Taking a deep breath as I write these phrases: Subsequent week, TechCrunch will return to our first in-person CES in three years.
Phew. It felt good to lastly get that off my chest.
The final time our crew flew to Las Vegas for the occasion was January 2020. An auspicious date. It wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than the whole world went pear-shaped. It was a giant present, with 117,000 in attendance, per the CTA’s (Shopper Know-how Affiliation) figures. The occasion, which its governing physique would somewhat you not name the Shopper Electronics Present, has turn into a sprawling affair in current many years.
Making an attempt to see the whole present is a idiot’s errand. Again in my youthful, extra hopeful days, I made a degree of seeing as a lot of it as I might, making a fairly good run at strolling each official corridor. That’s turn into more and more unattainable through the years, because the present has spilled out properly past the confines of the Las Vegas Conference Middle. There’s the Venetian Conference and Expo Middle (RIP the Sands), numerous lodge suites and numerous official and unofficial occasion areas orbiting across the strip.
As with numerous different stay occasion producers, the final three years have introduced a sort of existential disaster for the CTA. After a lot foot dragging, the group needed to lastly admit that an in-person CES 2021 was a horrible concept for all events, and the pivot to a digital occasion was understandably rocky. Final yr, the present dovetailed with the omicron spike, and TechCrunch — amongst others — made the choice to take a seat that one out. Extremely contagious new strains, coupled with vacation journey was a bridge too far.

CES, the world’s largest annual shopper know-how commerce present opens its door to guests on January 5, 2022, on the Las Vegas Conference Middle in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Picture Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Pictures
Final yr’s numbers have been down considerably. The CTA pegged the occasion at “properly over 40,000” individuals (44,000 is the generally accepted determine), marking a 75% drop from 2020. It’s a outstanding drop, however I suppose that, given every thing taking place on the time, cracking 40,000 was a victory of types. The CTA says it’s on monitor for 100,000 this yr — seeing as how there isn’t one other distinguished COVID-19 variant, it appears doubtless that, on the very least, there will probably be a large soar from 2022.
I’m doubtless not alone in my suspicions that the CTA didn’t need individuals getting too snug with 2021’s digital occasion. Properly earlier than COVID, there had been a longstanding query across the efficacy of in-person tech occasions. CES and different {hardware} reveals have had an edge in that debate, with a concentrate on merchandise that do profit from being seen in particular person. That mentioned, the final two years have demonstrated that it’s, certainly, doable to cowl the present moderately properly out of your front room.
We’ve, nevertheless, moved past dialog about “the brand new regular” (actually, when was the final time you heard that phrase uttered in earnestness?). The brand new regular occurred after we weren’t trying. The brand new regular is that the virus doesn’t exist as a result of we are saying it doesn’t. Have I gotten it thrice, together with as soon as from attending a commerce present in Vegas? Properly, yeah. Do I acknowledge that the act of attending a present that’s billing itself as drawing in 100,000 attendees means there’s an inexpensive expectation that I might be staring down time quantity 4 in mid-January? Completely. The CES COVID protocols are right here. The TL;DR is that vaccination, testing and masking aren’t required, however you’ll be able to if you need. That’s just about the usual in every single place at this level.

Attendees go via a hallway on the Las Vegas Conference Middle on Day 1 of CES 2022, January 5, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES is the world’s largest annual shopper know-how commerce present. Picture Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Pictures
Is there nonetheless worth in going? I feel, sure. I imply, I’m going. Different TC employees are additionally going. We’ve pared down our presence from previous years, and I think about that is going to be the case transferring ahead. Given the quantity of CES information that’s launched by way of press launch and the truth that just about each press convention is streamed, the proper strategy to masking an occasion like that is be smaller and extra strategic.
This isn’t merely a product of this new, endemic virus. It’s a product of a shifting panorama for media usually. For all of my private points with the occasion, I do genuinely have nostalgia for these days of pure, uncut running a blog, again when there was nonetheless cash being dumped into format, at the start turned paywalled. There’s worth available at reveals like this, however for TechCrunch, a minimum of, it’s about taking the proper conferences and discovering the people who find themselves engaged on cool issues. It’s more durable than it sounds, having come again to 1,600 unread emails after a few weeks off. We made this record, and I plan to verify it twice extra earlier than I hop on a aircraft subsequent week.

