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Updated:

Jan 2, 2026 9:34 pm

Posted:

Jan 2, 2026 9:32 pm

CES 2026 is nearly here, kicking off officially on January 6th and running through January 9th, 2026. Every year, this is the show where all the latest hardware and tech goodies for the coming year are shown off – whether they're new gaming laptops or some concept that'll never actually see the light of day. There will be a lot going on, but luckily I'll be on the ground in Las Vegas, sorting through everything.

Over the next week I'll keep this article updated with all the coolest gaming and entertainment technology at the show. This year, the show probably won't be as packed as it was in 2025 – which brought us new graphics cards and all the PC gaming hardware that comes with them. Still, I do expect plenty of gaming hardware to at least be teased, especially with the Steam Machine lurking around the corner.

What to Expect At CES 2026

CES is still a few days away, but that doesn't mean we can't take some educated guesses about what'll be at the giant tech show.

Mid Generation GPUs?

CES 2025 was so huge for gaming because both AMD and Nvidia released a whole new generation of graphics cards. That's probably not going to happen this year, but it is possible that one of these companies launches some kind of mid-generation refresh. Typically, for instance, Nvidia follows its graphics cards about a year into its generation with its 'Super' series of GPUs.

However, because RAM is seeing such high prices right now, there's a good chance that neither of these manufacturers is going to rush to launch new products that'd likely need to be significantly more expensive. We're even starting to see rumors that existing graphics cards are going to see price jumps in the coming months, according to Korean tech outlet Newsis. We'll just have to see!

AI Will Be Everywhere

Love it or hate it, AI is still a huge topic in the tech world, and I don't expect that to change at CES 2026. We're probably going to see hundreds of different gadgets that implement AI in some way, ranging from ridiculous gimmicks to actually useful features. Even in the face of companies like Microsoft backing off of AI investment a bit, according to The Information (Via ExtremeTech), it's still going to be a huge topic at CES this year.

Gaming Laptops Powered By Intel Panther Lake

While it's unlikely we're going to get a new GPU generation at CES 2026, Intel has already announced its new mobile CPU generation, code-named Panther Lake. While this architecture isn't going to power the most powerful gaming laptops, it's going to be behind many lightweight gaming laptops.

I did get a chance to see these new CPUs in action back in November, and was impressed by the technology on offer. These new laptop chips will have integrated GPUs powerful enough to play games at 1080p, and offers Intel's own take on Frame Generation – all without a discrete GPU. Pair it with a discrete GPU and who knows what they'll be capable of. Either way, I'm excited to get these new laptops in the lab – whatever they are. Intel has been needing a win for a while now, maybe this will be it? We'll find out next week!

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra