Black Friday is mere weeks away, which means the Christmas shopping season is basically here. To help you fill out your tech gadget wish list — or to make someone else’s Christmas dreams come true — we rounded up the best electronics that were launched in 2026. Which ones are you grabbing?

There’s no way around it. Gadgets are expensive — even more than usual, thanks to the ongoing RAM shortage. According to a survey conducted by CNET, families are prepared to spend less on tech Christmas gifts this year. That means the money you do spend needs to stretch as far as possible.

This is just the first half of our Christmas gift wish list.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up fast, the best gadgets are sure to go on sale, bringing their prices down close to where they used to be before the RAM crisis, or possibly even lower. While we can’t predict which products will get a price cut, we do know the hottest items launched in 2026 that you should watch.

Foldable smartphones

This was the year for foldables. Technically, these have been around in the mainstream limelight since Samsung introduced the original Galaxy Fold in 2019. Other smartphone manufacturers jumped into the fray over time, while one major player stayed away — until now.

After years of watching the competition and refining its own spin on the form factor, Apple introduced iPhone Duo, the company’s first foldable smartphone this fall. It features a squat 5.4-inch outer screen that opens up into a more expansive 7.6-inch tablet-like inner display, virtually turning it into an iPad Mini that fits into your pocket.

Under the hood sits Apple’s latest exceptionally powerful A20 Pro chip built for the new Siri AI. It also excels at playing high-performance games, like Genshin Impact, Roblox, and No Man’s Sky, which just debuted on iOS and iPadOS.

The downside is that iPhone Duo is expensive, starting at $1,999 for the 256 GB model and topping out at $3,199 for the 2 TB version. On top of that, it is hard to get. If you go on Apple’s website, some iPhone Duos aren’t shipping until January, so if you happen to find one elsewhere and you want it, get it. Otherwise, you could be waiting for months.

Not to be outdone, Samsung also launched a new foldable in a wide form factor this year. The Galaxy Z Fold8 comes with a slightly larger 5.5-inch outer display that opens into a 7.6-inch tablet. It is powered by a worthy Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 built especially for Galaxy phones that is great for daily tasks, AI, and gaming.

Unlike iPhone Duo, the Z Fold8 is widely available with no major shipping delays, though it is also quite expensive, starting at $1,899.99 for 256 GB of storage and $2,499.99 for the 1 TB version. The Z Fold8 was already on sale during Prime Day in October, so chances are high that it will dip again during the Christmas season.

RELATED: Insane console prices are crushing gamers — just weeks before Grand Theft Auto VI arrives

LPETTET/Getty Images

Conventional smartphones

On the conventional smartphone front, both Samsung and Apple stepped up their flagship devices in notable ways.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a new privacy display that dims some of the pixels on the screen to block visibility to anyone standing beside you. This ensures that only you can see the content on your screen as you look directly at it. Privacy display works for the entire screen, or you can set it to only block sensitive details, like banking information or passwords. Sadly, the extra feature will cost you, as Samsung recently raised the price of its Galaxy S26 Ultra to $1,399.99, though that number may temporarily dip back down based on current sales and offers.

As for the iPhone 18 Pro series, these devices come with Apple’s first 2nm chip, the A20 Pro. It is built to handle demanding on-device AI workloads, and it also excels at graphically intensive tasks, like playing premium games for an extended period of time. The 18 Pro phones also feature a new vapor chamber to keep the devices cooler under load. The only downside is that the iPhone 18 Pro series is $100 more expensive than last year, starting at $1,199.

As for Google Pixel, it is getting harder to recommend this device, largely due to Google’s in-house Tensor chip. Generation after generation, Google prioritizes Tensor’s on-device AI processes while falling behind in graphics and CPU performance. This year, the Tensor G6 made only marginal improvements, with performance benchmarking on par with an iPhone 15 from 2023. At a premium price of $1,099, the Pixel 11 Pro series isn’t worth the full amount. Instead, wait for a sale or opt for the cheaper Pixel 11 at $899.

RELATED: Not all new iPhones are worth it. This one blows them all away.

iPhone 18 Pro Max Models/Apple

Top laptops

Laptops got way more interesting this year, thanks to two major tech giants injecting some excitement into the well-established category.

First, gaming phenom and AI tech giant Nvidia shocked the market when it announced a brand-new line of Windows laptops featuring its own Nvidia Spark RTX chips, made in partnership with MediaTek.

The RTX Spark N1X is an ARM-based chip designed to run local open source AI models. It comes in two different configurations, maxing out with a 6,144-core CUDA GPU and a 20-core CPU. Although it is made with AI creators in mind, these laptops can also play some optimized games from storefronts like Steam, complete with ray tracing support and DLSS 5 on board.

