The XPS 16's redesign proves Dell learned from its mistakes

What’s Happening

Listen up: New chassis, old name, all-premium The XPS 16’s redesign proves Dell learned from its mistakes By Joe Rice-Jones Published Apr 10, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek, Joe has been writing about technology since starting his career in 2018 at KnowTechie.

He’s covered everything from Apple to apps and crowdfunding and loves getting to the bottom of complicated topics. In that time, he’s also written for SlashGear and numerous corporate clients before finding his home at XDA in the spring of 2023. (yes, really)

He was the kid who took apart every toy to see how it worked, even if it didn’t exactly go back together afterward.

The Details

That’s given him a solid background for explaining how complex systems work together, and he promises he’s gotten better at the putting things back together stage since then. Sign in to your XDA account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Last year, Dell did us dirty XPS name to the Dell 16 Premium , and while the hardware was still good, the name sucked.

To their eternal credit, the company listened to its the fandom, and the XPS name is back for 2026 . What’s also here is a redesigned chassis.

Why This Matters

The zero-lattice keyboard remains, as does the (near) invisible touchpad, which now has a couple of ridges on the edges so you know where it is. But instead of opening from the back, the keyboard lifts out if you want to upgrade storage, etc. , which is kinda neat as it gives a tiny ridge around the keyboard deck.

This is part of the broader shift happening across the tech industry right now.

Key Takeaways

• Unlike earlier XPS models, this is a Copilot+ PC , since all Panther Lake CPUs have a sufficiently strong NPU.
• That means extra webcam tweaks and a few other handy things.
• And one last thing, the tandem OLED is bussin.
• It’s not quite as bright as it could be based on other models we’ve tested, but it has stunning color reproduction and is a joy to sit in front of.

The Bottom Line

And one last thing, the tandem OLED is bussin. It’s not quite as bright as it could be based on other models we’ve tested, but it has stunning color reproduction and is a joy to sit in front of.

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