While these are not exactly bad phones, it's hard not to feel disappointed about what Google has released this year. There are few noticeable upgrades on paper, and the phones themselves have endured a $100 price hike that makes the apparent lack of progress sting even more.

But there's a lot more to a phone than what we can see on a specs sheet, and I was hoping that the Pixel 11 Pro could impress me in ways that I hadn't previously anticipated.

So I've been spending time with the phones to see whether Google's latest premium phones are actually worth picking up. Sadly, like the Pixel 10a, it turns out that this phone is just another lazy update that feels like half a step backward from last year's models.

Read on for our full Google Pixel 11 Pro and Google Pixel 11 Pro XL review.

Google Pixel 11 Pro & Pixel 11 Pro XL review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? The latest Pro-tier Pixel flagships, available in regular and XL sizes set to replace the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL.
• Who is it for? Those people who want the Google-led Android experience, with fast updates and a heavy focus on cameras and AI. Ideally people who haven't upgraded their phones for a few years
• What does it cost? Prices for the Pixel 11 Pro start at $1,099 / £1,079 / AU$1,849 while the Pixel 11 Pro XL starts at $1,299 / £1,279 / AU$2,099. Both phones offer 256GB of storage and 12GB RAM, though higher storage tiers are available with 16GB of RAM
• What do we like? The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL have the brightest screen we've tested, alongside a scratch-resistant display, excellent AI-centric features and noticeable improvements to the cameras.
• What don't we like? Overall this is a fairly mediocre upgrade, continuing the longstanding Pixel tradition of weak performance, unimpressive battery life, reduced RAM on the cheapest models, and very little to make it an appealing purchase for a lot of people.

Google Pixel 11 Pro & Pixel 11 Pro XL review: Specs

Google Pixel 11 Pro & Pixel 11 Pro XL review: The Ups

The moment I got into testing these new Pixel 11 Pros, the small refinements jumped out at me. A lot of it comes down to the software running in the background, but there is one hardware upgrade (especially in the midst of a very bright summer) that I especially appreciated.

Brighter displays

The Pixel 10 Pro XL was the brightest phone we ever tested with peak brightness of 2,555 nits. Recently the phone was beaten by the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's 2,687 nits. Well now it seems the Pixel 11 Pro XL has reclaimed that title, with peak brightness of 2,877 nits — closely followed by the Pixel 11 Pro's 2,860 nits.

That's well in excess of the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 1,281 nits brightness, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 1,806 nits. This ensures that the 11 Pro and Pro XL excel in brighter conditions, which I am currently plagued by in the heat of August. That being said, they do lack the anti-reflective display of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and S26 Ultra.

Both Pro models do come with a special anti-scratch display, which should help prevent mini scratches from appearing when you're looking at the screen under bright light. While I haven't deliberately tried to scratch up the screens, I haven't noticed any of them mysteriously appear, either.

Cameras have improved

At first glance, the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL's cameras don't seem to have changed all that much compared to last year — but that's not the case.

The main camera and selfie cameras are functionally identical, that much is true, but the ultrawide and telephoto lenses have gained new larger sensors. While the Pixel 11 Pro misses the mark in a lot of areas, the camera quality is not one of them.

The main camera lens is capable of going head to head with the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 200MP main camera, despite the obvious gap in resolution. The colors are a little more vivid on the Pixel, but the overall quality is fairly equal - to the point where you can see a lot of similar grain when you zoom in on the printed lettering.

The quality of the ultrawide seems fairly equal to the Pixel 10 Pro at first glance, but look a little closer and you can see that the Pixel 11 Pro's picture is a lot sharper. Whether that will affect casual appreciation of ultrawide-angle photos isn't clear, but it shows that Pixel 11 Pro is putting the larger camera sensor and Tensor G6 to good use.

It's a similar situation with the telephoto lens at 5x magnification. At first glance they don't seem all that different, but close in and you can see that the general quality on the Pixel 11 Pro's photo is clearer and sharper.

That's more noticeable at 10x magnification, with the Pixel 11 Pro XL's 10x "optical quality" camera picking up a lot more of the smaller details than the 10 Pro XL.

The AI-enhanced 120x zoom is where Google's AI capabilities really shine, especially compared to Samsung's 100x zoom capabilities. Despite offering 20% more magnification than Samsung, the 11 Pro managed to create a much-clearer image than Samsung does - with brighter colors and a lot more detail.

But that's not just the AI, the unenhanced version of the photo (above) also looks a heck of a lot better than what Samsung managed to create with AI help.

The quality of the selfie camera is generally fine, but they don't even come close to the detail afforded by the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The iPhone camera manages to pick up a lot more of the smaller details, and doesn't make me look like a vampire that's never seen sunlight before.

It's very much the same situation with Portrait mode. However I prefer Google's bokeh effect, especially with how it singles my head out without offering quite so much blurring around the edges.

Low light quality is also pretty admirable, though the pictures often came out slightly darker than they did with the Pixel 10 Pro. I'd say that the 11 Pro produces a better picture, and the Instant Night Sight feature does make the process of low-light photography a lot easier to pull off.

That said, the process isn't actually instant. The camera still needs two seconds to shoot a photo, rather than the three to six seconds required by Night Sight on the Pixel 10 Pro. Still, it's amazing how much of a difference even a single second can make to the photography process — and that third second feels so much longer.

Cool new software features

There aren't a whole lot of new software features coming to Pixel this year, but the ones that have been released are pretty impressive. The main trio include the Rambler dictation software, Magic Capture in the camera and Live Translate for media — though that's limited to YouTube videos for the time being.

Magic Capture might just be my favorite, since it lets you record video of a situation and uses AI to identify which frames are actually worth keeping.

In other words it's a great way to get photos of moving targets, like children or pets, without having to try and time your shutter with the perfect situation. It's kind of like an alternative to a burst mode, which the Pixel 11 doesn't have, but instead of recording a series of still images, you get a short video clip instead.

Live Translate is also pretty impressive, since it will automatically translate videos you're watching in real time. I have seen features like this on other phones, including the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, but always found them to be a little finicky.

Google's version seems to work in a much simpler way, so long as you've downloaded the appropriate language packs in the system settings. The feature only works with YouTube right now, but once you load up the appropriate foreign-language video, you'll see a pop-up offering to translate the page — similar to how you would in a web browser.

Once the translation mechanism is engaged, it will feed you an English-version of whatever is said on screen while preserving some sense of accent and realism. In other words it's not a robotic AI voice that you'll find in some parts of the internet. I tried it in French and Spanish, and found that it worked pretty well — though the AI did fumble at times due to the speed at which some Spanish people speak.

Rambler is also very interesting because it completely redesigns the voice-to-text feature in the Gboard app. I recently tested Gboard against iOS 27 beta's dictation capabilities and found that they were at a very similar level. Rambler blows them both out of the water.

Not only was it able to figure out all the verbal tics humans add to speech, and ignore them, it's able to differentiate between voice typing and giving it commands.

Better still it could go back and make alterations to existing text, which is not something I've seen freely-available dictation software do before. I may be a big fan of traditional ways of typing (mostly pen and paper), but my early experience with Rambler could make a good attempt at changing that.

256GB on the Pro

I've spent years complaining that 128GB of base storage was no longer enough, and this year is the year Google finally made it happen for everyone. Of course, the Pixel 10 Pro XL got the higher base storage last year, and Pixel Folds have always started with 256GB of space. But this year marks the first time the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro have started with 256GB of storage.

Effectively this means the cheapest Pixel 11 Pro has double the amount of storage as last year's equivalent — which is perfect for storing all those files and photos you need to keep around. Though the downside is that you have to pay $100 more for the privilege this year, and won't get as much RAM.

Google Pixel 11 Pro & Pixel 11 Pro XL review: The downs

I know that upgrades between generations are always going to be more about the minor refinements. But the Pixel 11 Pros struggle to clear even that hurdle — all while charging $100 more and giving you less RAM at the baseline.

Minimal upgrades

By far the biggest issue with the Pixel 11 Pro and 11 Pro XL is that the hardware has barely changed since last year. The real changes include the addition of the Tensor G6, different sensors for the cameras, replacing the thermometer sensor with HiLight and offering a brighter display on both models.

There is a new modem and the Titan M3 security chip, though these are hardly additions that will have any noticeable impact on ordinary user experience

The Pixel 11 Pro also gets the additional 256GB of base storage and 25W wireless charging, both of which were already available on the Pixel 10 Pro XL last year.

These updates are incremental at best, and considering the jump from Pixel 9 Pro to Pixel 10 Pro also featured minimal hardware changes, I had hoped that Google would offer a little more with the Pixel 11 Pro. But alas that does not seem to have been the case, and that's rather disappointing.

HiLight is probably the most interesting Google has offered, and even that seems like a half-baked addition to the phone. The LED works really well when your phone is left face down, but it also only works for two features right now. Specifically it flashes blue when you're talking to Gemini, and one of five custom colors that will flash when a starred contact calls you. But that's all it can do right now.

Google says it will be able to do more in future, but at the moment HiLight can only flash up for these two features and in these colors. Without better customization options and support for more kinds of notifications, it comes across as a gimmick more than an actually useful feature.

Price hike

The other main issue with this year's batch of Pixels is that the price has gone up. It's been a long time since Pixel phones were seen as the affordable option, but the Pixel 11 series pushes that to the extreme — and it feels worse for the Pixel 11 Pro XL.

Both phones' base models are $100 more than the equivalent Pixel 10 Pro. This means the 11 Pro starts at $1,099 while the 11 Pro Xl is now $1,299. The trade off for the Pixel 11 Pro is that the base model now comes with 256GB of storage, rather than 128GB — which is a good thing.

Sadly Google already made 256GB standard on last year's Pro XL and increased the price by $100 to compensate. This year's Pro XL has no such improvement, which means the price has been increased with no additional benefit to the user.

Reduced base RAM

The other big issue is that the standard 256GB model actually comes with less RAM than the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. That means those of you wanting the same 16GB as last year will have to pay for a 512GB of 1TB storage model. That's obviously going to cost a fair bit more.

The 512GB Pixel 11 Pro is $1,219, while the 1TB is $1,449. For the Pixel 11 Pro XL, you'll have to pay $1,419 for 512GB and $1,649 for 1TB. It's a lot more to ask for, but it's likely down to the fact RAM prices have skyrocketed over the past several months.

Why does this matter? Because RAM is super important for running on-device AI features. Without a healthy pool of memory to work from, your device's AI prowess is going to be increasingly reliant on the cloud. Not only does this have obvious issues with privacy and data security, it also takes slightly longer to process and relies on having an active internet connection.

All of which means that buying the cheapest Pixel 11 Pro model means paying more for a phone that likely has worse AI processing performance.

The return of inconsistent Pixel battery life

Pixel phones are not known for having strong battery life, even if things have been improving over the last few years. Sadly the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL barely make any progress in improving the battery life — which is not surprising considering Google added smaller battery packs this time around.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL lasted 14 hours and 28 minutes in our custom battery test, which involves continuous web browsing over a 5G connection. That's only eight minutes more than the Pixel 10 Pro XL's 14 hours and 10 minutes. In comparison the Galaxy S26 Ultra lasted 16 hours and 10 minutes, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max lasted even longer at 17 hours and 54 minutes.

The Pixel 11 Pro actually does worse than last year's Pixel 10 Pro, with a battery life of 13 hours and 25 minutes compared to the 10 Pro's 13 hours 43 minutes. This is worse than the iPhone 17 Pro's 15 hours 21 minutes, but it is better than the Galaxy S26 Plus's 13 hours 13 minutes. Sadly it also still lags behind the larger flagships — and last year's Pixels.

Performance languishes in the shadow of more powerful phones

Pixels have never been a paragon of performance power, and the Tensor G6 is absolutely no exception to that. The general performance is better than you'd get from the Pixel 10 series, and the Tensor G5, but graphics performance has dropped this year. Likewise the Tensor G6 is still so far behind Samsung and Apple that it's almost as though Google isn't really trying.

Compared to the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, the 11 Pro series has had a pretty hefty boost in raw performance. Both phones offer an increase in single-core and multi-core performance using the Geekbench 6 benchmarking test. Pixel 11 Pro rose to 2,649 and 7,164 versus 2,335 and 6,375. Meanwhile, the Pixel 11 Pro Xl did a little better with 2,713 and 7,453 against the 10 Pro XL's 2,322 and 6,286.

Graphically both new phones actually did worse, with Pixel 11 Pro scoring 3,113 in the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited benchmark, with an average framerate of 18.65. Pixel 10 Pro score 3,134 and 18.77. The Pixel 11 Pro XL came out with 3,249 and 19.46fps, while the 10 Pro XL recorded a score of 3,462 and average frame rate of 20.73 fps.

All of it pales in comparison to the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max, though. In fact the Galaxy's graphics benchmark scores are roughly double that of both new Pixels. Worst of all, the Pixels' NPU scored ridiculously poorly on Geekbench's AI benchmark, with four-digit scores that pale in comparison to both Samsung and Apple's 5-digit scores.

Considering the Tensor chips are supposed to be built for AI (alongside photography and security), this is a really embarrassing result for a phone that doesn't have a lot else going for it.

Google Pixel 11 Pro & Pixel 11 Pro XL review: Verdict

The Google Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL are not bad phones by any means, but they're also not anything particularly special. The upgrades Google has included do offer some enhancements compared to previous phones, but it also isn't enough to help the Pixel lineup catch up with some of its biggest rivals. Especially when you consider the 11 Pro's weaker battery life and the reduced amount of RAM on the cheapest models.

From a purely Pixel point of view, the 11 Pro and Pro XL both offer better cameras, AI features that could potentially be very useful, and a boost in overall performance. Not to mention brighter displays and increased base storage on the standard Pro model.

But at the same time the Pixel still lags behind its flagship rivals in both performance and battery life, and reduces the amount of RAM available on the cheapest models. That, combined with the $200 price hike and the meager selection of upgrades makes me think that the better purchase might actually be a Pixel 10 Pro — for as long as you can still get one, that is.

Google no longer has the luxury of being graded on a curve. Having tested the best foldable phones over the last six months alone, I know this space is a fiercely contested battleground, with rival devices like the Motorola Razr Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Z Fold 8 Ultra vying for consumer attention.

While class-leading hardware has never been the line’s biggest strength, Google has taken a different approach by doubling down on its outstanding AI features. In my Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review, you’ll see if it has the hardware, software, and performance to come out on top. But make no mistake: it needs to be firing on all cylinders, because even the smartest software can't stop the Pixel 11 Pro Fold from slipping behind the pace.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Specifications

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Price and release

The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold officially arrives on August 20, but it costs $100 more than last year’s model — pushing the starting price to a steep $1,899 for the base 256GB version.

While no one likes seeing a price hike, it still manages to undercut key rivals like the Motorola Razr Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Considering this is the first time Google's foldable line has seen a price bump, and that it still rings in cheaper than other book-style flagships, the markup isn't an outright dealbreaker.

