The world’s biggest consumer technology trade show returns later this week, as CES – formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show – kicks off on Thursday 5th January in Las Vegas.
The event was held in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, while a reduced in-person version did take place but was cut short last year.
This year is expected to see a return to bustling crowds and packed rooms, especially for the bigger announcements and reveals.
The show will be spread across more than 18 acres of floor space in venues including the Las Vegas Convention Center, hotel ballrooms, and even makeshift pavilions set up in the city’s parking lots.
While there will be plenty of surprises across the four days of the show, many of the bigger exhibitors will hold press conferences beforehand and rumours and leaks have already started to emerge.
Cars have played an increasingly large part at CES over recent years, and vehicles of different kinds will again be prominent at this year’s event.
Expect AI-enhanced cars and personal flying machines
Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techsponential, told press agency AFP that electric vehicles with artificial intelligence (AI) will be on display “in a big way”.
Independent tech analyst Rob Enderle, meanwhile, said that there had been a lot of buzz around “personalised flying machines”, which he added were basically “human-carrying drones”.
While the metaverse hasn’t quite taken off the way that Mark Zuckerberg and Meta suggested it would over the past couple of years, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) gear will again figure prominently at the show.
Meta is set to showcase its latest Oculus Quest VR headset, and next-generation ‘Web 3’ technology on display is expected to include plenty of mixed reality gear and gadgets.
This could include a number of products that were developed during lockdown that are now being brought fully to market.
Elsewhere, German Bionic will debut its lightest ever exoskeleton suits, designed to “bring ergonomic monitoring and protection to every worker”, while Earable will showcase an AI-powered headband to help you sleep more efficiently.
In among the more unusual gadgets, there will also be all the regular updates to smartphones, digital TVs, laptops and innumerable other devices, with keynotes and presentations from the world’s biggest tech names.
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