CES 2026 Preview: What to expect
We’re little more than a week away from the start of CES 2026, the annual consumer electronics trade show that takes place every January in Las Vegas, and is a bellwether for the tech that will make its way into your home at some point in the near future.
The Tom’s Guide team has been going to and covering CES for decades — we’ll be there in force this year, too — so we have some insight into what we expect to see this time around. From AI to TVs to smart home, here are some of the biggest trends we think will make their appearance.
AI
If you thought artificial intelligence was big last year, just wait to see how much it will show up at this year’s show. While AI chatbots are proliferating in their own right, we expect that AI will be integrated at an even greater level into consumer electronics of all types this year.
Samsung’s keynote, which takes place on January 4, will highlight the company’s “vision for the DX (Device eXperience) Division in 2026, along with new AI-driven customer experiences,” according to a press release.
The next day, January 5, sees LG’s own keynote, where it “will unveil a portfolio of AI-powered solutions that combine world-class devices and solutions with advanced AI core technologies.” LG is somewhat cutely rebranding its AI as “affectionate intelligence,” so as to better connect it with consumers who will actually use it in the company’s products.
On January 6, Lenovo will deliver its keynote in the Sphere, where Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang will introduce “Lenovo’s latest product launches, innovations, proofs of concept, and the company’s AI-driven innovation strategy for the coming years.”
The highlight, though, could very well be the Nvidia keynote, which will be delivered by CEO Jensen Huang on January 5. Thanks to its GPUs, Nvidia has been at the center of the AI revolution, so the company’s vision for the hardware that powers artificial intelligence will have profound implications for its growth. The keynote will take place from 1 – 2:30 p.m. PT, and can be livestreamed.
Of course, I expect just about every product shown at CES to say it uses AI in some capacity — a few years ago, the buzzword was “machine learning” — so I’m curious to see which is legit, and which is trying to hop on the latest bandwagon. — Mike Prospero
Smart glasses
Year after year, I keep waiting for the moment where AR and AI glasses merge into truly smart frames. And after watching the development of this closely through every CES (and seeing what the future holds at Augmented World Expo), I think 2026 will be the year we finally start to see this happening — all kicking off in Vegas.
Think about it, the tools you need to do this are already being shown:
Subtle display tech: Waveguide displays will be all over the place at CES.
The chips to run it: Expect some developments from the likes of Qualcomm to run these glasses.
Sensors: A whole lot of companies are reaching out to show me their breakthroughs in sensor tech to make smart glasses smarter.
The software: Android XR is drawing near, and other companies are jumping on the bandwagon.
And as I’ve found out over the years, it’s through these smaller companies that the big players get their components to power the likes of Meta Ray-Bans. On top of that, AR glasses specifically will move forward too in terms of affordability and display quality — ready to be the best way to play games/watch movies on a long haul flight. — Jason England
TVs
The display technology making all the waves this CES is MIcro RGB, an innovation on Mini-LED that trades out the standard blue or white backlight for sub-100μm red, green, and blue LEDs. This change is anything but simple and requires some seriously heavy lifting from the TV’s processor, however the result is significantly improved color.
In addition to the brands’ new Micro RGB TVs, I’m hoping to see new OLED models from LG and Samsung — neither have announced new models yet, but I think it’s almost guaranteed to happen given that the latter has brought new OLEDs for the last three years straight.
My only concern going into CES? I’m worried that, given all the hype around the cutting-edge Micro RGB tech, some brands might not bring any new budget TVs for us to look at. It’s not the end of the world if that happens, but as someone who loves helping you guys get the best price possible when shopping for a new screen, I’ll be slightly disappointed if I don’t see any. — Nick Pino
Wearables
While the major full-featured smartwatch brands like Apple and Google tend to skip CES, you can definitely expect new releases from more fitness-oriented smartwatch makers, including big boys like Garmin and the more budget-friendly brands like Amazfit.
I also expect to get my first look at many of the upcoming smart ring releases for 2026 (not named Oura). I can’t confirm any specific new models, but I am looking forward to meeting with brands like Circular, Luna Ring, Ringconn, and Ultrahuman.
I’m additionally excited to see what smaller wearables brands have in store, including Pebble, which launched its first smartwatch all the way back in 2013 but is back with some cool new products under the direction of the original founder in 2025.
Finally, I’ll be on the lookout for any and all consumer health tech products that can help you monitor your well-being, improve your health, or assist you in reaching fitness goals in a minimally invasive and/or seamless manner. From smart rings and trackers to stick-on sensors and bodily fluid analyzers, there is no shortage of tech in this category to feed my curiosity. Stay tuned for the best of the best. — Dan Bracaglia
Laptops
One thing is becoming clear as I talk to more and more people in the know: for better or worse, 2026 is going to be the year of the laptop. The upgrades will be significant, redesigns aplenty look set to arrive, and what’s inside will be a huge talking point at this year’s CES.
Every year since everybody seemed to snap up a notebook in 2020, companies have been throwing any and all reasons at you to buy a new system. So far, many of you have held off (the average timeframe someone keeps a laptop is up to five years after all), but now is set to be the best time to upgrade.
Huge developments in chip technology coming in the form of Intel Core Ultra 300 Series (Panther Lake), AMD Ryzen AI 400 series (Gorgon Point) and AI Max series (Strix Halo), and Snapdragon X2 Elite are set to push the latest systems to another level. OLED will dominate displays, and you’ll hear a whole lot about power efficiency to boot.
But probably most surprising is the huge leaps in integrated graphics. For PC gaming on the go, a dedicated Nvidia GPU was always a requirement, but with what I saw testing Intel and Qualcomm’s latest chips, we’re getting to a point where you could get a thin and light notebook that just so happens to game really well, too! — Jason England
Computing
Laptops are going to have a moment at CES 2026, but that moment will be part of what is set to be a rather complex story that will kick into overdrive in Vegas.
Of course, there will be a lot of new announcements. The CPU Wars will be an absolute bloodbath, micro RGB could come to monitors, Wi-Fi 7 will take another step forward in mesh systems, and you’ll see a bunch of new peripherals, components, desktops and much much more.
But there will be one key question bubbling under the surface of everything announced. How will the RAM price crisis impact what you have to pay? Even more than that, will computing companies feel forced to compromise specs in order to keep some semblance of affordability? — Jason England
Smart Home
I also expect that we’ll see an influx of Matter-compatible home security cameras, as the Matter standard was just updated to allow for their use. That’s going to mean that you’ll see a lot more cameras that will be able to work within the Apple Home ecosystem as well as Alexa and Google Home.
And, while we’ve already seen most security camera makers incorporate AI into their devices to better identify people and things that appear on the footage, I expect that we’ll see even further refinement for more granular details. — Mike Prospero
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