The Best Tech to Level Up Summer 2026

There’s never not a good time to revisit the three Lord of the Rings films (ideally, all 12 hours of the extended editions), but if you would rather be outside with friends this summer, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game is a much faster and much more fun cooperative game about playing tricks to beat challenges and follow the titular Fellowship on their Middle Earth adventure.

In many ways, Apple’s legacy serves as a history of today’s gadget landscape. “Apple: The First 50 Years” is one of those perfect books to take with you to a park or beach for some evocative, full-color photos highlighting the company’s biggest failures and successes.

There are few things more charming than a 2D sprite from a classic JRPG, but somehow, the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake manages to enhance the classic visuals into a stunning reimagining of the original games. If you have any longing for those older games, we can’t think of a better way you could spend your summer.

What’s a better use of time this summer than revisiting one of those seminal games of your youth? Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Switch 2 is an excellent port that plays well even in handheld mode.

When your friends say they’re not looking to play yet another predictable party game this summer, whip out one of the best “4X” board games from your back pocket (well, from the shelf). Arcs is a game about building fleets, taxing planets, and overall being a big space-ruling bastard, but it’s easy enough to grasp that enough players will be cursing and laughing the whole way through. It also takes less than 15 minutes to set up.

There are few games that will keep you and your friends glued to the TV this summer like Forza Horizon 6. It’s a beautiful game representing an idealized Japanese landscape. Oh, and the cars are fun to look at and drive, as well.

Partying outside is great, weather permitting, but trying to move around in the dark is no fun. Govee’s Outdoor Solar String Lights are great for nighttime mood lighting and also better for the environment since they’re solar-powered. Hard to argue with saving a little money on electricity, too.

As much as everyone wants to be outdoors this summer, there’s a chance you may have to huddle indoors, and in that case, you’re going to need some cozy lighting. Ikea’s Varmblixt LED smart lamp is about as cozy as it gets, with extra points for style—you’ll definitely impress your house guests with your impeccable taste.

Do you need a little Game Boy-like gadget to bring to the beach? The Anbernic RG Rotate is easily one of our favorite pint-sized handhelds to come out in the last few years. It includes a unique slide-out touchscreen, meaning it can act as a handy MP3 player as well as a gaming device.

When you’re on vacation, you shouldn’t need to carry around a huge bundle of power bricks and cables. We’ve especially appreciated Anker’s 3-in-1 charging station that folds up neatly but manages to power a MagSafe smartphone, Apple Watch, and your AirPods all in one go.

Going away for summer travel is great for when you want to touch grass, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave your beautiful doomscroll machines behind. Jackery’s portable battery pack can charge two USB-C devices and one USB-A simultaneously, and has a max output of 100W. It’s also very portable at 2.1 pounds, which means you can carry more beer with you.

Smart swim goggles aren’t for every swimmer, but if you want to get some laps in before copious amounts of hot dogs, the Swim 2 LT are the most futuristic goggles money can buy. These bad boys have a screen on them that can tell you how fast you’re swimming, what lap you’re on, and more.

The summer season already has enough going on outside that you can be forgiven for not paying too much attention during your work meetings. Plaud’s Note Pro is a simple gadget that uses an on-device microphone to capture your voice and then run it through a transcription app. It even breaks down voices by speaker and offers an AI-generated summary of what happened in the recording.

Coolers are a must-have for any summer gathering, but not everyone has the space to store one year-round. This cooler from Coleman is for the space-deficient who want to be able to collapse their portable home for beer down when they’re not using it.

If you’ve got some time off for the summer then you’re probably going to want to use it to decompress, and the Nothing Headphone A can give you a little bit of quiet to do just that. These wireless headphones sound good, look better, and have a 75-hour battery that can help you relax for as long as you see fit.

It’s not all about blocking sound out. Sometimes you want to jam out to some tunes but still want to be able to hear your friends and family. In that case, the Shokz OpenFit Pro are a great combo of both. The open style helps you hear your surroundings, but if they ever get to be too loud, you can turn on noise reduction for just a little bit more quiet.

Your e-reader may finally deserve an upgrade (especially if Amazon recently bricked your ancient pre-2013 Kindle). The Kindle Colorsoft lets you highlight text in various shades and make your book covers seem that much more vibrant. While it may not have the color depth you’d want for a graphic novel or comic, it’s still better to have more color options for reading than the old black and white.

There are a lot of Bluetooth speakers out there, but the Sonos Play still rises above the rest of the pack. It’s portable, looks great, and like other Sonos products, it uses Wi-Fi (or Bluetooth), so you can play every Sonos speaker in your house with ease. It’s one of the best ways to fill up your home with audio that you can put anywhere you like.

The grill dad lifestyle can become much less hectic with the help of a smart thermometer. The Meater Pro XL includes four Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connected probes you can stick into different cuts of meat to know exactly when each one is ready.

This summer, free your wrists from warm watchbands with this timepiece from Audemars Piguet x Swatch that can be worn on a lanyard around your neck or even in your pocket. It’s nearly impossible to find right now, but if you can, you’ll be the envy of all your friends, or maybe just social media.

You don’t need an electric smoker to smoke meat, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t love one if you had it. This smoker from Masterbilt has digital controls that can set temps up to 275 degrees and a way to load wood chips on the side so you don’t have to open it up. It’s big, too, and can fit up to eight racks of ribs.

If you’re planning to host a summer barbecue and want to have a POV shot of your dog begging for food, the Insta360 Go Ultra is your best option for an incredibly small, 4K action camera. The pod is magnetic, meaning you can stick it onto a variety of mounts. Hell, stick it on your fridge to capture when your friends are ducking in to steal a before-barbecue snack.

If you’re planning to train up this summer, you could certainly use a detailed, GPS-enabled running watch to enhance your regimen. Garmin’s Forerunner 570 will last for more than a week on a single charge, and it comes packed with all the running metrics amateur athletes need.

If you’re going to be chowing down on grilled meats, it might be a good idea to get a smart ring like Oura’s Ring 4 Ceramic. It’s not going to do much in the moment, but thanks to its sensors, which can track your heart rate, blood oxygen, and respiration, you can get back on track with your fitness goals once all the hot dogs have been consumed.

There is no laptop available right now that can match the MacBook Neo’s pretty display and quality sound for its low price. If you’re looking for a laptop to cuddle with a loved one for a night of Netflix in a hammock, the Neo is still your best bet.

GoPro’s $700 action camera will be a reliable choice for recording your summer antics, either in 8K and 60 fps or 4K at a maximum 240 fps in slow motion. If you really want to make your friend’s belly flop look extra impressive, the Mission 1 Pro includes a 1080p, 960 fps burst slo-mo mode that will capture every splash.

If you’ve got a big party planned, you’re going to need a big speaker—or at least a speaker with big sound. The Soundboks Mix is a great in-between, offering big-time volume in a somewhat portable package. It also links up to other Soundboks speakers if you need to crank things up to 11.

You don’t need to be an expert drone operator to get some beautiful shots of your outdoor adventures. The Antigravity A1 is essentially a 360 camera strapped onto a drone body, meaning you can capture practically any footage by just flying by without needing to aim the sensor. Even better, you can take it to the skies and use the goggles included with the A1 to see your environment like a flying globe in the sky.

Exoskeletons are real, and they’re here to help you hike that one trail you’ve always said you would. The latest Hypershell X Ultra S costs a bundle, but it actually provides your legs a little help on cliffs or when running on flat ground. The kit comes with extra batteries if you plan to be out alone this summer.