Just like previous generations, color choices remain minimalist: Obsidian and Olive.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Design

At first glance, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold doesn't look all that different, sticking closely to the design language Google established over the past couple of generations. But where it truly pulls ahead is durability. By retaining its rare IP68 rating, it offers superior dust-tight protection alongside submersion resistance — so yeah, it’s ready for beach outings, unlike the IP48-rated Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Yet despite that durability win, the design still lacks the high-end refinement found on its closest rivals. It remains noticeably thicker in hand than Samsung's ultra-sleek powerhouse, the bezels framing both displays are wider, and the inner screen still exhibits a deeper crease.

Google nails the ruggedness, but on pure ergonomics and fit-and-finish, it still feels a step behind the curve.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Display

Setting a new record, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold features the brightest screen of any foldable phone that has passed through the Tom’s Guide labs — reaching a blinding peak brightness of 2,982 nits on its main 8-inch Super Actua Flex display.

Whether I’m scrolling through reels or working across two apps simultaneously, the main screen doesn’t disappoint, delivering crisp detail, vibrant colors, and outstanding outdoor visibility. Its 6.5-inch outer cover screen is equally impressive.

The only thing that continues to irk me is how underutilized that outer display remains when the phone is propped up in tabletop or tent mode. While rivals have embraced dedicated desk-clock and smart display standby experiences — like what I get on the Motorola Razr Fold — the Pixel 11 Pro Fold fails to offer a proper StandBy mode on its cover screen. The closest it gets is the basic ambient screen that kicks in when placed on a wireless charging dock.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Cameras

On paper, the camera setup on the Pixel 11 Pro Fold looks almost identical to last year's model. You get a triple rear system consisting of a 48MP main camera, 10.5MP ultrawide, and 10.8MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom. That telephoto lens continues to be a major standout, offering the longest native optical reach on any book-style foldable. Both the cover display and the inner screen house identical 10MP selfie cameras.

Despite the familiar spec sheet, Google has swapped in a new primary sensor that reportedly captures more light for improved low-light and Night Sight performance, while the revamped telephoto setup now extends digital reach up to 30x Super Res Zoom.

Over on the software side, I’m ecstatic about the updates that make the camera app far more robust. For instance, new Camera Looks apply professional-grade film styles for a distinct aesthetic, while handy quick controls give instant access to manual parameters like exposure, focus, and ISO.

Unfortunately, my low-light snapshots contradict Google’s claims. Just browse through the gallery above to see what I mean — quite frankly, the differences between the Pixel 11 Pro Fold and Pixel 10 Pro Fold are minimal. Across exposure, fine detail, and clarity, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold simply doesn't offer any dramatic gains.

Despite boasting the longest native optical reach, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold proves that hardware specs alone can’t guarantee the sharpest telephoto results. Even though the Pixel's 30x snapshot manages to edge out the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the Razr Fold’s superior computational photography and AI enhancements deliver class-leading clarity, rendering the roof shingles and foreground brush with noticeably finer definition.

Here’s another example of how the Pixel 11 Pro Fold stacks up against its rivals at 30x zoom. This time, I pointed them at a distant sign to see how effectively each phone cleans up the shot.

Once again, the Razr Fold surprised me by leveraging superior AI upscaling to carve out sharp text edges and rich wood-grain definition. Still, Google's 30x Super Res Zoom easily outperforms the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which falters with aggressive digital noise and muddier textures across the fence.

For pure color accuracy and balanced exposure, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold comfortably captures the most authentic snapshot of the floral arrangement above. It delivers remarkably true-to-life color temperature and natural saturation, allowing the yellow sunflowers and deep pink carnations to pop without blowing out subtle highlight details on the petals.

When it comes to framing quick portraits, I recommend sticking to the cover screen camera, as it produces noticeably better results than the inner shooter. Under tricky indoor restaurant lighting, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold's 10MP outer selfie camera captures the most lifelike skin tones, authentic facial texture, and natural contrast of the bunch. While the Razr Fold tends to overexpose and soften fine facial features, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra leans noticeably warm, Google's color tuning and computational processing make for clean, well-balanced shots every time.

Another standout addition to the camera experience is Magic Capture, which takes the stress out of trying to nail the perfect action shot in real time. Instead of forcing you to choose between shooting a video or firing off a burst of photos, Magic Capture continuously records short clips while the phone analyzes every frame behind the scenes.

It automatically detects peak moments — spotting genuine smiles, sharp motion freeze, and open eyes — to extract high-resolution stills straight from the footage. Even when I had someone else record my shameless inspection of the apple section at Trader Joe’s, Magic Capture worked exactly as intended, consistently plucking sharp, print-worthy stills from the video without any extra effort on my part.

Content creators and solo vloggers will adore the new Creator Mode, which transforms the foldable into a self-contained production studio. The standout perk is the built-in teleprompter tool, which scrolls through my script smoothly across the display at customizable speeds and text sizes, keeping my eye line locked directly onto the lens.

Best of all, Google took full advantage of the dual-screen form factor because Creator Mode seamlessly supports the cover screen paired with the flagship rear cameras. It completely eliminates the need for a dedicated camera operator or a secondary monitor, making solo video production faster, sharper, and far more intuitive.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Performance

Benchmark tests reveal that Google’s latest chipset, the Tensor G6, continues to trail behind key rivals powered by Apple’s A19 Pro and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. While I don’t place a lot of emphasis on synthetic benchmarks — since they don’t always translate directly to real-world performance — they remain ideal for comparing objective processing performance.

In Geekbench 6, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold delivers a single-core score of 2,687 and a multicore result of 7,381. While those marks represent a modest bump over the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, they're far from the chart-topping numbers posted by competing flagships. Thankfully, real-world operation tells a smoother story: day-to-day use exhibits snappy app launches, fluid split-screen multitasking, and effortless navigation across the UI.

Graphics processing sees a marginal boost as well, with 3DMark’s Wild Life Unlimited benchmark yielding an overall score of 14,623 and an average frame rate of 87.56 fps. I loaded up my go-to test titles, including Age of Origins and Diablo Immortal, and both ran smoothly on the massive 8-inch canvas without any major hiccups or stutter.

While Tensor silicon has historically prioritized on-device AI efficiency and computational smarts over raw benchmark supremacy, I still would have liked to see Google close the gap with its direct competitors at this price point.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Battery and charging

In our custom battery drain test, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold clocks an average time of 12 hours and 31 minutes — a modest 15-minute bump over the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. That’s one of the slimmest year-over-year gains I’ve seen in a while, doing little to bolster its overall value proposition. Still, while it doesn't dethrone the longest-lasting foldables on the market, 12.5 hours is more than enough to get me through a full day of typical use.

Similarly, there are no major improvements with charging, as it retains the same 30W wired and 25W wireless ratings. Plugged into a compatible wired adapter, it reachess 29% in 15 minutes and climbs to 56% after 30 minutes.

On the upside, I’m glad to see PixelSnap support return: it doesn't just enable seamless magnetic charging with Qi2 and MagSafe chargers, but also lets me snap on magnetic accessories like my Nomad MagSafe Wallet.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Software and AI

Software is where Google typically pulls away from the pack, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold delivers some genuinely brilliant AI-powered productivity perks.

One of the most impressive additions is the new Rambler feature in Gboard, which uses Gemini Intelligence to automatically strip out filler words, format messy thoughts into clean sentences, and accept natural voice edits without missing a beat. It has quickly become one of the phone's most underrated features, working so reliably in my daily testing that it has noticeably loosened my reliance on traditional on-screen typing.

I also appreciate the proactive suggestions that surface contextual shortcuts based on on-screen content. For example, when a text message arrives about setting up a dentist appointment, the system automatically offers a quick action to log it directly into Google Calendar.

At the same time, expanded third-party app support for Gemini task automation allows the assistant to handle multi-step actions across more apps than ever. When I asked it to book a dinner reservation at a local restaurant, Gemini researched table availability based on my preferences and prompted me to confirm the final booking. The way it executes complex tasks behind the scenes is not only slick, but a genuine time-saver.

Multitasking also gains a major boost from the new app bubbles system, letting me dock floating mini-windows in the bottom corner of the unfolded display or overlay a third app on top of an active split-screen view.

Yet, despite these clever software highlights, the foldable experience still stumbles over familiar quirks. Google still hasn't fully solved app scaling and layout consistency: certain third-party apps remain awkward when switching between portrait and landscape orientations, occasionally refusing to scale smoothly or leaving letterboxed dead space.

Making matters worse, transitioning from the cover screen to the main 8-inch inner display — and vice versa — can still force apps to refresh their states rather than providing an uninterrupted handoff. It’s a frustrating foundational issue that continues to hold back large-screen Android devices.

On the longevity front, you still get class-leading support with seven full years of major Android OS and security updates. However, when it comes to Google's top-tier AI features, you only get six months of complimentary Google AI Pro access before a monthly subscription kicks in.

Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Verdict

Honestly, I want to like the Pixel 11 Pro Fold — but not like this. It simply feels too underwhelming, especially after testing standout rivals like the Motorola Razr Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. While new AI additions like Rambler, expanded Gemini task automation, and Magic Capture are undeniably neat, the hardware fails to deliver the generational leap I expected.

The Tensor G6 continues to trail rival silicon in raw processing muscle, battery endurance sees only a negligible 15-minute bump, and real-world camera performance does little to move the needle.

Compounding these modest hardware gains are persistent large-screen software annoyances that still hold the device back. Moving apps between the cover display and the 8-inch main canvas frequently triggers frustrating state refreshes rather than seamless transitions, while orientation switches still suffer from awkward scaling and wasted dead space.

For a premium foldable commanding a top-tier price tag, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like an iterative update that struggles to truly impress.

I’ve been wearing the Pixel Watch 5 for over a week, and while it’s easily the best Google smartwatch ever, it’s also a fairly minor upgrade over its predecessor. That said, a handful of new features shine, most notably Breathing Emergency Detection, Blood Pressure Trends, and Insulin Resistance Trends.

The Pixel Watch 5 is also a little faster and smarter than the Pixel Watch 4, in terms of processor power and AI prowess. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Google’s latest and greatest wearable, the Pixel Watch 5.

Google Pixel Watch 5: Upgrade cheat sheet

• Price: The Pixel Watch 5 sees a price increase across the lineup versus the Pixel Watch 4; the 41mm starts at an increase of $50, and the 45mm starts at $30 more
• Sizes and colors: 41mm and 45mm; same as Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 3; new colors include Obsidian, Fog, Olive, and Canyon; Olive features a Satin Pyrite casing
• Design: Same design and dimensions as Pixel Watch 4
• Limited edition model: Similar to the Fitbit Air, the new Pixel Watch 5 is available in a Stephen Curry limited edition model with an upgraded strap for better breathability and moisture-wicking capabilities; the cost is $579 USD
• Screen: Same 3,000-nit max-brightness AMOLED touchscreen as Pixel Watch 4; comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
• Health features: New Blood Pressure Trends + Insulin Resistance Trends with monthly reports on each (also coming to Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch 4); more accurate sleep stage tracking; new sleep Breathing Quality Trends metric that tracks min-to-min SpO2
• Safety features: New Breathing Emergency Detection feature that works similarly to Loss of Pulse Detection; only available in the EU and other select markets at launch
• Fitness features: Improved route mapping for workouts in “tough” environments (like cities and forests); new strength training workout builder feature coming in September
• Processor: Pixel Watch 5 should be 20% faster than the Pixel Watch 4 thanks to a 12% more powerful processor and 50% more RAM
• Battery life: Same 30 to 40-hour battery life rating as Pixel Watch 4

Google Pixel Watch 5: Versus competition

Google Pixel Watch 5 value: 3/5

• The Pixel Watch 5 is pricier than both its predecessor and the latest Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, its closest competitor
• Google is selling a limited-edition Stephen Curry Pixel Watch 5 model (45mm) with an upgraded strap for $579 (U.S. only)
• The Pixel Watch 5 will start shipping at the end of August and should be available in-store and online by early September

The Pixel Watch 5, like the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 9, sees a price increase across the lineup. The 41mm Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399 / AU$649 for the W-Fi model, an increase of $50 over the 41mm Pixel Watch 4. The 45mm Pixel Watch 5 is $429 / AU$699, a $30 increase over last year’s equivalent.

The 41mm LTE model, meanwhile, is $499 / AU$829, and the 45mm LTE model is $529 / AU$879.

Google is also selling a limited-edition 45mm Stephen Curry model Pixel Watch 5 with a sportier strap for $579. Like the Steph Curry Fitbit Air release, the strap features a more breathable, sweat-wicking design than the standard-issued one.

• 41mm (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi): $399 / AU$649
• 45mm (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi): $429 / AU$699
• 41mm (LTE): $499 / AU$829
• 45mm (LTE: $529 / AU$879
• 45mm Stephen Curry (LTE): $579

Pixel Watch 5 Design: 4/5

• Same exact design as the Pixel Watch 4, in your choice of 41mm or 45mm
• Same bright AMOLED touchscreen as its predecessor; on par with the Galaxy Watch 9's display
• 50 meters of water resistance is also a match with the competition

The Pixel Watch 5 has the same circular design and control placement as the Pixel Watch 4, featuring both a rotating/pressable digital crown and a standard button on the side of the case.

It also sports the same domed, 3,000-nit max brightness AMOLED touchscreen. The panel is still 1.2 inches for the smaller model and 1.4 inches for the larger one. I had no trouble reading the screen on the larger model I tested, even in direct sunlight. That said, the 60 fps screen refresh rate can sometimes make graphics and animations look a little choppy.

The weight and dimensions also remain roughly the same. Like the Pixel Watch 4, the Pixel Watch 5 has charging contacts on the side of the case and uses the same charger. It also features the same strap-connecting system as prior models.

Pixel Watch 5 fitness tracking: 3.5/5

• Slightly better GPS location tracking than the Pixel Watch 4
• Overall, accurate/reliable fitness tracking with detailed post-workout reports
• Lots of supported workout types, but some popular activities, like e-biking, are missing
• Workout recovery insights are somewhat lacking compared to the competition, namely Garmin

The Pixel Watch 5 sports Google’s “most accurate GPS on a Pixel Watch,” and post-workout route mapping should be twice as accurate as before, especially in locations with obstructed skies, like cities and forests.

The Pixel Watch 5 still uses L1 and L5 satellite data to track, similar to the Pixel Watch 4, except now, when you finish a workout, that data gets sent to a server for analysis and adjustment. Basically, Google creates a 3D model of your efforts that compensates for factors like building reflections, tree cover, and atmospheric anomalies, including heat haze and other aberrations.

Google says that the GPS route tracking for outdoor workouts in the Pixel Watch 5 outperforms even the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, two much pricier models, but does it really?

I walked seven miles total around Seattle, Washington — beneath old-growth canopies of Cedar and Fir and shiny rows of cookie-cutter corporate towers — with the new Pixel Watch 5 on one wrist and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on the other to find out.

Using Strava as my control, the Pixel Watch 5 proved slightly more accurate than the Apple Watch Ultra 3 at tracking my total distance for each of the two legs of the walk. Meanwhile, in elevation tracking, the Apple Watch and Pixel Watch each chalked up a win.

Back when I tested the Pixel Watch 4 vs Apple Watch Ultra 3, the Google wearable held its own against the competition in most regards, but failed to report accurate climb data. The newer Pixel Watch 5, meanwhile, seems to do a much better job at logging upward efforts, which is a win for folks who enjoy being active in the mountains, like me.

