It’s that time again. PCMag is headed to Las Vegas for CES 2026 this weekend to bring you all the details on what the major consumer electronics companies have in store for the year.
Expect announcements from PC and component makers, as well as news about smart home and wearable innovations. Mobile news is usually reserved for MWC in March, but there could be a few new phones and tablets on the CES show floor, too.
In Vegas, PCMag will be collaborating with our sibling sites—, Mashable, ZDNET, Everyday Health, IGN, and Lifehacker—to pick the Best of CES. We’ll announce the finalists in 23 categories on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 8 a.m. PST ahead of a 4 p.m. Best of CES Awards show hosted by PCMag Mobile Editor Iyaz Aktar and Editor at Large Bridget Carey.
Until then, look back at PCMag’s picks for the Best of CES 2025 and where they are now. And then check out what our experts expect to see on the ground at CES 2026.
Laptops
For starters, expect a wholesale rush of refreshed versions of the laptops we know and love. Why? In the fall, we were briefed on Intel’s upcoming “Panther Lake” Core Ultra laptop processors, as well as Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon X2 Elite line. We’d fully expect the usual system-maker suspects to roll out their latest hits—existing designs and new ones in consumer and business laptops—built around those new chips. If AMD follows suit with a third 2026 laptop-CPU entrant—a follow-on to its powerful Ryzen AI 300 family of 2024, which would seem due—that would complete the CPU trifecta.
(Credit: Intel)
Effective, muscular neural processing units (NPUs) are now a part of—or will soon be part of—almost all new mainstream laptop chips. With Panther Lake, Snapdragon X2, and the existing Ryzen AI 300, dedicated AI processing adequate for Microsoft Copilot and emerging AI background tasks will be showing up en masse in most new machines in early 2026, with the possible exception of gaming laptops and mobile workstations. (Intel, at least, has not shown its hand yet with CPUs featuring bulked-up NPUs, suited for those kinds of systems.) But soon, on the whole, the emerging “AI PC” of the last few years will be just “the PC” once again; AI processing will be a given. And the AI software ecosystem should keep evolving and improving.
(Credit: John Burek)
The one thing we don’t expect intense action on? Gaming laptops. The Panther Lake and Snapdragon X2 chips detailed so far are more focused on efficiency and everyday content creation/productivity than on powering brutish gaming rigs. But if AMD throws a chip curveball, or Intel is holding an HX-grade CPU surprise in its back pocket, we could be wrong. —John Burek
Desktops and PC Components
CES in 2025 was all about new hardware, with AMD, Intel, and Nvidia announcing new, cutting-edge graphics cards and processors with a key focus on AI prowess. We’d like to see the same at CES 2026, but we don’t see much new core desktop silicon on the immediate horizon.
On the CPU front, AMD and Intel could both push out limited refreshes of their desktop processor lines. (We’ve heard rumors of a desktop “Arrow Lake Refresh” for a while, for one thing.) If either company does so, these new products will likely be based on the same silicon as last year (Intel “Arrow Lake” Core 200S Series, AMD Ryzen 9000) with refinements or mild upticks.
What that means: We could see some new processors that are more or less the same as those currently on the market, but with subtle increases to clock speed to boost performance. AMD and Intel tend to launch something new each year, usually around the same time as the previous year. For now, expect only minor updates. Larger launches are more likely later in 2026.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The graphics card industry, meanwhile, has seen some turbulence lately due to the cost skyrocketing for all kinds of memory. This could upend any plans that AMD (Radeon), Intel (Arc), or Nvidia (GeForce) have to release new graphics cards in the near future. Persistent rumors have circulated about Nvidia releasing a new GeForce RTX Super line of its RTX 50-series graphics cards (similar to earlier generations of Super card), as well as rumors of Intel introducing a new Arc graphics card. But at this time, nothing is certain. The lack of credible leaks around RTX Super cards puts a damper on that for CES, to our eyes.—Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Wi-Fi and Networking
Every time a new Wi-Fi generation goes mainstream, the industry quickly turns to its successor. With Wi-Fi 7 now firmly established, that means Wi-Fi 8 will be the buzzword at CES this year. The Wi-Fi Alliance is far from certifying Wi-Fi 8, but the first chipsets based on the draft standard already exist, and we could see more announced at this year’s show.
For consumers, this means that many of the wild prototype devices that will undoubtedly be teased (think rollable-screen displays, solar-powered laptops, and other such futuristic innovations) will support Wi-Fi 8 when (or if) they eventually come to market.
