What to expect from CES 2023 – The Verge

CES is almost here. You can already see it if you look around: announcements about new display tech, news posts filled with spec details, and lots of strange gadgets suddenly popping up out of nowhere.

The Consumer Electronics Show is the starting point for the year in tech — a week associated with nonstop announcements that sets the stage for the year’s emerging trends plus technologies. You can expect to see the biggest Televisions of the particular year, early signs of what’s to come in laptops, and a whole lot of wild ideas about where cars, wearables, smart home tech, plus much more are headed.

The event formally kicks off on Thursday, January 5th, but there’ll be plenty of information beforehand. Companies are holding press conferences throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, with the show floor finally opening up upon Thursday and into the particular weekend. The particular Verge will be reporting from on the ground, so stay tuned for coverage of our favorite finds.

For now, here’s what our own team is expecting as they look toward the week ahead.

As in years past, automotive technology is expected to take center stage at DE TELLES 2023. New vehicle concepts, futuristic infotainment displays, and a barrage associated with aftermarket devices and gizmos will jockey for attention along with all the usual TVs, laptops, and other consumer technology ephemera.

Big automotive companies are preparing major notices, including Stellantis’ family of brands, like Ram, Peugeot, plus Chrysler. Volkswagen will reveal the ID. 7 sedan, its next major global electric vehicle. And top executives from Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW will be on hand to provide a glimpse of the future direction of their respective companies.

With an infusion of new cash from the particular federal infrastructure law, EV charging infrastructure is also expected to take the spotlight. Dozens of EV charging companies will be on hand to unveil new technologies that they argue will improve access to getting as well as improve a notoriously buggy customer experience.

Fully autonomous vehicles won’t be as much of the focus as in years past. Instead, advanced driver assistance, benefitting through improved sensor technology, is going to be held up as a more realistic and near-term solution to traffic safety problems.

– Andrew Hawkins

TVs are within a very good place as we kick off CES 2023. Nearly all of the HDMI 2. 1 confusion has been hammered out over the last couple of years, along with most high-end (and many midrange) TVs supporting 4K gaming in 120Hz, variable refresh rate (VRR), plus other features. So if you were waiting for the dust to settle upon that, you’re in the clear.

I anticipate TV makers to focus on refinement in 2023 by making iterative improvements in order to brightness and overall picture quality ; don’t expect to see any major new concepts or ideas introduced — plus 8K remains off within the distant background and isn’t worth caring about.

Instead, look with regard to small quality-of-life upgrades like QMS-VRR (a feature that prevents the particular momentary blackout when switching video frame rates), even faster gaming response times, and improvements to the software that powers TVs from Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense, and other brands. We’ll likely see a strong show associated with support regarding the Matter smart house protocol, and you can count on the never-ending LCD (including Mini LED) vs . OLED debate in order to continue among home theater enthusiasts as new models enter the fray in 2023.

– Chris Welch

This week, Las Vegas will become overrun with smart home gadgets. We will likely observe innovations in popular products such as smart security cameras, smart locks, robot vacuums, plus smart lighting, as well as some new categories, powered by the new wise home standard Matter.

Backed by Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Google, and others, Matter is an industry-wide regular to develop a common communication protocol intended for the smart home. It’s important because it allows connected devices to easily communicate with each some other and any kind of smart house platform, so you won’t have in order to worry if a device you buy works along with your smartphone or voice assistant; in case it works with Matter, it should work with everything.

Expect a landslide of Matter-compatible product bulletins this week, mainly around smart plugs, wise lighting, and smart shading — which are the first device groups supported. I’m also hoping we’ll get a few press releases from businesses about updating their existing products to Matter so we don’t all have in order to go out and buy brand new stuff to get in on this new intelligent home party.

Speaking of clever lighting, this is a good area in order to keep a close eye on as companies look to make their products more innovative in the face of potential commoditization by Issue. Entertainment illumination has been a big trend this year — plus we’ve already had posters from GE Lighting and Cync close to new products to make your living room feel like a disco celebration (should you want to), and we’ll likely see a lot more.

Ultimately, though, I am hoping for more than just flashy lights and fun “experiences” out of the smart home at DE TELLES this season. Gadgets are cool and all, yet it’s long past time to get the sensible home in order to graduate to its master’s degree. I want to see solutions that provide actionable energy management plus take advantage of unobtrusive technologies such as Wi-Fi sensing and radar plus innovations about wireless power to create the smart house that feels like a home and not a Best Buy.

– Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Expect to notice laptops show up in their usual formation: a few weird and wacky devices that get all of the buzz and a whole bunch of simple spec updates that are what people will certainly actually buy. I’ve got an eye out there for more dual-screen products — and in particular, dual-screen gadgets that don’t cost a lot more money than I could ever, in good conscience, recommend that people spend upon anything. Mini LED should continue to make its way onto laptops as well because the MUX switch on the video gaming side.

But most laptop enthusiasts’ eyes will probably be focused on two businesses this week: Intel plus AMD. While those companies don’t make laptops, the particular decisions they’ve made with their own chips will make or even break the PC market this coming year. With rumors of new Apple chips just around the corner, the other chip manufacturers of the world have a big task ahead of them — and with Intel’s struggles along with efficiency last year and rumors that AMD was unable to meet demand, I’m excitedly and nervously waiting to see what direction these companies will take within 2023.