Users with a Google Health Premium plan have access to the “Coach,” a personalized AI health and fitness chatbot that suggests workouts and provides training advice based on your goals. It’s a great feature, in theory; however, I’ve found the Coach a little too hung up on the fine details of the initial “induction” conversation I had with it last fall.

Back then, I mentioned getting my legs in shape for the upcoming snowboard season, and now I can’t go a day without the Coach bringing that up…. Hey buddy, newsflash: it’s still the middle of the summer!

When it comes to fitness tracking modes, I’d love to see Google expand the list of activities on offer. For example, last week, I went for an 11-mile ebike ride while running errands and figured I’d track it with the Pixel Watch 5. Unfortunately, there’s no ebike mode, just outdoor cycling and mountain biking.

One final area of the new Google Health (formerly Fitbit) app I’d like to see expanded is the workout recovery advice. Sure, the Pixel Watch 5 tracks a variety of “recovery signals,” like your resting heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV).

The Coach also recommends easier/lighter workouts if you’ve recently been pushing yourself harder than normal. However, workout recovery time suggestions — like those offered on the best Garmins — might ultimately be more useful for everyday users.

Pixel Watch 5 sleep and health tracking: 4/5

• Digestible and meaningful morning sleep reports to inform your day
• New respiratory health monitoring tools track your blood oxygen levels while you sleep
• Unlike the latest Samsung watches, the Pixel Watch 5 still lacks FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection

Like the competition, the Pixel Watch 5 provides a daily sleep report that includes a sleep score (from one to 100) and a sleep quality rating, along with a breakdown of your sleep stages, your total sleep duration, and more. The sleep quality score is based on factors like restlessness and interruptions, time spent asleep, and the percentage of your sleep that Google classifies as “sound."

Users are also greeted with a daily “Readiness Score” that takes into account both sleep quality and recent physical activity.

Google says that the Pixel Watch 5 should be 15% more accurate than its predecessor at identifying and tracking sleep stages. However, without a sleep lab and a team to monitor my rest, it’s pretty difficult to test whether or not this is true.

That said, I found the sleep insights from my week of testing to be useful. Moreover, I’ve been wearing the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 to bed too, and by and large, the reports from each wearable match up sufficiently.

A new “Bedtime” watch face mode effectively keeps the display from randomly blinding you at night, which I appreciate. And like the Fitbit Air, the Pixel Watch 5 now supports a Smart Alarm function that promises to wake you less groggy. Users enter a wake-up window, and the device starts vibrating at the optimal time within that window, based on where you are in your sleep cycles.

Does it work? It’s hard to say. My brain is apparently so programmed to get up at certain times on weekdays that I don't really need an alarm. That said, the beauty of wrist vibrations versus an audible alarm is that I don’t risk waking my sleeping partner or pup when the former goes off.

Sleep Breathing Quality Trends metrics are also new on the Pixel Watch 5. This feature works by continuously tracking your blood oxygen level (SpO2) and looking for any variations.

Part of Google’s newly minted “Health Guardian” suite of proactive health tools, Sleep Breathing Quality doesn’t just provide nightly insights; it builds trend reports so you can keep tabs on your respiratory health in the short and long term.

Pixel Watch 5 safety tools: 5/5

• Google's on-wrist suite of safety tools beats the competition, including unique features like Loss of Pulse Detection and Blood Pressure Trends
• Breathing Emergency Detection is still awaiting FDA approval and is not yet available in the U.S.
• Google says that the Pixel Watch 4 will support Blood Pressure Trends, Insulin Resistance Trends, and Breathing Emergency Detection

The most impressive updates to the Pixel Watch 5 come in the form of expanded proactive preventive health tools and real-time life-saving tools, including Breathing Emergency Detection, which works similarly to 2024's Loss of Pulse Detection.

Using the onboard heart rate sensor, SpO2 tracking, accelerometer, and barometric altimeter, the Pixel Watch 5 is programmed to look out for signs of a breathing emergency and, if triggered, automatically send for help via 911 dispatch and/or messages to friends/loved ones.

Breathing Emergency Detection joins Loss of Pulse Detection, Fall/Crash Detection, Blood Pressure Trends, and Insulin Resistance Trends under Google’s new “Health Guardian" suite of safety features, as noted above.

Pramod Rudrapatna, a Google wearables product manager who worked on the project, refers to these tools collectively as “an airbag for the wrist.” And frankly, in 2026, Google leads the pack in terms of on-wrist safety, besting Apple, Samsung, and Garmin.

Unfortunately, for now, Breathing Emergency Detection is awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, so, state-side users can't access it just yet. This is a similar scenario to two years ago when Google debuted the Pixel Watch 3 with Loss of Pulse Detection, but U.S. users had to wait six-plus months for access.

Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance Trend reports are available for U.S. customers. However, you’ll need to wear your Pixel Watch 5 for a solid stretch to produce truly useful trend data. Trend reports are generated monthly, and users need to rock the device for at least five continuous nights during that period to generate a report.

It’s worth noting that the Blood Pressure Trends feature doesn’t provide an actual blood pressure reading, but instead tracks how your blood pressure changes over time using a combination of metrics. To ensure the accuracy of this tool, Google built the analysis algorithm using 60 billion hours of 24/7 heart rate monitoring data from half a million individuals.

Likewise, the Insulin Resistance Trends feature is not the same as a continuous blood glucose monitor. It similarly predicts changes by tracking factors like your average sleep time, heart rate, workout routines, and more.

Users must wear the Pixel Watch 5 for seven or more nights and days per month to generate enough data for analysis. This all gets fed into an algorithm that Google separately tested using a large sample group to ensure accuracy.

This is to say, it’s going to take more than a week for me to fully test these two new potentially valuable health monitoring tools. With that in mind, please stay tuned for a future article on the subject, as I plan to continue wearing the Pixel Watch 5 for many months to come and report back.

Finally, Google has confirmed with Tom’s Guide that Insulin Resistance Trends and Blood Pressure Trends will be coming to both the Fitbit Air and the Google Pixel Watch 4. We’ve also confirmed that the Pixel Watch 4 is slated to support Breathing Emergency Detection down the road. No word on the Pixel Watch 3, though.

Pixel Watch 5 AI features: 3/5

• Google's Gemini AI assistant for Pixel Watch 5 remains best-in-class, yet it still occasionally struggles with fairly rudimentary inquiries
• The AI watch face generator is fun but limited/generic in its results

I’ve praised Google’s Gemini AI assistant as the best of its kind on a smartwatch, but while testing the Pixel Watch 5, I found myself bumping up against its limitations more frequently than expected.

For example, when I asked, “How might El Niño impact weather in the U.S. Pacific Northwest?” Gemini had no issue dropping heady knowledge. However, when pressed for ski mountain recommendations based on the provided El Niño info, the AI assistant came up short.

I stumped Gemini again later that night when I asked for a list of new restaurants within a 20-minute walk of my location.

Finally, I’m a big fan of swapping between my favorite watch faces on a whim using the Pixel Watch 5. The process is pretty simple: press and hold the current face to launch the library and make your selection, but could AI make it even easier? Sadly, no. Gemini can’t change watch faces via voice or even open your watch face library, an odd limitation IMHO.

One new Gemini feature (that no one really asked for) is the ability to create custom watch faces via a simple text or audio prompt. The Create Watch Face app runs right on the device, though an internet connection is required.

Somewhat limited in its capabilities, the results range from fairly uninspiring to straight-up bizarre. That said, I did use it to create a few fun watch faces, including a side-splitting (to me) deli meat-inspired one. Meanwhile, my prompt for "Teddy bears and laser beams" was less successful.

More usefully, Gemini is now trained to surface relevant real-time information and display it at a glance on its own. For example, you might receive a notification on your Pixel Watch 5 if your flight is suddenly delayed or there’s a last-minute road closure that might impact your driving route.

Better yet, users can expand these bits of relevant information or dismiss them using one-handed gesture controls for added convenience.

Pixel Watch 5 battery life: 4/5

• Battery life surpasses listed rating but falls short of Pixel Watch 4
• Still, best-in-class battery life for a full-featured smartwatch, especially the 45mm model
• One hour = a full recharge

The Pixel Watch 5 sees a very small increase in battery capacity across both sizes, but the official ratings remain the same as last year’s model. The 41mm is rated at 30 hours per charge, and the 45mm at 40 hours per charge.

I tested the 45mm Pixel Watch 5 and averaged 48 hours of use per charge, better than its official rating, but a little behind the tested battery performance of the 45mm Pixel Watch 4, which consistently lasted up to 60 hours.

Recharge time is impressively speedy. It took just under one hour to bring the Pixel Watch 5 from 5% battery back to 100%, with the power draw averaging between 4 and 6 watts.

Google Pixel Watch 5 Verdict

The Google Pixel Watch 5 represents a relatively minor update over the Pixel Watch 4. Still, the impressive list of new health tools hints at where Google wearable tech is headed. Moreover, it proves that the big G is truly besting the competition when it comes to on-wrist features that could save your life.

For Pixel Watch 4 owners, there’s no real reason to upgrade to the Pixel Watch 5. It looks the same, has similar battery performance, but costs more. Sure, you may need to wait a little while for Breathing Emergency Detection to become available via firmware, but that’s no deal-breaker, especially for U.S. consumers, who are still waiting for FDA approval for the feature.

For those considering the Pixel Watch 5 against some of the other best smartwatches out there, I’ll say this: For hardcore fitness folks, I prefer the sheer depth of Garmin’s training insights to Google's, even if the Pixel Watch has way more smart features.

Versus the latest Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 — which I’m reviewing now — it’s really a toss-up. Both watches are top-of-class, and the better option for you may truly come down to your design preference.

Ultimately, the Pixel Watch 4 was a fantastic smartwatch with a time-tested design. Instead of fixing what wasn't broken, Google made small but meaningful tweaks, resulting in a slightly faster, smarter, and more reliable health and fitness tracker.

This all adds up to the Pixel Watch 5 not just being one of the best full-featured smartwatches of 2026, but also the smartwatch to beat when it comes to on-wrist safety.

The software sports a user-friendly interface that makes it a delight to use, and 24/7 customer support over chat and phone ensures all your problems are quickly resolved. Low impact on system resources is another highlight. Even though the Full Scan takes a while and renewal price makes your eye twitch, neither of those are dealbreakers.

For the complete breakdown, read my full McAfee+ Premium review.

McAfee+ Premium review: Specs

McAfee+ Premium review: Costs & what’s covered

Similar to other antivirus software suites, McAfee offers different plans for consumers and businesses alike. Let’s talk about McAfee’s consumer plans first. The most basic plan, Essential, covers up to five devices and is available for $39 / £33 for the first year.

The McAfee+ Premium Individual plan is a step up from Essential, and costs $49 / £49 for the first year. It naturally includes everything Essential offers, plus a Social Privacy Manager as well as scanning the web for your personal information. McAfee+ Advanced Individual is the most expensive plan, offering the most comprehensive protection. It’ll cost you $89 / £74 for the first year. Alongside everything else included in Essential and Premium, Advanced includes up to $1 million identity theft coverage, bank and credit card transaction monitoring, credit lock and security freeze, and more.

It’s important to note that after your first year is up, McAfee’s renewal prices go up by a lot. For instance, the Premium plan I tested costs $149 after the first year — a steep $100 price hike. Norton 360 Deluxe, in comparison, costs $124 per renewal, making it slightly cheaper than McAfee.

There are many family plans available, too, such as Premium Family ($69 starting price) and Ultimate Family ($249 starting price). If you own a business and want a competent antivirus software suite, a number of plans are available exclusively through Dell in the U.S. and Currys in the U.K., starting at just $24 / £11 and going all the way up to $169 — depending on the number of devices and features, of course.

It’s important to read the fine print to understand what you’re signing up for, but in case you aren’t happy with your purchase, McAfee offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Also, if McAfee fails to catch a virus and your device gets infected, the company’s Virus Protection Pledge states that it’ll refund you the amount you paid for your subscription.

McAfee+ Premium review: Protection

The more you pay for your McAfee subscription, the more protection you’ll get. For instance, the Essential plan protects up to five devices from scams and monitors the dark web for any personal detail leaks. The Premium plan (that I tested), on the other hand, covers unlimited macOS, Windows, iOS and Android devices, and offers extra features like Social Privacy Manager, Personal Data Cleanup and Online Account Cleanup (scans only). I’ll discuss these in detail shortly.

Regardless of the subscription you sign up for, McAfee offers a secure VPN, password manager and identity monitoring across all. But it’s important to note that it doesn’t offer cloud backup or ransomware protection, which is surprising. Competitors, like Bitdefender, Avast One and Norton 360 offer these to a degree, so it’s worth considering them instead if these features are important to you.

Before diving into my experience with McAfee, let’s take a look at how three independent labs that test antivirus software twice a year (for the most part) rate it. AV Test’s June 2026 report rated McAfee as a “Top Product,” with 6/6 scores across Protection, Performance and Usability. Bitdefender, Avast and Norton 360 all received 100% scores, too, which goes to show that McAfee is just as good as its rivals, if not better.

AV Comparatives’ April 2026 test report rated McAfee 1st out of the 19 antivirus software suites it tested — which is outstanding, as McAfee upstaged Malwarebytes, Avast, Norton 360 and Bitdefender. McAfee scored 90/100 in AVC, 96.7/100 in Procyon, and 3.3 in Impact. The low Impact rating means that the software doesn’t have a negative impact on your system’s resources. It blows the likes of Malwarebytes (17.6 Impact score) out of the water.

Lastly, I looked at SE Labs’ (U.K.) June 2026 report, which awarded McAfee an AAA rating with 98% protection accuracy and an overall 99% score. McAfee is edged out by Norton 360 and Bitdefender — but only just — as both of them achieved a 100% protection accuracy score.

McAfee+ Premium review: Performance

Once you’ve bought your subscription, it’s time to download and install McAfee on your device and activate it. Doing so is extremely straightforward. Simply enter your product key, email address and billing information into McAfee’s dedicated activation page. You’ll then be prompted to download the software onto your machine. On our testing rig, it took just under five minutes to get up and running.

On Android and iOS smartphones, you’ll need to download the free app from the respective app store, and punch in your registered email address to activate your subscription on your phone. Doing so on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL barely took any time — perhaps two minutes or so.

After installing McAfee and activating my Premium plan on our MSI testing rig, I ran a Quick Scan and a Full Scan, both of which are easily accessible from the app’s main page. As its name suggests, McAfee’s Quick Scan quickly scans your computer, and it isn’t as in-depth as the Full Scan. It took 29 seconds for McAfee to quickly scan 38,846 files. No threats were detected. It’s handy that McAfee offers a Quick Scan option, unlike Bitdefender.

A Full Scan took much longer, in comparison. While software suites like Bitedefender and Malwarebytes scanned hundreds of thousands of files in under 26 minutes or so, McAfee took 34 minutes and 40 seconds to scan 351,968 files. It’s quite slow, really! I had enough time to do some stretches, make myself a cup of coffee, and have a chat with my coworkers, and McAfee was still scanning. But as I expected, it didn’t catch any anomalies or threats to the PC.