As for the standard itself, it won’t bring meaningfully faster speeds, but it should improve the reliability of wireless connections, which is what most people who own a Wi-Fi device (so…everyone) really want.—Tom Brant
Displays and Monitors
When it comes to gaming monitors, we can expect high refresh rates to become more commonplace. We already know that Phillips and AOC are teasing 500Hz 1440p gaming panels with 1,000Hz alternative 1080p modes. It remains to be seen if this is actually 1,000Hz, or an alternative “effective 1,000Hz” approach of some kind.
And love it or hate it, AI implementations in monitors seems like a no-brainer trend that will continue. Expect more AI that enhances picture quality and optimizes performance. We may even see more advanced chatbots enabled in smart monitors and displays.
As for panel technology, we’ve seen OLEDs become widely available and increasingly affordable; more OLED variants could emerge. Chinese display maker HKC also announced the M10 Ultra, the “world’s first” RGB Mini-LED gaming monitor, so expect more news on this and other new panel technologies, as well.
The HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA) confirms that HDMI 2.2 prototypes will be on display in Las Vegas. HDMI 2.2 doubles the bandwidth to 96Gbps for future-proofing high-end visuals and audio, supporting resolutions such as 8K at 240Hz and 16K at 60Hz (with compression). Good luck finding any content to support those targets, though.—Zackery Cuevas
Storage
The past few months have seen a rise in SSD prices, as the surging demands of AI data centers and a shift in manufacturing priorities to meet their needs have led to a tighter supply of NAND flash, and DRAM for consumer products. Increased SSD pricing is likely to continue into and through 2026, and CES storage announcements may reflect this.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
We can expect some SSD manufacturers to try to compensate for these memory price hikes by employing more cost-effective components, such as DRAM-less controllers and QLC NAND flash, in their products. Both of these components have become more prevalent in consumer-grade internal SSDs over the past year or so, despite any price pressure. We may also see more announcements of energy-efficient PCI Express 5.0 SSDs as manufacturers seek to mainstream them for use in compatible desktops (and to a lesser extent, laptops), ditching the massive heatsinks required to tame first-generation Gen 5 SSDs.
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With external SSDs, we expect to see announcements of products with Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 connectivity, as more computers now natively support these high-speed interfaces than they did last year. —Tony Hoffman
Artificial Intelligence
Companies don’t usually announce new AI chatbots or large language models at trade shows, and little suggests that’s changing. Accordingly, we don’t expect much in the way of AI software at CES 2026. Keep an eye on the social media accounts (and newsrooms) of your favorite AI software companies if you want to keep up with any surprises.
New models and chatbots may not be expected, but the chips that power them will be everywhere. AI-ready hardware will be in every PC as AI PCs continue to evolve, and we expect the major chip makers to also make announcements for AI infrastructure, with new hardware from data centers to edge devices. But AI hardware could show up in other ways, with dedicated gadgets that you can carry or wear, and that take your favorite AI assistants everywhere you want to go. Whether any of them will be any good is the bigger question, but we expect to see several companies vying to be that breakthrough device.—Ruben Circelli and Brian Westover
TVs and Home Theater
RGB LED TVs will be the biggest force in home theaters at CES. LG and Samsung already got head starts by announcing that their newest RGB LED TVs will be at the show (LG’s first, the Micro RGB evo, and Samsung’s full line of screen sizes following the 115-inch Micro RGB TV it released in 2025), and they almost certainly won’t be the only ones. RGB LED is a new backlight tech that uses red, green, and blue LED clusters instead of just white or blue LEDs to light a TV’s LCD panel, and from what I’ve seen, they can produce a much wider color range than even OLED TVs. 2026 could very well be the year of RGB LED.
Micro RGB evo (Credit: LG)
On the audio side, the thing I’m paying the most attention to is Dolby FlexConnect. Dolby’s new speaker technology wirelessly syncs compatible speakers, soundbars, and TVs, and automatically calibrates audio balance between them to provide Dolby Atmos spatial audio even if the speakers aren’t located in the usual left-right-center-side-rear satellite positions. TCL already released FlexConnect speakers and enabled compatibility with certain 2025 TVs, and LG just revealed the first FlexConnect soundbar, but if more manufacturers announce their own FlexConnect products, we could really see the start of a whole new home theater ecosystem. The big question is whether FlexConnect speakers and TVs will be mix-and-match between manufacturers, which isn’t yet clear.—Will Greenwald
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Smart Home
Robot vacuums have been the fastest-moving field in the smart home for a couple of years. Last year, we saw a model with a robot arm. At IFA in the fall, we saw a robot vacuum that could traverse stairs with the help of a rover attachment. This year, robot vacuums will no doubt be a big part of CES again, perhaps with new robotic limbs in tow or new movement capabilities. If recent trends hold steady, the latest robot floor cleaners will continue to push the envelope with stronger suction power and improved mop designs.
