Every year CES (Consumer Electronics Show) hosts a huge technology association conference with some of the biggest names in the industry (i.e. LG, Samsung, Sony, and more…). This year’s show took place in Las Vegas, NV, with an attendance of over 40,000 people.
Featured Companies and Exhibitors
There were over 2,300 companies from across the globe showcasing the latest in 3D printing, robotics, audio/video, health, infrastructure, tech, transportation, NFTs, gaming, smart home, and more. This year, one of the biggest companies in the world, Apple, was surprisingly quiet. Apparently, Apple never officially participates at CES, but their products always have a huge impact. This year, their influence was strong as usual, with new tech announced at CES that integrated with Apple’s network.
5G
Usually, phones and services don’t play a big role at CES, but because of 5G and the rapid technological advancements happening worldwide, they became a running theme with official CES announcements. On the service side, Verizon became the leading company to make an announcement about the upcoming 5G upgrades: they have tweaked their wireless and home internet plans and they also revealed that it intends to cover 100 million people in more than 1,700 cities with faster connections. Check out the revamped wireless plans here.
On the phone side, OnePlus and Samsung both had exciting reveals showcasing their newest phones. Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S21 Fan Edition while OnePlus teased its OnePlus 10 Pro 5G.
There were other phones that were officially announced, such as the TCL 30 V 5G and TCL XE 5G, which are supposed to hit stores as soon as February. In addition, HMD Global announced five new phones coming to the US in the upcoming months. They range from the 5G Nokia G400 to the retro Nokia 2760 flip phone.
Samsung
Samsung was one of the major keynote presenters this year that had a plethora of home gadgets and next-generation tech ready to reveal. They displayed several working foldable phone concepts which could lead to new phone and tablet designs in the future. These past years have been all about flat phones that look similar but vary in size and capabilities. Now, Samsung has been experimenting with an exciting new design: the foldable smartphone. These concepts have allowed them to fit more screen areas into one device. They currently have two foldable phones on the market already, the Samsung Z Flip3 5G and Samsung Z Fold3 5G.
Samsung Display showcased four concepts on the CES show floor. The Flex S folds up into an ‘S’ shape, keeping part of the display on the outside. The Flex G has two hinges, but the left and right segments fold into the center, protecting the inner screen. The Flex Note is a single-hinge design, but with two tablet-sized segments that unfold flat to a combined screen size big enough to compare with modest computer monitors. Samsung’s video showed it operating like a laptop with touch controls on the bottom half. The fourth Samsung concept, called the Flex Slidable, looks like a normal phone until you extend the screen to the right with an unrolling motion.
Accessories
CES had many accessories that showcased USB-C and VR amenities. USB-C is currently in laptops, Android phones, and other tech accessories. As for VR, reality glasses could be reaching ipads based on leaks linking Apple to the launch of AR glasses. TCL unveiled both its vision for future AR smart glasses and its NXTWear Air glasses that work as an external display. There are a ton of other AR glasses and goggles being released from Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Sony. Seeing all these talks and advancements in virtual reality and the metaverse, I believe there will be huge trends in the upcoming years with AR glasses and other virtual accessories/gadgets.
Warp & Wrap
It seems CES ’22 had another successful year even with COVID precautions. There were so many new technology announcements and advancements from some of the greatest companies in the world. The show must go on and tech shall speed forward. To infinity and beyond as my childhood friend once said…