On January 5, local time in the United States, the 2022 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) officially returned to the Las Vegas offline. With the participation of more than 2,300 exhibitors from around the world, this year's CES show showcased the latest technological changes including automotive technology, artificial intelligence, digital health and smart home.
Giant screen TVs, powerful computers, augmented reality headsets, smart glasses and self-driving cars are must-have exhibits at the annual CES show, and this year's 3-day conference adds some new technology categories such as food technology and space technology, as well as fintech such as NFTs (non-homogeneous tokens).
A Chinese science and technology practitioner who has just arrived in Las Vegas to participate in CES told the first financial reporter that he was surprised by the low price of the hotel during the exhibition. Ctrip hotel price information shows that some hotels even pay less than 200 yuan a night including tax, which is unimaginable during past exhibitions. The hotel price for two nights at Venetian is about 2500 yuan, less than half the price in the past.
He also found that although the number of people who came to the scene to participate in the exhibition may be small due to the risk of gathering, the restaurants in Las Vegas are still overcrowded, and some restaurants still need to wait in line.
As the first large-scale technology exhibition at the beginning of 2022, CES will also become the "touchstone" of how to continue to hold large-scale exhibition activities face-to-face in the future. Global summits, including davos, will remain online this year, and CES organizers want to break that.
Attendees shrank in half
However, under the impact of the new crown epidemic, a large number of companies still refuse to send employees to the exhibition. CeS organizers introduced to the first financial reporter that exhibitors have booths at the scene, but the way to participate in the exhibition can choose online or offline.
Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a CES organizer, said, "At this year's CES, we will be immersed in innovative technologies that will reshape society and solve the major human challenges of the next decade. ”
Glen De Vos, global vice president and chief technology officer of American automotive technology company Aptiv, who insists on sending employees to the exhibition offline, told the first financial reporter: "We consider the risk of exhibiting, so we have specially set up a way of online and offline interaction, and this year will be a different world from CES in 2020." We still want to have face-to-face discussions and dialogues, which is still the most effective way to get a message across. ”
De Vos told the first financial reporter that the CES conference has taken very strong safety measures, nucleic acid testing has been carried out for everyone, and contact has been controlled to ensure the safety of exhibitors. In terms of epidemic prevention strategy, the organizer requires all participants offline to be fully vaccinated against the new crown vaccine to receive the exhibition certificate, and the organizer also provides fast and free nucleic acid testing.
However, on the eve of the launch, on the last day of 2021, Nevada reported 3,363 new confirmed covid-19 infections in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, setting a record for the most new days in a single day since the beginning of the epidemic. Nevada has required everyone in public indoor spaces to wear a mask.
Jean Foster, CTA's senior vice president of marketing, said 50,000 to 75,000 attendees are expected to flock to Las Vegas this week. Still, that's less than half the size of the last CES number before the pandemic in January 2020, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which the agency expects will have an economic impact of more than $250 million on the local area.
Last month, large companies including Google, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Panasonic and Amazon, as well as media outlets, said they would not send employees to attend meetings in view of the COVID-19 rebound and international travel restrictions, but that some companies' online activities would continue.
However, due to the decline in business travel, Taxi Drivers in Las Vegas have felt different from the dismal conditions of previous years. In the past, during CES, some drivers easily took orders 30 to 40 times a day, but this year they often waited for an hour at the airport to have guests. This downturn has made life even more difficult for professional taxi drivers.
Large consumer electronics companies are not absent
Samsung Electronics is one of the companies that are still holding press conferences in Las Vegas, and the company held a live press conference at the Venetian Palazzo Ballroom on January 4, local time. Photos from the scene show that the audience is significantly smaller, and the banquet hall, which originally could accommodate 1700 people, only arranged 700 seats and was not full. In the past, Samsung's conference generally needed to queue up at the entrance of the banquet hall an hour or two in advance to get the possibility of admission.
Samsung Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device Experience, Jong-HeeHan, also delivered the first keynote speech at CES. "Based on the need for collaboration and sustainability needed to further develop technology, Samsung will build a more sustainable, customizable and connected future," he said. ”
At this year's CES, Samsung showcased its fully recyclable packaging materials, solar and radio-powered equipment, and new energy-efficient products. Samsung also announced that many of the environmentally innovative products developed by the company will be shared with other industry leaders.
