Break out the champagne and roll out the red carpets, CES is back! After two rough, COVID-addled years that saw the world’s greatest tech show reduced to a shell of its former self, the show is primed to spring back to its former glory for 2023. And our team of writers and editors will be on the ground in Las Vegas, bringing it all to you.
But much has changed since the last “normal” CES of 2020. The economy has boomed and busted, supply chains have knotted, and attitudes over excess have shifted as climate change looms larger and larger in our global conversation. And as always, the tech itself has marched forward, rising to the challenges of our new post-COVID lives.
We asked our expert editors to share their predictions about what we’ll see in every major product category. Here’s what’s coming.
Computing
From experimental laptop concepts to game-changing monitors, CES is always a go-to destination for the computing tech that will dominate the rest of the year.
What’s coming this year? Well, we’ve seen plenty of teases from the biggest names in the game already, including LG’s 27-inch OLED gaming monitor and Alienware’s monster 18-inch gaming laptop. Beyond those we already know about, laptops are expected to remain a particular focus of the show, with dozens of new devices and updates likely to get announced for the new year. Lenovo, Asus, HP, Dell, and are all expected to unveil new slates of laptops and 2-in-1s for 2023, all vying to become the best laptops and gaming laptops you can buy by the end of the year.
And, of course, we’re always eagerly anticipating the press conferences for the silicon that powers these new products, with Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all set to make some big announcements. The RTX 40-series laptop GPUs will be the talk of the show for gaming laptops, especially since a super-powered RTX 4090 is rumored to make an appearance.
— Luke Larsen
AV
If there’s one thing you can count on at CES, it’s this: Television manufacturers will roll out new televisions that will be bigger, brighter, and better than the ones that came before. Expect as such from the likes of LG, Samsung, and Sony, as well as others including TCL and Vizio. We’re still very much looking toward QD-OLED as the future of cutting-edge TV tech, so it’ll be interesting to see if anyone has anything to add on that front.
The real question as far as the TVs go is whether we’ll see any surprises in Las Vegas. In 2022, we saw the first signs of QD-OLED. Will 2023 be the year that tech starts to go mainstream?
Then there’s the audio side of things. Soundbars are still all the rage — LG revealed its 2023 lineup of soundbars — and we should expect them to continue to incrementally improve, and continue to work better and more seamlessly with the televisions they serve.
And, as always, CES should continue to be lousy with new headphones. Maybe not new flagships from the major manufacturers — they tend to release on their own schedules. But there still should be something new to put in or on your ears.
— Phil Nickinson
Gaming
Video game fans don’t generally tend to pay much attention to CES, as it’s not a show that’s historically associated with big reveals. The trade show does have a way of sneaking in some major news though, that tends to take fans off guard. Just last year, for instance, Sony took the stage to share details about its PlayStation VR2 headset and even unveil Horizon: Call of the Mountain.
Don’t expect any game surprises like that this year, but there are still some tech trends you’ll want to keep an eye on. We know for sure that VR is going to play a major role in the show, as HTC is preparing to unveil its next headset. With Meta chasing professionals with its expensive Quest Pro, HTC’s device could wind up being the next consumer-friendly option for gamers, so long as the price is right. There’s also a chance that Sony could use this year as a big pre-release party for the PlayStation VR2, which is set to drop in February.
Portable gaming is especially something to watch this year. We’ve already seen companies like Logitech take a stab at their own cloud-based handhelds and we assume Razer might use the show to highlight the Edge. There’s always a chance that a company like Asus, which revealed the ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet last year, could follow that trend with a device of its own. It’s unlikely that we’ll see a shock reveal, but this CES should give us a clear view of how gaming tech is changing in the cloud era.
— Giovanni Colantonio
Mobile
CES used to be a hotspot for mobile tech. A few years ago, we’d get announcements from Apple, Samsung, LG, and other brands — making it one of the go-to shows for all things smartphones, wearables, and more. That hasn’t been true of CES for a while, but that doesn’t mean CES 2023 won’t give us any mobile tech goodness.
OnePlus used CES 2022 to announce the OnePlus 10 Pro. The company has already confirmed that the OnePlus 11 is launching in February, but it’s possible we’ll get additional details on the phone before then. Samsung also had an appearance at last year’s CES to debut the Galaxy S21 FE. While we aren’t expecting the Galaxy S23 at CES, Samsung may show off some new low- and mid-range handsets.
TCL and Nokia are both usually safe bets for CES, so expect to hear something from one (or both) of those companies regarding upcoming smartphones. Lenovo’s already announced one budget Android tablet, and Movano has confirmed it’ll be unveiling its new smart ring designed specifically for women.
CES 2023 may not be the biggest mobile tech event of the year, but don’t you dare call it a boring one.
— Joe Maring
Smart Home
Matter, Matter, Matter! The new universal standard for smart home connectivity was on the tip of every tongue last year for good reason. It promises to liberate us from devices that only talk to a handful of peers and finally deliver the reliable, easy-to-connect smart home that seemed just over the horizon a decade ago.
The good news is, it’s finally here. After a delay early last year, the specs for Matter were finalized in October, which means a slew of new devices that support the standard are headed our way at CES, and to actual store shelves in 2023. Expect smart lights, locks, appliances, and every other device under the sun to proudly showcase support for Matter, and its underlying technology Thread.
— Nick Mokey
Cars
CES has become every bit as important to automakers as car shows in Detroit and Tokyo, and it’s easy to see why: The tech show has also become ground zero for the EV revolution.
This year, Ram will catch up to the likes of Ford and GM by launching an electric RAM 1500 dubbed the Revolution BEV. Previous hints suggest it will boast 500-mile range, putting the current breed of electric trucks to shame. Its parent company Stellantis will also show off its Peugeot Inception concept, and Mercedes is almost always good for a wickedly futuristic mind bender, like last year’s Vision EQXX.
Other mobility concepts will also take flight – in some cases literally. Silicon Valley’s Aska will unveil a working, full-size prototype of an electric car-and-quadcopter in one, also known as an eVTOL. Ryse Aero Technologies promises parking lot demos of its own Recon eVTOL, and Maca, a company with Formula 1 roots, will show off the hydrogen-powered S11, a carcopter built for racing.
Back on the ground, passengers are also in for some upgrades. Zoox, the self-driving car company owned by Amazon, will finally let us poke around the inside of its long-awaited robotaxis, and Holoride will show off a new version of VR tech destined for the back seat of cars. We’ll bring our vomit bags.
— Nick Mokey
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