The iconic Lego brick is getting its biggest update since the modern design was introduced in 1958 – meet the Lego Smart Brick.
Crucially, this massive change, which Lego announced at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, doesn’t alter the appearance of the brick at all, nor does it detract from the building experience, whether you like to follow instructions or let your imagination run wild: it’s an internal update that places a chip inside a standard brick and is the key to the new Lego Smart Play system.
That means you’ll hear an X-Wing or TIE Fighter roar to life, iconic blasters and lightsabers fire, and other familiar sounds go off as you move smart minifigures like Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader around a spaceship or building.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at all three sets, which launch on March 1 with pre-orders opening on January 9, but first, let’s talk tech.
Classic brick look with technology inside
Lego powers Smart Play with a chip that’s smaller than a single Lego stud, packaged along with 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 we’ve known for years. The centerpiece 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 4.1mm mixed signal ASIC chip, which acts as the brain of the system. Allows the Smart Brick to detect when a Smart Minifigure or Smart Tag is approaching 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 Metering (NPM). This allows a Smart Brick to determine if it is close to another Smart Brick, effectively giving it an idea of its surroundings. While the three sets launching in March only include one Smart Brick, this clearly lays the groundwork for future expansion and possible customization.
The Smart Brick can also produce audio, which is driven through several modular synthesizers, with a miniature speaker pushing the sound; On Star Wars sets, this is what produces all the familiar effects. There’s also an array of LEDs for dynamic lighting, something Lego has done before, but here, other Lego pieces can activate those effects based on their position and orientation, which is really exciting.
Each Smart Tag and Smart Minifigure features a unique digital ID that sits within what Lego calls ‘BrickNet’. The Smart Brick reads this ID via near-field magnetic communication, while BrickNet works as a private local Bluetooth-based protocol.
Yes, it’s really high-tech for a Lego brick, but for the most part (assuming it works as promised, and we’ll be getting a demo shortly) it should work. For example, if a minifigure quickly passes through a stage and the Smart Brick detects it, that movement can activate sound and light. It’s not about reinventing the Lego wheel, but it does add something new to the play experience without detracting from the imagination-based storytelling that Lego has enabled for decades.
Crucially, all connectivity is handled locally, either via BrickNet or positional sensing, meaning no additional app or hardware is required. Battery life is an obvious issue, but Lego says the Smart Play system is designed for long-term reliability and will work even after years of inactivity during which the Smart Bricks are not actively involved.
As for charging, Lego is doing something that, on paper, seems almost too convenient: Smart Bricks can be placed in any orientation on a wireless charging pad. It’s something we’ll be very interested to see in action.
Lego Smart Play will arrive first in a galaxy, far, far away
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 at an affordable price.
Luke’s Red Five X-Wing set is a 584-piece set priced at $99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.99, and might be my favorite of the new Smart Play systems. Includes smart Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia minifigures, along with R2-D2, Rebel crew members and Stormtroopers.
The build combines Rebel and Imperial elements, including an Imperial turret, transporter, and command center, with smart tags that activate blaster effects, engine sounds, lighting cues, and even refueling and repair audio as the game unfolds. The focus is on gameplay, with everything you need to act out iconic scenes, but it could also work as a display piece for Star Wars faithful.
Darth Vader’s 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 Vader’s iconic fighter, which is paired with a small Rebel outpost and an Imperial gas station. A smart Darth Vader minifigure is key here, with Smart Play focusing on motion-based interaction, including the familiar roar of twin ion engines and other audio cues.
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Throne Room Duel & A-Wing is the largest and most ambitious set in the launch line at 962 pieces and costs $159.99 / £139.99 / AU$249.99. This recreates the iconic throne room of the Emperor of 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 on atmosphere, with lightsaber whirs, boat engines, and even musical cues triggered by the characters’ location and movement.
In all three sets, Lego doesn’t try to replace traditional Lego or Star Wars play, but rather quietly improves on it. The Smart Play system adds sound, light and context without screens or demanding apps, ultimately allowing technology to take a backseat while imagination takes the lead as you recreate iconic stories.
A genuinely clever evolution of the Lego game
What I like most about Lego Smart Play is how invisible it feels. There is no app, no screen, no moment where technology demands your attention instead of bricks. Everything reacts naturally to the way you’re playing, making the added sound and lighting feel like a genuine improvement rather than a gimmick.
It also seems 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 is running locally gives me confidence that it won’t expire in a few years. This looks like the first step in a much broader Smart Play roadmap.
I’ll be testing out the first Smart Play sets soon to see how it all works in practice, but if you’re already sold out, pre-orders for the new Lego Star Wars Smart Play sets will be available on January 9 ahead of their March 1 release. If this turns out as it seems on paper, it probably won’t be the last we hear about Smart Play.
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