The 2023 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, was kickstarted on 5 January and has just wound down. The world’s largest tech trade show has been an industry mainstay for the last five-and-a-half decades, but it has become more of a showcase of automotive technology in recent years. While the 2023 edition continued that trend, it was also, in many ways, a return to more typical consumer electronics. After all, three of the biggest global semiconductor brands exhibited new silicon at the event. It gives us all the more reason to look at the prominent new products and technologies that debuted at the show.
Samsung Flex Hybrid Display
Samsung Display, Samsung’s business unit which is responsible for advancements in display technology, has created a new type of foldable screen called the Flex Hybrid. It combines a foldable screen with a slideable one. And when this type of screen is used on a device, say a smartphone, in folded form, the screen size of the device in question becomes less than 5 inches. When unfolded, it can extend to 10.5 inches and even 12.4 inches. So the device can go from a compact phone to a small tablet to something like an iPad Pro. This screen is unlikely to appear on a real product this year, but in a year or so, one can imagine Samsung using this technology in one of its Galaxy Fold phones. We can even expect Apple to use the technology on a future iPhone or iPad if it sources its screens from the South Korean tech mogul.
Samsung 77-inch S95C smart TV
CES is known to showcase the best televisions, and Samsung, over the last few years, has become the best in display technology. Its new 77-inch S95C smart TV uses its latest generation quantum dot OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) screen tech, which can have a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and can also do 144Hz VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) gaming. It even has a Dolby Atmos-enabled sound system built in.
Sony Project Leonardo
Sony showcased a new controller for the PlayStation 5 (PS5), focusing on accessibility. The project, codenamed Leonardo, targets to build a customisable controller that allows users to swap stick caps and buttons. This technology allows users to create a custom PlayStation. It has four 3.5 mm ports for third-party accessories and can even hook up to the PS5’s DualSense controller.
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Withings U-Scan
Withings, a smart healthcare brand from France, showcased, perhaps, the most intriguing product of the show. Its U-Scan is an at-home urinary lab that needs to be connected to the toilet to perform tests. When a user urinates on it, the U-scanner collects samples and the smart-scanner, over WiFi, shares information about the contents like a lab test would. The scanner uses microfluidic circuitry and comes with a replaceable cartridge containing 100 tests. It shows data for ovulation windows, bodily pH, hydration, Vitamin C and ketone levels etc. While it is highly beneficial for people with metabolic disorders like diabetes, it will also prove handy for general healthcare purposes.
New AMD and Intel processors
AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 series of mobile processors use its Zen4 architecture with up to 16 cores and Radeon DNA (RDNA) 2 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which we have already seen in the PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox One X consoles. These processors are built on the leading-edge Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) 4nm fabrication process. The Ryzen 7040 gets a newer generation of RDNA3 graphics, and it integrates a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine that makes this one of the more advanced mobile processors for gaming purposes.
Intel was not to be left behind as it launched its 13th generation processors for laptops, including the first 24-core processor. It has new processors in its Core H, P, U and C series. It also announced a new HX series for extreme performance. The HX series is based on Intel’s Raptor Lake architecture which is its latest generation processor technology and promises to be more efficient.
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Lenovo YogaBook 9i and Razor Blade 16
Intel and AMD launched new, state-of-the-art processors, which means there had to be new hardware based on them. The Lenovo YogaBook 9i is a dual-screen laptop with a haptic touchpad and keyboard. It also has a detachable keyboard that can sit on one of the screens magnetically. The notebook can be used in numerous unique positions, including portrait mode.
The Razor Blade 16 has a mini-LED display that not only claims to provide stupendous picture quality but also helps with battery life. Its screen gets 1,000 nits of brightness, which is plenty bright for a notebook. The screens also have 120Hz 4K and 240Hz full-HD variants. It is powered by the new Intel 13th generation core i9 HX series processor and paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, making it arguably the fastest gaming laptop in the world.
Sahil Mohan Gupta is a Delhi-based technology journalist. He tweets @DigitallyBones. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)