University of Kwazulu-Natal

Abi Research S Top 13 Technology Trends To Know In 2026

Bonisiwe Shabane
-
abi research s top 13 technology trends to know in 2026

In a world where technological advancements are accelerating at a rapid pace, businesses remain sensible about real-world gains. Enterprises are enthusiastic about deploying new technologies, but it’s up to vendors to show how their solutions meet their most urgent priorities. ABI Research has identified 13 key technology trends for 2026 to help the sector navigate the next wave of innovation. In 2026, the pace of digital transformation will continue to accelerate, although not at an explosive rate. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions increasingly being integrated into enterprise systems, computing requirements are shifting. In the connectivity space, 6G deployments are ramping up and novel use cases are emerging.

For the cybersecurity industry, compliance and changing customer attitudes are dictating product strategy. Our analysts see 2026 as mostly being a year of gradual modernization. The hope of visionary technologies has been replaced by the need for solutions that offer quick wins and solve immediate challenges. In this article, ABI Research’s global analyst team identifies the top 13 technology trends we expect to shape 2026 across Artificial Intelligence, Cloud and Connectivity, and Security and Digital Trust. These latest developments are an amalgamation of analyst conversations, internal forecasts, and vendor activity. In 2026, open standards for AI infrastructure will become foundational to modern data center design.

Interoperable frameworks like the Open Compute Project and Ultra Accelerator Link are making it easier to assemble modular AI clusters using best-in-class components from multiple vendors. ABI Research Senior Analyst Paul Schell tells us, “Such standards are important for building the next generation of AI data centers because they dismantle proprietary ecosystems and foster a more competitive environment.” Top Tech Trends of 2025 and What They Mean for 2026 As Mashable's new tech editor, I get paid to stay on top of the latest tech trends, and I love my job. A lot happened in the tech world this year, but one technology dominated headlines more than any other — artificial intelligence. Companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic made big advances in AI this year (though not as big as they might have hoped), both for better and worse.

Not only that, but AI is now being integrated into virtually every tech product we own, even if you wish it wouldn't. So, what are the 2026 tech trends I'm eyeing as we approach the new year? Yes, generative AI and large-language models will continue to take up a lot of oxygen in the tech world, even if — and maybe especially if — the AI bubble finally pops, like the... Besides AI, you can look forward to exciting new foldable phones with more flexible displays. I also expect a lot of robots to enter the consumer market next year, as well as all the usual suspects from Apple, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft. Let's get out our crystal balls and smart AR/XR glasses and preview the tech trends to come in 2026.

It's getting hard to remember what Mark Zuckerberg looked like before he started wearing Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses at all of his public appearances. Like a lot of Silicon Valley leaders, Zuck is all-in on smart glasses, and virtually every big tech company is working on its own version of Meta's Ray-Ban Display augmented-reality glasses. Samsung, Apple, and Google are all rumored or confirmed to be making smart glasses, and we also saw the launch of the Xreal One Pro AR glasses earlier this year. I expect more smart AR glasses to launch next year, but even though Silicon Valley is convinced these gadgets are the future of personal computing, I'm not so sure. Zuck couldn't have been more wrong about the metaverse. Even people who need to wear glasses for vision correction often do so reluctantly, and there's a reason face-worn computers have so far failed to launch.

On top of that, a lot of people just don't want every single interaction potentially recorded by a person wearing smart glasses with built-in cameras and microphones. The Google Glasshole was reviled for a reason. Progress is a double-edged sword. It solves yesterday’s problems and creates new ones people don’t yet understand. Each breakthrough comes with unknown implications. The faster an organization transforms, the more unknowns multiply.

With organizations moving at the speed of generative AI and agentic AI—and soon, the speed of quantum—seeking out stable ground becomes an exercise in futility. Instead, forward-thinking leaders are looking for the fissures. Cracks in existing markets are where new openings will emerge. The secret to capturing these opportunities isn’t a perfect forecast. It’s developing an appetite for ambiguity. How can leaders build strategies that will bend—not break—as the business landscape shifts?

