CES 2019 Roundup - 5 Trends Everyone Should Know

Earlier this month, thousands of tech enthusiasts descended on Las Vegas for a chance to get hands-on with the latest gadgets and devices, that will help shape our lives during 2019 and beyond. 

As the world's biggest consumer technology event, CES is where the manufacturers of phones, televisions, computers, toys, and wearables announce their plans and unveil new products for the year ahead.

Last year the inevitable new mobile handsets from the likes of Samsung and Huawei, OLED televisions and virtual reality were among the hot topics. But what grabbed the headlines this year? Here’s my guide to some of the top trends at CES 2019:

AI At The Top Of The Agenda

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now a mainstay of consumer tech, from automated translators and image enhancement in our phones to voice recognition in cars, and the industry appetite for AI only increased this year.

LG’s president and chief technology officer I.P. Park marked the start of proceedings with a presentation on how AI will enable ‘self-evolving’ products. He emphasized LG’s ambition to create a world of intuitive AI-powered technologies that will seamlessly work in to improve all areas of life.

Throughout the week we witnessed the continued efforts made by all of the major tech companies to embed machine learning and predictive analytics into the devices we use day-to-day.

With most of the big auto manufacturers unveiling plans in the past year to build natural language-based voice recognition into their vehicles, AI in in-car tech was a major focus. While the majority of us may not yet be riding in AI-controlled cars by the end of 2019, we may very well be using AI to pick our entertainment while we are driving and control our in-car climate. We could even see screens beginning to replace mirrors, bringing us augmented reality features such as hazard identification and image enhancement.

AI in its various implementations was on display across all of CES's 11 venues, reflecting AI's infiltration of every facet of consumer technology.

Smart Screens – The Command Center Of The Smart Home

Amazon started it with its Echo Show, and Google was quick on their heels with its Home Hub –smart screens are big news this year, and soon we will be seeing the first dedicated TVs with Amazon Echo devices built in (rather than merely being Alexa-compatible through "skills,” as many that are currently available are).

Major tech manufacturers and developers joined the party at CES 2019 – Samsung showing off their Bixby-enabled Galaxy device and other similar devices on show from the likes of Lenovo and even Sony.

LG, in particular, themed its smart home strategy around the kitchen, where smart screens are regularly put to use. As well as showing recipes, they could soon be used to directly control appliances themselves.

Foldable Phones

The tablet form smartphone has ruled the roost for some considerable amount of time now. Well, nothing lasts forever – and several manufacturers including Samsung and LG are putting their money behind foldable screens as the most likely evolution of the smartphone form-factor to break into the mainstream.

Previously obscure Chinese-American manufacturer beat the big boys to the punch by releasing the world’s first folding phone – named Flexpai – this year, that can switch forms from 7.8” tablet to dual-screen smartphone. 

Phones featuring foldable screens have several obvious benefits – offering larger pictures while taking up less pocket space, and being less likely to disintegrate if dropped.

The OLED and AMOLED technology making foldable screens a possibility is finding its way into televisions, laptops and gaming devices. LG showed off its roll-out TV in Vegas, and its such a practical idea that other TV manufacturers won’t be far behind.

While folding-screen devices that can switch between tablet, phone, laptop (by utilizing part of the screen as a keyboard) and television forms are still on the drawing board the exhibitors were keen to show off how the steps they are taking to produce consumer-ready multi-functional folding displays.

The Road to 5G

The next generation of mobile data networks – promising speeds that far outstrip even those provided by today's cable connections – is still a year or so away from being made available to the public. But CES this year saw the first generation of devices that will be capable of connecting to these networks, when they are up and running.

Qualcomm president Christiano Amon predicted that every flagship mobile device will be 5G capable by the end of next year and CES 2019 gave us an early glimpse of the tech that will be available from the likes of Samsung, Huawei and Google.

These 5G networks should put connection speeds of around 20 gigabits per second into the hands of the everyday mobile internet user and are critical to the ongoing rollout of the smart city concept. The move towards 5G was the subject of Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg’s show keynote, and there was undoubtedly a lot of buzz around the topic from other network operators and device manufacturers.

Self-driving cars

Autonomous cars have been on the horizon for some time now, and 2018 saw a building-up of everything, including hype, around the idea that cars will soon be driving themselves through our streets. Companies on the cutting edge of designing the AI that will power these vehicles gave numerus announcements and demonstrations of the tech in action.

Nvidia’s Xavier chip, that allows level 3 autonomous driving, will soon be fitted to electric vehicles produced in China. Level 3 autonomy means that while cars can effectively drive themselves in most normal conditions, a human should be ready to take over the controls at any time.

TuSimple also presented, highlighting their developing computer vision technology they say will bring autonomous trucking closer to readiness. We also heard more from Rivian – a startup that has developed an electric pick-up truck that is designed to become autonomous via a software update once legislation is in place to make them road-legal.

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About Bernard Marr

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.

LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that reaches millions of readers.