This year’s Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone. And while we are sad to see it go, we are ecstatic over what it had to offer. The expansion of smart home technologies, virtual reality, and televisions were expected at this year’s CES and nonetheless exciting to see, and health tech, beauty tech and even robots brought unexpected excitement to the tech world.
From the unexpected to the expected, let’s look at CES 2018’s top 3 unveilings.
CES 2018: Top 3 Trends
The Death of Dumb Household Products
Last year’s CES had us excited about the future of smart technology. However, it was clear at the time that there was much work to be done before consumers would be willing to go all-in with a specific smart system. The tides may have changed based on what CES 2018 had to showcase.
Samsung announced that its Bixby Assistant will be standard in all their devices by 2020 as they emphatically waive goodbye to dumb devices all over the world. While Google’s Assistant came ready to fight the almighty Alexa with its rollout of 2018 compatibilities with LG TVs, Hunter ceiling fans, Schlage smart locks and its new Google Smart Display. Smart home technology is finally getting smart!
Wearable Tech: Beyond Counting Steps
We previously predicted that fitness technology would be quieter at CES this year than last and we were right, sort of. With no groundbreaking reveals for any of the wearable fitness trackers like Fitbit, Garmin and the Apple watch, we did see some amazing medical technology change the at-home health game.
We saw technology for child cancer patients from Aflac who has created a robotic Aflac duck to act as a pet companion to children battling the ugly disease. There were sensors to scan for sun exposure and unwanted allergens in foods (e.g. nuts). A watch that can test blood pressure and an amazing glove that can help paralyzed hands grip. These health tech innovations are proving to the world that technology isn’t so bad after all.
Bezel Be-Gone: Fingerprint Scan in a Phone Screen
Mobile technology is regularly quiet at CES each year as Mobile World Congress is just weeks away and has bigger importance to the mobile world than CES. However, Vivo unveiled a technology that is being overshadowed by TVs, smart cars and virtual reality. Vivo unveiled the first ever technology to make it possible for a fingerprint scan in a phone screen. Ultimately this means a phone with no bezel whatsoever. Make no mistake, this is a big deal. All the big mobile players have spent the last several years trying to eliminate the bezel without compromising security features and have been unable to do so. If this pans out for Vivo, they will have the mobile technology everyone wants; which is why we had to include it in our top 3 things out of CES.
Now we get to watch – and enjoy – these new technologies as they rollout to the marketplace.