Greater than something, CES is an opportunity to plant a flag. Shopper electronics’ large commerce present is strategically positioned throughout the first week of the yr. All the vacation tech has been bought, opened and used or returned. It’s all a distant reminiscence for tech firms trying to assert themselves as main innovators for the approaching yr.
CES is a giant present. The 2020 present, which made it just below the wire forward of pandemic-related closures, performed host to 171,000 attendees, in accordance with present organizer, the Shopper Expertise Affiliation (CTA). For apparent causes, the figures dwindled in coming years, however 2023 discovered the present hitting a good 115,000.
Through the years, CES’s affect has waxed and waned. Previous to the pandemic, among the occasion’s largest exhibitors opted to observe Apple’s lead, saving the largest bulletins for their very own occasions. As firms have been pressured to launch digital occasions lately, that technique solidified for a lot of. In any case, in the event you can appeal to sufficient curiosity to your personal standalone occasions, why hassle releasing information through the noisiest week of the yr?
Maybe surprisingly, that shift has been a blessing for the occasion in a single key means: It has opened the present as much as startups. When you’ve got a smaller, newer firm, reveals like this are a possibility to get your self in entrance of the largest journalists, distributors, producers, et al. in client electronics. As any startup who has pitched me will in all probability inform you, it’s exhausting to face out in amongst the a whole bunch of emails I obtain each day (LinkedIn, Twitter and Fb, too — however please don’t do that).
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 5: CES, the world’s largest annual client know-how commerce present opens its door to guests on January 5, 2022 on the Las Vegas Conference Middle in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photograph by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Pictures)
It’s a possibility to share a bodily house with the individual you’re pitching. That is particularly worthwhile for {hardware} startups, who can current their product in individual. Most of those firms discover themselves at Eureka Park within the Venetian Expo (née Sands). That is the most effective a part of the present. It’s essentially the most full of life, attention-grabbing and chaotic. I think many of the employees TechCrunch is sending would like to spend all week there. Sadly, I’ve a serious again downside in the mean time, so my time there will probably be minimal.
I’ve, nonetheless, already signed up for a bunch of suite conferences — that’s to say, lodge room conferences in locations just like the Venetian. These are usually firms that don’t have a flooring exhibit. This might be resulting from an absence of sources or as a result of they’re displaying off some piece of know-how that isn’t prepared for the general public eye.
Usually due to the latter these are essentially the most attention-grabbing briefings on the occasion. They’re out of the way in which, so that you don’t wish to stack up too many of those, however it’s good to have some conferences away from the chaotic din of the present flooring.
Regardless of the aforementioned ongoing well being points, I’m really sort of wanting ahead to this CES. That is completely one thing I can’t say yearly. However my optimism is two-fold. First, I consider we’re heading into an enchanting second for client {hardware}. Provide chain points (and worldwide relations) have brought about many to rethink how — and the place — they manufacture. A transfer towards a extra decentralized manufacturing panorama may rework the trade in thrilling methods. Second — and relatedly — we lately put out a name for CES startup pitches, and up to now I’ve been impressed with each the variability and high quality of the responses. I’m presently combing by an inventory of greater than 200 startups.
We’re nonetheless a couple of week and a half out from the occasion, however attention-grabbing tendencies are starting to emerge. The primary needs to be apparent to anybody who follows the trade: generative AI. For greater than a decade, AI has develop into an trade buzzword to the purpose of successfully shedding all which means in product pitches. Issues are solely going to worsen from right here.
Picture Credit: Brian Heater
The explosion of LLMs has — understandably — captured the general public’s creativeness. After listening to about synthetic intelligence their complete life, common folks can now kind a textual content immediate in a dialogue field and immediately get a picture, video, quick story or tune. Final month, Humane provided the present customary for leveraging methods like ChatGPT for a client kind issue. No matter you concentrate on the corporate or its product, there’s a motive it’s been so hyped.
Greater than something, 2024 goes to be the yr of generative AI claims for {hardware} merchandise. Some will probably be genuinely spectacular — I anticipate some superb GenAI-leveraging robotics breakthroughs over the approaching yr. Invariably, nonetheless, most of it will likely be advertising bullshit. It’s our job as reporters to find out which is which.
Talking of robotics (as I usually am), CES has been dipping its toes in these waters for a couple of years now. After all, the overwhelming majority of merchandise on the occasion that qualify are successfully Roomba derivatives. Nothing in opposition to the robotic vacuums of the world, however these aren’t the breakthroughs we’ve been promised.
Picture Credit: Amazon
I anticipate extra firms will probably be leaning into the automated processes they make the most of on the again finish. Partnerships are going to be a giant factor — bulletins involving the piloting of various robotics methods like Agility’s Digit or Boston Dynamics’ Stretch. Who doesn’t wish to showcase a robotic of their sales space?
TV will proceed to be a serious focus. Over the previous a number of years, LG has made the strategic resolution to announce its largest merchandise forward of CES. And why not? Late December/early January is a painfully gradual time of yr. So far, the corporate has launched a 98-inch (!) QNED LED and a gaming monitor with a 480Hz (!!) refresh price.
As Kirsten can attest, a giant a part of CES’s evolution over the previous few years has been its positioning as a serious automotive present. Given how tech is interwoven with the automotive trade, the transfer is sensible. Final yr, the entire of the Las Vegas Conference Middle’s shiny new West Corridor was dedicated to mobility.
Automotive makers usually make a giant splash on the occasion, together with firms like Toyota and Hyundai, which personal TRI and Boston Dynamics, respectively. For its half, Honda has already introduced that it will likely be displaying off new EVs on the occasion.
Picture Credit: Sony
In recent times, huge smartphone bulletins are just about a non-starter for CES. The large gamers have both once more shifted to their very own occasions or are conserving their powder dry for Cellular World Congress in late February/early March.
Well being tech will proceed to be a giant piece of the puzzle. We’re speaking sleep monitoring, blood glucose monitoring, blood strain — the kinds of stuff that have been relegated to skilled healthcare tools till pretty lately. As soon as once more, Apple’s non-presence will probably be felt in a serious means, although this yr, Apple’s ongoing patent dispute with Masimo will solid a large shadow over the occasion. Relying on how issues form up, the wearables market might be on the verge of wanting very completely different within the coming yr.
Talking of Apple, AR/VR was my spotlight from final yr’s occasion, having tried out new headsets from Meta, HTC, Sony and Magic Leap. With the Imaginative and prescient Professional probably arriving within the subsequent month or two, all eyes are going to be targeted on combined actuality.
By no means one to shrink back from the highlight, Nvidia seems to be ramping up for some huge releases. AI will, after all, be the centerpiece. The corporate is rumored to be launching the RTX 4070 Tremendous and RTX 4080 Tremendous GPUs on the occasion.
CES runs January 9-12 in Las Vegas. The large press days kick off two days prior, on the 7th. Bookmark our CES 2024 web page for the newest.
