Everything you need to know about CES 2015, from show dates and attendees to the likely big announcements and upcoming trends.
The 2015 Consumer Electronics Show kicks off on January 6, so our thoughts have inevitably started straying to the biggest tech gathering of the year.
Over the space of four days (January 6 - 9), many of the world’s biggest tech companies will descend on Las Vegas to reveal what’s in store for the coming year. Preceding the show, January 5 will likely act as a press day, with the likes of Samsung, Sony, LG and company all holding dedicated conferences to make major announcements.
Historically a show for the TV industry to show off its coming wares, CES has expanded to be so much more. It’s still too early to say exactly what products will be hitting the show floor come January, but here are some of the tech trends and rumoured announcements to look out for during CES 2015.
Xiaomi breaks out
Of all the exciting smartphone news that we’re expecting from CES 2015 - and bear in mind that most of the bigger announcements tend to happen later in the year, is that Xiaomi will use the event to launch phones in the West.
We’ve been waiting for this for some time now. Xiaomi is the third biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world, but that’s thanks to its massive success in its native China.
However, Xiaomi has always had bigger plans than mere domestic dominance. Why else do you think the company hired Hugo Barra - the former Google Vice President and Android spokesman?
Xiaomi should bring a youthful energy and sharp (if heavily Apple-influenced) design philosophy to the Android space, and all at a knock-down price. The company typically makes its money on software, selling its hardware at cost, though it’ll be interesting to see if that works in the same way outside of China.
First up at CES 2015 (according to the rumour mill) will be the Xiaomi Mi5 - the company’s new flagship phone which could have some killer specs. We’re talking a 5.7-inch QHD display, a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU, a 20.7-megapixel camera, and a fingerprint sensor.
Watch out Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, and Sony.
Smart TVs with Android TV
At Google I/O back in June, it was revealed that the next version of the Android OS had been designed to scale to the Smart TV form factor.
Android TV offers the tantalising promise (admittedly not the first time) of an intuitive and widely adopted Smart TV UI standard, rather than the largely rubbish individual manufacturer efforts we’ve been putting up with for too long now.
Google’s new solution will allow you to initiate media content searches using your phone, using both text input and voice recognition. You’ll also have access to a whole heap of apps and games, through it’ll ship with its own app store rather than simply having access to the Google Play Store.
Google also announced at the time that it had reached agreements with Sony, Sharp, and Philips to include Android TV in their 2015 HDTV ranges. As such, we’re expecting to see a whole bunch of top end TV sets running on Android TV at CES 2015.
Sony in particular has promised to go all in with Android TV in 2015, so expect big things from them.
Don’t expect Samsung and LG to join the Android TV party just yet though. Both Korean manufacturers are keen to push their own platforms. Samsung is known to be looking to reduce its reliance on Google, while LG last year introduced its new webOS TV platform.
ANOTHER new Sony phone
No one has released more flagship phone revisions over the past two years than Sony, and we’re expecting to see yet another one at CES 2015.
Of course, there’s good reason to be excited for the Sony Xperia Z4 - the Sony Xperia Z3 and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact were two of the finest Android phones of the year.
Sony’s continued financial troubles mean that this might be the last bit new mobile release we see from them for a while. Well, for a year at least. So make the most of it.
We’re expecting the Sony Xperia Z4 to see a bump up to a QHD display, which should be a common sight throughout 2015. It’ll apparently run on a Snapdragon 805 CPU, which again should be fairly normal throughout the new year.
What probably won’t be normal is 4GB of RAM, but that’s what reports are suggesting the Z4 will have, as well as an improved camera.
Oh, and we may also see the Sony Xperia Z4 Ultra, which will be a phablet version of the Z4.
More, and cheaper, 4K TVs
2014’s CES brought a lot of 4K or UHD TV sets, sporting four times the pixel density of your bog standard 1080p Full HD telly.
We’re not expecting anything radically new on this front in 2015. The big advances should be in UI and smart features rather than core tech.
What we can expect to see, however, is more practically priced 4K TV sets as manufacturers look to bring the new resolution standard within range of your average punter. To that end, we’re expecting more 40- and 50-inch efforts this time around.
One trend that doesn’t look likely to go away just yet is curved TVs. Both Samsung and LG still appear fixated with these bent screens, so there’ll probably be more on show in 2015.
