CES 2025 preview: What to expect at tech’s biggest show | The DeanBeat
Next week at the CES 2025 trade show in Las Vegas, we’ll once again be able to see and hear about the latest tech trends in person. …
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Next week at the CES 2025 trade show in Las Vegas, we’ll once again be able to see and hear about the latest tech trends in person.
This year, the organizers of the big tech showcase expect more than 138,000 attendees through January 10, with hundreds of speakers and an estimated 4,500-plus exhibitors and 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space.
Attendance is expected to be more than the 138,000 people who came last year, according to Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that stages the event. Based on some of the tech I’m previewing, I feel like AI is starting to lead to products that are truly magical, like language translation, biological testing on smartphones and glasses that can tell you about the world. And groups like AARP are targeting the aging population with AgeTech innovations. There is much to feel good about. Let’s just hope we have enough electricity to do all that AI computing in a sustainable way.
“All signs point to a successful CES 2025. We had over 138,000 attendees at CES 2024 and we expect at least that for the 2025 show, with registration up for both industry attendees and media. CES 2024 had over 40% of attendees come from outside the U.S. and we are tracking at similar levels for CES 2025,” Shapiro said in a message to GamesBeat. “Of course, we can’t be certain until we’re onsite and the show is underway, but we anticipate that CES 2025 will welcome more than 4500 exhibitors, including 1400 startups. We expect that CES 2025 will bring together more than 2.5 million net square feet of exhibits.”
He said attendees will see new technologies across the show floor. Applications for the CES Innovation Awards 2025 reached a record level, with more than 3,400 submissions, making the CES 2025 honorees the most competitive group to date.
“CES 2025 will also set the tech agenda and discuss the trends shaping the future of innovation with over 300 conference sessions compared to over 250 conference sessions in 2024,” Shapiro said. “CES 2025 numbers will be verified post-show through an independent audit, which will be available in the Spring of 2025. ”
This means once again showgoers will have to pay attention to how to avoid crowds in Las Vegas. If you’re a veteran of the show, you’ll find the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) will be open again because it has completed construction. I’ve done my tips and tricks for attending CES 2025 already and this story is about what to expect beyond the bigger crowds. If I had to pick a theme for the most common pitch I’m getting, I would say it’s smart glasses with AI assistance. We’ll see this from a number of vendors, big and small, at the show.
Not everything will be giant and predictable. Reelables will show off a new way to track shipped packages. It has paper-based electronics that are on one side of a shipping label. These labels have 5G and GPS tracking electronics embedded in them (with a zinc battery inside) so you can see where the package is anywhere in the world. The company will off the product at CES at LVCC North Hall, Booth 8364.
Last year, there were 5,355 media at the event. Like me, they will look for gems like Reelables and start showing up at the event on Sunday January 5 for a tech trends talk at 4 p.m. and the CES Unveiled press event at 5 p.m. Sunday. That’s always a good place for me to spot some trends among the award winners displaying at the event.
On Monday, the press conferences will start at 8 a.m. with LG and finished up at 5 p.m. with Sony, with others like Intel, AMD, Panasonic, Samsung, TCL and others vying for the press attention during the day. Most of these affairs will likely be livestreamed in case you can’t be one of the lucky press jammed into a room elbow to elbow with other press. I’m quite fearful I’m going to run out of battery power on this day.
By Tuesday, the main show floors will open with perhaps 4,300 exhibitors across more than 2.5 million square feet of space.
And while CES is still a place for the giants Samsung in the Las Vegas Convention Center, the show will have tons of small exhibitors, with about 1,400 of them — many organized by region such as France or the Netherlands — in the traditional Eureka Park startup space in the Venetian.
The big trends
I like to reminisce about old trends as I think about new ones. Back in 2010, I remember that 3D glasses were the big deal at the show. In 2008, Steve Ballmer touted Microsoft’s Zune player that was going to bring death to the iPod, and digital TV was still an exciting development.
This time, the biggest speech will come from Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the graphics chip maker that has become the king of AI hardware with a market value of $3.42 trillion — the most valuable company in the world. He will give a talk at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time at the Michelob Arena at the Mandalay Bay on January 6. And you can bet he will have AI news. Nvidia is also rumored to be unveiling its long-awaited RTX 5000 video cards for much better gaming performance.
Most attendees arrive at the show on January 7 and stay through January 10, when the expos are open. But the press — a few thousand of us — start arriving on January 5 for the afternoon previews and CES Unveiled (press only, in Mandalay Bay), where award-winning exhibitors show their wares at tables.
I am pretty sure that AI, for the second year in a row, is going to command the most buzz across all industries — a hot trend that has replaced metaverse and blockchain from years before.
