CES 2017 News & Highlights
The latest CES 2017 news, highlights including CES 2017 TV rumors and news from Samsung, LG, Panasonic and more. For all the latest CES 2017 news on laptops, cameras, monitors, drones, smartphones and news from Lenovo, Asus, and Nvidia bookmark this page.
Finally, CES 2017 is here. This includes plenty of breaking news from day one.
CES 2017 NEWS: ALL THE LATEST HIGHLIGHTS
The CES 2017 news came fast and thick on day one, with 4K HDR TVs stealing the show early on.
Sony has announced its first ‘proper’ OLED TV, the AE1, A1 in the UK. Quite apart from being an OLED TV. That is awesome, it has a unique way of producing sound. Instead of soundbar or speakers, which is the common way many slim TVs give you sound. The AE1 literally vibrates the TV panel to produce sound. In other words, the sound comes straight from the screen. That is really Mind blowing.
Intel revealed it would be launching its brand-new Cannon Lake processors at the end of this year said in its press conference. Cannon Lake is the follow-up to Kaby Lake. This is officially fully launched earlier this week.
Samsung launched its new class of ‘QLED’ TVs. There are three new high-end sets in all. The flat Samsung Q9F curved Q8C, and the Q7, which is available in both curved and flat models.
The QLED range replaces Samsung’s SUHD TVs as the firm’s flagship line, with the new models set to be available in four sizes are 55-inches, 65-inches, 75-inches, and 88-inches.
Pricing and a release date have yet to be confirmed, but we understand the new QLED sets are likely to start shipping to select regions in March 2017.
Samsung also announced an updated 4K Blu-ray player. That lets you stream movies to your mobile device, along with a new wireless speaker. The H7 that upscales all your tunes.
There’s a curved Quantum Dot monitor too. It looks gorgeous and it’s called the CH711. Hopefully, we’ll get a closer look at it later in the week.
Samsung has introduced the Flex Wash and Flex Dry on the home appliances front. A washing machine and a tumble dryer with two drums each. The top drum is smaller and is designed for smaller, quick loads. Samsung updated its Family Hub fridge too, with specific family profiles and even more music streaming options. The idea is to give you more flexibility when it comes to laundry.
At last, Samsung showed off a duo of Chromebooks designed with Android apps in mind and a bad-ass gaming laptop with a dedicated ‘Supercharge’ button. We’re not sure if the Notebook Odyssey comes to the UK. But it’s cool nevertheless.
Rival South Korean firm LG also had plenty to show off. That includes the new LG InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerator that has Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant built in. That means you can play music, make purchases, and edit your shopping list just by speaking to your fridge.
There’s also a new 77-inch LG Signature TV that LG describes as the “lightest, thinnest, and most beautiful TV on the planet” as well as a new range of Super UHD TVs too. The company also announced a “picture-in-wall” TV called the LG Signature OLED TV W. It is incredibly thin at just 2.57mm with a screen size of 65-inches. And LG confirmed that there’s a new version of LG’s custom TV software on the way, LG webOS 3.5.
Panasonic unveiled its second 4K HDR OLED TV, the EZ1000 that is pictured above. Though it’ll apparently be known as the EX1002 in the UK.
Panasonic says the new set can achieve up to 800 nits of brightness. As well as supporting the HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) HDR standards. And it features an Absolute Black Filter and new chip, the Studio Colour HCX2.
The 65-inch version is set to hit Europe in June 2017. Panasonic added a trio of new 4K Blu-ray players for good measure.
Asus unveiled two brand-new smartphones, the ZenFone 3 Zoom and ZenFone AR on Wednesday. The former comes equipped with iPhone 7 Plus-style dual cameras with “optical zoom”. The second comes equipped with Google Tango Augmented reality technology.
Asus also unveiled the ZenBook 3 Deluxe, a larger version of its ZenBook 3.
Elsewhere, an important new smartphone broke cover from Huawei sub-brand Honor in the form of the Honor 6X. The mid-ranger, which is set to retail for £225/$250. This features an average but competent enough overall spec sheet, with one major exception. The dual-camera configuration found on the back. Now, this is a feature that’s still normally only found on high-end devices like the iPhone 7 Plus. So we’re intrigued to put the 6X through its paces in full.
