Another CES is in the books. Becoming completely virtual meant it was a smaller than normal program – and since it was already a program that was declining in terms of influence for a few years, we could feel it. Still: there were some great stories to follow and things to learn about what’s to come in consumer technology.
That’s the thing about CES: most of the time, the best technology shown here is conceptual, extremely expensive, very distant in the future or all of the above. We are interested in him not because we hope to find him in a store next week, but because he tells us what we will find in stores over the next two years. In addition, we are interested in it because giant screens are too much, especially when they fold.
This year, I think there are some big trends to keep an eye on. There are these concepts. But there was also very real news about processors with imminent release dates. AMD, Intel and Nvidia have announced components that could make up some very good laptops (especially gaming laptops). And then: many laptops have been announced that will use these parts.
And since this is CES, we saw the state of the art for televisions moving forward once again with Mini LED and brighter OLED. I have to say that, in relation to TVs in particular, I am pleased to see technology companies competing in direct image quality through higher contrast and HDR, rather than just larger pixel counts and, I don’t know, 3D or curved screens. There is also HDMI 2.1 in the world and all the features it allows. Wait for reviews, of course, but my guess is that if you have a TV with a few kilometers, this will be a great year to update and you will be surprised at the improvement in quality.
Was there also a capsule-based ice cream machine that people who like fun things liked and which grumpy things like me complained about? Yes. There is always a gadget that appears and receives more attention than we expected. What happens with this year’s virtual CES is that there were simply fewer options. We had almost as many big ads as usual, but we didn’t have the odd corners of the exhibition floor where we would find diamonds in that very rustic convention center.
I know that this is not an experience that the vast majority of people have. For most of you, CES has ever been virtual. But we will never know which sales deals will not be made or crazy speakers will not get attention because a few hundred thousand people have been away from Vegas this year.
Five years ago, I was fortunate enough to have the chance to roam the CES show floor with Walt Mossberg, just playing with things that were new at the time. After watching the CES 2021 recap at the beginning of this post, I encourage you to take a look at what CES 2016 was like, below. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I hope to be able to return to the live show next year.