CES has suffered another major blow, with Sony set to abandon the Las Vegas show in 2027, ending a relationship with the world’s biggest consumer electronics exhibition stretching back six decades.

The move follows Samsung’s decision last year to walk away from its massive traditional show floor presence at the Las Vegas Convention Center and move its CES 2026 operation to its own standalone exhibition at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Now Sony is going even further.

Neither Sony Group nor its affiliates plan to exhibit at CES 2027, ending a presence that dates back to the inaugural CES in 1967.

The decision is another significant change for a show that was historically dominated by the world’s biggest television, audio, appliance and consumer electronics brands.

The 2027 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is shaping up to be massive with Chinese consumer brands piling into the show with new products, robotics and a move to try and take over CE and appliance sales in Australia previously owned by the likes of Sony and Samsung.

Sony had already dramatically reduced its traditional presence at CES 2026. Instead of the sprawling Sony consumer electronics showcase that visitors had become accustomed to, its Sony Honda Mobility joint venture used the event to showcase the Afeela electric vehicle.

That venture has subsequently been scrapped, and Sony has now decided not to exhibit at CES 2027 at all.

Samsung took a different approach at CES 2026.

Rather than abandoning CES, the South Korean giant abandoned the traditional show floor.

Samsung walked away from its approximately 3,368 square metre position inside the Las Vegas Convention Center and established its own Samsung Exhibition Zone at the Wynn Las Vegas.

The move gave Samsung significantly more control over who saw its products and how they were presented, while allowing the company to combine new product demonstrations, presentations, technology forums and private meetings with major retailers, customers and partners.

Sony’s decision now raises a much bigger question for CES organisers: how important is the traditional CES show floor to the world’s largest consumer electronics brands when companies can increasingly launch products online or privately showcase them to retailers, distributors, media and major customers away from the convention centre?

For decades, companies such as Sony and Samsung were not simply exhibitors at CES. Their giant stands were destinations in their own right and helped draw tens of thousands of retailers, distributors, journalists and technology industry executives into the main halls.

Samsung demonstrated in 2026 that a global consumer electronics company could remain part of CES while taking control of its own exhibition environment away from the traditional convention centre floor.

Sony has now taken the next step and decided it doesn’t need an exhibition presence at CES 2027 at all.