CES 2024 is nearly upon us. I'll be attending this year for the first time, and I'm getting ready to be inundated with more tech news than I can handle. If you're interested in following along, but aren't sure what the Consumer Electronics Show is all about, here's what to expect.
This year, CES will run Tuesday, Jan. 9 through Friday, Jan. 12. However, there are media events happening before the official start of the conference, running both Sunday the 7th and Monday the 8th.
As usual, the conference takes place in Las Vegas, NV, and is spread out over a variety of locations. Pre-show media events take place at Mandalay Bay, while the main press conferences are held at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and Venetian Expo. But there are also plenty of events happening all over the strip, depending on the brand.
Rest assured: If you're tuned into the tech world, you're going to see a lot of tech news next week.
A lot of them.
CES is a massive conference, complete with companies you know, as well as many you don't. In recent years, it's become a welcome place for start ups to show off their upcoming products and services.
CES' Featured Exhibitors page highlights 25 brands that will no doubt make big announcements during the conference, including:
AARP
Abbott
Accenture
AMG (Allen Media Group)
Amazon
Caterpillar
Charter Communications
Hyundai
IBM
Indy Autonomous Challenge
Intel
John Deere
Kia
Lenovo
LG
L'Oréal
NBCUniversal
Mercedes-Benz
Panasonic
Roku
Samsung
Sony
Qualcomm
But that's only 25 names out of 4,274, at least according to the CES exhibitor directory. You can sort this list by category to get a better idea of how many companies are repping which type of tech. For example, there are 878 results for companies related to artificial intelligence, but only 30 related to NFTs. (Unrelated: Does anyone want to buy a Bored Ape?)
Companies don't tend to make many major announcements before the conference actually starts. (After all, why bother holding space at CES if you're going to spill the beans ahead of time?) But in addition to the few announcements we do have, there are a lot of trends in tech right now that will likely manifest as devices, upgrades, and services from the thousands of brands appearing at the conference. Here's a preview of what to look out for:
AI was the tech story of 2023, and so it will continue into 2024. While ChatGPT was less than two months old at last year's CES, companies have been working feverishly to either develop their own LLMs, or incorporate existing LLMs into their platforms.
As noted above, there are almost 900 companies associated with artificial intelligence attending the conference, so expect to see a lot of generative AI-powered products and services this year. But you may also see companies like Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA pushing NPUs (neural processing units), hardware specifically designed to process AI computing. These companies are already talking about the "AI PC," and it's likely those developments will continue on with CES. In fact, Intel is holding an event on Jan. 8 with Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft to discuss AI PCs.
CES and TVs go hand-in-hand. Last year, LG unveiled its OLED M TV, an entirely wireless display that beams all of its content from an external receiver. Samsung showed off its 76-inch MicroLED TV, which it called the "world's smallest and most affordable MicroLED screen," at the time.
TV maker Displace has already announced what they're showing off: the 27-inch Displace Mini and 55-inch Displace Flex. These TVs are able to run off battery power for a month (assuming you use it for six hours a day), and the Flex supports an optional wireless charging mount.
Again, AI is going to be a player here. LG actually announced its 2024 TV lineup ahead of CES, which utilize AI upscaling to sharpen the content on-screen, and sport up to 144Hz refresh rates. And, as Mashable as highlighted, we're expecting to see foldable TVs, wireless TVs that are easier to mount, and TVs that reach as much as 10,000 nits of brightness.
Once a niche in the tech sphere, AR/VR is finally starting to make it big. Apple got everyone's attention with the announcement of Vision Pro, while Meta's Quest 3 offers Apple's best features in a much cheaper package—not to mention, it's actually available to purchase.
According to CES' exhibitor directory, there are 345 companies associated with AR/VR, from Hisense, to Magic Leap, to Panasonic. Expect some new headsets and strategies from this space.
Smart home tech has never been as varied and accessible as it is now. Of course, that's not going to slow companies down. Just look at LG: The company issued a press release late last year announcing its smart home AI agent, a little robot that acts as a "moving smart home hub." LG will be showing off this unique smart home friend at CES, so we'll see more about how this robot analyzes both your home (and you) at all times to change smart devices accordingly.
There are countless smart home tech companies out there, and many of them will be at CES. We'll see what they plan to bring to the table.
We don't cover automobiles much on Lifehacker, but they'll be at CES. Expect to see announcements from from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Kia, and Hyundai. However, following the autoworker strikes last year, US car companies like GM, Ford, and Stellantis will not attend the conference.
