Back by popular demand (and the Dell faithful’s outrage!), the XPS name returns in new 14-inch and 16-inch laptops that also refresh the design. I got some time with these perennial favorites; check ’em out.
CES 2026 marks a make-or-break moment for Dell’s consumer-computing business. Just ask the company’s newly crowned vice chairman and chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, who made the point abundantly clear in a speech at a CES preview event.
The trouble is simple and stark: Dell is losing market share in a critical sales segment, and the company is looking to win back buyers. As part of that plan, it’s reviving a familiar name that it put out to pasture just a year ago. Yes, after all the hoopla about a rebranding, the XPS laptop brand is back in two new machines: a 14-inch model and a 16-inch model. (Clarke even donned a T-shirt with the XPS logo. How explicit can you get?)
I got the chance to go hands on with both laptops during a Dell preview event in New York, and I spent some more time at home with an XPS 14 pre-production model ahead of CES 2026. These definitely mark a return to form for Dell’s flagship laptop brand—and move it much closer to models from a major competitor. (Hint: Apple.)Wait, XPS Is Back Already? Dell’s XPS Reverse, Explained
No, you’re not imagining things: The 2026 flagship consumer laptops from Dell will be known and branded as XPS. Dell has abandoned the “Dell Premium” branding that it adopted this year to replace the long-running XPS line.
Why the about-face? On stage, Clarke shared that 44% of the PCs that Dell ships are consumer-oriented devices. As of Q2 2025, Dell’s third-place 16.1% computer-market share in the US dropped to 14.5% year-over-year. (Lenovo is the leader.) Dell’s big rebrand, which launched in the middle of this somber stretch and saw the sunsetting of XPS and other familiar Dell brand names, did little to stem the flow.
Meanwhile, fourth-place Apple saw a tiny bump in the same period, slowly gaining ground on Dell’s spot. (Remember this point when I cover the XPS 14 redesign.) Plus, HP holds a healthy second-place lead over Dell, at 20.1% market share, so Dell has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to catch up.
Dell has nearly half of its business tied to a category in which it’s gradually losing ground, so drastic times call for drastic measures. Think of the return of the XPS like Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as Doctor Doom in the next big Marvel movie.The 2026 Dell XPS 14 Explored: What’s New?
“New” is an interesting word when looking at the 2026 Dell XPS 14. In a vacuum, yes, almost everything about the XPS 14 redesign is new. This is a back-to-basics overhaul, with an overall design that feels premium but doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Instead, Dell just highlights the machine’s best features, namely its Tandem OLED display and updated, simpler keyboard.
However, the XPS 14 immediately looks and feels a lot less “new” next to a 13-inch or 15-inch Apple MacBook Air. Save for a few obvious outlying features, like its logos and different screen lid lip, the resemblance is uncanny. In this redesign, Dell’s stated goal of “getting back to our roots,” as Clarke put it, is crystal clear; however, I can’t help but feel that Dell has another target—an Apple-shaped one—in its sights.
Of course, PC makers have been chasing the MacBook Air for a long time now, and the XPS 14 isn’t the first one to emulate it so unabashedly. Remember Huawei’s MateBook laptops before the company’s ban from the US?
The XPS 14 features an aluminum screen lid cover and a single-piece underside, complemented by a soft-touch-coated magnesium palm rest and a steel keyboard deck.
