David Savastano, Editor01.24.23
CES 2023, organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), is the world’s largest technology showcase. Traditionally held every year in Las Vegas – the COVID-19 pandemic was the lone exception – CES brings together the latest trends and the technologies that may eventually become part of our everyday life.
According to the CTA, CES 2023 roared back from the pandemic years, drawing more than 115,000 industry professionals, well above initial expectations. CTA reports that CES 2023, which was held Jan. 5-8, had more than 3,200 exhibitors, including 1,000 startups, on hand. The exhibition halls throughout Las Vegas included nearly 2.2 million net square feet of exhibits, 70% larger than CES 2022.
“CES 2023 was the great reconnection and rocked by every measure - from attendance to the keynote stage to press conferences and product debuts on the exhibit floor – showing the entire world that in-person events are back,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA, in reporting the results. “The innovation unveiled this week will drive economic growth and change in meaningful ways to improve our lives and create a better future for the next generation.”
Televisions and displays feature the biggest names in the field. OLEDs and quantum dot technologies dominated the segment, led by LG and Samsung.
At CES 2023, LG Display had two booths: its main booth in North Hall, showcasing home displays for TV, gaming and more, and a booth in West Hall dedicated to automotive displays.
LG Electronics welcomed attendees with its traditional massive OLED screens; in this case, LG OLED reported that its Horizon featured 260 flexible and open-frame 55-inch displays, measuring 20 feet high and 82 feet wide. Aside from the Horizon, LG’s highlights included its new 8-inch and 17-inch Foldable OLEDs; on the automotive side, LG highlighted its 34-inch P-OLED display.
Also from the world of OLEDs, JOLED announced that its latest 31.5-inch 4K high-brightness OLED panel, produced using the printing method, has been adopted by ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), with the ASUS ProArt PA32DCM, a professional monitor, that was shown at CES 2023.
OLEDWorks highlighted its automotive lighting at CES 2023, including new flexible OLED lighting for automotive applications.
“OLEDWorks is thrilled to be back at CES for our second year,” said David DeJoy, CEO, OLEDWorks, in announcing its plans for the show. “We know OLED technology is going to become an industry standard in the future of automotive lighting communication, connected vehicles and autonomous mobility, and are excited to share the advancements in OLED technology that will pave the way to a safer and more sustainable future.”
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. highlighted its Neo QLED, MICRO LED and Samsung OLED lines. Samsung’s Neo QLED and OLEDs feature quantum dot technology, which has become an industry mainstay. Samsung reports that its 2023 OLED lineup is now available in 55-, 65- and the new 77-inch models.
Jeff Yurek is VP of marketing for Nanosys, a leading developer and manufacture of quantum dots. Yurek said that CES 2023 was a great show for quantum dot technology.
“Over 100 displays with quantum dot technology were announced during CES week,” Yurek said. “All of the major brands launched awesome new quantum dot TVs and we’re also seeing a growing number of monitor and notebook products taking advantage of the technology.”
Yurke noted that two trends that connected all of these products were bigger and brighter.
“TVs are getting just massive and we saw just about everyone launch 85”, 98” and even one 110” QD TVs for their 2023 lineups,” said Yurek. “We also saw brands pushing the performance envelope with super bright, efficient displays at 2,000, 2,500 and even 3,000 nits. It’s going to be a great year for consumers with lots of choices.”
Overall, Yurek believes it will be a great year for display companies.
“I think people are excited for 2023,” Yurek said “It looks like a return to growth in 2023 for displays in general and consumers can expect great deals on amazing-looking displays.”
When asked what were highlights for him, Yurek pointed to two in particular.
“The first display highlight for me was the Samsung QD-OLED at 77” and 2,000 nits. It is incredible to see an OLED display pushing this much luminance and the colors are stunning of course,” Yurek observed. “The other one for me was the Hisense 110” ULED X. Just a monster of a TV and a great example of the image quality you can achieve with MiniLED and quantum dots working together.”
