What to anticipate from tech’s greatest convention in January

CES is the January commerce present the place the tech business kicks off the 12 months with a bevy of latest and notable bulletins — and it’s lower than per week away. The CES 2026 present flooring is formally open from January 6 by means of 9, however the enjoyable kicks off with occasions on Sunday January 4 and a number of press conferences on Monday. As all the time, product demos, bulletins and networking will likely be taking place on the Las Vegas Conference Heart and different inns everywhere in the metropolis. As typical, Engadget will likely be protecting the occasion in-person and remotely, bringing you information and hands-ons straight from the present flooring.

Extra particular particulars and pre-announcements are already trickling out as CES approaches, and because of the CTA’s schedule we additionally do know what firms will likely be internet hosting press conferences. We’re additionally utilizing our expertise and experience to foretell what tech tendencies may rear their heads on the present.

The CES 2026 schedule

Press conferences and present flooring cubicles are the bread and butter of CES. The Client Know-how Affiliation has already revealed a searchable directory of who can have a presence on the present, together with a schedule of each official panel and presentation.

On Sunday, January 4, Samsung will kick-off CES with “The First Look,” a presentation hosted by TM Roh, the CEO of Samsung’s DX Division, on the corporate’s “imaginative and prescient for the DX (Gadget eXperience) Division in 2026, together with new AI-driven buyer experiences.” Forward of that, although, Samsung has already outlined a wide range of extra specifics.

That’ll be adopted by a number of press conferences all through Monday, January 5. LG is internet hosting its “Innovation in Tune with You” presentation to share “its imaginative and prescient for elevating every day life by means of Affectionate Intelligence” firstly of the day, Intel is launching its new Core Extremely Collection 3 processors within the afternoon, Sony Honda Mobility is holding a press conference providing but extra particulars on its first automotive and AMD CEO Lisa Su will cowl AMD’s upcoming chip bulletins at a keynote deal with that closes out the day.

On the week of December 15, the CTA added a keynote by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to its schedule. The occasion will happen on January 5 at 1PM PT (4PM ET) and, in response to the web site, will final about 90 minutes. Primarily based on the outline on the itemizing, the presentation will “showcase the newest NVIDIA options driving innovation and productiveness throughout industries.”

Lastly, on Tuesday, January 6, Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang will host Lenovo’s Tech World Conference on the Las Vegas Sphere, utilizing the big and decidedly curved display screen to share the corporate’s “dedication to delivering smarter AI for all by consistently redefining how expertise can interact, encourage, and empower.” It’s price noting that Lenovo is the dad or mum firm of Motorola, which nonetheless makes telephones and foldables that characteristic AI instruments, so it’s attainable these units characteristic within the presentation as nicely.

Samsung and LG vie for pre-show publicity

As they sometimes do, some firms have already gotten a head begin on the CES information by publicly sharing their bulletins within the weeks main as much as January. LG, for instance, has mentioned it’s going to debut its first Micro RGB television at CES. Whereas particulars are scarce, the corporate’s press launch for the LG Micro RGB evo did verify it has obtained certifications by Intertek for 100% shade gamut protection in DCI-P3 an Adobe RGB, and that it has greater than a thousand dimming zones for brightness management. And if PC gaming shows are extra your pace, LG can have that lined, too, with a brand new line of 5K-capable gaming monitors on deck with built-in AI upscaling.

However LG’s not simply displaying off shows. The Korean multinational may also introduce a Dolby-powered modular home audio system and flex its automation muscle tissues with a humanoid home automation robot named CLOiD.

After all, Samsung refuses to be outdone by its hometown rival, and has additionally launched a pre-CES press launch doc dump. Samsung will be launching its own lineup of Micro RGB TVs at CES, for starters. The corporate already launched its first Micro RGB TV at CES 2025, which was a 115-inch mannequin out there for a cool $30,000. Subsequent 12 months, Samsung is increasing the vary with 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-, 100- and 115-inch fashions that use the following evolution of the corporate’s Micro RGB expertise.

Samsung can also be countering LG’s 5K displays with a 6K model that goals to ship glasses-free 3D (one other long-time CES staple). It’ll be considered one of a number of new shows within the firm’s Odyssey gaming line.

And on the audio entrance, Samsung has teased a number of new soundbars and audio system, together with Sonos-style Wi-Fi streaming fashions name the Music Studio 5 and Studio 7.

Exterior of the formal introduction of latest merchandise and initiatives, studying the tea leaves of what was introduced final 12 months and what firms are reportedly engaged on, we are able to make some educated guesses at what we may see at CES 2026.

New chips from AMD, Intel and Qualcomm

CES is regularly the beginning of a cascade of latest chip bulletins for a given 12 months, and one of many first locations new silicon seems in actual shopper merchandise. AMD will probably use its keynote to introduce new variations of its Ryzen chips, together with the not too long ago noticed Ryzen 7 9850X3D, which is anticipated to supply higher single-threaded efficiency, and the Ryzen 9000G sequence, which might be constructed with AMD’s Zen 5 structure. The corporate may additionally use its CES stage to go over its new FSR Redstone AI upscaling tech.

