2026 promises to be rich not only in new games, but also in new computer hardware – even a severe lack of memory will not prevent this. PC Gamer Portal speakWhat hardware is worth keeping an eye on in the coming year?
TMR switch for keyboard
TMR, or tunneling magnetoresistance, is slowly making its way into gaming peripherals – for example, the technology is already used in the sticks of some controllers. It's reasonable to assume that by 2026 it will be more widespread, mainly at keyboards.
TMR has been incorporated into some gaming keyboards but they often come with Hall effect switches. One of the most frequently mentioned advantages of precision TMR technology is its more precise response and lower power consumption compared to the Hall effect; Users can hardly tell the difference, but when did such little things stop device manufacturers from following trends?
However, manufacturers like Wooting, Cherry and Razer are unlikely to switch to using such switches in the near future. Cherry is interested in touch technology but is facing financial difficulties, while Razer is actively exploring the potential of optical switches. Wooting, on the other hand, prefers long-term support and will probably stick with Hall effect switches – at least for the foreseeable future.
New Valve device
One thing is certain: Valve will launch three new products in 2026. The Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller will go on sale at the beginning of the year – that is, almost.
Of the three new products, the Steam Engine generated the most buzz. Discrete GPU, distinctive cube design, and built-in SteamOS help revive the hope of Linux gaming in the living room. The device indeed looks very interesting, but the more time passes, the more expensive memory becomes, and concerns about the price of the device become more justified. The opportunity to get a reasonable price has disappeared amid the lack of RAM and solid-state drives. However, Steam Machines are unlikely to suffer more from this crisis than any other PC or console on the planet.
The Steam Controller, unlike the original version, is built around the Steam Deck experience. Two touchpads, gyro controls and all the mechanics of a familiar gamepad, plus wireless connectivity and charging.
OLED panels are cheap and/or bright
Competition between Samsung and LG has resulted in new OLED panels appearing on the market every year, although there are no significant leaps in performance from one generation to the next. But gradually the small improvements complement each other and a remarkable cumulative effect is achieved.
Take brightness, for example, one of the controversial items on the agenda of the first wave of OLED and many that followed. Unlike today's backlit displays, manufacturers once claimed full-screen brightness for OLED panels could be up to 400 nits. But game models have not yet reached this level; they barely reach the 300 nits threshold. So the brand has room to grow.
Compared to RAM, which is actively increasing in price, OLED screens, on the contrary, are gradually becoming cheaper. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that by 2026, more budget options will appear on the market, at least in the 1440r segment. Perhaps even 4K OLED will become a bit cheaper.
Gaming devices based on ARM chips
While personal gaming PCs are unlikely to switch to ARM architecture chips in the near future, there is certainly a place in the modern gamer's arsenal for handheld consoles with low-power ARM chips and sizable batteries.
At the same time, such chips cannot be called completely weak. Their power is quite enough for games – not PC games, of course, but this is more a matter of software than hardware. Valve has equipped its Steam Frame virtual reality headset with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, so we should see at least one ARM-based gaming device in the future. This choice has several advantages: compatibility with Android games, autonomy, multi-camera support, price, cooling and, most importantly, the ability to emulate Windows and x86 games.
Valve has been pushing Proton's development to run Windows releases on Linux, and for x86/ARM migration they use the FEX distribution – a project the company has quietly supported for years. Additionally, Valve plans to release SteamOS for ARM devices, and games developed for ARM are also gradually being released on Steam.
Finally, we must not forget that more powerful ARM chips are coming. There are still rumors about a joint project between ARM, Nvidia and MediaTek, in which Nvidia will combine high-performance graphics with ARM cores. And if Qualcomm achieves support for discrete GPUs then the overall architecture will be more suitable for gaming consoles.
New PC processor
AMD has confirmed that in 2026 they will release processors based on the new Zen 6 architecture, which will certainly increase the performance of the AM5 platform. Furthermore, those with the right motherboard and RAM won't have to buy the latter, making the upgrade much more financially affordable. And after the launch of the main Zen 6 series, the X3D versions will appear; It's not true that they came out the same year, but in the case of the 9000 series, the X3D version arrived just a few months later.
Intel also has big plans. First, the Panther Lake chip line for mobile devices is almost ready for launch, and the gaming model will receive 12 Xe cores – 4 more than the Lunar Lake chip. But the star of the show is Nova Lake, the new CPU for PCs, expected to launch in late 2026 or early 2027. Intel intends to take AMD's lead in the processor market. According to rumors, because of this, the company has equipped the new CPUs with a large amount of additional cache; This idea is similar to AMD's X3D chip. And other rumors suggest that Intel will expand support to more sockets, but there's no confirmation yet.
