CES 2020: Here's what you can expect to see at the world’s biggest tech event

Mark your calendars, CES 2020 is just around the corner and, when it gets here, the tech world will never be the same.

It no longer goes by its Consumer Electronics Show monicker, but CES is still the place to see the latest and greatest tech companies have to offer, whether that’s a 5G phone, a transparent Ultra-HD TV, a personal drone that can fly you around or something completely unexpected like a robot dog.

What's in store for CES 2020?  The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the folks who run the show, tell us that this year's show will have a greater focus on travel and tourism, data analytics and improving customer experiences, plus the usual slew of TVs, speakers, headphones, laptops and phones - many of which will be optimized for the 5G/8K revolution.

After facing blowback last year for its exclusion and revocation of an award from a sex toy company, CES 2020 will broaden the scope of its Health and Wellness sector to include sex toys 'on a one-year trial basis' and will be partnering with the Female Quotient to ensure that more diverse voices are heard at the show.

Beyond the cavalcade of products, we're expecting to see a lot of conversations happening about digital health and the commoditization of personal data, two big problem areas for the industry. 

Whatever kind of tech you're into, however, CES will offer something new and interesting for everyone, whether you’re deep into enterprise, stuck into future trends or just keen to see what comes next. Here's what you can expect.

When is CES 2020?  

If you’re going by the official dates, CES 2020 runs from Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10, 2020

That said, however, journalists will pour into the city a few days before that to cover the news conferences that kick off on Sunday, January 5 at 12 pm PST and continue through Monday and Tuesday. It’s during that time we’ll hear from Sony, Samsung, LG and several other electronics makers as they introduce us to new products at their on-stage keynotes. 

Traditionally, the biggest of these keynotes happen on Monday as that’s when LG, Samsung and Sony all hold their events, but some CES-related announcements will arrive starting on Sunday night as news begins to trickle out of the conference.

How do you get tickets for CES 2020? 

Registration for CES 2020 is available now on the CES 2020 website, and are free for qualifying members of the media. For non-media folk, Early Bird tickets are available for just $100 if you just want access to the show floor from January 7 - 10 and the keynotes, though that price will shoot up to $300 starting on December 18, 2019. 

If you want a bit more than the basic pass, you can buy the CES 2020 Starter Conference Pass that includes a curated list of events around the show’s biggest trends for $700 or the Deluxe Conference Pass that includes 14+ partner sessions for $1,400.

CES 2020 Keynotes

Toward the end of November, the CTA released the full schedule of announced CES keynotes and conferences, listed below for your convenience: 

Sunday, January 5 2020

Monday, January 6 2020

How big is CES and where does it take place? 

CES is massive and takes over the vast majority of the Las Vegas Strip and the surrounding streets. In fact, in terms of square footage, there’s 2.75 million net square feet of exhibit space between the Las Vegas Convention Center, The Sands, Mandalay Bay and The Venetian, nearly all of which plays host to the convention and its exhibitors.  

Fun fact: There are around 160,000 hotel rooms in Vegas and around 180,000 attendees each year. As you’d expect given those numbers, hotels fill up fast and the roads leading to the convention center get pretty crowded that week. Thankfully, the CTA (the company that puts on the show) offers free shuttles to almost all of the major hotels on the strip from the Convention Center, and has buses running to and from the Sands between 9 and 6 pm. 

All that said, be prepared to walk. The convention center itself is massive and so is The Sands. Walking either can easily take between one and two hours, and you’ll easily rack up three to four miles on your pedometer along the way.

Which companies are attending CES 2020? 

Pretty much every major tech company will be there, minus Apple. (You can find a complete list on the CES 2020 website.) 

Confirmed exhibitors include Amazon, Canon, Facebook, Intel, LG, Lenovo, Microsoft, MSI, Nikon, Samsung, Sony and many, many more. 

Now, admittedly, not everyone is there to show off new products. A fair majority of companies are there for business, while others are there to collect feedback and have a presence, rather than debut something new. That said, there will still be hundreds of new products making their debut this year in nearly every category. 

CES 2020 Trends and Predictions

In a meeting with TechRadar, the CTA outlined a number of trends that would take center stage at this year’s show. The list included transportation and tourism (Delta Airlines have a keynote this year for the first time in the show’s history), data analytics and privacy, digital health, the global race for 5G, the consumerization of AI and, of course, 8K displays.

