This holiday break saw no really big stories this year – an unusual development. In most years, as soon as we have closed for the break, something big, usually a company story, breaks. So on our front page this week we’re concentrating on what we’ll see in displays at CES – there will be five of us at the show.
We expect to see a good number of quantum dots in LCDs as LCD makers fight back against the promise of OLED. The big question will be whether mainstream consumers will pay the prices needed for the better colours and that won’t be answered in Las Vegas.
- LG will push on with its development of OLED TV, while Samsung will still, we think, be pushing curved TVs. (Samsung’s vertical integration gives it an advantage in this technology compared to other set makers. They can do it, but they don’t want to!)
- We expect to see not a single PDP this year – a first for us at CES.
- There should be lots of good and small displays, but most of the highlights in mobiles and wearables are probably being saved for Mobile World Congress next month.
- Of course, there will be a lot of talk about wearables, but that market is somewhat “on hold” pending the arrival of the Apple Watch.
- There should be a good number of 34″ wide and UltraHD and 14.8 megapixel (or 5K) monitors as monitor makers continue to drive innovation
- There could be some interesting announcements about HDR displays, although the pre-show coverage has been light.
- We expect to see some good demos from Dolby and Technicolor, at least.
- Android TVs should be an interesting area for us as the “hype” from makers about smart TV has really slowed now.
- I expect to see some very good wireless demos using the 60GHz WiGig technology.
- There should be some attractive new PCs using Intel’s latest chips.
- Cars. cars, cars and cars. While IFA is about consumer devices and white goods, CES is always about cars (or should I say automobiles?)
