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stray the massive vestibule of theCES trade showheld annually in Las Vegas , and you ’ll retrieve a lot of smartphones . But very rarely do you find manynewsmartphones . Major manufacturing business still showcase their gadget , but they are models that have already been resign rather than single being debuted at the event .
Yes , the sound - focused Mobile World Congress ( MWC ) event is just around the corner , but for some phone brands — especially those need to gain more attending in the U.S. — CES is very much an chance to grab stack of attention that ’s presently being completely omit .
Colors and concepts
It ’s not a new matter for phone brands to not take CES very seriously . Over the years , companies have launched special edition of exist phones , new colouring material , or a few lower - range models . But to see a crowing flagship phone take center stage in Las Vegas is a genuine rarity . alternatively , phone Almighty like to land concept phones along . For example , in 2020,OnePlus showed the Concept Onewith its nerveless electrochromic glass over the television camera lenses .
Before its demise , LG rag its “ rollable ” smartphoneat CES , andTCL commonly brings conceptsto CES too . Concepts and teasers are an essential part of the CES experience , as the show is as much about future technology , observational products , and what ’s coming next as it is about newfangled releases we ’ll really be able to buy in the ensue months . But it ’s also about getting tending , hype up unexampled products , and introducing multitude to new public figure , which is where the chance consist .
This means I ’m not name to big brands like Samsung , Google , and Apple . None of them need CES or MWC to get attention , and they have no wish to crusade for headlines or level space at a crowded trade show either . Major brands get much more note value from a standalone case where they see to it everything and then reign the word for mean solar day to come . Samsung is a secure example . While its early “ Unpacked ” events took place at MWC , it soon make up one’s mind not to let the barter show dictate its launch docket . Now , it hasseparate upshot at different prison term each year .
CES is prime advertising space
Instead , CES is an opportunity for new , upcoming , or slenderly smaller phone stigma . Because CES is a bit of a smartphone wasteland , one of these maker with a genuinely brand new product it ’s going to release in the near future would almost have the wandering side of the show to itself , should it settle to plunge at the event . CES is monolithic and take care by tens of thousands of people in the industry , admit the sensitive . That ’s a draw of eyes on you , plus CES is particularly effective at nonplus U.S. eyeball on a blade and production .
Huawei knew this , andin 2018 it select CESto launch theHuawei Mate 10 Proin the U.S. , go all - out with a big onstage presentation and external events too . There was no percentage point launch the Mate 10 Pro for the U.S. at MWC a month or so after , as it ’s held in Barcelona , Spain . No , CES was the perfect pad for Huawei ’s U.S. cause , as it was mostly unknown outside China and Europe at the time .
It was n’t Huawei ’s demerit thatit also all pass away wrong at CES 2018 — it was still the correct decision to withstand the event at the show . If everything had go the right way and the Mate 10 Pro was available through AT&T as initially expected , CES would almost certainly have helped it build its brand cursorily and effectively .
Phones at CES 2024
That may be the last time something so magnanimous materialise in mobile at CES , but it does appear one brand recognizes the potential drop of CES 2024 for a speech sound launch , and that ’s Asus .
Asus has already confirmed it willlaunch the ROG Phone 8 at CES 2024 , scar the first time it has used the Las Vegas result to show off its latest play phone . Asus is already well - known at CES for its popular computing products ; however , it ’s not as well - known for its phones in ecumenical . leverage CES to pull in attention for its newest mobile equipment makes perfect signified , and as I ’ve already mentioned , it ’s probably not go to have much contest in Las Vegas at all .
Asus check how CES could really help more people find the ROG Phone , especially in the moneymaking U.S. marketplace . However , not every raw or upcoming brand has been so forward - thinking .
I ca n’t facilitate but recollect how CES is idealistic for Nothing to really found its masthead in the U.S. grocery store , but unfortunately , it appear the make is doing … um , nothingspecial at CES 2024 . After theNothing New World chat appdebacle , which may have ferment some U.S. buyers on the brilliantNothing Phone 2 , CES could have been very useful in helping erase that error from chronicle .
Instead , Nothing is headed to MWC 2024 , where we may get our first look at the rumored Nothing Phone 2a . It ’s exciting , and there ’s no dubiousness that MWC is the sensible , safe choice to plunge a smartphone , which is why many other phone brands will set in motion headphone there , pass on Nothing press for care . It would n’t demand to do so in the same room at CES , and it would also help introduce its fun , strange brand and personal identity to more people in the U.S. — all in a very short amount of clip .
Not a mobile show?
CES is not , and never has been , a craft show about smartphones . But that should n’t mean they are brush aside . MWC is view as the principal trade show for mobile equipment , but for the last few age , it has n’t find out many really major , internationally relevant new model release . Trade shows themselves have changed since 2020 , so attempts to stick to onetime formulas and traditions seem backward and not befitting of the exciting , always - evolving tech industry .
Asus is contract a danger this yr , but it really could bear off . The ROG Phone 8 will likely be quite a niche gimmick , but it could also invoke to a great many people who are n’t even mindful Asus makes gaming smartphones . CES is a corking place to show off , and to gain headlines in a path it may not do if it launched the speech sound on a random , rainy Wednesday good afternoon sometime in February .
Other brands that are n’t called Samsung , Apple , or Google would be overbold to watch how Asus puzzle on at CES 2024 and not to sleep too long on any tentative design to set up a flagship smartphone at CES 2025 . It could give it a special form of promotion that would be unimaginable to find elsewhere .
