I know we say this every year, but it seems like just yesterday we were all crammed into a single room in Las Vegas eating mediocre takeout and voting for our best show. But CES 2024 is just around the corner. The show will officially take place from January 9-12, although we'll be on the ground much sooner, with the first CES-related events expected to begin on January 7. Last year we saw a focus on accessibility and a rather disturbing number of things you were supposed to pee on. While we will likely see a good number of devices designed to assist people with hearing impairments and mobility restrictions again this year, we anticipate that some new trends will grab some headlines. Here are some predictions from our staff about what to expect from CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
Solar easy to use
I suspect CES 2024 will be packed with clean energy technology, packaged in the form of consumer hardware. Solar panels have traditionally been the province of professional contractors, but stand-alone setups are gaining popularity. Two or three years ago, this equipment would have been aimed at RV users, but now it is becoming more widespread. Pop-up panels, along with inverters and batteries that look like air conditioning units, placed discreetly in a corner, are all the rage. It's a plus that most of these setups are plug and play, eliminating the need for a professional to be involved.
There are a couple of factors driving this beyond the niche audience of people looking to get off the grid. In many places outside the United States, the cost of energy has skyrocketed dramatically and it's crazy to think the same won't happen here. Not to mention, in places like Texas, people have seen the power grid fail with devastating consequences. It will be a big market in the coming years and I hope to see more and more consumer brands follow Anker and Jackery into the home battery world. — Dan Cooper, UK senior reporter
MEMS headphones
If Engadget's audience stats are any indication, audio nerds are very excited about MEMS headphone drivers. As my colleague James Trew detailed in his report, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) may well be the next big thing in headphones. A California-based company called xMEMS is the first to bring solid-state components to market, and the first truly wireless headphones that use them recently went on sale.
Some of the benefits of MEMS controllers are said to be better response, better durability, and more consistent fidelity. They also do not require the calibration or matching that dynamic or balanced armature controllers need on a production line. The only downside is that in their current state, they still require a hybrid setup with a secondary driver for bass. However, in its next-generation MEMS speaker, xMEMS promises 40 times more powerful bass response.
The new model is called Cypress and the company will show it to attendees at CES. xMEMS says its performance is consistent with the bass performance of “the best” 10-12 coil speakers currently used in headphones. What's more, Cypress can improve ANC performance, which xMEMs claims will cover higher frequencies, including baby crying. The company has already said that components will not enter mass production until late 2024, so consumer products are more than a year away. But the promise is too good not to get excited about a very early preview in Las Vegas. —Billy Steele, Senior Reporter
Wifi 7 throughout
While it may not be the most exciting development, I expect to see several new Wi-Fi 7 compatible devices at CES 2024, from laptops to TVs and everything in between. Currently, it is still a work in progress, but with the official Wi-Fi 7 specification expected to be finalized in early 2024, device makers are looking to make an early jump. Some benefits of Wi-Fi 7 include Maximum speeds up to 46 Gbps – more than twice as fast as what is available using Wi-Fi 6/6E – along with a 320Mhz channel width that offers double the capacity compared to previous generations.
Another important feature is MLO (multi-link operation), which allows Wi-Fi 7 devices to use two bands at the same time, essentially turning a single wireless connection into a two-lane highway. For people with larger homes, this should improve mesh networking performance by allowing devices to switch bands without losing speed or connection. QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) is also getting a significant boost from 1024-QAM on Wi-Fi 6/6E to 4096-QAM with Wi-Fi 7, allowing devices to pack more information onto the same carrier signal.
The downside is that while there are some devices on sale today, like the Samsung Galaxy S23, that already support Wi-Fi 7, you'll need a compatible device. and router (not to mention a fast enough Internet connection) to take advantage of the full capabilities of the specification. In short, you should keep an eye out for new devices that work with Wi-Fi 7, but don't rush to upgrade everything in your home until prices stabilize and become mainstream. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter
The year of the ai PC
If there's one buzzword you're sure to hear a lot throughout 2024, it's “ai PC.” It's a phrase that both Intel and AMD use to describe computers equipped with chips with NPUs, or neural processing units. Similar to the way GPUs accelerate graphics processing for games, an NPU offloads ai tasks to handle them more efficiently. For Windows 11, this is mostly limited to Microsoft's Studio Effects, which can blur your video chat backgrounds or enhance your lighting. But there are more Windows ai featuresai-new-ui-features-and-everything-else-we-know-so-far”> rumored to be on the way
For years, chipmakers have been looking at higher clock speeds, smaller process designs, and a host of other architectural upgrades, such as 3D transistors, to make their hardware faster. and more efficient. The move toward mobile chip designs, such as Apple's Silicon, is another way to reduce power consumption while accelerating computing capabilities. Intel, AMD and other companies are also focusing more on GPUs to improve basic gaming performance while also offloading some creative tasks like media encoding. NPUs are the latest tools chip designers can rely on, and they also have the potential to completely change the way we use our computers (or at the very least, offer a little more power and battery life for ultraportables ).
While it's easy to be skeptical of marketing terms, the phrase “ai PC” is at least functional. There are still plenty of laptops on the market without NPUs (Intel only got into the ai game with its new Core Ultra chips), so consumers will need an easy way to differentiate between different types of systems. After all, if you're upgrading your laptop to take advantage of the effects of Windows Studio and ai-powered software, you don't want to be stuck with a non-NPU system for several years. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior Reporter
Truly wireless TV
Displace made a splash at CES 2023 with its truly wireless TV that could be mounted anywhere, even suction cupped to a window. The company's demo left us with a lot of questions as it wasn't yet ready to discuss key product details since what it showed were CES-specific prototypes. The company returns to Las Vegas this year and It's already announced what you plan to display.
First, Displace says two sizes of TVs will be demoed: the 27-inch Displace Mini and the 55-inch Displace Flex. The screen we saw earlier this year was also 55 inches, but a key difference between it and the Flex is that this new version connects to an optional magnetic wireless charging stand. Both the Flex and Mini have enough battery life to last a month if you watch six hours of content per day, according to the company. There are no prices available for these yet, but they will be available for pre-order on January 9, so we'll surely know soon. Displace said it will also show a 110-inch model at CES, though details are scarce.
The original version has gone up in price since the last CES: it now costs $4,499 and orders won't ship until mid-2024. The new Mini and Flex are also not expected to ship until late next year. The main thing we'll be looking for at CES is a status update. Are the units more polished? Have there been any notable improvements since that first prototype? How much will additional swappable batteries cost? Does the company look like it will be able to ship in the next 6-12 months?
Displace has also announced ai-Powered-Shopping-and-Payments-on-TV-at-CES-2024″>a shopping platform based on artificial intelligence for your televisions. Using the same gestures that control television viewing, the technician can analyze a paused scene for products that might be available for sale. The system also allows you to make a purchase quickly, either by holding a phone or watch up to NFC-enabled TVs or using a mobile app. Displace says the goal of its products has always been ambient computing, and the first step toward that is this shopping platform. It's also a way for the company to make money on the TVs after the initial sale. —Billy Steele
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas January 6-12. Stay up to date with the latest news from the show. here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ces-2024-what-we-expect-in-las-vegas-this-year-140040145.html?src=rss
