The global technology giants gathered CES and the metauniverse technology became the focus again

“The flowers will open, the clouds will disperse, and the wind will stop. Our stories are all the light of this era. They will be bright and everlasting.” This 2022 end-of-year speech of CCTV News is also applicable to the consumer electronics industry.
For global consumer electronics manufacturers, IT core manufacturers, and their industrial ecology, with the arrival of the New Year bell in 2023, there is also the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, USA. The CES exhibition began in 1967 and has a history of 56 years. It has become a window for major electronic products around the world to display the high-tech level and advocate the future lifestyle. Every year, many manufacturers will announce their latest technology and various black technology products at the exhibition.
The 2023 CES exhibition will be held in Las Vegas on January 5. According to the latest statistics of the organizers, the scale of this year’s exhibition is 70% higher than that of 2022. More than 3000 enterprises from 174 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, including nearly 1000 new exhibitors.
Among the exhibitors, 323 enterprises are from Fortune 500 companies, and global technology giants Amazon, AMD, Canon, Google, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Nikon, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony will bring rich innovation results. The important topics covered by this CES exhibition include sustainability, digital health, Web3 and metauniverse, and human security.
01
What are the highlights of this year’s CES?
As Apple, Microsoft, Google and other super giants gradually turn to disclose new hardware at their own press conferences, in recent years, the performance opportunities of executives of super large companies on CES have gradually become rare. As the highlight of CES, the opening guest of this year’s keynote speech was Dr. Su Zifeng, CEO of AMD. In addition, this year’s speech also gave many less “typical” technology companies – such as BMW, Stellantis, Delta Airlines, etc.
Judging from the list of executives present, auto companies are likely to be the most powerful industry on CES in 2023. Considering the consumer electronics nature of the exhibition, it is an excellent opportunity for manufacturers to display the latest electric vehicles and automatic driving technology. In addition to BMW, Stellantis, Hyundai and other manufacturers, Qualcomm and AMD also have sufficient reserves in the field of automotive software and hardware.
As a reserved project of CES, a large number of manufacturers will also bring strange robot products. Although the vast majority of products will not be able to actually go on the market, driven by the introduction of the Tesla Bot humanoid robot, it is bound to stimulate the industry to develop some new patterns and ingenuity.
Figure | Aibo robot dog
As a product closer to the consumer scene, the smart home represented by Amazon Alexa has taken a significant step in the standard setting, and this exhibition will also be an excellent time point to further demonstrate how technology can improve people’s quality of life.
In addition to home furnishing, CES is also an important display stage for major wearable product startups. After the baptism of the epidemic, the relationship between consumer electronics and health is becoming increasingly close.
Whether Apple will enter the VR/AR market in 2023 is a topic of great concern to the entire technology community. If Apple can create a compelling VR/AR head-display device with corresponding software ecosystem, it is likely to lead the industry to explosive growth.
But so far, Apple has not given any response to the release of VR products. Industry insiders predict that Apple’s new products will be released in the second half of 2023. For Apple, this seems to be the right time to show new and experimental things. However, driven by the concept of the metauniverse, the technology related to the metauniverse has undoubtedly become the focus of attention at this CES.
02
Samsung accelerates the layout of the metauniverse ecology
At the beginning of the CES, Samsung announced that it would lead a new wave of C-Lab innovative teams to participate in the exhibition, including four groups of C-Lab Inside innovative teams from within Samsung, and eight groups of C-Lab Outside innovative teams sponsored by Samsung. It is expected that its innovative results will be presented at the Eureka Park exhibition area during the exhibition.
Figure | Samsung will lead 12 new C-Lab teams to participate in CES
This time, four groups of innovative teams from within Samsung are Meta-Running, which focuses on the construction of digital learning platform based on metauniverse technology, Porkamix, which provides interactive concert experience in the form of metauniverse, Soom, which is a new instant meditation experience, and Farette, which presents home fabric products in 3D digital form.
Although the pace of selling VR hardware has been suspended, Samsung Electronics has never stopped exploring XR technology and hardware, and is entering the stage of “building a high wall, accumulating grain widely, and slowly becoming the king”.
In fact, since the rise of the concept of metauniverse, Samsung has been actively enriching and complementing its weaknesses in platform, content, ecology and consumer contact. For example, Samsung is experimenting with XR in music, games, fashion and other scenes, and uses these to establish strong links between XR and young people.
