Some of the CES 2025 products shined a light on creativity and innovation.
CES 2025 attracted 140,000+ people, had 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space, and featured thousands of product launches. Trying to find products that stand out or break new ground is challenging. No one can see all the shows or products at such a large and widespread event.
The best way to approach this show is to list the four or five product categories you are interested in and then go and see them in person. I also rely on popular tech publications that follow the show. I search daily for what they point out as products of interest and then add them to my go-see list while I’m at the show.
After the show, I look to tech publications to share what they call “the best products or trends at CES 2025.”
For example, my Forbes colleague Sandy Carter shared 14 highlights in AI, Robotics, Glasses and Health.
The folks at CNET shared their amazing next-gen tech: The most amazing revelations from CES 2025.
ZDNet shared CES 2025: The top 25 products that impressed us the most.
My friend and former editor Lance Ulanoff and his team at Techradar shared the 25 best gadgets we saw at CES 2025.
As a technology analyst, I’m pulled into a lot of meetings, so my time on the show floor is limited. However, I carved out half a day to check off the products on my list, and here are the ones that caught my eye.
Smart Glasses-A CES 2025 Topic
At least ten new smart glasses were released at the show. While I couldn’t see them all, I did manage to see four that were really interesting. First up were the new smart glasses from Xreal.
The company unveiled its One Pro AR glasses with improved optics and hardware. The new model has a 57-degree field of view and features 100 nits of brightness. It also comes with a camera attachment, which makes it possible to capture images and videos on these new smart glasses. I got to try them out in a demo, and these new models help set Xreal apart from many of the other smartglass vendors.
This model can be connected to any device you have, be it a PC, tablet or smartphone, and can feature a screen that has grown from 100 inches to 171 inches now. I have the original model and connect my Xreal glasses to my iPad when I fly, which gives me a theater-like experience when I sit in a cramped airplane seat.
Another pair of smart glasses I got to test was from Even Realties. His G1 smart glasses look like regular glasses, but are more like what we expect AR glasses to be. When you search for information, it displays the data on the lens itself. In a demo given by their CEO, he was speaking Chinese and the lens translated what he was saying. I’ll have more to share about these glasses in the future after I spend time testing them, but I’m very impressed with what they offer today and their roadmap for the future.
I saw another very interesting pair of smart glasses from Halliday. I didn’t get to test drive them as their booth was always busy, but I did get to see what they had to offer. They call them “The world’s first Proactive AI Glasses with an invisible screen”. Like the Even Realities G1, the Halliday smart glasses also provide information on an invisible screen. But they add a twist I hadn’t seen in smart glasses: They offer discreet control in a ring that you wear and control every action you take on the glasses themselves. These glasses also translate over 40 languages. And one feature that intrigues me is a teleprompter feature. I hope to test these smart glasses in the future and see how well they perform in real-life experiences.
One last smartglass I want to mention is from Solo. I just started testing them and they also show a lot of promise. They can translate, provide AI-driven information, and use touch sensors on the side of the glasses to navigate.
These smart glasses are the must see in the new year.
Speaking of translation, this is one of the features that I believe will be incredibly important in smart glasses and headphones.
During my 40-year career, I have traveled to over 40 countries, many of which do not speak English. I’ve been dreaming about real-time translation, and we’re only now starting to see this functionality become available. It first appeared in smartphone apps and is now becoming available in smart glasses and headphones.
At the show, I had a chance to test a headset from Vasco called the Vasco Translator E1. It can translate 51 languages right into your ear. These headphones detect your chosen language, so the translation starts automatically. The set includes two headphones for the right ear. You can share one with the person you want to chat with. These work extremely well and CES, with attendees from over 40 countries, was a great place to test them. I visited the China, Korea and Italy booths in the Eureka Park area of the Venice Exhibition Hall, I heard many people speaking these languages at the booths and I could understand what they were saying.
Vasco Translator E1 was a game changing experience for me. I’ve done dozens of trips, especially to Asian countries, and I wish I had them on those trips.
Vasco also has a handy translator called V4. It can translate up to 112 languages and speaks 82. They also have a pocket version called Vasco Translator M3 which speaks 76 languages.
Incorporating translation and advanced AI functionality into smart glasses and headphones could have a serious impact on international relations and is a welcome technology.
Revolutionary PC
As a PC analyst, I also researched new and revolutionary technologies in personal computers and found two that are of real importance. The first was from a company called Ventiva.
They showed off a non-proof-of-concept laptop design powered by Intel Lunar Lake processors at CES. Collaborating with Dell Technologies and Intel on PC design, this concept introduces a new level of silent productivity for laptops under 12mm. Their technology is based on the company’s patented Ionic Cooling Engine (ICE®) technology, which eliminates the need for mechanical fans, using intelligent software control to enable optimal performance in electronics—without any moving parts, noise or vibration. The ultra-compact ICE9 solution enables laptop designs with a height of less than 12 mm, rivaling the thinnest laptops on the market today. Its space-efficient form factor supports sleek and slim designs and offers original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) the flexibility to integrate additional functionality into their products.
Today, almost all laptops use some kind of fan to cool them. However, fans draw power and add to the height of laptops. Ventiva’s technology is a big deal and could change the way all laptops are designed in the future.
The next PC-related product I saw was Lenovo’s new rollable laptop. The flip-up ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 extends the screen up instead of folding it (or folding two screens together) like almost every dual-screen laptop we’ve seen. However, it is a real product, not just a concept or prototype. The ability to convert a laptop screen from 14 to 16.7 inches with the push of a button sounds like something I want.
I got to test this rolling laptop and it is truly a breakthrough product. Although it costs $3,500 when it ships in the second quarter of 2025, because it can go from a 14-inch screen to a 16.7-inch screen, it gives you two monitors in one laptop. I could fit two full web pages on the 16.7 screen.
I’ve seen a lot of rotating screens over the years, mostly on handheld devices. But using one in a laptop is important, and we may see new laptops with rotating screens in the near future.
Big announcement in AI and desktop computing
Nvidia announced its Digits Project, a personal AI supercomputer that provides AI researchers, data scientists and students around the world with access to the power of the Nvidia Grace Blackwell platform.
Project Digits features the new Nvidia GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which provides a high level of AI computing performance for prototyping, fine-tuning and running large AI models.
With Project Digits, users can develop and run inference on models using their desktop system, then seamlessly deploy the models to accelerated cloud or data center infrastructure. It will be available in May with a starting price of $3,000.
Nvidia’s Project Digits was probably the most important product launched at the show. It brings AI inferences of large data sets to a desktop computer. Janakiram, MSV of Forbes, takes a deep dive into Project Digits and is a must read to understand what this new desktop is all about and what it can do.
CES, produced by CTA, proved to be a landmark event, showcasing a variety of revolutionary products and innovations in many sectors, from AI and robotics to smart glasses and personal computing, to name a few. As the technology landscape continues to evolve at an accelerating pace, the show highlighted not only innovative hardware, but also the promising integration of AI and real-time translation technologies that have the potential to reshape industries and improve global connectivity. CES will continue to be the benchmark for technological innovation. Even though I’ve been to 50 of these shows, I still look forward to them every January and hope to be at next year’s show as well.
Disclosure: Lenovo, Dell, Nvidia, and Intel subscribe to Creative Strategies research reports along with many other high-tech companies around the world.
