CES 2019: news and highlights from the Consumer Electronics show in Vegas

CES 2019 is upon us – and Creative Bloq is here in Vegas to bring you all the latest news, highlights and hands-on reviews from one of the world’s largest consumer tech shows.

We’ll be focusing on the most exciting new innovations for designers, artists and creatives – from laptops to foldable phones and 8K cameras – so stay tuned throughout the week. You’ll find all the latest news right here.

What is CES?

The Consumer Electronics Show is an exhilarating glimpse into the future of tech, with the latest and greatest names in the business (apart from Apple) showcasing their new innovations. The annual trade show covers everything from drones and driverless cars to cryptocurrency, smart homes and beyond – and it’s massive.

This year, more than 4,500 exhibiting companies are spread out over 11 venues with over 180,000 attendees from 150 countries expected, plus 6,500 media. It isn’t open to the public, though; only industry and journalists.

When is CES 2019?

The Consumer Electronics Show 2019 officially starts on Tuesday 8 Jan and will run until 11 January. However, Monday is packed with press events so expect exciting news and announcements then – and we've seen some new tech already. Confirmed press conferences to come include Intel, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, with LG due to present the first presentation on Monday.

CES 2019: news and highlights for creatives so far

As mentioned, we’ve already seen some exciting new tech at CES 2019. And although the show hasn’t yet officially started, a number of companies have made some exciting early announcements – both today, and in the recent run up to the show. Here's are our CES 2019 highlights so far...

Asus announces new StudioBook S for pro designers
Asus has announced an exciting new 15-inch workstation-class laptop for content-creation professionals. Made for on the move, it packs an Intel Xeon processor and NVIDIA Quadro P3200 graphics into an incredibly thin chassis with an even larger display. Read more about the Asus StudioBook S.

LG to reveal two ‘ultra’ monitors at CES 2019
Back in December, LG announced that it will be showcasing two new 'ultra' monitors. One, a whopping 49-inch ultrawide monitor, will be aimed at business professionals; while the other – a 38-inch gaming monitor – will have a curved 4K display, and be of most interest to creatives. Here's what you need to know.

CES 2019: trends we expect to see

01. Foldable phones

Multiple device-makers are expected to tease foldable smartphones at CES 2019. Samsung, LG and Huawei all have an iron in the fire – will we see Samsung’s folding Galaxy smartphone make its debut this week? All being well, CES will provide a preview for this year's big phone launches ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.

02. 8K closer to your home

8K is almost set to go mainstream, with the likes of Samsung, Sony, LG, Toshiba and Sharp widely expected to show off 8K TV displays at CES 2019. That said, these TVs will be ridiculously expensive, so don't worry if you've only just stepped up to 4K – you'll have a bit of breathing space yet.

Meanwhile, LG has already announced what it claims to be the world’s first OLED 8K display. And there's a rumour that Sony will be launching an 8K camera, as well as an 8K TV, projector and its own processing platform this week, as our sister site Digital Camera World reports.

03. The year of 5G

Will 5G become reality this year? We’re expecting the giants to show us what 5G’s really capable of this week – not just faster smartphones and download speeds, but immersive virtual reality worlds without lag, robotic surgery, secure smart-home devices, reliable self-driving tech and more.

On a smartphone front though, just remember that although 5G-ready handsets and devices will start shipping this year, 5G wireless networks won’t be available nationwide until 2020 – and the first ones won’t give you those tempting 10-gigabytes-per-second data speeds.

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