Predicting the Future: Reflections from CES 2023

This year, from January 4th to 8th, the largest event of the year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), took place in Las Vegas, where more than three thousand companies from all over the world presented their latest technologies. In this post, we share our insights about the main trends in electronics based on what we saw at CES this year.

​CES 2023

In January 2023, more than a hundred thousand participants gathered at CES to witness what’s hot in the consumer electronics market. The Prifina team, together with other technology innovators, representatives of large and small companies from all over the world, government officials and private capital investors spent four days navigating huge convention halls and testing the latest gadgets and technologies. 

Many countries had pavilions, but South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and France appeared to have the most representatives at CES 2023. As expected, CES conference halls were lit by unprecedented size screens showcased by suchLG, Sony and other companies. Automobile companies introduced their new-futuristic-autonomous-electric car models. Also, it was possible to witness how fast robotics technology is developing (e.g., one company showcased a robotic arm capable of performing dental implant operations).

One of the largest beverage companies from Japan, Suntory, introduced new technologies allowing one to insert a 3D shape into a drink that remains unchanged until it touches lips. John Deere brought an impressive tractor that appeared to have two wings, each of which had eighteen cameras that could distinguish crops from weeds and spray pesticides only in the places where the weeds grow (est. price ca. $800,000).

After having spent four days among thousands of tech companies, we, the Prifina team, have identified three main trends:
(a) sensors are coming to every aspect of our daily lives,
(b) all devices that we will use will be sensorized, and
(c) new types of AI assistants are emerging to empower individuals in various daily situations.

​Trend 1: Sensors Everywhere

The first trend is that sensors are entering every aspect of our lives. In fact, out of 3200+ technology companies, more than half had something to do with sensors - most of the exhibitors were in the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) categories. 

At CES, we saw many companies from around the world that produce the most diverse sensors for various consumer and enterprise applications. For example, the Dutch company Mantiscope presented a sensor that measures liquid content. This sensor, which is just a few millimeters in size, can detect the content of a person's sweat or other liquid (such as wine). 

South Korea had a separate pavilion where several dozen companies presented semiconductors, paper-thin flexible screens, and millimeter-sized sensors. This excellent stand reflects the South Korean government's plan to invest $500 billion in the semiconductor sector by 2030.​

Trend 2: Sensorized Products

Nowadays, the prices of electronic sensors are so low that almost all consumer products presented at CES are sensorized. In other words, it is now clear that sensors are coming into every object and device we use daily; each of us will generate more and more data. Such user-generated data will help us make better decisions in the most diverse life situations.

For example, sensors are already being integrated into materials and clothing that collect diverse biometric data - body temperature, heart rate, distance walked - and the environmental factors around us, and the location of a human or a sensorized product. Such sensorized products will soon appear everywhere - in fashion and exercise clothing, home appliances, workplaces, and public spaces.

At CES, it was also possible to see how quickly sensors and their accompanying applications are improving: consumer sensorized products (e.g., smart watches, smart rings, etc.) have integrated sensors whose accuracy is almost equivalent to medical devices used in hospitals. Competition in sensorized product markets is also heating up - during CES, there were multiple sensorized products created for every life situation.

Each sensorized product also has an application that presents certain results generated based on data collected by sensors. Often such sensorized product apps also have integrated artificial intelligence prediction models that can not only show data about a specific factual situation but also make predictions and possible future trends (e.g., how the health will evolve) and recommendations on how a person can adjust the behavior.​

​​Trend 3: Empowering Consumers With Data

With the increasing amount of consumer data, it is important to figure out how such data could be used to empower consumers in their daily lives. We witnessed that most companies showcasing at CES understand the need to create certain algorithms that create additional value from data generated by sensors. 

Many companies at the CES are creating AI solutions for specific real-life problems. Many of them were concentrated in the health-tech sector, where medical-grade sensors are implemented in consumer products that are tailored for remote patient monitoring. 

Such breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing open opportunities to create new applications of these technologies. At Prifina, we see that two separate consumer-grade and medical-grade product categories will merge in the near future. 

At Prifina, we also see that the real challenge - and the opportunity - is to build products and ecosystems centered around individuals. This will lead to better customer experience, deeper engagement with sensorized products, and the next era of personalization, which will be based on personal data.
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Paths Forward

The Prifina team made a lot of meaningful connections with companies from around the world who are eager to explore Prifina’s personal data platform to improve their products by connecting more data sources. 

Adding new sensors to products around us allows us to create new experiences, such as quantifying confidence with different clothing or analyzing dehydration during exercise to optimize hydration and recovery. We are excited about this coming year and will keep you updated about some of the fascinating use cases we are working on.

More about CES from the Prifina Team:

• “CES 2023: Sensors, data and energy efficiency rule the show”
• “CES 2023 shows how technology has changed healthcare”