CES 2026: From new Intel chips to far an excessive amount of AI, right here's all the pieces we count on to see
December could also be a gradual month so far as gaming tech is anxious, however January instantly sends us electronics nerds right into a full-on digital dash. That is as a result of the Shopper Electronics Present (or CES) is a grouping of a few of the largest corporations on the earth, all attempting to point out off what they have within the pipeline for the subsequent 12 months or so.
Although AI is ever changing into the buzzword in relation to main tech occasions like CES, that does not imply there will not even be some attention-grabbing {hardware} to seize your consideration. In spite of everything, final 12 months noticed some glorious GPUs, want laptops, nice handhelds, and even precise good makes use of of AI. Who knew?
AMD at CES 2026
AMD has the opening keynote speech this 12 months, so it’ll naturally be attempting to wow the viewers. Nevertheless, it is price noting that CES is a basic client occasion, moderately than a gaming-focused one, so we will not count on all of its gaming choices for 2026 to get introduced right here.
With seemingly little fanfare, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D popped up (and was subsequently eliminated) from AMD’s personal driver pages earlier this month. Earlier leaks put the chip at a 120 W TDP with eight cores, 16 threads, 96 MB of L3 cache, and a lift clock pace of 5.6 GHz. That is 400 MHz above the 9800X3D. Given we all know all of this, and it nonetheless hasn’t formally launched, it appears possible it’ll lastly come out round CES 2026.
Although a tad much less concrete than the final chip, AMD reportedly deliberate to place out a desktop Strix Level APU in 2025 (named Ryzen 9000G), however pushed it again, so we might see extra info on that at CES.
We have additionally seen leaks of the Gorgon Level-like Ryzen AI 9 465, and given the leaks are so near CES, we might see an announcement there. Gorgon Level does appear to be largely a rebrand of Strix Level, although, so we aren’t anticipating enormous efficiency bumps.
Although we count on AI to poke its head into AMD’s bulletins, we hope a part of that’s to speak a bit of extra about the way forward for FSR, post-Redstone (which we just lately obtained to check out).
Intel at CES 2026
Intel has formally confirmed that CES 2026 will mark the worldwide launch of Panther Lake within the type of Core Extremely Sequence 3 processors. That is the primary chip from Intel to be based mostly on its 18A manufacturing course of.
Panther Lake popped up in Geekbench final month with okay numbers, however naturally, that does not paint the entire story of what the chips are able to. We’re anticipating to see an entire bunch of Panther Lake laptops on the showfloor.
Intel’s Nova Lake chips are reportedly nonetheless coming in some unspecified time in the future subsequent 12 months, although we do not know in the event that they, or Intel’s discrete GPUs, will make an look at CES.
Handheld gaming PCs of CES 2026
As we noticed from the MSI Claw 8 AI+, Intel’s cell chips put up a battle in opposition to even AMD’s greatest, so it appears possible we’ll spot handhelds with each Panther Lake and the most recent Ryzen APUs. We might see a number of extra Strix Halo handhelds, as we have seen within the GPD Win 5 and Ayaneo Subsequent II, but it surely looks as if that chip’s energy and thermal concerns will nonetheless be a wrestle for a lot of.
There are at present only some AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive handhelds available on the market (Lenovo Legion Go 2, Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, and MSI Claw A8 BZ2EM), so we might see extra of these pop up, too.
An enormous push for the corporate, Qualcomm reckons its newest Snapdragon X2 chips supply 44% extra CPU efficiency per watt than an Intel Core Extremely 9 285H, and 75% extra efficiency per watt than an AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370. With gaming on Arm trying increasingly achievable, we might see some spectacular Qualcomm-based handheld gaming PCs this 12 months.
Nvidia at CES 2026
On Nvidia’s devoted website for the annual client tech present, it says that this 12 months it is going to be “lighting up CES 2026 with the ability of AI.” It additionally says that it’s going to have “hands-on demos at our showcase within the Fontainebleau Las Vegas to inspiring talks and an ecosystem of companions bringing breakthrough applied sciences to life.”
Nvidia’s press convention on the CES web site has an equally imprecise description, stating it could showcase “options driving innovation and productiveness throughout industries.” Once more, I think about this has one thing to do with AI, as most tech jargon does now.
Staff Inexperienced owes all its phenomenal development over the previous few years to AI, so its showcases at CES shall be as necessary for shareholders and potential buyers as basic customers.
