NVIDIA RTX 50 series, HDMI 2.2, and of course, more AI

MANILA, Philippines – If there’s one industry that wastes no time at all to flaunt its wares, it’s consumer electronics.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held annually often less than a week into the new year, some of the world’s biggest consumer tech brands showcase the new tech in their latest TVs, appliances, and in recent years, vehicles that have become more digital and connected. 

Here’s a quick preview of what we’re excited about. 

1. The potential announcement of NVIDIA’s RTX 50 series graphics cards

If you’d been tuning in to The Game Awards back in December, you would have already caught a glimpse of the power of the new GPUs (graphics processing units).

The trailer for the highly anticipated Witcher IV had tiny print saying “pre-rendered in Unreal Engine 5 on an unannounced RTX GPU.” There’s a good chance that’s the RTX 50, particularly the expected RTX 5090 flagship. 

There’s already been a leak about the 5090, and it’s expected to have 21,760 CUDA cores — a 33% increase from its predecessor. The more CUDA cores, the higher the rendering power.

While gaming is certainly the most exciting aspect for most consumers, NVIDIA — which has become the world’s biggest in terms of market capitalization at $3.4 trillion in November — and its chips are in huge demand in AI data centers. 

The company and its chief executive officer Jensen Huang, at their CES keynote (January 7, 9:30 am, Manila time), will “highlight AI-powered technologies, immersive gaming experiences, and groundbreaking automotive advancements.”

The new RTX 50 series features Blackwell architecture — the same one used for its data center chips that have received industry-wide endorsements for performance from the likes of Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk.

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2. Don’t forget about AMD and its RDNA 4-based RX8000 GPUs

AMD is also expected to announce its next-generation RDNA 4-based RX8000 GPUs. “In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray tracing performance, and adds new AI capabilities. We are on track to launch the first RDNA 4 GPUs in early 2025,” CEO Lisa Su said in October, reported by Tom’s Hardware. 

AMD has a very different strategy from NVIDIA though. With NVIDIA taking a nearly monopolistic 88% share of the GPU market, AMD is not seeking to compete in the flagship tier.

AMD’s Jack Huynh, senior vice president, told Tom’s Hardware: “Yes, we will have great, great, great products. But we tried that strategy [King of the Hill] — it hasn’t really grown…. I want to build the best products at the right system price point. So, think about price point-wise; we’ll have leadership.”

Translation: mid-range products that are more affordable to a bigger number of gamers.

The keynote is on January 7, 2 am, Manila time:

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3. A possible HDMI 2.2 announcement

Who geeks out about a new HDMI standard? Gamers, of course, and home theater aficionados. 

You need a proper cable and port in order to use a monitor or a GPU’s best features. And HDMI 2.2 (the first full update since HDMI 2.1 in 2017), as expected, will be supporting higher resolutions, reportedly up to 10k, and higher refresh rates of up to 120Hz at 8K resolution, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. 

Basically, what all of this means is better eye candy for all concerned…and the eventual necessity of consumers having to buy new cables. 

4. New TV tech

While cars have gained steam at CES (and in 2025, more electric vehicles and AI car features are expected) it can still be argued that TVs are the main star of this trade show. 

Every year, we see loads of attention-getting products such as rollable and transparent TVs.

Look at this one from CES 2024:

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2025 looks to be the same. 

Samsung, which is pushing for an “AI Home,” according to its CES press release, is looking to bring more screens to appliances like washing machines and refrigerators. It’s something the brand has already done, but wants to continue to expand. Its main keynote has a theme of “AI for All: Everyday, Everywhere,” which just tells you that AI will remain the biggest trend for the show in 2025.

Back to displays, leaks point to a bigger QD-OLED TV, growing from a “mere” 77 inches to a new record-high 83 inches for Samsung’s QD-OLED format. 

Samsung’s keynote can be watched at news.samsung.com/global on January 7, 5 am, Manila time. 

TV rival LG, meanwhile, also has an AI theme of “Life’s Good 24/7 with Affectionate Intelligence.” Its keynote will be streamed on YouTube. 

5. Rollable laptops, and laptops in even weirder forms 

CES is a place for all kinds of laptops morphing into weird shapes and forms. Sure, you have the usual annual hardware updates from the likes of ASUS ROG, which will have its keynote streamed on its website (January 7, 11 am, Manila time), but if you’re a laptop maker and you need to get extra eyeballs on your brand, you need to come up with something a little wilder.

We’ve seen dual-screened laptops from the likes of ASUS, and a Windows-Android hybrid from Lenovo in past years, as well as an army of laptops with AI features and various implementations of Microsoft Copilot. In 2025, expect more laptops with these AI features. 

Here’s an example from 2023:

But one product that has already leaked is a rollable laptop, as reported by noted leaker Evan Blass. It is supposedly a “sixth generation Lenovo Thinkbook Plus” whose main screen you can pull for a larger, longer screen. 

Wild? Yes. But these are the kinds of machine evolution that make CES pretty fun to keep an eye on. 
Do join us as we monitor for these developments and product announcements to be made at the show. – Rappler.com