CES 2018 is officially underway.
Although a handful of announcements were made before this week’s event, press previews began on 7 January and announcements will run until 12 January. We’re on the ground at CES 2018 bringing you the latest gadgets, smart home devices and weird and wonderful use of tech so bookmark this page to stay up-to-date.
You can also link to all of our individual CES 2018 pages using the related links box to the left.
CES 2018
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) bounded onto the scene in 1998, set up by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and is now celebrating its 10th anniversary with CES 2018.
The show has been held in the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada ever since. For CES 2018, the show is back with aplomb, officially opening on Tuesday 9 January and continuing until Friday 12 January.
It’s an exciting time, with major product launches and huge announcements aplenty, so the coverage is definitely not to be missed. Many opt to watch the excitement unfold live via webcasts and livestreams. Huge names, including Samsung, Bosch, LG, and many more are expected to unveil new phones, tablets, smart home devices, appliances and sensors that will likely litter homes in the coming months.
CES 2018 has become the first major event of the year to showcase the latest car technology, too, and our sister title Auto Express will also be at the show bringing you the next-generation in motoring.
We’ve rounded up the highlights from the show, as well as the major trends we’re expecting to see unveiled at CES 2018.
Samsung CES 2018
– Samsung’s 146in The Wall TV
The South Korean tech giant typically unveils a host of appliances at IFA, TVs at CES and saves its phones for Mobile World Congress. At Samsung’s CES 2018 TV preview, the highlight is The Wall – a 146in 4K television set that can transform an entire wall of your house into a screen.
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The Wall doesn’t have any bezels, meaning the screen can be made to whatever size you want it to be – though it’s not clear how many televisions made up the wall at CES 2017. Prices, and hopefully more details, are due to be announced in the spring.
Read more about Samsung’s The Wall
– Samsung’s AI tech turns any video into 8K
As part of its TV event at CES 2018, Samsung Electronics also introduced “the world’s first 8K AI technology” for its new 85-inch 8K QLED TV. It reportedly uses machine learning to analyse content and will automatically upscale low-resolution images to 8K picture quality where available.
Put simply, it can turn any video content into 8K-quality footage, regardless of native resolution or method of transmission.
What’s more, the AI automatically optimises the TV’s sound to suit certain scenes or types of content, without having to change settings manually. If you’re watching football, for example, cheering and singing is amplified. Alternatively, when watching a concert, low-frequency sounds of the music could be highlighted.
Samsung’s 2018 QLED TV lineup has already won a CES 2018 Innovation Award and the Samsung 8K QLED TVs with AI technology range is set to launch during the second half of 2018.
HP CES 2018
HP unveiled the third-generation of its Spectre x360 15 – a 15.6-inch convertible PC running on Intel’s brand new 8th Gen processor with Radeon RX Vega M graphics.
Made using aluminium, measuring 19.5mm thick and weighing 2.09kg (4.62lbs), the PC comes in silver and copper. Elsewhere, the 4K UHD, 15.6-inch display, which can also be used with the HP Tilt Pen – sold separately – features Corning Gorilla Glass 4, and the HP Spectre x360 15 comes with an IR camera and a fingerprint reader to add biometric security.
Asus CES 2018
Asus unveiled four new machines as part of its CES 2018 conference. The first, the ZenBook 13 is described as “superthin” and “superpowerful” – weighing 985 grams. Asus claims it offers 15 hours of battery life and runs on an 8th generation i7 processor, 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.
The 15.6in Asus X507 weighs 1.68kg, runs on 7th generation i5 or i7 processor, has up to 8GB RAM and either 1TB of hard drive, or 256GB of SSD. Elsewhere, Asus unveiled two all-in-one computers – the Vivo AiO V272 and Vivo AiO V222. The former has a 27in display with up to an 8th generation i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics. The latter is a smaller 22in model, with a 1080p display.
Read more about the Asus announcements
LG CES 2018
LG used CES 2018 to unveil a 65in 4K television that can be rolled up like a poster when it’s not in use. The benefits, it seems, are that it will make the TV somewhat portable. You could also put the TV away during parties, or when you go on holiday to avoid it being stolen, for example.
Very little else has been revealed about the TV, and we don’t imagine the first rollable television sets to be cheap when they eventually rattle off the production line. This isn’t the first rolling TV screen, though. LG actually showed off a rollable TV screen at CES 2016, but it was a relatively minisucle 18in.
Read more about LG’s rollable TV
As part of its wider TV lineup, LG unveiled an updated range that, while they don’t look all that different, have had a boost in specifications. At the heart of the announcement was LG’s AI platform, ThinQ, and LG has built AI into its 4K OLED and Super UHD LCD TVs, plus is is offering Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa integration. Furthermore, the new connected TVs will work with other ThinQ products.
LG’s new TV range include the OLED C8, E8
Read more about LG’s TV announcements here
It wasn’t all about TVs at LG’s CES 2018 event, though. It did, like Sony, roll out its latest robot called CLoi. Part robo-butler, part Amazon Echo, the machine is meant to respond to commands and help out around the home. However, during the demonstration, CLoi did not want to play ball and failed to answer its owner, LG marketing chief David WanderWaal.
Read more about LG’s CLoi (and it’s stage fright) here
Sony CES 2018
Unlike many of its rival, who save phone launches for Mobile World Congress, Sony has used CES 2018 to unveil three new handsets in its Xperia range: the XA2, XA2 Ultra and the Xperia L2.
