The 4 Most Disappointing Tech Products of 2026 (So Far)

New technologies are constantly evolving. Every week seems to bring a handful of new products and gadgets, with companies new and old looking to make an impact on the industry. Sometimes you get huge successes, sometimes you get huge failures, but the worst products are the ones that simply disappoint. The type of technology you might be looking forward to, but ultimately leaves you disappointed.

As an attendee of CES in Las Vegas over the past decade, I’ve discovered more amazing and weird gadgets than I can remember. Many have faded into obscurity, others have become part of the cultural zeitgeist, and some are only remembered for the disappointment they left us with. And even though we’re only halfway through 2026, we already have a number of releases that make us sigh softly.

We’ve had massive products from established brands that cost thousands of dollars and claim to simplify our lives, and devices that make our heads shake at the environmental impact they could have for a few minutes of pleasure. Here are some of the tech products that have left us perplexed.

The Samsung Bespoke AI 4-Door Flex AI Family Hub refrigerator shows that the future could be much worse than the past. I have a standard refrigerator in my home that has French doors and does everything a refrigerator should do. In my garage I have an old refrigerator from the 1990s, which still keeps drinks cold like a champ.

What these two refrigerators have in common is that they have handles that allow me to open them. The Samsung Bespoke refrigerator will cost you $3,500 and removes the handle. Instead, you get voice-activated automatic door opener technology allowing users to use their voice to open their refrigerator. That said, you can also touch the sensor near the refrigerator door to activate the automatic door.

Samsung claims that users will no longer have to struggle to open the door and can now simply use their voice. The problem is that everything is connected, which means that if you lose internet access, you lose the ability to access your refrigerator’s features, like opening it by voice. You can still open it by hand, but with so many extra mechanical and internet-connected parts, it looks like a repair nightmare.

I’m a big fan of Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones, which I’ve recommended for years. Each year usually brings a new model that does something cool and trumps what came before it. So imagine my disappointment with the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy S26. And other community members have taken note of the phone being fried on sites like Reddit.

User Sajid_GG posted an image of the new Samsung Galaxy S26 versus the half-decade old Samsung Galaxy S22, comparing the cameras. The specifications are identical on paper, with both smartphones sporting 50 MP main cameras, 12 MP ultra-wide cameras and 10 MP telephoto cameras. Rumors say that Samsung has not upgraded cameras and features this year due to cost-cutting measures.

And when you compare the Galaxy S26 to the Galaxy S25 it’s supposed to replace, the improvements are so minimal that I wonder why even release a new model this year. The Samsung Galaxy S26 is by no means a bad smartphone, it’s just one that’s a real disappointment for those who look forward to year-over-year upgrades. At least the Galaxy S25 will drop in price for those looking for a potential deal.

From the ever-rising cost of RAM to SSD prices continuing to rise, it’s not easy for laptop makers in 2026. And with the budget-friendly release of the MacBook Neo making waves, it seems all laptops are now catching up. The LG Gram Book is no exception, being a mid-range laptop from a popular line of ultra-portables.

The disappointment comes largely from the quality/price ratio. Users and reviewers say the LG Gram Book is quite underpowered, even for a basic laptop aimed at office workers and students. Battery life isn’t great either, and oddly enough, it’s a bit too heavy (3.64 pounds) to likely be considered for the Gram line in the future.

In many other years, the LG Gram Book wouldn’t be considered a bad laptop, and it isn’t. The disappointment many might feel is only highlighted when comparing it to the cheaper MacBook Neo. The LG Gram costs $799, but you can find it cheaper online. But with the MacBook Neo dropping to $499 for students, it’s hard to see the LG Gram Book as an alternative unless you’re a die-hard Windows fan.

Lollipop Star has generated a lot of buzz at CES and beyond, being a lollipop that plays music in your head using bone conduction technology. He even gained major attention on shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The technology is solid, no pun intended, but it’s everything around it that has left a lot of people disappointed.

What’s disappointing is that not only is the Lollipop Star overpriced at $10 a stick, but it’s a single-use product designed and intended to be thrown away. That’s a potential ton of plastic, electronic and lithium batteries that will end up in a landfill after just a few minutes of use.

The company even acknowledges this problem, with one representative saying at CES that “you can’t reuse the sticks once the candy is long gone, and you can’t refill them.” And having grown up in the battery age, one thing I remember being told is to never throw a battery in the trash, otherwise it might start a fire. And with some 5,000 fires a year linked to battery fires, Lollipop Star isn’t a star for telling users to throw it away.

When looking to find the most disappointing tech releases of 2026, we primarily looked to the experts in the field. We researched extensive reviews from various tech-focused publications, YouTube tech channels, and direct experience from the writer himself. We also studied what general consumers said about each of these products before and after their public release. Many of these releases came with a certain amount of hype, and we tried to cut past that to find out how people actually felt about these products once they got their hands on them.