How can they sustain progress, profitability, and growth? With organizations moving at the speed of AI—and soon, the speed of quantum—seeking out stable ground becomes an exercise in futility. The world of tech is always one of the fastest-paced. New ideas and solutions are proposed to revolutionize the way consumers interact with the world around them every day across every sector. For instance, artificial intelligence has ushered in one of the most volatile eras of technological evolution since the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century, and the wheel of innovation doesn't appear to... The evidence of this evolutionary strength is in the S&P 500 index; more specifically, the lopsided composition of its stocks' earnings.

Although the index comprises the largest companies in the world by market cap, a new trend has appeared in the market. As of Q2 2025, the Mag 7 (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) saw their earnings grow by 26% year-on-year, compared to just 1% for the rest of the index. Advancements in AI have kept the industry booming. Given the breakneck speeds at which AI has progressed, it stands to reason that AI will shape the landscape of the broader technological economy by the end of 2026. Machine learning is already reshaping everything around us today, and we can expect that to continue. Now, we don't have a crystal ball, but here are our predictions of the emerging tech trends we expect to see by next year.

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in December 2022, it radically changed the way the average internet user interacted with content online. From students engineering essays to software engineering upstarts trying to pass a HackerRank interview, users flocked to the generative AI to solve problems that would ordinarily take hours in mere minutes. The technology has only evolved for the better — GPT-5 can excel in the Math Olympiad — and has branched out into other usable applications. Enter agentic AI, artificial intelligence systems that don't just follow preset rules or churn out data based on a specific task. They actively carry out tasks for you, acting autonomously and always adapting according to information they interact with. SlashGear presents a view of how agentic AI can change the world.

As 2026 approaches, transformative technologies such as advanced artificial intelligence and groundbreaking quantum computing are set to revolutionize industries worldwide. These emerging tech trends promise to streamline operations, drive sustainable growth, and unlock new business opportunities. Organizations that stay ahead by understanding and adopting these innovations early will secure a decisive competitive edge in the fast-evolving digital landscape. Autonomous AI agents will evolve beyond simple chatbots to become fully proactive digital collaborators capable of executing end-to-end business processes. These systems will manage scheduling, coordinate supply chains, analyze market shifts, and initiate routine transactions without human intervention. By learning organizational objectives and anticipating user needs, agentic AI frees teams to focus on strategic and creative work.

Investments in these platforms are forecast to surge over 60 percent in 2026, highlighting enterprise confidence in AI’s ability to boost productivity and innovation while reducing operational overhead. After years of laboratory breakthroughs, quantum computers are on track to demonstrate clear commercial advantages by 2026. Fault-tolerant machines with over 100 logical qubits and advanced error-correction will begin tackling complex optimization, molecular modeling, and cryptographic challenges that stymie classical systems. Early adopters in pharmaceuticals, finance, and logistics will gain faster simulations and risk models, setting new performance benchmarks. Forward-thinking enterprises should prepare by integrating quantum-ready workflows into hybrid cloud environments, ensuring a seamless shift when quantum-as-a-service offerings mature. Environmental responsibility is transitioning from voluntary corporate citizenship to a strategic imperative.

In 2026, sustainability tech will encompass AI-powered emissions monitoring, carbon-aware cloud infrastructures, and circular-economy frameworks that emphasize device refurbishment and materials recycling. Real-time analytics will optimize energy distribution in data centers and manufacturing plants, helping organizations meet net-zero targets without sacrificing performance. As governments tighten regulations and consumers favor eco-friendly brands, companies that embed green practices into their technology stacks will reduce costs, enhance reputation, and unlock new market opportunities. Augmented and virtual reality solutions will cross the threshold from niche experimentation into everyday enterprise tools. Advances in display resolution, lightweight form factors, and haptic feedback will enable hyper-immersive training simulations, remote maintenance assistance, and virtual product demonstrations. Retailers will offer customers the ability to “try before you buy” through realistic AR overlays, while educators will leverage VR to transport students to historical sites or microscopic environments.

By combining XR with real-time data feeds and AI-driven personalization, organizations will enhance learning outcomes, boost sales conversions, and reduce operational risks. 2025 witnessed a wave of technology advancements across industries, driven by faster innovation cycles and increasing enterprise investment. Among these, AI stood out not just for technical progress, but for its commercial momentum. Even with ongoing concerns about an “AI bubble”, AI companies are scaling revenue 5 times faster than traditional SaaS models. This momentum is reflected across the top 10 technology trends for 2026, with sustained R&D efforts across the broader tech ecosystem. This signals a clear shift from experimentation toward real-world adoption and integration.

