Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Start the year off with a bang by traveling with CNET to Las Vegas, where our editors will dig into the hottest tech products of 2026. CES is the flashiest tech show of the year and is set to inject some much-needed excitement into the January gloom.
Stay tuned as we showcase the best in all major product categories, from TVs to laptops, and we hope to spark your imagination with fun, futuristic concepts that give you a glimpse of what your next favorite gadget might look like.
What is CES?
CES is one of the largest and most important technology trade shows in the world. It is attended by all the major established technology companies, as well as many up-and-coming companies from around the world.
Samsung will bring its biggest-ever CES showcase to this year’s conference, and Lenovo is taking over the Las Vegas Sphere in its keynote, which, if it can compete Delta event At the venue last year, it should have been a great show. Another event to look forward to is the Sony Honda Mobility Expo, where the two companies will unveil the pre-production stage Avila 1 EVIt is scheduled to go on sale in California in 2026.
Along with press, investors and business leaders, these companies and others will gather in conference rooms and hotel suites in Las Vegas to showcase their latest innovations and set the agenda for the year. CES 2025 attracted more than 140,000 people, 40% of whom came from outside the United States, which will give you a strong idea of the magnitude and importance of this show.
Some of the products and ideas we will see at the show are concepts that evoke next generation developments in technology. Other devices will go on sale during or shortly after the show – and we’ll be sure to let the early adopters among you know exactly what they are.
What are the key dates?
The official dates for CES 2026 are January 6-9, but CNET will be in town a few days early for an early look and exclusive press previews before the show’s doors open. Some side events are scheduled to take place as early as January 3.
January 5 will be the first major day of the show for us, as we attend back-to-back press conferences, where the biggest names in technology unveil their latest products and devices to the world.
How to watch along
Don’t want to miss it? The best place to get the latest CES news is Here at CNET. Our expert team of reporters and reviewers have decades of combined experience covering the show. We’ll show you everything we think is interesting and important, and we don’t just admire new products from afar. We’re touching it, adjusting it, and trying not to drop it, so be sure to follow us through X (formerly Twitter), Tik Tok, Instagram, youtube, and Blueskyalso.
CES 2026 key trends
We couldn’t escape AI at CES 2025, and we expect this year to be much the same. One of our jobs – as your eyes, ears and hands on the ground – is to distinguish between AI that is truly useful and elevates a product or device, and AI that is simply marketing nonsense, or overpromises and underperforms.
We’ll also be keeping a close eye on the chip companies: Arm, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Nvidia. They’re often at the forefront of developments in AI — especially AI on devices — so we’re eager to see what they might say or show off at this CES.
Another major trend we expect to see this year is the focus on digital health. This is likely to include devices and services, with companies such as Withings, Samsung and Ultrahuman showcasing advances in personal health technology.
Then there is automotive and mobility technology. Volvo is scheduled to hold a keynote at CES 2026, and we expect to see a focus on connected vehicles and transportation at this year’s show.
These are the three main trends highlighted by the Consumer Technology Association, which is organizing the event. But CNET veterans also have their own predictions. This is what we are passionate about.
Our experts’ predictions at CES
Ty Pendlebury (television and sound)
There will be two main improvements from the TVs announced at CES 2026 – better brightness and better colours.
Samsung’s latest Dolby Vision 2 and HDR 10 Plus Advanced specifications will help make TVs brighter than ever before; In some cases, its brightness will be more than doubled. OLED TVs will also get a boost, and we’ll likely see more of LG’s four-stack technology that debuted last year. It basically stacks two OLED displays on top of each other for a brighter picture.
In terms of colours, we will see TVs featuring extended colors of up to 100% of the BT.2020 standard – something that has never been done before. One way TV manufacturers will achieve both of these improvements is with new LCD backlighting, including new color filters or Micro RGB technology, which Samsung debuted last year.
Meanwhile, the best and most surprising sound at CES is usually from new companies. Multi-room audio, desktop speakers, personal music players: These devices are usually shown off at events the day before the show starts and are often the best things we’ll see all week.
At the same time, major audio companies will also be exhibiting. Harman Group, now owned by Samsung, is one of the most trusted companies at CES. As is the case every year, you can expect new speakers, Bluetooth speakers, and perhaps AV splitters. In this context, Klipsch and its new partner Onkyo are likely to offer more speakers and amplifiers. In terms of high-end audio, it will be there, but hi-fi shows are more important than CES nowadays and their presence will be limited.
