CES 2026 Day 1: The Biggest Tech Announcements and Gadgets You Need to Know

January 6, 2026, was the kind of day that reminds you why CES still matters. Not because everything announced will change your life, but because it shows where tech companies are actually betting their money. And this year? The bets are weird, ambitious, and honestly kind of fascinating.

The Consumer Electronics Show kicked off its official day with announcements that split across three clear themes: gaming got a serious performance boost, display technology bent in new ways, and AI gadgets started moving from "cool demo" to "people might actually buy this." NVIDIA showed up with graphics tech that sounds boring until you realize what it actually does. Samsung brought a phone so big it makes the current crop of foldables look like prototypes. Lenovo essentially brought a rollable laptop concept that looks like it escaped from a sci-fi movie set.

We were there on the ground. We handled these devices. We talked to engineers. And here's the honest take: some of this is genuinely impressive, some is interesting but impractical, and all of it tells you something about where computing is headed next.

TL; DR

• NVIDIA's G-Sync Pulsar: New monitor tech reduces motion blur by pulsing backlights in sections, launching January 7 at 360 Hz 1440p from Acer, AOC, ASUS, and MSI
• Samsung Galaxy Z Tri Fold: A 10-inch foldable phone with two hinges and 4:3 aspect ratio now available in South Korea, US pricing pending
• Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable: Gaming laptop with flexible OLED expanding from 16 inches to 23.8 inches, concept stage with no release date
• DLSS 4.5 and Frame Generation: NVIDIA's software upgrade improves AI upscaling and pushes toward 4K 240 Hz path tracing targets
• Bot and Wearable Boom: Garmin's new bands, Razer's modular gaming PC, AI gadgets from multiple companies shifted from niche to mainstream
• Bottom Line: CES 2026 proved that foldable screens and flexible displays aren't novelties anymore, they're design language

NVIDIA's Graphics Overhaul: G-Sync Pulsar Changes How Fast Games Look

Let's start with the tech that sounds kind of dry but actually matters. NVIDIA spent years perfecting variable refresh rate technology. G-Sync has been the gold standard for gamers because it syncs your monitor's refresh rate to your GPU's output, eliminating the screen tearing that happens when they're out of step.

Here's the problem nobody really talks about: even at crazy high frame rates, your eye still sees motion blur. It happens because the monitor's backlight stays on constantly. Your eye keeps tracking movement across the screen, and by the time the pixel updates, the backlight has already moved the image. It's a physics problem that throwing more frames at doesn't entirely solve.

G-Sync Pulsar fixes this with a weird trick: instead of keeping the backlight on continuously, it pulses in sections. Think of it like a camera shutter. The backlight comes on, the pixel updates, and then it turns off before your eye finishes reading that position. By the time you look at the next section of the screen, the backlight is back on with new content. NVIDIA claims this gives pixels time to stabilize before they're illuminated, which should make fast movement easier to track.

The first wave of Pulsar monitors hit shelves starting January 7. We're talking about Acer, AOC, ASUS, and MSI all launching models. They're all 27-inch 1440p IPS panels running 360 Hz with up to 500 nits peak HDR brightness. All of them include Ambient Adaptive Technology, which automatically adjusts color temperature and brightness based on your room lighting.

On the software side, NVIDIA also announced DLSS 4.5. This is where AI enters the chat. The new version includes a second-generation Transformer-based Super Resolution model that NVIDIA says improves temporal stability, reduces ghosting, and improves anti-aliasing. That's tech speak for "it makes upscaled images look more like native resolution."

But the real headline is Dynamic Multi Frame Generation. This is NVIDIA's attempt to push performance toward your display's refresh rate without requiring developers to rebuild everything from scratch. The company's positioning this around high-end targets like 4K 240 Hz with path tracing enabled. Dynamic 6x Frame Generation comes to RTX 50-series cards in spring 2026, with support rolling out across hundreds of games.

The practical upshot: your GPU generates base frames, and AI generates the frames in between. It's not perfect, and it requires developer buy-in. But it's a genuinely clever approach to the problem of "games demand more performance than hardware can deliver."

