January / 2021

CES 2021 goes all digital

 

CES, the massive consumer technology show put on by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), was held this week. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, CES 2021 was all digital. Last year, CES 2020 had over 170,000 attendees from over 160 countries and 4,400 exhibiting companies.

 

CES 2020 was held January 7-10, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first cases of COVID-19 were found in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The first known case in the U.S. was on January 15, 2020. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 cases were found in 19 countries by the end of January 2020, 54 countries by the end of February, and almost every country in the world by the end of March. If the timing of COVID-19 had been a few weeks earlier, CES 2020 would have been the ultimate super-spreader event accelerating the spread of COVID-19 throughout the world.

 

CES 2021 had 1,960 on-line exhibitors, less than half the live exhibitors at CES 2020. Virtual attendance was 69,523, about 40% of the 2020 in-person attendance. Some Chinese companies with a major presence in past CES shows were absent in 2021 – including Huawei and Haier. Huawei is currently banned from working with U.S. companies, so their absence is not surprising. Haier, self-described as China’s largest consumer electronics and home appliance producer, has had one of the largest booths at previous CES shows, so its absence it notable.

 

The CTA projected overall U.S. retail sales revenue for the technology industry in 2021 will reach $461 billion, up 4.3% from 2020. This includes electronics hardware, software, and services. In terms of hardware, smartphones remain the largest category, $73 billion in 2021, up 5%. 5G smartphone revenues should triple in 2021, accounting for over half of smartphone revenues and over 40% of units. Laptop PCs had strong growth in 2020 due to large numbers of people working and learning from home. In 2021, laptops are expected to be $38 billion, down 2%. Televisions are projected at $22 billion in 2021, down 1%.