Final yr when Dell determined to kill off the XPS title, it felt like a giant mistake. In actual fact, we mentioned so a number of occasions. However at CES 2026, Dell is righting wrongs by bringing again its iconic laptop computer model and it looks like the precise transfer for each the corporate and its flagship shopper units.
Much more than the phrases the letters XPS are supposed to characterize (Excessive Efficiency Programs), during the last decade, Dell’s signature laptop computer model stood for glorious design, high quality engineering and prime notch efficiency. And it was exactly these laptops that landed the corporate on the prime of almost each greatest Home windows laptop computer information yearly for the final decade. So to interchange XPS with a generic tag like premium felt like a giant step backwards.
Now in the event you had been residing underneath a rock (no less than with regards to Home windows laptops), you may type of squint your eyes and see the reasoning behind Dell’s misguided rebranding. Premium means good, sometimes one thing significantly better than common. By placing that phrase in entrance of its top-tier methods, there’s no manner anybody might be confused about what sort of system they had been shopping for, proper? Take for instance the Dell Premium 14, which was the brand new moniker for what was beforehand known as the XPS 14. A laptop computer like that needs to be respectable. I imply, it’s proper there within the product title. The problem is that XPS already meant good. Really, manner higher than that, if we had been simply going by the sheer variety of accolades previous-gen fashions acquired, like Dell’s 2020-era machines which we known as virtually good (which it was). Going away from that wasn’t simply reductive, it was throwing the perfect a part of Dell’s shopper enterprise within the trash for no actual cause.
The primary two new XPS machines would be the XPS 14 and XPS 16. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Moreover, Dell’s new naming technique was supposed to simplify its product portfolio, and it did not ship on that authentic aim. COO Jeff Clarke was refreshingly sincere about this when saying the return of XPS at a CES media preview in early December. Not solely did Dell lose its signature XPS model final yr, it truly made issues extra complicated for shoppers when it concurrently created a full vary of Dell Professional and Professional Max methods. Not like Apple’s MacBook Professionals and iPhone Professional Maxes, these units had been truly meant for enterprise prospects as a substitute of standard Joes.
One other photograph of the brand new XPS 14 and 16, which have a bunch of welcome adjustments after which some. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Amidst its rebrand, the corporate additionally eradicated loads of its funds and entry-level fashions. That left lots of people turning to extra costly mid-range “Plus” methods or ready for a correct redesign of its prime tier Premium laptops, which weren’t anticipated to reach till 2026 anyway.
So the place is Dell going from right here? Properly as Clarke put it fairly succinctly, “We’re getting again to our roots.” Beginning in 2026, the corporate is planning to create its broadest PC portfolio ever together with, a full line of XPS laptops. This consists of an all-new model of the XPS 13, which goes to be the thinnest and lightest mannequin to this point, together with full overhauls for the XPS 14 and XPS 16. However Dell isn’t stopping there as a result of on a slide it confirmed at its press occasion, there have been two further placeholders for future XPS methods coming at some later date.
Dell would not let me take pictures of the XPS 13 prototype mannequin, however here is a teaser it offered for CES. (Dell)
Even with regards to particular options and elements on particular person fashions, Dell is lastly acknowledging among the criticism it has acquired over the previous few years by returning to segmented touchpads as a substitute of seamless all-glass slates and ditching capacitive operate keys for good ‘ol buttons. Dell isn’t simply bringing the XPS line again, it’s sort of on a revenge tour (even when the unique wound was self-inflicted).
On prime of that, the buyer system crew will likely be reporting on to Clarke whereas the corporate retools itself internally. Dell can also be updating its naming scheme to lastly ship on the promise of constructing issues clear and easy. XPS will as soon as once more be the corporate’s flagship shopper model with the XPS brand (not Dell’s) entrance and middle on the lid of each laptop computer, whereas all the things else will fall underneath the final Dell umbrella. Alienware will proceed to do its personal factor for gaming and the Dell Professional household will stay aimed strictly at enterprise companies, skilled companies (like first responders) and training. No extra confusion. And underlying all of that could be a very easy motto from Clarke that “nice merchandise win.”
After ditching the XPS model, Dell is now carry it again for 2026 in its rightful spot on the prime of the corporate’s shopper portfolio. (Dell)
In the long run, despite the fact that Dell’s massive plan from final yr ended up being a large number, I admire when an organization is self conscious sufficient to understand it tousled and has give you a plan to make things better. No matter whether or not it is a company or a single individual, admitting errors is all the time exhausting. Oftentimes, what you study within the course of is the true prize and from what I’ve seen Dell and its iconic XPS line is poised for a serious comeback.