I know, right? Christmas just ended and the New Year hasn\u2019t even dawned \u2014 but we\u2019re already ramping up for CES mode, and we\u2019re taking you down with..<\/b>
\nYou are about to activate our Facebook Messenger news bot. Once subscribed, the bot will send you a digest of trending stories once a day. You can also customize the types of stories it sends you.
Click on the button below to subscribe and wait for a new Facebook message from the TC Messenger news bot.
Thanks,
TC Team
Coverage Events
TechCrunch to host Startup Battlefield in Dubai with Area 2071
Watch Ultrahaptics use ultrasound to let you feel imaginary objects
Volocopter: Expect our flying taxis running for real in \u201ctwo to three years\u201d
Browse more…
Browse more… CES 2018
A cyclist is using a Google Assistant-controlled electric bike wheel to ride cross country to CES
Attending CES 2018? TechCrunch wants to see your company
Blink introduces a $99 video doorbell
Browse more…
Browse more… Brian Heater @bheater 0 SHARES
Next Story
Some apps were listening to you through the smartphone\u2019s mic to track your TV viewing, says report
Advertisement
I know, right? Christmas just ended and the New Year hasn\u2019t even dawned \u2014 but we\u2019re already ramping up for CES mode, and we\u2019re taking you down with us.
The biggest tech show of the year is set to officially kick off January 9 \u2014 which actually means the big announcements will start in earnest several days before.
The fact that the show falls so ridiculously close to New Year\u2019s is no coincidence (and, actually, this one is slightly later than 2017\u2019s event). Now that everyone\u2019s made their big consumer electronic gift purchases, it\u2019s time for the industry to trot out the next generation of devices. And for many companies, CES really does set the tone for the entire year\u2019s product cycle.
That said, some of the show\u2019s impact has dulled in recent years. Product cycles have shifted and many big companies like Samsung tend to hold their really big announcements at their own events. Meanwhile, other big tech shows have increasingly drawn attention away from CES, including, most notably, MWC, the big mobile show that kicks off around a month and half later.
With so much of the industry (and, for that matter, the world) in a seemingly transitional state, 2018 seems to be shaping up to be a bit of slow year for the show. Many of the of big trends for the event were dominant forces in past years. Connected homes will likely dominate the show yet again, led by the explosive popularity of Alexa and Google Assistant. Some past themes will likely see a shift, meanwhile, as past years\u2019 fascination with VR shifts to a more AR focus.
So here\u2019s what we know \u2014 or think we know \u2014 about the upcoming show\u2019s biggest news, pulled from exhibitor lists, the rumor mill and an examination of larger industry trends.
An LG representative shows a smartphone with Home Chat in front of an LG smart refrigerator on the final day of the 2014 International CES, January 10,2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The LG Smart Home system with the Home Chat smart platform allows users to communicate with home appliances via text message. Photo: ROBYN BECK\/AFP\/Getty Images
This is the biggest no-brainer of the show. The smart home dominated last year\u2019s event, and it\u2019s showing no sign of slowing. In fact, connected hubs like the Amazon Echo and Google home have made home automation an even larger focus. This, in turn, means you can expect more smart home devices from the usual players \u2014 names like August, Canary, Ring and Kwikset are all on the list of exhibitors.
You also can expect to see showings from longstanding home product manufacturers embrace these technologies as a way to bring themselves up to speed with 21st century technologies. Last year also saw a big explosion in HomeKit-compatible devices. After all, while Apple\u2019s never really been a direct player in CES, its smart home solution is a good way to keep Siri and iOS relevant at the show. That\u2019s doubly important, given the recent delay of HomePod, the company\u2019s first Siri-focused piece of hardware.
Smart home offerings will no doubt run the gamut from locks to thermostats to vacuums. And keep in mind, CES has always been a big show for appliances from companies like LG and Samsung. Last year\u2019s show saw a refrigerator sporting Bixby \u2014 it hasn\u2019t exactly been a gangbuster year for Samsung\u2019s smart assistant, but don\u2019t be too surprised if it starts popping up on washing machines, vacuums and the like.
2017 was the year that Amazon and Google really truly opened their respective assistants up to third-parties. Though that really happened toward the middle of the year, around IFA, as companies like Sony and JBL began releasing their own versions of Echo and Home, often with far better sound quality than what either Amazon or Google were offering at the time. This CES is bound to see a veritable deluge of smart speakers from third parties, offering up features like portability that users don\u2019t really get with first-party hardware. And heck, we might even see another Cortana speaker in the mix. Maybe.
LG already jumped the gun on the show by announcing a new Google Assistant-enabled speaker in amongst a deluge of different audio offerings. Assistants will also no doubt start creeping directly onto other pieces of third-party hardware \u2014 Garmin recently announced the Speak car plug-in. CES 2018 will be the year that Google and Amazon attempt to assert how pliable and adaptable their assistants really are.
Google, in particular, is reportedly planning quite a presence at this year\u2019s show \u2014 which is pretty uncharacteristic for the company. At best, it\u2019s usually there through partner products, including Android phones and Chromebooks. This time, however, the company has reserved a couple of spaces in and around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and all signs point to Assistant taking center stage. That said, don\u2019t be surprised if Daydream VR is also along for the ride.
Virtual reality has been a tent-pole CES attraction in recent years, and that\u2019s likely to continue to be the case \u2014 though the past year has seen the industry shift its focus somewhat over the past year toward AR\/MR. That move is almost certainly going to play out on consumer electronics\u2019 biggest stage.
As with smart speakers, this will be a chance for third-parties to shine on existing platforms. And all signs point to a renewed focus on standalone and\/or wireless headsets.
