With the whirlwind holiday season behind us, the PCMag team is heading back to Las Vegas in the coming days for CES 2025. The show floor proper opens on Tues., Jan. 7, but you can expect to see plenty of crucial announcements in the days leading up to it. The show has evolved over the years, with many large vendors preferring their own standalone launch events to the traditional flashy trade show press conference. But the major players are still trekking to the desert. CES 2024 attracted 135,000+ attendees and more than 4,300 exhibitors, including 60% of Fortune 500 companies, according to the Consumer Technology Association, which hosts CES.
Our experts have been wandering the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center every January for decades; here’s what they expect to see when the show floor opens.
Laptops
When it comes to laptops, CES 2025 will bring a truckload of improvements and changes. The mobile processor market is the most competitive it’s been in living memory, and Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are all rumored to be announcing chips at the show alongside buffed-up PCs that run them, from budget systems to high-end gaming rigs. If the current trends hold, these chips will offer better energy efficiency and performance, especially on AI tasks.
And don’t forget about Nvidia! The graphics and AI giant is rumored to be announcing GeForce RTX 50 series cards for both desktop and mobile, and possibly a DLSS revamp for boosted performance. If those rumors are true, expect a bunch of gaming laptops to also be announced, with leveled-up graphics power inside. With AMD also expected to have a big presence at the show, it wouldn’t surprise us if new AMD GPUs were also announced.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (Credit: Mark Stetson)
Wi-Fi 7 will start showing up in more and more premium and mainstream systems as the newest standard proliferates. Other connectivity features are also expected, like HDMI 2.2 (more about that below), improved M.2 drive connections, and even some software-driven changes to Thunderbolt. But the biggest feature of 2025 will be AI, with neural processors, or NPUs, coming to power more on-device capabilities, ranging from image enhancement to text generation, as generative AI and other smart features creep into every aspect of computing. —Brian Westover, Lead Analyst, Hardware
PC Components
Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
It’s an era of renewal in not just laptops but desktop computing, too. At the very end of 2024, the Intel Arc B580 « Battlemage » GPU showed impressive gains over its predecessor and let Intel, at least temporarily, grab the 1080p gaming crown with the best budget graphics card available right now. With AMD rumored to be pivoting to mainstream and budget graphics cards, 2025 CES may be the start of something of a realignment in the GPU world (though no one expects Nvidia to cede the top spot).
At CES, we’ll likely see new cards from AMD and Nvidia (and maybe Intel, too), as well as mainstream processors and chipsets. AMD (with Ryzen 9000) and Intel (with its « Arrow Lake » Core Ultra 200S) both introduced new high-end processors recently, but they haven’t released lower-end models in these lines yet. Both companies could use CES to roll out closer-to-mainstream components, including the inevitable accompanying lower-cost B-series desktop chipsets for motherboard makers to adopt, and maybe even some more budget-friendly processors. The pickings for new low-end CPUs have been pretty slim of late; here’s hoping for a reversal. —Michael Justin Allen Sexton, Analyst, Hardware
Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will deliver an opening keynote on Mon., Jan. 6, which show organizers say will set the tone for an AI-filled week. But like last year, we’re expecting AI—at least on the consumer side of the fence—to mostly hum along in the background on the latest devices from Lenovo, Samsung, and plenty of others, supporting new on-device background tasks and helpers that will evolve fitfully as the year goes on. That trend in PCs will be backed by the inclusion of NPUs on late-model processors from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm and PC makers’ adoption of those chips.
As for the big AI platform players? OpenAI isn’t attending, and while Google and Microsoft will have a presence at CES, both typically use their respective developer conferences to showcase their next-gen tech. —Emily Forlini, Senior Reporter
TVs and Home Theater
Let’s start with the least surprising home entertainment news: 8K still isn’t happening.
Yes, a few companies offer 8K TVs, and we’ll probably see new ones at CES, but they’re purely for early adopters or those who are really optimistic about upscaling algorithms (or have PCs that can push 8K pictures and want the most desktop space possible). There’s no consumer 8K media yet and no serious plans from any studios or streaming services to distribute shows and movies in digital or physical form. It’s going to stay a non-issue until that happens.
LG Signature OLED T at CES 2024 (Credit: Will Greenwald)
TVs themselves are in a good position thanks to the widespread adoption of mini-LED backlight arrays and QLED panels; bright screens with wide colors are readily available. Without 8K as a major focus, and since gimmicks like 3D and curved TV screens have long since faded, there probably won’t be any big surprises in the TV sphere in Las Vegas.
