Swedish consumer tech outlet Ljud & Bild published its annual "Best of 2026–2027" guide on Monday, naming the smart products it says make everyday life easier across five categories. The roundup covers phones, fitness watches, laptops, headphones, soundbars and connected home devices, and it is accompanied by buying advice for each group. According to Ljud & Bild, the biggest single advance of the year is in batteries.
Why it matters
The list lands as shoppers face a crowded market where marketing labels often outrun what a device can actually do. Ljud & Bild argues that buyers should weigh practical basics — how long the battery lasts, how many years of updates the manufacturer promises, and whether a product works with what is already in the home — before AI features and headline specifications. The guide also tracks how prices have moved, which matters for anyone planning a purchase in the coming year.
Silicon batteries and phone chips in laptops
Ljud & Bild reports that several of this year's mobile phones use a new kind of battery containing silicon, holding a charge for several days despite slim designs. Fitness watches in the roundup last several weeks per charge, according to the outlet. In portable computers, chips with roots in mobile phones have broken through, and Ljud & Bild says they now beat Intel on both battery life and computing power.
The outlet also notes that flagship-level performance in a phone can now be had for roughly half what it cost a year ago, and that an OLED screen today costs less than half of what the equivalent technology did two years ago. Those gains are partly offset elsewhere: the AI boom has pushed up the price of memory and storage, and several Chinese phone brands are no longer the cheap options they once were, Ljud & Bild reports.
Matter reaches IKEA, and Qi2 unifies charging
Interoperability is finally improving, according to the outlet. Matter, the standard intended to let smart products from different brands work together, has arrived at IKEA, bringing it down to a price level most households can follow. With the latest version of Qi2, iPhone and Android can for the first time charge on the same magnetic charger.
Ljud & Bild cautions that the experience is not always seamless. Matter is meant to allow one product to be controlled from several apps at once, but the outlet warns that if you simply follow the instructions when adding a product to a new app, it can disappear from the old one instead.
When the box promises more than the product delivers
AI branding appears on almost everything this year, from the processor in a laptop to the name of a router, according to Ljud & Bild. The outlet's assessment is that most buyers have nothing to use that on-device AI power for. It argues AI only becomes useful once it handles a concrete background task — such as a robot lawnmower mapping the garden on its own, or a headset separating your voice from surrounding noise.
Other claims on packaging do not always hold up either, the outlet reports. Cheap routers with Wi-Fi 7 often lack the standard's fastest frequency band, and a watch the manufacturer says lasts fourteen days may well land on seven in practice, according to Ljud & Bild.
The guide closes with the outlet's core advice: look first at battery endurance, promised update years and compatibility with existing devices, and treat AI features and big numbers on the box as secondary. Each of the five categories includes both the winners and the advice Ljud & Bild says buyers need before spending.