The convergence of agentic AI, AI‑native software development, and next‑generation cloud architectures is pushing enterprises to rethink how systems are built, governed, and operated. As we approach 2026, this convergence of innovation, investment, and maturity is reshaping how organisations think about technology. With 2026 just around the corner, we are exploring some of the top technology trends of the coming year. AI-Native development platforms are development environments that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities across the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This improves the development, testing, deployment, and updation processes and enables faster iteration, better scalability, and deeper human-AI collaboration. A multi-agent system is a network of AI agents who work together, with each agent having its own individual task responsibility.

Companies have started experimenting with multi-agent systems in 2025, but in the coming year, these systems will have the capability to automate cross‑functional processes such as IT operations, customer service resolution, and supply‑chain coordination. Domain-specific language models (DSLMs) are specialised AI models trained on specific datasets concerning a single industry or subject so as to generate accurate results. These models can act as an SME and understand domain-specific jargon better than a run-of-the-mill LLM like GPT. They are trained on highly specific, high-volume datasets from targeted industries. This inturn reduces hallucinations and improves adherence to regulatory compliance. ABI Research’s Chief Research Officer, Stuart Carlaw, has separated signal from noise to spotlight the 13 #technologytrends most likely to shape 2026—so you don’t have to chase every shiny new buzzword.

Spanning #artificialintelligence, #cloud and #connectivity, and #security and #digitaltrust, the analysis separates real momentum from hype that may look good on slides—but not in the market. Beyond calling out the trends, Carlaw breaks down what they mean for technology vendors in plain terms: how product strategies shift, where marketing messages need to evolve, and which bets are worth aligning around. From Agentic AI that isn’t quite ready for prime time, to new cloud models, the early shape of #6G, and a steady wave of #cybersecurity regulation—this is your “read before planning 2026” list. Dive into the blog today! https://lnkd.in/eRyqu4wC #techtrends #digitaltransformation #techcompanies

People Also Search

In A World Where Technological Advancements Are Accelerating At A

In a world where technological advancements are accelerating at a rapid pace, businesses remain sensible about real-world gains. Enterprises are enthusiastic about deploying new technologies, but it’s up to vendors to show how their solutions meet their most urgent priorities. ABI Research has identified 13 key technology trends for 2026 to help the sector navigate the next wave of innovation. In ...

For The Cybersecurity Industry, Compliance And Changing Customer Attitudes Are

For the cybersecurity industry, compliance and changing customer attitudes are dictating product strategy. Our analysts see 2026 as mostly being a year of gradual modernization. The hope of visionary technologies has been replaced by the need for solutions that offer quick wins and solve immediate challenges. In this article, ABI Research’s global analyst team identifies the top 13 technology tren...

Interoperable Frameworks Like The Open Compute Project And Ultra Accelerator

Interoperable frameworks like the Open Compute Project and Ultra Accelerator Link are making it easier to assemble modular AI clusters using best-in-class components from multiple vendors. ABI Research Senior Analyst Paul Schell tells us, “Such standards are important for building the next generation of AI data centers because they dismantle proprietary ecosystems and foster a more competitive env...

Not Only That, But AI Is Now Being Integrated Into

Not only that, but AI is now being integrated into virtually every tech product we own, even if you wish it wouldn't. So, what are the 2026 tech trends I'm eyeing as we approach the new year? Yes, generative AI and large-language models will continue to take up a lot of oxygen in the tech world, even if — and maybe especially if — the AI bubble finally pops, like the... Besides AI, you can look fo...

It's Getting Hard To Remember What Mark Zuckerberg Looked Like

It's getting hard to remember what Mark Zuckerberg looked like before he started wearing Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses at all of his public appearances. Like a lot of Silicon Valley leaders, Zuck is all-in on smart glasses, and virtually every big tech company is working on its own version of Meta's Ray-Ban Display augmented-reality glasses. Samsung, Apple, and Google are all rumored or confirmed to ...