Why 2019 Was The Best Year For AR And VR At CES

If there is strength in numbers, AR continues to climb to prominence at CES. The buzz around audio assistants (Alexa, Google, Samsung’s Bixby) continued. Google was predictably everywhere you looked on the Strip. I heard a lot about connected home and IoT. 5G and AI came up a lot in keynotes. Something big is going on, but it’s not manifested in products yet. There were only a couple supposedly 5G compatible handsets, and they looked like regular smartphones. The handset that really caught my attention was the foldable screen from Royole (a US-based Chinese company).

CES is too huge. I tried to do all things AR and VR at the show, but it just was not possible. Here’s my CES, mostly in pictures, and mostly focused on XR.
Focals by North was much talked about and their booth was mobbed. I had a chance to sit down with co-founder Aaron Grant, and give Focals a try. The system projects simple things like text messages and directions. It’s fashionable, light, and can be fitted with prescription lenses in one of their two stores in Brooklyn and Toronto.

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