be sure to cancel if you decide you don't want to pay for the service.  

Beats Fit Pro earbuds

If getting in shape is on your list of to-dos for 2023, a new pair of activity-focused earbuds might be in order. Right now the Beats Fit Pro are down to $160, which is the same 20 percent discount the buds saw for Black Friday. We named them the best best earbuds for workouts in our earbuds guide and this deal matches the lowest price we've seen yet. They've got plenty of sweat resistance, along with a secure fit that stays put as you move. As an Apple product, they've been given many of the benefits of AirPods, like easy pairing, hands-free Siri and audio sharing. But they'll work well with Android phones too. 

If you don't need workout buds, the Beats Studio Buds are also on sale right now, bringing them down to just $100. That's about $10 over the lowest price we've seen, but still a great deal on a comfortable pair of earbuds with balanced sound. The discounts are part of a wider Beats sale at Amazon, which also includes the Beats Studio Buds bundled with a $25 Amazon gift card for $185, which is $40 less than usual. 

Nintendo Switch Online membership

Nintendo Switches have been a popular holiday gift since their debut. If you got yours this year, you can add Nintendo's Switch Online service, plus some extra storage for a tidy 43% discount. Both Amazon and Best Buy have bundled a 12-month Switch Online family plan with a 256GB SanDisk microSDXC card for just $50. That's an officially licensed Switch microSD card and usually runs for $35 on its own. A year-long family membership to Nintendo's online service usually goes for $35 on its own, so this deal is really about the storage card. It also usually retails for $35, so with the bundle you're essentially getting a year of Switch Online plus a 256GB microSD card for just $15. Keep an eye on your subscription if you don't want to auto renew, it's set to do just that by default. 

Google Nest WiFi Pro router

Two big things have happened in smart home connectivity recently, the opening of the 6Hz wireless band and Matter support. But you'll need devices that are designed to work with those advancements, like Google's newest mesh WiFi routers. Right now Nest WiFi Pro routers are on sale for their lowest price ever, with a 20 percent discount off of all four colors. That brings a single router down to $160 instead of $200. Note that only the white colorway is available in a multi-pack, so if you need three units in, say, the Lemongrass color, you'll need to add three units to your cart instead of clicking on the three-pack bundle — you'll still get the 20 percent savings. 

These Nest routers provide access to the potentially faster and less congested 6E WiFi band, which many newer smartphones and some smart home devices are set up to access. They'll also act as Matter hubs, allowing Matter-enabled devices to connect and work together harmoniously. Matter support has already rolled out to many of the newer Google, Amazon and Apple devices, with more brands coming on board soon.

Samsung Pro Plus MicroSD card

Here's a great deal on a useful item for your cameras, phones and gaming handhelds. Samsung's 256GB Pro Plus microSD card has hit an all-time-low price of just $22.50, down from its usual $38. As with many microSD cards, this includes an adapter so you can transfer data from devices with different sized SD slots. The 256GB size can hold up to 15 hours of 4K video or more than 100,000 4K still images. The larger 512GB card is also on sale, for an even steeper 55 percent discount. That brings the storage card down to $50, instead of its usual $110. 

Fitbit Inspire 3

For some people, fitness trackers really do help them stick to goals and keep up their activity levels. (The reminder to take a break from standing or sitting all day is something I certainly rely on.) Here's a deal on our favorite budget option, the Fitbit Inspire 3. Right now at Amazon, the wearable is down to $80, which is just $10 above its Black Friday prices, and $20 off its usual $100 sticker price. 

We included the Inspire 3 in our fitness tracker guide because it provides excellent activity tracking along with automatic workout detection and smartphone alerts. True, it won't give you GPS tracking for a run or hike, and there's no music control or on-board payment capabilities like more expensive devices offer, but for a tracker with Fitbit's robust activity monitoring and coaching, it's a good buy. It's also a great looking wearable, especially with its interchangeable bands.  

Razer Blade 15 

At CES, Razer unveiled their upcoming 16- and 18-inch Blade models. Those are expected in the first quarter of this year and will start at $2,700 for the base configurations. But if you don't necessarily need the latest release, you can save $400 on a few configurations of 2022 Razer Blade 15 laptops with 12th-gen Intel processors. We think these are some of the best premium gaming laptops out there and said so in our latest laptop guide. 

The version of the Razer's Blade 15 that we recommend combines bleeding-edge performance and speedy graphics, all wrapped up in a sleek and sturdy aluminum chassis. Usually $3,000, both Amazon and Razer are offering it for $2,600, or 13 percent off the list price. You get a 240Hz QHD display with a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card and an Intel i7-12800H processor under the hood. It comes with 16GB of dual-channel slotted (upgradable) memory and 1TB of SSD, with an open M.2 slot.