Qualcomm unveiled its newest high-end chipset, the Snapdragon 835, and a pair of VR shades featuring the new processor in other mobile-related news. Scroll down to our “Qualcomm at CES 2017” section to learn more.
Arguably the biggest announcement of the day came from Intel, who announced final details and specifications of its new Kaby Lake architecture. While a few laptops featuring Kaby Lake snuck out towards the end of 2016. This is the first time we’ve heard anything official about its desktop capabilities. And also seen the new processor line-up in full.
How does it size up? We have already gone hands-on with the most powerful Kaby Lake desktop chipset around just hit the link below to learn more.
Nvidia has announced the launch of the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti graphics chip for laptops, with more than 30 laptops launching with the chip in the first three months of this year. The big news here is this is a card that can run many games at 1080p and 60fps. But these laptops should be more affordable than your typical good gaming laptop.
We also now know that BlackBerry and new partner-in-grime, TCL, are almost certainly going to debut a new smartphone. The former smartphone giant and its Chinese sugar daddy teased the new device on Twitter. We are now waiting for our first real glimpse of the QWERTY keyboard-toting ‘BlackBerry Press’, as it’s never going to be called again.
TVs are always center and front at CES and 2017 is no exception. Read on for the latest rumors, highlights, and news, or scroll down for plenty of background information on CES.
LG, for one, has confirmed it’ll be debuting its latest 4K HDR TVs at the show in the form of the SJ9500, SJ8500, and SJ8000. The trio features a new colour-boosting tech LG is dubbing Nano Cell.
The South Korean firm claims Nano Cell negates color difference at angles of up to 60 degrees based on quantum dot technology. Thanks to its uniformly sized LCD particles.
For new 4K HDR TVs, plans are revealed by LG. That is what it is calling Nano Cell technology. We also expect LG to announce it latest OLED TVs, which are sure to be spectacular viewing.
Recently, LG revealed details of its new LG G Pad 3 10.1. It confirmed no less than five new phones for January.
It is also likely we will see LG launch its first 4K HDR monitor at CES.
There’s been plenty of CES 2017 TV news before the show has even started. So far, Samsung is believed to be launching new TVs based on new ‘QLED’ screen technology. That has been believed to be a twist on existing LCD and Quantum Dot technologies. On concord, we will soon learn more.
Meanwhile, Sony is expected to announce its first large-scale OLED TVs based on panels produced by LG.
It’s already confirmed new 4K HDR TVs at the show using new colour-boosting tech LG is dubbing Nano Cell as for LG. We expect to hear more about its latest OLED TVs at its press conference on Wednesday.
You will get the same high-quality viewing experience wherever you are sat in the living room. Even if you have been relegated to the cheap seats.
We’re looking forward to going eyes on with the new LG sets. It supports all three existing HDR standards such as Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma, and HDR10. The firm has also confirmed it will showcase a new smart home device called the Robot Hub.
It looks like Samsung is also preparing to launch a new class of TVs at the event. One which is expected to be dubbed ‘QLED’.
QLED itself isn’t a new concept. It stands for quantum dot LEDs. That was first coined by QD Vision, a company Samsung now owns.
Nevertheless, if Samsung overhauls its existing TV lineup under the QLED flag. It will be the first time the moniker actually hits shelves.
The news ultimately derives from a report on South Korean tech site ETNews which also notes that Samsung has filed for a trio of new trademarks. ‘HDR 1500′,’Real Black’ and ‘Q HDR’.
So, expect big things on the TV front from Samsung when it holds its unveiling event on January 3. With the firm also expected to showcase its Kaby Lake Notebook 9 refresh at the show. They debut new home audio products capable of upscaling content to 32-bit quality.
If we go back to the TV news and then we now think that Nvidia may launch not one but TWO new Shield TV models. As well as a redesigned controller for the Android-powered device.
The unconfirmed tip-off comes via Android Police and features some crystal clear images. Though it’s still fairly thin on specifics. All that’s apparently been revealed is that the 2nd-gen Shield TV offers it two differences sizes and that the controller carries a couple of revisions.
