5 New Gadgets To Keep On Your Radar In October 2026

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October is already shaping up to be a pretty busy month for new tech drops. Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, is finally releasing, and Samsung has new Galaxy Tab S12 tablets coming out that are aimed at people who like to draw, take notes, and edit their photos. Microsoft is also launching a new version of its Surface Pro, and HP is finally giving us its first Googlebook. On top of that, Amazon has completely refreshed its Kindle lineup, including its Kindle Colorsoft.

Of course, just because something is new doesn't always mean that it's worth buying immediately, especially when that new device is going to cost you more than $1,000. Sure, a bigger screen is great, but it has to be good for more than just movies. A new laptop that connects to your phone should be able to do more than just mirror your notifications. To help you navigate all of the new tech coming out in October, we've put together this handy list of devices worth keeping an eye on. 

Each of the gadgets below has at least one feature that could actually change how you use it day to day — whether that's running two iOS apps at once on the iPhone Duo or just enjoying your favorite books on the thinner Kindle Colorsoft. These gadgets could very well be your next worthwhile tech purchase.

Samsung's new tablets are first up on the menu this month, and the Galaxy Tab S12+ and S12 Ultra will hit U.S. stores on October 7. The S12+ starts at $1,199.99 and has a 12.6-inch display, while the S12 Ultra starts at $1,399.99 and increases that screen size to 14.6 inches. Of course, that's a lot to spend on a tablet, but if you love working from your tablet — whether that's drawing or just taking notes — the S12+ and S12 Ultra do come with an S Pen in the box.

The biggest draw here is obviously going to be for those creative users who want a larger canvas to work with. On top of the larger screen, the S12+ and S12 Ultra will also launch with Photoshop preloaded, which is a first for Android tablets. The app is optimized to work with the S Pen, too, and Samsung is even throwing in four months of Photoshop for free. If you've ever wondered whether an Android tablet can replace your laptop, then you'll know that having the right apps matters a lot — and Photoshop is a pretty important one to have if you do a lot of drawing or image editing.

Sweetening the pot for the S12+ and S12 Ultra is Samsung's Multi Window feature. This functionality lets you split the display into up to three different sections, which will allow you to watch a video while you draw, or even take notes during a livestream lecture. Of course, not every app supports Multi Window, so you'll need to figure out which of your daily drivers does if you want to make the most of the function.

After years of leaks around the form factor, Apple is finally releasing its first folding iPhone. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999, with U.S. preorders opening on October 16 ahead of the device's October 23 release. When closed, the phone gives you a generous 5.4-inch outer display. Opening it up will expand the device to a hearty 7.6-inch display. Of course, at nearly $2,000 — or more, depending on the model you go with — you're paying for all of that display. So that will leave many people wondering what they can actually do with all that extra space.

Thankfully, Apple has loaded the phone with features that should help make multitasking easier. Features like Split View, which lets you run two apps side by side on an iPhone for the first time, should make it easy to do multiple things at once. You can even use Split View to open two windows of the same app, like Safari. Apple will even let you save app pairs together, so if you have groups you use together a lot, you can always jump back into them really easily later. If you plan to get the iPhone Duo, we recommend brushing up on how to multitask on a foldable phone so you can get the most out of the bigger screen.

It isn't just Apple's own apps that are ready for the new design, either. Netflix, Zoom, and Slack will take advantage of the folding display, with Zoom letting you see everything being shared as well as the other people on your call at the same time. One of the only downsides to the iPhone Duo is the fact that Apple Pencil support isn't arriving until later this year.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 12-inch, 2nd Edition launches October 13 in select markets. The fanless Windows PC supports a detachable keyboard and will start at $1,149.99. This time around, Microsoft has packed Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus chip into the device and bumped the display up to 500 nits, with Microsoft claiming it's roughly 25% brighter than the last model the company released.

That new chip also means faster graphics, with Microsoft promising more than a 60% increase compared to its first generation 12-inch Surface Pro. The biggest selling point here is how flexible the device can be. You can snap the keyboard on whenever you need to write an email or work directly on a document. Once you're done, simply pull the keyboard off to turn the Surface Pro 12 into a tablet that you can use for reading, drawing, or even watching TV shows and movies. The Surface Pro 12 is a solid option for anyone who wants the best of both a tablet and a laptop without having to choose one or the other.

The new Surface Pro also comes with Microsoft Ink Canvas preloaded. This pen-first app lets you sketch, annotate, generate AI images, and even summarize text. The biggest downside here is that the already-expensive starting price is going to be higher if you want the snap-on keyboard and Microsoft's Slim Pen. That's because Microsoft sells the two separately from the Surface Pro 12 itself.

We've seen rumors about a new kind of laptop from Google for years now, but HP's first iteration, the Googlebook 14, is one of the first to finally give us a look at what to expect from Google's Chromebook replacement. The new device is available on HP's website as well as Best Buy. It starts at $1,199.99, though many of the current configurations available are running for $1,299. Inside, you'll find Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor. HP has paired this powerhouse with up to a 14-inch 3K OLED touch display that supports up to a 120 Hz variable refresh rate. It also comes with a 5-megapixel IR-capable camera and quad speakers built right in.

Of course, one of the main reasons to keep an eye on the Googlebook 14 is because of how closely it will work with your Android phone. Google's Quick Access and Cast My Apps features will let you open your phone's files right from the laptop's file browser, and you can run any supported phone apps directly on the laptop without having to install them again. This should give Android users something similar to Apple's Handoff features, which let users move what they're doing on their iPhone or iPad to their Mac and vice versa.

Googlebooks are built on Android, though Google has taken some of the desktop foundations directly from ChromeOS. They're considered more premium devices, though, which is why Googlebooks cost more than Chromebooks. But, if you want a laptop that pairs with your Android phone the way a Mac does with an iPhone, then the HP Googlebook 14 is one to keep an eye on.

Black-and-white Kindles are great for reading novels, but comics can lose a lot of their style without the color to bring them to life. To help with this, Amazon released the original Kindle Colorsoft. Now, the newest Colorsoft arrives October 28, and it brings some nice changes to the table. The standard model starts at $289.99 with 16 GB of storage, while the $319.99 Signature Edition doubles that to 32 GB and comes with an aluminum chassis. The device is part of Amazon's redesigned Kindle lineup, which gives it a flush-front display with a bezel that matches the device's exterior color.

It looks like most of the changes have gone into that screen, as Amazon added micro-deflectors to the light guide to cut down on stray light that can wash out colors. The company also added nitride LEDs that boost color and brightness, as well as a thinner optical coating which it says should give readers better clarity. The new Colorsoft — as well as the other new Kindle models — is also a millimeter thinner and 30% faster at opening books than the older models.

The Signature Edition also gets you an auto-adjusting front light and double-tap page turning. However, it doesn't support traditional wireless charging. Instead, the Signature Edition utilizes a pin-based connection method, which also allows it to tie into Amazon's new $79.99 case, which adds back the physical page-turning buttons Amazon previously removed.