The aforementioned scans were conducted with no other heavy-duty apps running in the background, so to get a clearer picture of how McAfee impacts system resources, I ran in-game benchmark tests in Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5. As you can see from the table above, Cyberpunk 2077’s frame rate dipped from 99fps to 87fps, while Forza Horizon 5’s went from 113fps to 95fps. I didn’t notice any lag while gaming, which is great. It’s worth pointing out that I achieved 97fps in Cyberpunk 2077 and 123fps in Forza Horizon 5 with Bitdefender running a Full Scan, though. Still, McAfee’s impact on system performance isn’t that noticeable.

After finishing my in-game benchmarking, I ran a few internet speed tests at speedtest.net to see how McAfee impacted upload and download speeds. You can see the results in the table above. Surprisingly, neither the Quick Scan nor the Full Scan impacted the speeds by that much. Malwarebytes, in comparison, impacted upload speeds by a lot, as I was able to achieve only 592.4Mbps upload speeds with its Deep Scan running.

My testing goes to show that McAfee doesn’t have a detrimental effect on system resources — whether you’re browsing the internet or playing system-intensive games. Perhaps McAfee has finally gotten rid of the stereotype that it’s a drain on system resources.

McAfee+ Premium review: Features

Alongside the two different types of scans, McAfee includes a bunch of extras to protect you against online and offline threats. I tested a few of the goodies included in the McAfee+ Premium Individual plan, starting with Identity Monitoring.

This service constantly monitors the internet, including the dark web, for any identity theft, fraud or breaches. You can add credit cards, passports, national IDs, email addresses, and even different usernames. McAfee will then send you timely security alerts and provide guidance as to how to protect yourself. I put in a few different email addresses and usernames (such as the one I use on Instagram) and McAfee didn’t find any active breaches.

Next, I tried File Shredder, and it’s similar to the one you get with Malwarebytes. It enables you to permanently delete files to varying degrees, and it essentially overwrites data several times so there’s no trace left. Think of it like shredding a physical paper document to ensure no one else can read it. It worked well in my testing, as I used it to permanently delete files in the PC’s recycle bin.

There’s also a handy Tracker Remover tool which, as its name suggests, removes unwanted items, like temporary files and cookies that sites could potentially use to track you online. The Tracker Remover reviews temporary files, recycle bin items, browser cookies and trackers, and browser history, and then deletes them if they aren’t needed. In my testing, it took just under two minutes to free up 1.14 GB and remove 3,000 items.

Last but not least, I tried McAfee’s unlimited Secure VPN which is included in every subscription plan. It masks your IP address using bank-grade AES 256-bit encryption and connecting to servers located in almost 50 countries. The VPN takes less than a minute to connect to your chosen country and once that’s done, your online identity and location are protected. You can customize it to connect automatically when joining a network with weak security, for instance, and even add trusted networks where the VPN shouldn’t be activated.

McAfee+ Premium review: Interface

McAfee sports a clean and user-friendly interface, and I’ve had no issues using it whatsoever. The online dashboard, McAfee My Account, gives you quick access to your subscription details and it lets you edit billing and renewal details. The downloaded software is straightforward to use and understand, too, thanks to plenty of signposting and explanations.

But unlike Malwarebytes, the McAfee app’s window can’t be maximized or made full-size, which means you have to scroll through the various settings one by one. This isn’t uncommon, though, as neither Bitdefender’s nor Avast One’s windows can be made to take up the full screen.

The McAfee mobile app is just as user-friendly if not more. The initial download took just 130MB of space on my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL — though this will naturally grow with use.

I’ve seen many online users complaining about the uninstallation process on desktop. However, I didn’t experience any issues uninstalling McAfee from our testing rig. I wasn’t prompted again and again to keep the software, and it took just under 10 minutes to remove the software and restart my machine.

McAfee+ Premium review: Support

If you find yourself in a pickle or have any questions about McAfee and your subscription, you can get in touch with customer support either via online chat or over the phone. This is a similar level of support to what’s offered by Bitdefender and Norton 360.

I tested out the online chat function and I found it super easy to use. I asked the AI assistant a question and it answered promptly (and accurately). I then asked to speak to a human and within a couple of minutes, I was connected to a human agent. I like that I didn’t have to keep explaining why I needed to speak to a person.

If you need immediate assistance and can’t be bothered by typing, you can always ring McAfee’s customer service team which is available 24/7. It’s nice that McAfee offers phone support, unlike Malwarebytes. It makes getting help easier.

McAfee+ Premium review: Verdict

McAfee+ Premium is a strong all-round antivirus package that doesn’t skimp on features and tools that keep you safe online and offline. Protection is excellent, independent lab results are consistent (and impressive), and the software doesn’t get in the way when you’re gaming or browsing the internet. The user experience is sublime, too, as the software sports a clean, user-friendly interface.

There are a couple of catches, though, such as the Full Scan taking over 35 minutes to complete in our testing. While the cost for the first year isn’t much more than its competitors, renewal price can feel quite steep. Are either of those dealbreakers? Not necessarily, as they’re overshadowed by everything else on offer.

At the end of the day, McAfee delivers a polished, capable antivirus suite that goes toe-to-toe with the likes of Norton 360 and Bitdefender.

The Stockwell III improves on its predecessor by doubling the battery life (over 40 hours now), being more waterproof thanks to its IP55 rating, and delivering punchier bass, brighter treble, and incredible 360° sound. Though a little expensive and slightly heavy for a portable speaker, those feel like minor issues in an otherwise compelling (and beautiful) package.

So, is this the best portable Bluetooth speaker for you? Read my full Marshall Stockwell III review to find out.

Marshall Stockwell III review: Specs

Marshall Stockwell III review: Price & availability

The Marshall Stockwell III was first announced on 9 June, 2026, over seven years after its predecessor, the Marshall Stockwell II. Available to buy from 18 August, the Stockwell III has a retail price of $249 / £199 — same as the second-gen model at launch in 2019. The Stockwell III comes in Black or Cream, and both have brass accents.

This is a premium portable Bluetooth speaker, and it finds itself competing with the likes of the Ultimate Ears Everboom ($249) and the Sonos Play ($299). Though a little expensive, it’s still cheaper than the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen which costs a whopping $399. The Stockwell III is worth the investment if you want 40+ hours of battery and beautiful sound stuffed into a compact (and stunning) package.

Marshall Stockwell III review: Design

The Marshall Stockwell III is, in a nutshell, a ridiculously sexy speaker, and the portable speaker to get if you care about aesthetics above all else. Not much has changed between the Stockwell III and its predecessor when it comes to portability. The third-gen model measures 7.1 x 6.4 x 2.9 inches and weighs 2.9lbs. To make it easier to carry around, Marshall has included a guitar-esque, velvet carry strap in the box, which can be attached to the Stockwell III’s sides.

Given its hefty weight, the Stockwell III isn’t the most portable speaker around. The Ultimate Ears Everboom is lighter at 2.1lbs, as is the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen which weighs 1.27lbs. The Stockwell III’s strap makes it slightly easier to carry around, but if you want an even lighter speaker but with Marshall’s looks, the Emberton III ($149, 1.5lbs) is a standout choice.

The Stockwell III looks more premium compared to its predecessor, too. While the Stockwell II featured white accents, the Stockwell III now features brass branding (on either black or cream), keeping in line with the brand’s other current-gen speakers — and headphones, too, like the Milton ANC ($229) and the Monitor III ($349). I much prefer this look as the black/cream and gold combo makes the speaker stand out in a crowded market.

Build quality is solid, thanks to metal mesh grilles and the textured silicone outer sleeve. You’re getting bang for your buck with the Stockwell III.

But why should you buy the Stockwell III instead of Marshall’s other more portable (ergo, lightweight) speakers? The Stockwell III is a mid-sized, premium Bluetooth speaker that’s clearly designed for both home (given the Placement Compensation feature within the app) and light outdoor use (given its IP55 rating).

It’s got a more luxurious feel to it than the ultra-portable Emberton III, for instance, but it’s smaller than a massive party speaker, like the Bromley 450 ($799). If you want a small speaker to travel with, and one that can withstand the elements, get the IP67-rated Emberton III. But if you want a mid-sized speaker that isn’t as expensive or bulky as the Kilburn III ($379), get the Stockwell III.

Weatherproofing

Marshall has made significant improvements to the Stockwell III’s durability as the third-gen model is now IP55-rated — the Stockwell II was only IPX4-rated. IP55 means the Stockwell III is protected from dust and is fairly water resistant, though you can’t submerge it underwater like you can the IP67-rated Ultimate Ears Everboom.

IP55 should suffice for most scenarios, but be mindful of using it in wet conditions repeatedly as any gadget’s waterproofing wears down over time.

Controls

All the buttons and dials are located on the Stockwell III’s top plate, and you’ll be familiar with them if you’ve used any of Marshall’s other speakers, like the Acton IV ($299). Even if you aren’t, getting to grips with the controls is quick and easy. All the buttons and dials give great tactile feedback when pressed or turned.

There’s a Source button for swapping between Bluetooth and AUX, and a customizable ‘M’ button that, by default, activates Spotify Tap so you can start playing music without opening the app on your phone; playback joystick; and three amp-like knobs for adjusting volume, treble and bass. Alongside these, Marshall has also added a handy battery indicator.

Connectivity

The Stockwell III features a 3.5mm jack and a USB-C port for wired playback, as well as Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity. Over Bluetooth, you get support for SBC, AAC and LC3 codecs — the latter delivers high efficiency and better sound quality at low bitrates. This also gives it a leg-up over the Ultimate Ears Everboom which supports SBC and AAC only.

While the Stockwell II featured traditional multi-speaker pairing with other Stockwell IIs, the Stockwell III is Auracast-enabled — and that’s better as it enables multiple devices to connect to a single audio source without pairing. The third-gen model utilizes Bluetooth LE to essentially connect to an unlimited number of other Auracast-enabled Marshall speakers, such as the Emberton III or other Stockwell IIIs.

You also get multipoint connectivity, which means that you can connect two different Bluetooth devices to the Stockwell III simultaneously. I did this with my MacBook Air M2 and Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and it worked seamlessly.

Marshall Stockwell III review: Sound quality

The Marshall Stockwell III is very loud for its size — it’s one of the best-sounding portable Bluetooth speakers around. Under the hood, the Stockwell III is fitted with a 65W Class D amplifier to power its 3-inch woofer, and two 31W Class D amplifiers for its dual 1.75-inch wide-band drivers (versus two 5W tweeters and a single 10W woofer on the Stockwell II). The speaker covers a frequency response range of 54Hz to 20KHz.

Marshall has clearly spared no expense when it comes to stuffing the Stockwell III to the brim — and the result is simply outstanding sound. To test the speaker, I listened to a range of songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for audiophiles. ‘2515’ by Wasia Project, which has a strong, pulsating bassline acting as the track’s backbone throughout, sounded sublime. The song’s dark electronic pulse came through with real weight, while the bass remained tight and controlled, and never became muddy — even at high volumes.

This is where Marshall’s ‘Dynamic Loudness’ comes into play. The Stockwell III borrows this from the Stanmore IV ($399) and the Acton IV, and it basically ensures that sound remains balanced and distortion-free regardless of the volume. Playing ‘2515’ at 80% volume didn’t overwhelm the speaker, as the lows maintained their warmth and richness.

I then listened to ‘Mariners Apartment Complex’ by Lana Del Rey to test the soundstage — and sure enough, the Stockwell III didn’t falter. Lana’s vocals sat front and center, with her words remaining clear and never bleeding into one another. There was a great balance between her remarkable vocals and the acoustic guitar and piano, and the strings sounded textured and defined. Also, the True Stereophonic 360° — found on the Bromley 750 ($1,299) and Bromley 450 party speakers — filled the room and the song sounded consistent when I moved around, giving the track an effortless sense of space and depth.

Lastly, I played ‘Papua New Guinea’ by The Future Sound of London, an electronic, ambient techno track. The driving basslines, swirling synths, breakbeat-style percussion and oscillating keyboard loops all came together to create a layered production, and the Stockwell III reproduced the dreamy nature extremely well. The treble felt vibrant and nuanced without becoming fatiguing. My partner and I couldn’t help but move along to the song, like we were at a rave.

Listen along to my review with the Marshall Stockwell III testing playlist:

Marshall Stockwell III review: App

The Marshall Stockwell III is accompanied by the Marshall Bluetooth app, available for free on iOS and Android. It’s the same app used by the British brand’s headphones and earbuds, and it’s your one-stop shop for adjusting the EQ or choosing a preset, updating the firmware, enabling Auracast, and customizing the ‘M’ button. The app sports a clean interface and is extremely easy to use.

You also get Placement Compensation, where you can select whether the speaker is close to an edge or corner, or flush against a wall. Once you’ve chosen your desired settings, the Stockwell III then corrects itself for any nearby reflective surfaces that may affect the sound quality. This feature has been borrowed from the Stanmore IV and Acton IV, which are plug-in home speakers. It’s handy to have if you’re keeping the Stanmore III in one place but given that it’s a portable Bluetooth speaker, I highly doubt you’ll be keeping it stationary.

There’s a Source Mix option, too, which is new. It basically enables you to play music over Bluetooth and via USB-C at the same time. I can’t really think of a use case for this, but I suppose if you want to feel like a DJ, you can.

One thing I find surprising, though, is that the Stockwell III uses the Marshall Bluetooth app and not the new Marshall app (came out in 2026 before the Stockwell III) which its fourth-gen home speakers utilize. Wouldn’t it make sense to have all of its speakers in one app? I’m personally not a fan of having two separate apps for different devices. Maybe it’s because the Stockwell III was actually created before the Stanmore IV and Acton IV were. Perhaps this is something Marshall will fix later. This isn’t a complaint, anyway, just an observation.

Marshall Stockwell III review: Battery life

Marshall has fitted a bigger battery into the Stockwell III, and the speaker can now run for over 40 hours on a single charge. That’s double the Stockwell II’s battery life. The Stockwell III trumps its competition too, as the Sonos Play is rated for 24 hours, and the Ultimate Ears Everboom is rated for 20. Even the pricier Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen is rated for just 24 hours.

In my testing, I played at 50% volume over multiple listening sessions. The total time it took for the Stockwell III to run out of battery was just over 40 hours, keeping in line with Marshall’s claims.

Similar to the Sonos Play, the Stockwell III doubles as a power bank and you can use a USB-C cable to charge your smartphone, laptop and other devices. This is a great feature to have in a portable speaker as you don’t need to worry about finding a socket to charge your phone if you’re, say, out on a hike.

Marshall Stockwell III review: Verdict

Just when I thought Marshall speakers couldn’t get any better, the iconic amp manufacturer comes out with something like the Stockwell III. This is an excellent portable speaker that delivers far more sound than its compact design suggests. Though it isn’t cheap — just shy of $250 — its combination of rich bass, vibrant treble and clear mids make a strong case for the price.

The Stockwell III also packs 40 hours of battery life, IP55 durability, and immersive 360° sound into a slim profile. While it’s still not the lightest portable speaker around, the included velvet strap makes it easier to carry around.

