BH’s CES 2023 Highlights
Just like clockwork, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) has officially kicked off at its traditional home of Las Vegas. One of the year’s biggest tech showcase events, CES is traditionally the first point of call for the latest innovations from some of the world’s biggest tech companies including Samsung, LG, Sony, BMW, JBL, Intel, Microsoft and Google, so it’s worth paying attention to the showstoppers that’ll be rolling out from the event in the coming days.
That’s where we come in. To save you a lot of time, we’ve started a live list rounding up the best of CES 2023, where we’ll be giving you a quick run-down on the latest TVs, speakers, smart home essentials, electric vehicles and other gadgets shown throughout the event.
First, let’s take a quick look at exactly what CES is.
What Is CES?
CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is an annual showcase event that focuses exclusively on new technology.
“CES 2023 will harness the power of human-to-human interaction to keep the innovation engine moving forward,” says Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organiser of the annual event.
“CES is the most influential tech event in the world – the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators.”
This year, CES 2023 runs from Thursday, January 5 to Sunday, January 8 at 11 different venues in Las Vegas including:
- Las Vegas Convention Center (main venue)
- Westgate Las Vegas
- Renaissance Las Vegas
- Venetian Expo
- The Venetian
- The Palazzo
- Wynn Las Vegas
- Encore at Wynn
- Aria
- Park MGM
- Vdara
Unlike other similar shows like SXSW, CES is not open to the general public and is trade-only, meaning you’d only really have direct to the floor if you worked in the industry or were a member of media flown over to cover it.
Consumers have to rely on CES reports, of which there are many across the internet right now. And over the coming days, there will be even more as announcements ramp up from some of the aforementioned brands including Sony and LG, as well as Hisense and smart home companies like Kohler.
Typically, the first announcements that’ll come out of CES are generally to do with TV and different display technologies. It’s predicted that MicroLED will be the big play for TV manufacturers this year. Namely, harnessing the advanced display technology but trying to cut down costs to a reasonable level of general consumers can start investing in the technology. It’s expected that 8K TVs will also have quite a big presence, despite true 8K content still being quite rare.
While primarily a tech show, CES is also quite big for car manufacturers as well. Reportedly, the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall will be showcasing up to 300 automotive exhibitors keen to preview the latest vehicles and technologies. This includes BMW, where chairman Oliver Zipse has been locked in for a pre-show keynote, and STLA.
Do note that, traditionally, something showcased at CES doesn’t mean it will be arriving on the market anytime soon. In many cases, new technologies are showcased at CES over many years before they are released to the public.
See below for our CES 2023 highlights.
CES 2023 Highlights – Best New Devices Announced
LG 97-inch M3 OLED TV
LG has gone “completely wireless” for the future of smart TV units. The South Korean company has showcased a new 97-inch M3 OLED TV that uses its new Zero Connect box to wireless stream 4K content at 120 Hz. This eliminates the need for wired connections.
You can read more about it here.
Acer eKinekt BD 3 Bike Desk
Acer has introduced the eKinekt BD 3 Bike Desk, primarily targeted toward the work-from-home market. It’s simple really, the desk has an exercise bike attached and converts your exercise into kinetic energy which is then uses to power the entire workstation and keep your devices topped up.
Acer has said the eKinekt desk will begin shipping for the US in June 2023 but no word yet on global availability. It should retail for around US$1,000 (~AU$1,453).
You can read more about it here
Samsung Flex Hybrid
Samsung has already nabbed one of the early CES 2023 highlights by showing off its new Flex Hybrid, a concept from Samsung Display where the left side can fold in while the right side can slide out to extend the panel.
The Samsung Flex Hybrid is a mobile device concept so it seems like the South Korean company wants to start seeing if it can incorporate this display technology in future iterations of its Galaxy smartphones.
The half-foldable, half-slideable hybrid offers a 10.5-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio but can slide out to a 12.4-inch larger screen with a 16:10 screen ratio when needed.
Citizen CZ Smartwatch
We don’t often get many watches beyond the major smartwatch brands coming out of CES so it’s a surprise to see Citizen make an announcement for its CZ Smart series. The long-standing brand has shown off its new CZ Smartwatch, which seems to include all the essential features like tracking for heart rate, sleep quality and blood-oxygen levels, but also includes sensors for fatigue and alertness levels.
Using AI to battle fatigue is an interesting move from Citizen, whose CZ Smart will be run on Wear OS 3 and include the CZ Smart YouQ app. That is, the app designed with tech from NASA and IBM Watson, geared at becoming a bit of a self-care advisor using neural networks and 10 days’ worth of sleep data to determine a user’s chronotype.
The Citizen CZ Smartwatch will start shipping in the US in March. A global shipping date has not yet been confirmed.
You can read more about it here.
Alienware x14
Gaming laptop giants Alienware unveiled four different laptops to kick off its presence at CES, but the most fascinating is the Alienware x14. Designed as the thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world, it has a 2,560 x 1,600-pixel display with a very fast 165Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth gaming with the latest titles.
Alienware x14 will start shipping later this year.
LG Gram Style
LG Gram laptops may not be as ubiquitous as the brand’s excellent OLED TVs but that should change with the new Gram Style laptop. While the specs are impressive, the main design feature we’re most excited about is the hidden touchpad that pops up only when you touch the palm rest, lighting up underneath your fingers to show you where to navigate the screen.
Given laptop tech has rarely been as forward-thinking when it comes to exterior design as of late, this is a welcome distinction from the typical laptop showcases which mostly just show off new leaps in power and efficiency.
This is a live list of CES 2023 highlights and will be updated regularly over the next few days given the Las Vegas trade show has wrapped up. We will be looking through more announcements and adding them if they are bringing something new to the table, represent an important innovation, or are just plain cool and something we’d happily buy ourselves.