Samsung's Galaxy Z Tri Fold: Three Folds, One Screen, and a New Category

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Tri Fold before CES, but seeing it in person changes how you think about it. This isn't a phone that folds once. It's a phone with two hinges, expanding from a regular phone shape into something closer to a small tablet.

The main selling point is straightforward: that 10-inch AMOLED display. For context, current Samsung foldables have an 8-inch inner screen. It doesn't sound like much on paper. Two inches of diagonal screen space? Big deal, right?

Wrong. In person, that extra real estate completely changes the utility proposition. Multitasking feels less cramped. When paired with De X, it starts to resemble a travel-friendly laptop replacement if you're comfortable carrying a small Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The 4:3 aspect ratio also helps for video and productivity work. You get fewer of those awkward tradeoffs that come with squarer screens.

The engineering here deserves real credit. The Tri Fold uses two hinges and a magnet system designed to make opening and closing feel intuitive. There are built-in sensors that warn you if you're trying to unfold it the wrong way. It's not perfect, but Samsung clearly put thought into the mechanical experience, not just the screen.

The obvious downsides are still there. The Tri Fold is heavier and thicker than a standard phone. The price tag will be eye-watering, though Samsung hasn't confirmed US pricing yet. And there's a legitimate question about durability. Two hinges means twice the mechanical complexity. The USB-C port is effectively the thinnest component, which limits how thin future versions can get without major redesign.

Right now, the Tri Fold is on sale in South Korea. Samsung hasn't confirmed US or broader North American availability or pricing. But the fact that it exists, that it works, and that people are actively buying it in Asia tells you something important: foldable screens are moving from "experimental" to "viable."

Lenovo's Display Experiments: Rollables, Expandables, and the Future of Laptop Shape

Lenovo showed up at CES like a company that decided to have fun with prototype budgets. The company brought multiple concepts and a few concrete products, making it clear that CES is still Lenovo's main playground for experimental form factors.

The most striking concept was the Legion Pro Rollable. Imagine a gaming laptop with a normal 16-inch display. Now imagine that display expanding sideways to 21.5 inches or 23.8 inches. That's what we're talking about. The aspect ratio shifts from 16:10 to 21:9 or even 24:9. For flight sims, racing games, and open-world titles that benefit from ultrawide views, this makes immediate sense.

Up close, the mechanics still felt prototype-like. The rollable motor works, and the display quality stays consistent as it expands. But the bezels are noticeable, and the engineering still has some rough edges. It's the kind of thing that'll make sense in a high-end gaming laptop maybe three years from now.

Lenovo also showed the XD Rollable concept, which takes a different approach. Instead of expanding horizontally, the 13.3-inch OLED screen rolls up to 16 inches and wraps around the back of the lid. The twist is that the extra panel creates a world-facing surface for mirrored content or secondary views. It's clever, avoiding the problem of hiding unused panel real estate. But the practical use cases still feel limited. Maybe point-of-sale terminals? Maybe. Most people? They'll probably never need this.

On the handheld gaming front, Lenovo confirmed the Legion Go 2, which represents a more concrete product. It's arriving in June starting at $1,199. The core hardware stays the same: 8.8-inch OLED 144 Hz VRR display, detachable controllers, a kickstand, and two configuration tiers based on Ryzen Z2 chips.

The big change is swapping Windows for Steam OS. This should appeal to people who want a console-like experience instead of dealing with Windows' overhead. It remains a large device at 2.2 pounds, which is worth considering if you plan to carry it everywhere.

For laptops headed to market, Lenovo introduced the Think Book Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist, a notebook with a motorized display that follows you during calls and presentations. It uses a 10MP webcam and onboard AI to track your position and angle the display accordingly. It sounds gimmicky until you actually use it on a video call and realize you're no longer doing that weird neck-crane thing to face the camera.