To go a bit deeper into the technical weeds, though, the HDMI Forum will announce a new specification for HDMI devices and cables. HDMI standards define the speed and capabilities of HDMI connections, and the new 2.2 version will be faster and support a wider range of resolutions than the current 2.1b standard. This won’t actually matter to users for a while; HDMI 2.1b already supports up to 4K at 120Hz and 8K at 60Hz, which already exceeds anything you might need for watching movies and shows. And new HDMI standards will take a while to trickle out to devices and cables anyway. For now, it will be an interesting look at the future of HDMI, but nothing to be concerned with. —Will Greenwald, Lead Analyst, Consumer Electronics
Wi-Fi Routers and Networking
A new Wi-Fi standard arrives every few years, and CES is typically when companies show off their latest routers and mesh systems following the debut of a new standard. Marquee products supporting the current standard, Wi-Fi 7, made a splash last year, so we don’t expect any major launches at this year’s show. In fact, Wi-Fi 7 routers have already achieved commodity status, with some now available for as little as $100.
Still, Wi-Fi 7 itself is almost certain to be well-represented at CES 2025 in all the other non-router products (known in the networking world as “clients”) launched at the show. Many (though certainly not all) devices mentioned elsewhere in this story will come with Wi-Fi 7 support. Phones, tablets, and PCs are obvious candidates; a healthy share of them that launch at CES will have it. Cars and smart home devices are longer shots for Wi-Fi 7 support, though, since many rely exclusively on the 2.4GHz band, which doesn’t benefit much from Wi-Fi 7. —Tom Brant, Deputy Managing Editor, Hardware
Smart Home: AI, Matter, and Robot Vacuums
AI was buzzy last year, and CES 2025 should feature more concrete integrations as opposed to conceptual designs. (Imagine what AI could do in a video doorbell or a smart light bulb.)
Matter has been a hot name at CES for several years, and the industry-wide smart home standard will continue to expand its roster of compatible devices. Matter recently made it easier to control gadgets from different devices, so you can turn on your connected lamp from an Amazon Alexa smart speaker and Siri on your iPhone. Hopefully, we will see gadgets get on board with this multi-admin support.
AI is already integrated into a few categories of smart home gear, like thermostats, so watch for improvements on those fronts. AI also helps robot vacuums recognize and avoid obstacles. At last year’s show, we saw a number of cool automated cleaners, including models that integrated a stick vac into a robot vacuum or that put the robot vacuum’s base into a washing machine. At IFA this fall, we saw robot vacuums that could climb, so watch for interesting hybrids or cool new twists on what these robot helpers can do. —Andrew Gebhart, Senior Analyst, Smart Home and Wearables
Fitness and Health Tech
CES isn’t the place for big-brand fitness launches. Apple, Google, and Samsung already debuted the next members of their respective lines of watches in the summer and fall of 2024, ahead of the holiday shopping season. Instead, look for smaller companies to innovate with new tech in odd shapes and sizes. Last year, we saw a couple of health-tracking mirrors and a highly advanced thermometer. Watch for companies to make health tracking more advanced with AI, and to integrate health tracking into more and more everyday household items and things you can wear. —Andrew Gebhart
Tablets
Tablet releases at CES are generally few and far between, as the most popular tablet makers, Apple and Samsung, hold separate events of their own throughout the year. But that doesn’t mean CES is completely devoid of innovative new slates. This year, rumors suggest that PC manufacturer Asus will showcase a new version of its unusual ROG Flow Z13 Windows 11 tablet, which will run on a powerful yet-to-be-announced AMD chip, called the “Strix Halo.” Leaks suggest the tablet will have a 13.4-inch, 180Hz display and come with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
TCL will also be at CES, so it’s possible we could get a preview of its forthcoming eye-friendly Nxtpaper tablets. While these certainly won’t be as powerful as Asus’ offerings, these TCL slates focus on display technology that reduces eye strain to make it easier to read and watch content on your device. CES probably won’t be the place to find the splashiest tablets this year, but there certainly will be a few offerings that could make your head turn. —Sarah Lord, Analyst, Mobile
Smartphones
CES may no longer be the center of the mobile world (March’s upcoming Mobile World Congress serves as that), but it still offers a glimpse of the technologies designed to move with you. For example, TCL plans to unveil its QD-Mini LED technology, which will eventually be used in phones, tablets, smartwatches, and more. The company’s TCL 50 Pro Nxtpaper 5G phone, with a screen that mimics paper and rejects reflections, already won a 2025 CES Innovation Award.
CES often showcases proof-of-concept products that later find their way into the mobile landscape. However, we don’t expect to see any major new smartphones at CES this year, as companies like Samsung now favor dedicated events like Galaxy Unpacked or making a splash at Mobile World Congress. In other words, we’re holding out for a surprise. —Iyaz Akhtar, Analyst, Mobile
Displays and Monitors
OLED gaming monitors—performance powerhouses with prices to match—hogged up the headlines in the premium gaming monitor market this year. There’s a big opportunity to reinvigorate cheaper monitors, so CES could prove to be a wealth of refreshed, familiar 4K monitors better suited for midrange PC builds and consoles.
