GoKawiilis a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
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Hundreds of influencers, media folks, and a few C-list celebs (sorry, Woz) filled the cavernous halls of the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts last week. They were assembled for Dreame’s launch event, ostensibly into both America and a much bigger ecosystem of products. Across the four-day showcase, the Chinese robot vacuum company pitched an AI-wrapped future that extends beyond floor cleaning to smartphones, smart rings, smart cars, and more robotic arms than any cat would be comfortable with.
What was harder to find were firm details about what was inside these products, when they would launch, or what they would cost. Dreame has grand plans that span from hypercars to humanoids, and at the very least, the event offered a glimpse of what it thinks that could look like.
The Verge sent a photographer to the event, which ran from April 27th to April 30th, to see what was real — and just how many influencers showed up.
Sparkly smartphone promises
A crowd follows Steve Wozniak as he demos haircare products at the Dreame Next event. The Apple cofounder was at the event to discuss personal computing as Dreame announced its new line of Aurora Smartphones.
The Aurora Nex LS1 was the most notable model in the launch. A modular smartphone that lets you attach different modules, including a 115mm-equivalent telephoto lens, an action camera, a fan, a satellite communications module, and a “Smart Agent Module.”
An Influencer with a Dreame Smart Phone at the Dreame NEXT event during the Silicon Valley Summit at the Palace of Fine Arts on April 29, 2026 in San Francisco, CA.
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