I can’t help but describe the speaker’s sound as genuinely astounding. If I had to take one speaker with me on my travels or to picnics outdoors, it would be the Stockwell III. At the time of writing, it’s Marshall’s best portable Bluetooth speaker right now.

From the moment I laid eyes on the Yoga Mini back at CES when it was first unveiled, I knew we were dealing with something completely new here. While other mini PCs come with brackets so you can mount them behind a monitor, this one is designed to sit front and center on your desk.

The RGB lighting that wraps around its base can alert you to incoming notifications or even just greet you when you approach. Likewise, thanks to a built-in accelerometer, the top of the Yoga Mini acts as a customizable button to launch apps or instantly transform this mini PC into a pseudo smart speaker.

After using the Yoga Mini as my daily driver for a month, I’m impressed with its near-silent operation and speedy performance thanks to the Intel Panther Lake chip inside.

I wasn’t able to try out Lenovo’s local AI assistant Qira with the base model sent over for review but that won’t be a problem with the higher-end configuration which comes with more memory and a more powerful Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU.

Likewise, while upgradeable, you can only swap out the SSD on the Yoga Mini and doing so isn’t nearly as easy as on other mini PCs. Still, this is the Windows-powered Mac mini alternative I’ve been waiting for.

My Lenovo Yoga Mini review will help you decide if this is the best mini PC for your desk and whether or not it’s worth spending more on the upgraded version over the base model.

Lenovo Yoga Mini: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A small yet powerful mini PC with a circular design intended to sit front and center on your desk.
• Who is it for? Anyone looking for a stylish, space-saving desktop that doesn't compromise on ports or performance.
• What does it cost? The entry-level configuration of the Lenovo Yoga Mini costs $999 while the more powerful version costs $1,489.
• What do we like? Its unique circular design, USB-C power delivery, generous port selection, near-silent operation, and smart extras like the fingerprint scanner and RGB underglow.
• What don’t we like? The steep hike over its original starting price, the 16GB RAM limit on the base model that prevents it from supporting Lenovo's local AI assistant Qira, and how difficult it is to open and upgrade.

Lenovo Yoga Mini: Specs

Lenovo Yoga Mini: The Ups

The Yoga Mini instantly sets itself apart with its unique look, but it’s how you interact with this mini PC that elevates its circular shape beyond a simple gimmick.

Lenovo has also packed it with a generous port selection, while the Intel Panther Lake chip inside delivers the punchy performance you’d expect from a premium desktop.

Rounded but not stripped-down

At just 5.12 x 5.12 x 1.91 inches, the Yoga Mini is an ultra-compact desktop PC that’s only a hair larger than Apple’s Mac mini M4.

However, it’s both shorter and lighter at 1.32 pounds versus 1.5 pounds. Unlike the Mac mini, it’s powered directly via a standard USB-C cable, making it much easier to pack up and take with you on the go.

Above the front Yoga logo, two small pinholes house the built-in microphones, while an integrated fingerprint scanner is built right into the power button on the right side.

For easy access, the left side features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a full-featured USB-C port with video output. I particularly loved this side port during testing — it allowed me to instantly plug in a portable monitor when I needed extra screen real estate, as well as a pair of the best smart glasses, the Viture Luma Pro, which worked like an absolute charm.

Around back, things get even more versatile. Power is supplied through a dedicated USB-C port positioned directly underneath the HDMI 2.1 (TMDS) port.

That means you aren't forced to use the included power brick — any GaN charger rated for 100W or higher will do the trick. Alongside the power input, you get a high-speed USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode, a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 port, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a high-speed USB-A port.

While you do get one less USB-C port than on the Mac mini M4, having that USB-A port means you won't need to hunt for a dongle every time you want to plug in a flash drive.

Under the hood, my review unit came equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Lenovo also offers a higher-end configuration outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, 32GB of memory and a 1TB SSD.

While you can swap out the primary SSD for more storage down the road, keep in mind that this mini PC’s RAM is soldered to the motherboard and can't be upgraded.

Reach out and touch

Unlike other mini PCs, the Yoga Mini is immediately inviting thanks to its RGB underglow. This is a device that wants you to interact with it, which is clear from the get-go thanks to this small but meaningful addition.

Within Lenovo’s Turbo AI Engine app, you can fully customize the color and effects of the Yoga Mini’s RGB underglow. For instance, with a little help from Intel’s built-in Wi-Fi sensing tech, I set the mini PC to greet me with a violet light show complete with a bouncing ball lighting effect the second I approached my desk.

Alternatively, you can set the underglow to react to music or light up in a specific color when an important notification arrives.

Lighting isn't all the software can control, either. Thanks to a built-in accelerometer, the top of the Yoga Mini acts as a customizable button.

By default, a single tap turns off the ambient lighting, while a double tap launches Lenovo’s Voice Mode to let you speak directly to the mini PC via its built-in microphone and speaker. You can also reassign either the single or double tap to launch any application on your PC.

You won’t just be touching the top surface, though — the fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button is also extremely useful.

I used it for instant, secure Windows logins, but because it’s tied directly into Windows Hello, you can also use it to log into supporting websites via your browser or unlock apps like one of the best password managers.

It’s worth noting that during my testing, the customizable tap feature was slightly finicky. While I could use it to turn off the Yoga Mini’s ambient lighting, I couldn’t get it to launch third-party apps just yet. Lenovo assured me that a fix is coming in a future software update, so this should be resolved shortly.

Puck-sized power

Despite its small size, the Yoga Mini is a surprisingly capable desktop. To put it through its paces, I built a minimalist desk setup with the PC front and center beneath a 5K2K ultrawide monitor. For an even cleaner look, I swapped out the included power supply for a 100W GaN charger paired with a braided USB-C cable.

Over a month of daily use, the base model with 16GB of RAM handled my standard workflow smoothly — even with dozens of Chrome tabs open across multiple windows alongside light photo editing in GIMP.

What impressed me most wasn't just the speed, but how whisper-quiet it remained under load. Compact mini PCs often rely on aggressive, high-pitched fan curves to manage their thermals, but the Yoga Mini stayed virtually silent throughout my entire time using it as my daily driver.

Even if the Yoga Mini technically underperformed in benchmark testing at our lab compared to the Mac mini M4 and the newer Geekom A9 Max 2026 Edition, in my real-world experience it held its own quite well.

The machine booted quickly, apps opened fast and I didn’t experience any significant slowdowns. While I would have loved having the extra memory and better integrated graphics you get with the higher-end model, the base Yoga Mini handled everything I threw at it and more.

I always get excited when testing a mini PC that uses a USB-C port over a barrel port for power since I’m not chained to the included power adapter.

However, as I had the MSI Pro Max 271UPXW12G monitor I recently reviewed on hand, I decided to see if I could power this mini PC and get video out using a single cable. Surprisingly, I could.

From there, I wanted to try out the gaming capabilities of the Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU inside it as Panther Lake has made impressive improvements when it comes to integrated graphics.

While I did have to play at 1080p on that 4K monitor, I was able to run my go-to game, the skateboarding sim Session, on the Yoga Mini surprisingly well. Obviously your gaming experience will vary significantly depending on the game, but for older or less demanding titles, you can certainly play some games during your downtime with this mini PC.

Lenovo Yoga Mini: The Downs

The Yoga Mini is certainly an impressive mini PC, but it’s not without its downsides. These include not being able to run Lenovo’s AI assistant Qira on the base model, along with the fact that opening it up for upgrades requires having a suction cup at the ready.

A Copilot+ but not quite a Qira PC

With 50 TOPS from its NPU, the Core Ultra 5 inside the base Yoga Mini is more than capable of running local Copilot+ features like live captions with real-time translation and Windows Studio Effects.

However, if you stick with the entry-level model over the upgraded configuration, you’ll completely miss out on one of Lenovo’s most exciting AI features.

Alongside the Yoga Mini, Lenovo unveiled its new on-device AI assistant, Qira, at CES earlier this year. Designed to handle conversational voice commands, transcribe meetings in real time, and translate conversations on the fly, Qira showed a ton of promise.

After learning all about it back in January, I was genuinely excited to test it out here, especially since the Yoga Mini's puck-shaped design and built-in mic array seem tailored for it.

Unfortunately, running Qira requires a minimum of 24GB of RAM. Since my review unit only came equipped with 16GB, I couldn’t even install it — and trust me, I tried. While this won't be an issue if you spring for the higher-end configuration, it's disappointing that Qira’s memory requirements lock out the base model entirely.

Thankfully, if you want to mess around with on-device AI, you can still run plenty of lightweight open-source models like Llama 3 8B or Mistral on the base model using tools like LM Studio.

Bring your own suction cup

Upgradeability is something I always like to see on the mini PCs I review but sometimes, given their form factor or the company that makes them, this just isn’t possible.

For instance, you can’t easily open the Mac mini M4 to add a larger SSD. At first glance, I thought this was true with the Yoga Mini because when you flip the device over, there aren’t any visible screws.

As it turns out, you can upgrade the Yoga Mini but doing so required a bit more work than I’m normally accustomed to. With mini PCs like the Geekom A9 Max, you just take off the feet on the bottom and unscrew a few screws. With the Yoga Mini, you need a suction cup.

I tried using a pry tool to lift off its top lid at first but that didn’t get me anywhere. That’s when I discovered you need a suction removal tool to do so. Since I didn’t have one on hand, I improvised by using a strong suction cup I had left over from installing one of the best dash cams in my car.

That did the trick and with the case off, I now had access to the Yoga Mini’s internals. As I mentioned before, you can’t swap out the RAM since it’s soldered but you can remove the stock SSD and replace it with one with more storage.

However, since there isn’t a second M.2 SSD slot, you need to clone the original drive and move its contents to your new one before you do so.

Now don’t get me wrong, the fact that you can upgrade the Yoga Mini’s SSD is great. Still, I wish Lenovo just would have put an indent around back to get its top lid off. Or alternatively, they could have included a suction removal tool in the box.

Lenovo Yoga Mini: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga Mini is unlike any mini PC I’ve tested yet, but in the best possible way. It trades the traditional rectangular form factor for a circular puck design without compromising on ports or performance.

The customizable RGB underglow, integrated fingerprint reader, and tap-enabled top lid add a ton of personality to this mini PC without feeling gimmicky in the slightest.

While I wish I could have tried out Lenovo's local AI assistant Qira on my review unit, the base model of the Yoga Mini is still an excellent choice if you’re after a sleek, ultra-compact, and quiet desktop PC.

You might pay a slight premium for the novel form factor, but Lenovo didn’t skimp on ports or performance to get there—and you won't have to deal with annoying fan noise, either.

At $400, Asus resets the bar for high performance gaming routers with its ROG Strix GS-BE18000. Its appearance may be plain Jane but the GS-BE18000 could be the year’s stealth gaming router with everything needed to battle the world on your terms.

From top triband Wi-Fi 7 speeds to access to gaming accelerators to 8 networking ports, it separates itself from the rest of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers. Among the first to implement Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC), it features better speed, range and reliability than competitors.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Leaguer or Minecrafter, the ROG Strix GS-BE18000 is not only small and modestly priced but has the power to blast your gaming into another dimension. Read on to see if this is the best gaming router for your battlestation.

Asus ROG STRIX GS-BE18000 review: Price and availability

With a list price of $450, it pays to shop around for the Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000. It’s available at Best Buy for $400, making it an excellent bargain that can outperform and outplay routers selling for hundreds more. The slightly less powerful ROG Strix GS-BE12000 also sells for $350 at Walmart.

Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Design

Considering all the Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000 can do, it is amazing that it is roughly the size of a shoe box at 8.9 x 8.9 x 3.4 inches. That’s less than one quarter the size of the company’s ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI router with its eight antennas pointing every which way.

Available only in black, the ROG Strix GS-BE18000 is anything but intimidating looking. In fact, its boxy appearance is high on the Meh scale and not what I expect when it comes to a fire-breathing gaming router.

Still, it’s what’s inside that counts, starting with Broadcom’s BCM6766 Wi-Fi chip, a 2.0GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 256MB of flash storage for the device’s firmware and settings. It lacks the dedicated AI hardware that graces the GT-BE19000AI router, though this 8-stream router takes advantage of 320MHz data channels, Multi-Link Operations (MLO) and 4K Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).

It’s among the first to tap into the higher transmission power available through 6GHz Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) for faster data speeds, longer range and higher reliability. Using AFC is rare today and only works in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Saudi Arabia. Look for the circle to widen over time.

Able to work on all three Wi-Fi 7 bands, the GS-BE18000 features 4X4 streaming for the 5.0 and 6.0GHz transmissions, while the 2.4 GHz band is limited to 2X2 action. It adds up to a throughput rating of 18.0 Gbps.

All the router’s networking ports can handle 2.5 Gbps wired traffic. In addition to the input WAN port, the GS-BE18000 has a generous seven downstream LAN connections. There’s also a Gen 1 USB 3.0 port for running a print server, making the contents of a data drive active across the LAN or using a mobile phone as a backup Internet feed when your broadband goes south.

In the back are buttons for using the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) for quickie client connections and turning the router on or off. It can run as a Wi-Fi router, wired access point or a wireless node in an AiMesh network. Its excellent Quality of Service protocol is integrated into the gaming features for top access to data.

It may lack the GT-BE19000AI’s window to see its components inside, but the GS-BE18000 has the router’s key specs embossed on a raised strip. There’s no info screen although its LEDs light up the ROG logo in any of seven visual effects and choice of color. Its pattern doesn’t change when the router goes offline but the stack of four LEDs below has indicators for WAN, WiFi, LAN and Power.

Passively cooled, the GS-BE18000 has innovative nanocarbon-coated aluminum heat sink fins to transfer heat away from the router’s sensitive electronic components. It draws room air in from the bottom and expels hot air from the sides and top and peaked at 103.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

The router is secured by Asus’s AIProtection security software that includes ad blocking, web filtering and malware protection. It stands out from the crowd (including Netgear’s Armor) by being a no-fee service that includes continual updates to thwart the nastiest attacks.

The three-year warranty and life of product support blow away the competition. The router’s support pages have the expected set up tips and firmware downloads, but the 32-page manual seems rudimentary if you print it. Meant for online use, it has dozens of internal links for set up and operation tips.

Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Performance

Based on extensive testing using Keysight’s IxChariot networking benchmark and my HP Envy X360 notebook, the ROG Strix GS-BE18000 zoomed past competitors, making it an excellent online companion. With the software set to simulate 10 data hungry users and the router next to the test machine, the GS-BE18000 moved 2.238 Gbps of data over Wi-Fi and 4.465 Gbps over 15 feet of Cat 7 cabling. This puts it in the upper echelon of high-performance routers.

At the real-world distance of 15 feet, the GS-BE18000 delivered 2.354 Gbps of live data, putting it between the TP-Link Archer BE770 at 2.181 Gbps and the Asus ROG Rapture GS-BE19000AI at 2.580 Gbps. It’s more than enough for those with multi-gig data plans.

