CES 2026 is simply across the nook. As a veteran of the present, here is what you’ll want to know

Are you ready to start the new year with a tsunami of new technologies? I hope so, because CES 2026 opens its doors on January 6th, where some of the biggest names from the world of consumer technology and automotive will grace the countless convention halls across Las Vegas.

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is the world’s largest consumer technology trade fair. You can expect to see all kinds of technology, from TVs, speakers and smart home devices to phones, tablets and wearables, drones, robots, cars and more.

While almost every area of ​​consumer technology will be represented at CES 2026, there will be one common thread running through many booths, press conferences and closed-door meetings this year – AI.

We’ll bring you the latest news and insight into the show’s biggest announcements and hottest products, but first here’s what you need to know ahead of the event.

What is CES?

As I mentioned earlier, this is the world’s largest consumer technology trade show, and it practically captivates the city of Las Vegas for an entire week. While the official dates for the 2026 episode are January 6th to 9th, in reality the show begins a few days before.

Expect news and announcements starting Sunday, January 4th. Monday, January 5th is the official press day when more will be announced.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend CES many times over the years, and while some of the bigger names in tech have reduced their presence at the show, it seems to continue to grow. CES takes place not only in the huge halls of the LVCC (the Las Vegas Convention Center), but also in the convention centers The Sands and Mandalay Bay. In addition, events, meetings and briefings take place in the numerous mega-hotels on the Strip.

In short: there is a lot of technology on display and it is the perfect preparation for the coming year. Let’s take a look at what awaits us.

computer

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, leads the opening keynote at CES AMD

CES 2026 is expected to be a record year for the computer industry. Intel has already confirmed that it will unveil its Panther Lake CPUs at the show, while AMD’s CEO Lisa Su will lead the show’s opening keynote and reports suggest the company could unveil the Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU. Oh, and Nvidia also has a press conference planned with rumors of announcing a new RTX 50 “Super” series – so that’s all the big three represented.

Then there’s the computing hardware, with giants like Asus, Lenovo, Razer and many potentially unveiling new kits to try out – including laptops with Qualcomm’s recently announced Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Premium chips.

It’s the latter devices with Qualcomm’s new chipsets that interest me the most. I’m currently using a Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 with the current generation Snapdragon X Elite chip and am thoroughly impressed with the battery life. This makes it an ideal work machine and I’m excited to see how the second generation can get even better.

My colleague Rami took a closer look at what to expect from Lenovo and Razer at CES 2026, and unsurprisingly, AI will be the common theme.

So there’s a lot of talk about CPUs, GPUs and AI, and probably laptops and desktops too – almost enough to fill an entire show, but we’re just starting to scratch the surface of what CES 2026 will have to offer.

Do you want more? Don’t worry, there’s more.

TV

The Hisense booth at CES 2025. Hisense/Hisense

While computer companies are always well represented at CES, the television world has a stronger legacy at the show, and we expect all major players to have a significant presence. We’re talking LG, Samsung and Sony as well as Hisense and TCL.

Samsung is hosting its “The First Look” event on January 4th, showcasing TV, home appliances and mobile products, where we can see some new OLED TVs in the range.

Meanwhile, there’s evidence that Sony will launch a new “True RGB” – a term the company recently trademarked and which could well point to a new mini-LED TV. LG will also unveil various products, including its LG Signature OLED T – the world’s first transparent 4K OLED TV – which was announced a few months ago. We could also see the arrival of the C6 and G6 OLEDs.

Our author Tom Bedford goes into detail about LG’s appearance at CES 2026 and explains what we expect from LG in terms of televisions, but also other products such as smart home devices and devices.

We also heard about Dolby Vision 2 at IFA 2025, although details were extremely limited at the time and only one Hisense TV supported the display technology. At CES we could get more information and see more TVs with it.

I walked the halls at IFA 2025 in Berlin in September and stared at a ton of TVs, from OLED to Mini-LED to MicroLED and more, and the quality of the display technology is now pretty amazing. I look forward to seeing more of this at CES.

mobile

Samsung

CES isn’t typically a big trade show for smartphone and tablet announcements. The industry has its own flagship event with MWC in Barcelona, ​​Spain (early March 2026), where we will see more mobile-focused announcements.

However, the show in Las Vegas, Nevada will not be without the devices that many of us carry with us practically 24 hours a day.

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Z Trifold – a stylish dual-hinge foldable phone that’s the first of its kind to come to the US in the coming months.

It was originally unveiled in Samsung’s home market of South Korea, but CES 2026 provides the company with an excellent platform to debut it in the US.

Additionally, there’s a chance we could also get a Samsung Galaxy S26 teaser as the next flagship phone series is expected to launch at its own standalone event later in January.

It won’t just be Samsung making the mobile splash as Lenovo-owned Motorola could have some new announcements, while we keep an eye on the likes of TCL and Sony.

Smart home

Jasmine Mannan / Digital Trends

As I walked the floors at IFA 2025, I felt like I was surrounded. There was a robot vacuum cleaner, mop, lawn mower or pool cleaner on almost every corner.

If these bots had managed to organize themselves collectively, there might have been some ugly scenes at Messe Berlin. Luckily, these chore bots don’t appear to be conscious, at least for now, but what they can do is pretty incredible.

From climbing stairs to robotic arms that pick up strange socks from the floor, these smart home devices are likely to have a strong presence at CES 2026.

automobile

Honda

An interesting trend I’ve observed at CES in recent years is the increasing proliferation of automotive brands at the show. When I started going to CES in the early 2010s, there really wasn’t much automotive presence at the show.

Today we see that major car brands have large stands. BMW tends to take over some of the convention center’s parking spaces, while non-traditional car brands like Sony and Xiaomi are also getting involved.

While my colleague Stephen Edelstein says he doesn’t expect any major automotive news at CES 2026, it will still be an important trade show for the industry, “with an emphasis on commercialization alongside the flashy announcements.”

“That means updates on the start of production of new electric vehicles as companies now work on the less exciting task of turning their headline-grabbing announcements from previous years into real products.”

Let’s not forget the weird and wonderful

We can also count on CES to produce some crazy moments too. From bizarre robots to strange cars to products you might never have thought in a million years would exist, the show is a melting pot for pretty much everything people can think of.

Many of these surprises are hidden in the corners of secluded halls, and some I have come across purely by chance in the past. These products are usually the ones that no one foresaw. So keep your eyes peeled throughout CES week to see what surprises await us.

And of course AI

AI will be the trending topic in almost all areas at CES 2026. There is no getting around this as companies continue to push technology – in its many, many forms – onto consumers as a must-have feature.

A term we’ll likely hear more about at CES 2026 is “Agentic AI.” We go beyond chatbots that can simply answer questions and have a conversation with you.

We expect devices that not only plan a trip, but also book flights and reserve tables using action-oriented AI assistants.

And we could see more of this processing taking place on-device, keeping your data private and enabling AI to work without an internet connection, reducing reliance on the cloud.