Photographer: Bridget Bennett\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — At CES, the annual consumer technology conference happening in Las Vegas next week, the biggest names in tech, including\u00a0Nvidia Corp.,\u00a0Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and\u00a0Lenovo Group Ltd., will make the case for artificial intelligence. Their target\u00a0audience those few days: investors, corporate clients and \u2014\u00a0perhaps just as importantly \u2014 ordinary shoppers who have yet to be fully sold on the idea of AI-infused gadgets.<\/p>\n
CES, which runs from Jan. 6-9, is where many tech companies unveil their wares for the year. That\u00a0includes a mix of\u00a0products that are imminently available for purchase, and concept devices that may or may not go to market \u2014\u00a0and could be half-baked if they do. While Nvidia Chief Executive Officer\u00a0Jensen Huang is likely\u00a0to be the most charismatic\u00a0showman in Vegas hyping AI\u2019s underlying technologies, he\u2019ll\u00a0be surrounded by a slew of players that are testing consumers\u2019 appetite for gadgets where AI isn\u2019t just a nice-to-have feature, but the main selling point.<\/p>\n
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Photographer: SeongJoon Cho\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
The show floor this year will be particularly populated with AI-powered hardware, including the sort of smart glasses popularized by\u00a0Meta Platforms Inc. and that\u00a0Snap Inc. and\u00a0Apple Inc. are planning to launch by the end of 2026. While Meta and Snap will both have a presence at CES, the bulk of the news in this space is likely to come from smaller brands, such as Xreal Inc., Vuzix Corp., Halliday Global Ltd., Rokid\u00a0and Even Realities.<\/p>\n
Meta isn\u2019t expected\u00a0to unveil new hardware at this time, having\u00a0recently debuted its first smart glasses with a built-in screen. It is possible, however, that the social media giant is ready to show off some new or improved software features. It\u2019s a similar story for Snap, which isn\u2019t likely to choose this venue to\u00a0announce pricing and availability for its\u00a0forthcoming \u201cSpecs\u201d\u00a0glasses. The Specs will be on display for attendees who haven\u2019t\u00a0had a chance to see them in person, which has so far mostly included select media outlets.<\/p>\n
Photographer: David Paul Morris\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
In addition to eyewear, such as glasses and goggles, some of these gadgets will take the form of a ring or something else entirely \u2014\u00a0underscoring that startups and Big Tech alike remain bullish\u00a0on AI-first hardware that lets people tap into intelligent assistants without necessarily taking out their smartphone. Previous offerings, including the Humane AI\u00a0Pin and the Rabbit R1, were commercial failures after being panned by tech reviewers.<\/p>\n
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Robots Everywhere<\/p>\n
Many companies will also be testing consumers’ readiness to accept AI-powered humanoid robots. There will be so many players, in fact, that the Consumer Technology Association, or CTA, which organizes CES, has set aside an entire hall of the convention space for robotics.\u00a0While some of these robots are intended for the home, many of the models\u00a0on display will be\u00a0designed for enterprise uses such as manufacturing, logistics and food service. Firms such as Artly Coffee and VenHub Global will show off technology for\u00a0AI-powered robotic caf\u00e9s and convenience stores.<\/p>\n
Companion robots will be a common sight as well, including products like the Jennie robot dog\u00a0from Tombot Inc., a California-based startup\u00a0focused on developing products for aging adults and people living with dementia.<\/p>\n
Photographer: Qilai Shen\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
If 2026 is similar to previous shows, there\u2019s\u00a0likely to be a sizeable gap between what many of these human-inspired bots are capable of in controlled demos versus what their makers promise they\u2019ll eventually be able to do.<\/p>\n
Still, there are signs of progress. Many humanoid makers\u00a0this year are\u00a0shifting from single-task demonstrations to more complex, multi-step tricks, such as both sorting and folding laundry. Larger players,\u00a0including LG, are expected to tease their own humanoid concepts, but the companies will need to convince attendees that these machines are commercially viable amid ongoing challenges around battery life, mobility, cost and safety.<\/p>\n
Everything Else<\/p>\n
Above all other categories, televisions have traditionally been the centerpiece of CES, with Samsung, LG, and ascendant Chinese competitors TCL and Hisense showing off their brightest, biggest sets for the new year.\u00a0Sony Group Corp., once a cornerstone of the convention show floor, has moved its TV product announcements to spring in recent years and pared back its booth as a result.<\/p>\n
In 2026, with high-end TVs now delivering more than enough brightness and resolution for most consumers, manufacturers are likely to focus on wider color reproduction and other improvements\u00a0that result in a more vivid,\u00a0lifelike picture. Aesthetically pleasing models like Samsung\u2019s The Frame line have inspired a wave of clones from other TV makers, a trend that\u2019s likely to continue in Vegas.<\/p>\n
Photographer: Bridget Bennett\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
CES typically isn\u2019t a venue for major smartphone news, but Motorola could be an exception this year. Its parent company,\u00a0Lenovo,\u00a0is headlining one of the show\u2019s evening keynotes for the first time, and Motorola mailed a teaser package to media that strongly hints at a book-style foldable. Such a device\u00a0would be its first of that form factor after years of releasing Razr-branded folding handsets.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, wearables will continue to evolve beyond basic fitness tracking, blurring the lines with medical-grade devices. The show will feature products such as a smart night guard that not only protects against teeth grinding but also claims to monitor\u00a0sleep apnea events, heart rate, respiration and sleep cycles. Wearables in general are expected to offer a greater focus on women\u2019s health, continuous glucose monitoring, advanced cardiovascular tracking, longevity and chronic-condition management.<\/p>\n
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\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photographer: Bridget Bennett\/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — At CES, the annual consumer technology conference happening in Las Vegas next week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[27605,62,276,277,4536,49,48,121875,8189,6494,8538,848,61,164073],"class_list":{"0":"post-386038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-advanced-micro-devices-inc","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-artificialintelligence","12":"tag-bloomberg","13":"tag-ca","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-ces","16":"tag-jensen-huang","17":"tag-nvidia","18":"tag-photographer","19":"tag-samsung","20":"tag-technology","21":"tag-technology-conference"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}