With the router and test system 50 feet apart, the GS-BE18000 dominated at 1.354 Gbps, ahead of the Archer BE770’s 1.239 Gbps and one-third more throughput than the GT-BE19000AI’s 1.006 Gbps. At 75 feet, its 900.8 Mbps topped the Archer BE770 (at 772.1 Mbps) and the GT-BE19000AI (528.3 Mbps).

Its 40.9 Mbps reading at 90 feet was more mundane and beaten by the Archer BE770’s 70.9 Mbps and the GT-BE19000AI’s 49.1 Mbps. Its 100-foot range should satisfy those living in mid-sized homes but is off the Archer BE770’s 130 feet.

Finally, the GS-BE18000 moved upwards of 1.309 Gbps to a room 25 feet away. That’s among the best and shows the device’s ability to efficiently fill a home with data. During my two weeks with the GS-BE18000, it showed itself to be reliable and fast, although it left a couple dead zones in the attic and basement.

While in use, it consumed 17.7 watts of electricity for an annual estimated power bill of about $27.13 if it runs all day and night and you pay the national average of 17.5 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity. By contrast, the Archer BE770 was a power hog at about $36 a year.

Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Setup

It took 5 minutes to set the ROG Strix GS-BE18000 up using the Asus Router app. After I plugged everything in, I needed to pick a picture of the router, although nothing in the interface matched. The closest was “WiFi routers” and the process was automatic. I added names and passwords.

It can all be done through the router’s online interface at asusrouter.com

Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Configuration

Like other Asus routers, the app is where to customize its settings. The home screen shows the current LED lighting effect as well as links to the current speed, the Internet connection status and the gaming goodies.

Below are tabs for Devices (number of online devices without tapping), Insight (for firmware updates) and Family (for Web filtering by age group). The Settings tab has everything from Diagnostics and Gaming to QOS and Wi-Fi details.

The router’s browser interface’s main page is incredibly dense. In addition to the current traffic and IP addresses, there’s the LED lighting effects too.

Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Gaming

The ROG Strix GS-Be18000’s Game Mode not only shows the current latency specs and deviation, but packet loses along the way. It can be set as the top data dog in the house, making your gaming the priority.

Diehard gamers will love the global Ping map. The game accelerators can speed up the action for seven online games. They range from World of Tanks to Diablo 3.

Verdict

If the economy’s overpriced and everything has got you down, the Asus ROG Strix GS-BE18000 is a genuine bargain that can move data as fast or faster than devices selling for much more. In addition to a generous eight 2.5 Gbps wired networking ports, the GS-BE18000 uses the latest Wi-Fi tricks to deliver more than 2 Gbps available over Wi-Fi and includes an excellent AFC implementation for increasing the power and reach of the 6GHz band

At $400, it’s money well spent on filling a home with high-speed gaming data. I just wish it would menace my gaming friends more.

The Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11 offers a more streamlined chassis and better battery life compared to previous models, but still offers the same robust gaming performance, a crisp OLED display, along with Lenovo’s industry-leading keyboard for an all-around powerhouse of a laptop. If not for a sub-par onboard audio experience and expensive upgrades, it would be perfect.

The real question is: are those downsides enough to keep the Legion 5i Gen 11 from becoming one of our best gaming laptops?

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11: Cheat sheet

• What is it?: The Legion 5i Gen 11 is a more toned-down version of Lenovo’s Legion Pro, offering a fantastic balance between powerful gaming performance and crisp visuals with more affordable pricing compared to the Pro model.
• Who is it for?: Gamers and STEM students who want a powerful RTX 50-series laptop with Lenovo’s sturdy build quality, while sticking to a more affordable price tag.
• What does it cost?: The starting price for the Legion 5i Gen 11 is $1,899 while our review spec costs a bit more, running the tab up to $2,825. However, Lenovo is running a special on an RTX 5060 configuration that brings the price down to just $1,899.
• What do we like?: The new, sleeker chassis makes the Legion 5i a bit more portable, and the improved battery life is fantastic for students or working professionals. The Legion 5i also sports one of Lenovo’s fantastic keyboards, a crisp OLED display, and a powerful Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU.
• What don’t we like?: Upgrading your RAM and storage, or switching to the RTX 5070 model come at steep premiums which make the affordable Legion 5i Gen 11 a much less attractive bargain.

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11: Specs

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11: The ups

The Legion 5i is Lenovo’s mid-tier gaming laptop, and it’s got plenty to recommend it as your next gaming laptop. Between the new sleek chassis, crisp OLED display, fantastic keyboard, useful battery life, and powerful NVIDIA RTX 50-series graphics the Legion 5i has some serious selling points.

Sleek redesign

Lenovo has been thinning out the Legion lineup a bit over the years, and the 11th Gen Legion ditches the clunky hub on the back for a more beveled edge across the entire laptop. While it doesn’t shave a ton off the Z-height of the laptop, the loss of the hub and the bevelling make the Legion 5i feel much slimmer despite being nearly equal in thickness.

The design overhaul also makes the Legion 5i a bit easier to carry, even with a slightly heavier weight than the 10th Gen Legion 5i which was 0.8 inches thick and weighed 4.1 pounds. The 11th Gen is 0.79 inches thick and weighs 4.25 pounds.

Overall, the new design still keeps some recognizable Legion touches from the smudge-magnet Eclipse Black colorway to the Legion logo on the top cover panel, and Lenovo’s camera and microphone hub at the top edge.

While this doesn’t drastically change the dimensions of the Legion, it does make it feel more like a modern gaming laptop than previous iterations (particularly the 9th Gen and earlier) which were starting to feel dated.

Industry-leading keyboard

Lenovo makes good keyboards. That’s just kind of a universal fact at this point. And the Legion 5i Gen 11 is no exception to that rule.

The typing experience is the perfect combination of crisp with deep keytravel to avoid bottoming out your fingers while frantically typing instructions to your party in the in-game text window. It’s both satisfying and comfortable, which is a hard sweet-spot to hit for a laptop keyboard.

The off-set arrow keys also make navigating games a little easier and the included num-pad is great for binding macros and additional skills for input heavy RPGs and MMOs.

The Legion’s keyboard features 1.6mm key travel with a 0.3mm dish on each key, with swappable keycaps and Lenovo’s Spectrum RGB software for controlling the 1-zone or 24-zone RGB depending on your keyboard upgrades.

And even with just 1-zone RGB, you still get the same 1.6mm key travel and 0.3mm dish, which means if you don’t go for the 24-zone RGB upgrade, you still get the same great typing experience.

Crisp display

OLED displays offer some serious gaming benefits, and they’re even better when you’re using your gaming laptop to binge a TV series over a weekend. Getting an OLED display on a mid-range gaming laptop isn’t always a guarantee, so it's incredible to see that as a standard panel option on the Legion 5i.

From crisper blacks and more vibrant colors, the Legion 5i’s display looks absolutely stunning when watching nature documentaries like The Loneliest Whale or when playing visually intense games like Avowed. Toggle on HDR, and you’ve got a gaming laptop that can actually display the final season of Game of Thrones.

While my eyes absolutely enjoyed my time with the Legion 5i, that experience is also backed up by our lab testing. The Legion 5i Gen 11 covered 137.5% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with an average brightness of 490 nits and a peak HDR brightness of 1,049 nits.

This is pretty great for an OLED, and absolutely fantastic when compared to other mid-range gaming laptops like the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ or HyperX Omen 16 Valorant Edition which both lack HDR support and manage just 85% and 81% coverage of the DCI-P3 spectrum respectively.

Solid RTX 5070 gaming chops

While the Legion 5i isn’t Lenovo’s flagship gaming laptop, it should still have solid gaming performance. Particularly our review model which features the powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 251HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 combination.

My current go-to games aren’t exactly strong benchmarks so I expected the Legion 5i to have no problems whatsoever running Baldur’s Gate III and Final Fantasy XIV on high graphics presets at the Legion’s max 1600p resolution. In Baldur’s Gate III, I had the Legion running on High graphics presets at 1600p and was easily getting over 90fps.

In Final Fantasy XIV, I had the Legion running High (Laptop) graphics presets at 1600p and could get frame-rate peaks of over 100fps though the game tended to settle around 90fps in most zones. Any frame drops I noticed were more due to pop-in rate and high player traffic than anything hardware wise with the Legion.

To make the Legion 5i work a bit harder, I also booted up Avowed which has a tendency to run at low frame-rates because of its intense graphics and poor optimization. The Legion did stumble here a bit, but then I’ve also seen RTX 5090 laptops struggle with Avowed.

However, while keeping my resolution set to 1600p (because Avowed sometimes gets awkward on lower resolutions) , opting for Medium graphics settings got me a perfectly playable game which held at about 59 to 61 FPS, and I didn’t lose too much graphic detail either.

In our lab tests, the Legion also performed well. Our review unit for the Legion 5i Gen 11 features the upgraded Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 (12GB) model, which outperformed the HyperX Omen 16 Valorant Edition which featured the 8GB version of the RTX 5070. The Legion also held the lead over the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ which featured the RTX 5060.

This meant the Legion 5i averaged 9 fps more than the HyperX and 21 FPS more than the Stealth on Black Myth Wukong at 1080p on Medium settings. The Legion’s lead died down a bit on Cinematic settings and 1600p resolution. The Legion also held a 9 FPS lead on the HyperX on Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and a 6 FPS lead at 1600p. The Stealth lagged behind the Legion by 12 FPS at 1080p and 8 FPS at 1600p on Cyberpunk.

While the Legion can still struggle to surpass 60fps on intense titles at max resolution, it can easily clear the 60 FPS mark on High or Ultra settings at 1080p. Which is pretty impressive for an RTX 5070 laptop. It does help that Lenovo opted for the 12GB VRAM model which gives the Legion’s RTX 5070 just enough extra horsepower to clear the competition.

Respectable battery life

Legion laptops rarely win awards for having long battery life, and usually that’s expected. Legion laptops tend to sit in the desktop replacement sector, where you don’t really expect much in terms of unplugged performance for laptops that feature power-hungry CPUs and GPUs.

However, the Legion 5i Gen 11 does pack a pretty respectable punch when it comes to web surfing and gaming battery life. The Legion 5i lasted 7 hours and 3 minutes on our web surfing battery test and it survived an impressive 1 hour 27 minutes on the PCMark 10 Gaming battery life benchmark.

For context, the HyperX Omen 16 lasted just 2:41 on our web surfing battery test, while the MSI Stealth was one of our longer-lasting gaming laptops with a web surfing battery life of 10:49. For a Legion laptop to get over 7 hours of web surfing battery life? That’s a pretty damn impressive turnaround. The Legion 5i Gen 9 barely made it three and a half hours.

As for the PCMark 10 Gaming battery benchmark, the HyperX Omen 16 lasted 1:30 and the Stealth lasted 1:55. It’s pretty rare to see a gaming laptop hit 2 hours on the PCMark 10 test since any discrete GPU is going to put a major drain on the laptop’s internal battery. However, getting 1:27 is pretty solid. It’s not a great amount of game-time but it is enough that you don’t need to immediately worry if your cat unplugs your laptop mid-raid.

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11: The downs

The Legion’s downsides aren’t particularly plentiful, and there are ways to avoid these pitfalls. You can avoid the pricey upgrades by sticking with the pre-configured $1,899 model and you can use a quality headset or set of speakers to get better audio, they are problematic enough to be considered downsides.

RAMaggeddon Strikes Again

Gaming hardware has always been expensive, but budget gaming hardware is now almost non-existent.

Lenovo is currently offering a pre-configured version of the Legion 5i Gen 11 at $1,899. That model features the same Intel Core Ultra 7 251HX CPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 15-inch OLED display as our review configuration. However, it has the Nvidia RTX 5060 onboard instead. This is actually cheaper than the $2,355 starting configuration with just 512GB of SSD storage.

And really, that $1,899 price tag wouldn’t be considered budget just a year ago, but the RAM shortage has made any gaming laptop under $2,000 feel like a steal.

Unfortunately, the base configuration is more expensive, so if Lenovo ever stops running that sale, the Legion 5i goes from somewhat affordable to expensive. Especially if you need to upgrade the RAM, SSD storage, CPU, or GPU as those will come at steep premiums.

Upgrading to the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX processor costs an additional $110 while upgrading to the Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics card adds $300 to the total price. Upgrading your storage to 1TB will set you back $190, upgrading to 2TB will set you back an additional $430 on top of that, while increasing your memory from 16GB to 32GB will come with a $370 price-tag.

Which is how you get our RTX 5070 configuration at $2,825. And that’s the kind of prices we saw on RTX 5090 laptops just a year ago. So if you want the Legion 5i Gen 11, you better grab the pre-configured model while Lenovo still has that special running. Because otherwise its hard to justify the price.

Don’t rely on the built-in audio

Considering the Legion 5i’s status as Lenovo’s mid-range Intel gaming laptop, a certain level of quality is expected on all fronts. And audio is no exception.

While laptop audio setups often have to make sacrifices due to the form factor, some laptops offer more robust built-in sound systems than others. And while the Legion 5i’s audio is perfectly usable, it’s hardly enjoyable.

Lenovo packed a quad (2x2W) Harman speaker system with Nahimic Audio drivers into the Legion 5i chassis. Unfortunately, those speakers are bottom-firing which leads to some issues based on your gaming surface.

Downward-facing laptop speakers rely on audio engineering to bounce the audio to the user, so they can be less consistent in audio quality than top or side-firing audio systems.

While the Legion 5i’s speakers are perfectly fine at lower volume levels (40% and below), the bottom-firing speakers get muddied, and everything sounds overly-sharp with no bass when played at higher volumes.

So it’s not exactly ideal for a movie or TV show binge. And while you might be able to play a casual game with the Legion’s speaker system, I would opt for a quality studio headset for anything more intense than Runescape.

Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 11: Verdict

Traditionally, a Lenovo Legion laptop is a chunky, high-performance desktop replacement laptop that you’d rarely dream of carrying to school or to work.

Between the previous generation and this current gen, that’s starting to change. The Legion 5i offers a sleeker, more modern chassis that’s much easier to carry, and it’s got battery life that’s actually useful for getting some work done.

Combined with one of Lenovo’s industry leading keyboards, a crisp OLED display, and the same robust gaming performance you’d expect from a Legion laptop and the Legion 5i is a potent powerhouse.

It could be the perfect laptop, if only its onboard audio system was a bit more robust and its base price and upgrades weren’t so expensive.

If you are going to nab the Legion 5i Gen 11, I would absolutely recommend sticking with the discounted $1,899 preconfigured model as it's actually affordable and comes with nearly all the same features as our review model.

The gaming performance will be a bit weaker, but it’s not worth the nearly $1,000 increase in price just to upgrade to the RTX 5070 model.

Can a luxurious plank be a real contender for the best mattress you can buy online? That's the aim of the Plank Firm Luxe mattress, a double-sided hybrid bed with a super firm feel that promises to deliver non-stop support for your spine. I put it through our rigorous mattress testing methodology, to see how it performed.

I previously tested the original all-foam Plank Firm mattress and as a stomach sleeper, the stable support transformed my sleep. The Plank Firm Luxe mattress takes everything I loved about the Firm — even support, fantastic motion isolation, strong edges — and adds springs.