Flexible and Printed Electronics at CES 2023
Fourteen companies set up at the OE-A Pavilion, where the OE-A showcased the capabilities of the printed electronics industry. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A, reported that the OE-A pavilion at CES 2023 provided great visibility for the OE-A, its members and printed electronics.
“The joint pavilion was busy and received its share of attention,” Hecker said. “Our exhibitors were Brewer Science, Elantas Europe, Mitsui Chemicals, Xymox Technologies, Heraeus Epurio, FlexEnable, Coatema, NovaCentrix, Interlink Electronics, Holst Centre, Mitsui Chemicals, Smooth and Sharp, VTT and tacterion. They enjoyed discussing capabilities, needs, and trends with company executives, product designers, and manufacturing early-adopters.”
Hecker said that visitors from end-user and EMS companies showed big interest in flexible and printed electronics.
“It was great to see and experience that the top trends at CES 2023 from segments including wearables, automotive, smart living and sustainability are in line with our own industry trends,” he noted. “We have already secured a stand space for 2024 and we are looking forward together with our members to being part of this exciting show next year.”
In terms of highlights that he saw, Hecker observed that flexible and printed electronics is gaining more and more momentum at CES.
“Companies are looking for thin, lightweight and flexible solutions to integrate electronics seamlessly in all kinds of products,” he added. “Around CES, of course, the BMW I Vision DEE was a highlight and we are looking forward to the presentation by Stella Clark, BMW, at LOPEC 2023.
“Other highlights were transparent OLED TVs as well as flexible OLEDs, now also in laptop applications,” Hecker said. “Wearables for medical applications, sports, gaming and the metaverse were presented by a growing number of exhibitors. Here it became obvious that the presented solutions – based on classical electronics – are too bulky and heavy. This opens up additional opportunities for our industry.”
At the OE-A Pavilion, Brewer Science showed its water sensing solutions, which it notes offers real-time detection of lead, nitrates and pH produced using printed electronics.
Ryan Moss, director of new business development, smart devices for Brewer Science, noted that 2023 is a big year for Brewer Science as it marks the debut of its real-time water condition monitoring sensors to industry.
“For this reason, exhibiting at CES was strategic and just the beginning of a series of flagship events across the globe where our water technology is being introduced throughout the year,” Moss added. “In fact, our water sensor system will be demonstrated at Europe’s premiere technology trade show and technical conference LOPEC 2023 February 28-March 3 in Munich. We are long-standing members of OE-A (Organic & Printed Electronics Association) so being invited to exhibit at a printed electronics-themed pavilion on the Smart Home show floor of CES was an extraordinary opportunity.
“It was very well attended and a great showcase for our unique water quality sensor technology,” added Moss. “Water sensors currently on the market are limited to leak detection and/or the presence of water. Our technology caught peoples’ attention in that we can monitor ionic conductivity, pH, and contaminates like lead at ppb levels in real-time.”
Epicore Biosystems showed its new Connected Hydration wearable sweat patch, which contains multiple biosensors, and mobile app at CES 2023. Through real-time alarms and vibrations, Connected Hydration alerts users when their fluid loss exceeds 2% of body weight to prevent dehydration. It will launch the patented Connected Hydration patch, mobile application, and cloud engine in summer 2023.
Roozbeh Ghaffari, CEO and co-founder of Epicore Biosystems, said it was great to see the attendance back to normal at CES.
“We had a very exciting couple of days showcasing our latest wearable products after a two-year hiatus from the show,” Ghaffari reported. “We enjoyed being on the floor this year with our collaborators at 3M. Interest in personalized remote monitoring solutions for tracking hydration, performance, nutrition, and health is at an all-time high. Climate change is contributing to this interest and will likely continue in the coming years. We met with multiple potential enterprise customers, ranging from industrial safety to sports and fitness with significant interest in our Connected Hydration platform.”
