(By Buzz Knight) I feel like this is the year when innovation as a problem-solving device is being truly put to the test, which makes CES 2025 particularly pivotal. Today we break down some of the key themes with Ben Arnold, Executive Director, Industry Analyst-Consumer Technology for Circana, the world’s leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior.
Radio Ink: So we’re perched here in the central hall at a pretty neat location overlooking a lot of the whole show What do you think of the key themes coming this year out of CES, what are you paying the most attention to?
Ben Arnold: You have to talk about AI and what that means for consumer electronics because this is a device show, a hardware show, as we like to say, how that is impacting devices but also people’s lives, that’s a huge megatrend at this show. There are other things that, trends that we’ve seen iterate over the years. So connectivity in the home. As we connect screens and speakers and have smart applications, voice applications, that’s another megatrend at the show.
When we talk about innovation and really true emerging technology, vehicles and mobility, and how that is changing for a more efficient life, I mean, that’s present at every square inch of this show. All of these things are part of these larger trends and that’s what I find really exciting. It’s not just about little speakers and phone cases and these little accessories. It’s about these very high-level strategic trends that have the power to change our lives over time. That’s what I come to CES for.
Other things, I know we’re going to talk about AI. There are a lot of improvements to people’s lives that AI can offer, but also a lot of challenges out there as well. That’s one of the big trends here at the show, and I think we talk about these tangible benefits to people’s lives and I think about, again, consumer electronics, what does that big AI trend mean for how we interact with our tablets and phones and TVs and refrigerators in our houses? That’s something that CES does a great job of as well.
So like you, I’m looking for real innovation. What are things that people are going to use? What are some of these emerging things that are solving problems? That’s what I think is exciting.
Radio Ink: I don’t know if you made it to the LG press conference, but it was impressive how they brought everything together. The way everything can be fused together in the home, then it can transfer into the connected car, and bring all of this full circle as well. It was powerful to see what they were up to.
Ben Arnold: They do a great job of talking about tech for a better life. That’s what I would call the overall theme of a lot of what they show at CES. So, “Yes, you may know us as the TV manufacturer, but we also make appliances and we’re pushing into electric vehicles. And we’ve got the kind of backend technology to connect devices in your home. And we’ve got AI assistants that we can pollinate all these devices with to make them smart. And the end goal is for a healthier, better life.”
If you look at a lot of these big consumer electronics companies, their mottos at CES are some variation of that. Tech for a healthier life. Tech for a more efficient life. And again, bringing innovation to people and making it more personal I think is what that goal is.
One thing that I think LG does a great job of is humanizing technology. And I saw some of the things that they’ve been showing in the booth. They have robots and they put big eyes on the robot so it humanizes the device. And that’s another common thing that I think we’re seeing, especially this year, is: how do you take something a little new, a little scary – like AI – and humanize it? It’s like how speakers that you can talk to that will talk back that are smarter now than they were five years ago. All of these things I think combine to fit that motto of tech for a better life.
Radio Ink: They also have an interesting partnership with the artist will.i.am on the xboom entertainment system, which will have “rAIdio.FYI” built in. It was described as something that was going to be a deep engagement platform around music and talk, so I’m curious about that.
Ben Arnold: Well, you should know that will.i.am is a serial technology entrepreneur. He’s been in the audio space, headphones, and a couple other products. He’s a very interesting partner to have because I think people are starting to know him more for tech. So as little as I understand about that product, it sounds exactly like something he would be involved in.
It also gives LG a little bit of differentiation, it gives them a little bit of a different view in the eyes of consumers. Trying something that maybe has not ever been done and venturing out doing something weird gets attention and this is the perfect place to do something like that.
Radio Ink: I am always curious about how over the years CES has really focused a lot on the automotive aspect of things and mobility. What are you seeing beyond the aspect of electric vehicles? What are you seeing in terms of mobility and the way cars are continuing to be transformed?
Ben Arnold: Well, I think the vehicle is now a smartphone on wheels. It’s a computer on wheels. And I think just the promotion of these systems inside the vehicle, whether it’s entertainment or some of the autonomous features, that’s something that we continue to see progress. Vehicles no longer just have to be on the road, they can be in the air. We’ve seen a few examples of, I guess they call them air taxis, personal aerial vehicles. They look like big drones. I think this idea of how else can we move places without cars or motorcycles, things like air taxis, is super interesting to me.
Another piece of the show that we see here in pieces are products designed to work in space. Companies are sending payloads into space now to the International Space Station. You can pay to put something on a rocket and send it up there. What does that mean for how you design products? And how do they work in space under different conditions? So we’re starting to get into some things like that. It’s super interesting.
Radio Ink: In closing, when you think of this show in terms of the way people come to be inspired and it energizes innovators, what do you think is the primary source of that inspiration?
Ben Arnold: I like the way you put that: you come to be inspired. You see what other companies are working on and you’re not taking that idea, but it makes you think about your space and your products. Everything that we’re looking at here and the shiny cars and all of the screens and we’ve got a new widget, those are things that get us excited.
And I’ll put my analyst hat on for a minute and say that the technology industry as we know it has been down over the last couple of years, consumer electronics sales have been down. But now we’re seeing a resurgence in sales. The market is back up. The economy around technology, at least in my view, has returned. And that’s another thing that we come to see at the show, right? A healthy economy, a healthy industry, products that people want that are marketable and that there’s demand for, that’s also a really important part in this as well. I think this gets us off to 2025 on a really good foot.
Again, as I think about things like AI, I think we’re still in very much the early stages of how that can impact consumers’ devices and things that they’re doing in their homes. As I said, yes, a lot of challenges, and a little bit of scariness with AI, but I think exciting in terms of what it means for the products in your home and things that you’ll be able to do with them.
Buzz Knight can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. Read Buzz’ Radio Ink archives here.
