This story is part of CESHere our editors bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets of the fully virtual CES 2021.
CES 2021 is filled with many uncertainties. How does the show replace the excitement of hands-on time with devices when everything is far away? Is there anything worth looking into? Will the tech industry heavy hitters show up? One thing is certain, however: 5G will be the focus of the trade fair, which starts next week in a virtual format.
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Like last year, 5G will dominate the conversation. Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, will be the first keynote speaker at CES, starting Monday evening with a talk on next generation cellular technology. The show will conclude on Thursday with Samsung, which is expected to present its Galaxy S21 family - 5G-capable of course - in a separate event that is not officially part of CES, but will capture a lot of the audience. Expect a lot of 5G in between.
"Wherever you look over [virtual] 5G is about to come, "said Steve Koenig, vice president of research for the Consumer Technology Association, in an interview with CNET senior reporter Shara Tibken. Ultimately, he said," It will really affect everything we do. "
Even like last year, there won't be too many 5G phones beyond what Samsung has on offer. CES has never been a mobile-centric show. It was launched later that year.
But the environment is radically different from last year's show. For one, millions more people have a 5G device thanks to a spate of phones launched in the past 12 months, including Apple's iPhone 12 family and cheaper options like TCL's 10 5G UW for Verizon. Beyond phones 5G connected computers could appear, according to Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Creative Strategies.
"It's mainstream from a product hype perspective," said Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research.
At a show where a lot of the tech hitters like google, will have minimal presence and show goers will have no chance of getting their hands on products. Discussions about the future of technologies like 5G carry more weight.
The networks are also far more mature, with all three major US network operators offering nationwide 5G coverage. Vestberg, who was a keynote speaker at CES in 2019, last appeared on stage with Apple CEO Tim Cook in November to promote his 5G network with the iPhone 12, and he'll likely get that momentum on the virtual stage Driving CES forward.
According to CNET editor Eli Blumenthal, 5G could cause a shock to network operators and their respective reputation for network quality. While Verizon has a short-range but super-fast network to add to the slower nationwide coverage, T-Mobile has put in place a kind of spectrum network that has a good mix of range and speed, and possibly the best 5G experience of the world big three. T-Mobile and AT&T also provided the fast, short-range network known as millimeter wave, but on a smaller scale than Verizon.
AT&T and T-Mobile are largely sitting this CES from a 5G front, giving Verizon the full stage.
But that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of talk about 5G at the fair. CNET keeps a panel (quick plug: I'll host it) on how 5G can be used to solve some of the problems exposed by the coronavirus pandemic, from closing the digital divide to improving the palatability of telemedicine to making distance learning experiences more attractive.
Nearly 20 sessions on the topic will be held at CES, exploring areas from 5G automation to farming technology support. Smart cities will also be on the agenda.
"Much of the focus will continue to be on justifying the investment and demonstrating ROI from both a consumer and a business perspective," said Milanesi.
Much of these discussions revolve around big ideas that are equally demanding on network speed. So far, 5G has mostly been about bringing higher speeds to your phone. But the conversation about these other apps is moving fast, even though we may not see them all in the real world for a while.
Still, it is important that the consumer electronics industry have these discussions now so that they can plan for applications that will emerge in the months or years ahead.
Shara Tibken and Eli Blumenthal from CNET contributed to this article.Correction at 8:59 a.m. PT: In an earlier version of this story, the timing of the Samsung event was incorrectly stated. It will take place on Thursday.
