CES 2026 preview: a reality check for AI everywhere

This week, office workers around the world dread the return to the office, repeating the mantra: "new year, new me." But it's also the week when over 140,000 attendees and 4,500 exhibitors will take 25,000+ steps a day across 2.6 million square feet at CES 2026.

CES wouldn't be CES without massive television screens, and this year is all about Micro and Mini-LED RGB TVs. And yes, you can expect many announcements about new AR, VR, and XR headsets, and foldable phones. But there will be a few surprises along the way.

Media Days take place Sunday and Monday to give tech reporters a 48-hour head start as they try to predict which tech will be a hit and which weird and wonderful gadgets will never see the light of day. Here at Cybernews, we’ll be starting our coverage by giving you a preview of what you can expect this week.

Livestream the future

The good news is that you can stream many of the top CES keynotes from the comfort of your home or by listening in a minimized browser tab at the office, all without enduring booth fatigue or battery drain on the showfloor.

It's a jam-packed schedule, with most streams available on the CES YouTube channel. But the usual suspects in big tech, such as Samsung, NVIDIA, and AMD, will be simulcasting their keynotes on their official streaming channels.

Samsung unveils world's first 130-inch micro RGB TV

Samsung has been teasing audiences with daily press releases drip-fed over the holidays to avoid news being buried during CES. The tech giant has also grabbed early headlines at CES with the world's first 130-inch Micro RGB TV, unveiled at its standalone First Look presentation at the Wynn Las Vegas before the show officially opened.

The display combines a Micro RGB AI engine with Color Booster Pro to deliver lifelike color and contrast, wrapped in a Frame-like design suited to living spaces with immersive integrated audio.

Samsung is focused on displays through AI-enhanced features such as HDR10+ Advanced, Vision AI, live translation, and Microsoft Copilot support across devices.

Lego brings a whole new dimension of play in its CES debut.

If one press conference stands out on the CES schedule this year, it has to be Lego. The Danish company will be making its CES debut at Sphere Studios. The 45-minute session is reserved for media, followed by demos on the show floor that attendees can explore in person.

Details are locked down, but the teaser "play in the next dimension" hints at LEGO pushing further into connected hardware.

With FIFA, Formula 1, and Sony already orbiting LEGO's partnership universe, we could see more gaming tie-ins. The lean toward tech could also align with updates to long-term materials goals, including its 2032 plan to replace petroleum-based bricks with renewable plastics.

This keynote could be the session that surprises everyone in discussions about how play, hardware, and AI collide in 2026. The press conference is scheduled for Monday, January 5th, at 10 a.m. PT.

NVIDIA CES 2026: the hype, the jacket, and the reality

Despite everything on show at CES, Jensen Huang's keynote has become the hottest ticket in town, with many now comparing it to tech's Super Bowl halftime show. While most of us will be sporting jumpers we picked up over the holidays, the CEO of the world's most valuable publicly traded firm will take to the stage in his latest trademark black leather jacket.

Over the holidays, Nvidia's $20 billion strategic licensing deal with Groq for AI inference raised eyebrows, suggesting that the era of general-purpose GPUs is coming to an end. Jensen is expected to cram 20 live demos spanning robotics, simulation, gaming, and content creation, giving viewers a practical sense of how AI meets hardware outside a lab.

The CES keynote is seen as an early indicator of how AI, robotics, simulation, gaming, and creator tooling will evolve this year, especially as inference and AI compute drive most of its valuation.

The 90-minute keynote will be livestreamed on Monday, January 5th, at 4 p.m. on NVIDIA's website. Some will be watching for technical signals, others for market direction. Either way, the keynote addresses are destined to dominate conversations throughout CES.

AMD meets inference

Last year, AMD and OpenAI unveiled a strategic partnership to deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs. So there will be plenty to discuss when Dr. Lisa Su delivers her 90-minute keynote on the company's direction. We expect to hear more about how AI computing is expanding across data centers, edge devices, AI PCs, and gaming, following a year in which inference performance and flexible AI architectures have become strategic market priorities.

The keynote will offer an early look at how AMD is positioning silicon and AI runtime for the year ahead, giving investors, builders, IT leaders, and everyday users plenty to break down and debate as the AI inference economy moves deeper into mainstream devices and global infrastructure.

Tune in on Monday, January 5th at 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. PST.

Lenovo at the Sphere

Lenovo is taking a bold step by bringing its largest global Tech World event ever to the Sphere in Las Vegas. CEO Yuanqing Yang will deliver a keynote predictably focused on practical AI for users and enterprise customers.

The Sphere is the perfect venue for Lenovo to showcase immersive demonstrations of its smart glasses concept, which lean toward lightweight wearability while offering live translation, image recognition, hands-free notifications, and deeper integration with PCs and smartphones via the Lenovo Qira AI assistant.

Make no mistake, its AI strategy will be the primary focus. But beyond personal devices, the event will showcase how Lenovo's technology intersects with real-world applications, from Formula 1 and the upcoming FIFA World Cup to hybrid AI solutions for business, all presented within a content experience developed in partnership with Sphere Studios.

Lenovo is making a big statement by taking over the famous Sphere venue. You can tune into Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang's keynote on Tuesday, January 6th, at 5 p.m. PST on YouTube.

Keynotes at CES are relatively predictable, with Qualcomm, Panasonic, and LG all showcasing their latest technology. But the first law of CES is to seek out the next big thing or announcements you never saw coming.

AI everywhere

Robotics will take another step from being the CES bizarre novelty act to an early proof of concept. Expect to see humanoids capable of gripping, lifting, and navigating their surroundings. Elsewhere in the automotive hall, we will once again focus on software-first mobility and AI copilots. But it still needs to prove itself beyond press releases and the busy show floor.

As over 140,000 people fly from around the world to get their hands on throwaway plastic gadgets, sustainability will ironically dominate conversations. There needs to be difficult conversations about solving real problems related to longer device lifespans, modular builds, and low-power AI models that trade flash for function. That's the real test for this year's show.

As a tech optimist, I am hopeful we will finally see AI, hardware, and real-world adoption begin to sync up in a way that sticks.

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