Each year, CES impresses tech fanatics with eye-opening innovations like flying cars, color-changing appliances, or the new Ram EV pickup truck.
And though this is all fascinating to see and makes for catchy headlines, it’s the real-world innovations that we use every day that do it for me — and the most innovative televisions fall squarely in that category.
Tried-and-true brands like LG and Roku made huge announcements during CES 2023, but there are up-and-coming brands squeezing their way into the cool crowd as well, like Displace with its wireless television.
Also: Best of CES 2023: 6 innovations that will shape the future
A truly wireless, 4K-resolution, 55-inch TV that sticks directly to walls with no mounting or drilling required? That’s the DisplaceTV.
Displace created a battery-powered 55-inch television that weighs less than 20 pounds and runs up to a month on a single charge. The company says it can be easily moved from room to room, thanks to proprietary active-loop vacuum technology that makes it stick to walls, or, in the case of CES, glass windows overlooking Las Vegas.
The TV features voice, touch, and gesture control, and no physical remote control. The idea is that makes for a more intuitive watching experience. Displace says up to 16 of these televisions can snap together to create commercial displays, effectively working contiguously to increase the display size.
Each DisplaceTV unit will cost $2,999 upon release in December and can be reserved right now for $299.
Read more about our first impressions of the DisplaceTV here.
Wireless may be the name of the TV game at CES 2023, as LG also showed a Zero Connect OLED television, recipient of a CES 2023 Innovation Award.
Though it can’t stick to the wall on its own like the DisplaceTV, this colossal 97-inch television offers 4K resolution at up to 120Hz. It comes with a separate Zero Connect box that can be placed anywhere near the TV, and LG says its proprietary algorithm will identify the optimal transmission path without delays.
The Zero Connect box tells the TV what to do and play, and to make it a truly wireless television, all cables are connected to the box and not to the TV.
Though price and release date haven’t been announced yet, you can learn more about the LG M3 OLED smart TV here.
LG also announced new C, G, and Z OLED model televisions at CES 2023.
Roku TV is breaking into manufacturing and will begin making its own TVs as soon as spring 2023.
The streaming service company previously partnered with companies like Hisense and TCL to build smart TVs with Roku’s operating system. The company’s new televisions will fall into two categories, Roku Select and Plus Series, and will range in sizes from 24 to 75 inches.
All televisions will include Roku Voice remotes and the Plus Series TVs will expand on voice control and other offerings, according to ZDNET’s first look at Roku’s TVs.
Samsung also made big announcements at CES, unveiling new 50-, 63-,76-, 89-, 101-, and 140-inch MicroLED televisions, though no pricing details are available yet.
The company’s MicroLED TVs are likely the fastest displays to become available on the market. Samsung boasts 2-nanosecond response times, or 2 billionths of a second.
According to ZDNET contributor Cho Mu-Hyun, “MicroLED uses micrometer-sized LEDs to express individual pixels and does not use a backlight or color filter,” which can produce better contrast and color accuracy than traditional televisions on the market.
MicroLED displays are infamous for being oversized, typically over 100 inches, so it’s possible that for the announced smaller sizes, the hefty price tags that come with the technology may also be reduced.
Hisense also announced new tech for its television lineups: Mini LEDs will take center stage on the company’s new features.
The new technology in the displays is most evident in the Hisense 85-inch ULED X smart TV, which will offer 16-bit light control for more accurate dimming adjustments, as well as 2,500 nits in peak brightness across 5,000 local dimming zones.
Other Hisense models featuring mini LEDs are the U6L, U7K, and U8K, the latter of the two featuring Wi-Fi 6E.
Some takeaways
One company that stayed mum on the television subject was Sony, which surprised many by not announcing any televisions during CES 2023. Instead, it made some camera, gaming, and other announcements, including the Afeela EV concept.
Also: CES 2023 tech you can actually buy now
Though many of these new televisions don’t have a set release date or pricing information, the trends of what the future of entertainment will look like are pretty clear. I think it’s safe to say that we’re staring at more wireless technology being adopted by big manufacturers, maybe a future where something like LG’s Zero Connect box and TV are sold separately, so you can upgrade one or the other instead of buying an entire new television.
And the interchangeable and rechargeable batteries, especially those as easy to change as the ones on the DisplaceTV, make the versatility of a “grab and go” television an interesting concept. Potentially, you could take your TV traveling or even camping.