TechRadar will be extensively covering this year’s CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2025 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.
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CES 2025 is now well underway – and while the grand expo technically starts today (January 7), for those in the media (including the TechRadar team), it’s the second day of showcases and announcements. It’s been another hectic day of tech news, so we’re giving you a round-up of the best bits right here.
As with the first day of CES 2025, the gadgets and gizmos on show below will help to define the year in technology. We’ve got big news from Samsung, Nvidia and LG, as well as new smartwatches, robot vacuums, AI-powered air fryers, and… parasols with batteries attached (perfect for your next beach day).
CES is a tech showcase, so you won’t be able to buy all of these products right away – but they give us a glimpse of what’s coming later in 2025, so you can start saving up now.
This isn’t the end of the CES 2025 fun either, because we’ll have another full round-up of hardware for you to dig into tomorrow…
1. Samsung The Frame Pro TV
- Best feature: The addition of mini-LED tech
We’ve always been intrigued by The Frame TV from Samsung – the television that doubles up as an art showcase – and here at CES 2025 the latest model has been unveiled. The Frame Pro adds mini-LED technology and improved HDR to the mix, and the difference between this and the 2024 model is simply stunning.
There’s an extra vibrancy here and some other tweaks (like improved refresh rate) that make The Frame Pro a better TV, and yet it doesn’t lose any of its appeal when the Art Mode is active. We’ll need to put the model more fully to the test, but it seems Samsung may have finally hit on the right formula this time around.
2. Nvidia RTX 5090
- Best feature: Proper 8K gaming support
We’ve been waiting a long time, but the Nvidia RTX 5000 series GPUs are finally official – including the top-of-the-range RTX 5090. Early impressions: these graphics cards will be living up to the hype, and pack in an enormous amount of power, though you’re going have to pay top dollar to get hold of them.
The RTX 5090 specifically brings with it 92 billion transistors, next-gen Tensor Cores and Ray Tracing Cores, and more than double the AI processing speed of the RTX 4090 (which was a complete beast). Oh, and there’s 32GB of new GDDR7 VRAM too, making this comfortably the most powerful GPU on the planet.
3. SwitchBot K20+ Pro
- Best feature: An innovative mounting platform
If you’ve ever thought the key feature missing from your robot vacuum was the ability to bring you a sandwich while cleaning your floors, take a look at the new SwitchBot K20+ Pro. It comes with a mounting platform for attachments such as fans, security cameras, and trays for bringing your lunch right to you (perhaps).
It’s a neat idea, and expands the capabilities of the standard robovac – it makes sense that it could also be taking care of other jobs (such as purifying the indoor air) while keeping everything spick and span. How the device and its accessories are priced will be crucial, and we’ll find that out at some point later in 2025.
4. LG xboom Stage 301
- Best feature: Works on the floor or on a stand
Musician will.i.am is back in the tech game, and has partnered up with LG to bring us the xboom series of speakers. The best of the bunch right now is the LG xboom Stage 301, which is designed like a stage speaker – it has a corner cut off at the bottom, so you can angle it upwards, just like the pro musicians do.
What’s most important though is the sound, and the 6.5-inch woofer and twin 2.5-inch mid-range drivers do a very impressive job here, based on our testing on the CES 2025 show floor. The speaker works on a stand as well as on the floor, and is designed to be versatile enough to meet a whole range of different needs.
5. Anker SOLIX parasol
- Best feature: Shade cover with solar power
You know you’re at CES when you’re looking at recharging stations paired with objects you wouldn’t necessarily associate with gadget charging – and that brings us to the Anker SOLIX parasol, which you can wheel out to the beach to make sure you stay very much on the grid while you’re soaking in some rays.
Or rather, not soaking in the rays, if you’re benefitting from the parasol’s cover. The umbrella is waterproof and comes with some clever solar cells on top, so you can use the power of the sun to charge up your phones and tablets. It also pairs rather nicely with other products in the Anker range, including power stations.
6. Amazfit Active 2
- Best feature: A personal wrist-based AI assistant
It’s now been well-established that Amazfit is one of the go-to brands if you’re looking for a smartwatch that’s both feature-packed and affordable, and the new Amazfit Active 2 series continues that trend. The starting price here is a mere $99.99 (about £80 / AU$160), but you get an awful lot of bang for your buck.
The watch series boasts stainless steel frames, 10 days of battery life, offline maps support, and 160 sports mode options. There are multiple strap and AMOLED display options, and you also get the AI Zepp Flow assistant on board, ready and waiting to help you with fitness insights, watch settings, messaging, and more.
7. Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential
- Best feature: Saving energy at an affordable price
Ecobee isn’t missing out on the CES 2025 fun, and it has a new Smart Thermostat Essential to show off in Las Vegas. Not only does it learn the heating and cooling speeds for your home and bring with it a full color touchscreen, it’s also half the price of the 4th-gen Nest Learning Thermostat Google unveiled last year.
It’ll set you back $129.99 (about £100 / AU$200) when it goes on sale in March. All the standard features are included, such as customizable schedules and remote control, and it’ll work with Ecobee’s SmartSensors too, if you have them installed. We haven’t had chance to test it yet, but the early signs are very promising.
8. Dreo ChefMaker 2
- Best feature: AI-powered conversions for oven recipes
We’re often a little disappointed by AI tricks that don’t really live up to the hype, but we like the idea of the Dreo ChefMaker 2 air fryer: it uses artificial intelligence to convert standard oven recipes taken from websites or cookbooks, into actual programs the machine can use, with revised temperatures and timings.
Now until we try it out, we don’t know how well this works – but given how good the original Dreo ChefMaker was, we’re hopeful. If you don’t want to rely on AI, there are also 100 pre-programmed recipes available to get you started, and the device looks to offer the usual Dreo build quality and cooking prowess.
9. TCL Playcube
- Best feature: Can be easily angled in any direction
We’ve only seen a fleeting mention of the TCL Playcube at CES 2025 so far, but we’re very interested in learning more. The portable projector is battery powered so it can go just about anywhere you like, and it features a ‘magic cube’ design that means you can easily angle the projected image in any direction.
And… that’s just about all we know – TCL hasn’t offered any information in the way of pricing or a release date. The previous TCL A1 projector was affordably priced and came with Google TV software on board, so we’re expecting the same from the Playcube. Stay tuned to TechRadar for future updates on this.
10. HMD OffGrid
- Best feature: Satellite connectivity for all smartphones
The HMD OffGrid brings satellite messaging to any smartphone, so you don’t need the latest iPhone to keep in touch with people without any Wi-Fi or cellular coverage. It works like a mobile hotspot that can also reach satellites, and it comes with support for connecting to 24/7 search and rescue services too.
All of this comes at a cost, specifically $199 / £169 upfront with a $14.99 / £14.99 monthly subscription fee – but for some of you outdoor adventurers, that will be well worth it. HMD hasn’t confirmed the exact phones this is going to work with, but we should hear more later in the month, when the device goes on sale.
11. Flic Duo
- Best feature: Hugely customizable and versatile
Sometimes the best gadgets are the simplest gadgets, and the Flic Duo is a case in point from CES 2025: at first glance, it looks like a simple wall switch, but its two buttons can be programmed in all kinds of different ways, and as well as accepting button pushes, you can also control connected devices using swipes.
So, for example, you could change the brightness of smart lights or move a smart blind up and down by moving your finger across one of the buttons. As well as using it on the wall, you can easily pull it off and use it as you wander around your home, making it a versatile and convenient controller for your smart devices.
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