– Sony XA2 and XA2 Ultra
The rear camera on both Android devices is 23MP, with ISO 12800 sensitivity. The front-facing camera on the XA2 boasts a 120° super-wide camera, while the XA2 Ultra adds an additional 16MP snapper with optical image stabilisation. As the name suggests, the latter is larger, with a bigger battery and 6in screen, compared to the XA2’s 5.5in screen. Both of them have 1080p displays, use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor and come with Android Oreo. They’re expected to launch next month.
– Sony Xperia L2
The Xperia L2 is a 5.5in smartphone, powered by the quad-core MediaTek MT6737T processor and backed by 3GB RAM, running Android Nougat. Pricing and details to follow.
Read more about Sony Mobile’s CES 2018 announcements
After unveiling some pretty mediocre handsets, Sony’s main CES 2018 conference, a day later, showcased TVs, wireless headphones, soundbars, a Blu-ray players, home audio systems and the return of AIBO the robo-dog.
The revival of the AIBO robot dog was first announced back in autumn and with cute “floppy” ears, OLED glassy eyes and a camera inside its black nose, the AIBO dog looks surprisingly dog-like, nothing like the silvery, AIBO cyberpunk pups of yesteryear.
Read more about Sony’s CES 2018 announcements
HTC Vive CES 2018
Ahead of CES 2018, HTC teased what appeared to be a 4K version of its Vive headset, dubbed (imaginatively) Vive 2. An image of a VR headset was tweeted, accompanied by the phrase “New Year’s Resolution – 01.08.18”. At its CES 2018 launch event, this mystery product turned out to be a 3K headset called the HTC Vive Pro.
With a resoution 2,880 x 1,600 pixels (or 1,440 x 1,600-pixels per eye) it is significantly sharper than the original HTC Vive and has been “designed for VR enthusiasts.”
HTC Vive also unveiled an optional Wireless Adaptor for both Vive and Vive Pro, giving wireless capabilities to both headsets.
Read more about the HTC Vive 2 announcement
Nvidia CES 2018
GPU giant Nvidia used CES 2018 to unveil a whole host of products and partnerships across gaming, displays, TVs and…cars.
– Nvidia’s drive to get self-driving cars on the road
The most notable of these were Nvidia’s tie-ins with both Uber, and Volkswagen. Uber has selected Nvidia for the AI system in its fleets of self-driving cars and trucks, while NVIDIA and VW revealed that the 2022 VW I.D. Buzz will use Nvidia DRIVE IX technology for AI co-pilot capabilities.
Taking design leads from the I.D. Buzz concept vehicle shown at the Detroit Auto Show, the production model harks back to the more carefree hippy days of the VW Campervan, with a futuristic twist, and will launch in 2022.
Additionally, Nvidia announced that it is working with Aurora to create a Level 4 and Level 5 self-driving hardware platform, and its automotive team is working with ZF and Baidu to create a production-ready AI autonomous vehicle platform in China. The collaboration is based on the new NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier, ZF’s new ProAI car computer and Baidu’s Apollo Pilot, an autonomous driving product targeted for mass production.
– Nvidia BFGDs
At CES 2018, Nvidia unveiled its latest Big Format Gaming Displays (BFGDs) that use Nvidia G-SYNC and SHIELD to “supersize PC gaming.”
– Nvidia GeForce rolls out
From 7 January, Nvidia’s GeForce NOW game-streaming service is available as a free beta that will work with most Windows-based desktops and laptops. Nvidia also announced Nvidia Freestyle, a new that lets you customise your gameplay, alongside an updated user interface for NVIDIA Ansel photo mode for games.
Acer CES 2018
Acer used CES 2018 to unveil its latest laptop and Chromebooks – the Nitro 5, Swift 7 and 11 Chromebook.
– Acer Nitro 5 The Acer Nitro 5 starts at £899 in the UK and goes on sale in April 2018. The laptop will also be available in North America from $799 and in Europe from €1,099. The new gaming laptop runs AMD’s Radeon RX560 GPU and comes with the latest AMD Ryzen mobile processor. There’s up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM with an SSD of up to 512GB for storage, as well as a 15.6in Full HD screen, with an IPS panel, which runs at 60Hz.
– Acer Swift 7
The Acer Swift 7 will be available from February with prices starting at £1,479. In the US and Europe, prices will start at $1,699 and €1,699 respectively.
It has a 14in Full HD touchscreen IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass and, as with previous Swift laptops, can be tilted back to an extreme angle. It has improved connectivity over the last model, with a nano-SIM card slot and support for 4G data speeds.
– Acer Chromebook 11
The Acer Chromebook 11 will be available from £259 from March 2018. In the US and Europe, prices start at $249 and €249. The Chromebook 11 comes in two different variants: one with a touchscreen (CB311-8HT); one without (CB311-8H). Both have 11.6in IPS displays, stereo speakers and a pair of USB-Type C ports.
Read more about Acer’s CES 2018 announcements
Fisker CES 2018
The Fisker EMotion was unveiled in time for CES 2018 and is set to rival Tesla. The electric sports car is tipped for a release in 2019 and is reportedly able to cover a minimum of 400 miles on a single charge.
The battery pack in the EMotion is said to be able to charge to 125 miles of range in only nine minutes and although Fisker is still using a 143kWh Lithium-ion battery, the car manufacturer has been able to construct a battery pack capable of both cooling efficiently and packing in cells tightly.
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