Previous speculation pointed to the GTX 1080 manufacturer rebooting its first Shield TV set top box. That is launched back in 2015 with support for 802.11 ac MIMO and Wi-Fi antennas to further increase wireless speeds. We reckon it’ll come packing 4K and maybe even HDR support as well.
The first laptops running the budget GeForce GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti graphics cards at CES 2017. Lenovo, Gigabyte, MSI, and Asus are all reportedly planning to unveil gaming notebooks with the budget 10-series GPUs. Finally, we may see gaming laptops that offering compelling Full HD performance from a 10-series card for below £1,000.
The new controller also apparently rely on Bluetooth Low Energy for connectivity. Rather than Wi-Fi is being mooted as well. So watch this space as Nvidia looks set for a blockbuster CES.
You will also want to keep a close eye on HTC at CES this year. As unconfirmed reports out of Taipei are pointing to the company launching the ‘HTC Vive 2’. This will be refreshed, wireless version of the already excellent HTC Vive headset. And not to mention a likely show-stealer.
You have got to admire Kingston For sheer audacity lastly. That admist the slew of snazzy new TVs, shiny smartphones, and high-spec laptops announced a USB stick at CES. Except, it’s not just any of USB stick. It’s a monster 2TB USB flash drive that’s now the world’s biggest.
This is totally about 4K video.
TVS AT CES 2017
With Samsung and Panasonic having played their cards at CES 2017. Thanks to the Samsung Q9F QLED TV and Panasonic EZ1002 OLED TV. We’re now waiting to see what the other big players have to offer on the TV front.
LG has debuted its latest 4K HDR TVs at the show in the form of the SJ9500, SJ8500, and SJ8000. The trio will feature a new colour-boosting tech LG is dubbing Nano Cell.
The South Korean firm claims Nano Cell based on quantum dot technology. It negates color difference at angles of up to 60 degrees thanks to its uniformly sized LCD particles.
Even if you’ve been relegated to the cheap seats, you’ll get the same high-quality viewing experience wherever you’re sat in the living room.
We’re looking forward to going eyes on with the new LG sets. It supports all three existing HDR standards such as HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log Gamma.
LG has unveiled its new OLED TVs for 2017 additionally to these two. This consists of a feature that is built-in Dolby Atmos support. That has us damn excited. We’ll be getting a hands-on of the new TVs soon. So keep an eye out for that.
Meanwhile, Sony is also expected to make a splash and announce its first large-scale OLED TVs based on panels produced by LG.
It’s not just the high-end of the TV market on show at CES. Either budget brands are getting some love, too. An announcement from Tong Fang Global. That owns three affordable 4K brands such as Seiki, Westinghouse, and Element revealed that the firm’s 2017 line-up comes with baked in support for Amazon Fire TV and its smart assistant, Alexa.
The new 4K sets could go on sale as soon as spring 2017, with 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, and 60-inch models set to be made available.
Finally, a new HDMI standard has been announced. The new HDMI 2.1 spec adds support for 8K and Dynamic HDR. Dynamic HDR will optimize colors in each scene, and even each individual frame. The HDMI Forum has also added Game Mode VRR support. This allows for variable refresh rates and reduces screen tearing and input lag when gaming.
LAPTOPS AT CES 2017
In this year, Dell jumped the gun and announced a major refresh of its XPS 13 laptop on the eve of CES. The new XPS 13 will be a 2-in-1 convertible designed to rival some of the devices in Lenovo’s Yoga range and features a touchscreen display. That is Full HD and QHD models will be offered. Additionally, a foldable hinge hat allows you to use it in a variety of positions.
It will come packing the latest Intel Kaby Lake architecture that is Core i5 or Core i7. That offers two USB-C ports, with a provisional release date of January 5. Rest assured this is high on our list of devices to seek out on the show floor. So stay tuned for our first impressions.
Or else, Lenovo did indeed unveil an all-new ThinkPad X1 Carbon as expected. And outed a handful of other upgraded ThinkPad X1 machines to boot. Exciting times if you are a fan of lightweight, slim Windows laptops.
