CES 2023 to offer glimpse into future lifestyles

Employees pose at the exhibition booth for Samsung Electronics at the CES trade show that kicks off Thursday in Las Vegas. The South Korean tech giant plans to unveil futuristic technologies, especially its upgraded smart home platform SmartThings that boasts heightened connectivity among devices, even among different brands. (Samsung Electronics)

South Korean companies will unveil cutting-edge products, offering a glimpse into the ways innovative technology could change people's lives at CES 2023, the world’s largest tech convention, to be held from Thursday to Monday in Las Vegas.

Shrugging off prolonged pandemic disruptions, this year’s event will be at the largest scale in three years. Some 3,100 exhibitors from 173 countries and around 100,000 visitors are expected to show up, according to CES organizer the Consumer Technology Association. CES 2022 brought in some 2,200 companies and 45,000 attendees.

Spearheaded by Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and SK Group, approximately 550 South Korean companies are to join the event, with Asia’s fourth-largest economy to be the second-largest exhibitor, following the US.

Samsung

The leading tech giant will occupy the largest exhibition site at the Las Vegas Convention Center and introduce flagship products, ranging from the New QLED 8K to Galaxy Z Fold and Flip, Galaxy Watches and smart home devices.

Through five light-emitting diode screens, visitors can see how their lives will change with SmartThings, Samsung’s software that connects and controls home appliances, in the fields of home security, family care, health and wellness and smart working environment.

Under the slogan “Bringing calm to our connected world,” the company plans to show the Calm Onboarding technology for the first time. It allows smart home appliances to remotely connect without requiring consumers to connect new devices to the software.

SmartThings offers home surveillance after connecting TVs and smart devices at home. From March, the Bespoke Z Bot AI, a robot vacuum cleaner, will launch a monitoring service that sends an alarm to the user’s mobile phone if it detects any intrusion.

Highlighting sustainable innovation, Samsung will share its green energy efforts in including the Regenerative Catalytic System, which use less fuel and produces less air pollutants during manufacturing. Samsung is the first chipmaker to use RCS.

LG

LG Electronics has set up a 2,044-square-meter exhibition area, with the eye-catching OLED Horizon screen that connects 260 flexible units of signage. The screen will play videos featuring the solar system, waterfalls and other scenery, as if visitors are walking in nature.

The company aims to gain traction with its smart UP home appliances, including the MoodUP refrigerator that can change the door color using the LG ThinQ smart home platform. Its premium home appliance brand LG Signature will showcase five second-generation models to its new lineup for the first time in seven years.

In the three zones, the company looks to offer a wide range of home appliances selections, considering different lifestyles among newlyweds, one-person households and big families.

As one of the industry leaders in premium televisions and home appliances, LG Electronics will allow visitors to enjoy 97-inch OLED televisions and premium sound bars. Its premium lifestyle brand Moooi plans to present two kinds of the OLED Objet Collection and transparent OLED screen, as well as premium wireless speaker XBOOM 360.

In the LG Labs zone, it looks to introduce innovative in-house lifestyle projects, including at-home workout programs for exercising without heavy weights and cycling as well as a sleeping care solution.

An SK Group official introduces future traffic solutions equipped with emissions-reducing technologies to visitors at the conglomerate’s exhibition booth at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, during media events held Tuesday. Eight SK companies, along with their 10 global partners, are showcasing their eco-friendly technologies and products, from advanced batteries to urban air mobility solutions and sustainable foods, during the four-day event. (SK Group)

SK

Under the slogan of “together in Action (towards net zero),” SK Group, the country’s second-largest conglomerate, will showcase 44 products and technologies from eight SK companies, including SK Inc., SK Innovation, SK E&S, SK hynix, SK Telecom, SK Ecoplant, SKC and SK Biopharmaceuticals, and 10 other partner companies overseas.

The exhibition booth consists of two zones -- Futuremarks and SK Around Every Corner. the second zone consists of six sections on clean mobility, a zero-carbon lifestyle, waste to resources, air mobility, green digital solution and future energy, showing how these lifestyles and technology can improve our future.

One of the key clean technologies includes a next-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor, or SFR, developed by TerraPower, a US-based company founded by Bill Gates, with funding from SK Inc. and SK Innovation.

SK Telecom looks to present urban air mobility, non-memory chip used for artificial intelligence-powered service and virtual power plant. SK On will introduce its CES-award winning electric vehicle battery called Super Fast, which can charge up to 80 percent in 18 minutes.

Before the event, the company is scheduled to host SK Day from Wednesday to Thursday to share its blueprint on net-zero technology and sustainable business.

HD Hyundai

HD Hyundai, which recently changed its name from Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, will participate in CES for two consecutive years and share its vision for sustainable future maritime mobility.

The leading shipbuilder will present an image of future ships that are devoid of humans, based on its remote digital solution and self-driving technologies. Underscoring the preservation of sustainable maritime ecosystem, the new mobility adopts energy-saving technology and uses eco-friendly fuel.

The company plans to unveil its maritime data platform which aims to optimize the global sea transport network by collecting and analyzing data of ships, shipping firms and ports.

HD Hyundai has won nine CES awards including AI and big data-powered fuel supply system and next generation electric propulsion system.

Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Mobis, the auto component making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, is looking to lay out its future mobility technology. Hyundai Motor will not attend this year’s CES.

In the 780-square-meter exhibition area, the largest since 2016 when the company began to take part in CES, it will present M Vision TO and HI -- the company’s future concept cars of purpose-built vehicles – to the public for the first time.

The self-driving electric vehicle M Vision TO will feature four pillars with camera, radar and sensor and adopts mixed reality technology. M Vision HI, a car for recreational purposes, will showcase how passengers can watch movies and shop online using the glass display. It also allow tracks users’ eye movements and remotely change display content.

The company will unveil its CES award-winning swivel display -- a 32-inch moving screen -- and new rear wheel suspension technologies, which can make lighter future vehicles, at the event.

Among leaders of the four largest conglomerates in Korea – Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, LG and SK Group -- SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will attend the event. Executives from the group’s affiliates including SK On, SK Discovery, SK Supex, SK hynix, SK Innovation and SK Square are also scheduled to visit the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin will visit CES 2023 in person for the first time, seeking to create partnerships and synergy with innovative companies.

By Byun Hye-jin(hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)