Intel has already publicly announced that it will launch its Panther Lake chips at CES 2026. The formally titled Intel Core Extremely Collection 3 chips match into Intel’s total “AI PC” push, however are particularly meant for premium laptops. Primarily based on a preview from October 2025, Intel says the primary chip made with its 2-nanometer 18A process will supply 50 % extra processing efficiency than earlier generations and for the chip’s Arc GPU, a 50 % efficiency bump from final era.

Qualcomm can also be rumored to be focusing on laptops on the present, constructing on the work it is carried out moving its Snapdragon chips out of telephones and tablets and into different varieties of computer systems. The corporate’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Premium chips ought to begin showing in laptops at CES 2026, providing a have a look at the improved pace and AI efficiency the corporate promised in 2025.

Brighter, “more true” screens

As famous above, Samsung and LG look like going all-in on Micro RGB show tech for TVs. Count on that to be an enormous buzzword at CES, with Hisense and Sony debuting new fashions, too.

Sony introduced a collection of new Bravia TVs in April 2025, changing the corporate’s flagship, filling in its midrange choices and including a brand new finances mannequin to the combo. The star of this up to date Bravia lineup is the Bravia 9, which contains a QD-OLED panel, however Sony seems to be prepping completely new show tech for 2026. In March 2025, Sony launched a brand new RGB LED panel that makes use of particular person Mini LED backlights coloured in crimson, inexperienced and blue to supply even brighter, extra correct colours. In distinction to a QD-OLED, which filters a layer of blue natural mild emitting diodes by means of quantum dots that change shade, Sony’s “Basic RGB LED Backlight Know-how” can get as brilliant as a Mini LED panel with no need an additional filter layer or worrying about OLED’s issues with burn-in.

The corporate has already trademarked the identify “True RGB,” which may find yourself being what Sony calls this new taste of show if it decides to point out them off at CES. It appears completely probably, as a result of CES is nothing if not a TV present — it’s a certain wager that we’ll see new TVs from the likes of LG and Samsung along with Sony. If the corporate would not introduce new show tech for its TVs, it does have a new 240Hz PlayStation monitor coming in 2026 that it may showcase at CES as a substitute.

Sony is not the one firm hyped on brilliant screens. Samsung is reportedly pushing an up to date model of the HDR10 and HDR10+ requirements that might be able to demo at CES 2026. The brand new HDR10+ Advanced standard could be Samsung’s reply to Dolby Vision 2, which incorporates help for issues bi-directional tone mapping and clever options that robotically adapt sports activities and gaming content material. Samsung’s take will reportedly supply improved brightness, genre-based tone mapping and clever movement smoothing choices, amongst different enhancements.

And possibly your future TV gained’t want an influence twine, both: Displace will likely be displaying off a mounting choice that features a 15,000mAh battery to juice up no matter big TV display screen you select to connect.

Ballie Watch 2026

The ball-shaped yellow robotic lovingly referred to as “Ballie” has been introduced twice, first in 2020 after which again in 2024 with a projector in tow. Samsung mentioned Ballie would go on sale in 2025 at CES final 12 months after which shared in April 2025 that Ballie would ship this summer season with Google’s Gemini onboard. Nevertheless it’s practically 2026, and Ballie is nowhere to be seen. It is attainable Samsung may make a 3rd try at saying its robotic at CES 2026, however whether or not or not it does, robotics will nonetheless be an enormous a part of the present.

Robot vacuums and mops had been a significant spotlight of CES 2025, and it is secure to anticipate notable enhancements from the brand new fashions which can be introduced at CES 2026. Not each firm will undertake the retractable arm of the Roborock Saros Z70, however robotic vacuums with legs for rising over small ledges just like the Dreame X50 appear to be they might change into the norm. Roborock may additionally showcase its new Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow, the primary of its robotic vacuums to characteristic a retractable curler mop.

Past simply traversing areas extra effectively, bettering robots’ navigation is also a significant concern on the present. Prominent members of the AI business are turning their consideration from giant language fashions to world models, which intention to present AI a deep understanding of bodily area. These world fashions might be the important thing to creating robots — like LG’s aforementioned CLOiD — competent at navigating houses and workplaces, and can probably be a big speaking level at CES 2026.

We’ll be updating this text all through the month as extra rumors floor and new merchandise are confirmed — keep tuned for future updates!

Replace, December 11 2025, 11:03AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate element on Lenovo being Motorola’s dad or mum firm and the way the latter may need a component within the Tuesday presentation.

Replace, December 16 2025, 1:33PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate the NVIDIA press convention, which was added to the CTA schedule inside the final two days.

Replace, December 23 2025, 7:28AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate LG and Samsung’s Micro RGB TV bulletins, which had been made public previously seven days. The intro was additionally tweaked to replicate how quickly CES is at this level.

Replace, December 29 2025, 11:03AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate further particulars on pre-announcements from Samsung, LG and Displace.