This hybrid build gives the Plank Firm Luxe mattress a more responsive feel. As a result, it's a bit more luxurious. It also turns the pressure relief up a tiny notch. With the springs responding to your movement, there's a bit more body contouring.

However, the Plank Firm Luxe is going to be a divisive mattress. For most side sleepers, it's a hard 'no' (and hard is the operative word). But when it comes to support, the Plank Firm Luxe shines. After sleeping on a queen size for over a month, and subjecting it to a series of tests in our Sleep Lab, here's my full review.

Plank Firm Luxe Mattress review: Price & trial

• Plank typically offers 25% off the Firm Luxe, although that can rise to 30% during major sales events
• In the year-round sale, a queen is $1,198.50 (from an MSRP of $1,598), xxx
• A 120-night trial and limited lifetime warranty is included

The Plank Firm Luxe mattress is an upper mid-range bed: it's an investment but not a premium purchase. A queen has an MSRP of $1,598 but frankly, you're never going to pay that much. A year-round 25% off mattress sale reduces a queen to $1,198.50.

Here's what you can expect to pay for a Plank Luxe mattress:

• Twin MSRP: $1,065 (normally sold at $798.75)
• Twin XL MSRP: $1,198 (normally sold at $898.50)
• Full MSRP: $1,465 (normally sold at $1,098.75)
• Queen MSRP: $1,598 (normally sold at $1,198.50)
• King MSRP: $1,865 (normally sold at $1,398.75)
• Cal king, RV king MSRP: $1,865 (normally sold at $1,398.75)

That places it in a similar price bracket to the Helix Core mattress collection — a queen Helix Dawn Mattress is $1,183 in the 20% off sale ($1,478.75 MSRP). The Dawn is another hybrid bed with a firm feel that's designed for stomach and back sleepers, although it lacks the double-sided build of the Plank Luxe.

But when it comes to competitors, it's hard to find a decent rival for the Plank Firm Luxe — there are few flippable, super-firm hybrids out there. The original Plank is the best comparison and it's $999 for a queen in the sale. However, it's an all-foam design (and the best memory foam mattresses tend to be cheaper than their hybrid equivalents).

If it's only firmness you want, there are more affordable options available. For example, the Siena Signature is a firm bed and only $294 for a queen. But it probably lacks the durability of the Plank.

In terms of extras, a 120-night sleep trial is included, which should be more than enough time to adjust to the mattress. However, considering it's a double-sided bed — and as Extra Firm mattresses can take some time to get used to — I'd hoped for a longer trial. For example, rival DreamCloud offers a 365-night testing period.

Plank also offer a limited lifetime warranty. This is comparable to the best in the industry. Based on the warranty, quality of materials and design, we predict a good mattress lifespan of 6 to 10 years.

Value for money score: 4

Plank Firm Luxe Mattress review: Design & materials

• The Plank Firm Luxe is a 12" double-sided hybrid mattress.
• Firm on one side, Extra Firm on the other, with a layer of springs in the middle
• However, there's no handles, which makes flipping difficult

The Plank Firm Luxe mattress is made of springs and foams, but its design is unusual for a boxed mattress. For a start, the spring layer sits in the center of the bed.

This is unusual — the best hybrid mattresses typically use springs at the base of the design, to provide support. But the Plank Firm Luxe is atypical and the spring core is crucial to its double-sided design.

On one side of the springs, you'll find the Firm side. This is a 2" layer of high density support foam, followed by 1" comfort foam, topped with a 1.5" quilted top.

On the other side of the springs is the Extra Firm side. Again, you'll find a 2" layer of high density support foam but in this case, it's only topped by 0.75" of quilted top.

That missing 0.75" of foam is in service of the double-firmness design. Even the quilting makes a difference in the feel; the Extra Firm side has a continuous stitch to create a flat surface, while the track-and-jump Firm side adds a bit more padding.

There's one frustrating flaw with the design, however — no handles. Considering this bed is designed to be flipped, it's annoying that you don't have anything to hold onto.

Plank Firm Luxe Mattress review: Sleep comfort

The original Plank Firm was the bed that made me fall in love with firm mattresses. So I was excited to get my hands on the Luxe, which promises to take all the benefits of the all-foam Plank and add a touch more luxury.

Within a night, I could tell the Luxe was going to deliver the same exceptional support. It's firm from head-to-toe, with no give at the hips. This keeps the body lifted and aligned, preventing strain on the lower back. As a stomach sleeper, it's just what I want. Our back sleeping testers were also pleased with the solid, stable, full-body support.

But side sleepers are going to struggle with the lack of cushioning. One of our testers is a lightweight side sleeper and she couldn't get comfortable on the Plank Firm Luxe. Also, the lack of handles is a strange oversight; when Frances and I tried to flip the bed, I almost got knocked out.

Comfort is subjective, however, and an unusual bed like the Plank Firm Luxe is never going to please everybody. So I conducted a series of objective lab tests to assess every side of the Luxe. Here's why it measures up as one of the best firm mattresses you can buy.

Temperature control: 3.56 out of 5

Temperature regulation refers to how well a mattress is able to maintain an even feel throughout the night. A mattress with good temperature regulation dissipates excess heat, keeping you around 65 to 70°F/18 to 21°C (the perfect temperature for sleeping). A bed that struggles with temperature control often gets uncomfortably warm during the night.

We use a thermal cam to objectively test temperature regulation. First, one of our testers rests on the bed for 15 minutes. During this period, we measure the temperature of the mattress every minute, to see how much it heats up. This gives us the maximum temperature increase, or MTI.

On the Firm side, we recorded an MTI of 15.1°F. That's one of the biggest jumps we've seen, even higher than the 12.4°F of the Helix Sunset Luxe mattress. In comparison the Saatva Classic, our top-rated bed, gained just 6.3°F.

On the Extra Firm side, the increase was less significant but pretty high — we recorded an MTI of 14.3°F. This is still a disappointing result but indicates the Extra Firm side absorbs less warmth than the Firm side.

An increased MTI doesn't necessarily mean a bed will sleep exceptionally hot, however. The Bear Elite Hybrid is the best cooling mattress we've tested and it had an MTI of 10.5°F. Which brings us to the next part of our test — the cool down.

After 15 minutes, our tester gets off the mattress and we continue to monitor the temperature for another 15 minutes. This provides the cooling rate.

The Firm side of the Plank dropped relatively quickly, losing 7.1°F in the first 5 minutes. This creates a rapid cooling rate of 1.46°F/minute, faster than the Saatva Classic's 1.26°F/m. However, the Saatva Classic did have less heat to lose in the first place.

The Extra Firm side showed a faster temperature drop off, with a rapid cooling rate of 2.2°F/min. This is impressive, beating even the Bear Elite Hybrid's rapid cooling of 2.06°F/m.

These results suggest that the Plank Firm Luxe warms up quickly. We unboxed the Plank Firm alongside the SweetNight CoolNest mattress and tester Frances noted that the SweetNight felt significantly cooler than the Plank, even under identical testing conditions. However, once you get off the mattress, it should dissipate heat relatively quickly.

During my subjective testing, I slept comfortably on the Plank Firm Luxe, even during several heatwaves. However, I did find the Extra Firm side stayed cooler than the Firm side. This is likely because the Firm side has more foams, which can trap more heat.

Plank does offer a cooling upgrade; a GlacioTex cooling cover. For hot sleepers, I think this is a worthwhile addition. I've tested a memory foam pillow with a GlacioTex cover and this cool-to-the-touch material should help offset the heat build-up of the Plank Luxe. Alternatively, the Bear Elite Hybrid does come in a firm feel and sleeps comfortably cool.

Pressure relief: 3.8 out of 5

When you lie on a mattress, your body presses against the bed. A mattress with good pressure relief will cradle these touch points to evenly distribute weight, while supporting the body to prevent the spine from sagging. This reduces pressure build-up so you wake up without aches and pains.

Before we dive into the pressure relief of the Plank Firm Luxe, it's worth noting that this mattress isn't designed to offer much cushioning. It's all about the support. If you want contouring, you're better off with a bed like the Saatva Classic or the Helix Midnight Luxe.

We use a 25kg weight (roughly one-third the weight of the average American) to objectively determine pressure relief. We place the weight in the hip and shoulder area, using a laser to measure how much it sinks. We measure again after 5 minutes. Once the weight is removed, we time how quickly the materials bounce back.

On the Firm side, the weight sank 3.1" at the hip and 3.25" at the shoulder. On the Extra Firm side, the weight surprised us by sinking fractionally further; 3.25" and 3.375", respectively. That's a fairly minimal difference and can possibly be chalked up to the padded top of the Firm side lifting the weight in certain places. Overall, that's an average sink of 3.18" for the Firm side, 3.31" on the Extra Firm side — or 3.25" overall.

That's firmer than most beds we've tested. The Siena Signature, an all-foam bed with minimal cushioning, had an average sink of 3.625". However, the Nectar Classic Memory Foam mattress has an overall sink of 2.875". So that might be the stronger choice if you don't want any contouring at all.

When we removed the weight from the mattress, the surface bounced back almost immediately. This fast recovery time makes it easy to change positions. And it means if you do toss and turn, the surface quickly springs back to shape to keep you supported.

Our hands-on testers agreed that this bed prioritizes support over cushioning. Side sleepers Frances Daniels felt significant pressure build-up on both the Firm and Extra Firm sides, particularly at her shoulders and hips.

During my at-home testing period, I was impressed by the support offered by both sides of the mattress. I'm a stomach sleeper and softer beds often put strain on my lower back. The Plank Firm Luxe kept my spine lifted and straight, alleviating any aches and pains. This puts it among the best mattresses for stomach sleepers and it's a benefit for back sleeping.

As a sometimes side sleeper, I did experience the occasional 'dead arm' on the Extra Firm side. This is less of a problem on the Firm side, as the added layer of foams delivers some cushioning.

But for dedicated side sleepers seeking support, I recommend the Saatva Classic. It simply has a better blend of cushioning and support. Although if you want a bed that holds your spine lifted all night long, the Plank Firm Luxe is an excellent choice.

I've previously slept on the Plank Firm, the all-foam version of the Luxe. Overall, the foam version had slightly less sink and a slightly faster recovery time. The more responsive Luxe delivers a touch more contouring, which means slightly better pressure relief, without losing any of that support.

Firmness

Mattress firmness is measured on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 indicates marshmallow soft, while 10 is rock hard. No surprise, all our testing team placed the Plank Firm Luxe mattress at the higher end of the scale.

Plank rates the Firm side as an 8 out of 10, or firm. We agree with that rating. Plank gives the Extra Firm side a mighty 10, which is the firmest you can get. We place it slightly under that, with a 9 — still exceptionally firm but with some slight contouring at the touch points.

The best mattresses for back pain often have a firm feel, to keep the spine lifted. I love how the Plank Firm Luxe straightens out my back. I have a tendency to 'shrimp' when I sit at my desk but lying on the Plank Luxe feels like I'm offsetting my terrible work posture.

It does somewhat live up to its namesake wooden plank but the addition of springs gives the bed a touch of body contouring. However, if you like to feel cushioned as you sleep, a hybrid with a plush Eurotop layer, such as the Saatva Classic, is a better choice.

Motion isolation: 3.75 out of 5

Good motion isolation stops movement from traveling across the mattress. It means if your partner tosses and turns, or your cat jumps on the bed, the movement won't bother you.

We use a drop test to objectively test motion isolation. Placing an accelerometer on one side of the mattress, we drop a 5kg slam ball on the other side. We then measure the force of the drop on the mattress (the initial impact absorption or IIA) and how long it takes the movement to come to an end (the decay rate).

I was blown away by the motion isolation of the all-foam Plank Firm but I wasn't expecting as much from the Luxe — the addition of springs tends to add bounce. However, both sides impressed. The Firm side had an initial impact of 4.47 m/s2, while the Extra Firm stunned with just a 3.8 m/s2 IIA. That's an average of 4.14 m/s2.

That means even if you jump onto the Plank Luxe, the mattress will absorb much of the movement straight away. In comparison, the Siena Mattress had a best in class IIA of 5.527 m/s2.

But while the initial impact absorption of the Plank Luxe impressed, the decay rate told a different story. We recorded an average decay rate of 3.632 seconds on the Firm side, 3.428 on the Extra Firm, for an overall of 3.53 seconds. That's slow. The Saatva Classic stopped all motion in just 1.703 seconds on average.

This result is reflected in our hands-on testing. As Frances described, there is some "wobble", particularly on the Extra Firm side. As a deep sleeper, I think the disruption is minimal and I could sleep through all but the heaviest of movements (I hardly felt Frances getting on and off the bed). However, light sleepers might find their rest disrupted by the occasional shudder.

Edge support: 4.5 out of 5

Perch on the side of your mattress and you'll appreciate the benefit of good edge support — this is what keeps you stable when you sit on the perimeter. It's particularly useful for those with limited mobility, who like to push against the mattress when getting in and out of bed.

We break out the 25kg weight to test edge support. Placing it 3" from the side and foot of the bed, we use a laser to measure how far the weight sinks. At the foot of the bed, the weight sank 3.625" on both the Firm and Extra Firm side. On the side of the bed, we measured a sink of 3.125" on the Firm feel, 3.375" on the Extra Firm (that's an average of 3.25").

This is among the best we've seen. It's comparable to the edge support of the Siena (which sank just 3.06" at the foot and 3.125" at the edge of the bed).

Our testers all felt comfortable sitting on the side of the bed. But for a true test, I asked my mom (and her dodgy knee) to try the Plank Luxe mattress. She noted there was some slight dipping but said she'd feel happy getting on and off the mattress, even at 3 a.m. when her joints are feeling rusty.

Edge support isn't just about sitting. Strong edges allow you to use the entire surface of the mattress, making it a useful feature for couples. To measure this, we use a roll off test. Yes, it's what it sounds like — we keep shuffling towards the edge until we roll off the bed.

We found you could stretch out all the way across the mattress. I was dangling off before gravity took over. If your partner likes to starfish, you won't roll off as you cling to the edge.

Plank Firm Luxe Mattress review: User reviews

The Plank Firm Luxe has an average of 4.6/5 stars from a total of 3,200+ user reviews. Many of the positive reviews praise the impact of reliable firm support on back pain, with one reviewer noting that since switching to the Plank Firm Luxe they wake up without back pain for "the first time in five years".

A few reviews note that the Plank Firm Luxe isn't as firm as they were expecting. One reviewer complains that it's not as firm as their tatami mat (a thin mat often placed on the floor). Firmness is subjective and while the Plank Luxe is hard, it's not going to be as hard as lying on the floor.

Alternatively, a few reviewers complain it's too firm — this is where the 120-night trial has its benefits. If you underestimated just how firm the Plank is, you should be able to return it for a refund.

Plank Firm Luxe Mattress review: Should you buy it?

If you're looking for full-body support in a mattress, the Plank Firm Luxe takes some beating. It's firm from corner to corner and edge to edge, ensuring every part of your body if held aloft. For stomach and back sleepers, that means no more pressure on your lower back.

The double-sided design is an unusual feature but it's not a gimmick. While the Extra Firm side comes out on top when it comes to full body support, the Firm side is better when you want more cushioning. It's a shame that a lack of handles makes flipping between the two a chore.

