CES 2023 – what to expect at the world’s biggest tech conference

The CES 2022 arch on Day 3 of the event
(Image credit: Consumer Technology Association)

CES 2023 won't start for awhile, but it’s shaping up to be a return to form for the world’s largest tech conference. Slated to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Las Vegas Convention Center, CES 2023 will run from Thursday, January 5 to Sunday, January 8 with the press day happening on Wednesday, January 4. 

This year, the show will be opened by AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. with more keynotes likely to be held by Samsung, Sony, LG and Panasonic throughout the day. That’s when the public will hear about all the new gadgets coming their way in 2023, followed by hands-on time on the show floor starting on Thursday.

For journalists, CES 2023 actually starts on Tuesday, January 3 with the CES 2023 Tech Trends to Watch event and CES Unveiled that starts at 5 o'clock the night before the show. 

Thinking about making the pilgrimage to Las Vegas to attend in-person or want to watch along at home? Here’s everything you need to know about CES 2023 ahead of the show.

CES 2023: Location 

Las Vegas has always been the home of CES, even back when it was called the Consumer Electronics Show. The show has been going on since the late 1960s but ever since 1996, Las Vegas has been the home of the annual conference. 

When it’s going on, Las Vegas is taken over by CES with events happening at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Mandalay Bay Conference Center, The Venetian Expo Hall, the Aria hotel, Park MGM, Vdara, Westgate Hotel and The Wynn. 

Because navigating the show floor by yourself can be a challenge, the Consumer Technology Association offers guided tours and free buses between some of the different venues.

Because navigating the show floor by yourself can be a challenge, the Consumer Technology Association (a.k.a. the CTA, the organization behind the show) offers guided tours and free buses between some of the different venues.

CES 2023: Who’s attending? 

After being a digital-only event for the last few years, there’s a lot of buzz around the industry around who’s attending CES this year. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait until the show floor opens to find out — the CTA provides a list on its website of who’s attending.

As you’d expect, all the biggest names in tech are there: Amazon, AMD, Canon, Google, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Nikon, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony are all among the marquee companies who’ll be at this year’s show. 

You can find the complete list of names at the link above, but if you’re coming to see the big names, you’ll find them at this year’s conference.

CES 2023: What to expect 

CES 2021 TV preview

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

CES typically has announcements for every type of tech lover out there, regardless of whether you love looking at the latest smartphones, cutting-edge computers or the latest and greatest in TV and AV technology. That said, there are some bigger announcements in some categories than there are in others.

For example, TVs are a huge part of CES. It’s where we see Samsung typically announces its newest QLED models — this year it would be the QN95C and QN90C series — as well as any new technology it’s considering implementing. Last year Samsung announced its new S95B QD-OLED at the virtual CES event, and we could see another model or two joining it at this year’s event. Also, 8K TVs.

On the computing front, we often hear about the latest mobile GPUs at CES as well as the next-gen laptops made by Asus, Acer, Lenovo and Razer that will host the chips. It’s hard to predict exactly which model we’ll see at this year’s show, but some new version of the Razer Blade laptop with the newest mobile GPU could certainly be in the cards.

The biggest show for phones and tablets lovers is almost certainly Mobile World Congress that happens in February each year, so don’t expect a ton of announcements at CES around the Samsung Galaxy S23 or any of Samsung’s foldables. Instead we might hear about one or two new models from TCL like we did in 2020 before the show shifted to an online-only format. Back then TCL unveiled a foldable concept phone that garnered lots of attention, so hopefully this year we'll see either a follow-up to that or something completely new.

CES has also become a place to show off the likes of EVs, with makers like Polestar using it as a launch pad for its next big announcement. That said, the biggest name in EVs — Tesla — usually doesn't attend CES. Like Apple, which also doesn't have a presence at CES, it likes to have its own events where it doesn't have to share the limelight. That said, if auto tech is on your LiDAR, then be sure to tune in to the annual Hyundai keynote on Wednesday. 

Lastly, there’s wearables and IoT smart home devices, of which there are hundreds of devices at CES. You’ll of course have your market leaders there like Garmin and Philips, but also dozens of lesser-known competitors who you haven’t heard about. Few of these end up breaking through to the American market, but it’s great to keep an eye out for them to see if there’s anything new overseas that we don’t have available here in the States.

If you want to see what was hot at CES 2022, check out the Tom's Guide CES Awards from that show, which featured the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED laptop, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus smartwatch, and the LG G2 OLED TV. 

How do you get a ticket to CES 2023? 

Unfortunately, CES isn’t open to the public and you have to be part of the technology industry to attend. 

Industry attendees who register with the CTA before December 4 will be charged $100 for a standard conference pass or $1,000 for the deluxe conference pass. After December 4, that price jumps up to $300 and $1,275, respectively.

Of course, it’s not just industry attendees who’ll be there. Exhibitors will have to contact the CTA directly for more information, while journalists, analysts and broadcasters can get complimentary tickets to cover CES by registering on the CTA’s website. 

Basically, you’ll need to fit into one of the above categories if you want to be there in-person, but it won’t cost you a penny to follow along with Tom’s Guide coverage from the show floor. 

My advice? Stay home, relax on the couch and visit our site to get the latest news from Vegas without having to fight your way through the crowd.

Tom's Guide CES Awards

As with previous years, the staff of Tom's Guide will be scouring the convention floors to find the best new tech of 2023, and will be handing out awards during the show. If you'd like to submit a product for consideration, please check out the Tom's Guide CES 2023 Awards: How to enter your product page.

Nick Pino
Managing Editor, TV and AV

Nick Pino heads up the TV and AV verticals at Tom's Guide and covers everything from OLED TVs to the latest wireless headphones. He was formerly the Senior Editor, TV and AV at TechRadar (Tom's Guide's sister site) and has previously written for GamesRadar, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade. Not sure which TV you should buy? Drop him an email or tweet him on Twitter and he can help you out.