Asus, Lenovo, MSI, and Alienware have all packed up the gaming laptops they've been displaying on the CES showfloor all week, but some machines have been suspiciously absent. The Razer Blade wasn't featured once at CES 2026, in either its 14-inch, 16-inch, or 18-inch form factor.
That's a bizarre twist. Vegas's January show is normally the gunshot at the start of the race, the CES showfloor acting as a starting line for the best gaming laptops of the year before they make their way to the shelves in the spring. And yet Razer's still in the locker room.
If there was one year for Razer to miss it's going to be this one. Every few years we have a CES like this. No new GPUs to play with, incremental CPU upgrades, and no room for major chassis adjustments. You can see it across the new Zephyrus G14 and G16 from Asus and MSI's new Raider and Stealth lineup. These aren't massive updates, they're just new processors and slightly more power.
Only Lenovo's Legion Pro Rollable and the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo did anything particularly novel, experimenting with displays in new and thought-provoking ways. Alienware had a big OLED reveal, but it's still only playing catch-up.
It's easy to see why Razer wouldn't make a big song and dance about incremental upgrades in its 2026 machines, but to not even show them in the desert? That's a concerning bucking of the trend.
There are two possibilities here.
The first is 2026 won't see any new Razer laptops. That's hard to believe, but there's a thin string of logic to the theory. New machines need to balance their price tags with existing rigs, after all. Last year's roster of gaming laptops might be slightly weaker in the CPU department, but age brings price drops and value could well be on the side of previous generation rigs this year. Add in rising component prices and RAM shortages, and Razer might be facing an impossible MSRP that would undervalue its existing range too much.
That's highly unlikely, though. Sneki isn't giving his whole laptop department the year off. I'm expecting to see more from the Razer Blade army in the next few months, potentially launching via an event run by the brand itself. So they might just not be ready yet, or Razer wanted to focus on something else this year.
No prizes for guessing what that 'something else' is.
Razer didn't let up on its AI tools this year. Alongside its Project Ava copilot and AI development toys, the brand had a machine-learning headset and an entire AI development workstation on show at CES. 2026's show was unashamedly AI-focused, but Razer seems to have leaned in harder than most - potentially at the expense of its hardware.
Whatever the reasons, we didn't get a look at the new generation of Razer Blade gaming laptops at CES 2026. These are some of my favorite machines on the market, but last year's heat could have made the ground unsteady.
While I'm happy that Razer is experimenting with new ideas, developing on previous concepts, and exploring new areas, the love I have for these slimline form factors is fuelling concern. It's all eyes on Sneki for a sneak peek of its new luxury toys over the next few months and hey, if Razer wants the extra time to iron out its issues they can take it.
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I'm also hunting down all the best Asus gaming laptops and the best Alienware laptops. Or, for a change in form factor, check out the best gaming handhelds on the market.
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