The world needs CES, and the consumer electronics industry misses CES. After last year’s CES was completely online, this year’s CES returned to Las Vegas.
Although due to the raging Omicron epidemic, many well-known manufacturers have cancelled their offline press conferences and reduced the scale of their offline booths. Many media outlets did not send reporters to report. Due to the epidemic control, not many Chinese manufacturers participated in this year’s CES, which also made this exhibition lack important elements.
However, there are still more than 2,000 manufacturers participating in this CES, and various manufacturers have chosen the online conference. The exhibition center still attracts tens of thousands of visitors . Although the convention and exhibition center did not have the crowded scenes of previous years, such a flow of people is still considerable in the current severe epidemic.
Although the organizing committee requires that participants must have proof of completion of vaccination in order to receive admission tickets, considering that the vaccine cannot effectively block Omicron, and the number of cases in the United States has increased by 700,000 in the past few days, it seems that Americans have been exposed to the new crown. Get used to it and prepare for long-term coexistence with the epidemic. During the New Year, Las Vegas hotels have more people and higher prices.
Another reason is that CES is not only a place for companies to release the latest products, but also a stage for companies to pass on future product directions. It is also a platform for thousands of small manufacturers, suppliers and purchasers to discuss business opportunities for cooperation. . These are not suitable for online video communication. Face-to-face negotiation is always the most effective method. There is no hope for the end of the epidemic, and business is always going on as usual.
Closer to home, what are the highlights of this year’s CES that may affect the future of the consumer electronics industry.
1. Automobile Intelligent Platform
This does not need to be pre-judged. The intersection of the automobile industry and the technology industry is getting closer, and it has long been a very clear future trend. In fact, automakers have been the focus of the exhibition in the past few years at CES, and their booths have also occupied a prominent position in the exhibition center. The West Hall of the CES exhibition center this year was also occupied by various automakers.
Automakers’ intelligence and cloud combo all require chip support, and Qualcomm hopes to become the heart of future cars. After Qualcomm CEO An Meng took office last year, he ambitiously proposed to increase Qualcomm’s revenue by seven times within ten years, and the automotive industry is his most valued new growth market. Because of this, Anmeng made a high-profile appearance at this CES and delivered a keynote speech, expounding Qualcomm’s technology and vision in the fields of future automobiles, the Internet of Things, and mixed reality.
At this CES, Qualcomm has reached cooperation with more than 40 large and small car companies such as Honda, Renault, Volvo, etc., signed chip supply agreements, and plans to promote the Snapdragon digital chassis to become the standard platform for the future automotive industry, including the Snapdragon car intelligent connection platform , Cockpit platform for audio-visual entertainment solutions, Snapdragon Ride platform with ADAS/AD (Advanced Assistant Driving and Autonomous Driving) and car-to-cloud platform.
2. Fully transform electric vehicles
Consumer electronics giant Sony’s entry into the smart car industry is also a major focus of this CES. Sony once demonstrated a concept car at CES two years ago. At that time, it also claimed that it was intended to showcase technology and cooperate with other automakers. This year, Sony demonstrated an electric SUV prototype at CES and announced the establishment of Sony Mobiliy to enter the future smart car industry.
Traditional automakers have also announced their future transformation paths at CES. Chrysler demonstrated a concept electric car with a range of 640 kilometers. Chrysler also announced that it will release all-EV models by 2025 and transform into an all-electric vehicle company by 2028.
At the same time, General Motors CEO Mary Barra released an electric version of the Silverado pickup truck at CES, with a battery life of 640 kilometers. It is expected to be launched in 2023. Pickups compete fiercely. The century-old history of competition between GM and Ford has officially entered the era of electric vehicles, and these two pickup trucks are also the best-selling pickup trucks in the US market.
3. Core components of autonomous driving
Autonomous driving is also the only way for the future of the automotive industry. In this area, the biggest focus of this CES is undoubtedly Mobileye, an Israeli autonomous driving solution company acquired by another chip giant Intel. In 2017, Intel spent 15 billion US dollars to acquire Mobileye, and made a plan for itself in the future autonomous driving industry. With the continuous growth of the autonomous driving industry in the past few years, Mobileye’s valuation has exceeded US$50 billion.
