We’re headed back to CES for the first time in years: here’s what I’m excited for

It’s been a whopping 3 years since I’ve been out to the desert in Vegas for CES – the massive tech conference that attracts well over 100,000 attendees each year. Things have changed in some pretty substantial ways for the Chromebook ecosystem since then, and there simply hasn’t been much reason to head out there for us here at Chrome Unboxed.

Over the past couple years, the ChromeOS team did a great job creating events of their own where we would travel to New York, hear about some new software on the horizon, and see all the new ChromeOS hardware that was on the way. It was far more efficient than wading through the craziness of CES each year, and it largely removed the reason for us to make the trip to Las Vegas over the past few years.

A new direction for Chromebooks

We’ve talked about it at length, but the attention is warranted: Chromebooks are going to undergo a massive change in 2026 with the move to the Android kernel. There’s no way around it and there are what feel like a billion lingering questions around this move, but we know for sure we are in for a seismic shift in consumer Chromebooks for sure (assuming that’s what they are even called after all this change).

That being said, we do know that there will be a few new devices debuted at CES that we hope to get our hands on. While I don’t think those will be anything massive, we do have some meetings set up with some key folks at Google that could help us at least get our heads around what this massive change could look like this year.

Will we be able to share any of that info? Likely not, but it will help inform the way we go about our business as we await what could be one of the biggest changes for Chromebooks in the past decade.

AR/VR/XR glasses and headsets

So, that’s my primary reason for going out to CES 2026. But that means I’ll have some time to just check out other tech, and I’m pretty excited for a few things. First and foremost, I’m ready to try on some Android XR (or any other AR) glasses. Meta’s first attempt at smart glasses with an AR display built-in are already out on the market, and I fully expect there to be a few attempts from other companies with Android XR this year. The likelihood that I’ll at least get to demo a few of them on the CES 2026 show floor is pretty high.

But I’m also pretty excited to try the VR headsets, too. Android XR encompasses both AR and VR hardware, and Samsung’s latest (still expensive) headset looks pretty amazing. Getting to actually handle one and try it on will be top priority for me this year.

Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold

Additionally, I’m excited to see Samsung’s Galaxy Z Trifold in the flesh. It’s a crazy device, sure, but I really do see the merit in having what amounts to an iPad that you can slip into a pocket. With Android Desktop getting some big upgrades this year and those updates also likely affecting Samsung’s DeX in some positive ways, a “phone” (do we even still call it that?) like the Trifold could become a productivity dream.

AI-enabled hardware

Obviously, there will be AI everywhere. How that will manifest across various hardware verticals will be fascinating, and I’m pretty excited to see what it will be like. CES always has cutting edge hardware to check out, and with the proliferation of AI over the past 18 months, there’s no telling what sorts of wacky stuff we’ll see wondering around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

One thing in particular that will be fun to check out is a few examples of robotic AI for the home or office. From vacuums to lawn mowers to humanoid machines, seeing AI-infused tech that will actually be able to do some of the mundane tasks around the house could be a pretty crazy thing to witness this year.

Freedom to roam

This is really just the surface of what we’ll see at CES 2026 for sure. It’s been a long time since I just wandered around the main show, and I’m actually looking forward to having enough free time to do it again. For years, we were booked with meetings off-site to see the latest Chromebooks, and by the time we saw them, filmed, edited and wrote, we didn’t get to see any of the crazy stuff CES has to offer.

This year will be different, and I’m ready for it! While I’ll get some info (hopefully) about the future of ChromeOS and Chromebooks, we’re going to utilize short form video to capture thoughts on the few Chromebooks we get to see and for anything else of note I come across. That means less editing, more sharing, and more time to experience the show itself. Hopefully, it’s a fantastic look into what we can expect in 2026.