Categories: Technology

The Ultimate Guide to Smart TVs at CES 2025: What You Need to Know!

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Greetings to Lowpass! This week: A review of the pivotal smart TV advancements exhibited and declared at CES 2025.

When you go shopping for a new TV next time, you will not merely purchase a large, luminous, and appealing screen equipped with a few integrated streaming applications. Rather, you will be looking for a living room AI supercomputer. At least, that’s the impression companies like Samsung, LG, and TCL aim to create.

The global TV manufacturers gathered in Las Vegas for CES this week, intending to redefine their living room devices as AI gadgets. Every CPU integrated into a TV is now deemed an AI processor, every color enhancement is now powered by AI, and the voice search button on your remote control has suddenly transformed into an AI button.

Admittedly, the integration of AI into televisions has been occurring over a significant period. AI upscaling of HD content to enhance its appearance on 4K HDR screens has become routine, voice assistants have been included in TVs for a while now, and machine learning has certainly played a vital role in tailoring streaming services for years.

However, at this year’s CES, TV manufacturers showcased some truly novel and captivating AI functions, along with additional announcements that may alter how consumers engage with their living room screens for years ahead. Here’s what captured my attention:

You will no longer have to power down your TV. As televisions have expanded in size over the years, the issue of the ‘black hole’ has also intensified: When you switch off your 98-inch TV, it inevitably transforms into a 98-inch eyesore. Manufacturers have long promoted the concept of simply not powering down the TV, offering various ambient experiences to make idle moments a bit more engaging – whether it’s slideshows of your personal images, art exhibitions, or Roku City. This year, firms have heavily invested in this trend to guarantee that your TV remains an always-on display.

Frame TVs, which serve as ambient art displays when not in operation, have become particularly favored, prompting Samsung to reinforce its innovative product: The company unveiled a new Frame Pro model at CES, designed to deliver an even superior picture for the times you actually wish to watch TV.
The company also revealed generative AI wallpaper designs for its smart TVs and will broaden its Samsung Art Store to include a variety of new models beyond just the Frame series, effectively transforming many more TVs into art exhibits.
Google has teamed up with Hisense and TCL to incorporate proximity sensors in select TV models, essentially converting them into dynamic smart displays: Approach your TV, and it begins displaying pertinent information regarding the weather, your travel, and more.
TCL is also launching a Sleep Sounds mode, allowing you to keep your TV powered on even while you attempt to drift off.
LG appears to believe the television will increasingly become part of your working hours too. The company will introduce a specialized “Home Office” on-screen category … perfectly timed for the latest return-to-office directives.
LG’s gaming category is also likely to see heightened utilization, thanks in part to a collaboration with Microsoft that will bring Xbox Cloud gaming to compatible TVs.

TCL’s PlayCube Projector. Image credit goes to TCL.

Your TV will accompany you everywhere. Features such as Samsung’s click-to-search are intended to prevent you from reaching for your phone while you binge-watch in the living room – but what about when you’re away from your TV? Consumer electronics manufacturers aspire to diminish those instances as well by enabling you to literally carry your TV anywhere.

LG’s battery-operated StanByMe screen is receiving an enhanced iteration this year that includes a carrying strap, and it genuinely appears quite stylish.
A tad more traditional, yet still aesthetically pleasing: TCL’s PlayCube projector, which operates on Google TV.
Not interested in hauling a television or projector around? Samsung’s Ballie robot can independently follow you throughout your space (at least within your home) and project visuals and videos onto your walls. Although the company has showcased analogous ideas previously, it plans to actually deliver Ballie to consumers in 2025.

AI is pervasive, and beyond. It’s not just the AI chips or the AI buttons on your television remote. Television manufacturers are earnestly attempting to determine how to apply AI in beneficial manners, and some of their initiatives do appear promising:

LG is employing voice recognition to tailor the home screen and viewing experience based on the individual speaking.
Samsung’s AI remote button provides access to a search feature, enabling viewers to swiftly find information about an actor appearing on screen or deliver other contextually pertinent information.
Samsung televisions will also possess the capability to translate subtitles in seven different languages in real time, thanks to an on-device AI translation model, which could prove to be genuinely beneficial.
Google is developing AI news summaries for its Google TV platform. Initially, this will involve creating a morning news summary based on credible news sources, but it aims to broaden to entertainment news and additional categories in the future.
The corporation is also introducing its Gemini AI assistant to Google TV. “You can genuinely engage in natural dialogues, regardless of whether the television is powered on or off,” Google TV leader Shalini Govil-Pai shared with me. “It is going to be 100x superior to its current form.”
Govil-Pai also informed me that her team is contemplating introducing Google’s NotebookLM generative AI podcasts to the television. “Experiencing those moments on your TV with accompanying visual hints [is] going to be astonishing,” she expressed.
Yet, Gemini is not the sole AI assistant on the large screen: Alongside in-house developed LLM-powered voice functionalities, Samsung and LG have collaborated with Microsoft to incorporate the company’s Copilot into television. Implementation specifics remain limited, as noted by The Verge’s Tom Warren.

Panasonic’s novel Fire TV. Image courtesy of Amazon.

Smart TV consolidation is perpetually just on the horizon. The multitude of TV operating systems and platforms has long been untenable (and a headache for developers), and insightful individuals have similarly long asserted that major consolidation is unavoidable. Yet, each year at CES, television manufacturers forge agreements with novel platforms.

Xperi has joined forces with Sharp to unveil a television set fueled by its TiVo OS in the United States this year.
Sharp has also collaborated with Xumo, the joint venture between Comcast and Charter, to introduce a range of Xumo televisions this spring.
Panasonic has partnered with Amazon to re-enter the US market with three new Fire TV-fueled television sets.
Whale TV revealed the launch of its fresh Whale OS 10 platform.
That said, it appeared that Google was overshadowing the event. Hisense, which has been aggressively working to develop its own operating system Vidaa while also producing televisions powered by Roku’s, Amazon’s, and even Xumo’s OSes, only minimally referenced Google TV during its press meeting.
Likewise, TCL, another company that has been diversifying its investments in multiple television operating systems, even welcomed Govil-Pai on stage during its CES press conference.

Coincidentally, Govil-Pai shared with me a few days prior to CES that she does anticipate substantial consolidation in this arena, but this time for real. “It’s occurring,” Govil-Pai stated. “It’s happening as we speak. It’s in progress.”

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Tubi boasts 97 million active users monthly. The streaming platform’s user community collectively watched 10 billion hours of video in 2024, as reported by Fox.

Peacock will introduce mini games and vertical videos. Both features are set to debut on Peacock’s mobile applications this month.

Discovery+ is increasing its subscription costs. The rates will rise by a dollar for both advertisement-supported and ad-free options … but what is the actual relevance of Discovery+ at this point?

CES wouldn’t be CES without some cringeworthy keynote presentations. This year, LG took its AI demonstration a tad too far with a scene featuring a man plopping down onto his living room couch for an awkward conversation with his television’s AI:

Man: “Well, greetings my treasured shiny new gadget!”

AI: “Good evening, Thomas! Here are some suggestions to kick you off today.”

Book a room already! Then place your keynote script creators in that room, and have them redo the HR training …

Thank you for reading, have a fantastic weekend!

Header image attributed to Samsung.

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