Qualcomm will almost certainly be making a big push on this front through various partners. The chipmaker has been showing off its Snapdragon 835 dev kit and has already brought some high-profile partners on board for standalone VR headsets, including, most notably, Oculus\u2019s Go, which made its debut back in October.
Google\u2019s Daydream will likely have a big moment at the show. Lenovo just had a headset pass through FCC approval, which means it could well appear onstage at CES. The rumored \u201cMirage\u201d name is almost too perfect for a Las Vegas debut.
Augmented reality, meanwhile, is getting quite the platform this time out. It will be the focus of multiple panels and will be getting its own \u201cMarketplace\u201d in one of the Convention Center halls \u2014 one sure sign that a technology has made it in the eyes of the CEA. That one\u2019s still a bit small this year, though it does feature some key players, including Sony, Zeiss and Kodak.
Another perennial CES favorite in recent years, the wearable market was pretty tumultuous in 2017. It was up, it was down, sometimes people seemed to trend toward the low end of devices, sometimes everything appeared to be coming up smartwatch. CES 2018 is likely to be another year of throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks.
Big players in the space like Fitbit are going to be present at the show, but as with many mobile companies, they tend to prefer using their own event to launch product. Besides, the company just announced the Ionic smartwatch a few months back, so it\u2019s likely to be pretty quiet for the show.
As with the connected home space, CES is a great showcase for non-tech companies to dip their toes in the water. Past years have seen smart shoes and t-shirts, and we\u2019re likely to see more of the same on that front. If there\u2019s an article of clothing that can house a sensor, you\u2019ll be seeing some version of it at this year\u2019s CES.
Past years have also been a showcase for Android Wear devices from companies like Motorola and LG, but all signs point to Google\u2019s wearable operating system being virtually dead in the water, and CES 2018 doesn\u2019t appear to be doing much to change that.
CES just isn\u2019t a big show for phones \u2014 especially with Mobile World Congress hot on its heels. Practically all of the major players will be present (Apple, of course, being a notable exception), but this isn\u2019t really a big show for flagships. That said, we may see the first devices sporting Qualcomm\u2019s newly announced Snapdragon 845.
Sony is one of the companies that loves using CES as a springboard for new phones. Past years have seen a number of new Xperia devices, and indeed, one rocking the 845 has been rumored for the show. As for actual U. S. availability on those phones, well, that\u2019s never really been Sony\u2019s strong suit.
Huawei, on the other hand, is said to be bringing some already announced smartphones to the States and CES, including the popular Mate 10 and MediaPad M5, because yes, tablets are still a thing.
The biggest story on the mobile front, however, is going to be 5G everywhere. This week, the CEA added a 5G keynote to its schedule, featuring reps from Verizon, Qualcomm and Baidu. Expect that buzzword to be everywhere, as big players like Intel and Samsung push it as the connective tissue between all of the show\u2019s big announcements, from drones to self-driving cars to smart appliances. Automotive has become an increasing focus for the show in recent years. Once again, a number of top car companies will be present, including Ford and Toyota. My guess is you\u2019ll be seeing A LOT of self-driving car demo videos out of this year\u2019s show. Robotics are relatively few and far between at the show. That\u2019s because, Roombas aside, they still haven\u2019t really cracked the consumer market. That said, it\u2019s probably safe to say a number of friendly robotic faces will likely be vying to put their own spin on the smart home assistant space. TVs. They will be big, they will be high-def and smart and there will be so, so many of them. 4K, 5K, 8K. All the Ks. Lots of fun new PC form factors. iMac-like all-in-ones and Surface-competing convertibles will likely get a lot of face time, as will Qualcomm and AMD-powered systems. 0 SHARES
Lab-made meat startup SuperMeat raises $3M seed to develop \u2018clean\u2019 chicken 10 hours ago| Steve O’Hear
YouTube star Logan Paul apologizes for video of apparent suicide victim 10 hours ago| Jon Russell
Building AI systems that work is still hard 14 hours ago| Martin Welker
Smart lock maker Otto suspends operations yesterday| Brian Heater
Apple buys app development service Buddybuild 13 minutes ago| Brian Heater
Apple buys app development service Buddybuild 13 minutes ago| Brian Heater
Some apps were listening to you through the smartphone\u2019s mic to track your TV viewing, says report 42 minutes ago| Sarah Perez
Facebook, not Twitter, will live stream this year\u2019s Golden Globes\u2019 red carpet pre-show 3 hours ago| Sarah Perez
It\u2019s the New Year and you\u2019re getting laundry-folding robots, because the 1960s thought of everything 3 hours ago| Jonathan Shieber
It\u2019s the New Year and you\u2019re getting laundry-folding robots, because the 1960s thought of everything 3 hours ago| Jonathan Shieber SEE ALL NEWSLETTERS Product Manager at Diffbot (Mountain View, CA, United States) Product Manager at Diffbot (Mountain View, CA, United States) Senior Developer \/ CTO at Envolved LLC (Southern California) Senior Developer \/ CTO at Envolved LLC (Southern California) Senior Software Engineer, Rails at Mondo Robot (Boulder, CO, United States) Senior Software Engineer, Rails at Mondo Robot (Boulder, CO, United States) Senior Software Engineer, Front-End at Mondo Robot (Boulder, CO, United States) Senior Software Engineer, Front-End at Mondo Robot (Boulder, CO, United States) Business Development at Equidate (San Francisco, CA, United States) Business Development at Equidate (San Francisco, CA, United States) More from CrunchBoard<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 4.4<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 1.5<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n