I went on a smart home hunt at CES 2025, and these are the coolest gadgets I found
It wouldn’t be a stretch to call the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) the hub of modern smart home technology. Although early attempts were made before the turn of the century, the halls of CES have welcomed more and more connected devices since the early 2000s, and CES 2025 is no different.
This year I scoured the show floor to find the best of the best smart home devices, from the weird and wonderful to the more practical inventions that will shape connected home technology for years to come.
Do you want to make your home work for you? Here’s my pick of the best smart home offerings from CES 2025 so far.
Robot vacuum cleaners are becoming futuristic
Some of the biggest smart home news at CES so far concerns robot vacuum cleaners, with stiff competition across the board from some of the biggest names in robot-assisted living.
This year things are going to be more exciting; finally, there is a major disruption happening in the space that could actually come to market. This year it’s in the form of often bizarre but exciting hardware tweaks like Roborock’s robot vacuum cleaner with its sock collection arm, but more exciting than that is Dreame’s new robovac that can climb over obstacles up to 4.2cm, or 6cm high, in one step in two steps, using what Dreame calls its “ProLeap System.” It’s one small step for Dreame, one giant leap for Robovac Kind.
Elsewhere, software is once again taking the lead with robot vacuum cleaners such as the Eureka J15 Max Ultra, which uses AI to detect even hard-to-detect spills.
Smart beauty devices are coming onto the market
Beauty tech is on the rise, and CES 2025 is poised to introduce some of the coolest new frontiers in skincare tech.
My favorite so far is definitely Samsung’s AI-powered micro-LED mirror, which scans your face to assess your pores, pigment spots, wrinkles and any redness and recommends a skin care regimen. Samsung claims that in the future, SmartThings-enabled beauty gadgets could also be compatible with the mirror, allowing for even better insights and recommendations.
However, an honorable mention goes to L’Oréal’s new tabletop skin analyzer, which the brand claims will tell you all about your skin’s past, present and future with a simple five-minute scanning process. Wild.
Smart lighting and switches are becoming smarter
Smart lighting seems to be getting a lot smarter, judging by some of the biggest announcements from this year’s CES. In particular, I was drawn to one of Govee’s latest smart bulbs; a pixel panel (aptly called Govee Pixel Light) that can use generative AI within the Govee app to create illuminated images. That’s not all, though; you can also connect it to Govee’s sync boxes for enhanced immersive gaming. For compatible games, the Pixel Light will display game-related visuals, as demonstrated at CES with Mario kart 8.
While not a CES announcement, Philips Hue’s new generative AI assistant has also been making waves in the news cycle this week, though details remain scarce; and Nanoleaf unveiled its subscription service, Nanoleaf Premium, which includes its new Orchestrator tool and Scenescapes.
Smart security for everyone
Smart locks haven’t quite had the groundbreaking developments we’ve seen in recent years, but that doesn’t mean it’s been a dull year. I’m particularly enjoying SwitchBot’s latest tenant-friendly retrofit smart lock solutions, which are an improvement over the first-generation smart lock I reviewed a few years ago. The newer model has a much sleeker design, and the more streamlined design means you don’t have to sacrifice style for smart security.
Elsewhere, Phillips has announced its first smart lock compatible with Matter and Ultraloq’s new smart lock was unveiled to take advantage of iOS 18’s UWB, demonstrating a continued focus on creating solutions that fit a wider variety of consumers work.
Home robots are ready to land
Strange robots are a mainstay at CES, but this year we got a glimpse of some of the devices that will be commercially available.
Chief among these exciting developments is Samsung’s Ballie, which, after years of slack detail and minor tweaks to hardware and software, will hit the market in 2025. It will be armed with a Full HD triple-laser switchable lens projector. , a 2K rear camera and a 4K front camera, as well as LiDAR and Time of Flight (ToF) sensors.
Another common sight at CES that deserves an honorable mention is Yukai Engineering, with its bizarre array of robot companions like the Mirumi pocket bot and Nekojita FuFu, the latter of which delighted my laryngitis-infected self with its ability to cool my tea.
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Ny Breaking will report extensively this year CESand bringing you all the big announcements as they happen. Go to our CES 2025 News page for the latest stories and our hands-on statements on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets and the latest in AI.
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