It’s that time of year again, where some of the biggest names in technology come together for the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 to demo their new tech, and kick the new year off with a bang.
With everything from foldable displays to big reveals from companies like AMD and HTC on the table, it’s going to be a great year for fans of tech at home and on the road.
Let’s dive into everything you can expect from CES 2019.
The Screens of the future
As usual, expect to see a lot of new display technology at CES this year, as all the big brand names bring out their newest pet projects for all of us to ogle at on the show floor.
This year is likely to focus on ultra-crisp, 8K televisions of all shapes and sizes. There’s no doubt that 8K displays will be the next significant resolution jump to roll out in the coming years, and big names like Samsung, LG, HiSense, and Sony are going to be pushing hard to roll out 8K options to early adopters.
There’s no guarantee that we’ll see a consumer ready version quite yet, but we have no doubt that there will be a lot of 8K screens on display on the show floor. There might not be a whole lot of 8K content on the market to fill those screens, but the big names in the business want to make sure that they’re far ahead of the curve for when it happens.
What’s more, there’s good odds that we’ll see a lot of displays go ultra-thin and potentially ultra-flexible at this year’s convention. Samsung will be bringing their foldable phone, the Galaxy X, but rumor has it that LG and a new Chinese company called Royole could demo their own foldable phone prototypes to heat up the competition. With this tech on the table for phones, we could easily see it making its way to other corners of the market, so don’t be surprised if things get a little bit crazy as the line between science and science fiction gets a little blurry.
AMD bringing 7nm CPUs and GPUs
As a nice surprise, AMD has also announced that Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO and President, will be hosting a keynote where she’ll discuss how AMD,
“will catapult computing, gaming, and visualization technologies forward with the world’s first 7nm high-performance CPUs and GPUs, providing the power required to reach technology’s next horizon.”
You can expect AMD to discuss everything from the third generation of Ryzen CPUs to what they have planned for their Vega line of GPUs with 7nm tech under their belt. Considering the launch of Nvidia’s RTX line, AMD is likely planning to try and one up their competition in green.
AMD’s presentation is scheduled for Wednesday September 9th at 9am, and will likely be streamed on their official YouTube and Twitch channels.
Nvidia AI and GPUs
You can also expect Nvidia to have a pretty significant presence at CES this year. The smart money is on them discussing their steps forward with deep learning AI, self-driving cars, and hopefully a few new budget RTX cards like the RTX 2060 to help bring ray tracing down to a more consumer friendly price range.
When Nvidia revealed their RTX line earlier this year, it was clear that the RTX 2070 and its bigger, meaner brothers are meant to be the new standard for high end and enthusiast level GPUs.
This leaves the more budget friendly cards still up in the air, and considering the popularity of the GTX 1060, we wouldn’t be surprised if Nvidia takes the RTX 2060 in a bold new direction in terms of performance per dollar metrics.
Don’t be surprised if this announcement comes with a slew of new mobile gaming hardware as well as Nvidia takes the gag notice off high end gaming laptop manufacturers looking to bring the RTX line to mobile consumers.
Voice assistants for days
We wouldn’t be surprised to see voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant dominate the gadget world this year at CES as Google and Amazon explore new ways to integrate their respective voice-controlled assistants into your day to day lives.
We expect to see both Google and Amazon showcase new smart home tech and day to day device integration for their respective platforms. Expect to see a lot of devices and appliances sporting one virtual assistant or another as the big boys in the gadget business work to bring Amazon and Google Assistant to everything in your home.
The goal is likely going to be integrating and connecting as many devices in your home as possible to a virtual assistant so that you can seamlessly connect with Google and Amazon services from anywhere. Ever wanted a notification on your phone that your laundry is done? Or that you’re out of milk in the fridge? Expect Amazon and Google Assistant to move in that general direction at the coming show.
HTC bringing new VR tech to CES
If you’re a fan of Virtual Reality, you’ll be excited to hear that HTC is bringing something special to CES this year. Although the company has been tight lipped about what exactly they have planned, they’ve been sure to let everyone know that they’re planning something.
Earlier this week HTC posted an update on Twitter along with a photo of their packed boxes for the event which read,
“The truck is loaded and we’re excited be on our way to #CES2019. The cases are packed with some new gear we can’t wait to unbox for you.”
Eagle eyed fans were quick to notice that the box on the right side of the photo was intentionally blurred, making it impossible to do anything but guess what HTC is bringing to CES this year. Last year we saw the reveal of the HTC Vive Pro, but this year our money is either on a full reveal of a consumer ready version of their Knuckles VR controllers, or a wireless standalone VR headset meant to compete with the Oculus Quest.
Either way, it’s going to be exciting to see what HTC brings out of the woodwork this year to compete with the impressive showcase Oculus and Facebook brought out at Oculus Connect in 2018.
5G just down the road
Although this isn’t the first time 5G has shown up at CES, there’s no doubt we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of 5G compatible devices popping up on the show floor this year, as well as plenty of keynotes and presentations discussing how 5G will integrate into tech across the board.
With Samsung, LG, Verizon, and AT&T already on their way to one of the biggest conventions of the year, you can expect a lot of people to be discussing their roadmaps and plans for 5G integration at their respective keynotes.
Rumor has it that 5G is just around the corner, and although some manufacturers will likely hold their tongues until the Mobile World Congress in February, there’s no doubt that the increased speed and efficiency of 5G networks is going to be a hot button topic for any company looking to offer high speed services on the go.
Cars, cars, and more cars
Finally, you should expect to see a lot of cars at CES once again this year. The joke about CES becoming a tech junkie’s car show is still alive and well, and almost every major manufacturer is likely going to have some kind of active presence showing off their newest concept cars and other major advances in the world of self-driving cars.
Some of the highlights include an in-car entertainment center from Audi that’s meant to offer an in-car theater style experience, while Ford is set to show off a host of new external LIDAR sensors, and their own recent steps forward in the self-driving sector.
Nvidia will also likely have a significant presentation on their advances in the self-driving sector, considering the slew of partnerships they demoed with several major car manufacturers last year we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Nvidia sticker on more than a few prototypes on the show floor.
It looks like 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year for tech across the board, and we’ll be covering all these topics and more throughout CES 2019.
