CES 2020: What to expect from the world's largest consumer technology show?

The biggest consumer tech event in the calendar, CES, rolls around each and every January, bringing heaps of news announcements and product launches.

It's the show to reveal the defining products and technologies for the year ahead. Here we summarise by brand what's known, what's rumoured, and what the next big things are likely to be.

We'll be updating this feature throughout the show's lifespan, so with that in mind what can we expect from CES 2020?

When and where is CES 2020?

• Location: Las Vegas Convention Center
• Dates: Tuesday 7 to Friday 10 January 2020
• Press day: Monday 6 January 2020

CES always takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, primarily due to the vast availability of hotel rooms and exhibit space in the city. The show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center – but a huge number of exhibitors also take space in other hotels and suites, such as The Venetian and Wynn. 

CES 2019 itself starts on Tuesday 7 January and lasts until Friday 10 January. We'll be there from Saturday 4 January as some companies start previews and press conferences across the weekend. The main press day is Monday 6 January, which is when the majority of the announcements occur.

Who attends CES? 

CES is an industry event so, unlike IFA in Berlin, the public can't attend. But anyone connected to the consumer electronics industry can apply for a pass. In 2019 over 182,000 people attended, which is the show's capacity. That includes 69,000 exhibitors (across more than 4,000 represented companies) and almost 7,000 members of the media.

What themes are we expecting from CES 2020?

In 2019 the message was 5G, it was artificial intelligence, it was smart device connectivity. And we expect CES 2020 will follow a similar path, with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integrated products at the fore.

It will be a little different though. With Ultra-HD 4K and HDR now well established, manufacturers will no doubt be looking to push into the next phase, so expect 8K tellies to be featured in abundance – ones that actually might be small enough and affordable enough to make it into your home!

As much as we'd like foldables to be the big thing, we suspect that Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020 will be the place for that, in February 2020.

Acer at CES 2020

Each year the Taiwanese brand is in attendance to reveal its latest laptops and goodies. The company has already officially revealed it has won a CES 2020 Innovation Award for its updated Swift 5, so that's the key laptop that'll be on the table at this year's event.

We have a behind-closed-doors meeting with the company on the day of its reveal, so expect to see product news and previews appearing from the Sunday 5 January.

Apple at CES 2020

• Chief Privacy Officer Roundtable: What Do Consumers Want? Tuesday 7 January, 13:00 - 14:00 (PST)

Apple isn't known for doing CES, but 2020 is different. The company's Senior Director of Global Privacy, Jane Horvath, is going to be in attendance as part of a round-table event. So, no, Apple isn't exhibiting, but it's the first time the company has engaged with CES – other than trolling with large building-side advert reveals – in the last 28 years.

Asus at CES 2020

Similar to Acer, Asus has also received a bunch of CES Innovation Awards for the 2020 show. But, as highlighted in the company's Edge Up blog, none of these are brand new – we've seen the majority of them throughout 2019.

That said, we would expect Asus to bring the latest laptop updates from its ROG gaming line and consumer-grade laptops, including more dual-screen devices.

Hisense at CES 2020

• Hisense Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 11:00 - 11:45 (PST)

In addition to Samsung (further down the page), we suspect Hisense will announce its 8K TV charge.

Intel at CES 2020

• Intel Corporation Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 16:00 - 16:45 (PST)

Intel's conference falls later in the day on the Monday, but it's an important one as it usually spells the unveiling of its latest processors. That said, Comet Lake hasn't arrived yet and those details are known, so we suspect the company will be detailing the presence of this 10th Gen technology in various laptops – devices that we'll likely be seeing from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, etc, within the same time-frame.

Whether there will be any mention of Apple's acquisition of Intel's mobile modem business, however, we doubt. CES 2020 won't be the place to find out about the 5G iPhone.

Lenovo at CES 2020

The biggest Chinese maker out there, Lenovo will be using CES 2020 to showcase its wide range of new kit. That ranges from consumer laptops to gaming laptops, all-in-ones, monitors, and often smart products in collaboration with Google.

There's no official press conference, though, so expect to see news and product first impressions appear late on Monday 6 January.

LG at CES 2020

• LG Electronics Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 08:00 - 09:00 (PST)

LG is always the one to kick off the official CES press programme, with the first conference at 8am on the Monday 6.

For 2020 that's no different, the stage set for the company to talk updated TVs, home appliances and, as we had confirmed in late 2019, more Gram laptops with Intel Ice Lake processors too.

Panasonic at CES 2020

• Panasonic Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 10:00 - 10:45 (PST)

Panasonic is most likely to announce another TV, a follow-up to the GZ2000 with its Dolby Atmos integrated speakers.

Otherwise, well, we don't know. It's typical for Panasonic to show off its Technics products, too, but with CES now serving as a more B2B environment for the Japanese maker, don't expect stacks of gear.

Qualcomm at CES 2020

• Qualcomm Technologies Inc. Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 11:00 - 11:45 (PST)

Following its late 2019 Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm will use CES 2020 to showcase its latest 865 platform, due in mobile devices from mid-2020. But that's not all, expect more talk of automotive future and 5G integration, too.

Royole at CES 2020

• Royole Corporation Media Days Power Session. Monday 6 January, 10:00 - 10:45 (PST)

The company released a 'Welcome to Flexible Planet' invitation, so we suspect the 2020 show will be the place to see the company's follow-up to the FlexPai foldable phone. A pre-face of what's to come for MWC 2020, too, perhaps?

Samsung at CES 2020

The Korean giant used its 2019 show to present The Wall TV, a modular Micro LED format. While we suspect there will be an announcement of availability for that at the 2020 show, its likely high price point will keep it away from being the main focus.

Instead, we suspect Samsung will be the brand to use CES 2020 as the platform to talk-up 8K TVs. It's going to be all-in on the extra-resolute technology, in addition to showing off a variety of 4K updates.

Sony at CES 2020

• Sony Electronics Inc. Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 17:00 - 17:45 (PST)

The Japanese brand always uses its show floor stand at LVCC to cap off the end of the press day, usually bringing celebrities and giant video walls into the mix to make for a more engrossing audio-visual experience. That's what the company's products are all about, after all.

Much like its Samsung rival, Sony is also expected to push its existing 8K TV range forward, suggesting it as the next big thing for the consumer market.

There's also a rumour that CES 2020 will be where Sony unveils its WH-1000XM4 fourth-gen over-ear noise-cancelling headphones. Otherwise, it's very much watch this space, as Sony always brings heaps of new tech into the limelight at this show.

TCL at CES 2020

• TCL Corporation Media Days News Conference. Monday 6 January, 12:00 - 12:45 (PST)

Having used the 2019 show to announce its 8K Roku TV, we believe CES 2020 will bring more of that vision into form. And having finally launched Roku TV in the UK, this should be a more internationally applicable announcement.

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