The Lego brick just got its biggest upgrade yet with Smart Play and it's coming to Star Wars sets first

Date:
Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:48:38 +0000

Description:
Similar looks, but supercharged internals

FULL STORY

Legos iconic brick is getting its biggest upgrade since the modern design was unveiled in 1958: meet the Lego Smart Brick.

Crucially, this massive change, which Lego announced at CES 2026 in Las
Vegas, doesnt alter the look or feel of the brick at all, or detract from the building experience, whether you like to follow the instructions or let your imagination run wild it's an under-the-hood update that puts a chip inside a standard brick, and it's the key to the new Lego Smart Play system.

The chip allows the Smart Brick to detect a nearby Smart Minifigure or Smart Tag, understand the space around it, and deliver an appropriate response: a sound effect, a line of dialogue, or even a light show. Neat, right?

As for the first Lego subject to get the Smart Play treatment well the choice is obvious, and it's a franchise Lego has been partnering with for 25 years: yep, were getting new Lego Smart Play Star Wars sets.

That means youll hear an X-Wing or TIE Fighter roar to life, iconic blasters and lightsabers fire off, and other familiar sounds trigger as you move Smart Minifigures like Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader around a spacecraft or building.

We'll take a closer look at the three sets, which launch on March 1, with preorders opening January 9, below but first, lets talk tech.

Lego is powering Smart Play with a chip thats smaller than a single Lego
stud, packed alongside sensors and a speaker inside the Smart Brick.

The Lego Smart Play System is essentially made up of three hardware
components that work within the brick system weve known for years. The
central piece is the Lego Smart Brick, which looks like a standard long brick and is identical in size to a 2 x 4 where it differs is under the hood.

Inside is a custom mixed-signal 4.1mm ASIC chip, which acts as the systems brain. It allows the Smart Brick to sense when a Smart Minifigure or Smart
Tag approaches, and map its position in space. It runs a proprietary Play Engine that enables this spatial awareness using several pieces of hardware, including a precision copper coil for tag recognition and near-field magnetic positioning.

One of the most interesting elements is what Lego calls Neighbor Position Measurement (NPM). This allows a Smart Brick to determine whether its close
to another Smart Brick, effectively giving it a sense of its surroundings. While the three sets launching in March only include a single Smart Brick,
this clearly lays the groundwork for future expansion and potential customization.

The Smart Brick can also produce audio, which is handled through several modular synthesizers, with a miniature speaker pushing the sound out in the Star Wars sets, this is what delivers all the familiar effects. Theres also
an LED array for dynamic lighting something Lego has done before but here, other Lego pieces can trigger those effects based on their position and orientation, which is genuinely exciting.

Each Smart Tag and Smart Minifigure features a unique digital ID that sits within what Lego calls the 'BrickNet'. The Smart Brick reads this ID via near-field magnetic communication, while BrickNet itself functions as a private, local Bluetooth-based protocol.

Yes, its seriously high-tech for a Lego brick, but most of this assuming it works as promised, and well be getting a demo shortly should just work. For example, if a Minifigure moves quickly past a set and the Smart Brick senses it, that motion can trigger sound and light. Its not reinventing the Lego wheel, but it does add something new to the play experience without
detracting from the imagination-led storytelling Lego has enabled for
decades.

Crucially, all connectivity is handled locally, either through BrickNet or positional sensing, meaning theres no app or additional hardware required. Battery life is an obvious question, but Lego says the Smart Play system is designed for long-term reliability and will work even after years of dormancy during which the Smart Bricks arent actively engaged.

As for charging, Lego is doing something that, on paper, feels almost too convenient: Smart Bricks can be placed in any orientation on a wireless charging pad. Its something well be very keen to see in action.

The first wave of Lego Smart Play launches with three Star Wars sets, each designed to showcase the system in different ways, and, most importantly, all priced affordably.

Lukes Red Five X-Wing set is a 584-piece set priced at $99.99 / 79.99 / AU$149.99, and it might just be my favorite of the new Smart Play systems. It includes Smart Minifigures of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, along with R2-D2, Rebel crew members, and Stormtroopers.

The build combines Rebel and Imperial elements, including an Imperial turret, transporter, and command centre, with Smart Tags triggering blaster effects, engine sounds, lighting cues, and even refueling and repair audio as play unfolds. The focus on play, with everything you need to act out iconic
scenes, but also this could work as a display piece for the Star Wars
faithful.

Darth Vaders TIE Fighter is the smallest of the three sets at 473 pieces, and is priced at $69.99 / 59.99 / AU$99.99. It's all about Vaders iconic fighter, which is paired with a small Rebel outpost and Imperial fueling station. A Smart Minifigure of Darth Vader is key here, with Smart Play focusing on motion-based interaction, including the familiar roar of twin ion engines and other audio cues.

Throne Room Duel & A-Wing is the largest and most ambitious set of the launch lineup at 962 pieces, and costs $159.99 / 139.99 / AU$249.99. This recreates the iconic Emperors throne room from Return of the Jedi and includes Smart Minifigures of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine.

It also adds an A-Wing fighter with a pilot, Royal Guards, and a Death Star turret equipped with Smart Tags. Here, Smart Play leans heavily into atmosphere, with lightsaber hums, ship engines, and even musical cues
triggered by character placement and movement.

Across all three sets Lego isnt trying to replace traditional Lego or Star
Wars play, but quietly enhances it. The Smart Play system adds sound, light, and context without demanding screens or apps, ultimately letting the tech
fade into the background while imagination takes the lead as you recreate iconic stories.

A genuinely smart evolution of Lego play

What I like most about Lego Smart Play is how invisible it feels. Theres no app, no screen, and no moment where the tech demands your attention instead
of the bricks. Everything reacts naturally to how youre already playing,
which makes the added sound and lighting feel like a genuine enhancement
rather than a gimmick.

It also feels deliberately built for the long term. Features like Neighbor Position Measurement suggest this is just the foundation, not a one-off experiment, and the fact that everything runs locally gives me confidence it wont age out in a few years. This feels like the first step in a much bigger Smart Play roadmap.

I'll be going hands-on with the first Smart Play sets soon to see how it all works in practice, but if youre already sold, preorders for the new Lego Star Wars Smart Play sets go live on January 9 ahead of their March 1 launch. If this lands the way it looks on paper, this likely wont be the last we hear about Smart Play.

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Link to news story, including images: https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/the-lego-brick-just-got-its- biggest-upgrade-yet-with-smart-play-and-its-coming-to-star-wars-sets-first

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