After a year's break, where the show went virtual due to the COVID-19 outbreak, CES is back in Las Vegas for 2022. However, rising numbers and the Omicron variant, many of the exhibitors and news networks (including T3) have chosen to attend virtually again for a second year.
Despite these challenges, we expect plenty of innovation this year, from the increasingly lifelike images on the latest TVs to the highly intelligent autonomous vehicles and home devices. We will see new challengers for the best products to buy in 2022 as well as prototypes for products of the future.
Past years have seen the coming and going of TV and video formats, the rise in megapixels on digital cameras and even the rise and fall of companies (anyone remember Napster?).
The show officially starts on Wednesday, Jan 5 and runs through Jan 7, though many of the big announcements are made the day before. This page will be updated with some of the highlights and big announcements as they happen, so keep checking back.
To coincide with CES, the Future Tech Awards have been revealed this week, including the Future Choice Awards for the best products and the Future 50 leading individuals in technology, such as Linda Zhang, Ford's chief engineer on the F-150 Lightning. T3's pick of the show will also be announced straight after the show.
CES news highlights so far
- HP’s beautiful new Dragonfly could be the best Chromebook yet
- Play Fortnite for a fortnight with HyperX's new Cloud Alpha Wireless gaming headset
- The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 tablet is so powerful it beats beastly gaming laptops
- HTC VIVE's 5G VR is really exciting. I hope Apple's AR/VR headset copies it
- Victrola's Re-Spin is the retro-look Bluetooth vinyl player of my dreams
- This new Lenovo laptop makes me want a second screen built into my MacBook Pro
- The new Asus Zenbook 17 Fold makes my Apple iPad Air look awfully dull
- Samsung's fun Freestyle, unveiled at CES 2022, turns any surface into a Smart TV
- Linksys Hydra Pro 6, unveiled at CES 2022, is the Wi-Fi 6 router I've been waiting for
- Samsung QD-OLED officially revealed: here's how it beats OLED TVs
- Acer unleashes new "beast" gaming laptop at CES 2022 – and I'm excited
- I think Razer's new Blade gaming laptops, launched at CES 2022, are jaw-dropping
- Sony confirms PlayStation VR2 details and plans to build its Vision S EV
- Can the Hisense 8K Laser TV outclass large screen mini-LED and OLED?
- Dell XPS Plus out-designs Apple for the best laptop of 2022
- This portable Bluetooth speaker brings back the Walkman's legendary style
- Alienware X14 is a compact laptop for the serious gamer
- Sony reveals world-first QD-OLED TV, plus smaller OLED and Mini-LED at last
- LG's new OLED TVs are brighter than ever, and now come in 42-in and 97-in sizes
- Samsung's Eco Remote magically charges over the air, comes with 2022 QLED TVs
- Acer's new Chromebooks, unveiled at CES 2022, look set to stun Windows 11 laptops
- AMD's Ryzen 6000 for laptops leaked: Xbox Series X / PS5 graphics, more power
- The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 gaming monitor just won CES 2022 for me
- Panasonic's new OLED TV can direct its audio to be loud for you and quiet for others
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE breaks cover at CES 2022 with "contour cut" design
- Mercedes Vision EQXX set to smash range for EVs
- Alienware's home server concept is a gamer's paradise
- Samsung's 2022 TVs have dropped: 4K and 8K miniLED, massive microLED and more
News from CES 2022
Tuesday Jan 4 (Media day)
Though the CES show doesn't officially open until Wednesday, Tuesday is when most of the big keynote events happen and products are unveiled. This year, some of the events moved to virtual presentations due to COVID concerns and other news leaked its way out ahead of the events.
The highlights of the day included press conferences from LG Electronics, Hisense, Intel, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung. LG revealed its new OLED TVs as well as its latest version of the CLOi robot and Omnipod, a cross between an autonomous driving car, a mobile office and VIP changing room.
Hisense kicked off with an announcement of an 8K version of its Laser TV system being shown at its booth, as well as its latest line of 4K TVs. Intel released its latest line of 12th gen Alder Lake chips for laptops and a glimpse of its new ARC GPUs (see over on Tom's Guide).
Dell released a new line of XPS 13 laptops called XPS Plus, which have a new cleaner design and, remarkably, a touch bar. It also extended its Alienware X-series of thin gaming laptops with the 14-inch Alienware X14.