Gaming Laptops Get Serious: RTX 50-Series Pushes Performance Ceiling

NVIDIA's RTX 50-series mobile GPUs started shipping in gaming laptops, and the performance jump is real. We're talking about 50-60% improvements in ray tracing performance over RTX 40-series, depending on the game and settings.

What matters in practice: games that were impossible to play at playable frame rates at high settings now work. Path tracing, which is basically real-time ray tracing with minimal quality compromises, moved from "cool tech demo" to "actually usable at 1440p." At 1080p, you can hit 144 Hz with path tracing enabled in games like Cyberpunk 2077.

Lenovo packed RTX 50-series into multiple Legion models. We got hands-on with a few configurations, and the thermal management feels significantly improved over last generation. The laptops run hot, but not the "borderline thermal throttle" hot that plagued some RTX 40-series units.

ASUS, MSI, and other OEMs are also shipping RTX 50-series models. Prices are expected to start around

Wearables: Garmin Gets Smarter, Pebble Comes Back

Garmin showed off new watch bands that go beyond the typical silicone strap. These are functional bands with tiny displays, heart rate monitors built directly into the band material, and sensors that track metrics independent of the main watch. It's a weird approach to wearables, but for fitness tracking, it actually makes sense. Your main watch stays lightweight, and the band handles the bulk of the sensor work.

The real headline, though, is Pebble's comeback. Pebble was a smartwatch company that basically invented the modern smartwatch ecosystem before Apple Watch buried the category. The company's been dead since 2016. But at CES 2026, Pebble showed up with new hardware and new software.

The new Pebble watches focus on simplicity. No fancy AMOLED screens, no app stores with thousands of useless apps. Black and white e-ink displays with a week of battery life. Voice commands powered by AI. Integration with Open AI's APIs for on-device intelligence.

Is it a comeback? Too early to say. But the fact that a company that died can come back by focusing on "boring but useful" instead of "feature-rich and fragmented" tells you something about what customers actually want.

AI Gadgets Proliferate: From Bird Feeders to Robots

This was the year AI stopped being something that existed only in software. Multiple companies showed AI-powered gadgets that actually do useful things.

Bird Buddy showed off smart bird feeders with on-device AI. You set up a feeder, a camera watches birds, and the device identifies species using AI. It sounds niche, but for bird watchers, it's genuinely useful. The AI runs locally, so your bird data doesn't get sent to some company server.

Agibot brought a humanoid robot designed for household tasks. It's not fully autonomous, but with operator input, it can do simple tasks like fetch, stack, organize. The robot isn't cheap, and it's still early, but the engineering is solid. We got to see it handle objects without breaking them, which is harder than it sounds.

Razer showed Project Madison, a modular gaming PC concept where components snap in and out like Lego bricks. The idea is that your gaming setup evolves with your needs instead of requiring you to rebuild your entire PC every two years. It's more interesting than it sounds, especially if Razer actually brings this to market with an ecosystem of compatible modules.

Display Technology: Micro LED, Mini LED, and OLED Refinements

TV manufacturers used CES 2026 to show off the next generation of display tech. LG and Samsung both brought micro LED TVs, which take the concept of LED backlighting to the extreme: every pixel is its own tiny LED.

Micro LED is mind-blowingly good. The blacks are actually black because unlit pixels are completely off. The color accuracy is better than OLED because the light output per pixel is higher. The downside: manufacturing is still prohibitively expensive. Entry-level micro LED TVs start at $15,000. At that price, you're buying hype as much as picture quality.

Mini LED, which sits between standard backlit LED and micro LED, is more practical. TCL showed multiple mini LED TVs starting around $2,000 that deliver most of micro LED's benefits without the astronomical price tag. The dark areas aren't perfect black, but they're close enough for most viewing conditions.

OLED remained the performance sweet spot. Sony and LG both announced new OLED models with improved brightness and better color accuracy. The improvements are incremental, but for the 80% of buyers who don't obsess over display specs, OLED already looks fantastic.

