CES is not just about electronics anymore. It’s now one of the biggest events of the year for the marketing and ad industries as well. Over 5,000 people from the industry converged on Las Vegas to see the latest trends, set up meetings and go to parties. Industry publication AdWeek released a well-informed article about this trend and also built a whole mini-site about the event.
Hot New Electronics Trends
CES is the primary event where electronics brands release their new gadgets. In case you missed the 2015 CES coverage, I’ll summarize for you:
1) Wearables were everywhere. There were countless activity trackers, health monitors, smart watches, etc. on display.
2) Ever-higher resolution TVs. Just bought a fancy 4K TV? Put it on eBay. The latest generation of TVs has…wait for it… 8K. Some of the screens are also bendable (you can control from your remote if you want a curved or flat screen…) and some come with 3D technology that doesn’t require glasses (but will give you a headache in about 20 seconds, guaranteed).
3) Virtual Reality is back. VR was on display in several locations, mostly demoed on Facebook’s Oculus Rift headset. There is quite a lot of speculation about how marketers will leverage VR.
4) Inexpensive Android phones were everywhere. There are countless Chinese manufacturers who sell these phones, all with almost identical specs. That’s a huge headache for Samsung, Motorola and others who struggle to differentiate their phones.
5) Video equipment is becoming both smaller and larger. There were huge rigs on display, drones of course, but also tiny cameras that are smaller than a GoPro.
6) Hello, 3D Printing! 3D Printing filled half of a full floor in one of the CES exhibition centers. There are countless companies that sell these printers now, but valid use cases will be the true test.
7) And of course… weird, wacky stuff. Standard at CES.