As for highlights, Ghaffari pointed to technologies targeting at-home health, and in particular, nutrition, hydration, and health monitoring using biofluid samples and image processing.
“There were a few companies that showcased their smart urine analysis sensors (e.g. Withings and Vivoo),” added Ghaffari. “We also enjoyed seeing the latest in VR/AR and console technologies. There’s a multitude of gaming and healthcare applications that will exploit this technology entering the market soon.”
Karthikesh Raju, TactoTek’s SVP marketing, said that CES 2023 brought back the excitement of pre-pandemic years and the strength of the attendance showcased the belief in the show.
“CES is somewhat unique in that senior executives from around the world and representing many market segments can be engaged in substantive business discussions—as such it’s very efficient and effective for TactoTek,’ said Raju. “It is a single place to meet an eco-system of prospects and partners, and TactoTek has held several meetings with our prospects, partners and customers. TactoTek showcased several new innovations in the area of light - Our central theme, ‘Let Light Live,’ encapsulates our technology to create intelligent programmable light embedded into plastics through our Injection Molded Structural Electronics (IMSE) manufacturing techniques.”
Eureka Park is the home for lots of new technologies, and one of the 1,000 plus companies showing their new ideas was Dracula Technologies, who highlighted its LAYER organic photovoltaic (OPV) solution, which generates energy from ambient light and eliminates the need for batteries. Dracula Technologies illustrated its LAYER technology in a number of applications, including a temperature logger, autonomous CO2 sensor, outdoor soil and temperature sensor and autonomous remote control.
Jerome Vernet, VP sales for Dracula Technologies, said that CES 2023 was really enthusiastic when it comes to energy, sustainability and IoT deployment.
“There are many strong signals allowing energy harvesting technologies to bring innovative solutions and creating more opportunities to grow and improve our daily lives in a sustainable way,” Vernet said. “CES 2023 has been a great opportunity for Dracula Technology to present our new product release, and of course, we also presented many custom designs of our LAYER technology that caught visitors’ interest.”
According to the CTA, CES 2023 roared back from the pandemic years, drawing more than 115,000 industry professionals, well above initial expectations. CTA reports that CES 2023, which was held Jan. 5-8, had more than 3,200 exhibitors, including 1,000 startups, on hand. The exhibition halls throughout Las Vegas included nearly 2.2 million net square feet of exhibits, 70% larger than CES 2022.
“CES 2023 was the great reconnection and rocked by every measure - from attendance to the keynote stage to press conferences and product debuts on the exhibit floor – showing the entire world that in-person events are back,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA, in reporting the results. “The innovation unveiled this week will drive economic growth and change in meaningful ways to improve our lives and create a better future for the next generation.”
Display Leaders on Hand at CES 2023
Of course, CES 2023 typically a Who’s Who of the leading technology companies, and this year was no exception. Industry leaders exhibiting at CES 2023 included Amazon, BMW, GM, Google, Microsoft, Stellantis and many others.Televisions and displays feature the biggest names in the field. OLEDs and quantum dot technologies dominated the segment, led by LG and Samsung.
At CES 2023, LG Display had two booths: its main booth in North Hall, showcasing home displays for TV, gaming and more, and a booth in West Hall dedicated to automotive displays.
LG Electronics welcomed attendees with its traditional massive OLED screens; in this case, LG OLED reported that its Horizon featured 260 flexible and open-frame 55-inch displays, measuring 20 feet high and 82 feet wide. Aside from the Horizon, LG’s highlights included its new 8-inch and 17-inch Foldable OLEDs; on the automotive side, LG highlighted its 34-inch P-OLED display.
Also from the world of OLEDs, JOLED announced that its latest 31.5-inch 4K high-brightness OLED panel, produced using the printing method, has been adopted by ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), with the ASUS ProArt PA32DCM, a professional monitor, that was shown at CES 2023.
OLEDWorks highlighted its automotive lighting at CES 2023, including new flexible OLED lighting for automotive applications.
