With CES 2023 over, it’s time to dig deeper into trends and topics on show at the world’s largest tech event, covering everything from wellness to home appliances, smart tech, healthcare, EVs, and much more.
1. Advanced Wellness Gadgets
Wearable gadgets have been, for a while, more than accessories to listen to music or get notifications. Earbuds that can measure your heart rate aren’t rare and fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, many smartwatches and fitness trackers can also read blood oxygen levels nowadays.
Could 2023 be the time to go further? Healthcare devices were a huge part of the CES floor this year, so we listed some of the best wellness products exhibited at the event.
Better-known names in the industry announced products, such as Acer’s eKinekt BD3 exercise desk, which combines, well, exercise and work desks. In addition, JBL launched the Endurance Peak 3, earbuds that combine IP68 certification with salt water resistance, so they can be used during physical activities.
Smaller players also made announcements. For example, Withings launched U-Scan, a device you clip to the toilet bowl that analyzes urine. Alphabeats is a headband that provides real-time data using EEG sensors to improve focus through music.
There were also displays of a ring to monitor menstrual cycles, high heels that distribute impact evenly through each foot, and the usual sort of wearables—including some smartwatches that caught MUO’s attention. Tech to monitor health and improve well-being is getting increasingly advanced, which benefits us all.
2. Electric Vehicles Go Mainstream
EVs were major stars at CES 2023. In their case, though, there isn’t specific tech that can be considered a trend: electric vehicles themselves are trending right now. EVs are mainstream, and not only as in “for the general public.”
That means one can now find electric engines from luxury car concepts such as the color-changing BMW iX to minivans like VW’s ID. Buzz. With more and more people considering the purchase of an EV, it’s no longer something restricted to niche buyers.
3. Phones and Wearables Evolve Slowly
It’s been a few years since truly groundbreaking innovations emerged in the smartphone scene. Apart from flexible screens and ultra-high resolution cameras, things have been at a pace of evolution rather than revolution. At CES 2023, at least, this has carried on. CES isn’t known for major announcements in the category (that ticket usually goes to Mobile World Congress, held in late February each year). Still, manufacturers usually take some news to the show floor.
Lenovo potentially caused the biggest splash, launching its ThinkPhone by Motorola. While not too different from late 2022 flagships, it promises deep integration with Lenovo’s ThinkPad family of laptops.
Next comes Samsung’s Galaxy A14 5G. It has decent (not amazing, though) specs for its price, but its greatest feature is the manufacturer’s pioneering mobile design language.
Recently, TCL announced its 2023 smartphone lineup with three new devices. All three—the 40R 5G, 40 SE, and 408—have entry-level CPUs and RAM but deliver elsewhere with its NXTVISION screen technology and a 50MP main camera.
Actual advancements in smartphones are limited to advancements in tech that’s already trending. For example, both Qualcomm and Bullitt Group (known for its CAT smartphones and Motorola’s rugged Defy phones) launched satellite-connected smartphones. While Qualcomm partnered with Iridium for its low-Earth orbit coverage, Bullitt partnered with Skylo to enable connections to geostationary constellations from various providers.
The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), responsible for the Qi charging standard, also had an announcement to make—and also one inspired by Apple. The governing body will include what it calls Magnetic Power Profile, which is essentially MagSafe as seen on iPhones since 2020, for the Qi2 version.
Wearables—beyond all health-oriented ones from the first section—got some love at CES 2023, too.
TCL announced its RayNeo X2 augmented-reality glasses, which feature microLED displays on its lenses, speakers at the end of each leg, and a 16MP camera. Sony’s PSVR2, on the other hand, presented the long-awaited virtual reality headset, complete with compatible hand controls.
Numerous headphones were also announced at CES 2023. For example, JBL’s Tour Pro 2 and Poly’s Voyager Free 6 feature touchscreen charging cases, Urbanista’s Phoenix has a solar panel instead, and Sennheiser added a hearing aid function to its Conversation Clear Plus.
4. AI Gets Brighter
CES 2023’s lineup isn’t in ChatGPT’s job description, but it definitely could be. Artificial Intelligence was definitely an expression that many exhibitors could not keep out of their mouths.
TCL’s aforementioned smartphone line uses it to enhance photos, while Govee uses it to sync smart home lights with on-screen gaming content in its AI Gaming Sync Box Kit.
Elsewhere, Truekinetix is implementing an AI-powered balance pedal force on its smart exercise bike, and Citizen is using AI to deliver health insights to its CZ Smartwatch.
None come close, though, to the Lenovo Legion family of gaming laptops. All four models are equipped with a dedicated AI processor to optimize performance. It ramps up fan speeds, limits the TDP passed to the CPU, and GPU, and makes the battery last longer.
