What to anticipate at CES 2026

The largest tech present of the yr kicks off subsequent week, as a number of the trade’s prime gamers present as much as Las Vegas for CES 2026. We’ll be there to see all the brand new product demos we are able to and to convey you probably the most thrilling information from the present. Observe our protection for a preview of all the brand new tech these firms are planning to launch in 2026.

Anticipate to see the standard suspects: laptops, sensible house devices, and TVs, and a complete lot extra wearables and well being tech. We’re anticipating seeing extra merchandise with AI integration. Additionally, robots. Maybe, humanoids even.

CES 2026 formally begins on Tuesday, January sixth, however keep tuned for information and bulletins beginning Sunday forward of the present ground opening, when there are additionally a lot of press conferences. Listed below are the foremost beats we’re anticipating to see on the present.

Laptops are at all times large at CES, with most main firms — save for Apple — asserting new fashions. They vary from iterative spec bumps to complete new designs. Plus, there’s at all times the occasional idea that might or might by no means come out.

CES 2026 ought to convey new laptops that includes three new chips: Intel’s Panther Lake, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2, and AMD’s rumored “Gorgon Level” processors. Intel and Qualcomm are hyping up the effectivity of their new chips whereas concurrently emphasizing graphics energy — which at all times sounds too good to be true and sometimes is. However battery life ranges from good to glorious amongst present choices, and AMD proved with Strix Halo that built-in graphics may very well be downright spectacular. I’m intrigued to see how issues progress from right here, particularly in a yr that doesn’t have new Nvidia GPUs. (However then once more, Nvidia might quickly compete differently.)

No matter how the most recent chip showdown shakes out, I hope we see extra distinctive concepts in laptop computer kind components. Give me extra rollables, dual-screens, foldables, or some other intelligent makes use of of display actual property that may be dreamed up. However like my favourite laptop computer from the final CES, let’s hope the unconventional stuff makes it previous the idea stage.

– Antonio G. Di Benedetto

Robots and sensible locks and AI, oh my! CES 2026 will likely be overrun by robots. From ever-wilder vacuums, pool cleaners, and garden mowers, to humanoid bots with fingers, limbs, and deeper intelligence, this would be the yr sensible house robotics strikes from science fiction to science reality.

Will all of us have humanoids doing our laundry by the tip of the yr? Nope. However the thought of robotic helpers, in some kind, will quickly be mainstream, thanks to very large advances in pc imaginative and prescient. And all of it kicks off subsequent week in Vegas.

Equally, AI is powering advances in safety cameras, shifting them past pure surveillance and right into a extra integral position in house automation. Anticipate new capabilities that use deeper intelligence to supply much-needed context. Cameras turning into a part of Matter can be a step ahead right here, and I hope to see firms announce help for the usual — though the platforms are lagging behind.

The opposite large development will likely be sensible locks. Sure, I mentioned this final yr (and I used to be proper), however delays across the Aliro commonplace slowed the onslaught. Nonetheless, sensible locks stay the most well liked factor within the sensible house — being each a superb entry level (ha) and a lynchpin for a totally built-in house. Anticipate to, as soon as once more, see a slew of palm, facial, and UWB-based unlocking locks, together with higher kind components, as tech firms lastly settle for that not everybody needs Star Trek–fashion {hardware} on their entrance doorways.

CES 2025 was an enormous yr for PC avid gamers — new flagship Nvidia graphics playing cards, SteamOS handhelds, and 27-inch 240Hz 4K OLED shows — however don’t count on 2026 to supply the identical! On the PC aspect of issues, Nvidia’s RTX 50 Tremendous has possible been postponed, we can’t belief Intel’s newest desktop GPU tease, and we’re not anticipating gaming GPUs from AMD. The traditionally splashy Razer doesn’t have a sales space on the ground for the second yr in a row, and the “Gaming / XR” chunk of the Las Vegas Conference Middle appears prefer it’s solely tangentially about gaming this yr: it appears like we’ll see extra video glasses there than anything!

It looks like Lenovo may have a rollable gaming laptop computer and a SteamOS model of the prevailing Legion Go 2 handheld, and I’m actually curious how built-in graphics in Intel’s and in Qualcomm’s newest laptop computer chips may carry out and whether or not they’ll slot in handhelds too. Lastly, Lego is going to be at CES for the primary time in years…

What started with final yr’s CES — when Hisense revealed its first RGB Mini LED TV, which it officially launched this previous summer time — is primed to explode at CES 2026 when each firm will possible present their very own RGB LED TVs. Samsung and LG have already introduced plans to launch smaller sizes, with Samsung providing its 2026 Micro RGB LED TVs with panels starting from 55 to 100 inches, and LG debuting its first Micro RGB evo TVs in three sizes of 75, 86, and 100 inches.

Final September, TCL introduced two new RGB LED TVs for the Chinese language market and there are expectations of comparable information for the US and Europe at CES. And I hope Hisense will prolong its UX line into smaller display sizes. (Whereas Sony confirmed off its RGB LED in 2025 and filed a patent for one thing referred to as True RGB, it hasn’t made main TV information at CES for just a few years. I don’t count on that to vary in 2026.)

The massive query that has but to be answered is how early into 2026 will we see any of them on the market and the way a lot they’ll price. Each the 115-inch Samsung Micro RGB LED TV and 116-inch Hisense RGB Mini LED in 2025 had been within the $30,000 ballpark, with a 100-inch model of the Hisense introduced for $19,999. The technological developments made to RGB LED over the previous yr, and the promise of stiff competitors, is certain to convey costs nearer to a extra manageable vary. As soon as CES begins, I hope we’ll discover out precisely how manageable.

CES is just not for normie telephones. The telephones that make it to CES are weirdo telephones, and the number-one weirdo telephone I’m hoping to see a method or one other is the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold. Samsung isn’t often one for exhibiting off telephones on the present; the S-series often will get a refresh a few weeks later in January. However this yr is perhaps totally different: the Trifold simply launched in Korea, and CES looks like a pleasant large stage for a world debut. I’m prepared, in my coronary heart of hearts, for a telephone with two hinges.

Will it’s extreme? Undoubtedly. Will it price a buttload of cash? You realize it. However consider all of the issues you’ll be able to do with a telephone that’s additionally a correct 10-inch pill. Perhaps that is the telephone that may ship on the promise of leaving my laptop computer at house. Are you there, DeX? It’s me, Allison. Both means, it’s gonna be so sick the primary time I fold up this telephone after which fold it once more. I feel it’s a good wager that we’ll see this double-folding beaut at CES, and what higher strategy to usher in the 12 months of the Folding Telephone?

Wearables and well being tech

For therefore a few years, wearables went hand-in-hand with well being and health monitoring. This yr, I’m anticipating to see fewer health trackers and extra XR and AI gadgets. Particularly, sensible glasses. They had been an enormous fixture at CES 2025, and I see that development persevering with into 2026. However whereas the industrial market is dominated by so-called AI glasses — light-weight gadgets just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses — there’s rather more selection at CES. I count on we’ll see some sensible glasses that blur the road with headsets and perhaps some fascinating takes on how you can embed shows.

On the well being entrance, I wouldn’t be stunned if we see the phrase “longevity” tacked onto merchandise. Suppose gadgets that should assist you reside longer or forestall persistent illnesses. Sadly, meaning bodily fluids like blood and urine. (Why? To try to get a window into hormonal and metabolic well being.) We’ve already seen this from Whoop, Oura, and Withings in 2025, so I count on we’ll see extra experimental takes from smaller firms on the present.