What to expect at CES 2026

CES 2026 is right around the corner, and the pre-show/early reveal hype cycle suggests that there will be a huge number of AI-powered product categories listed here alongside some major announcements from the likes of Intel, Sony and NVIDIA.

Intel has finally unveiled its Panther Lake (Core Ultra Series 3) chipsets. The first chips built on Intel’s 2nm process can offer a 50 percent performance boost, which is much needed amid intense competition. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang takes the stage for a keynote that’s expected to feature a lot of AI hype, while AMD’s Lisa Su will likely take on the new Ryzen 9000 chipsets and the latest AI upscaling technology.

Over the years, CES has been constantly the A showcase of TV innovation and brilliant next-generation displays. This year, we’re going to be talking a lot about Micro RGB. LG is introducing a new Micro RGB Evo panel with over 1,000 dimming zones, while Samsung plans to launch a full range of Micro RGB TVs from 55 inches to 115 inches. In 2025, Sony introduced a new RGB LED panel that uses individual red, green, and blue Mini LED backlights to produce brighter, more accurate colors. The company has registered a trademark for “True RGB,” which could become what Sony calls its spin on RGB displays.

We’ll be covering all the keynotes, press conferences and big reveals in person. And see which of the hundreds of AI-branded devices and tools are worth reporting.

I’m also betting on the most iconic celebrity looks/endorsements at CES 2026. We saw 50 Cent, Big Bird, Martha Stewart, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Guillermo del Toro, Justin Bieber, and will.i.am (numerous Times), who will join this group of stars?

– Matt Smith

Other big stories this morning

music-studio-5-and-7-will-be-on-display-at-ces-2026">Music Studio 5 and 7 will be shown at CES 2026.

It’s not just TVs with Samsung. The company has already teased a pair of new speakers. The new Wi-Fi speakers, called the Music Studio 5 and 7, will likely be inspired by the Samsung Frame, and blend into your living room. The Music Studio 5 has a 4-inch woofer and dual woofers, with a built-in waveguide to deliver better sound. Music Studio 7 comes with 3.1.1 channel spatial audio with top, front, left and right speakers. There are no prices yet. Expect to hear more at CES itself or once the speakers hit stores. As the press photo above indicates, we can’t wait to sit still in front of someone, with a glass of water(?).

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A 1-inch sensor, a 200-megapixel telephoto camera, and a 3,500-nits display.

Xiaomi’s latest smartphone is a beast once again. It features a 1-inch sensor, a 50MP f/1.67 main camera, and a 1/1.4-inch 200MP periscope telephoto camera. It also has an interesting new mechanical feature: a manual zoom ring. This surrounds the rear camera module.

Both the regular Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Leica variants come with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage, along with a 6.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED display that can reach up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness.

But the camera features are the highlights. The Leica 17 Ultra adds some very good Leica touches: a two-tone finish, a red dot status symbol on the front, textured edges and film simulation, like Leica’s Monopan 50 black and white. Xiaomi says the zoom ring “[eliminates] The need for tedious screen taps… and it can detect displacements as small as 0.03mm. It can also be reprogrammed for manual focus.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra by Leica and regular 17 Ultra start at CNY 7,999 ($1,140) and CNY 6,999 ($995), on par with the latest Pixel 10s and high-end Galaxy S25s.

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Google’s support page in Hindi says the feature is “gradually rolling out to all users.”

Google’s support page in Hindi mentions that you may be able to change your Gmail address. This feature will allow you to replace your current @gmail.com address with another one. Your old address will remain active as an alias on the account, and all your data will remain unaffected. The support page says (translated) “The ability to change your Google Account email address is gradually rolling out to all users.”

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