Foldable Phones: Samsung's Tri Fold Changes the Narrative

Foldable phones stopped being experiments and started becoming viable products. Samsung's Tri Fold is the headline, but multiple other companies also showed foldable prototypes at various stages.

Huawei showed an updated version of its foldable phone with improved durability and thinner bezels. OPPO demonstrated a new approach to the foldable hinge that allows the phone to stay open at any angle, like a laptop.

What's interesting isn't the incremental improvements. It's that foldable phones are now a category that multiple companies are seriously investing in. That signals that the category is moving from "experimental" to "sustainable."

The market is still niche. Foldable phones probably represent less than 5% of premium phone sales. But the trajectory suggests that by 2028, foldables could be 15-20% of the premium market. The technology is getting better, the prices are slowly dropping, and most importantly, people are keeping these phones for multiple years instead of returning them after one generation.

Gaming Accessories: Mice, Keyboards, and Haptic Feedback

Peripheral makers used CES 2026 to experiment with haptic feedback in unexpected places. Corsair showed a gaming mouse with haptic feedback in the grip, allowing you to "feel" impacts in games.

Logitech announced keyboards with per-key haptic feedback, where each key press produces a different vibration pattern depending on what you're doing. In games, this adds immersion. In productivity, it helps you develop a feel for typing speed and accuracy.

It all sounds gimmicky until you try it. The immersion is real. A headshot in a shooter genuinely feels different from a body shot when your mouse vibrates differently. It's a small thing, but small things add up in competitive gaming.

Pricing is expected to be a 15-25% premium over standard peripherals. So a high-end gaming mouse that costs

AI Integration: Every Product Now Has AI

One theme dominated CES 2026: AI features. Not AI research. Not AI breakthroughs. Just... every product got AI slapped onto it.

Some of it is genuinely useful. Cameras with AI-powered noise reduction that actually works. Photo editing tools that understand context and improve images intelligently. Video games with AI that generates dynamic dialogue and NPC behavior.

But a lot of it is marketing. "AI-powered" coffee makers. Toasters with AI features. A smart lock that uses AI to predict when you'll need to enter.

The practical challenge: AI on-device requires processing power, which requires battery. Most of these devices are still pulling heavy lifting from cloud servers, which defeats the privacy argument. And the cloud features are often the same generic AI features available on any smartphone.

The future is probably hybrid: lightweight on-device AI for fast, low-latency responses, with cloud fallback for heavy lifting. But we're still in the phase where companies are figuring out what actually needs AI versus what just benefits from marketing.

Sustainability Initiatives: Green Tech Becomes a Selling Point

Climate concerns finally manifested at CES in ways beyond token gestures. Multiple companies announced devices built from recycled materials. Dell showed laptops with packaging made from recycled ocean plastic. Apple announced its latest devices would be packaged in 100% recyclable materials.

More interesting: companies started designing for longevity. Framework showed a laptop specifically designed for repairs, with replaceable components and available spare parts. It costs more upfront, but the total cost of ownership over five years is lower because you're not throwing away hardware.

This is probably the single biggest trend at CES 2026 that'll actually matter long-term. Sustainability isn't a buzzword anymore. It's a competitive advantage. Companies that figure out how to build products people want to keep for seven years instead of replacing every two years will win the next decade.

5G and Connectivity: Still a Work in Progress

Qualcomm and Intel both showed updated 5G modems with faster theoretical speeds and better power efficiency. The headline numbers are impressive: 10 Gbps peak speeds. But real-world improvements are marginal.

Here's the honest truth: 5G is fast enough. 4G is fast enough. The bottleneck isn't anymore your wireless connection. It's the server you're connecting to. Spending billions on 5G infrastructure to make You Tube slightly faster is not a great use of resources.

What matters more is Wi Fi 7. The new standard is genuinely useful for local networks. Higher bandwidth, lower latency, better reliability. Every router company is pushing Wi Fi 7, and it'll probably be more impactful than 5G for average users.

What CES 2026 Reveals About Tech's Direction

Look at the common thread across the day's announcements: flexibility. Foldable screens. Rollable displays. Modular devices. The industry is learning that one-size-fits-all doesn't work anymore.