While support is the focus, the Plank Firm Luxe hasn't skimped on other features (well, maybe some pressure relief — I'll get to that later). The edge support is superb (4.5/5) while the motion isolation is strong (3.76/5). It's not a cooling bed but I stayed a relatively neutral temperature even during a hot summer and the GlacioTex cover upgrade is available for very hot sleepers.

With these factors in mind, it's among the best mattresses in a box we've tested. However, there's one demographic that should swerve this one: side sleepers. The Plank Firm Luxe features almost no cushioning at the shoulders and hips. As a result, if I rolled onto my side, I woke up with a numb arm and a dead hip. A traditional hybrid like the Saatva Classic will provide similar support and much better pressure relief.

In the standard sale, a queen is $1,198 ($1,598 MSRP). That's a good price for a specialist mattress. However, the Plank Firm is $999 in the same sale ($1,332 MSRP). For everyone but hot sleepers, I think it's worth saving your money. For hot sleepers, pay the extra; the Luxe sleeps much cooler.

Alternatives to consider

At 31.5 inches, the Legion Pro 32UD-10 is a decently large display that delivers a vivid array of colors, making gaming far more immersive than with almost all IPS or VA monitors I’ve played on. Compared with other OLED gaming monitors, the Legion Pro 32UD is quite solid on that front.

Of course, it trips up on one key aspect: its brightness. It’s a common issue with OLED gaming monitors, but the Legion Pro 32UD-10 is especially dim out of the box. It makes up for it with its crisp 4K resolution and smooth 240Hz refresh rate.

At the current $879, it’s one of the best gaming monitors, but unless you want something very specific from the Legion Pro 32UD-10, you’re likely to find a brighter gaming monitor for a similar price.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is a standard 16:9 OLED gaming monitor.
• Who is it for? Gamers seeking a large OLED gaming monitor for under $1,000 (on sale).
• How much does it cost? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is typically $1,099, but it's currently on sale at Best Buy and Lenovo for $819.
• What do we like? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 offers a colorful panel with sharp resolution and a high refresh rate, all packed into an elegant design.
• What don’t we like? The display looks dim out of the box, and while you can set it to a brighter mode, it’s still dimmer than some competitors.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD 4K 240Hz review: Specs

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: The ups

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is packed with good looks both inside and out, including a sleek design, pretty display, and excellent performance.

Sleek design

For a gaming monitor, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is surprisingly elegant, with its white hexagonal base, thin panel, and slim neck.

The panel measures 28.30 x 16.35 x 2.02 inches, which isn’t too big. However, you’ll need to work around its hexagonal base — it looks good but isn’t practical, as it blocks space you could use to slide in any accessories you usually keep on your desk. The stand has a hole for easy cable management. There’s also a clear plastic piece with no defined purpose, but you might be able to slot your phone into it (my Pixel 9 just hits the display).

As for movement, you can raise or lower the monitor by 5.3 inches and tilt it back by 5 degrees or forward by 22 degrees. The swivel range is 45 degrees to the left and right. Adjusting the swivel feels smooth, while the tilt is stiff but secure.

There’s an array of ports on the back, including a single DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.1 slots, three USB-A ports, and a single USB-C port. There’s no USB-B slot, but I don’t think anyone will miss it. Below the ports, in the center, are the joystick and buttons for navigating the display settings, along with the power button.

While this is technically a gaming monitor, it’s nice not to be blasted with crazy RGB lighting. And the white colorway is a refreshing break from the homogeneous black-and-gray gaming tech.

Vivid display

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz is a stunning OLED display that captures every detail you never knew you wanted to see, all in a blast of color.

I jumped into space-dad simulator (Pragmata) and took in the gorgeous, twisted landscape of New York City. Everything from the neon signs to the yellow taxi cabs popped on screen. The blue tanks on the creepy baby creatures were vividly clear, especially when they turned red after being shot.

Our lab results matched my hands-on testing. In Standard mode, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 delivers strong colors across both sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts. It keeps pace with the $799 Alienware AW3426DW but is slightly duller than the $859 MSI MPG 321URXW. The Legion’s color accuracy (Delta-E) is slightly higher (worse) than its competitors’, but it wouldn’t be noticeable to the human eye.

There are 7 display modes to choose from, including Standard, FPS (two), Racing, RTS, and Game (two) modes. I highly recommend setting the monitor to Game mode, as it’s the most general-purpose option and it’s brighter than the Standard mode (I’ll get into brightness later).

Smooth performance

With a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 has been nothing but smooth sailing. The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, which eliminates screen tearing, stuttering, and ghosting. Although I couldn’t find it on Lenovo’s website, the monitor is also compatible with Nvidia G-Sync.

I tested the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 with my custom desktop, outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. It was enough to push the monitor to its limits in some games, especially at 4K resolution and 240Hz. You technically don’t need a high-end gaming rig to enjoy this display, but if you want to make full use of it, you need power.

In a graphically demanding game like Pragmata, I couldn’t push it to its limits, but the high refresh rate made dashing around enemies feel smooth, and I had all the refresh rate I needed for faster reactions at high frame rates. With a sharp panel like this, capturing the intricate details of my enemy’s armor while I’m fighting made the experience feel more present.

For those used to curved monitors, as I am, going back to a flat screen is quite jarring because the sides of the screen appear farther away than they should. Something to keep in mind for those switching from a curved display.

Solid UI

The interface is simple. The UI uses black and gray with blue backgrounds and white text. There’s nothing offensive here. It’s not particularly intuitive, but it's not terrible to navigate.

The joystick is the primary navigation method, but there are two other buttons: one for inputs and the other for display modes. Unfortunately, the buttons don’t open a dedicated screen to adjust their settings quickly; they simply take you to their tab in the main interface. As for overall navigation, I do wish the buttons and joystick were lower and more pronounced on the body.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: The downs

You might be used to lower brightness on OLED gaming monitors, but the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD is dim even by that scale. It was also a pain to put together.

On the dimmer side

While OLED monitors can land a bit dim, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD 4K 240Hz is especially on the dimmer side right out of the box.

Walking the streets of a corrupted New York City in Pragmata, I found the dark alleys and shadowy areas didn’t fill out as much as they should have, so I couldn't make out the details of the garbage truck that was right next to me. I felt like I needed to turn off the lights in my room to get the full experience.

The $859 MSI MPG 321URXW, which we consider dim, wasn’t that bad out of the box. However, setting the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 to Game mode gave the monitor a notable brightness boost. But even with that boost, it can’t keep up with the $799 Alienware AW3426DW.

In HDR, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 reached up to 419 nits of brightness on 10% of the display in Standard mode. That’s pretty solid, and it would be great to experience that level of brightness if you use HDR mode.

Unfortunately, Windows HDR sucks. That’s because it balances brightness across applications, so everything looks darker unless you’re explicitly playing HDR content.

Simple yet frustrating build

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 comes in three pieces. Unlike its competitors, it does not click together easily. Instead, there are four screws for the base and four for the monitor. That’s fine; you’ll only be doing this once. However, I ran into a few issues while building this.

When connecting the monitor to the base, the screws were close enough to the neck that if you screw them in lengthwise with the included screwdriver, you’ll scratch the monitor’s paint. In the end, I couldn’t get the screws to sit flush with the mount. Then, when attempting to adjust it further, a piece of the screwdriver’s head snapped off — to be clear, I was not using any more force than normal.

This could all be a series of unfortunate events exclusive to me, so I’m not weighing it too heavily, but it was nevertheless frustrating.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: Verdict

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 can easily be a go-to gaming monitor for many folks. It’s got the elegant design paired with elite specs — a 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate will carry you a long way with most high-performance rigs. On top of that, you get those deep blacks and bold colors that OLED is famous for. The one hang-up is that it’s relatively dim.

I didn’t have a major issue with the dimness during my testing. Yes, there are brighter panels out there, but my eyes did eventually adjust, and if you’re playing in a dark room, games like Pragmata are still going to pop. If you’re looking for the best, however, this isn’t it.

For $80 less, you could go with the Alienware AW3426DW, which gets you a curved ultrawide screen and a brighter overall display. But if you’re looking for a standard, non-curved display, then the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD is still a solid choice.

But the landscape has changed dramatically in the year since I drove that luxury sedan. Stronger competition has narrowed the gap, meaning the 2026 Lucid Air Touring can’t afford to come up short — especially after I’ve tested marquee rivals like the BMW i7, Porsche Taycan, and Audi A6 Sportback e-tron.

What remains compelling about this sports-tuned EV is its striking design. It bridges the exotic aesthetics of a supercar with one of the most spacious cabins of any electric sedan. Carrying an as-tested price of $102,100, the 2026 Lucid Air Touring has to overdeliver if it wants to stand out as one of the best electric cars I’ve driven this year.

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: Specifications

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: Testing summary

I drove a total of 266.9 miles during my week of testing with the Lucid Air Touring, achieving a real-world average efficiency of 3.63 mi/kWh. While that falls a bit short of the impressive 4 mi/kWh average I logged with the 2025 model, the 2026 Air Touring remains remarkably efficient — especially when stacked against its flagship rivals.

For context, it easily outclasses heavyweights like the BMW i7 M70 and Porsche Taycan 4, both of which struggle to clear the golden 3 mi/kWh mark. On long-distance trips spent mostly on the highway, the Air Touring is a standout, reaching 4.21 mi/kWh on one of my test runs. However, I still recognize the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron as the overall efficiency leader in the luxury segment with its slightly higher 3.7 mi/kWh average.

Thankfully, the Lucid Air Touring continues to charge noticeably faster at home via Level 1 charging through a standard 120V outlet. In fact, charging overnight yielded 41 miles of range in under 12 hours. While that might not sound like much on paper, its 3.49 mi/hr replenishment rate leads the pack among luxury EVs for Level 1 charging.

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: What I like

Sleek design

Beyond its class-leading efficiency, the 2026 Lucid Air Touring remains a total gem on the road. I still do a double take whenever I spot one in the wild — much like seeing a unicorn, it’s a rare sighting that demands attention.

Sitting intentionally low to the pavement with a wide, grounded stance, it delivers an exotic, sports car-like presence. That athletic aesthetic is further elevated by its long wheelbase, sculpted hood, and gently tapering roofline, which subtly reminds me of '90s classics like the Mitsubishi 3000GT and Dodge Stealth.

It strikes a rare balance in the luxury segment: a curvaceous silhouette that looks fast standing still, without sacrificing an inch of interior cabin space.

Minimalist interior, plenty of space

Lucid takes a distinct approach to the cabin of the Air Touring, featuring an understated design language that rivals the sleek, minimalist aesthetics typical of Volvo and Polestar.

The interior strips away unnecessary clutter in favor of premium materials, discreet air vents, and intuitive digital displays that create a calm atmosphere. For instance, I love how the lower central Pilot Screen smoothly retracts into the dashboard when it’s not needed, keeping the dash clean and open.

But where the Air Touring truly sets itself apart is in its packaging — offering an insane amount of legroom for both front and rear passengers. It delivers an open, airy lounge feel while effortlessly combining modern minimalism with true executive-class room to stretch out.

It’s super fun to drive

Beyond its lounge-like cabin, the 2026 Lucid Air Touring is an absolute thrill behind the wheel. Mash down on the accelerator — especially after switching into Sprint mode — and it delivers immediate power that pins me straight to the seat.

But the real magic happens when the road starts to bend. Thanks to its ultra-low center of gravity, surprisingly tight steering, and composed chassis tuning, it carves through twisty backroads with absolute confidence. It’s an unbelievably engaging drive, consistently delivering pure joy and excitement every time I get behind the wheel.

It easily ranks as one of the most fun luxury EVs I’ve driven all year, trailing only hyper-focused performance models like the Porsche Taycan and Audi RS e-tron GT.

Still the best frunk in a sedan

While the Lucid Air Touring excels at interior space, it does compromise a bit when it comes to the rear trunk. Because of its low vertical clearance, storing taller boxes or bulky items can be tough. Fortunately, the trunk opening itself is impressively wide — easily accommodating long items like my electric scooter without requiring awkward angles.

However, I’m still thrilled to report that it has the absolute best frunk of any electric sedan on the market. Its massive front trunk features a clever two-tier design with a deep lower well, making it the perfect spot to stow taller packages, carry-on bags, and groceries that won't fit under the trunk's low lid.

Massaging seats

When it comes to long driving sessions, the front seats in the 2026 Lucid Air Touring offer impressive comfort. They are wonderfully soft and plush, but what really helps fend off muscle stiffness on extended trips is the integrated massage function.

Rather than just offering a subtle vibration, the system actively targets key pressure points across your back and thighs to keep fatigue at bay. Best of all, the front passenger seat gets access to the exact same executive treatment.

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: What I don't like

Choppy blind spot camera monitors

If there’s one clear area where Lucid’s tech falls short of its premium price tag, it’s the side-view blind spot cameras. It activates automatically whenever I hit the corresponding turn signal, showing me the camera feed on the driver's display — a feature that's always a win in my book.

Unfortunately, the video quality leaves a lot to be desired. The feed regularly appears choppy and stutters during daytime driving, and when night falls, the resolution degrades into a grainy image that struggles. In a luxury EV loaded with cutting-edge hardware, these camera monitors feel surprisingly unpolished.

Inconsistent Driving Assist

While Lucid’s Highway Assist system is impressive when it’s working — steering, centering, and distance monitoring works smoothly on open roads — it's the reliability of it staying on that leaves room for improvement.

During my week's worth of driving the Air Touring, it frequently failed to activate altogether, showing as unavailable even on major highways where it should've engaged. When it does work, it manages lane-keeping and distance control, but it disengages far too often to the point I'm left frustrated.

Pricey, but positioned right

With an as-tested sticker price of $102,100, the 2026 Lucid Air Touring is a serious financial investment. But to be fair, it manages to undercut top-tier competitors like the BMW i7 and Porsche Taycan — both of which easily push past $130,000+ when optioned up.

However, if pure value in a luxury model is your top priority, the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron remains a tough alternative to ignore, delivering fantastic efficiency and premium refinement at a substantially lower price point.

Of course, if you're set on Lucid’s peculiar styling and class-leading efficiency, but want to keep your investment under six figures, you can always sacrifice a bit of the Touring's dual-motor punch and opt for the rear-wheel-drive Lucid Air Pure.

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: Bottom line

The 2026 Lucid Air Touring remains a solid contender with its outstanding range, efficiency, and sportscar-like aesthetic. Even if its 3.63 mi/kWh average falls slightly short of last year's benchmark, it continues to put rival heavyweights like the BMW i7 and Porsche Taycan to shame when it comes to range and Level 1 home charging speeds.

It’s not without its flaws, though. Clearly its $102,100 price point sits in a premium bracket where clunky driver-assist reliability and choppy blind-spot cameras stick out like sore thumbs. Furthermore, buyers hunting purely for efficiency per dollar will find a strong alternative in the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron — which has more premium features for the buck.

Yet, for those willing to pay for what matters, the Air Touring delivers where it counts most. With its dazzling design, expansive interior legroom, and unmatched powertrain packaging, it proves that you don't need to sacrifice style or range to drive something truly exotic.

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