STACK #256 February 2026

TECH FEATURE

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2026 TOMORROW'S TECH TODAY Words Scott Hocking, Amy Flower & Bec Summer

GAMING

ASUS ROG get XREAL with new AR gaming glasses leading the charge

All the innovative, game changing, and just plain strange technological advances were on display at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The biggest event on the tech calendar brings together global giants and budding start-ups in Las Vegas to show off their latest wares, from consumer tech and AI advancements to predicting forthcoming trends. While not everything on display at CES 2026 will make it to Australia, we’ve rounded up some of the major announcements across TVs, gaming, and laptops, along with the weird and wonderful tech that caught our eye.

H eading a raft of CES 2026 announcements, ASUS Republic of Gamers has unveiled the ROG XREAL R1, a cool new take on immersive gameplay that aims to bring big-screen gaming into a lightweight, wearable form. The device has been developed in partnership with AR specialist XREAL, with the R1 being billed as the world’s first 240Hz micro-OLED FHD gaming glasses, for gaming anywhere. The ROG XREAL R1 features a 1920x1080 Sony 0.55-inch micro-OLED display at its core, capable of up to a 240Hz refresh rate and boasting just two milliseconds motion-to-photon latency – which is the total delay between a player's physical movement and what appears onscreen. This means a virtual screen measuring up to 171 inches at four metres, with a wide 57° field of view that covers 95% of the focused viewing area. Or, in less techy speak, a fully immersive screen in front of you that’s built to be responsive, and to shut down jitter and blur.

connection skipping the dock and providing a zero setup, giant-screen experience – and all while retaining full touchscreen controls! At just 91 grams, the ROG XREAL R1 won’t weigh you down, whether stationary or on the move. And as well as amazing visuals, it also packs in Sound by Bose tech, delivering immersive, spatial audio to enhance the action. What else is coming from ASUS ROG? While the ROG XREAL R1 is the show stopping new piece of kit, ASUS ROG Kithara gaming headset, with audiophile-grade sound from planar magnetic drivers, and the ROG Cetra open wireless gaming earbuds, with dual-mode connectivity and immersive audio. In larger screen news, a new 34-inch widescreen RGB OLED monitor is on the way via the ROG Swift, complete with an impressive 360Hz refresh rate. On the PC side, ROG’s impressive array of Zephyrus laptops will be bolstered, with new 14- and 16-inch models boasting 50 TOPS of NPU performance for every AI need, plus the highly desirable dual OLED screen Duo. ROG has also partnered with Kojima Productions for an exciting collision of design and functionality, spearheaded by the AMD Ryzen powered ROG Flow Z13-KJP 2-in-1 haven’t rested on their laurels, with all sorts of new devices revealed. Ear gear-wise this includes the

Connectivity has been a major focus with the ROG XREAL R1. An included ROG Control Dock offers DisplayPort 1.4 and dual HDMI 2.0 inputs, for easy switching between PCs and consoles. ROG Ally players certainly don’t miss out, in fact they get an even simpler setup, with a single USB-C

that can act as console, tablet, workstation, or ultraportable laptop. AF

42 FEBRUARY 2026

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