At the annual CES, home appliance giants including Samsung and LG will spare no effort to create luxurious and distinctive booths and display their large-size curved-screen TVs. But this year, LG has adopted wooden floors and some simple structures – which obviously reduces the cost of corporate set-up.
Working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has also created demand for consumer electronics products. According to a CTA's Noteworthy Tech Trends Report 2022, consumers are "upgrading" their tech offerings. Steve Koenig, CTA's vice president of market research, said the number of new technologies such as 4K hd-quality TVs and smart appliances in U.S. households has grown by more than 7 percent over the past year.
The report also predicts that retail revenue from the consumer electronics industry will exceed $500 billion (about 3.2 trillion yuan) for the first time in 2022, up 2.8% year-on-year, but down from 9.6% in 2021. The CTA said the expected gains came from strong demand for smartphones, automotive technology, healthcare-related devices and streaming services.
Car giants grab THE BEACH CES
Over the years, automotive companies have also gradually transformed into consumer electronics producers. This year, under the pursuit of electric vehicles in the capital market, CES has almost become the home of auto companies.
At CES North America in 2022, more than 200 automotive companies participated in the exhibition, setting a record high.
A number of car companies have launched an electrification product offensive: General Motors released five pure electric vehicles at CES at one time; BMW launched a pure electric vehicle iXM60, flagship electric vehicle model BMWiX, etc., Mercedes-Benz launched the VISIONEQXX concept car in the world, with a single charge range of more than 1,000 kilometers; Audi also launched the first electric sports car; Chrysler announced at CES that it plans to fully electrify in 2028.
Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors, participated in the opening keynote speech of CES online on the morning of the 4th, sharing how electric vehicles are reshaping the automotive world. She showcased the highly anticipated Chevrolet Silverado EV electric car. SilveradoEV is equipped with Ultium, GM's smart, all-electric platform, which can reach up to 400 miles (about 643.7 kilometers) on a single charge.
Volkswagen CEO Diess has said that in the current market, only by keeping up with Tesla can it surpass it at some stage. Judging from the NORTH American CES exhibition, the traditional car giants are attracting the attention of consumers through new technologies, and high and new technologies will gradually become the core competitiveness of car companies. From the perspective of the time node of electrification, car giants such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW will launch products built on the new architecture platform in 2025.
Japanese electronics company Sony Group has also announced plans to set up an electric vehicle company in the spring of 2022 in the hope of taking a piece of the fast-growing green mobility market.
South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor, at a CES launch, combined the car with the concept of a "metacosmity", envisioning an interactive and virtual future, calling it "Metamobility".
On the other hand, the vehicle and machine system is also the focus of competition at this CES exhibition. Mercedes-Benz showcased the next-generation MBUX infotainment system Hyperscreen at CES, BMW unveiled the next-generation iDrive infotainment system, and Hyundai Motor also unveiled a modular engine system. This means that car companies are constantly making efforts in the field of digitalization.
In addition, in the field of automatic driving, cooperation between car companies and chip manufacturers has become the trend of the times. Qualcomm announced that it will supply chips to automakers Volvo Group, Honda Motors and Renault Motors, accelerating its cooperation with traditional car companies to digitize product lines, while saying it has reached an agreement with Volvo and Polestar, a brand backed by Geely Holdings, to use "Snapdragon cockpit" chips and Alphabet's Google operating system in cars later this year.
At THIS YEAR'S CES, chip manufacturers including Qualcomm and NVIDIA have signed a large number of agreements with automakers. Driven by autonomous driving technology, the global demand for high-performance chips is increasing, and a large part of the demand comes from China.
In addition to cooperation, many car companies have invested in chip manufacturers. On the one hand, this is related to the current shortage of chips. On the other hand, with the advent of the era of intelligent vehicles, the competitiveness of car companies in software is becoming more and more important.
A Chinese exhibitor in the field of autonomous driving said: "Although the CES meeting period has been shortened this year, there is still something to see, especially the development of AI has made the autonomous driving technology more mature, and the future mobile solutions will not only change the driving experience, but also redefine mobility." ”
He also said that after the new crown epidemic in 2020, the global self-driving startups have grown by more than 30%, and there are more than 200 self-driving technology exhibitors at CES this year.