You may need thrown out the wrapping paper and are readying the drinks for the countdown to the brand new 12 months, however a few of us are already preparing for CES 2025. Shortly after New Yr’s Day, many from the Engadget workforce might be packing our luggage to fly to Las Vegas, the place we’ll be overlaying tech’s largest annual convention. As normal, our inboxes are already flooded with pitches from firms which might be planning to be there, and our calendars are filling up with appointments for briefings and demos.
Primarily based on our expertise, in addition to remark of latest business tendencies, it’s pretty simple to make educated predictions about what we would see in January. Over time, the main focus of the convention has spanned areas like TVs, vehicles, sensible house merchandise and private well being, with a smattering of laptops and equipment thrown in. At CES 2025, we count on to see AI get much more pervasive in all areas of the present flooring. However we’re additionally prone to get the same old slew of recent processors and subsequent laptops, in addition to all method of wearables, trackers, toilet home equipment and therapeutic massage chairs. Oh, the therapeutic massage chairs.
What we already know is coming
There’s already loads we all know is coming, simply by a cursory look at the lineup published by the Shopper Expertise Affiliation (CTA). Along with quite a few panels and talks, there might be keynotes by NVIDIA’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Delta CEO Ed Bastian in addition to C-suite executives from firms like Panasonic, SiriusXM, Waymo and Volvo group. We have additionally seen that Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X (Twitter), might be interviewed by journalist Catherine Herridge at a keynote on January 7, whereas Snap CEO Evan Spiegel might be talking about the “future goals of the platform” on January 8.
Some firms did not even wait until January to make their information identified. LG, for instance, continues its annual custom of sharing its upcoming CES launches weeks forward of the present by unveiling the 2025 refresh for its QNED evo line of LCD TVs. The corporate has continued to launch extra info, together with asserting its 45-inch UltraGear bendable OLED gaming monitor alongside a line of curved OLED screens.
Hyundai Mobis, in the meantime, has said it will be giving us a look at its “Holographic Windshield Display,” one thing it is claiming is a world’s first. Hyundai Mobis even shared an image of what its sales space at CES 2025 will appear like, in case footage of conference middle cubicles get you excited.
For those who’re already waiting for 2025 and are studiously researching what is likely to be coming in January, right here’s a style of what our workforce expects to see on the present.
New video playing cards from AMD and NVIDIA
There’s little doubt 2025 goes to be a momentous 12 months for PC avid gamers. NVIDIA is predicted to debut its long-awaited RTX 5000 video playing cards at CES, whereas AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed we’ll see next-generation RDNA 4 GPUs early next year. Of the 2 firms, AMD might use the improve extra. Its last batch of Radeon 7000 cards had been respectable mid-range performers, however they lagged far behind NVIDIA’s {hardware} when it got here to ray tracing, and AMD’s FSR 3 upscaling additionally couldn’t compete with NVIDIA’s AI-powered DLSS 3.
“Along with a powerful improve in gaming efficiency, RDNA 4 delivers considerably larger ray-tracing efficiency and provides new AI capabilities,” AMD CEO Lisa Su stated in an October earnings name.
As for NVIDIA’s new {hardware}, a rumor from the leaker OneRaichu (via DigitalTrends) instructed that the RTX 5090 may very well be as much as 70 p.c sooner than the RTX 4090. (That’s a GPU that I beforehand described as having “unholy power.”) Additionally they observe that different “excessive stage” playing cards might see 30 to 40 p.c efficiency bumps. These good points is likely to be sufficient to tempt rich RTX 4090 house owners to improve, however RTX 4070 and 4080 house owners may need to skip this technology. For NVIDIA holdouts with RTX 3000 and earlier GPUs, although, subsequent 12 months stands out as the excellent time to improve. — Devindra Hardawar, senior reporter
AI PCs spherical 2
Final 12 months, I predicted that AI PCs would dominate CES, and that largely turned out to be true. As 2024 rolled on, we noticed much more highly effective NPUs in chips from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. Microsoft additionally doubled down on AI PCs with its Copilot+ initiative, which gave a giant advertising and marketing push for synthetic intelligence options and premium specs (like having at the least 16GB of RAM).
Count on extra of the identical going into CES 2025, alongside much more AI being stuffed into each class of product conceivable. This 12 months, specifically, PC makers are prone to gear as much as make the most of Windows 10 support ending next year. As a substitute of simply upgrading your outdated laptop to Home windows 11, the likes of Dell and HP would moderately you purchase a complete new AI PC with the brand new OS pre-installed.
Whereas 2024 was a 12 months of infinite AI PC hype, 2025 may find yourself being a 12 months of reckoning. Microsoft’s long-delayed Recall characteristic is slowly trickling out to extra customers, nevertheless it’s already displaying some obtrusive safety holes, like failing to scrub social security and credit card numbers from screenshots. We’ve additionally been mostly underwhelmed with Apple Intelligence’s image generation capabilities. PC makers have been keen to speak up the potential of AI-powered options till now, however in 2025 they’ll have to truly show they’ll reside as much as their fantastical claims. — D.H.
Earbuds that observe Apple’s lead on listening to well being
I’m totally conscious not each audio firm has the flexibility to construct out a clinical-grade hearing test and hearing aid features of their apps. Nonetheless, Apple’s latest replace for the AirPods Professional 2 ought to encourage the competitors to supply some type of listening to well being instruments on their flagship merchandise. Jabra was in all probability the very best outfitted to do that since mother or father firm GN has intensive listening to help expertise. Sadly, the corporate introduced earlier this 12 months that it wouldn’t make earbuds anymore.
