What to expect from CES 2023

CES is just around the corner. Just look around and you’ll see announcements about new display tech, news posts with detailed specs, and lots of weird gadgets popping up out of nowhere.

The Consumer Electronics Show is the jumping-off point of the year in technology, a week of non-stop announcements that set the stage for the year’s new trends and technologies. You can expect to see the biggest TVs of the year, early signs of what’s to come for laptops, and a lot of wild ideas for directions in cars, wearables, smart home tech, and more.

The event officially kicks off on Thursday, January 5th, but we have a lot of news ahead of us. Companies hold press conferences throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, with show floors finally opening on Thursday and the weekend. The Barge report from the field, so stay tuned for coverage of our favorite discoveries.

For now, here’s what our team is looking forward to next week.

As in previous years, automotive technology is expected to take center stage at CES 2023. New vehicle concepts, futuristic infotainment displays, and a plethora of aftermarket gadgets and gizmos take center stage alongside regular TVs, laptops, and other consumer tech. Ephemera.

Leading automakers are preparing major announcements involving the Stellantis family of brands such as Ram, Peugeot and Chrysler. Volkswagen unveils his ID.7 sedan, the next major global electric vehicle. It will also be attended by top executives from Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, providing a glimpse into the future direction of each company.

EV charging infrastructure is also expected to come into the spotlight due to the influx of new funds from the Federal Infrastructure Act. Dozens of EV charging companies are on hand to unveil new technology that they claim will improve access to charging and improve the notoriously buggy customer experience.

Fully self-driving cars haven’t gotten as much attention as they have in the last few years. Instead, advanced driver assistance, which benefits from improved sensor technology, will be favored as a more realistic short-term solution to road safety problems.

TVs are in a very good position to kick off CES 2023. Almost all of the confusion about HDMI 2.1 has been shattered over the last few years, with most high-end (and many mid-range) TVs supporting his 4K games at 120Hz, variable refresh rate (VRR), and more. Function of. So if you were waiting for the dust to settle, no problem.

In 2023, we expect TV makers to focus on improving, with iterative improvements in brightness and overall picture quality. Don’t expect major new concepts or ideas to be introduced. Also, 8K is far in the background and not worth worrying about.

Instead, QMS-VRR (a feature that prevents momentary blackouts when switching between video frame rates), even faster gaming response times, and quality of life improvements like the software that powers TVs from Samsung, LG, and TCL. Look for small upgrades. , Hisense, and other brands. We’re likely to see strong support for the Matter smart home protocol, and the never-ending LCD (including Mini LED) vs. OLED debate continues among home theater enthusiasts as new models enter the fray in 2023. You can expect .

Las Vegas will be flooded with smart home gadgets this week. We could see innovation in popular products like smart security cameras, smart locks, robot vacuums, smart lighting, and several new categories leveraging Matter, the new standard for smart homes.

Backed by Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Google and others, Matter is the industry standard for developing common communication protocols for smart homes. This is important because connected devices can easily communicate with each other and with smart home platforms. Don’t worry if the device you buy will work with your smartphone or voice assistant. If it works on Matter, it should work on all.

Expect a landslide of Matter-compatible product announcements this week, mostly around smart plugs, smart lighting, and smart shading (the first device categories supported). Also, expect some announcements from companies about updating their existing products to Matter. This way you don’t have to go out and buy new things to join this new smart home party.

Speaking of smart lighting, this is an area to watch as companies look to make their products more innovative in the face of the potential commoditization of Matter. Entertainment lighting is a big trend this year. There was already an announcement from GE Lighting/Sync about a new product that will make your living room feel like a disco his party (if you want).

But ultimately, we expect more than flashy lights and fun “experiences” from smart homes at CES this year. Gadgets are cool, but master’s degrees in the smart home are long gone. I’d like to see a solution that offers practical energy management and leverages unobtrusive technologies like Wi-Fi sensing and radar, as well as innovations around wireless power, to create a smart home that feels more like home than a Best Buy. I think.

– Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Expect your laptop to appear in its normal configuration. A few weird and wacky devices grab all the buzz, and there are plenty of simple spec updates that people actually buy. Mini LEDs should still be featured in his MUX switches on the laptop and gaming side.

But many laptop enthusiasts will have their eyes on two companies this week: Intel and AMD. These companies don’t make laptops, but the decisions they make with their chips will determine his PC market next year. With rumors of Apple’s new chips just around the corner, other chip makers around the world are in big trouble. I’m both excited and nervous because of rumors that Intel struggled with efficiency last year and AMD failed to keep up with demand. It will be interesting to see what direction these companies take in his 2023.

