Updated

Updated · Express · Jul 9

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Wins T3 Best Phone 2026 as Dell XPS 14 Takes Best Laptop

Updated

Updated · Express · Jul 9

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Wins T3 Best Phone 2026 as Dell XPS 14 Takes Best Laptop

Q: Samsung's phone beat Apple's, but Tim Cook was Person of the Year. Who really won tech's biggest rivalry in 2026?

Samsung won the product battle in 2026, while Apple retained broader cultural and leadership prestige. The clearest evidence is in the T3 Awards themselves. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra beat Apple’s iPhone 17 range to take “Best Phone,” giving Samsung that title for a second straight year. Samsung also added “Best Folding Phone” with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and “Best Smartwatch” with the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. On pure device performance across key consumer categories, Samsung had the stronger showing. Apple’s wins were different in nature. Tim Cook was named “Person of the Year,” which reflects influence, leadership and industry impact rather than a head-to-head product victory. Apple also claimed T3’s special 30th-anniversary award for the iPod as the “Biggest Product in T3’s Lifetime,” underscoring the company’s long-term importance to consumer tech. So the rivalry split along two lines. If the question is who made the better phones and consumer hardware in T3’s 2026 judging, the answer is Samsung. If the question is who still commands outsized influence over the direction and symbolism of the tech industry, Apple — and Cook personally — remained highly powerful. Taken together, T3’s results suggest 2026 was Samsung’s year on products, but not a year in which Apple lost its stature. In that sense, Samsung won the scoreboard, while Apple kept much of the spotlight.

Q: With its first 'Neue Klasse' EV winning big, is BMW now setting the standard for the entire electric car market?

No. BMW’s iX3 shows that the company is setting a very high bar in premium electric SUVs, but it is not yet setting the standard for the entire EV market. The T3 award for “Best Electric Car” is a strong endorsement of BMW’s first Neue Klasse model. The iX3 has backed that up with substance: up to 500 miles of range, 400kW fast charging, 463 hp, an 800V architecture, and a new interior led by a 43-inch panoramic head-up display. Reviews have described it as one of the most complete EVs in its class, with standout driving dynamics and unusually polished braking and software. Commercially, the launch has been impressive. BMW says the iX3 drew well over 50,000 European orders, helped lift BMW Group’s European EV orders by about 40% year-on-year in the first quarter, and has become a major force in the premium midsize SUV segment. In that part of the market, BMW is clearly raising expectations for legacy European brands. But the broader EV market is much larger and more fragmented. Global volume leaders remain Tesla and major Chinese groups such as BYD and Geely, especially in mass-market segments and in China, the world’s biggest EV market. BMW Group still trails those companies in overall EV scale, and the iX3 does not rank among the world’s top-selling EV models. So the iX3 is best seen as a benchmark for premium electric SUVs and a major strategic win for BMW’s Neue Klasse program, not yet the defining standard for the whole electric-car industry.

3 articles · Updated · Express · Jul 9

T3 named Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra its Best Phone for 2026, with the flagship beating Android rivals and Apple’s iPhone 17 range after launching earlier this year.
The S26 Ultra’s pitch included upgraded power and a new privacy screen designed to block nearby people from reading texts and emails.
More than 80 awards were handed out in total, with Adidas’ Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 winning Product of the Year and Tim Cook taking Person of the Year.
T3’s 30th-anniversary special award for Biggest Product in T3’s Lifetime went to Apple’s iPod, which the magazine said reshaped digital music and paved the way for the iPhone.