CES '22 Recap

Did anyone go to CES this year? Yes! And we weeded through and are bringing you the best of the best this year. A hybrid in-person/online event this year, CES is the first opportunity for many companies to show off their products for the coming year, as well as showing off future technologies. While it's dominated by big brands, it is also an opportunity for smaller companies to showcase either great inventions, or products that, quick frankly, will never see the light of day again. That's why we're focusing on the products that actually matter from CES - the stuff you need to pay attention to. And CES '22 had a lot of, well... TVs.

During AMD's Product Premiere livestream event the company revealed a mass of new products including everything from new Ryzen CPUs to mobile GPUs. Top of the stack is the Ryzen 6000 series, though, which the company claims to be the world's most advanced PC processor.

Hisense is going big on Mini LED, looking to increase the brightness, with the new 75-inch U9H doubling the peak brightness of the model it replaces. Google TV, 4K HDR, 120Hz refresh rates and support for standards like Dolby Vision and Filmmaker Mode grace Hisense's 2022 televisions, with U8H step-down models giving a range of sizes of Mini LED screen to choose from.

Lenovo came out strong with the Yoga 9i with its flexible hinge, ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 with a secondary 8-inch display and the latest Legion gaming laptop which offers an adaptive refresh rate for the display.

LG has pulled the covers off new TVs for 2022, including a new generation of OLED Evo models. The flagship will be the LG OLED G2, which will now be available up to 97-inches, with the promise of better AI-driven performance and brighter output. It will also be available in 55, 65, 77, and 83-inch sizes.

Mercedes used CES 2022 to unveil the Vision EQXX concept. The aim of this car was to focus on efficiency, with a 100kWh battery that's 50 per cent smaller and 30 per cent lighter than other batteries used in, for example, the EQS. That, combined with aerodynamics and other optimizations, helps Mercedes hit the expected 620 mile range with this concept model. Apparently, we'll see a road-legal version prove this come "spring 2022."

Nvidia revealed the RTX 3090 Ti, with faster memory and performance, which is expected to cost up to a couple of thousand per card (that's TBC). If that's too hefty on your wallet, however, then at the other end of the scale the company also revealed the entry-level RTX 3050 GPU.

Panasonic has announced a new flagship OLED model - the LZ2000, which will be available in 55, 65 and 77-inch sizes. The large size is a new addition. As with previous models, Panasonic pushes the "Hollywood" side of things, with a pro configuration offering picture optimizations and adjustments for ambient light temperature. There's also a collection of gaming features with their own control menu - and as this is the flagship model, there's an integrated sound bar offering Dolby Atmos.

Samsung has used CES 2022 to introduce the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, its new, more affordable, smartphone available in a range of colors and giving fans what they want - power, a great display, and affordable price. 

Samsung has also shown off its 110-inch Micro LED TV which is bezel-free, while there will be updates to both Neo QLED and Lifestyle TVs, offering better contrast mapping and on the lifestyle TVs, with much better glare reduction. The company also revealed the Freeestyle, a portable projector designed to give you a screen anywhere you go.

Sony has pulled the covers off its Bravia XR range of high-end TVs and it looks like a logical update to the models offered in 2021. That sees an 8K Master Series flagship, the Z9K, in 85 and 75in sizes, but now packing Mini LED technology. This will mean greater brightness and better contrast control. It's not the only Mini LED TV that Sony will offer - the X95K (65, 75, 85in) will also be Mini LED, but only 4K. There are also updates to OLED models, with the Master Series A95K being the new flagship (55, 65in) offering QD-OLED, with the A90K offering smaller OLED sizes - including 42 and 48 inch - while the A80K will come in 55, 65 and 77in. In the normal LED range there are updated X90K, X85K and X80K models (in a full range of sizes), which are all 4K too. We'll have a full breakdown on the differences as soon as we can gather all the details.

One of the interesting details for this new generation of televisions is the Bravia Cam, an accessory that can tell where people are sitting, adjusting the audio and visuals to them, supporting gesture controls, video chat - and able to turn off the TV when no one is watching it. The company's press conference, however, was a whole other ballgame: Tom Holland took to the stage to show-off a sneak preview of the Uncharted movie, due out 18 February, while PlayStation CEO, Jim Ryan, confirmed that PlayStation VR2 is coming - along with a new Horizon game, exclusively in virtual reality.