CES is nothing like a phone show, and 2023 seems to be no exception. There are rumors that Motorola and its parent company, Lenovo, will be collaborating on a cross-brand ThinkPhone. If you’re excited about the productivity synergy between your phone and laptop, or the man-made carbon fiber styling, this is probably for you. It will be interesting to see what happens when the two brands join forces in the next nine years.

Other than that, expect it to remain quiet until next month. OnePlus has confirmed it will launch a new flagship on February 7, and Samsung rumors point to an early February event for the Galaxy S23. A little further down the road, we’ll see more mobile news in late February/early March, especially around Mobile World Congress. There’s a lot to look forward to in the mobile space next year. So many megapixels! Actually good 5G! It’s just that none of them seem timed around CES.

Welcome to 2022, a year of fun for monitors of all sizes, prices and aspect ratios. We can still expect some curveballs in 2023, but I think the coming year will be filled with some safer bets that are nevertheless exciting.

Things have to be particularly appealing in the gaming space.Ahead of CES, LG preemptively debuted 27-inch and 45-inch OLEDs starting at $999.99. With LG Display making the panel, it means more companies are likely to follow suit with similarly sized models. OLED has unmatched image quality and contrast, rivaling some of the fastest monitors available. And these aren’t just flat 16:9 aspect ratio panels. We’ve already seen unique ones like the ultra-wide Corsair Xeneon Flex, which can be bent manually or automatically, but hopefully more companies will adopt OLED.

The consumer and commercial spaces are usually a little less exciting, but we’d expect display tech and convenience features like faster USB-C charging to raise the bar. IPS Black panels and Mini LED backlights in bright colors are starting to gain popularity, and it should be easier (and probably cheaper) to get a feature-packed high-end monitor. Plus, as the USB-C standard expands to support faster charging and higher bandwidth, it’s nice to have a monitor that can quickly charge more demanding laptops. The Lenovo Mini LED model can be charged up to 140W. I like the trend to basically integrate a full Thunderbolt dock into the monitor. This is handy and helps with cable management a little better.

More Dhaka, more hertz, more knits, more colors, hopefully at an affordable price? It’s a combination of flimsy monitor technology, 2) faster chips to power them, and 3) the combined forces of Intel, Steam Deck, and rampant inflation. Hopefully — get your pricing sanity back. (Amid inflation, desktop GPU sales hit their lowest in 20 years.)

Yes, the just-announced 500Hz IPS monitor, 240Hz OLED monitor, 240Hz QD-OLED monitor, and giant 240Hz 57-inch Mini LED monitor all claim ridiculous price tags, but AMD and Nvidia are really up to these speeds. We supply chips that we can reach. some competitive games. If the RTX 4080 runs comfortably at up to 500fps or more Counter-Strike: Global Offensivelaptops powered by Nvidia’s just-announced 40-series mobile chips and AMD’s next part should be able to make good use of them, too.

But what excites me is the lower end From Intel and AMD, we’ve lowered the bar for entry into PC gaming by seeing how the Steam Deck recently proved that $400 handhelds can deliver incredible performance. periodMany boutique manufacturers such as Aya, GPD, and OneXPlayer are working hard in the handheld space.

Intel is a wild card for all of these. Just by being the number 3 company in the GPU space, if we can make cards and chips that people actually want to buy, we can create meaningful competition and raise the bar for entry level. Just squeeze enough of the integrated laptop graphics and you’re good to go.

Finally, with Sony’s PSVR2 debuting in February (though more expensive than the PS5) and HTC finally giving its Meta Quest competitor a real try, we’re cautiously optimistic that VR headsets will be interesting again this year. It’s a target.

At the forefront of digital health and wearables, the trend we’ve seen blurring the lines between medical devices and wellness gadgets will continue this year.

A good example of this is the hearable category. Hearables are, broadly speaking, wearable gadgets that improve hearing in certain situations. They’ve always been at CES, but the difference this year is that the FDA recently issued a rule establishing a new category of hearing aids on the market. One thing to watch is how established hearables companies like Nuheara and Eargo, as well as newcomers, are approaching a whole new landscape.

Of course, we should also see some smartwatches and fitness trackers. Fossil usually has something tailored for CES, but a Gen 7 smartwatch may not arrive yet. Wearable blood pressure and blood glucose concepts and prototypes are also staples of the show. We can also expect a number of less traditional form factors, from smart scales and digital blood pressure cuffs to UV sensors and lipstick printers. It’s going to be a busy week.