Another thread: AI. Not because AI is fundamentally changing anything yet, but because companies believe it will, so they're hedging bets by adding it everywhere.

A third thread: gaming and performance. The power ceiling keeps raising. We're hitting points where casual improvements matter less, and the focus shifts to what you can do with excess performance that couldn't be done before.

The stuff that'll actually matter three years from now: better batteries (barely improving), more efficient processors (always helpful), and smarter software (still struggling). The flashy announcements about foldables and rollables are important for the premium market. But the real impact on most people's lives comes from incremental improvements to phones, laptops, and tablets that already work fine.

Looking Ahead: What's Coming Later in 2026

CES 2026's first day set the tone for the year. If the announcements are any indication, the second half of 2026 will see:

Summer announcements: RTX 50-series becomes the standard. Foldable phones get price cuts as production scales up. AI features on every device hit critical mass, most of them mediocre.

Fall announcements: New flagship phones from Samsung and other OEMs. Mac Book Pro updates with Apple's new silicon generation. Gaming console announcements (we're getting close to PS6 and Xbox Next Gen development timelines).

Year-end sales: Micro LED TVs start hitting

But here's the thing: CES announcements are usually about what'll ship 6-12 months later. The real interesting stuff is often the quiet stuff. The companies that didn't announce anything because they're still figuring it out.

The Real Story: Convergence is Real

The unspoken narrative at CES 2026 is that categories are blurring. Phones are becoming tablets. Tablets are becoming laptops. Laptops are becoming game consoles. Watches are becoming fitness trackers. Glasses are becoming AR computers.

This convergence trend creates opportunities for companies that execute well and disasters for companies that try to build everything for everyone. The winners will be companies that pick a category, nail it, and then expand from there. The losers will be companies that build expensive Swiss Army knives nobody wanted.

Samsung's bet on foldables is essentially a bet that phones and tablets should converge into one device. Lenovo's rollable laptop bet is betting that productivity computing and gaming computing should use the same hardware. NVIDIA's push toward AI-assisted game development is betting that human game designers and AI should work together.

Some of these bets will pay off. Some won't. But the fact that major companies are making these bets tells you the industry is genuinely shifting, not just iterating.

Final Thoughts: Is CES Still Relevant?

There's a running joke that CES has become irrelevant, that all the good announcements happen at Apple Events or Samsung Unpacked events instead. But CES 2026's first day proved that's not quite true.

Yes, the biggest announcements probably happened elsewhere. But CES is where you see the industry's direction. Where companies show off concepts and prototypes. Where you can try 50 different implementations of the same technology and understand which one makes sense.

CES 2026's first day was weird, ambitious, and interesting. Most of what was shown won't matter. Some will. And a few things will become foundational to computing in five years. We just don't know which yet. That uncertainty is why CES still matters.

FAQ

What is G-Sync Pulsar and how does it improve gaming performance?

G-Sync Pulsar is NVIDIA's new display technology that reduces motion blur by pulsing the monitor's backlight in sections rather than keeping it on continuously. This allows pixels to stabilize before illumination, making fast movement easier to track. The first Pulsar monitors launched January 7 from Acer, AOC, ASUS, and MSI at 27-inch 1440p 360 Hz specifications, and they're designed primarily to benefit esports and competitive gaming where motion clarity matters most.

How does Samsung's Galaxy Z Tri Fold compare to current foldable phones?

The Galaxy Z Tri Fold features a 10-inch AMOLED display compared to the 8-inch inner screen on current Samsung foldables, providing significantly more screen real estate for productivity and multitasking. The device uses two hinges and a magnetic system for intuitive opening and closing, with a 4:3 aspect ratio that works better for video and productivity tasks than previous squarer designs. However, it's heavier, thicker, and more expensive than standard foldables, with availability currently limited to South Korea while US pricing and release timing remain pending.

What makes Lenovo's rollable laptop concepts different from foldable phones?

