What to anticipate from tech’s massive January convention

The brand new yr is upon us, and meaning CES 2026 is imminent. The most important tech commerce present of the calendar comes with a bevy of recent and notable bulletins that set the tone for traits and expectations for the next 12 months. The CES 2026 present ground is formally open from January 6 by means of 9, however the enjoyable kicks off with occasions on Sunday January 4, adopted by a bunch of press conferences on Monday. As all the time, product demos, bulletins and networking will likely be taking place on the Las Vegas Conference Middle and different inns all around the metropolis. As ordinary, Engadget will likely be protecting the occasion in-person and remotely, bringing you information and hands-ons straight from the present ground.

Extra particular particulars and pre-announcements are already trickling out as CES approaches, and due to the schedule of the Client Expertise Affiliation (the commerce group that runs the present) now we have a full itinerary of press conferences. We’re additionally utilizing our expertise and experience to foretell what tech traits may rear their heads on the present.

The CES 2026 schedule

Press conferences and present ground cubicles are the bread and butter of CES. The CTA has already revealed a searchable directory of who could have an official presence on the present, together with a schedule of each official panel and presentation. Nevertheless, the press conference schedule offers us a extra digestible rundown of the primary 48 hours of massive occasions.

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 (System eXperience) Division in 2026, together with new AI-driven buyer experiences.” Forward of that, although, Samsung has already outlined quite a lot of extra specifics (scroll down for particulars). Concurrent with the Samsung presentation would be the official CES Unveiled mini-show, which is mostly comprised of smaller and start-up distributors.

That’ll be adopted by a number of press conferences all through Monday, January 5. The LG CES 2026 press convention, titled “Innovation in Tune with You,” is ostensibly to share “its imaginative and prescient for elevating day by day life by means of Affectionate Intelligence.” However, like Samsung, this fellow Korean large has already spent the three weeks main as much as CES pre-announcing a lot of its new merchandise, so this can be extra of a abstract than breaking information.

Following LG, we’ll additionally see press conferences from Bosch and Hisense, in addition to the first-ever CES look from Lego. Because the Las Vegas afternoon rolls round, we get the primary of three chip giants: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage on January 5 at 1PM PT (4PM ET) and, based on the web site, his presentation will final about 90 minutes. Based mostly on the outline on the itemizing, the presentation will “showcase the newest NVIDIA options driving innovation and productiveness throughout industries.” NVIDIA’s presser is concurrent with one from Hyundai, the place the Korean automotive firm will concentrate on in-cabin automotive tech and robotics.

Later within the day, we get to listen to from NVIDIA frenemies Intel and AMD. Intel’s 3PM PT (6PM PT) occasion will ostensibly characteristic its new Core Ultra Series 3 processors, and AMD CEO Lisa Su will cowl AMD’s upcoming chip bulletins at a keynote tackle that closes out the day. However anticipate each of them to be very heavy on AI purposes, in fact. Sandwiched in between these chip producers will likely be Sony Honda Mobility. The three way partnership will likely be providing but extra particulars on its Afeela EV.

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 to share the corporate’s “dedication to delivering smarter AI for all by always redefining how expertise can interact, encourage, and empower.” It’s price noting that Lenovo is the mother or father firm of Motorola, which nonetheless makes telephones and foldables that characteristic AI instruments, so it’s doable these gadgets characteristic within the presentation as effectively.

Samsung and LG vie for pre-show publicity

As famous above, each Samsung and LG have continued their latest pattern of spoiling practically all of their respective CES bulletins within the days and weeks earlier than the present. LG, for instance, has stated it is 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 one hundred pc coloration gamut protection in DCI-P3 an Adobe RGB, and that it has greater than a thousand dimming zones for brightness management.

Elsewhere within the TV house, LG is throwing its hat into the “artwork TV” ring that Samsung pioneered with its Body TVs: The LG Gallery TV will debut in 55- and 65-inch display sizes, and it’ll in fact showcase numerous paintings when it’s not in any other case in use. And if PC gaming shows are extra your velocity, LG could have that coated, 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 even introduce a Dolby-powered modular home audio system, a brand new line of its xboom speakers (developed with will.i.am) and the corporate will flex its automation muscle groups with a humanoid home automation robot named CLOiD. We’re additionally trying ahead to testing the corporate’s new ultralight Aerominum laptops.

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 yr, 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 screens 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 the corporate can also be updating its Freestyle projector for 2026, too.

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 recent merchandise and initiatives, studying the tea leaves of what was introduced final yr and what corporations 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 often the beginning of a cascade of recent chip bulletins for a given yr, and one of many first locations new silicon seems in actual shopper merchandise. AMD will doubtless use its keynote to introduce new variations of its Ryzen chips, together with the just lately noticed Ryzen 7 9850X3D, which is predicted to supply higher single-threaded efficiency, and the Ryzen 9000G sequence, which may very well 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 general “AI PC” push, however are particularly meant for premium laptops. Based mostly on a preview from October 2025, Intel says the primary chip made with its 2-nanometer 18A process will provide 50 % extra processing efficiency than earlier generations and for the chip’s Arc GPU, a 50 % efficiency bump from final technology.

Qualcomm can also be rumored to be concentrating on laptops on the present, constructing on the work it is finished 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 take a look at the improved velocity and AI efficiency the corporate promised in 2025.

Brighter, “more true” screens

As famous above, Samsung and LG seem 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 combination. The star of this up to date Bravia lineup is the Bravia 9, which incorporates 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 pink, inexperienced and blue to supply even brighter, extra correct colours. In distinction to a QD-OLED, which filters a layer of blue natural gentle emitting diodes by means of quantum dots that change coloration, Sony’s “Common RGB LED Backlight Expertise” can get as brilliant as a Mini LED panel while not having an additional filter layer or worrying about OLED’s issues with burn-in.

The corporate has already trademarked the title “True RGB,” which may find yourself being what Sony calls this new taste of show if it decides to indicate them off at CES. It appears completely doubtless, 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 may very well be able to demo at CES 2026. The brand new HDR10+ Advanced standard can be Samsung’s reply to Dolby Vision 2, which incorporates help for issues bi-directional tone mapping and clever options that mechanically adapt sports activities and gaming content material. Samsung’s take will reportedly provide improved brightness, genre-based tone mapping and clever movement smoothing choices, amongst different enhancements.

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

Ballie Watch 2026

The ball-shaped yellow robotic lovingly often called “Ballie” has been introduced twice, first in 2020 after which again in 2024 with a projector in tow. Samsung stated Ballie would go on sale in 2025 at CES final yr after which shared in April 2025 that Ballie would ship this summer time with Google’s Gemini onboard. Nevertheless it’s practically 2026, and Ballie is nowhere to be seen. It is doable Samsung may make a 3rd try at asserting 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 have been a significant spotlight of CES 2025, and it is secure to anticipate notable enhancements from the brand new fashions which might 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 seem to be they may turn out to be 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, enhancing robots’ navigation may be a significant concern on the present. Prominent members of the AI business are turning their consideration from massive language fashions to world models, which intention to present AI a deep understanding of bodily house. These world fashions may very well be the important thing to creating robots — like LG’s aforementioned CLOiD — competent at navigating properties and workplaces, and can doubtless 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 mother or father firm and the way the latter might 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 have been made public prior to now 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.

Replace, December 31 2025, 12:05PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate but extra early LG bulletins.

Replace, January 3 2026, 8:45AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate nonetheless extra Samsung and LG bulletins.