CES 2022 – Consumer Electronics Show

CES 2022 was anything but your regular Consumer Electronics Show. Even though only very few people and journalists attended, most of you probably know about the event highlights from the plethora of articles out there. So what can we  – as Aqipa – add to what you already know?

Well, first of all, we were acually there. Viggo Olsen, our VP Business Development, met with existing partners like XGIMI and GoPro and was able to get an understanding for upcoming trends. He also talked to some exciting new brands. Here’s what he had to report:

Gear Guide: Viggo, you’ve been going to CES for 20 years. How was the experience in 2022?

Viggo Olsen:

I have to say, it’s never been this easy to get a coffee or a taxi in Las Vegas. According official statistics, there were about 40,000 visitors and 2,300 exhibitors this year (vs. 180k in 2019!), but cab drivers there thought even that number was too optimistic. So, overall the show was pretty quiet and suffered many last-minute dropouts (big brands like Facebook, Microsoft, Intel etc). What was even more striking was the lack of European participants. I think I only met about 10 people from Europe that I know, whereas in the past I’d run into acquaintances at every corner.

Many announcements centred around electric vehicles (BMW, Mercedes, Tesla to name a few), and even consumer brands like Sony presented a concept car, which raises the question if CES is still an acronym for ‘consumer electronics’ or if it should be renamed to ‘Cars and Entertainment Show’. From the original CE perspective (audio, AV, imaging, gaming etc), what were the most striking innovations or general trends you encountered?

To me, it was evident that the pandemic had led to an increased focus on health, fitness and wellbeing. There were many innovations involving home robotics (e.g. the self-driving “Labrador Retriever” shelves) and health trackers (from washable smart socks that monitor diabetic patients for signs of inflammation or injury all the way to wearable blood pressure monitors). Back in July, China-based company Zepp Health announced a blood pressure measurement system for its Amazfit smart watches. Most of these devices need FDA clearance so what many brands like Apple do is state that tracking and monitoring integrations are for fitness purposes only to get around FDA approval.

There were definitely some interesting new products in this field. Most notably, Jabra introduced a new hearing aid/headphone called Jabra Enhance Plus, which essentially perform as a self-fitting hearing aid (you take the hearing test yourself using an app and the device) that also has beamforming microphones for clear phone calls and the music playback functionality expected from TWS earbuds. Unlike many hearing aids, the Enhance Plus provides IP56 water resistance, which makes it very attractive for the growing active community of people who need hearing support. It seems as though the long-awaited regulation allowing over-the-counter hearing aids is in the final stages, and it’s an exciting time for ear health. First of all, models are becoming far less expensive costing $500 to $1,000 rather than the thousands of dollars traditional hearing aids set you back. And second, thanks to these new regulations, we’ll see more devices that perform and look like earbuds but also help people with mild to moderate hearing loss.

With our partner Thali in Switzerland, we are distributing gaming brands like Razer, Xtrfy and PlayStation. There is an interest in recruiting more gaming brands for Aqipa in general, but what was so intriguing about these brands in particular?

The gaming category is at the intersection of entertainment, performance, technology and leisure and typically one of the highlights of the show. Razer had lots of new product and press releases. What I found most interesting was a concept they called “Project Sophia”, a congenial desk that allows you to build a modular gaming desk with up to 13 different modules. And it doesn’t stop with gaming. Whether you are a creative, a video geek or simply want to set up a fully customised home office – the concept is built with an open architecture in mind that enables you to switch out CPU modules and to add functionalities as well as programmable surfaces. That looked really futuristic.

Another highlight was their new Razer Enki Pro Hypersense gaming chair made with a D-Box engine that is usually used in theme parks and can mirror up to 46,000 haptic variations. Now that brings a real immersive gaming experience. Last but not least, Razer also jumped on the health train, revealing an update to their somewhat spooky-looking Zephyr Pro Mask including a voice enhancer (Bane from Batman, anyone?) and air purification filters.

What I took away from the Sony gaming area was the Sony PlayStation VR2. The Sony VR is already among the most successful gaming headsets, but now it’s gotten a killer upgrade. A special eye-tracking technology employs foveated rendering, which projects only the image in focus at full resolution. Tapping into the power of PlayStation 5, the headset can display rich, immersive graphics in 4K. Through the PS5, users have access to a whole world of compatible video games.

To wrap up, let’s talk about some of the brands we currently work with. What was their appearance at CES 2022 like?

Our partners from Ecovacs and XGIMI both had a booth at CES and of course our American partners from JLab were present as well.

Ecovacs announced their new Deebot X1 Ozmo Turbo, one of the suction and mopping robot top models at CES 2022. The machine is equipped with two mops and comes with a combination of suction/cleaning station, 3D obstacle detection and its own Yiko voice assistant. The latter enables voice commands that work completely independently of Alexa, Google and Siri. The European launch is predicted for late April.

XGIMI presented the newly launched Aura Smart Throw TV and the new Halo+ portable projector. Check out this interview with Andrew Gomez, their head of trade marketing, who was in attendance in Vegas:

JLab showed off their GO Air Tones earbuds that can adapt to your skin tone, or at least as close as you can get to the tone of your skin. JLab says the idea came to them after cutomers requested more neutral, subtle colourways in addition to the very vibrant ones JLab has produced in the past.

Unagi didn’t have a booth per se but revealed some details about the new Model Eleven (designed by star designer Yves Behar). Read all about the future of e-scooters.

After a very toned down version of CES compared to pre-pandemic years, we’re already excited to find out what the 2023 edition has in store!