“OLEDWorks is thrilled to be back at CES for our second year,” said David DeJoy, CEO, OLEDWorks, in announcing its plans for the show. “We know OLED technology is going to become an industry standard in the future of automotive lighting communication, connected vehicles and autonomous mobility, and are excited to share the advancements in OLED technology that will pave the way to a safer and more sustainable future.”
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. highlighted its Neo QLED, MICRO LED and Samsung OLED lines. Samsung’s Neo QLED and OLEDs feature quantum dot technology, which has become an industry mainstay. Samsung reports that its 2023 OLED lineup is now available in 55-, 65- and the new 77-inch models.
Jeff Yurek is VP of marketing for Nanosys, a leading developer and manufacture of quantum dots. Yurek said that CES 2023 was a great show for quantum dot technology.
“Over 100 displays with quantum dot technology were announced during CES week,” Yurek said. “All of the major brands launched awesome new quantum dot TVs and we’re also seeing a growing number of monitor and notebook products taking advantage of the technology.”
Yurke noted that two trends that connected all of these products were bigger and brighter.
“TVs are getting just massive and we saw just about everyone launch 85”, 98” and even one 110” QD TVs for their 2023 lineups,” said Yurek. “We also saw brands pushing the performance envelope with super bright, efficient displays at 2,000, 2,500 and even 3,000 nits. It’s going to be a great year for consumers with lots of choices.”
Overall, Yurek believes it will be a great year for display companies.
“I think people are excited for 2023,” Yurek said “It looks like a return to growth in 2023 for displays in general and consumers can expect great deals on amazing-looking displays.”
When asked what were highlights for him, Yurek pointed to two in particular.
“The first display highlight for me was the Samsung QD-OLED at 77” and 2,000 nits. It is incredible to see an OLED display pushing this much luminance and the colors are stunning of course,” Yurek observed. “The other one for me was the Hisense 110” ULED X. Just a monster of a TV and a great example of the image quality you can achieve with MiniLED and quantum dots working together.”
Flexible and Printed Electronics at CES 2023
In terms of flexible and printed electronics technology, there were some interesting developments as well.
Fourteen companies set up at the OE-A Pavilion, where the OE-A showcased the capabilities of the printed electronics industry. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A, reported that the OE-A pavilion at CES 2023 provided great visibility for the OE-A, its members and printed electronics.“The joint pavilion was busy and received its share of attention,” Hecker said. “Our exhibitors were Brewer Science, Elantas Europe, Mitsui Chemicals, Xymox Technologies, Heraeus Epurio, FlexEnable, Coatema, NovaCentrix, Interlink Electronics, Holst Centre, Mitsui Chemicals, Smooth and Sharp, VTT and tacterion. They enjoyed discussing capabilities, needs, and trends with company executives, product designers, and manufacturing early-adopters.”
Hecker said that visitors from end-user and EMS companies showed big interest in flexible and printed electronics.
“It was great to see and experience that the top trends at CES 2023 from segments including wearables, automotive, smart living and sustainability are in line with our own industry trends,” he noted. “We have already secured a stand space for 2024 and we are looking forward together with our members to being part of this exciting show next year.”
In terms of highlights that he saw, Hecker observed that flexible and printed electronics is gaining more and more momentum at CES.
“Companies are looking for thin, lightweight and flexible solutions to integrate electronics seamlessly in all kinds of products,” he added. “Around CES, of course, the BMW I Vision DEE was a highlight and we are looking forward to the presentation by Stella Clark, BMW, at LOPEC 2023.
“Other highlights were transparent OLED TVs as well as flexible OLEDs, now also in laptop applications,” Hecker said. “Wearables for medical applications, sports, gaming and the metaverse were presented by a growing number of exhibitors. Here it became obvious that the presented solutions – based on classical electronics – are too bulky and heavy. This opens up additional opportunities for our industry.”
At the OE-A Pavilion, Brewer Science showed its water sensing solutions, which it notes offers real-time detection of lead, nitrates and pH produced using printed electronics.
