CES 2026: Dell XPS is back from the dead
Dell is reviving the XPS laptop brand just a year after replacing it with the "Dell Premium" line. As part of its un-rebranding, the American tech company is launching revamped XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops with thinner-than-ever designs and unrivaled battery lives. Both PCs will have the XPS logo on their lids for the first time and, crucially, a physical function row, scrapping one of their lineage's most controversial features.
Dell announced the return of XPS at CES 2026 Monday, though the news leaked days prior. Select configurations of the XPS 14 and XPS 16 will be available for purchase Tuesday starting at $2,049.99 and $2,199.99, respectively, with more variants launching in February for under $2,000. The XPS line will continue to expand later this year starting with a cheaper XPS 13.
"XPS has always been our benchmark for premium laptops," the company said in a blog post. "The new laptops are rebuilt from the ground up, delivering striking design, speedy performance, impressive displays, and exceptional battery life. All in a compact device, built to move with you."
Who could've seen this coming? (Probably most people.)
Dell renamed all of its laptops in January 2025 under a new tiered Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max naming schema, ditching the well-known XPS, Inspiron, Precision, and Latitude labels it had been using since the 1990s. (The Dell 14 Premium and 16 Premium officially ousted the previous XPS 14 and XPS 16 in June, but the last-gen XPS 13 was still available as of this week.) The move was immediately panned for being confusing and seemingly ripping off Apple's naming structure.
At the time, Dell said its new branding aimed to simplify its product lines so consumers better understood which laptop was right for them. It also pushed back against the Apple comparisons, telling Mashable that words like "Pro" were "industry terms" that the MacBook maker didn't originate.
But consumers' loyalties remained strong. During a media presentation in mid-December, Dell executives told members of the press that the company noticed lingering search interest in the line in the months after it was killed off. In other words, people were still looking for XPS machines on Google and Dell's website. This was one of several factors in its decision, they said.
The return of XPS means a shakeup for the rest of Dell's lineup. The company is keeping the just-Dell line for its mainstream portfolio, but XPS is slotting in for the Dell Premium sub-tier to encompass higher-end, minimalist consumer models. Dell will still use the Dell Pro line for its commercial PCs, but it has new sub-tiers for different use cases. (The old Precision name got put to use for the "performance" tier.) The Dell Pro Max moniker is simply donezo.
"I hope it demonstrates our ability to course-correct, to be humble," said Dell COO Jeff Clarke, speaking to the rebranding reversal during last month's presentation.
XPS rides again: New design and specs
The new XPS laptops' redesign is also a direct response to critical and consumer feedback. Swapping the Dell logo for an XPS logo on their top covers isn't just a doubling-down on the rebrand. Apparently, it's "a change that reviewers and XPS fans have been requesting for years," the company's blog post reads.
Additionally, Dell has nixed the XPS 14 and XPS 16's divisive capacitive touch function row in favor of a traditional function row with physical keys. The former was a big sticking point in many XPS reviews from 2022 to 2024, and last year's Dell Premium models were often chided for retaining it. They keyboard itself is now removable for repairs, and it has slightly deeper keys.
Another hit-or-miss XPS feature of yore, the seamless glass touchpad, has been etched with lines on the new models so that users can more easily identify its active area.
The 2026 XPS 14 and XPS 16 both have a stronger unibody design made with aluminum and Corning Gorilla Glass. They'll launch in Graphite, but Dell will eventually sell them in a second "Shimmer" finish later this year.
The company also overhauled their thermal system, making their fans larger and thinner than ever. With a starting thickness of 0.58 inches, the XPS 14 and XPS 16 are the thinnest Dell laptops of their sizes to date. The 14-inch model is quite compact to boot, boasting a smaller footprint than a 13-inch MacBook Air. It weighs as little as three pounds, which makes it well over half a pound lighter than the 2024 XPS 14 and the 2025 Dell 14 Premium. Meanwhile, the XPS 16 comes in at 3.65 pounds to start — shaving over a pound off its Premium predecessor. Not to bring up Apple again, but both sizes are a hair thinner than the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro and 0.25 to 0.4 pounds lighter.
The new XPS 14 and XPS 16 can both be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra X7 processor, Intel Arc graphics, 64GB of RAM, and 4GB of SSD storage at launch. Dell will eventually sell Intel Core Ultra X9 variants.
Users can upgrade them with a 2.8K tandem OLED touchscreen, which was previously exclusive to the XPS 13, but know that sticking with their base 2K LCD display has some major advantages. One: It supports a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz, conserving tons of power when you're looking at static content like emails and PDFs. Dell says its new XPS devices are the first laptops available with such technology.
Secondly (and relatedly), the LCD variants are rated for more than a day's worth of battery life. Dell claims they'll offer up to 27 hours of Netflix streaming and more than 40 hours of local video playback per charge. I'm very eager to verify that claim in testing: We got less than 14 hours out of the Dell 14 Premium and the Dell 16 Premium. (Granted, the latter had a Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU. The new models won't be available with discrete graphics.)
The overhauled XPS 14 and XPS 16 will both have an 8MP camera and three modular Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports with a headphone jack. The "modular" part is new for the XPS series.
What's next for XPS
Dell will keep the XPS revival's momentum going with the release of more devices "across different price points and form factors" later this year, according to its blog post. First on the docket is a new XPS 13. Dell says it's "expected to be our thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever at less than 13mm" (or 0.51 inches), as well as the most affordable. More specs and details will be revealed in the coming months.
Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.
UPDATE: Jan. 5, 2026, 4:41 p.m. PST Dell made a last-minute change to its launch pricing for the new XPS 14 and XPS 16. This story has been updated accordingly.