Mobileye released three system integration chips at this CES, including EyeQ Ultra, an autonomous driving chip, and two EyeQ 6L and 6H chips for advanced driver assistance systems. EyeQ Ultra’s computing power is as high as 176 TOPS (1 trillion operations per second), which can meet the L4 level of autonomous driving computing needs. There is no need to integrate multiple system chips; this system chip will be available at the end of next year, 2025 Fully mass production every year. EyeQ 6L and 6H chips are for entry-level ADAS and high-end ADAS respectively.
Chinese lidar manufacturer Hesai also demonstrated an automotive-grade long-range semi-solid lidar AT128 at this CES, becoming the industry’s first long-range ADAS semi-solid lidar based on a VCSEL array light source, which can be L3+ADAS advanced The assisted driving function provides the necessary perception capabilities. This Hesai 128-line lidar not only has a farthest ground line of 70 meters, but also has a small size that can be easily embedded in many positions in the front and rear of the car, and seamlessly integrated into the overall design of the vehicle. It has been ideal for millions of OEM manufacturers. Order.
Another highlight of CES this year is the Indy Autonomous Challenge. Technical teams from 21 universities in nine countries competed in self-driving racing cars at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Prior to this, the automatic driving in the public’s impression was a driving style without passion, but this racing competition may also let the outside world see the wild and unrestrained side of automatic driving. Maybe in the future there will be related self-driving racing competitions, just like electric cars participating in Pikes Peak mountain climbing.
4. Metaverse and Mixed Reality
Metaverse is undoubtedly the hottest outlet in the technology industry last year. Facebook founder and CEO Zuckerberg even renamed the company Meta, reflecting his determination to transform the meta universe with all his strength in the future. And Microsoft and many game companies are also actively participating in the platform and content construction of Metaverse. But the most important way for Meta Universe is to use mixed reality headsets.
At this CES, meta-universe and mixed reality are also key words. Qualcomm announced that it will cooperate with Microsoft to expand the development of mixed reality, develop customized AR chips to create more energy-efficient and lighter AR glasses, provide a richer immersive experience, integrate Microsoft’s Mesh application and Qualcomm Snapdragon Space XR and other developments platform.
Although Meta was absent from the CES due to the epidemic, HTC, another hardware manufacturer in the virtual reality field, is still exhibiting at CES. The once smart phone giant HTC has now become a VR manufacturer. Sony also released PlayStation VR2, Panasonic showed off SteamVR goggles, and TCL showed off AR smart glasses and NXTWear Air TV experience glasses.
However, Apple, which is not exhibiting at CES, is the most anticipated manufacturer in this field. Industry analysts predict that Apple may showcase its AR/VR products this year. According to Apple’s previous management of the last entry to harvest the market, Apple’s headset products may bring tens of millions of users. Perhaps this is the beginning of Metaverse. The first step to landing.
Five, traditional electronic products need CES
Perhaps the most in need of the CES booth are traditional consumer electronic products such as PCs and TVs. This is an experience that cannot be delivered by online publishing. Therefore, Samsung, LG, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have not withdrawn. However, due to the need for epidemic prevention, their booths are significantly smaller than in previous years in order to disperse the flow of people. Lenovo did not come to CES this year, but set up a new product launch event in New York.
CES is the regular release stage for major PC manufacturers every year. At CES this year, Dell released the XPS 13 Plus with a borderless design, HP released the ultra-thin Elite Dragonfly, and Asus released the Zenbook 17 Fold notebook (17.3-inch folding OLED screen notebook). Lenovo launched the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 dual-screen notebook (17.3-inch main screen, 21:10 screen ratio, and an 8-inch small screen on the right side of the keyboard for stylus and gesture operations).
Samsung released a 65-inch QD-OLED TV at this CES, and finally launched a similar product to LG. At the same time, Samsung also released The Freestyle, a very compact TV projector with a maximum projection area of 100 inches and priced at less than US$900. LG launched a 97-inch screen OLED TV.
At the same time, China Hisense and TCL also came to CES to participate in the exhibition, occupying the most prominent booth. These two major TV manufacturers are the top five TV brands in the US market, and they are also common products in major supermarkets. TCL released a 98-inch giant screen TV.
Hisense released the world’s first 8K laser TV solution at this CES, showing the world’s first 120-inch three-color laser TV 120L9 Pro with a brightness of 430 nits. It is worth mentioning that Hisense has demonstrated laser TV products at CES every year in the past ten years. This Chinese TV manufacturer has become the most important manufacturer in the laser TV field. With the development of technology, the size of laser TVs is also shrinking. The 75-inch and 80-inch laser TVs released by Hisense this year are 25% smaller than the previous generation.
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