Picture Credit: DENIS CHARLET/AFP / Getty Pictures
Even earlier than these specific units of circumstances, CES has been via a number of crises of confidence. Figures have ebbed and flowed through the years, as is the character of this stuff. The neatest factor the CTA has performed previously a number of years is lean into the automotive facet. What began as an embrace of high-tech in-car programs has expanded considerably. It’s virtually as if CES turned a automotive present when none of us have been trying.
One of many present’s key performs is timing. A lot to the chagrin of each one that has tried to get pleasure from a while off through the holidays, it’s positioned as the primary present of the yr in an try and set the cadence for the remaining 11.5 months. CES technically begins on January 5, however the press days are two days prior. This yr, I’m flying out on the 2nd, simply to verify we’ve received our bases coated. There have been years after I’ve flown in on the first. Let’s simply say I’m glad I finished ingesting a few years again.
By positioning the present proper at the start of the yr, it’s received a number of months’ soar on main auto reveals like those held in Chicago, Atlanta and New York. The know-how angle means we get an excellent take a look at quite a lot of EVs and autonomous driving programs, in addition to eVTOLs and micromobility. Anticipate some large information, together with keynotes from BMW and Stellantis. Chip makers like Qualcomm and AMD additionally at all times have lots on the automotive entrance on the present.

Picture Credit: Hyundai
Hyundai could have a large presence on the present as properly, strolling the road between automotive, mobility and robotics. In reality, judging by my overstuffed inbox, it’s going to be an enormous yr for robotics, from shopper to the presence of key industrial startups in a broad vary of various classes. Robotics is at all times a difficult one at CES. Large firms love to indicate off flashy robots that by no means go wherever (imagine it or not, the newest Sony Aibo is a relative success story there), and there are going to be a ton of junky robotics toys. However the present continues to be an important place to see some legit breakthroughs up shut. Keep tuned for subsequent week’s challenge of Actuator to get a full breakdown.
My inbox can also be flooded with web3 and crypto pitches, even supposing I can depend on one hand the variety of instances I’ve written concerning the topic over my 6+ years at TechCrunch. To say the trade hit a tough patch in 2022 is like saying Elon is “nonetheless figuring it out” as Twitter CEO. The believer nonetheless believes theirs is the fix-all answer to each downside plaguing humankind. Anticipate that to trickle into each side of the present, together with, considerably mockingly, local weather.
I might like to see sustainability turn into a serious subject at CES. Apparently there’s a piece within the Conference Middle’s North Corridor. There’s largely been a smattering of local weather firms on the present, however I’ve definitely by no means been overwhelmed by them. Hopefully that is the yr that begins to show round. Ditto for accessibility. I’ve heard inform of some firms with this focus on the present, however that is one thing else that basically must be on the forefront.

Distant management / good dwelling Picture Credit: Erhui1979 / Getty Pictures
A lot has been written about Amazon’s Alexa wrestle of late. It’s secure to say that the good dwelling market hasn’t labored out like everybody deliberate. I do, nevertheless, anticipate a large press at CES, bolstered by Matter. The usual, supported by Amazon, Apple and Google, amongst others, actually began gaining steam over the previous couple of months. If issues go in response to plan, this CES will probably be an necessary second, as the assorted classes of linked dwelling devices are on full show.

Picture Credit: Meta
AR/VR — sure, I say this yearly. Sure, much more than with good houses, this one has but to shake out the way in which many hoped. The current debut of Meta’s Quest Professional and HTC’s Vive tease will anchor the large VR information. AR will doubtless be much more ubiquitous. Much more than digital actuality, augmented actuality feels just like the Wild West proper now. There are a ton of {hardware} makers presently vying for a spot in your face. Historically, CES hasn’t been very gaming targeted, however Sony does are likely to make it a centerpiece of its personal press convention and we’ll doubtless be getting some face time with PlayStation VR.
Wearables ought to get some love on the present. Oura’s success has catapulted the ring type issue. We already wrote up Movano’s pre-show announcement. Larger names like Google, Samsung and Apple do most of their gadget saying at their very own occasions as of late, however CES is a chance for a few of the smaller corporations to seize a little bit of consideration. I’d anticipate an excellent larger concentrate on well being metric monitoring from names like Withings. Linked dwelling health stays a key pattern to observe, fueled by that preliminary pandemic push.

Picture Credit: Oura
As ever, telephones are largely a nonstarter right here. Cellular World Congress is the place that magic occurs. In any other case, anticipate a smattering of bulletins from {hardware} corporations like Lenovo and Sony, which don’t have a lot of a presence within the North American market. This has, nevertheless, historically been a giant present for PCs. Dell, Asus and Lenovo all have large presences, whereas AMD and Nvidia might serve up some large information concerning the chips that energy these programs.
We don’t cowl them that a lot, however CES can also be large for TVs, in each sense of the phrase. LG, Samsung, Sony and TCL will doubtless have the newest, best and largest. QD-OLED and MLA OLED are the magic phrases — or letters, I assume.
The press days are January 3 and 4, and the CES present flooring formally opens on January 5. Plan accordingly.