HP has also been busy, unveiling a slew of new products from iMac-rivalling AIOs to gaming monitors and ultra-secure business laptops.
We also expect to see a slew of new gaming laptops from all manufacturer using Nvidia’s new GTX 1050 graphics chip. That promises good 1080p gaming performance at competitive prices. The new chip could mark the beginning of a new generation of affordable gaming laptops that deliver much better performance than ever before.
At last, we also expect to see many new laptops using Intel’s new Kaby Lake processors, with an updated Samsung Notebook 9 already on the cards.
SAMSUNG AT CES 2017
Samsung keeps its most prized announcements much close. But we’ve been given a sneak peek of what will be in store.
The Samsung 850 Pro 4TB solid state drive (SSD) has been revealed through Samsung’s own press materials for CES 2017 specifically. Actually, the 850 Pro is just an evolution of the existing 850 Evo 4TB drive. That is launched back in July this year. It features higher read and writes speeds than the Evo predecessor as with all Pro versions. That is also likely to have better endurance. That means it can be written over more times before kicking the bucket.
On concord, it won’t come cheap. The 4TB Samsung 850 Evo currently costs around £1,300. So, the Pro version is sure to cost even more.
We also expect Samsung to announce new TVs using ‘QLED’ technology and an updated version of its Notebook 9 laptop using Intel’s Kaby Lake processors as noted earlier.
Samsung typically announces new smart appliances at CES as well beyond this. So we expect plenty more to come from Samsung once the show opens.
SONY AT CES 2017
From Sony, the big news at CES 2017 is expected to be the long-awaited announcement of OLED televisions.
Sony has never released an OLED television to date. That’s because LG Display is the primary manufacturer of TV-scale OLED panels. And gives priority to its own TV production business. On Concord, several reports have emerged suggesting that Sony has struck a deal with LG. That allows the Japanese firm to release its own range of OLED TVs.
OLED screens are a popular but expensive type of display that is regularly used on tablets, smartphones, televisions, and monitors for the unaware. The pixels in an OLED screen produce their own light and eliminates the need for a backlight, unlike conventional LED-backlight LCD displays. The first advantage of this is that battery life can be improved. On concord, as individual pixels can be turned on or off. You can display far truer blacks than would be possible with a backlit TV is the second benefit.
Neither LG nor Sony has confirmed any such announcement. But we will know soon enough if the rumors are true. You can find out in real-time by watching the company’s CES 2017 press conference online.
SONY CES 2017 PRESS CONFERENCE LIVE STREAM
Sony has scheduled its press conference for the evening of Wednesday, January 4. So you’ll need to stay up well past midnight to watch the event if you’re viewing from the UK or Europe. Here’s when the keynote starts:
17:00 PST, Wednesday
20:00 EST, Wednesday
01:00 GMT, Thursday
02:00 CET, Thursday
Sony will be streaming all the action live from Las Vegas on the company’s blog, or you can tune in via Sony’s Ustream page.
LG AT CES 2017
LG had plenty of news to share at its CES 2017 press conference as expected. This includes details about new televisions and the smart home.
According to Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CTO of LG Electronics, the first big announcement was the introduction of webOS 3.5. A new version of LG’s custom-built TV software, which includes “360 VR capabilities”.
LG also confirmed a new LG Signature TV that Ahn describes as the “lightest, thinnest, and most beautiful TV on the planet”. We’ll see if we can track down the new set on the show floor shortly.
There were also smart home announcements includes the LG Robot Vacuum. That can recognize objects and can even ask you to move aside if it realizes it’s bumping into your leg rather than a sofa.
LG also announced the LG Smart InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerator. This comes with a built-in touchscreen, a camera that lets you see the inside of your fridge while you’re out and about. It also runs on LG’s own custom webOS software.
David VanderWaal, VP of Marketing at LG said, “The new LG Smart InstaView refrigerator for the US market features our webOS operating system”. “Now consumers can stay connected in ways they never thought imaginable.”
He added, “We’re making life in the kitchen that much more efficient and that much more enjoyable”.