Nevertheless, do not count on to see a lot in the way in which of something gaming-related, as Nvidia will nearly actually be protecting that for its personal GTC present in March.
Laptops of CES 2026
CES tends to have tonnes of laptops (it did final 12 months), so we count on we’ll see loads with devoted Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs, but in addition some purely pushed by high-end APUs.
Although efficiency features shall be largely incremental, it is going to be a giant 12 months for Intel. With its launch of a brand new mobile-focused processor throughout a number of SKUs, showcasing new CPU and GPU architectures, the success of Panther Lake shall be crucial for Intel. So count on a heavy concentrate on laptops for enterprise, basic use, and gaming.
Although it will not have a devoted presentation, Razer shall be on the present flooring for CES, in addition to different laptop computer producers. For instance, we all know that Asus shall be there, and as already talked about, we’re anticipating to see some Qualcomm laptops, too. As screens proceed to get higher, so do laptop computer screens, so this is hoping for extra OLED screens and a slimlined chassis to go together with it. The advantage of these beefy but power-efficient APUs is that corporations could make the entire laptop computer even thinner.
Nevertheless, laptops, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel will all be feeling the consequences of the DRAM provide disaster, so pricing could also be a bit arduous to nail down throughout the board. Nicely, nearly throughout the board.
Screens of CES 2026
I requested resident monitor skilled Jeremey Laird what he expects will pop up, and he stated: “2026 is not shaping as much as be a revolutionary 12 months for PC screens. However we’ll see incremental enhancements. Each LG and Samsung shall be rolling out their newest OLED panel techs, already seen in quite a few TV units, extra broadly into PC screens subsequent 12 months.
“Which means full-screen brightness past 300 nits, increased peak HDR efficiency and different enhancements. We’ll additionally see OLEDs in a fair wider vary of codecs. Look out for 5K2K 40-inch OLEDs by the top of the 12 months. That could possibly be a brand new high-end candy spot.”
Samsung is confirmed to make an look at CES and shall be speaking in regards to the DX Division, which is the mix of Shopper Electronics and IT & Cellular. I count on we’ll see updates on what it is cooking up within the monitor division.
CES tends to be all about innovation, so it is not unthinkable to assume we might see a 6K gaming monitor or two. We now have seen 6K screens for high-end productiveness setups, however nothing for gaming but. To be truthful, getting use out of something with such a excessive decision is unlikely, however that is by no means stopped players earlier than. We might all the time begin to see extra 5K gaming screens.
Each MSI and ASRock introduced 500+ Hz screens simply days earlier than CES final 12 months, and so they have been IPS moderately than the extra widespread TN and VA, so we’re more likely to see extra of the identical this 12 months.
AI throughout CES 2026. Once more
Boy, CES 2025 was an thrilling time. We noticed the beginning of the present era of graphics playing cards from massive hitters like Nvidia and AMD, and a contemporary new batch of handhelds alongside it. Nevertheless, with these launches now out of the way in which, and the costs of reminiscence and storage spiking, all eyes are on the reason for these shortages: AI.
One look via the CES schedule reveals all method of AI purposes. Lenovo shall be giving a keynote presentation on Tuesday, January 6, to “focus on how AI is reshaping how you reside, play, and work.” AMD’s presentation will even concentrate on Lisa Su’s “imaginative and prescient for delivering future AI options.” In fact, final 12 months’s CES additionally had a heavy concentrate on AI, however AI has solely continued to balloon during the last 12 months.
One of many solely methods I’ve discovered myself not groaning on the subsequent utterly essential injection of AI into some piece of tech is by turning it right into a sport. Consider a chunk of tech, then consider a manner that feeding all of your information to an organization might probably enhance it, now add “AI” earlier than it. You have got one thing price a spherical of funding. AI carpet? Positive. AI capo? Why not. AI rest room? Sorry, we have already got loads of these.
Cynicism apart, we now have seen AI tech like FSR, DLSS, and body era take the stage at CES, and we have seen developments in robotics, too. In actual fact, our Dave stated the very best factor from CES 2026 wasn’t the brand new GPUs, however as a substitute developments made in DLSS 4. It even obtained awarded most revolutionary AI in our roundup of the greatest issues at CES 2025.
So long as there’s some option to decide via the pointless elements to seek out the very best bits, AI innovation generally is a fascinating a part of CES. Fortunately, that is what we have a crew on the bottom for. I, nevertheless, shall be curled up good and heat, having fun with the sights of CES from a protected distance.
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