Samsung and Google might in all probability combine one thing like what Apple made for the AirPods, given each firms’ present well being platforms. In the event that they did, these bulletins are unlikely to be made at CES, as each firms want to host their very own standalone {hardware} occasions all year long.
That leaves Sennheiser as the largest audio firm that constantly launches earbuds and headphones at CES. Final 12 months, it showcased multiple new models, together with one with heart-rate monitoring for exercises. Plus, it already gives listening to help with devoted units just like the true wi-fi Conversation Clear Plus. These earbuds are extra listening to centered than for basic content material consumption, so it will be nice to see Sennheiser convey some options from that product to its flagship Momentum line of earbuds. Maybe a Momentum True Wi-fi 4 Professional or Plus is within the playing cards, however the present mannequin is simply 9 months outdated.
In fact, there’s loads of room for different firms to innovate right here, and there might be no scarcity of recent earbuds in Vegas subsequent month. We additionally are inclined to see a ton of assistive devices and technology launch at CES, from main accessibility firms like OrCam and all method of smaller manufacturers. I simply hope a number of the new tech consists of extra basic listening to instruments on the fashions most individuals will need to use. — Billy Steele, senior editor
Car electrification goes sky excessive
As the expansion of electrical vehicles nears 10 percent of new models sold within the US, it’s simple to neglect that wheeled automobiles aren’t the one sort of transportation seeing the shift to battery-powered propulsion. Flying taxis have been a mainstay of CES for the previous few years, with idea automobiles from manufacturers as massive as Hyundai dotting the present flooring in Vegas.
Granted, these contraptions look extra like big drones with cockpits than something the Jetsons ever dreamed up. However with firms like Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation pledging to truly launch eVTOL companies (electrical vertical take-off and touchdown) in 2025, the period of air taxis could have landed for actual this time. — Sam Rutherford, senior reporter
Turning extra telephones into satellite tv for pc telephones
Since Apple launched Emergency SOS via Satellite on the iPhone 14 in 2022, we have seen a critical uptick in growth in satellite tv for pc communications. Not solely did Apple expand its feature to allow for non-emergency communications, part makers like Qualcomm, too, tried to convey related capabilities to Android units. Snapdragon Satellite tv for pc was introduced at CES 2023, as a challenge between Qualcomm and Iridium, however the initiative didn’t acquire reputation with smartphone firms, and was finally ended in November that same year.
Since then, Google launched satellite calling in Pixel 9 phones, whereas SpaceX’s Starlink satellite texting service has gone live in New Zealand through telco One NZ. Within the US, T-Cellular opened up beta signups for its Starlink-powered satellite tv for pc cell service this 12 months. The skies are getting extra crowded, too, with AT&T and partner AST SpaceMobile launching five satellites in September, in addition to Amazon’s Project Kuiper seeking to enhance its satellite tv for pc web community with house lasers.
This 12 months, Garmin launched the inReach Messenger Plus, which it describes as an “SOS Satellite tv for pc Communicator with Photograph and Voice messaging.” Although satellite tv for pc hotspots like which have been round for years from firms like Iridium and GlobalSat, they’ve traditionally price $800 to $1,000, and have not had the flexibility to ship a lot various strains of textual content. Garmin’s product could also be an indicator of issues to return — not solely are we prone to see main cellphone makers embed satellite tv for pc communication functionality into future handsets, however within the interim we’re in all probability going to get a bunch of hotspots so we’ll by no means lose connectivity, not matter how far off the grid we get. And I would not be stunned if CES 2025 is rife with units that allow us faucet into satellites to get assist and speak to others. — Cherlynn Low, deputy editor
Expanded dialog enchancment options on soundbars
On the subject of the primary elements of soundbars, there actually isn’t a ton of innovation from 12 months to 12 months. Heck, Samsung’s largest replace final 12 months was the addition of HDMI 2.1 support to its flagship mannequin, which ought to’ve been there already. Firms have additionally been centered on the transition to cable-free every part, whether or not that’s wi-fi Dolby Atmos or wireless transmission boxes. Audio enhancement options are a spot the place firms can actually rise above the fray, and instruments like Sonos’ TV Audio Swap and Bose’s Personal Surround Sound are nice examples of this. A key space almost each firm can enhance is dialog enhance, a characteristic that raises the amount or separates spoken phrase from background noise and music for higher readability.
Sonos made an enormous leap on this regard on the Arc Ultra, providing two further settings for its so-called Speech Enhancement. Beforehand, this was simply an all-or-nothing toggle, which is how most firms deal with their variations of this device. Not solely is the Sonos replace customizable to a level, it’s additionally simply higher, thanks partially to the redesigned structure of its new premium soundbar. That is an apparent space the place different firms can enhance.
LG and Samsung sometimes announce new soundbars at CES, and there are many smaller firms that may debut some too. I’d like to see all of them take dialog enhancements a step additional and on the very least give a number of choices for the way it’s utilized. LG has been utilizing AI Sound Professional from its TVs since 2021 and Samsung gives one thing referred to as Adaptive Sound on its house theater audio system. I might count on them each to typically enhance the standard of their options, however I’m hoping they’ll broaden the capabilities too. — B.S.
Replace, December 17 2024, 12:40PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate the businesses and CEOs that might be making keynotes on the present.
Replace, December 20 2024, 11:55AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate LG and Hyundai Mobis’ bulletins forward of CES 2025.
Replace, December 25 2024, 10:00AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate a prediction about satellite tv for pc communication units being in all places at CES 2025.
Replace, December 30 2024, 11:30AM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate a bit titled “What we already know is coming,” that incorporates newer details about appearances by X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, in addition to updates on LG’s UltraGear line. The intro was additionally up to date to be extra correct in regards to the time of 12 months since we first printed this piece.
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