This story is part of CES, where our editors will present the latest news and the hottest gadgets from CES 2021 entirely virtual.
This will be a CES like no other, as we experience it remotely from around the world on our own screens. CES will still do what CES does best – showcase the latest innovations and ideas in technology and set the agenda for what is happening in the industry in the coming months and years. CNET will cover all categories with our team of experienced reporters and editors who will discover the most attractive products and the most important stories.
To prepare you for this year’s virtual show, here is a summary of what to expect at CES 2021.
1. There will be less noise and more signal
This year’s virtual CES will have around 1,000 suppliers. To put it in context, last year’s show in Las Vegas had 4,500. Typically, one of CES’s biggest challenges is the sheer amount of information you need to separate to find the good stuff. CNET always accepts the mission of filtering CES main products and trends for consumers. This year will be a little different with less than 25% of the companies involved. Suppliers who submit to the 2021 all-digital CES are more likely to have something new and interesting to talk about, rather than just showing up because they always show up and already have the hotel booked.
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CES 2021: What to expect while the show goes completely digital
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2. The pandemic movement will be crowded
Companies will launch a lot of technology to help people deal with the fears of COVID-19, blocking life and working and learning at home. In the areas of health and smart home, we’ll see high-tech masks, smart air purifiers, more hands-free devices, UV-C lamps to kill germs and more. Certainly, computer manufacturers will rely on more than a third of American employees who work at home to launch devices and accessories to make their working lives easier. And home entertainment providers will offer TVs, sound bars and streaming devices and services to an audience that still can’t see almost all of the entertainment in the living room.
Note that CNET will discuss these issues on our panel, Will Tech keep the best headquarters at home?
3. Transparent OLEDs will create buzz
With more of us at home, watching compulsively, TVs were in high demand. That’s why we always pay attention to the upcoming attractions that will come on TVs at CES. There’s always a huge or scrollable TV or other impressive new technology – albeit an enigmatic one – that becomes CES’s flashy showcase. This year will likely be LG’s transparent OLED screens. They are going from 10% to 40% transparent, which opens up new possibilities for many creative use cases. Some of what LG will display at CES 2021 will include a smart bed where the OLED screen rises from the stirrup, a smart subway window where maps and schedules are superimposed on the glass and a restaurant divider between booths where you can see large images of items from the menu and even watch a chef prepare your meal.
4. The biggest gadget will take center stage
Car manufacturers have been using CES as a platform to talk about what they call “digitizing and electrifying” the car for more than a decade. The problem is that we speak mainly of the largest automakers in the world, who make beautiful prototypes, but have been dragging themselves along to make real progress. The momentum is gathering around 2021, a year of disruption for EVs, however. Automakers are converting some of the industry’s most iconic brands into EV, including the Mustang, Ford F-150 and Hummer. Tesla has just reached its long-anticipated half a million vehicles sold in 2020, a number very ridiculed and questioned by the auto industry. On Tuesday, January 12, GM CEO Mary Barra will deliver the CES opening speech and Chevy has already promised that new EV announcements are coming. Oh, and speaking of big devices, the John Deere AI and robotics tractor is one of the winners of this year’s CES Innovation Award.
We’ll be talking about all of this on our panel, The Great Commute Reboot.
5. Samsung will be bigger than ever
In a normal year, Samsung is always CES’s 800-pound gorilla, with the largest booth on the show floor, the most eye-catching press event and a flurry of new ads on TVs, audio, computers, appliances and attention hunters peculiar as past years Neon AI chatbots. Samsung will continue to make the usual waves this year, but added more fuel to the fire by holding a Samsung Unpacked Event – ostensibly for his flagship next smartphone, the Galaxy S21 – on the same day that CES’s virtual show floor opens on Thursday, January 14th. Talk about trying to steal the show! In the past, Samsung stole thunder from its rivals by scheduling this event near the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (or a week or two earlier). But with MWC postponed to the middle of the year, Samsung is essentially co-locating its biggest mobile event of the year for CES in 2021.
6. 5G will be a big deal, again
From Roger Cheng: I know it seems like we say this every year, but a lot of things are in place to really allow 5G to dominate the conversation at CES, especially as this show is becoming more virtual and depends more on panels and discussions from what fantastic gadget demos. All three US operators now have 5G national coverage. All phone manufacturers – including and especially Apple – are on board. In addition to Samsung’s announcement, you probably won’t see as many 5G devices at the show. The discussion will largely revolve around the long-term applications of 5G, for example, how we use 5G to solve some of the problems exposed by the coronavirus. The discussion will involve the use of 5G to close the digital divide, as well as to improve experiences around telemedicine and remote learning and work.
Read More: The 5G lecture will dominate the virtual CES 2021