CES 2026: AI in Search of Meaning
From January 6th, Las Vegas will once again be the center of the tech world. Nothing works at CES without AI, whether in household robots or electric cars.
(Image: CTA)
Shortly after New Year's Eve, the CES electronics trade fair traditionally sets the first tech trends of the year. It officially kicks off on January 6th, but many exhibitors showcase their innovations in the days prior. The fair has long since expanded its focus from consumer electronics to other industries – the automotive industry will also leave its mark on CES 2026, even if it's on a smaller scale than in the past.
The theme for the 2026 fair is "Innovators Show Up". Among the numerous trade visitors (over 140,000 in 2025), there will surely be one or another "innovator". However, whether they will actually bring innovations with them remains to be seen. Industry observers do not expect any major surprises.
AI Everywhere Again
Numerous small and large exhibitors will showcase their products and concepts in Las Vegas. Especially in the start-up sector, one often sees ideas or technologies here that only catch on years later – but also many a flash in the pan. Perhaps the Rabbit R1, presented with much fanfare around CES 2024, was simply ahead of its time.
Speaking of AI: Ubiquitous artificial intelligence will also shape the CES 2026. A trend of the year is likely to be the industry's increased efforts to find meaningful applications for its "intelligent" models and perhaps also a business model. Because a bubble is still hovering over everything, and it hasn't shrunk in 2025.
The organizer of CES, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), is dedicating its own exhibition format with a conference part to AI with the "CES Foundry" at the Fontainebleau hotel near the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) exhibition grounds. The "Foundry" will be significantly populated by Nvidia, whose CEO Jensen Huang will also be returning to Las Vegas.
CES 2025 Highlights und EindrĂĽcke (26 Bilder)
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)Keynotes from Siemens and AMD
Huang will share the stage with Siemens CEO Roland Busch at the start of the first day of the fair on Tuesday morning. The evening before, AMD CEO Lisa Su will officially open CES 2026. Lenovo will take the stage at the Las Vegas Sphere this year, where CEO Yuanqing Yang intends to explain the impact of AI on our daily lives.
AMD and Nvidia will certainly not come to Las Vegas empty-handed, although real hardware innovations are not expected until later in the year. In AMD's case, truly new Ryzen processors with Zen 6 architecture are not expected until the second half of the year. Nvidia is likely to focus on AI and the automotive sector.
From Qualcomm and its partners, there should be devices with the Snapdragon X2 Elite. Intel has the Core Ultra 300 (Panther Lake) in its luggage, but only for notebooks.
Even with televisions, CES is more about evolution than revolution. LG is now also showing devices with Micro-LEDs, which Samsung presented at CES and IFA last year. Furthermore, Samsung and LG are now producing OLED panels with vertically arranged RGB subpixels, which is likely to be reflected in the monitor market in 2026.
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Humanoid Robots
There's more going on with other hardware. Smart home manufacturers are filling the halls with their cleaning and mowing robots. After a stair-climbing robot vacuum cleaner attracted a lot of attention at IFA 2025, rumors suggest a move into the air at CES. Regardless, the trend towards robot vacuums and mowers with multifunctional gripping arms is likely to continue.
(Image:Â LG)
A few household robots are also likely to be equipped with human-like arms. LG is bringing its "CLOiD" to Las Vegas, of which only a few snippets have been seen on social media beforehand. Other manufacturers also have humanoid helpers in their luggage. And cars: Dreame, known in this country for its household robots, will probably be showing an electric sports car at CES.
Meanwhile, the European automotive industry is shining with restraint in Las Vegas, foregoing pompous keynotes and vehicle presentations. Suppliers like Aumovio (formerly Continental), Bosch, and ZF also have to save money and are focusing their trade fair appearances on products and technologies.
heise online is a media partner of CES 2026.
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