But unlike those more ephemeral trends, Nvidia has been driving real and deep changes with its hardware, which is remaking the innards of data centers. And that is also driving the need for sustainable sources of the electricity needed to maintain those data centers. Some big companies are considering nuclear energy plants to keep up with the required demand for AI data centers. That is starting to make me think this rapid change is going to be unsustainable for the planet.
Generative AI
AI is still a kind of invisible product, but its presence will be visible everywhere at the show.
Tim Bajarin, a longtime analyst at Creative Strategies, predicted in his preview that AI PCs will be everywhere at the show. Having seen embargoed press releases, I expect this as well.
LG Electronics is set to unveil its 2025 LG Gram lineup, the company’s first on-device AI-powered laptops, at CES. The new lineup includes innovative models such as the Gram Pro, Gram Pro 2-in-1, Gram, and Gram Book. Leveraging LG’s Gram AI technology, these laptops will be slim and high performance.
Bajarin, who is going to his 50th CES, also expects earbuds will be smarter and smarter, as will vehicles. Smart glasses will be plentiful, such as Halliday, the AI-powered eyeglasses. It will be showcased at the event via Pepcom and a booth in the Venetian. This one uses “invisible display” technology.
Among the more unusual uses of AI: Nuwa Pen, a smart ballpoint pen, uses a standard D1 ballpoint ink cartridge in conjunction with AI, computer vision and motion sensors to digitize every stroke a user writes or doodles on any type of piece of paper. The Nuwa+ app organizes the notes into a digital record and typed text that users can sync with their other productivity apps.
Things that started as Air Pod clones will evolve into language translators and hearing aids. Bajarin expects smarter and higher resolution TVs; and spatial computing will make many appearances with XR/AR goggles or glasses.
Generative AI is finding its way into the announcements of both startups and big companies. Microsoft said it will be adding a dedicated Copilot AI key to Windows PCs, making it the “the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades.”
I’m happy to be part of the generative AI and games trend. I am moderating a session on AI and games. It’s called Speed, Customization, Innovation: AI in Gaming, taking place at the Aria Joshua 8 at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday January 7. It’s about unleashing the power of AI in game development. It’s about learning how publishers and developers use AI to speed up releases and design and tailor games for players.
My panelists include Burcu Hakguder, cofounder and CRO, Layer; Emilee Helm, head of influencers, Gamesight; Haval Othman, senior director of experience engineering at HP; and Devin Reimer, founder and CEO at AstroBeam.
Growing categories for tech
The categories at this year’s exhibit space include vehicle tech and advanced mobility, digital health, audio/video, gaming, smart home, AI/robotics, smart cities and sustainability, C Space, sports and fitness tech, enterprise and B2B, IoT infrastructure, metaverse, fintech, lifestyle, accessibility, Eureka Park (startups), 3D printing and space tech.
Brian Comiskey, futurist at the CTA, said in a briefing that AI technology will be pervasive across so many of these categories, from AI PCs to to AI content licensing.
Consumers are still leading tech. In the most recent holiday season, the CTA predicted 233 million U.S. adults, or 89% of the adult population, would buy tech products during the holidays.
He also said there are a lot of B2B and enterprise companies that show up. John Deere, for instance, has become an ag tech company creating robotic farming equipment and more, with key technologies like self-driving tractors. C Space gets around 15,000 people focused on marketing and creative communities, said Comiskey.
Comiskey said a lot of tech is now focused on biotech, longevity and digital health and wellness. In an era of the weight-loss drug Ozempic, he noted that companies like Abbott will talk about how glucose monitors can be part of a holistic measurement for metabolic health, beyond providing critical information for diabetes patients.
“Smart home, beauty, fitness wearables, all converge together to offer longer, healthier and better living,” he said.
We’ll have tech that helps us zero in on measurements that help us with our mental health. He also said that entertainment tech will continue to focus on our tastes for community and culture. That means we’ll get more international content in our entertainment diets.
“We’re more open to this larger array of content,” he said. He noted we’ll more open to listening to podcasts that focus on us, whether it’s podcasts focused on older populations or immersive content such as gaming. There will be a lot of haptic technology to serve the VR and gaming communities in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s central hall. Gaming likely has a new cycle coming for game consoles, starting with the expected launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025. But those consoles are not likely to be revealed at CES.
Much of the conversation around mobility, which will be focused in the West Hall, will be about electric power for all vehicles, whether they’re cars, boats, trucks or aircraft. In data centers, Comiskey noted that 40% of energy usage comes from cooling for the computers.
“Electrification is also part of an energy infrastructure shift, so LG Link charging will be there talking about how they’re really reforming the grid,” Comiskey said. “All the advancements in electrification, self driving and sensors are not just for the passenger or the regular consumer vehicle, but for industry to help make it safer.”
