Here are some of the CES products that have made the biggest difference in how we use tech today.
VCR technology wouldn’t become mainstream until later in the decade.
Still, this early effort proved the technology’s potential and sparked consumer interest in the tech.
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It brought significant attention to the company, which made another notable announcement at CES 1979.
This announcement was part of a shift in focus at CES.
Today, CES hosts announcements that span every pop in of consumer electronics, from amplifiers to robot vacuums.
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Philip’s CD100 followed in November of the same year.
Most home computers sold for at least $1,000 in 1982, and many exceeded $3,000.
The Commodore 64 wouldsell over 12 million computersand become a dominant force in computing throughout the mid-80s.
Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons
Nintendo saved it by showing the Nintendo Entertainment System at 1985’s Winter CES.
The console’s 1985 debutalso served as Nintendo’s introduction to the North American market.
Nintendo also reaffirmed gaming’s place at CES.
Model Chris Payne displays Sony Corporation’s Compact Digital Audio Disc and the Digital Compact Disc Player which debuted at CES.Bettmann / Getty Images
This industry agreement stands in contrast to most new media standards.
Even theBlu-Ray, now used today for all physical copies of high-definition movies, had to fight off HD-DVD.
The agreement came from an unlikely meeting of minds across multiple industries.
Butler / Daily Express/Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Past media formats usually grew from a specific slice of the tech industry before expanding into others.
This time, the entire consumer tech industry agreed that the DVD was the way forward for disc-based media.
The consensus included significant companies in the PC industry, such as Microsoft.
The DVD’s adoption stopped this growing annoyance in its tracks.
TiVo merged with a technology licensing company, Xperi, in 2019.
Boasting a stunning resolution of 1,366 x 768, they were the first flat-panel TVs readily available to consumers.
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Plasma technology eventually went out of fashion.
Plasma televisions were heavier and used more energy than the LED and OLED TVs that followed them.
Retailers sold the last plasma televisions in 2014.
Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images
It was, for most U.S. consumers,the first chance to try 4G.
The HTC Thunderbolt’s mobile data speeds blew away all competitors, including the iPhone.
A modern 4G phone can sustain data transfers of several hundred megabytes per second.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A 3.5G phone, by comparison, could manage a peak of about 15 megabytes per second.
That’s a huge difference and one that people could quickly notice.
Unfortunately, the HTC Thunderbolt had an array of issues, including poor battery life and overheating.
Josephy Clayton, Dish Network’s CEO unveils Sling TV at CES 2015.Getty Images / Bloomberg
Disn connection first announced the Sling TV service at CES 2015 beforegoing live in February of that year.
A lot has changed since then, though.
But none made the splash the Oculus Rift did.
Someone trying the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay headset prototype at CES 2015.Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Crescent Bay was a prototype VR headset that Oculus showed off for the first time that year.
The consumer headset wouldn’t make its debut until March 2016.
When it did, the whole market seemed to shift.
Even at $600 the first consumer VR headset was wildly popular.
Meta now owns Oculus and you might be more familiar with the Meta Quest line of VR headsets.
