The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 was packed with exciting innovations in smart home technology, from aesthetic upgrades to cleaning robots. Whether it’s tech that blends seamlessly into home decor to robot butlers, this year’s show had plenty to offer, but not every gadget hit the mark— some raised major concerns about privacy and sustainability, from a cost and environmental stand point. Let’s get into it:
Aesthetics
TVs are a consistent favorite at CES. Last year, LG’s art TV frames were a highlight, which we covered here. This year, while the TVs were awesome, it was the InkPoster, a collaboration between PocketBook, E Ink, and Sharp, that stood out when it came to aesthetic home technology.
The InkPoster displays digital art that does not look digital. It reflects the growing trend of blending tech into the background and catering to homeowners’ desire to design their homes without tech front and center.
Advanced tech no longer looks like tech; instead, it adopts an analogue, unplugged appearance. Privacy and the ability to unplug are the new luxuries and the more tech can reflect this anti-tech ethos, the better.
Storage
Speaking of hiding all of that tech…
Homeowners are going to need more flexible, customizable, modular storage options and it is not just about adjustable shelves and holes to run cables through – portability, temperature control, and privacy are also concerns that manufacturers of case goods and cabinetry can address as it pertains to smart home tech.
From Nvidia’s extremely powerful $3000 AI computer (the show-stealer) to simpler devices like this instant-phone charger by Swippet (which The Verge pointed out ‘looks like a tiny toaster’) devices are becoming smaller and more compact, they won’t exist solely in the home office, and they still occupy physical space, whether on a desk, a table, or tucked away in a cupboard. As smart-home technology continues to evolve and grow in popularity, storage solutions are an increasingly critical area for innovation in home furnishings.
Smart home cleaning
While smart kitchen technology gets a lot of attention — its sleek and sexy and the kitchen is the room in the home where homeowners typically invest the most money— the faster growth opportunity for smart home technology may lie in cleaning the home rather than in cooking in it.
The reason is simple: many people who spend significant time in their kitchens genuinely enjoy cooking. It’s a way to relax, be creative, and engage in an activity they love. Home chefs who might be the most interested in techy kitchen trends are also the least likely to be seeking out trendy shortcuts.
Whereas the consensus reaction at CES to the impressive home cleaning robots, one by Dreame (which also mops) and one by Roborock (which has arms that can pick up shoes and socks and climb steps!) at CES points to an area in which people might like to outsource and get their time back (maybe so they can cook more). The SwitchBot K20 Plus Pro was awarded Best Smart Home Device by The Verge and can cool, purify, clean your home and monitor it with portable security cameras.
The Losers: the appliances doing (and tracking) too much
There are always a number of head-scratching products at CES that beg the question, ‘Who wants this?’ This year that club included washing machines that make phone calls, intrusive biometric-collecting baby cribs and overly-connected, energy-consumptive refrigerators.
Red flags were waved loud and clear. The overarching negative takeaways from CES 2025 are that sustainability and privacy continue to be the primary ongoing problems facing the tech industry, and until they are adequately addressed industry-wide, it will be tough to gain consumer confidence in these products.
