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We're officially counting down the days until CES 2026 begins, and a quick glance at this week's news cycle reveals just how packed the show will be this year.
Ahead of the Las Vegas trade show, which opens its doors to thousands of journalists, analysts, and industry professionals on Tuesday, January 6, we're already seeing major announcements from the world's leading consumer electronics brands, including Samsung, LG, and Hisense.
Also: The most exciting AI wearable at CES 2026 might not be smart glasses after all
This year's agenda? Expect more ambitious pitches from companies, small and large, including how AI will assist and enhance our daily lives in various ways, modes of transportation that extend beyond city streets, and TVs that surpass conventional specifications, form factors, and sizes.
If we're lucky, we'll discover several notable products that you can actually buy shortly after the curtains close.
How to watch CES 2026
You can tune into CES through various livestreams and keynotes. The full schedule of presentations can be found here; some of them start as soon as this weekend. For a more comprehensive overview of the biggest announcements this year, refer to ZDNET's live news tracker below, curated by our ground team of reporters and editors, as well as individuals monitoring the latest announcements from home.
The latest news (refresh for updates)
By Kerry Wan, Managing Editor / Jan. 2 at 5:11 p.m. ET
The folks at RayNeo are showcasing two new pairs of smart glasses at CES this year: the Air 4 Pro, which extends off of your phone, computer, or gaming console, and the X3 Pro Project eSIM, which supports a built-in 4G connection, allowing you to browse the web or make phone calls without pairing the glasses to a cellular device.
Also: Can the world's first HDR10 smart glasses replace your $2,000 OLED TV - these specs say yes
The latter of the two products is more intriguing to me, as it feels like a natural next step for smart glasses. The Meta Ray-Ban Display has given us a glimpse of what it's like to compute without having to pick up our phones. What if we didn't have to even have our phones present to get things done?
By Kerry Wan, Managing Editor / Jan. 2 at 5:05 p.m. ET
Ahead of CES, TCL has unveiled the new Note A1 Nxtpaper tablet, an 11.5-inch digital notepad that competes with the likes of the Kindle Scribe and ReMarkable. There is one unique aspect with the TCL, though: It has both a full-color LCD display and a 120Hz refresh rate, yielding both vivid and smooth visuals as the user browses, sketches, and more.
Also: TCL's newest E Ink tablet beats the Kindle and Remarkable with this display tech
The Note A1 Nxtpaper is priced at $549, and positions itself as a faster, more versatile hybrid for professionals and students who want a paper-like tablet experience without the traditional imitations of E Ink.
By Kerry Wan, Managing Editor / Jan. 2 at 5:02 p.m. ET
CES is home to many things, including AI vaporware, but Project Luci may change that narrative. It's a compact, magnetic AI pin designed to act as a searchable digital archive of your daily life.
Like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, it features a 12MP ultra-wide camera and dual microphones capable of recording continuously for up to four hours.
Also: The most exciting AI wearable at CES 2026 might not be smart glasses after all
Using a proprietary AI model called Mavi, the device allows users to perform "semantic searches" to recall specific details, such as what they ate or who they met. To address privacy concerns, it includes a physical camera shutter and a dedicated companion hub for local data processing.
Priced at approximately $99, does a "memory-augmented" experience entice you at all?
By Kerry Wan, Managing Editor / Jan. 2 at 5:00 p.m. ET
Alongside TVs, Samsung has unveiled a new batch of 6K monitors. Sorry, I should specify that they're both 6K in
resolution and 3D in playback, allowing gamers to be more immersed in various titles and professionals to be a better feel for their digital creations.
We've seen 3D monitors before, especially at CES, but Samsung's new Odyssey line may be the most polished, with glasses-free eye-tracking that makes the 3D feel more realistic. However, we'll have to see these monitors in person before deciding if they're worth it or not.
Also: Samsung unveils 6K 3D monitors ahead of CES 2026, and I'm already dreading the splurge
"It's hard not to be skeptical. 3D TVs were all the rage a decade ago, only to fall out of favor due to their propensity to muddy colors, worsen image quality, and cause motion sickness," says my ZDNET colleague, Cesar Cadenas. Here's to hoping Samsung overpromises and overdelivers.
By Kerry Wan, Managing Editor / Jan. 2 at 4:50 p.m. ET
There's never a dull moment with TVs, and I blame manufacturers and their extensive dictionary of tech jargon for that. This year's hot word is "Micro RGB," a meticulous arrangement of LEDs that produces enhanced light control and accuracy. Samsung has a version of this, LG has a version of this, Sony has a version of this, and so on.
The big question is how accessible this recent display tech will be, as most TV models in the market currently are both too large and too expensive.
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