While everyone already knows that one of the biggest trends at CEDIA Expo/CIX 2025 is going to be the trend everyone is already following (AI), the editors at CE Pro have their own expectations for technology trends that will be highlighted during this year’s show.
120Hz Image Processing Will Become More Prevalent Across Video Tech
Video display technology is being steered by quite a few trends at the moment, but CE Pro Senior Editor Bob Archer sees 120Hz image processing gaining a lot more notoriety as a feature on high-performance TVs at CEDIA Expo 2025.
This tech plays into two other trends the editors are seeing right now in TVs: that being gaming and sports.
High refresh rates are a quality highly cherished among gamers, especially those that engage in high-octane genres like FPS and Action games. That same quality translates to smoother action for high-speed sports such as football, hockey and soccer, as well.
Smart Homes Are Going to Become a Lot More Decentralized
Once upon a time, the average home automation system was a lot more complex. It also wasn’t as seamless as homeowners would have liked. Fast forward to today, and we’re seeing a bit of that backlash still plaguing the industry.
Archer sees this backlash manifesting in the decentralization of smart home control and automation platforms with solutions like Google and Apple HomeKit becoming more prevalent as a trend.
Despite warnings that an overabundance of apps would turn people off to the idea of the smart home, it turns out homeowners are more than willing to use a handful of apps to control their home if it means they get exactly what they want out of them.
This trend also plays into the growth of the middle market, with more decentralized platforms providing cost-effective solutions to homeowners who want smart home functionality but can’t afford a full-fledged system like a Control4 or Crestron.
AI to Improve Home Automations
AI has had plenty of opportunities to inject itself into product offerings at this point.
It’s a staple in TVs for image processing (though experts still say it can’t beat a professional touch). Machine vision is fast turning into an industry standard for surveillance products to have. However, home automation systems are where the editors expect to see the AI trend maintain a forward momentum at CEDIA Expo 2025.
Josh.ai has been leading the charge on this one for a while since the introduction of AI OS back in 2024. However, both Nice and Google have begun to creep into market of AI-powered control and automation systems with their own respective offerings.
It’s this ability for systems to learn from users and recommend and build new automations that the editors believe will be a major differentiator in the coming years, so as more home automation companies pave the way, expect others to follow suit.
Lighting, but at a Lower Voltage
Lighting has been a consistent trend at CEDIA Expo for a while now. Lighting companies will be there, and plenty of them will be newcomers to the channel. What I personally am expecting to see more in the future is more low-voltage lighting fixtures.
Colorbeam is the main figurehead of this subcategory with Environmental Lights and others presently offering their own tailored solutions. New entrants are coming, though, with Cleanlife being a CEDIA newcomer in the low-voltage space.
Being more energy efficient and cost effective, this sub-category of lighting has a real value proposition behind it.
Additionally, low-voltage lighting plays into recent wellness trends. As more health-conscious folk seek to reduce their exposure to electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) low-voltage lighting is a low-EMF solution that has caught the eyes of health-conscious home improvement experts.
Immersive Audio Gets a Boost
Immersive audio is once again expected to take center stage at CEDIA Expo 2025 from dedicated demo rooms to new training opportunities present at this year’s tradeshow.
Attendees can expect to see (and hear) a wave of high-channel-count systems showcasing Dolby Atmos, DTS:X Pro, and other immersive audio technologies.
According to Executive Editor Zachary Comeau, one of the major drivers pushing immersive audio as a trend he sees is CEDIA’s RP22 Recommended Practice, which gives integrators a standardized framework to design immersive audio systems with quantifiable performance targets.
Couple that with the growing appetite for elevated sound experiences and a renewed emphasis on education and design standards, Comeau says immersive audio isn’t just going to be another product category — it’s becoming a pillar of the modern custom install.
