Attendees walk past a display of the Royole FlexPai foldable smartphones on Tuesday (US time) at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Photo: AFP

As some veteran industry observers noted, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas at the beginning of every year is like a catalog showing what technology products are likely to change the way people live.

From the Avatar-inspired vision AVTR concept car showed off by Mercedes to LG's refrigerator that lets you grow your own herbs, the CES 2020 has once again become the gathering place of the world's most ambitious technology companies, trying to claim that their technologies are those that will dominate the future.

Besides the 4,000-plus exhibitors, even more people from all over the world are flocking to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and packing hotels and the city streets. 

All the cutting-edge products being shown soon become hot topics.

As a visitor who comes to the CES for the first time, I've heard enough predictions and reviews saying that this year's trade show is not as innovative as in the past couple of years. 

Stories about the China-US trade war have had a negative impact on Chinese companies' efforts this year. However, both the size and variety of the show are already exciting enough. Many companies have more than two exhibition sections to show their technology products.

Although Chinese 5G giant Huawei has no plan to launch new advanced 5G or foldable devices, the whole-life scenario of 5G application attracted many people to stop by to experience its devices, especially the foldable 5G smartphone Mate X.

The Konka APHAEA Smart Wall compares the size of a 4K Micro LED screen to an 8K Micro LED screen at CES 2020 on Tuesday (US time). Photo: AFP

Display manufacturers including TCL and Hisense have heavily featured 8k large displays and foldable screens. 

Chinese start-up Royole, which produces rollable and bendable screens, has produced many bendable screens.

Many companies have taken up the idea of creating a smart city. In the "Samsung City," visitors can experience technology that allows people to type without a keyboard. US helicopter company Bell has shown a prototype air-taxi that can seat around six people. The exciting cutting-edge products in our lives today were all once just concepts and prototypes.

The head of a Chinese technology company that does business around the world said that although exhibition costs are rising at the CES, companies still choose to come, because they need overseas partners and more importantly, overseas markets.

The keynote discussion of this year's CES has also drawn attention due to the participation of Jane Horvath, Apple's senior director of global privacy, and Ivanka Trump. Panels will talk about topics including data privacy and 5G, but only one technology will top the 2020 tech trend. Let's find the answer as events unfold.