Nvidia partnered with six Windows hardware OEMs to launch laptop options from Microsoft, Dell, ASUS, HP, Lenovo, and MSI. Unfortunately, they’re all very expensive, starting at $2,599 and jumping all the way past $4,000 for premium-configured models.

Apple also stunned users with two new MacBooks that both gained popularity for very different reasons.

The MacBook Neo is the company’s new budget-friendly option. It offers a 13-inch display mated to an aluminum body that comes in several fun colors. Under the hood, it hides a paltry 8 GB of memory and up to 512 GB of storage, all powered by an Apple A18 Pro chip — the same one found in the iPhone 16 Pro series. On paper, the computer isn’t nearly as powerful as some of the other Macs in Apple’s lineup, but starting at only $699, it makes a great laptop for students and leisurely use around the house.

At the other end of the spectrum, Apple just launched its first-ever touch-screen-enabled MacBook, dubbed the MacBook Pro with a PROLED XDR display. Packed with Apple’s most premium hardware, it features your choice of a 14-inch or 16-inch display, a performant M5 Pro or M5 Max chip, 24 GB to 128 GB of memory depending on your configuration, and 1 TB to 16 TB of storage.

As expected, the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display is pricey, starting at $2,899 for the base 14-inch model and topping out at $14,549 — yes, a solid down payment for a new home — for the maxed-out 16-inch model. Luckily, there’s a lot of price variation between those two points, so you can still get a well-specced model for slightly less than an entire arm or leg.

More to come

This is just the first half of our Christmas gift wish list. Come back to see the hottest tablets, wearables, and accessories of 2026 that you’ll want to mark down for Black Friday and beyond.

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​Black friday, Shopping, Gifts, Holidays, Christmas, Tech 

Three people who knew each other are dead after they — and a fourth acquaintance — took psychedelic mushrooms in Gilbert, Arizona. The fourth individual attacked the others, police said.

Gilbert Police on Nov. 3 released harrowing body camera video showing officers responding to the incident as well as audio from two related emergency phone calls.

‘He just killed my boyfriend! Hurry up, please!’

Four individuals who knew each other ingested the mushrooms on Aug. 1 at a property off South Lindsay Road, according to a police investigation.

At about 10:50 p.m. a woman called police to report that she heard screaming in the background amid a call to her from a friend at the gathering.

The woman said she heard people saying, “Brett stop! Brett stop!” and her friend yelling at Siri to call 911.

A minute later a different — and distressed — woman called 911 to report the attack.

“Our friend is killing us! He just killed my boyfriend!” the woman said. “Hurry up, please!”

“Where is the person with the knife? Where is he at?” the dispatcher asked later in the call.

“He’s here on property. He’s still here,” the caller said.

Police reported seeing broken windows and a broken sliding glass door as well as hearing a woman yelling when officers arrived at the property.

Officers encountered a male near the sliding glass door who swiped at one officer’s rifle before retreating into the property and ignoring an officer’s commands to get on the ground.

The officer followed the male into a bedroom where the male lunged at the officer while trying to strike him with a long metal object.

The officer fired twice, striking the male.

The male later was identified as 28-year-old Brett Eschliman; he was declared dead at the scene at 11:24 p.m., police said.

Police said Eschliman stabbed another male and shot him several times after they all ingested mushrooms; the male victim was pronounced dead.

Eschliman also attacked a woman who sustained more than a dozen stab wounds and multiple gunshot wounds.

The first female victim was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Eschliman also attacked a second female, who survived after being stabbed several times and also was struck with the firearm.

RELATED: 14-year-old drug-dealing pimp shoots and kills man during argument, California police say

Police photos showed that the long metal object was an aluminum mop handle. Police also recovered a handgun and two knives.

“A swipe of blood was located on the muzzle end of the officer’s rifle,” according to Sgt. Jordan Truckenbrod of Gilbert Police.

The police shooting also is being investigated.

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​Knife attack, Crime, Arizona, Bodycam video, Shooting, Police, Gilbert, Mushrooms 

The GOP just took an electoral butt-kicking. As we nurse our wounds, the first order of business is getting some very old dogs to learn new tricks — fast.

Start in my home state of Iowa, where Senator Chuck Grassley is 93. He has been in politics since 1959, when he entered the state legislature, and he was elected to Congress in 1974 — just a year after I was born. That’s quite a run. It needs to end.

Young voters swung hard toward Democrats, and independents broke decisively against us. Republicans cannot win the presidency on nostalgia for 2016 or wishful thinking.