Kinsey Fabrizio, president of the CTA, said in a press briefing that quantum computing technology will have a focus at CES with a half-day conference focused on commercialization opportunities for quantum tech. She also noted that fashion tech, pet tech and animal welfare, energy technology will be prominent again as emerging technologies. The specialty truck and military vehicle maker Oshkosh is coming for the first time. And she said the West Hall of the convention center will be focused on mobility tech, with everything from eVTOL flying vehicles to marine companies like Brunswick.
One of Nvidia’s (and my) favorite topics is digital twins, where companies use metaverse-like technologies to model a factory design in the digital space before committing to building a factory in real life. Comiskey said it’s an exciting area to watch, and he noted Singapore has had a digital twin of the entire nation for a decade or so and they’re modeling the work they have to do with seawall protection to make the city more resilient to rising sea levels.
“I think it’s quite telling how Nvidia has become the most valuable company in the world. There’s a reason that they’re leaning into this because you can already see the return on investment (ROI). People forget that digital twins, a metaverse-based technology, is an immersive tech,” Comiskey said.
Comiskey expects to hear a lot at CES about “precision medicine.” Various companies like Dassault and NTT are working on creating “digital twins” of the human heart as part of a long-term goal of reducing heart disease. This can pioneer new surgical techniques, where a doctor on another continent could guide a surgery remotely, particularly for rare pediatric cardiological conditions, Comiskey said.
Announcements expected
As far as announcements go, LG has signaled it will show off its UltraGear 45GX990A, a “bendable” gaming display, meaning it can transform from flat screen to a 900R curve in seconds. It may also have a 5K OLED “stretchable” display, which can expand from a 12-inch to an 18-inch screen.
Hyundai Mobis said it will present a world-first holographic windshield display. Holographic projectors have been putting small bits of info on screens for a while now, such as your actual speed versus the speed limit, on car windshields. But Hyundai is hoping to to revolutionize full-windshield displays.
Not to be outdone by Nvidia, AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed recently that the company will unveil its next-generation RDNA 4 graphics processing units (GPUs), with better ray-tracing performance and new AI capabilities.
And the HDMI Forum is anticipated to announce HDMI 2.2, which will bring higher resolutions and refresh rates to TVs.
Mask or not?
Like it or not, COVID is going to show up, and it will travel from all around the globe to Las Vegas. CES continues to advise folks to be wary of that. Since 2020, CES official exhibit venues have been equipped with improved ventilation systems and fresh air flow.
The Las Vegas Convention Center, Mandalay Bay and the Venetian Expo have been awarded Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) Star certification by ISSA. This accreditation means the properties are observing cleaning protocols and work practices that minimize risks associated with the spread of infectious diseases.
Again in 2025, CES will work to minimize surface touch points and increase fresh airflow at high-traffic areas.
Hand sanitization stations will be placed throughout CES venues. Pack warm as Vegas in January is an average of 57 degrees.
Masks are available onsite. If you choose not to wear one, please respect those around you who do, the CTA says.
What’s missing from CES?
Apple doesn’t exhibit at the show, as it always does its own events.
I expect we won’t see as many masks either. But I suggest everybody be extra safe with so many people concentrated in Vegas. There will likely be 33,000 fewer people than there were at the peak show in January 2020. The CES is trying to make sure qualified people get into the show and we’ll see how it looks overall.
Worth going?
Like many people, I feel CES is still a useful barometer to tell us what the year in tech (and sometimes games) will be like. And I still enjoy seeing people face-to-face, or mask-to-mask, at a trade show. Hopefully it will feel like we’re all getting back to business.
Last year, the Goodyear blimp showed up for the first time and I was able to take a ride in it. This year, Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, is going to be one of the highlights in part because he’s got a great location: The Sphere, the spherical concert venue with amazing special effects. He is speaking at 4:55 p.m. at the Sphere on Tuesday January 7. We’ll see what Delta has to say about technology, considering it will be celebrating its 100th birthday as a company.
There will be some celebrities. Lenny Kravitz will perform at the Delta keynote, and will.i.am will show off new audio products under the brand LG xboom by will.i.am.
Tech for the rest of us
I will close this story with some observations I’ve had a lot in the last few years. I have some hope that there will be some interesting technologies from non-tech companies. As noted earlier, Oshkosh is a vehicle and military equipment company exhibiting at CES for the first time in its 107-year history as it prepares alternative technologies for traditional vehicles.
My favorite CES talk about tech from non-tech companies was some years ago, when Arnold Donald — the CEO of the world’s largest cruise company, Carnival Cruises — unveiled the Ocean Medallion wearable. That was interesting because it was an example of how technology was infiltrating a non-tech business, where the technology faded into the woodwork and the woodwork itself got smart. Carnival is now outfitting its 100-plus cruise ships with the technology. In recent years, Procter & Gamble has also showed up with cool uses of tech in ordinary products. And L’Oreal has done the same.
But I could still use more of that, and I think we could all use tech that makes the current products that we use every day even better. Hope to see you at the show.
