CES 2026 Day 1 Is All About Useful Tech And AI Companions
CES 2026 has officially begun. With over 17,000 steps in and three different convention centers that made my head spin to find the best tech around Las Vegas, I bring you a roundup of a few tech products that have impressed me so far.
José Adorno/BGR
The show floor is huge, and there are some things you can only find if you know how to look for them. Like Satechi, for example, who showed me its new Premium CubeDock: A powerful accessory that's built on the success of the M4 Mac mini stand and hub. It features a 180W smart power supply, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, USB-C/A 10Gbps ports, UHS-II, SD/microSD support, and 2.5Gb Ethernet. And if you think that's all, you're wrong, as it also features an SSD slot for up to 8TB of additional storage to your Mac or Windows PC.
José Adorno/BGR
Besides Satechi, the iPhone accessory maker MOFT also unveiled new Find My-compatible MagSafe cases and accessories for iPhone. Built-on the success of its snap-on devices, the company now offers its MagSafe wallets and tripods with Find My capabilities. The battery life lasts for around six months, and the tripod now has a button to take pictures from your iPhone.
AI companions are here to stay, but they don't have to be creepy
While walking The Venetian Convention Center and part of the Las Vegas Convention Center, I saw many AI companions. Fortunately, I haven't crossed paths with AI girlfriends yet, but I did see a Chinese company called Ollobot, which has a little wheel dog-like/monster-like AI companion that has the proper mix of goofiness and usability. It has cameras on its eyes, a tablet mouth that you can see information on, and even a little heart underneath one of its arms where it stores the content you take with it. This robot can play games with your kids, answers easy and hard questions, and shows that AI can be one of your friends.
José Adorno/BGR
SHARP also had a very interesting product called Poketomo. This kawaii, pocket-sized AI robot companion is only 12 cm in height, and you can leave it on your bed stand or carry it around in a custom bag. It's made to cheer you on, share memories with its built-in camera, and just talk to you whenever you need. Besides that, you can also select what data is shared to the cloud.
José Adorno/BGR
Finally, I also saw a chess master robot from Sense Robot. The company said if you could beat it, you could take one home. But I'm terrible at chess, and it was interesting to see people trying ... and losing to the robot.
Other highlights from day one at CES 2026
ASUS, for example, had a bunch of cool stuff. While I'm trying to avoid the biggest tech companies around, as I think you've seen Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Hisense, and more around, I really enjoyed ASUS' demo for the upcoming Wi-Fi 8 standard. Basically, the company says its upcoming router is all about improving real-world average speed with wider coverage than Wi-Fi 7.
As the company explains to me, Wi-Fi 7 capabilities are already better than providers can offer to customers. However, as the users get far from the router, internet speeds drop considerably. With its upcoming router, ASUS wants to make the coverage twice as good, while improving the spectrum in crowded places.
José Adorno/BGR
During my walkthrough, I also saw a few GaN chargers. While they're not brand-new technology, and have made the news for a few CES shows now, I'm always surprised how powerful they have become in such a small form factor. UGreen showed me a 65W charger that is twice the size of Apple's iconic (and terrible) 5W charger. The company even has 300W solutions with more USB-C ports than tech products I own; all of that in a form factor similar to my 67W MacBook Pro charger, but with a lot more technology. CES 2026 continues today, and BGR will continuing bringing more updates from the trade show soon.