Will Computer Hardware Engineers still be relevant by 2026?

Absolutely! Software engineers need hardware to run their programs, so it isn't going away. However, I suspect like in many industries, hardware engineers will become more specialized. Hardware engineers will become split between those who actually build the components (chip design, circuit board design, etc.) and those who assemble systems.

The people who handle large-scale system design and assembly will probably work in cloud centers rather than every company needing one. Small businesses will no longer run their own servers; they'll just rent a virtual server from the cloud. So, if that's your interest, I recommend focusing on large-scale deployment of systems: server clusters, network attached storage, etc.

I just retired from Information Technology (IT) activities after 50 years. I will tell you there have been many changes in those 50 years. My degree is in Management Information Systems (MIS) which is a degree that gives the graduate a broad range of computer and business skills. I think it is very important to understand a broad range of skills so you can communicate with other team members.

During my career, some of the technologies have improved and some have disappeared in a very short amount of time. I guess good advice would be if you are going to specialize in one aspect of IT don't stop learning about the other technologies.

I found this excellent article in the Internet and it says the hardware technology will not grow as rapidly as the software technology because software is cheaper, etc. https://www.computersciencedegreehub.com/faq/computer-hardware-engineering-growing-field/

Also, very important--after I graduated I never stopped improving my current skills and learning new skills.

Now that I am retired I have setup a Linux test lab in my office. During my career I was and still am a great user of open source programming languages and operating systems. Why pay Microsoft when you can get better for free.

Luke that is a very good question. In a word, the answer is yes, but the nature of engineering roles will continue to shift as it has over the last 50 years. We are in the midst of a 4th Industrial Revolution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Industrial_Revolution) which is changing what engineers will need to do. A key question to ask yourself is "What can I do which a computer will not be able to do?" James Plummer from Stanford speculates many basic electrical engineering and other more solitary areas will have less jobs available, however the roles which involve problem solving complex real world challenges and working in teams will continue to be available.  https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/education/the-engineers-of-the-future-will-not-resemble-the-engineers-of-the-past 

Keep in mind a basic premise: If you have a role which can be boiled down to a set of predictable steps of simple tasks, it may be automated and make your role obsolete. If, however, your role involves designing, maintaining, changing, and improving how a system of processes function together, it is unlikely your role will ever be automated. I would recommend you look closely at a career as a systems engineer. These roles will always be relevant.  

It all depends on many factors. You can learn much by getting to know yourself better and talking to people in the field to get the inside information. Congratulations on being interested in the computer field. It takes a special person to enter this field and meet the demands which this career area presents. The first step is to get to know yourself to see if you share the personality traits which make people in the computer field successful. The next step is doing networking to meet and talk to and possibly shadow people in the computer field to see if this is something that you really want to do, as a career area could look much different on the inside than it looks from the outside.