CES 2022 Preview: Phones and Tablets

CES is an awkward time for the mobile industry. While mobile devices are the ascendant computing platforms of the 2022s—outselling desktops and laptops 6:1, according to Statista—the mobile globe'southward dominant merchandise show comes just a month subsequently CES, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Furthermore, Apple tree, a major player in mobile, never launches products at trade shows.

CES 2022 Bug Art So well-nigh of the major mobile vendors keep their pulverisation dry in Las Vegas, planning bigger blowouts in Barcelona. That'south certainly the case for Samsung, whose Galaxy S7 will probably debut in late February at that evidence. LG, HTC, and Motorola likewise all announced to be keeping their major telephone news on the plane to Kingdom of spain.

Apple tree'southward rumored iPhone 6c and Apple Sentinel 2, meanwhile, may appear in March at a carve up event.

That leaves a bunch of lower-primal phone makers, and Windows PC vendors with Windows tablets, holding the floor for mobile at CES. HP, Lenovo, and Dell may be updating their Windows tablet lineups at the bear witness, although we don't have whatever more specific details about any of those.

Acer Jade Primo Reeling from the underwhelming launch of the Lumia 950, Microsoft won't be showing any new phones at CES. But we're likely to finally encounter a production version of the Acer Liquid Jade Primo, (at left) the outset non-Microsoft Windows ten Mobile phone to hitting the market. The Primo was teased at IFA in September, only at present we'll finally see how well it works with Microsoft's Continuum feature, which turns your phone into a desktop PC.

Sony will have a big press conference at the show, but information technology but deployed its small, medium, and large Z5 phone lineup, also at IFA. The company'southward tablet lineup is looking a bit one-time, though, so we wouldn't be birthday surprised to see a 4K, Android-powered Z5 Tablet announced at CES.

AT&T always has a developers' conference at CES, which results in a slew of API announcements and the occasional phone launch. This year, there's probably the lowest chance ever of a major AT&T phone launching at CES, equally the briefing volition be dominated by talk of cars, home security, and the Internet of Things. Information technology looks similar BlackBerry will follow suit too, with a press conference virtually Everything But Phones.

So How About Phones?
Huawei and ZTE are both big global brands, but they've had some trouble penetrating U.Due south. consumers' minds. They'll endeavor once more at CES. Huawei is teasing that it may bringing its midrange Honor brand to the U.S. at the show, or perhaps the Mate South, with its pressure-sensitive screen. ZTE may bring a new U.S. sectional version of its unlocked Axon smartphone, or a new generation of its smart projectors.

We're also likely to run into some new phones from Alcatel Onetouch. If Alcatel finally explains what it's doing with the Palm brand, which information technology unexpectedly bought last yr and then did zero with, that would be a coup. But there's a meliorate chance we'll just see a final version of the gigantic Xess kitchen tablet we saw at IFA.

Qualcomm has been dribbling out information on the Snapdragon 820 processor for months now, with a demo event in New York and some scattered benchmark features. We're sure to hear more virtually the 820 at CES, with hopefully some actual devices—possibly from LG or Sony—in tow.

Mediatek has risen out of the pack of Qualcomm'south competitors to offer a serious low-cost threat, and it'll be doubling down at CES, probably with more than details on its loftier-terminate Helio X20 chipset. Mediatek's major partner, Blu, which makes unlocked phones for the U.S. marketplace, has a press upshot on Thursday and volition probably be deploying a bunch of new phones.

Other, lower-key brands that may be bringing new phones to CES include True cat, which focuses on durable phones, and Freetel, a lower-cost, design-focused Japanese company. (The Freetel Musashi is an interesting Android-powered flip phone, and I'd dearest to review that.) Hot Chinese brands Xiaomi and Meizu are still largely staying away, considering dealing with the U.Due south. market gives them a headache.