What to expect at CES 2024: laptops with Intel's new Core Ultra chips, TVs with AI processing, AI-powered smart home devices and appliances, and more
No single event of the year delivers more tech news than CES. The annual trade show is the starting point for each year in tech …
Context & Ripple Effects
CES has long served as an early-year showcase for successive device cycles, from the 2020 mix of 5G, HDMI 2.1, and dual-screen laptops to 2024's focus on AI-capable PCs, TVs, and connected home products.
This preview places Intel's Core Ultra launch alongside AI processing in consumer electronics, signaling that AI was becoming a product-level feature across several CES categories rather than a standalone software theme.
First-order effects
- Laptop makers showing Core Ultra systems gain a new platform around which to position AI-focused PC features, while Intel gets a prominent CES venue for its processor rollout.
- TV and appliance makers can market on-device AI processing and AI-powered smart-home functionality as near-term differentiators in their new product lines.
Second-order effects
- PC chip rivals and device brands face pressure to match AI-oriented hardware messaging and demonstrate comparable features, not merely conventional performance gains.
- Retailers, software developers, and smart-home ecosystems must contend with a broader set of AI-branded devices whose usefulness depends on clear, interoperable consumer experiences.
Third-order effects
- If successive CES lineups continue this pattern, AI capability may become a baseline specification across PCs, displays, and home devices, shifting differentiation toward implementation, privacy, and ecosystem compatibility.
- The progression from 2024's Core Ultra-centered PC emphasis to AI-featured TVs and Nvidia GPU-led laptops at CES 2025 suggests consumer hardware launches will increasingly bundle compute advances with AI feature claims.
The trend: CES is becoming a launchpad for distributing AI compute and AI-branded features across mainstream consumer hardware categories.