ASUS is using CES 2026 to push a pretty specific message with the new Zenbook S16: this is the “grown-up” Copilot+ AI laptop for people who care as much about feel and finish as they do about TOPS and TDP. On paper, it’s a 16‑inch, ultra‑thin Windows machine; in practice, it’s ASUS trying to redefine what a big‑screen ultraportable looks and behaves like in the AI PC era.​

At the heart of the Zenbook S16 is AMD’s new Ryzen AI 400‑series platform, with an integrated NPU rated at up to 50 TOPS, which is the bit Microsoft now cares about for Copilot+‑class features. That on‑device AI horsepower is what unlocks things like local generative features, smarter noise reduction and image tools, and the system‑level Copilot tricks Microsoft has been teasing for its next wave of Windows laptops. ASUS is leaning into this, talking about “dynamic performance tuning” and “adaptive privacy,” but what matters for a buyer is that the heavy AI lifting no longer has to hit the cloud every time you ask for it.​

The chassis is where ASUS clearly wants to differentiate. This is a 16‑inch machine that’s just 11mm thick and around 1.5kg, which is firmly MacBook Air territory but in a much larger display class. To get there, ASUS has spent several years developing what it calls Ceraluminum — essentially a ceramic‑aluminum composite for the lid that’s meant to feel smoother to the touch, shrug off scratches more gracefully, and still be structurally rigid enough for everyday travel abuse. The rest of the body is CNC‑machined metal, with clean, Nordic‑inspired lines and two finishes at launch: a bright Scandinavian White and a more understated Antrim Gray, both aiming for that “premium but not flashy” look you’d expect in a conference room instead of a gaming setup.​

Cooling is usually where ultra‑thin designs compromise, particularly with higher‑power AMD chips, but ASUS is making a point of talking thermals here. Inside, the Zenbook S16 uses what the company calls a Thincredible module — a 3D vapor chamber that’s about 37% larger than before, carved out via CNC milling to fit inside that 11mm shell, and paired with dual IceBlade fans. The goal is to sustain up to 28W CPU TDP over longer stretches without the keyboard turning into a hand warmer, something ASUS claims to address with additional fan outlets that focus airflow over the motherboard and drop keyboard surface temperatures by up to 4 degrees Celsius. The company is also chasing silence: under typical “ambient cooling” loads, it targets sub‑25dB fan noise, which is library‑quiet for an x86 laptop.​

The display follows the formula ASUS has been refining on its more premium Zenbooks: a 16‑inch, 16:10 ASUS Lumina OLED panel at 3K (2880 x 1800), up to 120Hz, and an advertised peak brightness of around 1100 nits for HDR. It’s Pantone Validated, covers 100% of the DCI‑P3 color gamut, and carries DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certification, which essentially guarantees those inky OLED blacks with highlight punch for HDR content — handy if you’re editing footage or just binge‑watching in a dim hotel room. ASUS offers both touch and non‑touch variants, but either way, you’re getting thin bezels and about a 90% screen‑to‑body ratio, so it still looks modern on a show floor full of glass‑topped slabs.​

Audio gets the same “immersion” treatment: a six‑speaker Dolby Atmos setup, with four front‑firing tweeters and two woofers, backed by ASUS’s smart amplifier tech. That’s a lot of hardware in a 1.1cm body, and while no one’s pretending this replaces a set of decent headphones, it does mean spatial audio actually has some room to breathe, and conference calls should sound less tinny than on typical ultraportables. Paired with dual mics and the AI‑assisted noise processing from the Ryzen platform, the package is clearly optimised for people who spend half their week in calls.​

Ports are refreshingly normal for a machine this thin. You still get two USB4 ports, a USB‑A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1 (TMDS), a full‑size SD card reader, and a headphone jack — no dongle life required day one. Wireless is equally forward‑looking with Wi-Fi 7 support via a MediaTek radio plus Bluetooth 5.4, giving the Zenbook S16 the kind of headroom you want if you’re going to travel with it for a few years. Under the hood, ASUS pairs the Ryzen AI 400‑series CPUs with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and up to a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, powered by an 83Wh battery and a compact 68W USB‑C charger that can handle day‑to‑day top‑ups without being a brick in your bag.​

The input experience is deliberately conventional in the best way. ASUS includes a full‑size ErgoSense keyboard with gently dished keycaps and a familiar layout; there’s no numpad squeezing or ultra‑short travel in the name of thinness. The EasyLift hinge raises the rear of the deck slightly when open, which gives you a more natural typing angle and helps airflow, while the large glass touchpad — over 150mm wide — supports ASUS’s Smart Gesture shortcuts so you can treat it almost like a small gesture surface for quick actions. It’s the kind of design that doesn’t shout, but should matter over months of real‑world use, especially for writers, developers, or anyone who lives in their editor of choice.​

Security and privacy features are where the “AI PC” messaging shows up in less obvious ways. Up top, you get an AiSense IR camera with support for Windows Hello, but ASUS extends that with “Adaptive Lock” and “Adaptive Dimming” — the camera can tell when you walk away and automatically lock the machine, or dim the screen when you’re not looking at it. Underneath, Microsoft’s Pluton security processor is onboard for hardware‑rooted protection that ties into Windows passkeys and cloud‑linked credentials. There’s also a new ASUS Voice Print feature that can recognise the owner’s voice for more secure voice commands and personalised responses, nodding to a future where talking to your laptop might be as normal as tapping the trackpad.​

Framed against the broader CES 2026 landscape, Zenbook S16 slots in as the “classic” clamshell in a lineup that also includes more experimental designs like dual‑screen machines and lighter Snapdragon‑based Zenbooks. It’s targeted squarely at professionals and creators who want a serious 16‑inch work canvas, full Windows compatibility, and next‑gen AI capabilities, but who don’t want to carry a 2‑plus‑kilo workstation. For that crowd, the story ASUS is telling at CES is pretty simple: here’s a laptop that looks and feels like a sleek ultrabook, behaves like a small workstation, and quietly bakes in enough AI power that the OS and your apps can get progressively smarter over its lifespan.