14/01/2026
Bill Searle and the team are back from 2026. Here's what we really learned.
CES this year felt less about breakthroughs and more about direction.
Across the show, technology is becoming quieter. Screens are blending in, becoming more enabling, interfaces are softening and intelligence is increasingly embedded into the background of everyday life. The strongest ideas did not demand attention, they reduced effort.
AI is now assumed. It is no longer a point of differentiation, but a baseline expectation. The real work is happening beneath the surface, in how responsibly systems operate, how safely they sense and how naturally they integrate into existing behaviours.
Interaction is evolving too. Gesture, passive sensing and ambient input are gaining ground as alternatives to touch and voice, particularly in shared, public and constrained environments. This shift is not about novelty, but comfort, discretion and cognitive ease.
At the same time, the pace of visible innovation feels like it is flattening. Much of what we saw was familiar or incremental, making discernment more important than ever. The signal lies in subtle progress, not spectacle.
As technology becomes more assistive, more predictive and more present, we must be deliberate about what it replaces and what it should preserve. Ease should not come at the cost of connection.
💡Our takeaway
The next phase of innovation will be defined less by what technology can do, and more by how it behaves. Great design will shape systems that are calm, responsible and human-centred, embedding intelligence into everyday life while knowing when to stay quiet.
