This year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) will be held virtually for all the visitors, media staff, enthusiasts, and more. In a timeline spanning over 50 years, this is the first time the show is going to be held virtually to abide by COVID-19 guidelines and ensuring social distancing.
Usually, a big crowd of hundreds of thousands comes to Las Vegas every year to witness the most prominent tech show featuring manufacturers and exhibitionists from around the world. However, this time they all will be witnessing the future of tech from their homes.
Although restricted from physical gathering, the CES 2021 shall continue virtually, and we shall get to see some of the most futuristic gadgets making an appearance. We expect to see many devices around personal health, TVs, smartphones, wearables, and more. Many innovations are going to give us a glimpse at the CES this year. This article will do a rundown of what we expect to see at the tech show.
CES 2021 Dates & Schedules
The CES 2021 starts from January 11 to January 14. This is a week later than the tech show’s usual schedule that starts from January 5 every year.
The first day of the CES 2021 is dedicated to the media, wherein the biggest OEMs host their press conferences. This is the time when the companies make their big announcements and ready the pitch for more. The next couple of days are reserved for the display of soon-to-be-launched devices. The CES 2021 starts on January 11, Monday at 11:30 PM GMT/6:30 PM ET/3:30 PM PT.
The event starts with the keynote from Hans Vestberg, CEO and chairman of Verizon. Vestberg will be discussing – “5G as the framework of the 21st century, the essential tech of the present and accelerated tech of the future to move our global community forward, such as telemedicine, tele-education and more”.
On January 12, Tuesday at 12:30 PM GMT/7:30 AM ET/4:30 AM PT, the session on ‘Next Generation Television in Focus’ will be hosted by the major players like Samsung, Fox Sports, and ATSC. They will be discussing the arrival of 8K Ultra HD and NEXTGEN TV.
The CES 2021 website says this about the upcoming session:
“A revolution in TV is coming, and with it will come advanced display technologies giving consumers a taste of truly immersive viewing experiences. How are consumer expectations going to change, and how are leading manufacturers aiming to meet — and even exceed — those expectations?”
There are many other sessions that will be held on each day of the show. You can check out the complete schedule of CES 2021 here.
What To Expect From The CES 2021
There are a lot of expectations brewing around the upcoming tech event. We will give you a rundown about some of the major announcements and sessions that we are going to detail below.
The Age of 5G
5G is now the reality, and many of the recent flagship devices have launched with support for the high-end connectivity spectrum. 5G is going to broaden its horizon and build a robust ecosystem with the help of AI.
Not just the tech, 5G will also spearhead the creation of around 22.8 million jobs and approximately $13.1 trillion in global sales enablement by 2035, says the market study by Qualcomm.
The rollout of 5G networks by the biggest telecom players like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon will be continuing at a gradual pace. And meanwhile, the induction of 5G networks for industrial applications will have a greater impact on the overall economy and other sectors like agriculture, automobile, and more.
This also means that more and more smartphones, tablets, and other devices will be launching with 5G connectivity support. Companies like Google, Apple, Samsung, and others already launched phones with 5G support to recall.
Samsung is all set to enter the market in the second half of 2021 with its affordable 5G smartphone, the Galaxy A22 5G, for around $200.
High-end TVs: 8K, Micro LED, and More
TVs’ future leaps into 2021 with 8K resolution, OLED panels, more extensive and bigger displays, micro LEDs, and more.
Until now, OLED panels were crème de la crème of the display tech, but now micro-LEDs have entered the arena as contenders. The micro-LED panels compete with their high-end display technologies, color reproduction, and more. And with all the goodness and high-quality output, the micro-LEDs manage to stay affordable too!
Similarly, 8K TVs will also be entering the markets soon and might even be under an almost affordable price range.
This year we expect TVs to get bigger and be used for more than just watching TV shows and movies. With the big shift caused by 2020, we now expect families and professionals to use their bigger TV sets for video calling and other multimedia features.
In the past, we have seen companies launching set-top boxes with webcams, but now we expect to see TVs better integrated with webcams and other remote work friendly features.
To see a better preview of TVs’ future at the CES 2021, head to this link.
The Curious Case of Voice Assistants and Smartwatches/Fitness Trackers
We will see a dynamic shift in AI as it moves into the world of wearables. In 2021, we will see voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant making their way to smartwatches and even fitness trackers.
Until now, the voice assistants built their solid functionality on smartphones and smart devices, but now it would be enticing to witness their penetration into wearables too. We are also looking forward to seeing some new wearables such as the Amazon Loop ring and Amazon Frames. The Amazon wearables are tipped to offer direct Alexa integration.
We expect AI to debut on other consumer devices because it is now a part of the consumer lifestyle. It is only better to build it more and more into every tech and make every device smarter to handle voice commands and enhance the consumer experience.
COVID Paves the Way for More Personal Health Devices
COVID-19 altered our lives, and it is only natural to have more devices around personal health. The global pandemic made people shift to at-home workouts and equipment, remote work lifestyle, voice-enabled utilities like smart locks, and more.
At the CES 2021, we expect to see a whole new range of personal health devices to help us fight deadly viruses while ensuring hygiene and minimum physical contact. So, in a nutshell, we can see smart air purifier, UV light disinfectants, and more debuting at the show.
Personal health will be making its way to more devices other than smartwatches and fitness trackers. Devices like Oura ring shall dominate the scene with their health monitoring features like heart rate, sleep, temperature tracker, and more. And these devices will be more helpful in tracking your health vitals than fitness bands.
Automation Takes Lead With Robots
The year 2020 also made us realize that automation is the need for every service sector, especially healthcare. This year’s CES shall give us a glimpse into more practical robots that could be of big help for hospitals. These robots would be adept at performing functions like disinfecting hospital rooms, checking affected patients’ temperature, and more.
And not just healthcare, these robots may also make their way into other sectors like retail, food delivery, and more. It would be exciting to see them showed off the CES 2021 event.
Stay Tuned With Us!
With all the imminent announcements reserved for CES 2021, we are excited! Another reason to be excited is that this is the first time a show as large as the CES will be taking place virtually. It would be interesting to see how big and small companies handle virtual events and impart information about their products and services.
Rest assured, we will be right here, closely monitoring every event and bringing you the information in real-time! Stay tuned with us to catch all the action from the CES 2021.