These are rather dense, multifaceted topics and will surely be the topic of many presentations during the show. If you want hard product news, that will come from many of the same suspects as last year, all of whom are listed below. 

AMD at CES 2020

Keynote time: Monday, January 6, at 2:00 pm PST
Location: Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, 2nd Floor, Mandalay G

We're fully expecting AMD to come out with a line of high-end GPUs next year - maybe even as early as CES 2020. In past years, AMD has taken to the stage on Monday to deliver a keynote, and could potentially do the same this year. Last year AMD showed off its first ever 7-nanometer GPU, the Radeon VII, at CES 2019, so expect big things this year.

LG at CES 2020

Keynote time: Monday, January 6, at 8:00 am PST
Location: Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, 3rd Floor, South Seas A/B/E

Like Samsung, LG’s plans are easy to predict - it’s probably going to show off a new series of OLED TVs, plus give an updated release date for last year’s rollable OLED.  Speaking of far-flung TVs we can't afford, CES 2020 will probably be the place LG officially debuts its transparent OLED prototype that it was showing behind closed doors at last year's show... though it will likely only be for businesses at first.

LG also uses CES to debut its new line of appliances including smart washers and dryers and nifty household gadgets like air purifiers and robot vacuums. Last year we saw a home brewing system and a smart cupboard that steams your clothes. Featuring a mirrored door with integrated display, automatically moving hangers, and a smart steaming system, it was a wildly different product than we were expecting to see at a tech trade show. 

CES is also the time LG debuts its mid-range mobile phones. Last year we saw the LG V40 ThinQ, while back in 2017 LG brought the Stylus 3. Don't expect any flagship phones at this year's event,but it's Android phone fans should expect something.

Intel at CES 2020

Keynote time: Monday, January 6, at 4:00 pm PST
Location: Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, 2nd Floor, Ballrooms E & F

Last year was a big show for the chip maker. The company came out guns blazing at its CES 2019 keynote, announcing the first 10nm Ice Lake processors based on its Sunny Cove architecture – and even showing the chip powering a running laptop.

The new chips aim to bolster modern PC performance, while Intel's new Project Athena initiative hopes to push mobile computing to the next era with thinner and lighter hardware across industry partners like Huawei, Asus, and Lenovo.

Intel also announced six more 9th-gen processors, ranging from Core i3 to Core i9, making it one of the biggest launches yet for the company.

This year could be the year that company debuts its long-rumored discrete GPU which we saw a mockup of at GDC 2019 earlier this year, or Intel could use the congregation of journalists to announce new 10nm desktop CPUs now that 10nm mobile chips are out on the market.

Nvidia at CES 2020

Now that it's been unveiled to the public, the new Nvidia Shield is all but guaranteed to make an appearance at CES this year. 

Last year Nvidia revealed its GeForce RTX Mobility graphics cards at CES 2019, alongside the RTX 2080 and other cards for gaming laptops. Will CES 2020 bring more of the same? We’ll just have to wait to find out.

Samsung at CES 2020

CES is always a big show for Samsung. It’s the place the company picks to roll out its latest QLED TVs, concept screens and monstrous custom-installs. Last year, the company debuted a new 219-inch TV called The Wall and gave us an updated look at its Tizen operating system that included Apple TV. This year, our money is on new QLED TVs with zero bezel - a rumor that has recently been corroborated by a patent filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. 

On the computing side of things, Samsung debuted the Notebook Flash and Notebook 9 Pro, and could offer updates on those this year. 

Samsung has also been doing a lot more with its monitors and solid-state drive categories, so be sure to keep an eye out for those at the show, too.

Sony at CES 2020

Keynote time: Monday, January 6, at 5:00 pm PST
Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall, Booth 17300

Sony didn’t have a ton of new products to show off last year, but did bring its new Master Series Z9G TV to the show and debuted its new 360 Reality Audio format. We’ll likely see more of the latter this year as well as a few new TVs in the 950, 850, Z- and A-Series lineups plus some new 2.1 soundbars with Dolby Atmos. 

Outside of the AV space, Sony will probably tease some PS5 news ahead of its official debut and talk up its gaming peripherals like the PlayStation VR. A full debut of the new console seems unlikely, especially considering the rough history Sony consoles have with CES, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it at least gets a mention during Sony’s Monday evening keynote. 

  • Here's a complete recap of everything that happened at CES 2019


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