Time and tech wait for no one and, in 2026, what has been a somewhat relentless pace looks set to intensify.
Expect the hype around artificial intelligence (AI) to shift towards pragmatism. We are now at the point in the arc where outlandish claims must be backed by proof of concept.
In other news, automakers may move towards breaking their reliance on tech companies by building capabilities of their own. The Ford-backed company Rivian represents something of an early move in this direction.
This will also be a year of AI and its allied shifts becoming more interwoven with our lives. Can governments and laws, safety and regulation, keep pace?
AI we can trust?
The next generation of AI models from Google, OpenAI and Anthropic will be released this year. Nvidia, AMD and others are working on their next line of chips. While these allied companies spend billions in circular investments to prop each other up, power and water demands from data centres worldwide will rise. Meanwhile, more businesses will reassign certain functionalities to the algorithms.
What next?
We still don’t have norms in place for what “good” AI, or AI we can “trust”, should look like. As things stand, AI companies rely on self-regulation, and we know that rarely works because, at best, there is no consensus on where the lines are, or ought to be (at worst, there is little to no regulation overall).
“In 2026, ethics needs to become an engineering topic,” Mark Roberts, of the AI Futures Lab at consultancy company Capgemini said, when releasing a report on trends to watch in the coming year.
This will, of course, be crucial. Globally, there is very little in terms of wholesome AI regulation. As with so much else in the world of tech regulation, the European Union is leading the charge. The EU AI Act (2024), the world’s first comprehensive law for AI — which is likely to keep evolving, as it seeks to enforce new rules in a phased manner — could provide a broader template for others to follow.
The rise of the ‘super phone’
Don’t look now, but the smartphone is changing.
2026 could usher in a super-smartphone era, not necessarily defined by processing power but by multifaceted utility.
Samsung’s upcoming three-fold phone, the Galaxy Z TriFold, is essentially a foldable tablet, with all the display dexterity that implies. Apple is expected to release its first foldable iPhone this year, marking a new chapter for the tech giant.
Oppo and Hasselblad’s teleconverter kit for the Find X9 Pro flagship adds a new dimension to photographic competence, and more phone-makers will follow. Meanwhile, chipmakers Qualcomm and MediaTek continue to prime their processors for speed, powerful on-device AI, and efficiency. On the flip side, memory prices are on an upward trajectory, thanks to AI buying pressure. Expect your next smartphone to be considerably more expensive.
What next for Windows 11?
Cleaning up the mess here isn’t going to be easy.
Regular Windows updates are still inexplicably breaking critical functionality on millions of personal computers. The rush for AI integration within the operating system has created friction where none should exist; and millions of users didn’t even want such advanced AI on their devices.
Company executives have argued that this is the cost of evolution. Users have quipped that Microsoft is evolving into a product that drives people to Mac and Linux. A rumoured “affordable MacBook”, and Google’s rapidly evolving Chrome OS, could see more users turn away.
New car-tech giants
With Ford-backed EV maker Rivian announcing its own AI chips, a foundational “Large Driving Model”, and an AI voice assistant, the map of how tech meets auto looks set to change.
Tesla may soon no longer be the only tech-first automaker. Rivian could potentially add Level 2 autonomous driving features to upcoming vehicles, including the R2. Its homegrown chip, the Rivian Autonomy Processor or RAP 1, is beating chipmakers such as Nvidia at their own game. Expect more carmakers to similarly vroom towards tech sovereignty.
