CES has become one of the two pilgrimages I make each year, alongside SXSW, whether I’m attending with clients or on my own. I go to see what’s new, yes, but more importantly, to understand patterns; how technology is being positioned, where momentum is building, and which ideas are actually ready to execute.
Two observations stood out immediately.
First, AI was the headline: everywhere, across nearly every category.
Second, China dominated the mobility exhibits, with scale that was impossible to miss.
But the deeper story at CES 2026 wasn’t just what was present. It was how these technologies showed up, and, in some cases, what still felt unresolved.
AI was the headline. Execution will be the discriminator.
There’s no need to hedge this: AI was the story of CES.
It was on the banners, in the demos, woven into the language of nearly every pitch. Consumer electronics, mobility platforms, productivity tools, home appliances.... AI was the connective tissue of the show.
What’s changed, for me anyway, is that AI alone no longer differentiates.
When everyone has an AI story, the advantage shifts to execution:
The strongest companies weren’t the ones talking about AI in the abstract. They were the ones showing how it integrates into the product, demonstrating improvements in performance, usability, and outcomes.
The message was unmistakable: AI is table stakes. Execution is the strategy.
Consumer Electronics Are Back and Smarter Than Ever.
One of the more surprising and refreshing developments this year was the strength of traditional consumer electronics.
Home entertainment and home productivity made a strong showing, not through flashy reinvention but through practical intelligence. AI is now embedded in the things we use every day: televisions, home productivity tools, refrigerators, vacuums, and cleaning systems.
This wasn’t novelty for novelty’s sake. It was utility.
China’s Command of the Mobility Floor, and the Rise of the Software-Defined Vehicle.
CES has effectively become a mobility show, and this year China owned that floor.
Electric vehicles, urban mobility platforms, and autonomous concepts were everywhere, alongside a dominant theme: the software-defined vehicle (SDV).
Updating your car will soon be as easy as updating your iPhone.
The Expansion of the Augmented Human in Work and Play.
Exoskeletons and augmentation technologies spanned industrial, medical, and recreational use cases; cycling, running, climbing, endurance, and injury prevention.
Artificial Hands, Robots, and the Question of Purpose.
Robotic hands and humanoid robots impressed visually but struggled IMHO to articulate real-world use cases. Much of it felt closer to modernized animatronics than deployable solutions.
Drones Everywhere: But No Real Surprise.
Drones were abundant, but innovation felt incremental and undifferentiated.
The Notable Absence: Space Technology.
Despite its prominence elsewhere, space technology was largely absent, an absence that itself felt instructive.
My Favorite New Tech: AI-Powered Digital Ink Art Frames.
Push a button. Talk to the frame. Watch art come to life in real time on digital ink.
Pure delight. No business case required.
What Leaders Should Take Away.
The future belongs to those who can execute, and occasionally, those who can still surprise us.