Speaking at the press conference, Mike George, VP of Echo, Alexa, and Appstore at Amazon, said, LG has teamed up with Amazon too, bringing Alexa to the Smart InstaView refrigerator.
“You can do things in your kitchen like add things to your shopping list, check the weather, and lots of other stuff.”
“There’s a lot more to come from Amazon and LG,” George added.
As well as the new Nano Cell LCD 4K HDR TVs LG has said it’s going to be catwalk at CES. The South Korean firm has revealed details of its new LG G Pad 3 10.1 and confirmed no less than five new phones for January.
We’re hoping to find all of these products. Hopefully LG’s first 4K HDR monitor, during our explorations of the show floor.
NVIDIA AT CES 2017
We have already noted that Nvidia is likely to offer a Shield TV refresh at CES. That the firm’s GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti graphics cards feature heavily at the show. But it doesn’t look the company will stop there.
The company teased its announcement line-up for CES 2017 a while ago, and it got everyone excited.
This turns out that CEO Jen-Hsun Huang will be helming Nvidia’s first ever keynote address at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas this January. Nvidia has promised that he will be breaking news in “some of the areas”. It’s focused on, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, gaming, and self-driving cars.
This announcement has launched speculation into what Nvidia might announce. Nvidia showed off DRIVE PX 2, the world’s first supercomputer for driverless cars in the last year. The year before that, it ignited conspiracy theories by commissioning a crop circle in California. They launched the Tegra mobile processor too.
What might Nvidia actually announce? It’s hard to say, but we could see anything from new processors to a brand new GeForce graphics card to improvements in deep learning AI technology to a new accelerator for self-driving cars. There is even a chance we could see a new device to follow on from the Shield hand-held console.
The most exciting possibility would be detailed on the new Volta GPU architecture, the sixth-generation technology that’s set to follow Pascal launched 2016. After all, rival AMD plans to show off its new Zen ‘Summit Ridge’ CPUs at the show. It has been heavily teasing its next-gen Vega graphics cards.
NVIDIA CES 2017 PRESS CONFERENCE LIVE STREAM
Nvidia’s press conference is one of the latest taking place on Wednesday, January 4, which is similar to Sony. It means Brits will have to stay up a little late to catch the action live. Here’s when the keynote begins:
- 18:00 PST, Wednesday
- 21:00 EST, Wednesday
- 02:00 GMT, Thursday
- 03:00 CET, Thursday
You can watch Nvidia’s entire press conference via this live stream link, if you do fancy staying up into the early morning.
QUALCOMM AT CES 2017
Qualcomm used its CES 2017 press conference to announce the very first device powered by its new Snapdragon 835 chip. That was revealed back in November.
It turns out that the first Snapdragon 835 device isn’t a smartphone in a surprise move. In fact, it’s a pair of AR/VR smart glasses called the ODG R-8.
The ODG R-8 smartglasses have a 40-degree field of view and a 720p HD resolution. It supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon VR SDK. The other details were thin on the ground. But we did catch a brief glimpse of the smart shades.
Raj Talluri, senior vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, product management, said “The premium Snapdragon 835 processor was designed from the ground-up for supporting new and innovative products and experiences beyond mobile phones. It’s great to see that the first announced Snapdragon 835 devices will be ODG’s smartglasses”.
Talluri continued “Thermal dissipation on a heavy compute but the small device is very difficult so higher power efficiency is a must.” “The Snapdragon 835 processor, with our unique SoC design expertise on a 10nm process node, enables ODG to meet their design goals and develop smaller, lighter and sleeker smart glasses that take advantage of the new processor’s superior performance and power efficiency.”
SMARTPHONES AT CES 2017
At CES, Phones aren’t normally big news as most phones get announced at the upcoming Mobile World Congress shows in February/March. We’ve already got wind of some smartphone news at CES 2017.
It will be attending CES 2017, but it hasn’t detailed exactly what we can expect has confirmed by Xiaomi. All we know is that an “all-new product” will be globally launched. We have got this frustratingly vague statement to boot.