Democrat Rob Sand just won Iowa’s governor’s race. He takes office in January. If Grassley dies before his term expires in January 2029, Sand could appoint a Democrat senator until the seat is filled by election. That’s another vote against Trump’s Supreme Court nominees and potentially another vote to convict him should the House impeach him.

Why gamble with that? Grassley could retire now and let Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds appoint his temporary replacement before Sand takes over. Grassley is gambling with a Senate seat and perhaps a Supreme Court seat. It’s not his gamble to make alone. He could leave as a statesman instead of hanging on like a crypt keeper in Mitch McConnell’s mold. I don’t think that is too much to ask of a man who has spent nearly seven decades in public life.

Which brings us to another old dog: Donald Trump, now 80. In the aftermath of the midterms, he said his deportation policy might have been “too tough.” Then he insisted there would be no amnesty and his policy hadn’t changed. That’s a lot of gray area, and it should give anyone who remembers Trump’s COVID-era zigzags a familiar sinking feeling.

Trump’s political standing is no side issue. If he can’t restore confidence in the movement he still quarterbacks, states such as Iowa and Texas could repeat their Democratic victories, and whoever Republicans nominate in 2028 will inherit a mess.

Young voters swung hard toward Democrats, and independents broke decisively against us. Republicans cannot win the presidency on nostalgia for 2016 or wishful thinking about the next nominee. We need to win some of those voters back, and we had better start while Trump is still in office.

Trump’s appointment of Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff is a welcome sign that he understands the need to fight. Now let’s see policy instead of another press release. Voters aren’t interested in being told they’re winning while watching their own party get steamrolled.

RELATED: No amnesty. We’ve seen this movie before.

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Immigration is where we’ll find out what Trump actually means. The movement didn’t spend years fighting for border enforcement just to hear, after a historic defeat, that the policy was suddenly too harsh. Nor can the White House call every hint of compromise a misunderstanding and expect the base to shrug it off.

On Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” Trump said his deportation policy “might be too tough.” He talked about longtime workers in landscaping and hotels being removed from the country, describing their deportation as “a tough thing.” When Ross Douthat raised the possibility of legal status for such workers, Trump entertained the idea of a deal. By Monday, Trump was saying no amnesty. So which Trump are we supposed to believe?

I see three possibilities, and each tells us something different about what comes next.

First, Trump really wants some kind of amnesty deal. That could split the Republican base wide open. Immigration has been a defining issue for Trump’s voters, especially the younger men the GOP spent the last decade trying to bring aboard. A betrayal on this issue could create room for a Ross Perot-style insurgency in 2028, with the Republican nominee stuck paying the bill.

Second, this could be a trap for Democrats. With Miller running point, Trump might be offering a compromise he expects the other party to reject. After Democrats beat Republicans nearly two to one among independents in one post-election survey, forcing them to explain why they can’t accept a deal might be politically useful. If the Democrats revert to their usual radical form, Trump gets to say he tried and they refused. Maybe. But that’s a dangerous game when your own side doesn’t know the rules.

RELATED: The GOP’s worst defeat may be its best chance to move on

Megan Varner/Getty Images

Third, Trump may be looking for insurance against impeachment. Democrats have won the House, and the final Senate picture still depends on races including Alaska. Conviction requires two-thirds of senators present. I can imagine three or four Republicans voting to remove Trump, with others tempted if they thought the political coast was clear. It’s possible he’s signaling flexibility on immigration to keep some of those amnesty pimps and low-T Republicans from joining a removal effort.

I don’t claim to know which explanation is right. That’s the problem. Our voters shouldn’t have to decipher a president’s immigration policy like a coded message, especially after an election that went this badly. Leaders have to say what they intend to do and then do it. Otherwise, every new interview becomes another round of Kremlinology for people who already feel betrayed.

We know a tree by its fruit. Trump has reinvented himself under pressure that would leave most men curled up in the fetal position. Perhaps he can do it again. Grassley has one last chance to choose his legacy, too.

But after a beating like November 3, the old dogs don’t get to demand unlimited patience. Learn the new tricks, gentlemen — or get out of the way.

​Chuck grassley, Donald trump, House majority, Immigration debate, Independent voters, Midterm elections, Mitch mcconnell, Rob sand, Stephen miller, Supreme court, Trump nominees, White house, Young voters, Ross perot, Iowa, Democrats, Republicans, Opinion & analysis 

In my previous column, I asked why God permits the wicked to win elections. A reader responded: “Why do you ask this when James Talarico wins, but not when Trump wins?” He then listed what he considers Trump’s personal moral failings. The objection shifted the focus from policy to personality.