You can also save on a version with Razer's new 240Hz OLED laptop screen, RTX 3070 Ti graphics plus a slightly faster Intel i9 processor. It's on sale at both Amazon and Razer for $400 off, bringing the price down to $2,900. Or go for the fully loaded unit we tried out in our review. It's also $400 off at Razer's site, bringing the price down from $3,700 to a slightly more managable $3,300. It's got a 12th-gen Intel i7-12800H processor, a faster RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, and the quad-HD 240Hz display.

Apple Watch Ultra

Apple's most premium smartwatch doesn't see a ton of discounts, having only debuted last September but right now the Ultra is down to $749 at Amazon. The lowest price we've seen so far was $739, so this isn't an all-time low, but still a chance to save $50 on a high-end wearable. We gave it an 85 in our review, calling out its durable build, great battery life and suite of geo-locating features that help you to never get lost. While we did note that it's got a large build and weighs a bit more than a typical watch, it was surprisingly comfortable and didn't feel clunky. 

The Ultra has tons of activity and tracking features for athletes and adventurers and a bright, always on display with built-in GPS guidance. There's also health and safety features like crash detection and heart monitoring. Since the watch comes with cellular connectivity, you can even make calls and texts, so you can leave your phone behind on the next adventure.  

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When we first started seeing foldable device concepts a few years back, I was intrigued but not particularly impressed. Many of those early prototypes felt very much like experiments: they were often bulky and the bendy displays seemed fragile. And there were creases.

Thankfully, display tech has come a long way in just a few years. That was particularly evident at LG Display’s booth at CES this year, where the company showed off two new mobile OLED concepts: a 17-inch laptop/tablet and an 8-inch smartphone-like device that can fold in two directions.

The 17-inch device is far from the first foldable tablet we’ve seen, but LG Display claims this one is “almost entirely crease-free.” We looked at it pretty closely, and there was a visible seam along the fold, but it was very difficult to detect when the tablet was fully extended. And there wasn’t any kind of rippling or gap that we sometimes see with foldables. Moreover, LG says the display was tested for up to 50,000 folds, so it should be pretty durable.

The other concept was something LG Display officially calls the “360-degree Foldable OLED,” an 8-inch display that looks a lot like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, but folds in both directions. So, in addition to folding it closed, you can also fold it outwards, with the two displays in a sort of tent shape.

LG Display says these “360-degree” abilities could potentially allow an eventual device to be used in multiple different modes. Of course it would also depend on hardware makers and app developers to decide how take advantage of the functionality, but it’s interesting to think about how you might want to use a phone when it’s folded in the other direction.

Of course, two-way folding also requires a more durable display and LG says it’s delivered on that as well. According to the company, the 360-degree foldable is rated for 200,000 folds and is stronger than comparable foldable devices currently on the market. So while we don’t yet know for sure if companies like Samsung are going to pursue phones with these two-way folding abilities, LG Display has shown that such a device could be a lot closer than we think.

Humans, we’re a sociable bunch. To that end, we’re pre-programmed to develop technology that helps us stay connected with others. Sometimes, though, the connection can be with the technology itself. Enter Loona, the adorable pet robot that will either melt your heart or, at the very least, serve as a loyal smart home companion (or hopefully both).

Loona appears to be the exact halfway point between the adorableness of Anki’s Cozmo and Amazon’s high-end Astro homebot. There’s definitely a focus on younger users here, but kids of “all ages” might find themselves sucked in by her charms. Loona has apparently also been designed to interact well with any analog pets you may already have.

Armed with a 3D camera and edge sensors for navigating your home, Loona also has a regular camera for face detection and object recognition. There are four microphones that provide Loona the ability to locate you as you beckon her and touch sensors so she’ll lean into your head-strokes with eerily biological authenticity. At launch it’ll respond to a slew of verbal commands and gestures, and the company claims new ones will continuously be added. There will also be a graphical programming tool so you can create your own interactions and a community to share them with.

KEYi Robotics

One of the more endearing features is Loona’s expressive personality. Loona’s digital eyes are surprisingly articulate and feel like they are right out of a Disney movie. The company indicated that there could also be the option to add custom expressions and emotions further down the line.

Beyond being a digital pet, Loona can also double as a home security and monitoring system. The benefit being you can direct her around your abode and find where your IRL cat is hiding unlike static pet-cams where you (and I say this from experience) might ruin a weekend away driving back because you haven’t seen your cat appear for two whole days and you’re worried but it turns out she was just sleeping in one spot the entire time. With Loona, not a problem.

Loona was originally launched on Kickstarter securing over three million dollars in backing which, if nothing else, shows that there’s a lot of interest in this category. The robots are now shipping to backers with general availability on track for the end of this month at the company’s website where it will retail for $449. If you’re extra keen you can pick one up now via the Kickstarter page for $359.