Greater than something, CES is an opportunity to plant a flag. Client 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 seeking to assert themselves as main innovators for the approaching yr.
CES is a giant present. The 2020 present, which made it slightly below the wire forward of pandemic-related closures, performed host to 171,000 attendees, in keeping with present organizer, the Client Expertise Affiliation (CTA). For apparent causes, the figures dwindled in coming years, however 2023 discovered the present hitting a decent 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 most important bulletins for their very own occasions. As firms have been compelled to launch digital occasions lately, that technique solidified for a lot of. In any case, for those who can appeal to sufficient curiosity to your personal standalone occasions, why trouble releasing information throughout 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. If in case you have a smaller, newer firm, reveals like this are a chance to get your self in entrance of the most important journalists, distributors, producers, et al. in shopper electronics. As any startup who has pitched me will in all probability let you know, it’s laborious to face out in amongst the tons of of emails I obtain each day (LinkedIn, Twitter and Fb, too — however please don’t do that).
It’s a chance to share a bodily area with the individual you’re pitching. That is particularly priceless 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 perfect a part of the present. It’s probably the most vigorous, fascinating and chaotic. I think many of the workers TechCrunch is sending would favor to spend all week there. Sadly, I’ve a significant again downside in the meanwhile, so my time there shall be minimal.
I’ve, nonetheless, already signed up for a bunch of suite conferences — that’s to say, resort room conferences in locations just like the Venetian. These are usually firms that don’t have a ground exhibit. This may very well be as a consequence of an absence of assets or as a result of they’re displaying off some piece of know-how that isn’t prepared for the general public eye.
Typically due to the latter these are probably the most fascinating briefings on the occasion. They’re out of the best way, so that you don’t need to stack up too many of those, however it’s good to have some conferences away from the chaotic din of the present ground.
Despite the aforementioned ongoing well being points, I’m really form of trying ahead to this CES. That is completely one thing I can’t say yearly. However my optimism is two-fold. First, I imagine we’re heading into a captivating second for shopper {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 remodel the trade in thrilling methods. Second — and relatedly — we not too long ago put out a name for CES startup pitches, and to this point I’ve been impressed with each the range and high quality of the responses. I’m presently combing by way of an inventory of greater than 200 startups.
We’re nonetheless a couple of week and a half out from the occasion, however fascinating 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 change into an trade buzzword to the purpose of successfully dropping all which means in product pitches. Issues are solely going to worsen from right here.
The explosion of LLMs has — understandably — captured the general public’s creativeness. After listening to about synthetic intelligence their whole life, common folks can now kind a textual content immediate in a dialogue field and immediately get a picture, video, quick story or music. Final month, Humane supplied the present customary for leveraging methods like ChatGPT for a shopper type issue. No matter you concentrate on the corporate or its product, there’s a cause it’s been so hyped.
Greater than something, 2024 goes to be the yr of generative AI claims for {hardware} merchandise. Some shall 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 number of years now. In fact, the overwhelming majority of merchandise on the occasion that qualify are successfully Roomba derivatives. Nothing towards the robotic vacuums of the world, however these aren’t the breakthroughs we’ve been promised.
I anticipate extra firms shall 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 need to showcase a robotic of their sales space?
TV will proceed to be a significant focus. Over the previous a number of years, LG has made the strategic determination to announce its greatest merchandise forward of CES. And why not? Late December/early January is a painfully sluggish time of yr. To date, the corporate has launched a 98-inch (!) QNED LED and a gaming monitor with a 480Hz (!!) refresh fee.
As Kirsten can attest, a giant a part of CES’s evolution over the previous few years has been its positioning as a significant automotive present. Given how tech is interwoven with the automotive trade, the transfer is smart. Final yr, the entire of the Las Vegas Conference Heart’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.
Lately, large 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 types of stuff that have been relegated to skilled healthcare gear till pretty not too long ago. As soon as once more, Apple’s non-presence shall be felt in a significant means, although this yr, Apple’s ongoing patent dispute with Masimo will forged a large shadow over the occasion. Relying on how issues form up, the wearables market may very well be on the verge of trying very totally 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 seemingly arriving within the subsequent month or two, all eyes are going to be targeted on blended actuality.
By no means one to draw back from the highlight, Nvidia seems to be ramping up for some large 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.