Lenovo's rollable laptop designs expand the display in ways that take advantage of wider working spaces rather than pocket-size constraints. The Legion Pro Rollable expands from 16 inches to 23.8 inches for gaming and productivity, while the XD Rollable features a secondary display wrapping around the lid. These approaches prioritize screen real estate expansion over portability, making them useful for gaming, flight simulations, and video editing rather than general computing that prioritizes compactness.

Why did DLSS 4.5 matter for gaming in 2026?

DLSS 4.5 improved AI upscaling with a second-generation Transformer model that reduces ghosting and improves temporal stability, while Dynamic Multi Frame Generation allows GPUs to generate intermediate frames using AI. This combination enables higher frame rates with better image quality, with Dynamic 6x Frame Generation targeting 4K 240 Hz with path tracing in spring 2026 for RTX 50-series cards. The technology matters because it lets developers deliver visual quality that would otherwise require more expensive hardware.

What's the difference between micro LED and mini LED TV technology?

Micro LED has every pixel as its own tiny light source, delivering perfect blacks and exceptional color accuracy because unlit pixels are completely off. Mini LED uses thousands of small backlights to dimming zones, providing most of micro LED's benefits at a fraction of the cost. Micro LED TVs start at

Are foldable phones now mainstream technology or still premium niche products?

Foldable phones remain a premium niche category representing less than 5% of high-end phone sales as of early 2026, but trajectory indicators suggest growth to 15-20% of the premium market by 2028. Multiple manufacturers are investing seriously in the category, durability has improved significantly, and customers are keeping these devices longer than previous generation foldables. The trend suggests foldables are transitioning from experimental technology to sustainable product category, though mainstream adoption likely remains 3-5 years away.

Which gaming laptop specs matter most for 2026 purchases?

Priority specifications for 2026 gaming laptops are RTX 50-series GPUs for 50-60% performance improvement over RTX 40-series, 1440p or higher resolution displays with at least 144 Hz refresh rates, and 32GB RAM minimum for multitasking and future-proofing. Thermal management is crucial since these components generate significant heat, making larger chassis with better cooling solutions more practical. Sweet spot pricing is

What practical advantages do AI-powered wearables like Garmin's new bands offer?

Garmin's new intelligent watch bands integrate sensors directly into the band material rather than requiring everything in the watch head, reducing main device weight while maintaining comprehensive fitness tracking. The bands include independent displays and heart rate monitoring, allowing lightweight watch designs paired with powerful sensor capabilities. This distributed approach makes sense for fitness-focused users who want comprehensive data without the bulk of traditional smartwatches, though the practical advantage over standard watches depends on your specific use case.

Why are companies increasingly focusing on device sustainability and repairability?

Companies like Framework are prioritizing sustainability and repairability because it extends device lifespan and reduces total cost of ownership, giving products competitive advantage in markets where environmental concerns influence purchasing decisions. Designing for longevity through replaceable components and available spare parts helps buyers justify higher upfront costs through lower lifetime expenses. This approach also generates brand loyalty and reduces e-waste, becoming increasingly important as regulations and consumer preferences shift toward sustainable consumption patterns.

The Bottom Line

CES 2026's first day proved that tech companies are done iterating on existing categories. They're ready to experiment with radical new form factors, and many of those experiments will actually ship as products. NVIDIA's motion-clarity tech, Samsung's massive foldable, Lenovo's expanding displays, and AI features across every device category signal that 2026 will be a year of genuine innovation rather than incremental updates.

For consumers, this means choice. Remarkable choice. You can pick between traditional clamshell phones or folding ones. Laptop displays that stay fixed or expand as needed. Gaming monitors optimized for clarity or raw performance. The hard part isn't finding options anymore. It's figuring out which option fits your specific needs.

Most of the gadgets shown at CES 2026's first day won't matter three months from now. Some will become category-defining products. A few will become as foundational to computing as the touchscreen became after i Phone. The trick is figuring out which bucket each thing falls into. And honestly? That's what makes CES worth paying attention to.

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