The 9 Biggest Rumors Heading Into CES 2016

LG, Asus and Acer all showed off their new smartphones at the CES event a year ago and it is being speculated that the CES 2016 too will attract major smartphone manufacturing companies from all over the world who will reveal their brand new devices at the event. To reflect that shift, the Consumer Electronics Assn., which produces CES, recently changed its name to the Consumer Technology Assn. – a small but symbolic move.

Gizmodo will be reporting from CES all week long.

But this year’s CES promises to have quite different flavour as the focus shifts from handheld devices to something altogether bigger.

Reports last week hinted that Ford may announce a new partnership with Google to build a driverless auto, something Ford’s chairman Bill Ford has hinted at in the past.

“What I’ve learned is that sometimes the companies themselves don’t even know if they’re going to get their product finished in time”.

No matter what your interest, the CES 2016 will have something to catch and keep your attention. In 2011, it was all about 3D.

The big challenge companies face in this space will be selling consumers on the idea of the digital home.

This year, we expect to see a lot of news from the usual CES suspects: TV makers, automotive companies, wearable device hawkers, and even VR companies. Panasonic will definitely be among them, having shown off an OLED set at IFA 2015 in Berlin a few months back.

HTC Vive – HTC has already organized an event for journalists to take a look at its revamped Vive VR headset on Monday. Experts from the Consumer Electronics Association believe that VR headset sales may rise by 500 percent in 2016 on a year-over-year basis, with a total of 1.2 million units expected to be sold.

Samsung’s already teased an upcoming controller for Gear VR, and I can only assume an absolute shitstorm of VR accessories is coming for the Las Vegas Convention Center. We’ve seen some insane things come out of LG and Samsung at CES before, in regards to appliances.

The unforeseen gadget success (and subsequent failure) was the “hoverboard” that doesn’t hover.

Amid growing concern about their safety, numerous 27 drone makers taking part are expected to highlight features created to reassure the public. But that probably won’t dissuade a flood of millions and zillions of ripoffs, hopefully with neat non-exploding features.

A lot of Chinese companies like Huawei are expected to make their presence felt by showcasing their latest offerings at CES 2016. Take, for instance, 3-D televisions, which were the “it” innovation of CES six years ago but quickly flamed out because of high prices, a lack of content and skeptical consumers. Samsung will also be present with its Smart Things line and multiplatform compatibility. There was this stupid thing from past year. It’s a continuation of technology introduced previous year and allows a driver to make gestures in front of a “contactless touchscreen” to control music, the car’s temperature and more. And another celebrity meltdown would be fun.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t go buy Google Cardboard and put your phone in front of your eyes but that will actually make you sick”.