The question became sharper when Ross Douthat asked President Trump whether he could forgive his enemies. Trump answered, “I probably cannot do that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.” His remarks at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service had suggested as much. A Christian cannot simply dismiss that answer. But does it settle the question of how Christians should judge political leaders?

Some evils are worse than others. Beware.

You may remember when JD Vance stirred up the left by talking about the order of love. Love moves outward in concentric circles. We do not love everyone in the same way. We love our families and neighbors differently from complete strangers on the other side of the world.

In a related way, there is an order of evil. Every sin deserves the wrath of God, both in this life and the next. Yet not all sins are equally grave. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 83, says, “Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”

What makes some sins more heinous? The Westminster Larger Catechism identifies aggravating circumstances: the position of the person committing the sin, the person against whom it is committed, and the harm it causes. It specifically identifies offenses against Christ and his grace, as well as sins committed by those who guide others. A false teacher who leads thousands away from Christ commits an offense with consequences far beyond his private life.

Think of Christianity and the culture it produces as a building. Some beliefs are more foundational than others. Striking at those foundations threatens the entire structure and everyone who relies on it.

Love is directed toward the good. When you tell someone “I love you,” you want what is good for that person. But if you do not know what is good, you cannot love another correctly. You may have good intentions and still lead someone away from what is truly good. Good intentions, as the saying goes, pave the road to hell.

If the order of love begins with what is most central to our lives, the order of evil begins by attacking what is most central. The Shorter Catechism opens with the question, “What is the chief end of man?” Its answer is that man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It begins there because everything else depends on knowing the highest good.

Augustine made a related point about evil. Evil has no independent substance; it is the absence or corruption of good. A counterfeit seeks to resemble the real thing while lacking its true value. Evil often works the same way. Its appeal comes from the good it imitates. That is what makes the counterfeit so dangerous: Evil need not announce itself as evil.

RELATED: Why does God allow the wicked to win elections?

Klenger/Getty Images

Sometimes evil appears openly, in direct attacks on Christ or the Bible. Those attacks harm people at different stages of faith and can have consequences beyond the church.

More often, evil twists something good into a counterfeit. The imitation may still look attractive, but something essential has changed. Politicians can operate this way. They appeal to marriage, family, love of neighbor, education, and fairness, while detaching those goods from the highest good and making them serve changing human desires. A promise of fairness means little until we know whose claims will be honored, whose will be denied, and by what principle. The appealing word alone settles nothing.

To recognize the order of evil, we must be able to judge between good and evil. Our culture often treats Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1 as a prohibition against making moral judgments at all. Yet later in the same chapter, Jesus warns: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). We must distinguish the true prophet from the false one.

How does this apply to politics? We must ask whether a politician understands what is good for a country, whether his promises serve that good, and whether he is offering a convincing counterfeit. That requires recognizing the assumptions behind political claims, distinguishing things that appear alike, and judging the wisest means of achieving good ends.

RELATED: Why Christians lose elections

Liveslow/Getty Images

For example, on the Texas House floor in 2021, James Talarico declared that “God is nonbinary.” In a May CBS News interview, he called that remark “intentionally provocative” and referred to some past statements as “cringey comments.” But he maintained that “God can’t be defined by human categories,” invoking Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Yet God tells us to use human language when he calls himself “Father.” Talarico quotes the Bible to undermine what the Bible says about God and about us. He also cites Scripture to defend government policy — something the left often says the right should not do.

Nor does the Bible excuse a ruler’s personal sins. Trump’s refusal to forgive his enemies deserves moral scrutiny. But examining personal conduct does not relieve us of the duty to examine the principles a politician advocates and the consequences of putting those principles into practice. We must judge both.

Jesus’ warning about wolves in sheep’s clothing is especially serious when those claiming religious authority lead others into error. James 3:1 warns that teachers face stricter judgment. The more influence a teacher has, the greater the harm when he uses that influence to undermine the gospel. A false teaching about Christianity’s foundations is not simply another private indiscretion.

Some evils are worse than others. Beware.

​James talarico, Good versus evil, Trump, Ross douthat, Jd vance, Jesus, Christians, Politics, Texas, Nonbinary, Bible, Sin, False teaching, Charlie kirk, Opinion & analysis 

BlazeTV host Nick Freitas believes the midterm wipeout has turned the 2028 GOP race from a JD Vance coronation into a real contest of Vance vs. Ron DeSantis.

Freitas says he called it before the election: “If there’s one person outside the administration that could really challenge and be a candidate, it’s Ron DeSantis, because of what he did in Florida.”

