LAS VEGAS—Each year, electronics companies big and small use the CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas to introduce their upcoming slate of products. The majority of products are niche products for a specific audience or tweaks to previous models. But a select few are exciting.

The following are the gadgets, computing devices, and wearables announced or shown at CES that most impressed the Ars team. Some were selected because they promise to bring fresh ideas to users, while others were selected because they appear at first glance to be impressively engineered and designed for quality.

Unfortunately, some of the world’s most innovative tech companies don’t make a big showing at CES. Instead, they choose to announce or show their products elsewhere—or they don’t make an appearance at all. For that reason, Ars can’t claim that this is a comprehensive list of the most promising devices of the year.