CES 2023 Preview: Metaverse To Be Pervasive in Las Vegas in January

Introduction

The Coresight Research team will be attending CES (the consumer electronics show) during January 3–8, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show is produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

The exhibits portion of CES will be held during January 5–8, 2023, following two Media Days for media and industry analysts on January 3–4. The Coresight Research team will attend the media events, including press conferences and keynote addresses, as well as meet with innovators and other companies exhibiting on the show floor.

In this report, we present a preview of the show based on insights from the CES Unveiled conference (which bears the same name as the product showcase that we will attend as part of the main CES event in 2023) on November 16, 2022.

CES 2023 Preview: Coresight Research Insights

According to CTA, CES 2023 will feature more than 200 sessions. It is on track to reach its goal of 100,000 attendees, and 2,500 media representatives are already registered.

Our Take on CES 2023

We believe that there are two types of CES shows: those in which blockbuster new technology is announced and those in which applications and refinements of those technologies are announced. We expect CES 2023 to be evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, with one exception: the metaverse.

We expect Web 3.0 technologies to be pervasive at CES 2023, with a new area in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center dedicated to blockchain, virtual assets and the metaverse, along with ample product demonstrations in applications such as healthcare and training.

• Read Coresight Research coverage of the metaverse in retail.

The image below shows the evolution of fundamental technologies such as cloud computing, AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and cybersecurity, plus the emergence of transformative technologies such as industrial IoT (Internet of Things) and Web 3.0.

 

Focus Areas of CES 2023

Gary Shapiro, CEO at CTA, kicked off the CES Unveiled event. He announced that, in addition to the usual showcase of innovation, the theme of the show in 2023 will be the use of technology to enhance human freedom, including a new partnership with the UN (United Nations). Examples of using tech for this purpose include the food and agriculture keynote, displays of “clean tech,” smart cities and the use of “tech for good.”

In his remarks, Shapiro outlined the mission of technology as boosting productivity by driving speed, safety and efficiency in seven major categories: 5G wireless, AI, autonomous systems, cloud computing, robotics, sensors, and software and apps.

Shapiro highlighted two focus areas in particular for CES 2023:

1. Web 3.0—The event will have a new area in the Central Hall devoted to blockchain, assets and the metaverse, including a Web 3.0 studio and demonstrations of using the metaverse and related technologies for healthcare and training. Exploration of the metaverse will also include use cases such as digital twins, developing Web 3.0 foundations, and hardware upgrades in haptics and spatial sound.
2. Mobility—The category has seen explosive growth (beyond self-driving cars). CES will showcase marine tech and airborne vehicles, as well as covering the electrification of vehicles and highlighting new devices for personal mobility.

Beyond those two areas, Shapiro and Lesley Rohrbaugh, Director of Research at CTA, highlighted the following key themes and subcategories as set to be prominent at CES 2023:

• Digital health, including sleep tech, mental health, telehealth, remote monitoring. One new exciting area is hearing aids, following the approval in the US to sell hearing aids over the counter, which will unlock this market. The new “Home Health Hub” at CES will feature digital therapeutics, telehealth and fitness tech.
• Emerging tech—fintech, smart communities and food tech (such as using 3D printers to create food)
• Infotainment of the future, including “vehicle-to-everything” (meaning that our cars will become our digital hubs), infotainment and the addition of voice and gesture automotive controls
• On-demand lifestyles, covering the fragmentation of the video market and updates of digital services such as cloud gaming, fitness/health and home security
• Sustainability and “green tech,” including a keynote from agricultural equipment company John Deere as well as smart home monitoring equipment and smart cities
• Video games and esports—The CTA estimates 401 million viewers (a 15% year-over-year increase) and $6.4 billion in US consumer video-game spending in 2022.

John Kelly, Vice President at CTA, and Kinsey Fabrizio, Senior VP of Membership and Sales at CTA, participated in a fireside chat looking ahead to the show, further emphasizing many of the topics highlighted above.

 

Keynotes To Look Out For, Plus the “Best of Innovation Honorees”

CES 2023 will feature keynote addresses from executives in traditional technology sectors such as chips, as well as relatively new sectors for the show, automobiles and agriculture:

• Agricultural equipment: John May, Chairman and CEO of John Deere
• Automobiles: Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management at BMW
• Chips: Dr. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD

There will also be keynotes from other sectors, called the “C Space” track, including the following:

• Airlines: Ed Bastian, CEO at Delta Airlines
• Delivery: Laura Jones, CMO at Instacart
• Media and advertising: Michael Kassan, Founder and CEO of MediaLink
• Media: Travis Montaque, CEO and Co-Founder of Group Black

In advance of the show, CES released its Best of Innovation Honorees (listed in the image below), which typically are showcased in an area at the front of the Sands conference center.

 

Black Friday/Holiday Trends

In addition to offering advanced insights into CES 2023, CTA also covered trends to watch for Black Friday and the holiday season.

Rohrbaugh provided a 2022 holiday wish and gift list:

• Gifts adults want to receive (in decreasing order): smartphones, wearables, laptop/notebook computers, TVs and tablets/e-readers
• Gifts adults want to give (in decreasing order): headphones/earbuds, streaming/download services, mobile device cases, smartphones and video-game consoles.

In a response to a question regarding the current excess inventory in PCs and other consumer electronics categories, Rohrbaugh commented that these surpluses would result in very attractive discounts for consumers this holiday season.

Furthermore, she announced that a recent US consumer survey conducted by CTA found that 86% of Thanksgiving-week shoppers plan to purchase tech products. The survey generally showed a willingness to shop online and offline, that consumers are generally not focusing on shopping during Cyber Week and that they do their homework online before visiting a store, though they tend to pay in traditional ways.

What We Think

CES 2023 is likely to be more evolutionary than revolutionary, with one big exception: it is likely to have a major focus on the metaverse, with a dedicated area in the Central Hall likely to show a wide variety of related applications, tools and infrastructure. We are also likely to see a plethora of metaverse gadgets in the Unveiled, Pepcom and Showstoppers product showcases.

We expect to continue to see progress in health tech—evolving beyond the simple wearables of yore—with more applications in health, wellness and sleep tech, as well as more advanced wearables.

Finally, we observe that the prior focus on autonomous cars—which have not yet been perfected—has evolved into a general mobility category, which includes drones and marine vehicles.