January 11, 2022
Established in 1967, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the oldest and most influential technology conferences. Thousands of exhibitors, buyers, journalists, and technology professionals were back in person in Las Vegas after the 2021 virtual edition. The main topic of the new announcements: technology innovation with a positive impact and a sustainable angle. The rising trend: metaverse.
The consumer electronics industry will represent around $505 billion in sales just for the USA in 2022 with the leading products like smartphones and laptops and others like wearables, smart home objects connected vehicles, or e-bikes.
Sustainability as the new industry priority
Sustainability was in many product announcements, and it was the main topic of Samsung's opening keynote. Samsung presented how it was integrating it in its operations, products, and end-users with the idea to reduce its impact on the environment.
For Samsung, the circular economy is one of the key pillars of its strategy, and they are redesigning some of its products like removing batteries from its remote controls and charging them with light or capturing the energy in radio frequency signals emitted by home Wi-Fi routers or including recycled materials for smartphones.
The Korean giant announced on stage an original partnership with Patagonia to improve its washing machines so they could better filter microplastics and protect the oceans.
Finally, Samsung is also helping consumers monitor their energy consumption with SmartThings and join as a founding member of the Home Connectivity Alliance with Electrolux Group, Haier, or GE Appliances.
On the automotive side, General Motors shared its new electric vehicles roadmap during the CES with its new Silverado pick-up truck and its delivery vehicle BrightDrop adopted by Walmart and FedEx as first clients.
The metaverse, new El Dorado
The metaverse neologism is a contraction of “meta” (meaning “beyond” in ancient Greek) and “universe” and designates a virtual world.
Hyundai offers its original vision of the metaverse at CES: with autonomous vehicles, passengers will be able to take advantage of the time available to immerse themselves in virtual reality within the cabin. The Korean automaker acquired Boston Dynamics in 2021 and even imagined that robots on Mars could capture in real-time, the images, sounds, and other sensations and make them feel to the passengers whose avatars would be apprentice astronauts on the red planet.
Since it is possible to own assets in the metaverse, the financial services associated with these virtual worlds have also been discussed at CES. Online payments for the Metaverse will thus be at the forefront, and insurance against the cybersecurity risks of the metaverse has a bright future as well.
Arnaud Auger & Matthieu Soulé, BNP Paribas C.Lab Americas, correspondents of Cardif Lab’ in the USA