Expect to see LG showing off with its unique OLED TV tech. Samsung has all but put its own OLED plans on hold due to persistent manufacturing issues, but LG is known to be ahead of the game on this front. Naturally, it’s going to push this advantage for all it’s worth, so look out for new OLED sets.
Samsung for its part has announced previously that it will be focusing on Quantum Dot TV technology - an advancement of existing LCD techniques rather than a super-sizing of its OLED technology. Keep an eye out for more on this new approach at the show.
Following January’s Michael Bay blunder, hopefully Samsung will push another inexplicably successful film director out to humiliate themselves whilst pushing a 105-inch 4K TV no one can afford. Our money’s on Zack Snyder.
New tablets to rival the iPad
Speaking of Samsung, this year’s CES saw the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Pro range. This added the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro lines to an already dizzying array of sameish Android tabs from the manufacturer.
Given Samsung’s slightly predictable cycles, we’re offering low odds on another batch of Pros coming in 2015. We’re not sure our keyboards could cope with a Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 2 12.2, but who knows?
Of course, with the slinky Samsung Galaxy Tab S now on the market you might argue that there’s no purpose for a new set of Pros. But then that’s never stopped Samsung before.
It’s not just Samsung you need to watch out for on the tablet space either. Chinese manufacturer Huawei is alway keen to throw a new affordable take on a consumer hit into the mix, with Sony, ZTE and a host of others all likely to push new tablet offerings.
LG to bend our ear
We’re not expecting to see the LG G4 at CES 2015, which is a shame given that the LG G3 was our phone of 2014.
However, an altogether more interesting smartphone proposition is in store from South Korea’s second favourite electronics company: The LG G Flex 2.
Reports suggest that the follow-up to 2013’s banana-shaped oddity, the LG G Flex, is on the cards for a Las Vegas outing.
This time around we could be getting a high-resolution OLED display in a small form factor, as well as a self-healing plastic coating.
Of course, the first phone claimed to have all of these things too, and it wasn’t very good. Still, with rumours that the LG G Flex 2 represents a “major upgrade” over the original, we live in hope.
No Steam Machines
One of the biggest disappointments of 2014 was Valve’s decision to delay its Steam Machine program until 2015, owing to issues with the design of the Steam Controller.
Stepping back a few months, CES 2014 had seen a big Steam Machine splurge, with a number of hardware partnerships highlighted and some preliminary Steam Machine designs outlined.
After this year’s false start, many were hoping that the very same venue could be used to showcase Valve’s finalised Steam Machine vision this coming January.
Alas, Valve itself has scuppered those hopes. The company’s VP of marketing, Doug Lombardi, has revealed that Valve is aiming for a big showing at GDC 2015 in early March instead.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Valve’s third party Steam Machine partners won’t be showing up to CES 2015.
Wearables, and plenty of them
It’s a pretty safe bet when discussing any of the big shows set to take place over the next 12 months to simply say: “wearables.”
Yes, it’s still a hot topic for tech companies, even if it hasn’t yet taken off with the general public. But while previous shows have had wearable devices that haven’t particularly wowed anyone, CES 2015 should be different.
For one thing, it will be the first CES show following Google’s unveiling of Android Wear, as well as the first smartwatches built to run it. Now would be a good time for others to join in.
Also consider the fact that Apple will be releasing its iWatch a month or two after CES 2015.
There’s a general feeling that this will be the point at which the smartwatch market truly kicks off, so any manufacturer that hasn’t played a convincing wearables hand around this time risks being left behind.
This is also an area where we have confirmation of some manufacturers’ plans. Lenovo has confirmed that it will be showing off some new wearables at CES 2015 - and it has nothing to do with Motorola (which it now owns) and its disappointing Moto 360.
There are also claims that TAG will be showing off its first smartwatch, powered by Intel internals. Intel itself is set for a big year with a renewed emphasis on its wearable and mobile chip business, which has thus far struggled in comparison to its traditional PC chip business.
3D printing steps to the fore
3D printing will be big at CES 2015. The organisers are reportedly doubling the floor space for this intriguing field at next year’s show.
Apparently, more than 30 companies will be present with their latest advances. And if you think this technology is still at the experimental stage, well, think again.
Reports suggest that sales of desktop 3D printers will have hit 67,000 by the end of 2014. True, that’s a pretty small number compared to the number of ink jets out there, but it’s enough to tell you that things are moving rapidly in the field.
Next, read our round-up of the best smartphones to buy