Unveiling the Quirky Innovations: CES 2025’s Most Extraordinary Gadgets

A solar-powered vehicle, an air-cleaning feline tower, and a phone charger engineered to deliver a day’s power in just two seconds were among the striking devices attracting attention during the CES technology exhibition in Las Vegas.

The yearly event has been taking place this week, welcoming over 100,000 visitors from the tech industry to explore the thousands of innovative gadgets on display.

The showcased items consist of a blend of products ready to launch and more conceptual items aiming for future releases, covering all types of gadgets from smart home devices to electric automobiles.

One of the standout new offerings has been presented by Aptera Motors, arriving at CES with what it claims is a production-ready solar electric vehicle.

This vehicle features solar panels incorporated into the hood and rear, which Aptera claims can achieve a range of up to 400 miles on a single charge.

Furthermore, the company asserts that drivers can achieve up to an additional 40 miles of complimentary driving daily just from the sunlight harvested, with the company approximating that under sunny conditions, users could exceed 10,000 miles annually of solar-powered driving – which may decrease dependency on home or public charging.

However, the Aptera is not the sole electric automobile capturing attention at CES, as electronics giant Sony has unveiled that its electric vehicle, Afeela 1 – produced in collaboration with Honda, is now up for order for the first time.

The automobile, anticipated to commence deliveries in 2026, will be priced just below 90,000 dollars (£72,000), which encompasses a three-year subscription for a range of in-car functionalities including semi-autonomous driving assistance and an AI-enhanced personal assistant.

Robotics has long been a prominent theme at CES, and this year is no exception, with an extensive array of robots exhibited at the event, designed to assist humans in various capacities.

Two noteworthy models that have garnered interest are both robotic vacuum cleaners, but each presents different additional features aimed at enhancing their utility.

The X50 Ultra, manufactured by Dreame from China, comes with a set of retractable legs enabling the bot to “jump” over small stairs or ledges within the home, granting access to areas that other robotic vacuums cannot reach.

Nearby, in one of the CES exhibition halls, fellow robot vacuum producer Roborock has showcased the Saros Z70.

What distinguishes Roborock’s gadget is the inclusion of a collapsible mechanical arm, allowing it to grasp and relocate, or tidy up, small obstructions it meets during cleaning.

Another variant of intelligent home robots, Samsung’s Ballie, makes a return at CES this year as well.

Initially unveiled at the expo five years prior, Samsung claims this device is scheduled for its public debut in 2025.

Ballie is crafted to act as a smart home aide, also featuring an integrated projector that can showcase reminders or other data in reaction to voice instructions, and can additionally display videos on walls per the user’s request.

Meanwhile, one of the unexpected success stories at the tech exhibition has been a mobile charging solution presented by start-up Swippitt.

It has developed a smartphone charging mechanism that purportedly can fully recharge a phone’s battery in just two seconds.

This is accomplished through an innovative blend of a phone case containing a battery pack for wireless charging of the user’s smartphone and the Swippitt Hub, a toaster-like contraption that replaces the battery pack in the case with a fully charged one almost instantaneously when the phone is placed into it.

The firm argues that the system can double a user’s phone battery in a mere two seconds and comes equipped with multiple spare batteries built into the Hub, allowing various family members to get charged for the day ahead.

On a more unconventional note, a creation from tech behemoth LG features a combination of an air purifier and a cat perch.

The AeroCatTower includes a cat seat positioned atop the purifier itself, with that basket also being heated to ensure warmth for feline companions, and features an integrated scale to monitor the cat’s sleep time via LG’s ThinQ smart home application.