CES 2025: So Much vs. So What

If #CES2025 is showing up in your news or social feeds, you probably know that the event kicks off this week. At the same time, you probably already know most of what you’ll read in preview pieces from analysts, experts and other industry watchers.

Let’s be honest, it isn’t particularly insightful or any sort of revelation to explain that CES will be dominated this year by a handful of industry trends: smart mobility and automotive tech, AR/VR and immersive tech, smart home and health tech innovations, connectivity and IoT, home entertainment (including all sorts of screens)…with AI playing a role in all of them. But, if we’re being fair as well as honest, it’s worth noting that the massive breadth of technologies on display at CES has always made it difficult to distill the week into a small set of meaningful takeaways.

So Much is on display that understanding what it all means (the “So What”) is a real challenge.

Here, I’m at something of an advantage, coming to the show with a fairly narrow focus on how the trends and innovations presented at CES will impact Telco and connectivity ecosystems. To this end, two questions dominate my analysis of the week.

• What will drive traffic across communications networks?
• What will represent new business opportunities for operators, their suppliers, and partners?

The benefit, of course, is that these questions provide a lens through which to view the ubiquitous AI, AR/VR/XR/MR, smart mobility, IoT innovations and all the other stuff we know will come from CES. They also provide a springboard for other questions. What will likely be connected via WiFi vs. cellular technologies? What sort of timeline are we talking about – now, never, or somewhere in between? Can operators benefit simply by being a sales channel for the new tech, or is there a more meaningful opportunity? How will networks need to evolve to support the new devices and connectivity requirements?

I’ve already got my own ideas, but a big part of attending any industry event is to test out those assumptions…and CES is no different. Look for my thoughts across the week and into next week when the dust finally settles. In the meantime, send me your thoughts.