CES 2027: What to Expect From the Biggest Tech Show of the Year
The show turns 60 in January. The phones you can buy may not show up, but the technology inside them will.
CES has been holding court for 60 years, an impressive run for an industry that calls a phone "old" roughly 11 months after launch. The Consumer Technology Association's show returns to Las Vegas on January 6–9, 2027, and will again be where the industry explains — at length, and usually with a slide — what the next year is supposed to look like.
If you care mainly about smartphones, CES is not a phone launch show; the biggest handsets get their own choreographed events. But the pieces that make them better — processors, cameras, batteries, displays and radios — often appear at CES first, sometimes behind glass, sometimes only in a briefing room.
What CES 2027 actually is
CES is owned and produced by CTA. It is trade-only, not a public gadget festival: attendees must be 18 or older and affiliated with the consumer tech industry, and CTA is blunt that the show is not open to the general public.
CTA's audited CES 2026 figures put attendance at 148,392 and exhibitors at more than 4,100; the 2027 edition marks the show's 60th anniversary.
When and where CES 2027 takes place
CES 2027 runs Wednesday, January 6 through Saturday, January 9, 2027, in Las Vegas. Media Days run January 4–5 at Mandalay Bay, with CES Unveiled and CTA's Tech Trends to Watch on January 4.
The dates are confirmed by CES and the CTA events page.
The mobile technology worth watching
On-device AI and processors
The phrase you will hear most is "agentic AI" — software that carries out multi-step tasks rather than just answering a question. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6 platforms, announced September 22, 2026, are built around on-device agents; Qualcomm claims the Extreme chip's NPU is 35% faster than the previous generation's. Samsung and Google are pushing the same direction in software.
The practical question is whether it works offline, respects your data, and survives the free trial. CES is good at the first part; the rest takes months.
Qualcomm's latest platforms use a 2nm process, a custom Oryon CPU and a reworked Adreno GPU. Do not expect a new Qualcomm flagship chip at CES; this generation debuted at Snapdragon Summit in September.
Cameras and computational photography
Camera hardware comes in two flavors: sensors that look good on a spec sheet and software that decides whether photos actually look good. The direction is more computational. Qualcomm says its new platform adds AI scene understanding, pixel-level control and Advanced Professional Video support, with cleaner night shots and steadier video as the promised payoff. That is a demo claim, not a review.
Big megapixel counts still sell — Xiaomi's 15 Ultra pairs a 1-inch main sensor with a 200MP telephoto — but tuning and processing separate good from great. A demo under studio lighting is a weak preview of a birthday party in a dim kitchen.
Batteries and charging
Samsung keeps raising battery capacity and charging speed across its foldables. At the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Flip8, Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9 launch, Samsung confirmed the Fold8 Ultra and Fold8 each pack a 5,000 mAh battery with 45W wired charging, while the Flip8 carries a 4,300 mAh cell with 25W wired charging.
Wireless charging is improving too. The Wireless Power Consortium's Qi2 25W standard, launched in 2025, raises certified charging from Qi2's 15W to 25W while keeping Qi2's magnetic alignment.
Foldables and other shapes
Foldables have moved from science project to product category. Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold, a double-folding phone with a 10-inch display, went on sale in the U.S. on January 30, 2026, starting at $2,899. Motorola's first book-style foldable, the Razr Fold, announced U.S. availability on May 21, with sales beginning May 28; the phone starts at $1,899.99. Google sells the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The form factor is settled; the hinge, crease, software and price are not.
Expect more prototypes and rollable displays at CES 2027, including one concept that folds in a direction no one asked for. Check for a price, carrier and ship date before getting attached.
Connectivity and mobile accessories
Wi-Fi 8 will be a talking point even though the IEEE 802.11bn standard is not expected to be finalized until 2028. Qualcomm's FastConnect 8800 puts Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth, ultra-wideband and Thread on one chip, and Qualcomm claims peak PHY speeds of up to 11.6 Gbps — a theoretical physical-layer maximum, not a real-world internet speed.
UWB is behind digital car keys and precise tracking, and Qi2 magnets are making wireless accessories more consistent across Android and iPhone.
Companies worth watching
Samsung is listed as a CES 2027 exhibitor and will almost certainly talk about Galaxy AI, displays and its ecosystem. It has not confirmed a phone launch: its Galaxy S26 series was announced at Galaxy Unpacked on February 25, 2026, not at CES, and Samsung has not announced a Galaxy S27 event. Reports point to an early-2027 launch, but not necessarily at CES. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the current model in our catalog.
Lenovo, which owns Motorola, has the most concrete plan. Its Tech World @ CES keynote returns to Sphere on January 6 at 5 p.m. Pacific, with CEO Yuanqing Yang talking up "Hybrid AI" across PCs, phones and wearables. Motorola has not announced a CES 2027 phone, and reports of a smaller, cheaper Razr Flex remain unconfirmed. The Razr Ultra is the Motorola foldable in our catalog.
Qualcomm is an exhibitor, and agentic AI, camera and gaming demos on reference hardware are a safe bet at its booth. Google is also listed, but its Pixel phones have their own launch cadence and Google has not announced a CES phone. Apple does not exhibit; iPhone news comes from Apple's own events.
What to expect — and what not to
Expect prototypes, component demos, AI features looking for a problem, foldable hinges, camera comparisons and accessories that may never ship. Expect useful charging and tracking gear, plus announcements aimed outside the U.S. or at carrier partners.
Do not expect an iPhone launch, a Galaxy S27 unveiling on the CES show floor, or a firm U.S. price for an unannounced phone. Do not assume a CES product will be sold here, or that "launch" means you can buy it next week. And do not mistake a trade show for a consumer show: the public cannot buy a ticket at the door.
When we will know more
CTA will publish more of the CES 2027 program — keynotes, sessions and Innovation Awards honorees — between now and January. Exhibitors will announce press conferences and lineups on their own schedules. We will update this article as confirmed details arrive and label rumors as rumors.
The short version
CES is 60 years old, which makes it either venerable or due for a midlife crisis, depending on your view of robot dogs. For smartphone buyers, the value is not the flashiest concept. It is the quieter stuff: a chip that runs AI without waking the cloud, a battery that lasts a second day, a hinge that survives a few thousand openings. Those are the details that show up in the phone you actually buy.
Compare the phones we track or browse the full smartphone catalog. Our iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy Z Fold7 pages show what the current generation gets right.