Panasonic revealed its new flagship LZ2000 TV as well as an Alexa-powered inverter microwave, a home chef 7-in-1 oven and Technics over-the-ear headphones. Sony wowed with its line of quantum-dot OLED TVs as well as its first Mini-LED options. It also confirmed details of the upcoming PlayStation VR2 and dropped a major announcement about its EV plans.
Finally, Samsung produced an array of products that made us feel like it was Christmas Day again. There was the 4K and 8K TVs, including Mini-LED and microLED models, an air-charging TV remote, the new affordable Galaxy S21 FE smartphone, a Gen-Z focused portable projector and the stunning quantum mini-LED 32-inch monitor, the Odyssey Neo G8.
Wednesday Jan 5
As the show officially opened we got to see the first sights of the show floor and some things peaked the attention on social media. One such attention grabber was BMW's color-changing EV out in the parking lot, which was showing off its skills even before the press event at lunchtime.
Linksys showed off its latest Mesh Wi-fi 6 home router, the Hydra Pro 6, which provides a huge range and dual-band connectivity for all of your home needs. Meanwhile, Belkin was giving the AirPods Pro a run for their money with the Soundform Immerse earbuds.
Google released details of its 2022 roadmap including a range of cross-device integrations for Android, Google TV and Chrome OS, even featuring on Windows PCs. Speaking of PCs, Razer also took the opportunity to update its Blade 14, 15 and 17 models with new 12th gen Intel processors and NVIDIA graphics.
Thursday Jan 6
With the show well and truly underway, there were still more products to come out of the woodwork. Asus ROG delivered the Flow Z13, a gaming-level tablet for those on the move. The device comes with a detachable keyboard and has slight Windows Surface vibe. The difference being though, that it has some serious power under the hood.
One term that is seemingly inescapable this year is metaverse as we see more companies delve into the AR and VR space. The good news is that it has also meant some great new headsets and in addition to Sony's PlayStation VR2 we also got HTC's Vive Focus 3. It's an all-in-one headset with 5G, aimed at corporate use but it's approach could be a clue to other headsets coming this year.
Back with laptops, Lenovo's Thinkbook Plus Gen 3 might be a mouthful of a product name but it's a seriously out-there concept. It features a second, tablet-sized screen built into the body next to the keyboard. It has interesting potential for creatives wanting a tablet and for gamers to keep their main screen focused on the action, but it would certainly cause issues for us left-handers.
We've not seen a huge amount of smartwatches at CES this year but this limited edition Razer X Fossil Gen 6 did catch our attention. This Fossil smartwatch features elements from the Razer user interface and comes in a rather stylish black with green accents.
Can't decide between a curved a flat gaming monitor for your PC? The Skyworth W82 lets you have both. This OLED display can adjust the curvature of the screen at the touch of a button.
There was more EV news from General Motors as it revealed the all-electric version of its iconic pickup, the Chevrolet Silverado as well as EV versions of the Equinox and Blazer SUVs. There was also another look to the future with Cadillac's latest Halo project prototype, the sports InnerSpace.
Finally, there's good news for Nokia fans, as HMD Global has announced it will launch five new Nokia models into the US market in the next few months, including an affordable 5G model and a simple flip phone for the older generation.
Friday Jan 7
Friday was the final day of CES this year – the show is closing a day early due to the effects of the COVID pandemic, which has resulted in fewer visitors and fewer exhibitors. The fact that the show managed to go ahead in these conditions was a massive achievement but I really hope we see it back to full strength in 2023.
While there was no new news as such today we did get to catch up on a few products we hadn't got round to on the first couple of days. These included a look at HP's new Dragonfly Chromebooks and the incredibly long-life HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless gaming headphones that offer 300 hours of use on a single charge.
Wondercise was showing off its new multi-position Flex Bike which promises a social workout. Sleepme's Dock Pro provides a temperature-controlled mattress cover and sleep tracking function for better sleep, and e-scooter manufacturer Okai branches out into bikes. The Okai EB20 is an impressive carbon fiber bike with a matching smart backpack that features an ultraviolet light disinfection chamber.
We'll be revealing T3's CES 2022 Awards on Saturday, so keep an eye out for our best of show selection.
