Ready for the new year? The tech world bounces back to life as soon as the New Year’s Eve fireworks have spluttered into ash, with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that lights up Las Vegas.
We can expect to see launches from major brands, including several highly anticipated smartphones that are expected to have global releases, following their initial announcements in China in 2025.
Plus, Samsung’s next flagship phone series will, if the company follows the pattern it set in 2024 and 2025, appear some time in January in California.
Read more: As a tech critic, these are my technology predictions for 2026
The big announcements start in Las Vegas
The international CES is the name of the world’s biggest trade show, held in the Las Vegas Convention Centre and across hotels along the Strip. This year it runs from 6-9 January, with acres of TVs, home appliances, room-filling tractors, electric cars, robots and high-end speakers in the main halls.
Often the coolest announcements come from offsite meetings or fringe events – there are plenty of hotel suites and event spaces stuffed with brands wanting attention. The main rule is that your next appointment will be at the other end of the Strip from the current one (CES is a very big start to the year for Uber drivers in Las Vegas).
Almost every brand is at CES – Apple is the notable absentee – with no-name start-ups jostling for attention alongside Panasonic, Sony, LG and others.
I’m at CES, along with IndyBest’s senior tech critic Alex Lee, so watch this space for the latest announcements from the show
Qualcomm, Intel and AMD have new chips
Intel has said it’ll be launching its next processors, called Panther Lake, at CES, while AMD is a CES regular so we can expect new chips from it as well.
Qualcomm’s industry-leading Snapdragon chips for Android phones were revealed in September, but they’re slowly beginning to arrive in new phones shortly. In the meantime, there are rumours that laptops will be the company’s focus. There may also be a Qualcomm collaboration with LG for an AI in-car cockpit system.
Samsung’s big start to the year
Samsung’s first event of the year was in Las Vegas, in a major takeover of the Wynn Hotel (Samsung is unveiling all its new products here rather than in the Convention Centre for the first time).
Chief among the launches was a huge TV with a new technology. The 130in screen has a micro RGB display – a high-end tech that may replace OLED as the price begins to come down. It also announced a 55in version, which will suit more homes than the giant TV – though both looked remarkable, with high-resolution imagery and a brightness that OLED can’t match.
There were also wellness innovations both for people and pets, a striking-looking series of smart speakers and the Vision AI Companion that lets you talk to your TV to gather information, get a recipe or access different types of programming.
Smartphone frenzy
Along with Samsung, other phones are expected to appear in January. Some of these have already appeared in their home territory, usually China, but are about to get wider releases. The OnePlus 14 with super-fast charging is predicted. Samsung’s Galaxy TriFold (a phone with two, not three, folds to its screen) may be announced for international sales. And the Honor Magic 8 Pro with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is thought to get a global launch in January.
How about Apple?
As ever with Apple, nothing is set until it’s announced but we could see a new MacBook Pro as early as this month. Apple released the 14in MacBook Pro with its latest M5 processor in November, meaning that higher-end models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips (assuming that’s what they’re called) didn’t appear.
They’re likely to arrive soon, and several reports have pointed to January as likely. That said, Apple likes a spring release, so it could be late February or early March instead, possibly alongside a new entry-level phone, like the iPhone 17e, and an iPad or two. Stay tuned.
We’re on top of tech releases including the Brick app-blocking device, which our consumer writer gave her verdict on