Ryan Moss, director of new business development, smart devices for Brewer Science, noted that 2023 is a big year for Brewer Science as it marks the debut of its real-time water condition monitoring sensors to industry.
“For this reason, exhibiting at CES was strategic and just the beginning of a series of flagship events across the globe where our water technology is being introduced throughout the year,” Moss added. “In fact, our water sensor system will be demonstrated at Europe’s premiere technology trade show and technical conference LOPEC 2023 February 28-March 3 in Munich. We are long-standing members of OE-A (Organic & Printed Electronics Association) so being invited to exhibit at a printed electronics-themed pavilion on the Smart Home show floor of CES was an extraordinary opportunity.
“It was very well attended and a great showcase for our unique water quality sensor technology,” added Moss. “Water sensors currently on the market are limited to leak detection and/or the presence of water. Our technology caught peoples’ attention in that we can monitor ionic conductivity, pH, and contaminates like lead at ppb levels in real-time.”
Epicore Biosystems showed its new Connected Hydration wearable sweat patch, which contains multiple biosensors, and mobile app at CES 2023. Through real-time alarms and vibrations, Connected Hydration alerts users when their fluid loss exceeds 2% of body weight to prevent dehydration. It will launch the patented Connected Hydration patch, mobile application, and cloud engine in summer 2023.
Roozbeh Ghaffari, CEO and co-founder of Epicore Biosystems, said it was great to see the attendance back to normal at CES.
“We had a very exciting couple of days showcasing our latest wearable products after a two-year hiatus from the show,” Ghaffari reported. “We enjoyed being on the floor this year with our collaborators at 3M. Interest in personalized remote monitoring solutions for tracking hydration, performance, nutrition, and health is at an all-time high. Climate change is contributing to this interest and will likely continue in the coming years. We met with multiple potential enterprise customers, ranging from industrial safety to sports and fitness with significant interest in our Connected Hydration platform.”
As for highlights, Ghaffari pointed to technologies targeting at-home health, and in particular, nutrition, hydration, and health monitoring using biofluid samples and image processing.
“There were a few companies that showcased their smart urine analysis sensors (e.g. Withings and Vivoo),” added Ghaffari. “We also enjoyed seeing the latest in VR/AR and console technologies. There’s a multitude of gaming and healthcare applications that will exploit this technology entering the market soon.”
Karthikesh Raju, TactoTek’s SVP marketing, said that CES 2023 brought back the excitement of pre-pandemic years and the strength of the attendance showcased the belief in the show.
“CES is somewhat unique in that senior executives from around the world and representing many market segments can be engaged in substantive business discussions—as such it’s very efficient and effective for TactoTek,’ said Raju. “It is a single place to meet an eco-system of prospects and partners, and TactoTek has held several meetings with our prospects, partners and customers. TactoTek showcased several new innovations in the area of light - Our central theme, ‘Let Light Live,’ encapsulates our technology to create intelligent programmable light embedded into plastics through our Injection Molded Structural Electronics (IMSE) manufacturing techniques.”
Eureka Park is the home for lots of new technologies, and one of the 1,000 plus companies showing their new ideas was Dracula Technologies, who highlighted its LAYER organic photovoltaic (OPV) solution, which generates energy from ambient light and eliminates the need for batteries. Dracula Technologies illustrated its LAYER technology in a number of applications, including a temperature logger, autonomous CO2 sensor, outdoor soil and temperature sensor and autonomous remote control.
Jerome Vernet, VP sales for Dracula Technologies, said that CES 2023 was really enthusiastic when it comes to energy, sustainability and IoT deployment.
“There are many strong signals allowing energy harvesting technologies to bring innovative solutions and creating more opportunities to grow and improve our daily lives in a sustainable way,” Vernet said. “CES 2023 has been a great opportunity for Dracula Technology to present our new product release, and of course, we also presented many custom designs of our LAYER technology that caught visitors’ interest.”