CES 2024

 

Consumer Technology Trends

CES 2024

Catering to diverse lifestyles and ever-changing needs, new launches at this year’s CES (January 9-12) indulge in both bold and bright dynamic designs that allow for creative expression, as well as inconspicuous tech that recedes into the background of our daily lives. We round up the notable themes, innovations and sustainable developments across four key areas shown below.

 
 

  1. Expressive Illumination

2. Elevating & Optimising the Everyday

3. Inconspicuous Technology

4. Sustainable Developments

Expressive Illumination

Changeable e-ink surfaces, dynamic gaming displays and intricate interior lighting innovations all provide novel opportunities for consumer customisation and creative expression. These advances will satiate those seeking playful and heightened sensory experiences. Meanwhile, avant-garde industrial design is advancing modern tech aesthetics.

Hong Kong’s Infinix unveiled its E-Colour Shift technology, which allows smartphone panels to change and maintain vibrant colours without consuming power. Users can also personalise the back cover by displaying the time, their mood and other features in a matrix arrangement.

Image credit: Infinix (1)

 

Elevating & Optimising the Everyday

To meet the demands of fast-paced lifestyles and high consumer standards, the optimisation of products and their capabilities is increasingly vital, with colour, material and finish design becoming ever more hardworking as a result. Innovations are geared towards convenience, performance, endurance and efficiency.

Smart Portability: Smart materials and textiles are helping to make tech more convenient and transportable. Splay, from US company Arovia, is a portable display and projector with a fully flexible and collapsible. Developed in collaboration with Hong Kong-based materials research centre Nami, the patented nanomaterial screen remains wrinkle-free, despite being expandable and foldable in all directions.

Image credit: Arovia (2)

 

Inconspicuous Tech

As brands continue to ensure that tech blends seamlessly into the background of our daily lives, the focus on discrete and invisible features and materials grows. Alongside the stripped-backed aesthetics and innovative transparent technologies, calm, comforting and approachable design cues continue to endure.

Transparent & Camouflaged: Amongst the slew of transparent innovations at the show (such as LG’s see-through Signature OLED TV and Samsung’s transparent Micro LED display), devices with hidden displays enable products to be camouflaged as works of art. See Samsung’s portable and customisable Music Frame speaker.

Image credit: LG (3), Samsung (4)(5)

 

Sustainable Developments

While sustainable material innovations were scarce at CES this year, the emergence of nascent bioplastic solutions is a promising shift that will help to address the environmental challenges posed by plastics. The adoption of more recycled materials into new products also signals a growing commitment to eco-friendly practices.

Bioplastic Innovations: Pledging to reduce the use of resin plastic in its products, Japanese giant Panasonic is exploring sustainable alternatives – like its proprietary plant-based material Kinari, which contains 85% cellulose. The material was showcased in its CES booth. Additionally, Panasonic’s new Palm Shaver hair removal device is made from Nagori, a sustainable material composed of sea minerals, which has a tactile ceramic-like finish.

Image credit: Panasonic

 

Here at Ignition, we like to remain at the forefront of the latest trends and developments to inspire our clients and keep them informed. We often look to parallel industries to inform our design thinking. We love finding innovative solutions to help support our clients with intelligent and sustainable exhibition design.

Each month we will be releasing design inspiration or trends, so keep an eye on our blog for the next trend coming very soon.

 
 
Opinion, 5 min readLindie KramersIgnitionComment