Recommended by Our Editors
ViewSonic XG272-2K-OLED (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
OLED has migrated into other categories of display, including (a bit surprisingly) portable monitors, a trend we expect to continue. And while IPS Black can’t compete with OLED’s near-infinite contrast, its 2000:1 and even 3000:1 contrast ratios are far superior to standard IPS, so look for more IPS Black monitors, particularly in the professional arena.
We don’t expect fundamental changes in desktop displays to emerge at the show, though—8K is still not really a thing, and while we did see DisplayPort 2.1 in high-end monitors like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, it’s early days. Similarly, as noted above by Will Greenwald, there are strong hints of an HDMI 2.2 reveal at CES 2025, so it’s possible we could see the new tech adopted by monitors as early as mid-2025. —Zackery Cuevas, Analyst, Hardware, and Tony Hoffman, Senior Analyst, Hardware.
Storage
External SSDs that support the USB4 standard, with maximum throughput speeds of up to 40Gbps, have been slow to take hold, but with more new laptops—especially creator-centric machines—shipping with USB4 ports, it is likely that we will see new SSDs that take full advantage of that interface.
In 2024, we saw (and reviewed) a glut of external SSDs that support USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (maximum throughput 20Gbps) even though few computers offer native Gen 2×2 support. You usually need to buy a motherboard or expansion card that supports this standard to get its speed benefits. We hope to see more computers with native 2×2 ports introduced at CES to fill this apparently growing need, but given that the standard was introduced in 2017, we’re not holding our breath.
Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Z540 (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The latest elite bus standard for M.2 internal SSDs is PCI Express 5.0, which promises throughput (sequential read) speeds of between 10,000MBps and 14,000MBps. They are a natural fit for tower computers, whose spacious chassis can fit the cooling heatsinks or even active mini-fans needed to tame the prodigious heat that these superfast SSDs can throw off. The past year has seen the introduction of the first laptops with PCIe 5 M.2 slots, but it will take some engineering wizardry to develop the Gen 5 SSDs to both fit these slots and stay cool enough to prevent throttling. That would seem to be a natural progression and hopefully a surprise CES 2025 will spring on us. —Tony Hoffman
VR, AR, and Smart Glasses
Don’t expect major news from big names in virtual and mixed reality at CES; Apple, Meta, and Valve prefer to make announcements on their own time. In fact, VR itself is cooling down a bit, if the lukewarm reception to 2024’s Apple Vision Pro is any indication. Big, vision-covering headsets are still niche items, even if they offer clear passthrough vision and are relatively inexpensive like the Meta Quest 3 and 3S.
CES 2025 will likely feature smaller companies showing off enterprise and enthusiast-focused VR headsets. Bulky headsets are more popular among businesses with engineering or similar purpose-built uses, and high-end tethered consumer headsets still serve racing and flight-sim fans who want to build their own rigs. Any new headsets in these categories will probably be incremental upgrades, though. (Think higher resolutions and refresh rates, wider fields of view, and better tracking.)
Rokid Max 2 (Credit: Will Greenwald)
I do expect to see a number of new smart glasses with built-in displays. This growing category is steadily evolving past video glasses with a few gimmicks to less obtrusive, completely see-through displays on standalone hardware that lets you actually wear them on the go. Google already announced its Android XR platform that covers both VR and AR, and we could see early glimpses of smart glasses that use it at the show, but don’t hold your breath for any consumer Android XR devices at the CES. —Will Greenwald
Electric Cars
For the past two years, many people were dubbing CES as the nation’s biggest auto show. Not in 2025. Nearly all the major car companies are skipping CES altogether. We reached out to Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Volvo, VW, and others, and they’re all skipping the show this year. Some say it’s just a natural « off » year for them, and they’ll be back in the future. Others had no significant announcements to warrant the cost of a booth. None said it’s because of a lack of confidence in the industry with the new Trump administration incoming.
We are only expecting updates from Honda and the new VW-backed startup Scout. We’re excited to hear from Honda, especially after its big 0 Series EV launch at CES 2024, and its success since then with the Honda Prologue. Scout is also the only electric car startup we’ve seen in a few years following the demise of Fisker, Lordstown, and others.
Autonomous car company Waymo will have a big presence at the show, though, as it prepares to expand into Austin, Atlanta, and Miami over the next two years and face off against Tesla’s robotaxis. —Emily Forlini
Get Our Best Stories!
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links.
By clicking the button, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy.
You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
About PCMag Staff