5. Big Players Bet on Smart Homes
Perhaps the area that received the most attention from the major manufacturers at CES 2023 was smart home appliances. Samsung, LG, Philips, Nanoleaf, and GE all had something to show.
LG announced no less than three appliance lines: Minimalist, the updated Signature, and the upgradable ThinQ UP, while Samsung brought some novelties to the Bespoke line, including a refrigerator with a 32″ touch screen.
Another commonly heard word was Matter. The new smart home standard gained traction at CES 2023, with compatible products from Samsung, GE, Nanoleaf, Yeelight, and Philips. Many also announced updates to existing devices to support Matter, such as Yeelight rolling out Matter support for its Yeelight Pro range.
6. High Refresh Rate Gaming Monitors and High-Power Laptops
On gaming, a fair share of manufacturers announced products at CES 2023, covering desktops, laptops, monitors, and peripherals. Virtually all the computers feature the latest offerings from Intel, AMD, or Nvidia, and most also feature crazy-high refresh rates.
Seemingly, the lower end for gaming laptop displays is now at 120Hz. Dell’s entry-level G family of gaming laptops goes from that to higher. Acer starts from 144Hz for the Nitro and 250Hz for the Predator series. Alienware’s M16 and M18 can go up to 480Hz—though at the cost of resolution, the display options that refresh that fast are FHD. Razer’s Blade line settles for QHD at 240Hz.
For monitors, things get even wilder.
LG chose the moderate path with the UltraGear pair: 240Hz—but OLED and 27″ QHD, with a 45″ curved WQHD option.
Asus delivered similar offerings in size, display tech, and refresh rates to LG. However, its ROG sub-brand went a little further, pushing out a 540Hz gaming monitor, while Dell’s gaming division promised the launch of a 500Hz gaming monitor later in 2023.
Samsung, while not playing the refresh rate game, had some interesting offerings. The Odyssey Neo G9 features a 57″ curved screen with a 32:9 ratio and dual-4K (7.680 x 2.160) resolution. The Odyssey OLED G9 is smaller at 49″ and caps resolution to dual-QHD but delivers true black due to the quantum dot OLED panel. Both refresh at 240Hz.
7. TVs and Displays for All Tastes
Speaking of panels, there are also products for those who don’t need high refresh rates.
Samsung’s ViewFinity S9, aimed at creative professionals, includes a color calibration engine and covers 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut. Its TV offerings go up to 140″ in size and 8K in resolution, with Matter support and embedded social features.
LG decided to try a different approach. Its Signature OLED M TV gets rid of cables, with an AV box that transmits 4K at 120 Hz wirelessly to the panel. The sole wiring behind the display is the power cord.
Roku announced its own line of TVs, surprising everyone. For the company, the main strategy for 2023 will be relying less on third parties to reach the consumers’ living rooms, it seems.
A little further from the end customer are Samsung’s concept panels. The Flex line consists of three displays: one foldable and rollable, aimed at tablets, and two rollable screens for laptops. There was also a 2,000-nit HDR screen for smartphones, which should arrive in the coming months.
8. Good Old Computers Learn New Tricks
Among the many peculiar trends, what could be left for the well-known and loved computer form factor? Quite a lot, actually.
Firstly, the recurring trend of Chromebooks taking ground from entry-level Windows laptops—and some midrange ones, too. Asus announced a new Vibe offering, as focused on cloud gaming as the first one, complete with RGB lighting. HP launched a ChromeOS version of its Dragonfly Pro laptop. Acer even displayed a Chromebox built to be attached behind a monitor.
Another consistent evolution is of ultra-thin laptops. Sacrificing a bit of performance for higher mobility, laptops are becoming increasingly thin and packing in longer-lasting, stronger batteries each year. LG announced the Gram Ultraslim at CES 2023, with 10.99mm in thickness and 998 grams in weight. Sony Vaio also joined the party with the SX14, along with HP and the Dragonfly G4, Asus with the ExpertBook B9, and Acer’s Swift Go line.
Many of those also offer OLED screens by default or via upgrades. Panels displaying true black are becoming more and more common for flagship and even midrange laptops these days.
Last, Lenovo announced the Yoga Book 9i, a dual-screen laptop that resembles Microsoft’s canceled Surface Neo (as pictured above). Its design differs from foldable devices like Asus’ ZenBook 17 Fold or Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Fold, opting instead for two 13.3-inch screens. It does come with a detachable Bluetooth keyboard, though, and it also made our list of the best laptops at CES 2023.
CES Keeps Fueling Innovation in 2023
For tech geeks all around the world, CES is always a great way to kickstart a new year. Some device categories, like smartwatches or mobile phones, may seem stagnant. Others, such as AI and health tech, thrive.
For the next few months, many of the ideas exhibited at the event will be perfected, and some will be discarded. What we can be sure of is this: if anyone believes something can be solved using tech, it’ll end up on the CES floor.