Aside from robot vacuums, I expect CES 2026 to be a big show for smart locks. The Matter smart home protocol has been proliferating for a while, making it easier for different devices to talk to each other. The Aliro standard is an underlying protocol that’s nearing its initial launch. Aliro is meant for smart locks specifically, and it essentially allows locks to detect the presence of your phone with precise accuracy. Its functionally is similar to Apple’s Home Key, but should work with all major phone brands.
Otherwise, look for AI everywhere, but especially in security cameras, which recently gained Matter support as well. Interoperable devices that can watch your porch and tell what’s going on should be plentiful at the show, and we’ll be on the lookout for surprises.—Andrew Gebhart
Fitness and Health Tech
At CES, smaller wellness-focused brands get to shine as big companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung already debuted their most recent smartwatches in late 2025. CES is also a time for unusual tech to steal the spotlight. (Last year, a spoon that simulated the taste of salt grabbed our attention.) That said, expect to see wearables continue to expand beyond the wrist with gadgets like smart rings, glasses, and earbuds.
Look for health tech integrated in unusual places. We’ve seen smart mirrors for a couple of years in a row, so this CES could be a prime chance for the tech to become more widely available and affordable. Finally, watch for AI. Big brands all integrated new AI health monitoring features into their latest wearables, so look for smaller companies to introduce additional ways that artificial intelligence can help you stay happy and healthy.—Andrew Gebhart
VR, AR, and Smart Glasses
While I’m excited to see how Android XR will impact XR headsets and smart glasses in the future, I don’t think it’ll be at CES. Google only started showing off its smart glasses development kits, and XReal’s Project Aura dev kit, in December with plans to start sending them out in 2026. That means there’s been little, if any, lead time for headset and glasses makers (besides Samsung with the Galaxy XR) to actually make anything for the new unifying XR platform. I suspect both XR headsets and smart glasses shown off in Las Vegas will be iterative improvements of models that have already come out. But CES 2027? That might be where we really see these categories making big jumps forward.—Will Greenwald
Cars
Waymo at CES 2025 (Photo by Artur Widak/Anadolu via Getty Images)
For the past three years, CES has been a primary EV launch event, but the industry has seen a major slowdown in electric innovation since Donald Trump returned to the White House and killed the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Progress on new models has stalled for the US market, as automakers shift their focus to Europe, where EV adoption is hitting new records.
In the US, there’s also a push for affordability, which is the exact opposite of the automotive trends we’ve seen at CES in years past, where slick software and pricey batteries have reigned supreme. In its place, we can expect more gas-powered car debuts, as well as hybrids. More broadly, the industry has a focus on autonomous vehicle technology, and alternate uses of batteries (like Ford’s latest effort to power AI data centers). —Emily Forlini
Tech Policy
As a tech gathering produced by an industry group operating just outside Washington, CES can’t avoid obsessing over policy as well as products. But this time around, the political banter at the Consumer Technology Association’s flagship event will focus less on traditional notions of policy structures than on what one person wants at the moment: President Trump.
On the one hand, you can expect widespread support for moves by Trump to advance AI, such as his AI Action Plan to boost data-center buildout while banning “woke AI” or his executive order outlining punishments for states that enact AI regulations that Trump doesn’t like. We won’t be surprised if Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s CES keynote will be as MAGA-minded as his keynote at the GPU giant’s GTC DC conference this summer.
On the other hand, Trump’s tariff fixation continues to vex the entire electronics industry. CTA has consistently argued against these import taxes but has been no more effective than anyone else in Washington at stopping them or even persuading Trump to refrain from dialing them up and down. But with this administration’s insistence on personal loyalty and resentment of dissent, it will be interesting to see how far tech executives go in pushing this point.
Another thing you can expect people to tiptoe around at CES: the Trump family’s own ventures into technology, such as Trump Media & Technology Group’s recently announced merger with the fusion-power startup TAE Technologies and the still-vaporware Trump Mobile T1 phone.—Rob Pegoraro
