Highlights from 2021 CES

CES the annual trade show organised the Consumer Technology Association has arrived on schedule starting on Monday the 11th of January and closing its doors on Thursday the 14th. For the first time though in its history the annual tech show went fully virtual this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With almost 2,000 exhibitors from tech companies across the world there was nothing sort of the key innovations we are used to see at the event but this time watching from the comfort of our home.

The show started with a keynote opening by Verizon’s chairman and CEO, Hans Vestberg. The keynote discussed “5G as the framework of the 21st century, the essential tech of the present and accelerated tech of the future to move our global community forward, such as telemedicine, tele-education and more.” According to Vestberg “We have leapfrogged five to seven years in terms of digital innovation".

There were mainly six themes that identified at this year’s events and we can all guess some of the key ones:

1. 5G Connectivity from smart cities, smart building to sports stadiums and much more. As Vestberg highlighted in his speech “The Verizon 5G ultra-wideband network now has 200 million users across 1,800 cities and towns in the US".

2. Autonomous and electric vehicles with Cadillac showing off the Halo self-driving car concept among some of the hottest innovations.

3. Display Technology advancements to help with remote working. From Dell’s new product announcements to Samsung’s super powerful 5G devices

4. Smart City and smart homes. Again as many people spend more time at home this year there was a flurry of new tech announcements with the Kohler mood setting Japanese bath winning our vote.

5. Virtual Reality beyond visual goggles we have now seen devices that allow users to feel and experience textures like the impressive SenseGlove Nova.

6. Healthcare. With the pandemic in everyone’s mind there is no surprise the biggest tech advancements in this sector. From ultraviolet disinfectant robots, to smart masks and much more.

In terms of devices, we were not disappointed. There were several announcements of great innovation and the one that caught our eye is the new rollable displays. There were three devices that we show glimpses at the event:

1. LG Rollable. We had several hints in the past for a different screen technology, but this year LG showcased what it calls “a unique resizable screen” that can transform from a phone into a small tablet.

2. TCL 6.7-inch AMOLED Rollable display. According to TCL the thickness of the device is less than 10mm and the 6.7-inch display can roll out into a device with 7.8-inch display.

3. TCL 17-inch Printed OLED Scrolling Display. According to TCL “An engineering breakthrough has the potential to be applied to TV, curved, foldable devices as well as transparent commercial displays.”

At ViserMark we performed a poll on to see how you feel about the rollable devices and 70% of you has given the technology the thump’s up ! We can’t wait to receive the devices in our lab for testing.

Samsung has also held its own “unpacked event” and announced the much-anticipated Galaxy S21 which was no surprise to steal all the spotlight. The S21 Ultra hailed by Android Authority “the best of the best with Samsung’s characteristic style and an updated design.”

The previous S20 series have been tested by ViserMark and most of them scored over 1.5 day of battery life.

What does that mean for all of us?

2021 we will see an even increasing numbers of networks supporting 5G and the ones that have launched already will be increasing the coverage to a wider population. The number of devices that will be supporting 5G will be increasing. According to a report published by GCF (Global Certification Forum) there were over 100 5G devices and modules certified by September 2020 so we will be seeing many more in 2021.

At ViserMark we will be following very closely to identify the impact of the new technology 5G in battery performance and life of smartphones. There is already some evidence that 5G may have a negative impact to the battery life to as much as 20% and we will be looking at this impact and provide you with assessments and reports in the coming months.

We will be increasing the number of devices we test this year to ensure we provide you all the necessary information on what device to purchase based on battery performance. With our partnership with VCX you can also check the camera score in our ranking table:

https://www.visermark.com/smartphone-ranking-table

So, before you make a big purchase make sure you check the ViserMark score.

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