CES 2024, spanning four days, will introduce the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI), cars, robots, virtual reality – augmented and more.
The first major tech event of 2024 is expected to have a strong Asian presence, including big names from South Korea and Japan. However, one notable group will be missing again: Big Tech China. Geopolitical tensions and other factors have kept names like Alibaba and Tencent away from CES for a few years, although ByteDance and its TikTok subsidiary will appear. Meanwhile, smaller Chinese companies remain strongly interested in both CES and the US market.
Here are 5 things to watch for at CES 2024.
AI and more AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) will certainly be the most common word at both CES and in general in 2024.
After the 2023 AI explosion thanks to ChatGPT, this year will see more practical AI use cases. Companies at CES will want to showcase their latest AI products, though some are still in the conceptual stage.
Chip manufacturers like Intel, Qualcomm and electronics “giants” like Samsung and Siemens will all focus their keynote speeches on AI. Nvidia, the rising American chip giant in the generative AI race, has hinted that they will release new AI products at CES 2024. Meanwhile, handheld device manufacturers like Lenovo will introduce AI personal computers (PCs) and phones at the event.
Smaller exhibitors are also not missing the AI fever. Startups from all over the world are leveraging AI for collaborative workplaces, from health to logistics and even beauty. However, it is unclear how many of them can turn the AI buzzword into significant industry innovation.
Cars and rockets
Although known as a consumer electronics trade show, CES has started to look like an auto show in recent years. From South Korea’s Kia and Hyundai to Japan’s Honda and Germany’s Mercedes-Benz, global automakers and their suppliers occupy an important part of CES 2024.
However, the cars on display are not typical cars. Attendees will be able to experience autonomous driving technologies, check out new electric vehicle (EV) models, and even see multiple flying cars. Honda has teased a “new global EV lineup,” while Chinese EV maker XPeng will unveil its latest flying car outside of China.
Cars are not the only flying objects at CES this year. Rockets and other space technologies will also appear as industry companies and government officials discuss advances in the “final frontier” that affect everything from AI to international relations.
Is 2024 the year the metaverse takes off?
“Metaverse” has been a common word at CES for a few years now but has not gained much traction in the real world. Could 2024 be the year that changes?
With Apple poised to ship its first mixed reality headset, Vision Pro, early this year, industry players hope it will kick off mass adoption of augmented and virtual reality devices, often seen as a gateway to the metaverse.
Meanwhile, leading mixed reality device makers like Meta, HTC and Magic Leap are preparing to introduce their latest devices this week. If Vision Pro is expected to dominate the high-end market, other companies are positioning themselves as more affordable options.
Yasushi Yamamoto, a senior researcher at the Institute for Media Environment in Tokyo, said metaverse items “still lack a convincing reason for users to use them.” He pointed to limitations such as bulky head-mounted displays. According to the expert, companies are still “laying the foundation” for the market’s future.
Increasing number of attendees
CES’s imprint has faded somewhat in recent years, especially during the pandemic era when large in-person events were banned.
CES 2024 is expected to see a spike in attendance. Organizer CTA says there will be over 4,000 exhibitors and 130,000 attendees at this event, up from 3,200 companies and 117,841 participants in 2023. However, that figure is still smaller than the last pre-Covid edition, when over 170,000 people gathered in Las Vegas for CES 2020.
However, Asia has shown strong and growing interest in the American trade show in recent years. Visitors from South Korea and Japan were the 2nd and 3rd largest sources of attendance at CES 2023, with 11,941 and 4,182 people respectively.
South Korea continues to have a strong year. Samsung is expected to hold a press conference on January 8th (local time) with the theme “AI for All: Connectivity in the AI Age,” while over 700 fellow companies, including LG and Kia, are expected to exhibit at CES this year .
The number of South Korea-based companies could be even higher, according to Yamamoto, as “some companies set up offices in the US and participate as US companies”. South Korean startups prioritize the North American market as the domestic market is not as large as neighboring Japan.
Meanwhile, around 70 Japanese companies will attend, including big names like Sony and Panasonic Holdings. However, relatively few car manufacturers will participate, which observers attribute to the relatively cautious strategy of Japanese companies. In contrast, Western manufacturers feel more comfortable displaying concept cars, such as a color-changing BMW assisted by AI that was displayed at an earlier CES.
According to a CTA spokesperson, they are seeing an increase in registrations and strong presence from exhibitors, attendees in the Asia-Pacific region, an important market for the global tech industry.
Less Big Tech China, more startups
In recent years, the number of Chinese exhibitors has declined due to Covid-19 and US-China tensions. Only 2,296 people from China attended CES 2023, a significant drop from the 11,067 attendees at CES 2020, 12,839 in 2019, and 15,383 in 2018.
Familiar names like Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent will be absent this year, although some major Chinese consumer electronics names are expected to appear, including Hisense and TCL. ByteDance and its TikTok subsidiary are also on the exhibitor list.
China is following the general trend of CES exhibitors. Many large companies “save” their biggest announcements for internal launch events because products are primarily aimed at domestic consumers. They “leave” CES to smaller companies. Of the 4,000 exhibitors participating this year, over 1,200 will set up their booths in Eureka Park, an area exclusively reserved for global startups.
Over 1,000 companies from China, mainly smaller startups and companies, are on the CES 2024 exhibitor list, with many of them seeking overseas growth due to increasingly fierce competition at home.
