For its gaming hardware contingent, CES 2026 was a good week to bury good news

How AI indulgences kicked genuine tech highlights disconnected centre stage

CES 2026 doesn’t technically extremity until tomorrow, but past if it were a shot match, it’d beryllium the benignant wherever the location broadside gets battered 4-0 and the cameras support cutting to a watercourse of play summons holders slumping towards the doors with 20 minutes left. An all-timer successful the past of Consumer Electronics Show, it has not been.

You tin astir apt conjecture why. If CES 2024 and CES 2025 were characterised by gaming hardware’s tightening clasp of artificial intelligence, 2026 seems to beryllium the twelvemonth it submitted to a afloat AI Brain takeover. Practical, sensible kit has been announced, but moreso than ever it has been consigned to footnotes, shunted speech truthful the spotlight tin stay connected dubiously utile (if not visibly rubbish) products and services that employment the shareholder community’s favourite acronym.

Nowhere was this much evident than AMD’s keynote speech, a bizarre two-hour firm carousel of impermanent prima executives taking turns – similar a Gorillaz medium produced by Mark Zuckerberg – to tally unreal interviews with CEO Dr. Lisa Su astir each the chill and surely not made-up things AI mightiness beryllium capable to bash successful the future. Partway through, a uncover of immoderate existent consumer-grade laptop CPUs broke out, the bid sanction of 'Ryzen AI 400' evidently having formed a convincing capable disguise to fto it gaffe successful amongst each the Future of Technology backslapping.

Only for astir 3 minutes, mind, oregon a fraction of the clip that Dr. Su spent chatting with her mates. Mates similar OpenAI CEO Greg Brockman, whose ChatGPT bot has been engaged encouraging suicides, oregon Trump subject advisor Michael Kratsios, who’s demonstrated his committedness to technological knowing by slashing US probe funding. "What are the biggest things we indispensable bash to get right, specified that we pb successful AI?", Dr. Su asks, met instantly by a classical libertarian dogwhistle astir removing "regulatory roadblocks to innovation." Mate, did you spot that Ark: Survival Evolved DLC trailer? I'm not definite regularisation is the contented here.

CES, arsenic a showcase, tin number itself fortunate that this keynote didn’t wholly acceptable the code for the remainder of the proceedings. Because here’s the thing: determination were really rather a batch of compelling, desirable, oregon different affirmative developments astatine this year’s event. They conscionable had the oxygen sucked distant from them by AI nonsense.

You whitethorn person seen maine giving the buss of beingness to immoderate of these: Lenovo’s SteamOS mentation of the Legion Go 2 is astir apt my idiosyncratic item by "Oh that’s neat" metrics, portion Nvidia’s nationalist merchandise of DLSS 4.5 upscaling was a pleasant surprise. (That 1 does usage instrumentality learning, but successful a constricted and beauteous overmuch wholly non-problematic mode that’s afforded it region from the existent GenAI-will-save-us zeitgeist.) After delays, Nvidia besides launched G-Sync Pulsar, fundamentally a caller signifier of show backlight strobing that works with adaptive sync systems to cleanable up blur and ghosting effects successful fast-moving games – adjacent connected screens with adaptive refresh rates, which person ne'er played bully with erstwhile attempts astatine backlight strobing. We’ll spot the archetypal Pulsar-compatible monitors connected shelves arsenic soon arsenic February.

Intel, meanwhile, unveiled their Panther Lake household of laptop CPUs. The Core Ultra 3 Series, arsenic it’s much officially called, wouldn’t person usually been overmuch origin for intrigue, but its advances connected the integrated graphics broadside of things bash dependable rather tasty: their Arc B390 GPU is said to beryllium 77% faster than the erstwhile generation’s Arc 140V. Moreover, Intel confirmed that a Panther Lake spot specifically for handheld PCs is successful the works. That’s large news, arsenic 1 of the best-performing portables close present is the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which happens to beryllium powered by... the Arc 140V. Promising stuff.

Dell, to their credit, knowingly resisted "AI PC" branding with their caller Alienware systems and monitors, with caput of merchandise Kevin Terwilliger acknowledging that location PC owners are "not buying based connected AI". Such heretical proclamations went unheard by different exhibitors agelong capable for Dell to besides denote the revival of their XPS concern laptop line, which, if you’ll forgive a little detour from games hardware, is the computing equivalent of the 1660 Restoration unbanning Christmas. I inactive deliberation the 2015 exemplary of the XPS 13 is the nicest laptop I’ve ever used.

Image credit: Alienware

Other niche slivers of happiness could beryllium recovered astir CES 2026, similar mechanical keyboard mainstays Cherry bouncing backmost from a caller mill closure with their archetypal enactment of fast, deterioration-resistant magnetic cardinal power 'boards. And, of course, determination was the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, apt to go the CPU of prime for high-end PC builds erstwhile it launches aboriginal this year.

Not that you’d cognize it existed, had you solely sat done AMD’s lightly villainous keynote – 2 hours and this ostensibly flagship spot wasn’t mentioned once. Could a mates of minutes person not been shaved disconnected the authoritarian bootlicking conception to marque country for an existent product? Was it simply excessively overmuch to inquire the feline from Jeff Bezos’ rocket institution to stock runtime with thing that the proles mightiness beryllium much funny in?

Apparently so, and plentifulness of different manufacturers couldn’t assistance themselves either. DLSS 4.5 and G-Sync Pulsar, 2 genuine attempts astatine method problem-solving with sole focuses connected making games amended to play, had to cohabit an announcement with Dynamic MFG, yet different mentation of Nvidia’s lag-inducing AI framework procreation tech. Not to mention, via Nvidia ACE, much experiments successful the invariably stilted and awkward satellite of AI NPCs. The latest attempt: adding a personality-bereft 'adviser' to Total War: Pharaoh, who is functionally a VRAM-heavy hunt motor successful a comic hat.

Intel besides buried their perchance world-beating handheld APU nether slides of buzzwords astir AI compute powerfulness and immoderate a "Hybrid Agentic Planner" is, and portion Razer had a new, Bluetooth-enabled mentation of their superb Wolverine V3 controller, they whitethorn person leaned further into high-concept silliness than immoderate different gaming peripheral shaper astatine the show. Headline point fig one: Project AVA, an AI "desk companion" wherein a holographic anime catgirl (or, chillingly, the visage of real-life League of Legends pro Faker) tin beryllium made to bark basal FPS tactics astatine you. Number two: Project Motoko, which could charitably beryllium described arsenic an Apple Vision Pro that looks similar a brace of headphones. Its applications, shown frankincense acold lone successful heavy edited mockup clips, see summarising the pages of a publication you're speechmaking – conveniently redeeming you the occupation of speechmaking a publication – and someway holding and accessing facial designation information connected strangers.

CES has ever had an excessively ambitious, possibly adjacent unhinged vigor to it, with its floors afloat of flying cars and astute bathtubs. But that unintentional drama quackery has, implicit the past fewer shows, been replaced by thing darker. Something inactive based successful phantasy overpromising, but nary longer delivered with the earnest charm of hopeful inventors. Instead, AI is venerated with the spiritual fervour, by radical who aren’t simply contented with arguing that you request it – the satellite itself indispensable alteration astir it. Thus, we person a Consumer Electronics Show wherever user electronics instrumentality a backseat to the affluent and almighty lasting connected a stage, agreeing with each different astir however atrocious ineligible safeguards are. If, indeed, those electronics gain a notation astatine all.