The Fanciful, Mechanical, Monumental Spectacle of CES 2025

At the beginning of January every year, the consumer tech industry descends on the desert boomtown of Las Vegas, Nevada, for CES. The trade show is the largest tech industry event in the world, with over 138,000 attendees and 2.5 million square feet of floor space. It’s primarily a venue for businesses—startups, multinationals, retailers, distributors, and financiers—to connect. But the show is also open to the press and the general public, so everyone is vying for each other’s attention, eyeballs, and wallets. The level of glitz and spectacle, especially at the big-budget booths for the largest companies, is astronomical.

Photographer Tristan deBrauwere has been on the ground in Las Vegas all week shooting the show for WIRED; see his three photo galleries for the highlights of his work. Today, Tristan takes us behind the scenes to show us that even at its robotic, vibrating, internet-connected center, CES is still a show where humanity reigns supreme.