“At its CES debut, leading technology company XIaomi will be showcasing an exciting new product that illustrates how it is pushing the boundaries of innovation. XIaomi was founded based on the vision “innovation for everyone” – with the belief that high-quality products built with cutting-edge technology should be made widely accessible.”
Of course, it’s possible, that this won’t be a phone at all.
The other big news right now points to Asus debuting a new ZenFone at CES, with early online gossip suggesting we will see a 5.5-inch Full HD device. That packs a Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, a hefty 4,850mAh battery, a dual-camera, 64GB of onboard storage – ZenFone 3 Zoom.
Nevertheless, after Qualcomm accidentally, it now looks such as the new ZenFone will, in fact, be the ZenFone AR let loose a blog post that revealed the device would be the second Google Project Tango handset to enter the wild.
We are definitely getting a new ZenFone in Vegas whatever the case. With Asus releasing the following CES teaser video that name checks both the ZenFone. The firm’s main ‘Zennovation’ event, which takes place as part of CES in January.
CARS AT CES 2017
At CES 2016, with its reveal of a high-performance electric concept car Faraday Future caused a stir.
The good news is that the company now appears to be readying a production car to show off at CES 2017. Following on from the FFZERO1 concept.
A cryptic tweet from the company hinted that it would “unveil the future” at the Las Vegas tech trade show.
The car was claimed to boast 1,000 horsepower, a 0-60mph of less than three seconds, and augmented reality capabilities when Faraday Future showed off the FFZERO1 in 2016. The firm said it would have a production vehicle ready in two years. This promises that it will be a “premium electric” car that “combines extreme technology, industry leading range, and holistic design”.
In other CES 2017 car news, luxury car manufacturer BMW has confirmed it’s going to tease a sneak peek of its new ‘floating’ HoloActive Touch virtual car interface.
WHAT ELSE IS COMING AT CES 2017?
Here are some of the innovative products he saw there, which we’ll be scrambling to get our hands on this week.
Buddy: The Family Companion Robot: If Jonny 5 taught us anything, it’s that robots can have feelings but more importantly that they can be cute. None are cuter than Buddy and its kawaii features. It pootles around your home checking for intruders. It can manage your smart home products, remind you of important events, play music and even call the fire brigade if it senses a fire.
Jooki Bluetooth Speaker: Bluetooth speakers are ten-a-penny but Jooki is a little different. For a start, it’s also a Wi-Fi enabled which means it can work like a Sonos or other streaming speaker. It’s also different because it’s aimed at children. It combines Amiibo-like toys with playlists so kids can decide what to listen to simply by placing the right toy on top of the splash-proof Jooki. You can even record your own voice reading out stories so your kid can listen to your voice when you’re traveling abroad.
CT Band: If you’re a bit of a watch fiend then the idea of dumping your favorite Rolex for a fitness band or Apple Watch Series 2 will freak you out. The CT Band attempts to give you the best of both worlds by providing fitness tracking capabilities. A small LED screen in the strap instead. Still, in its prototype stage, the CT Band looks a little chunky. I’ve not convinced a screen that small is useful or needed. But getting fitness tracking capabilities using any watch face is a great idea.
Rool’in: This is one of the smartest ways I’ve seen a traditional push bike transformed into an electric bike. All you do is attach the wheel to your bike. The small communication to your pedal and off you go. The Rool’in is available to buy now in three sizes but one that can be charged by the sun as you pedal is also in the works.
WHAT IS CES 2017?
One of the biggest technology trade shows in the world, the Consumer Electronics Show or CES, for short, takes place in Las Vegas every January. The show sees big-name firms like Samsung, Ford flock, and LG to the city to flaunt their latest wares, and CES 2017 will be no different.
Here’s how the organizers reckon it’ll make you feel. “The moment you find what you didn’t know you were looking for when you feel like you might have found the next unicorn, when your eyes and your brain stare blankly at each other and the only thing your mouth can muster is ‘whoa’.”
WHEN IS CES 2017?
For 2017, it’s on January 5-8, CES takes place every January. Though many of the bigger companies will show off their new goodies in the days leading up the show. Typically at dedicated press conferences, which is why we’re already shaking off the jet lag over in Nevada.
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