For example, Samsung XR team and partners explore the live broadcast of the 360 ° VR/AR development concert, allowing Samsung smartphone users to enjoy the immersive experience of live music; Cooperate with K － pop singer BIBI to launch AR fashion clothing series filters on Galaxy A; Launch VR online digital store in Korea to bring consumers interactive shopping experience; Samsung also launched Dreamground, the next generation amusement park, to immerse tourists in the digital environment with physical structure and AR technology.
These small actions, which were criticized by the media as “flowery fists and embroidered legs”, may be the content ecology paving made by Samsung for the launch of XR hardware.
03
What toothpaste can Sony PS VR2 squeeze out?
Although there are a lot of VR products and brands on the market today, many consumers are still looking forward to Sony’s VR products. After all, Sony has too much say in the field of headwear devices. In addition, Sony has the unique advantage of the game platform, and its ecological perfection is bound to be “superior”.
As early as early November, Sony announced that PlayStation VR2 will be officially released on February 22, 2023. Sony has officially started the live countdown. They will hold a live broadcast conference on January 5. It seems that PS VR2 will be the key content of Sony’s exhibition.
Figure | Sony China Weibo
According to the information disclosed at present, in addition to the main body device, two PSVR2 handles and a stereo headset, the price of the PSVR2 is $549.99, equivalent to about 4020 yuan, and an additional $49.99 handle charger can also be purchased.
According to the previous disclosure, Sony PS VR2 will carry a single-eye 2000 * 2400 resolution, 90/120Hz refresh rate OLED screen, support 4K HDR and 110 ° optical angle of view, the body is equipped with four cameras for headphones and controllers, and the infrared tracking camera will be used for eye tracking, which may bring eye control function.
In addition, there is news that Sony PS VR2 supports the “fixation point rendering” technology, which means that the user’s fixation picture is clearer than other places, thus reducing the burden on the game equipment. However, Sony PS VR2 needs PS5 as the computing platform, which means that users must have a PS5 game console to experience the wonderful experience brought by PS VR2.
Figure | Sony
04
Well-known brands cluster to layout VR ecology
In addition to Samsung and Sony, there are also some old friends we are very familiar with who will announce their latest VR achievements on CES, such as Sharp, Qualcomm, Meta, Panasonic, etc. In addition, car brands such as Audi will also launch their own VR services on CES, redefining the vehicle entertainment at the same time may indicate that VR devices have entered a new stage of development.
According to Sharp’s official news, Sharp will participate in CES 2023. Sharp will display its advanced technology and products under the four themes of new energy, automobile, AR/VR and television.
As the display supplier of Quest 2 and other major VR head display devices, Sharp’s first display of VR device prototypes is also worth attention. According to Japanese media reports, by the end of 2021, Sharp has produced more than 1 million VR displays per month, making it the largest display supplier of Meta.
Qualcomm, which provides supporting chips for VR devices, is also expected to release the next generation of VR chip Snapdragon XR2 on CES. According to the test, compared with the previous generation chips already installed in head display devices such as MetaQuest 2, Pico 4 and Vive Focus 3, this latest chip will bring a significant performance leap.
Audi is the world’s first auto manufacturer to introduce virtual reality entertainment technology into mass production models. At this CES, participants can choose to take the Audi e-tron or Audi e-tron Sportback to start a unique “experience trip”.
Figure | Audi
Behind Audi’s virtual reality entertainment technology is a cutting-edge technology that can match the virtual entertainment content in real time according to the driving dynamics of the vehicle. It can transform the vehicle driving experience into a multi-mode game experience. For example, when the vehicle turns right, the spacecraft in the virtual world will also turn right to fly; When the vehicle accelerates, the spacecraft will also accelerate accordingly.
At the same time, this has also brought some unexpected benefits – many passengers will feel carsick when watching movies or other dynamic content on the bus, and the probability of discomfort can be greatly reduced by synchronizing passengers’ vision and perception. This vehicle entertainment platform based on virtual reality will also be launched in other European countries after the first launch in Germany.
In addition to the regular display of brands, according to the relevant person in charge of CES, this exhibition will also introduce the special sessions of Meta Universe and Web3, and set up exclusive booths in the conference center hall. In addition, “Meta Universe&Game” and “Creator Economy and NFT” channels will also be launched, aiming to serve AI, VR, XR and other related technologies and applications of Meta Universe in the next 10 years.
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