CES 2026: Where AI Wearables Pretend to Solve Problems and TVs Get Obscenely Large

CES 2026 kicks off January 4th for media (when actual news breaks) and January 6th for the public, promising the usual spectacle: products nobody asked for, AI crammed into everything with a power button, and televisions so massive they require structural engineering consultations before installation.

ZDNET's preview highlights five trends to watch—AI hardware, foldable phones beyond slabs, helpful robots, chipmaker announcements, and an endless parade of televisions. Translation: wearables that solve non-problems, phones that fold three ways because apparently twice wasn't enough, robot vacuums with claws, Nvidia teasing more AI infrastructure, and screens spanning 116+ inches because subtlety is dead.

This is CES. Where innovation theater meets genuine technological progress, and distinguishing between them requires more discernment than most coverage provides.

AI Wearables: Searching for a Use Case

The preview emphasizes AI-enabled wearables as a major trend—smart glasses, pins, wristbands incorporating AI for "deeper data analysis with easy-to-use Q&A chatbots." The pitch: as AI models become more capable, bridging software with the physical world becomes "increasingly prevalent."

Here's the uncomfortable question nobody asks: what percentage of these wearables solve actual problems versus creating solutions searching for applications?

Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses work because they're functional glasses first, with AI features as optional enhancement. Most AI wearables invert this—they're AI delivery mechanisms disguised as accessories, prioritizing the technology over whether anyone needs AI on their wrist or lapel.

The Humane AI Pin launched to enormous hype and died spectacularly because wearing a permanently-on AI assistant turned out to be something nobody wanted badly enough to tolerate its limitations. Rabbit R1 promised pocket AI and delivered a product reviewers couldn't find compelling use cases for beyond what phones already do better.

CES will showcase dozens of AI wearable startups promising revolutionary experiences. Most will be gone within two years. A few might stumble into genuine utility—but the ratio of hype to actual human need remains wildly unbalanced.

Phones Folding Three Ways Because Innovation

Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold features a 10-inch flexible display, following Huawei's Mate XT Ultimate as trifold devices proliferate. The question: who asked for this, and why?

Foldables made sense as a category when they solved the tablet-phone dichotomy—give me a phone-sized device that expands to tablet screen real estate. That value proposition justified the cost, fragility, and compromises. Trifolds add... what exactly? An extra fold? More points of mechanical failure? The ability to unfold your phone dramatically in three stages instead of two?

The preview frames this as "phones that go beyond the slab" like slabs were the problem. Slabs are extremely good at being phones—durable, pocketable, affordable, repairable. The form factor works, which is why after 15+ years of experimentation, rectangles still dominate.

Some meaningful innovation exists here—Samsung's Z Fold 7 being 25% thinner shows genuine engineering progress. Apple's rumored iPhone Air signals possible future foldables from a company that usually waits until technology matures. But trifolds feel like innovation for innovation's sake, solving manufacturing challenges rather than user problems.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe unfolding to 10 inches creates workflow improvements that justify the complexity. But the burden of proof sits with manufacturers claiming we need phones that unfold like origami, not with users satisfied with devices that just work.

Robot Vacuums With Claws and Other Helpful Friends

Last year's CES brought Roborock with a claw attachment for grabbing socks. This year promises "futuristic-looking add-ons to the classic robot vacuum" and "cool robots" throughout expo halls, most being "futuristic prototypes without many real-life applications at the moment."

That last phrase deserves emphasis: prototypes without real-life applications.

Robot vacuums that actually vacuum well represent genuine utility. Adding claws to retrieve socks is either brilliant or absurd depending on whether you have a sock problem requiring robotic intervention. Most CES robots occupy the "wow that's neat" category followed immediately by "but why would I ever need this?"

The preview suggests maybe "with enough AI magic, we see a real, helpful companion come to life." This is the same magical thinking that's plagued robotics for decades—surely this year we'll crack general-purpose helpful robots, despite fundamental challenges in manipulation, navigation, and task understanding that remain unsolved.

We'll get incremental improvements in specialized robotics that do specific tasks well. We won't get C-3PO. Adjusting expectations accordingly prevents disappointment when CES's coolest robots remain confined to demo floors.

Nvidia, AMD, and the Actually Important Announcements

Jensen Huang might deliver a keynote announcing AI infrastructure developments following last year's Cosmos platform for robotics and autonomous driving. AMD confirmed a January 5th keynote likely announcing new 3D V-Cache CPUs.

This matters more than most CES content because chipmaker announcements actually impact what AI and computing systems can do, rather than showcasing speculative products that may never ship.

Nvidia's infrastructure enables the AI applications everyone else demonstrates. AMD's CPU improvements affect actual computing performance for real workloads. These are substantive developments, not innovation theater.

Of course, they're also less photogenic than 116-inch TVs or trifold phones, which is why they get less coverage despite having more impact.

TVs: Now Even More Absurdly Large

Expect televisions that "spin, stick to walls, and even span a whopping 116 inches." Also soundbars, projectors, and screens appearing "on more devices and surfaces than before."

Look, I appreciate display technology progress. OLED advancements, micro-LED innovations, and improved picture quality benefit actual humans watching actual content. But CES TV announcements prioritize spectacle over utility—the biggest, thinnest, most unconventionally-shaped screens possible, regardless of whether anyone needs movie theater-sized displays in residential living rooms.

Most people would benefit more from affordable, high-quality displays at reasonable sizes than from 116-inch installations requiring structural reinforcement. But reasonable doesn't win Best of Show awards at CES.

What CES Actually Reveals

Strip away the hype and CES serves three functions: (1) demonstrating genuine technological progress in specific domains like chipmaking and display technology, (2) showcasing speculative products that may indicate future directions, and (3) providing innovation theater for companies needing press coverage and investor attention.

All three have value. The problem is media coverage rarely distinguishes between them, treating robot vacuum claws and AMD CPU announcements with equivalent seriousness.

The AI wearables will mostly fail. The trifold phones will remain expensive curiosities. The robot companions will stay on demo floors. But the display improvements, chip advancements, and occasional breakthrough product will matter—you just have to wade through acres of nonsense to find them.

We'll be there. We'll report what actually matters versus what just looks cool in press photos. And we'll maintain appropriate skepticism about products solving problems nobody has.

If you need help evaluating emerging technology beyond trade show hype or building marketing strategies around innovations that actually serve customers, Winsome Marketing separates substance from spectacle.