Producer Christian agrees, noting that the term-limited Florida governor is “currently [his] favorite governor in the entire country,” but argues that DeSantis “did hurt himself when he primaried Trump in 2024.”

“There’s a lot of people now that I don’t think are going to give him a shot,” Christian adds.

Freitas disagrees. “If the Republicans had done pretty well or this wasn’t a big wipeout in the midterms, then I would say you were probably right,” he says.

Donald Trump, he explains, “was the one guy where it seemed like no matter what he did, what he said, MAGA was with him no matter what.” But the midterms showed that “there [were] a lot of people that were so furious” that even Trump took a hit.

Gone are the days, Freitas argues, when Trump’s endorsement was all someone needed to win a primary.

“It used to be that if Trump endorsed you, that was it. You won your primary,” he tells Christian. “I don’t think that’s going to be the case, especially over the next two years of Democrats doing nothing but hammering him.”

While Freitas believes that much of conservatives’ anger is really channeled toward “the Republican Congress,” he says Trump took some of the blame too, pointing to “the Iran war, the Epstein files,” and economic messaging that was “a little bit tone-deaf.”

“I don’t think that means Trump is out or MAGA’s dead,” he says.

Rather, he predicts “a pivot toward a more America First” agenda.

“America First as far as to say, ‘Look, insofar as we’re involved in foreign things, there has to be a very, very clear benefit to the United States and no long-term wars,’” Freitas explains.

So who will lead the party into 2028?

“Before, there was very little question that JD Vance was kind of the heir apparent. … There will now be questions on that with respect to Ron DeSantis,” Freitas says.

“The next two years are going to be, I think, largely a question at this point of: Is JD Vance going to be the heir apparent, or is it going to be Ron DeSantis?” he continues.

Christian, however, believes there’s still the possibility of others “throwing their hat in the ring,” but he predicts it won’t end well for them.

“You’re going to have the libertarians trying to stage a comeback and the neocons trying to stage a comeback,” he says.

“You’re going to have like a rehash of, say, 2012-style politics briefly, where you’re going to have these movements that are really just not fit for the moment and are on their way out the door, but some people haven’t gotten the memo,” he adds.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

“Making the Argument with Nick Freitas” is available on BlazeTV+, YouTube, and major podcast platforms. Start watching Nick Freitas NOW at blazetv.com and use the promo code NICK for $20 off your BlazeTV+ subscription.

​Jd vance, Midterm elections, Nick freitas, Ron desantis, Blazetv show 

A Florida woman was arrested on an animal cruelty charge after she allegedly drove away for miles with a dog tied to her vehicle, dragging the animal along the roadway.

Wendy Pena, a 27-year-old from Pomona Park, was arrested last week. She was charged with one count of aggravated animal cruelty, a third-degree felony, according to jail records obtained by People magazine.

‘I cannot imagine the horror this poor animal felt as its body scraped the roadway, and it had no way to escape the torture being inflicted.’

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Pena inflicted serious harm on a dog that she “had tied to a vehicle, forgotten, and later drove away with the dog still attached.”

“A Good Samaritan flagged down Wendy Pena and told her she had the dog tied to the vehicle,” the sheriff’s office stated.

Pena stopped and exited the vehicle.

The sheriff’s office noted, “The Good Samaritan said Pena seemed remorseful, but said she could not take the dog to the veterinarian because she needed to pick up her children.”

RELATED: ‘The video is difficult to watch’: Florida HVAC worker allegedly caught violently abusing homeowner’s dog while on the job

Image source: Putnam County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

The Good Samaritan took the dog and drove the wounded animal to a vet.

The sheriff’s office said the dog suffered multiple injuries, including deep open wounds and severe trauma to its paws and shoulder.

“Due to the level and extent of the injuries, the veterinarian recommended euthanasia as the most humane course of action,” the sheriff’s office stated.

WJXT-TV reported that it was unclear if the dog was euthanized.

Putnam Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said in a statement:

Dog ownership comes with a series of responsibilities for the care of an animal. I cannot imagine the horror this poor animal felt as its body scraped the roadway, and it had no way to escape the torture being inflicted. The owner made a choice to tie the dog to a vehicle that could be moved instead of properly securing the dog somewhere safer. Forgetting you have a living, breathing soul attached to a vehicle when you leave because you are distracted is not an excuse. Then to leave that animal to suffer and have another person take care of your mistake is reprehensible.

Pena was arrested and transported to the Putnam County Jail. She was later released on a $10,000 bond.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

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​Animal cruelty, Animals, Dogs, Good samaritans, Crime, Florida, Arrest