AI, Huge TVs, Robots, Flying Cars: What to Expect at This Year’s CES

It’s a new year and it’s time for some new tech! CES, one of the world’s largest tech trade shows and arguably the biggest tech event of each year for the American market, will officially begin in Las Vegas on January 7, after a day of announcements and press previews. Some companies have started teasing what we can expect, and many details have leaked. Here’s a quick look at what’s coming!

Gaming

Gamers can expect a new generation of GPUs! Both AMD and Nvidia will be holding press events, with respective CEOs Lisa Su and Jensen Huang announcing products and strategy updates. Nvidia will be holding on to its performance crown with its RTX 50 series – the new GeForce RTX 5090 could massively improve ray tracing and upscaling performance, while AMD’s purported new Radeons, based on the RDNA4 architecture, should give mid-range buyers some tempting new options if the prices are right. 

We’ll also see plenty of new gaming laptops with Intel, AMD and Nvidia’s latest hardware. What’s more interesting though is the prospect of new gaming handhelds – Lenovo in particular is widely expected to launch a next-gen Legion Go device in partnership with AMD, while Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware should give it a boost in this space. Lenovo is also reportedly working with Valve to launch another handheld that will run SteamOS, which could really shake up the space. Nintendo’s Switch 2 has leaked pretty thoroughly but is not expected to be launched at CES. 

AI on PCs and Beyond

All the biggest laptop manufacturers including Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP will be showing off their latest and greatest, powered by Intel and AMD’s newest processors. The thin-and-light space is also where Qualcomm’s competing architecture managed to establish a toe-hold last year, and it will be looking to strengthen its portfolio. 

Asus has teased a slim laptop with 32-hour battery life, which is certainly a bold claim! LG has previewed its new Gram laptops with hybrid cloud and on-device AI. It will be interesting to see if manufacturers can come up with new ways to use AI, in order to tempt buyers to upgrade their older laptops. 

We’ll also see AI integrated into various other devices and services. While some should be useful, there will also be plenty of places where it has just been treated as a buzzword. We’re not likely to see companies try to launch hardware solely designed around AI, like last year’s disastrous Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin, but that brings us to appliances.

Appliances

AI is sure to be the next big trend as manufacturers hope to drive customers towards more premium models. Samsung is pushing AI and touchscreens into its portfolio of washers, dryers, ovens, and fridges, and so are many other companies. There will also be a new smart heat pump for homeowners in North America. 

In terms of new appliance categories, LG’s latest experiments are an indoor horticulture solution that lets you blend gardening with furniture, and a pedestal lamp with a built-in projector and speaker. Would you like something like this in your flat? 

TVs and Monitors

Display technology is a huge deal at CES, and we expect more massive 100-inch-plus TVs plus the latest panel types and image enhancement features. We expect brighter OLEDs, more widespread use of quantum dot tech, more comfortable 3D, and more mini-LED and micro-LED models. Transparent, rollable, stretchable and bendable displays might become more practical and enter the mainstream. 

As for monitors, gaming is the big target market so we can expect higher refresh rates at higher resolutions, and wider adoption of OLED. Of course there will also be lots of smart glasses, AR headsets, projectors, and ambient displays integrated into various surfaces – very likely with AI integrated in some form. Laptops could also show off some unique designs with multiple displays or expanding panels.

Companies including Hisense and Dynaudio are also talking about better sound quality on TVs, and soundbars that make dialogue clearer. Samsung and Google have previewed a new feature called Eclipsa Audio which creates more immersive 3D experiences.

As a bonus, the next HDMI standard is set to be announced, enabling higher resolutions and refresh rates with less aggressive compression and channels for additional data. Exact specifications aren’t known yet, and it will take years for hardware manufacturers and the media industry to implement it broadly.

Automotive

CES has expanded to include a lot of car tech in recent years. BMW has confirmed that it will show off its brand new Panoramic iDrive display and Neue Klasse concepts. Honda is set to exhibit its new 0 series EVs, and the Sony-Honda Afeela smart car should be on display as well – potentially with an integrated PS5! 

Hyundai Mobis has teased a holographic windshield display concept and Qualcomm should have some new digital cockpit news, including a partnership with LG on a new all-in-one ADAS controller platform. Plus, there should be some drone and flying car demos like last in the past few years. Toyota will present an update on its “Woven City” concept which aims to address mobility on a citywide scale.

CES also attracts hundreds of small exhibitors showing off new tech for healthcare, robotics, infrastructure, entertainment, and now of course AI as well. We can’t wait to see what we discover when the show opens!