– Monica Chin

CES is not much of a phone show, plus 2023 doesn’t look like it’s going to end up being an exception. There are gossips that we might see a collaboration between Motorola and the parent company, Lenovo, upon a cross-branded ThinkPhone . If you get excited about productivity synergies between your phone and your own laptop or about faux carbon-fiber styling, then this particular one is probably for you. If we do see this at CES, it’ll end up being interesting in order to find out what it looks like when the two manufacturers combine their particular efforts in the nine years since Lenovo acquired Motorola.

Outside associated with that, expect things to stay quiet until next month. OnePlus confirmed it’ll be launching its new flagship on February 7th, and Samsung rumors stage to an early February event for the particular Galaxy S23. A little further down the line, we’ll probably notice a lot more mobile news inside late February and earlier March close to Mobile World Congress. There’s a lot to look forward to in the mobile space within the coming 12 months — more foldables in more places! So many megapixels! Actually good 5G! It’s just that none of it seems to be timed around DE TELLES. This one’s all yours, laptops, Televisions, and automatic robot vacuums.

– Allison Johnson

Monitors of most sizes, prices, and aspect ratios made for a fun 2022. I still anticipate a few curveballs in 2023, but We think this particular coming yr will also be filled with some safer bets which are exciting nevertheless.

Things should be particularly compelling in the gaming space. Ahead of CES, LG preemptively debuted 27- and 45-inch OLEDs starting at $999. 99, and since LG ELECTRONICS Display is making the particular panels, that will means that many companies are likely to follow suit with similarly sized models. This is great news because OLEDs have unparalleled picture quality and contrast and rival some of the fastest monitors available, all pertaining to a pretty competitive price. And these aren’t just flat 16: 9 element ratio panels; we’ve currently seen unique ones like the ultrawide Corsair Xeneon Flex that can be manually or even automatically curved, and I actually expect more companies in order to get weird with OLEDs.

The customer and commercial spaces are usually typically a little less exciting, but I am expecting the bar to be raised on display tech plus nice-to-have functions like faster USB-C charging. The contrast-rich and color-accurate IPS Black panels and Mini LED backlighting are starting to catch on, and it should be easier (and possibly cheaper) to get your hands on the high-end, feature-packed monitor. Plus, as the particular USB-C standard expands to support quicker charging and more bandwidth, it’ll be great to notice monitors that can quickly charge a lot more demanding laptop computers. The recently announced Lenovo Mini LIGHT EMITTING DIODE model can charge at up to 140W, and I love the trend associated with essentially integrating a full Thunderbolt dock into monitors. It is convenient, plus it helps you manage your cables just a little better.

– Cameron Faulkner

More dakka , more hertz, more nits, more colors, hopefully from prices you can afford? The story of 2023 in gaming hardware is a combination of 1) the particular monitor systems my colleague Cameron simply introduced a person to, 2) faster potato chips to drive them, and 3) the joint forces of Intel, the Steam Deck, plus rampant inflation to — hopefully — bring a few sanity back where pricing is concerned. (Amid inflation, desktop GPU sales just hit a 20-year low . )

Yes, the just-announced 500Hz IPS monitors and 240Hz OLED monitors plus 240Hz QD-OLED monitors and gigantic 240Hz 57-inch Small LED monitors will largely command ridiculous price tags, but AMD plus Nvidia may be supplying chips that can actually strike those speeds in several competitive games. If the RTX 4080 can comfortably run maxed with over 500fps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , notebooks with Nvidia’s just-announced 40-series mobile chips and AMD’s next parts should be able to create good use of all of them, too.

But exactly what I’m excited about is the possibility of competition at the lower end from Intel and AMD, seeing how the Vapor Deck lately proved you are able to put an incredible amount associated with performance within a $400 handheld, lowering the bar to entry for PC gaming, period . Many boutique manufacturers like Aya, GPD, and OneXPlayer are pushing in the handheld area, and I’m hoping they figure out how in order to compete upon price, too.

Intel may be the wild card in all of this: just by being a third company within the GPU space, it could meaningfully create competition if it manages to produce cards and chips people actually want to buy, also it can raise the bar meant for entry-level video gaming all simply by itself when it pushes hard enough with its integrated laptop graphics.

Lastly, I’m cautiously optimistic that will VR headsets will be interesting again this year, since Sony’s PSVR2 debuts in February ( although it costs more compared to a PS5 ) and HTC finally produces a real attempt on a Meta Quest competitor .

– Sean Hollister

On the digital health and wearable front, this season will continue a trend we’ve already been seeing designed for a while: the blurring of lines between medical devices plus wellness gadgets.

A good example of this particular is the particular hearable category. Hearables are usually wearable devices that, broadly speaking, improve your hearing in certain situations. They’ve always had a presence at CES, yet what makes this year different is that the FDA recently issued a ruling establishing a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids. One thing to keep a watch away for will be how established hearable businesses like Nuheara and Eargo as well as newcomers are approaching the brand-new landscape.

Of course , you ought to also be prepared to see a handful of smartwatches and fitness trackers. Fossil usually has something timed in order to CES, even though it’s not really likely we will see its Gen 7 smartwatches just yet. Wearable blood pressure and blood glucose ideas and prototypes are furthermore frequent staples of the display. And you can expect lots of less-traditional form factors, too, through smart scales and digital blood pressure cuffs to UV sensors plus lipstick printers. It’ll be a busy week.

– Victoria Song