One row in the spec table
Yamaha announced the CLP-826 in September 2026, together with the CLP-836, as updated versions of the CLP-825 and CLP-835. As of September 2026 the new models are announced for Japan only, with a Japanese release date of 22 October 2026. Yamaha has not announced availability or pricing anywhere else, and the CLP-825 remains the current model in the US and Europe. In Japan, Yamaha now marks the CLP-825 as discontinued and lists the CLP-826 in its place.
A note on method: this is a spec-based comparison. The CLP-826 is not on sale yet, and we have not played the two side by side. We placed Yamaha's Japanese specification tables for both generations next to each other and compared them row by row.
The result is unusually clear. Across the whole table, exactly one row differs: the description of the keyboard.
What changed: wood on the sides of the white keys
Both pianos use Yamaha's GrandTouch-S action with ivory-feel and ebony-feel key tops and escapement. For the CLP-826, Yamaha adds one phrase to that line: wood is used for the white keys. Yamaha's announcement explains what that means. Wood is now used on the side surfaces of the white keys, a change Yamaha says it made in response to customer requests. Combined with a key design based on its acoustic piano know-how, Yamaha says this gives a feel closer to a grand piano, and it gives one example: more natural finger contact when you play octaves.
Two things follow from Yamaha's wording.
- The action itself is the same. The table names GrandTouch-S for both models, and the touch sensitivity settings (Hard, Medium, Soft, Fixed) are unchanged. Yamaha does not describe any change to key weighting or to the mechanism.
- These are not wooden keys. The CLP-845 uses the same GrandTouch-S action, but Yamaha describes its white keys as made of wood. For the CLP-826 it says wood is used on the white keys, and the announcement locates that wood on the sides. It would be a mistake to read the CLP-826 as a lower-priced CLP-845.
What wood on the key sides can and cannot change
Think about where your fingers actually touch a key. Playing a single melody line, you press mostly on the top surface, and that is unchanged. The sides come into play when a finger slides into the gap between two keys, rests against a neighbouring key in a wide chord, or stretches across an octave. That is where Yamaha places its example, and it is where a different material could plausibly feel different: texture, grip and temperature against the skin.
What the change is unlikely to affect is everything the spec table keeps the same: how heavy the keys are, how the hammer mechanism responds, and how the piano sounds. If you mainly play single lines at a moderate level, the update may make little practical difference. If your repertoire is full of octaves and large chords, it is the kind of detail worth testing with your own hands once the CLP-826 reaches shops. We cannot tell you how noticeable it is, and a spec sheet cannot either.
Everything else is identical
According to Yamaha's tables, the two models share every other specification, including:
- Yamaha CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial samples, binaural sampling for the CFX, VRM and 256-note polyphony
- 10 voices and 4 reverb types
- 20 W × 2 amplifiers driving two 12 cm speakers
- Bluetooth audio and MIDI, plus a USB audio interface
- Two standard 6.3 mm headphone jacks, and no AUX input or output
- Three pedals with the GrandTouch pedal
- 303 lesson songs and 50 classical pieces, with one-song, two-track MIDI recording
- The same cabinet: 1,350 mm wide, 411 mm deep, 849 mm high, 45 kg
- The same finishes, and in Japan the same bench and headphones in the box
If a review or a shop description tells you the CLP-826 sounds different, has more voices or a louder speaker system, that is not supported by Yamaha's own specifications.
CLP-825 or CLP-826?
In Japan, the CLP-825 is discontinued, so what remains is dealer stock, sometimes at a reduced price. On Yamaha's tables that is a reasonable purchase: you get the same sound, speakers, connections and cabinet, and give up only the wood on the white-key sides. If you find a new CLP-825 clearly below the CLP-826 and you are not drawn to that detail, the older model is the rational choice. If the gap is small, or you play a lot of octave and chord work, the CLP-826 makes more sense, and waiting until it can be tried in a shop after 22 October costs little. Remaining stock of a discontinued model is limited, so the finish you want may not be available.
Outside Japan, the question does not arise yet. The CLP-825 is simply the current model, and Yamaha has said nothing about a CLP-826 for your market. We would not delay a purchase on the assumption that it will arrive.
The same change on the CLP-835 and CLP-836
The CLP-836 received exactly the same update over the CLP-835. Again, the keyboard row is the only row that differs in Yamaha's tables, so everything above applies to that pair as well. If you are deciding between the two new models rather than between generations, see our CLP-826 vs CLP-836 comparison.
In short
The CLP-826 is a CLP-825 with wood on the sides of the white keys. The action, sound, speakers, connections and cabinet are the same. Whether that justifies paying more than you would for remaining CLP-825 stock depends on how much you value the feel of the key sides, and that is something only your own hands can judge.