Josh Goldman (PC)
It may come as a surprise, but CES is a pretty big showcase for what’s coming next in the world of PCs. A wide range is being unveiled as well – from ultra-high-definition mobile devices to the latest games and content creation – so it’s truly a ‘something for everyone’ type event. In addition, there are usually major announcements about chips; You have to have something to power all your new laptops and desktops, after all. CES is also where PC makers come to show off concepts and prototypes for both PCs and peripherals, so expect to see all of this and more.
Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm compete to see who can deliver processors that are equally powerful and energy efficient. We are already seeing laptops with 24+ hours of battery life and good processing performance. At CES, we can expect to see the first models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung and others featuring new laptops built on Intel’s Panther Lake chips. If the leaks are to be believed, these laptops will not only be thin and light with excellent battery life, but will have much better graphics performance without the extra cost – or heat – of a discrete GPU. Another version of these chips may also find its way into the new portable gaming consoles at the show.
Abrar Al-Hiti (mobile)
Events like CES are always full of fun and futuristic concepts for personal devices, and I’m sure we’ll see our fair share of flexible displays and innovative wearables again. But in the past few months, two main descriptions have been identified for the most advanced smartphones: thin and foldable. This is likely to continue until 2026.
Phone makers from Samsung to honor to Huawei Ultra-thin phones (some… Fold too), and Apple iPhone Air It can be said that helped Legitimizing a thin class. These companies are just starting out. Get ready for the new Samsung Galaxy Z Tri-Foldwhich has three display panels instead of two – similar to Huawei’s panel The ultimate Mate XT design. It’s likely that more similar concepts will be shown off at CES, and some may even see the light of day. And many others will live only in our collective imagination.
Oh yeah, and lots of mobile AI. Companies aren’t quite ready to mitigate that.
David Watsky (Homeland)
Advanced AI continues to drive home technology, and frankly, we’re not surprised. Last year, we were blown away by the first-ever robot vacuum cleaner with a robotic arm, though… It wasn’t great Our vacuum expert, Ajay Gomar, is equally experienced in testing. Expect more home robots at CES that help with daily household chores, including laundry, cleaning, cooking, home security, and general smart home management.
Big devices continue to get smarter, offering varying degrees of assistance. I expect refrigerators, ovens, and washing machines to have more advanced central displays (in the future, all refrigerators will have them — mark my words) and smarter app integration to help homemakers navigate through their to-do lists.
It’s unlikely that the laundry robot any of us can afford will be ready for peak hours this year, but it’s a huge relief to know It may not be very far.
As with other parts of CES 2026, we expect AI advances to be front and center in the smart home, including smarter video scanning for security cameras, a trend that has been on the rise all year.
We’ll also see AI-powered conversational voice assistants that can speak from your doorbell, and help set home routines for you — generally making smart home management less complicated and more hands-off. Another tech trend to look into is presence sensing, or using disturbances in Wi-Fi signals to map activity patterns throughout the home for better analysis.
Scott Stein (Future Technology)
We’ve seen big tech companies trying to figure out smart glasses for years, but things are getting serious now with Google and Samsung getting involved, with glasses on deck for 2026. CES will be a wild west showcase for all the cutting-edge ideas of the other glasses candidates and show how some of the in-house technology can get better. Next-gen displays, wearable interfaces like rings and watches, and next-step products from companies like TCL, Rokid, Even Realities and others should be on deck.
I also expect a wide range of wearable AI accessories, in various forms, including bracelets, pendants and camera-equipped devices. OpenAI is expected to develop its own AI device in the next few years, and although the ghosts of the Humane AI Pin haunt the space, there is plenty of room for more startups.
I’ve been keeping an eye on neurotech, especially now that Meta is out of the gate with its own EMG-based neural scope.
And there are robots. Weird robots have been eye candy at CES for decades, and it would be impossible to gauge how well any of them work in the vacuum of a trade show, but we should at least see some eye-catching demos.
Antoine Godwin (cars)
Automotive technology is set to shift into high gear at CES 2026, driven by language-based artificial intelligence that is rapidly gaining dominance over the dashboard experience. I expect we’ll see smarter cars that can Predict driver habits needs, and even identify their maintenance problems. Think natural language voice assistance, where only you can Chat with your car To get things done or get answers to random questions.
However, AI in cars is not limited to the dashboard. At CES 2026, it is also set to significantly enhance safety and self-driving technology. That means Improved driver assistance systems And big news about autonomous driving Robotaxi services They’re all fighting for the spotlight.
I also expect big things in air traffic this year, especially more so Prototypes of the “flying car”. Emerging and more detailed information regarding testing and launch Electric air taxi services In major cities. Plus, you should keep an eye out for great consumer electronics announcements this year, Focus on Dashcams And other aftermarket automotive equipment.