CES 2020 is probably the biggest consumer tech showcase of the year, even if it happens right at the start of it. It is here where companies announce, preview, and even release their offerings for the year. Tech geeks around the world eagerly await these newest announcements, as these are usual predictors of things to come in the next few months and years. This is where companies also showcase bizarre tech, as well as show off trendy new technologies that might just be a surprise hit.
We've listed down a few things we expect to see this upcoming CES 2020.
Screens, Screens, and More Screens!
With the resolution war slowing down as modern processors are more than capable displaying 4K or even 8K content, and graphics cards that can smoothly play games at 4K resolution still haven't hit the mainstream, laptop makers are looking towards a different direction to make their product stand out from the crowd.
In the past few years, we've seen laptop makers finally integrate better screen options into laptops. From OLED displays for better color accuracy to reliable and affordable touchscreens to high refresh rates, laptop buyers have more options than ever to find the laptop with the perfect screen for their needs.
Laptop manufacturers are on the lookout to innovate. Apple pushed the trend into the mainstream with their TouchBar in their MacBook models. Asus pushed this concept even more, with the ZenBook Pro Duo's second screen covering half of the lower body of the laptop. Microsoft also announced the Surface Neo back in October: A double screen "laptop" that uses two tablet-sized screens, with a detachable keyboard for those who need to type on the go. Intel also premiered some prototypes during Computex 2019, which also combine two tablet displays to form a laptop.
However, the "gap" has always been a problem for these foldable devices. While this year we've seen several foldable phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Huawei Mate X, and the new Motorola RAZR, we haven't seen a production model foldable screen laptop yet. Lenovo did preview a prototype earlier this year, and we bet we're probably going to see it (or a refined version of it) this year.
The Rise of AMD
Ever since the release of Ryzen, AMD has been on a monumental rise. The silicon chip designer's processors have captured the attention of the mainstream, offering more performance and more cores than Intel at lower price points. Intel's processors have generally only been better in one task (gaming), and with their setbacks to their 10nm and 7nm chips, it'll be a while before Intel can come up with a new architecture to match up with AMD.
Last year, AMD headed the CES Keynote and revealed the creator-focused Radeon VII. However, the main attraction of the program was the reveal of the third-generation Ryzen chips, which had significant improvements over their previous generation counterparts, as well as finally nearing in matching Intel in tasks where the Intel chip won.
It will be interesting what AMD will show this year. We already know that they're powering the new Xbox Series X, as well as the PlayStation 5, with the processors being custom Ryzen chips and the graphic chips being new RDNA2 chips. Their 5500 XT and 5700 XT have shown to be competitive with Nvidia's offerings, but we're waiting to see if they finally have a chip that'll shock Nvidia as much as how Ryzen shocked Intel.
Streaming Devices
With the success of Netflix, almost every TV channel and movie studio have launched their own streaming platform. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV, and so much more, the market for dedicated streaming devices have gone way up. Right now, consumers can get an Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, NVIDIA Shield, or Roku device to feed streams into their TVs and monitors. Expect to see new devices and new platforms to be launched on CES 2020.
