Dell brings XPS back with a bang – new XPS 14 and XPS 16 ultraportables unveiled

Dell has officially pulled the ripcord on last year’s confusing rebrand and is bringing XPS back with a bang for 2026. Dell Premium is no more; the controversial touchbar has been ditched; and new battery tech should bring seriously impressive stamina. The XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops will arrive first, with an even thinner, lighter – and more affordable – XPS 13 set to follow later in 2026.

Having admitted it went off course in 2025, Dell has completely overhauled the XPS lineup for its grand return. Both new models now wear XPS branding on their lids rather than Dell ones, and have shed weight compared to the previous generation. The Dell XPS 14 tips the scales at 3lbs/1.36kg, half a pound less than before, while the XPS 16 is almost a pound lighter at 3.6lbs/1.63kg. The smaller system is a mere 14.6mm thick and takes up less desk space than MacBook Air 13.

Both get a sleek CNC-milled aluminium frame, screens protected by Gorilla Glass 3 glass, and neatly integrated glass touchpads. Which – praise the lord – now have indicator marks so you can tell which bit will actually recognise your swipes and taps. They’ll launch in Shimmer and Graphite colours, though only the latter had been finalised ahead of Dell’s pre-CES showcase.

Other upgrades include deeper travel for the keyboard (which keeps Dell’s tightly-grouped keys rather than go island-style) and what Dell says is its thinnest and lightest webcam. The 8MP snapper is good for 4K video calls. You can also expect clear sound from the hidden 10W stereo speakers.

At the sides there are three USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone port – a reasonable selection for an ultraportable laptop.

Buyers will get the choice of a Tandem OLED touchscreen with epic contrast, colour and black levels, or a 2K resolution LCD with a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate for maximum power savings. The 70Whr batteries use 900ED cells that are 23% smaller and 12% lighter than the outgoing model; that should translate to as much as 20 hours of Netflix streaming, or a whopping 40 hours of local video playback.

Inside, Intel’s new Core Ultra 3 series processors bring more capable Arc Graphics with 12 dedicated XE cores. Though I wasn’t able to run any benchmarks at Dell’s event, we’re promised a healthy 50% boost to GPU and as much as 57% faster AI tasks. That’s despite having a lower thermal power output than before, while a bigger fan and new thermal gel will help keep temperatures in check even in such a slim chassis.

The Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 will be available to order directly from Dell from tomorrow, in launch configuration spec. Lower-tier variants will follow in February. Pricing has yet to be confirmed.

Anyone on the hunt for an even more portable laptop will want to hold off, at least for the time being, as the XPS 13 will also make a return later in 2026. Dell is pitching it as the thinnest and lightest XPS ever, and one that’ll bring the range to an as-yet-unheard of price point.

I saw a prototype that looked impressively slim, and didn’t seem to have any obvious design concessions over the XPS 14 and XPS 16. It’s set to get a skinny bezel InfinityEdge screen, too, though other specs are still very TBC. It’s set to be officially revealed later this year.

• Related: Dell XPS 13 (9350) review – Intel internals don’t fix my hangups with this mostly great laptop