The Consumer Electronics Show is one of the biggest annual global tech events. After reporting live from the show floor the last few days and talking to several key executives and analysts, here are 5 key tech trends that will potentially impact the Philippines in 2020-2025.

1. New Laptops Will Take Aim at Smartphones

Smartphones and tablets have been eating away at the use time of laptops for the last decade. This year laptop brands are starting to be more aggressive in making their case that your primary computing device should be a laptop and not your smartphone or tablet. With the rise of 5G and more affordable portable folding displays, we can actually see a future now where everyone will just have one gadget — a foldable screen that works as your phone, tablet, and laptop. It’s still quite far but it is definitely in the horizon.

For more information about laptops with folding displays, watch our hands-on video here of the Lenovo Thinkpad X1.

2. Foldable Displays Will Go Mainstream

We were able to get some hands-on time with the Motorola RAZR 2020 and it is an absolutely stunning device. Most importantly, it made a good case for using foldable displays: ultra-portability. It wasn’t a smartphone trying to be a tablet, it was just an awesome smartphone that can be made more portable. It is, by far, the best implementation of a folding display for a smartphone.

The tech’s biggest limitation is still the price, as it will most likely sell for $1,500. Over time though that should go significantly down and it’s only a matter of time before the norm will be folding displays.

3. The Rise of Voice Assistants

Apart from voice assistants in smartphones, a lot of speakers (different brands) being sold locally already have Google Assistant embedded in them. Now we’re seeing it happen in more devices such as laptops.

Lenovo’s new mantra is “SMARTER TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL” and their new laptop line-up reflects that belief. Their new Yoga laptops let you access Alexa with the lid closed. The feature is also available in their new ThinkBook model with the external e-ink display.

Over the next few months, expect this to be the standard with new products that enter the market.

By the way, if you’re interested in watching a video review of the new Marshall Stanmore II with Voice, watch this one:

4. The entry of Cheaper 5G Smartphones & Laptops

As telcos build out their 5G infrastructure in the Philippines, it’s good to note that we’re seeing prices for 5G devices start to go down dramatically. One of the better announcements in CES 2020 included TCL’s new 5G smartphone offering that will sell for under $500 this year. For laptops, we have the new Lenovo Yoga 5G.

5. Enterprise: The 2020 CIO/CTO

Lastly, the role of the Chief Information or Chief Technical Officer NEEDS to evolve from just enforcing compliance, looking for savings, and doing tech support to optimizing and improving employee experience. Why? Because it directly impacts revenue.

According to Lenovo’s Thorsten Stremlau, employee experience has a direct impact on revenue lift. He cited several studies showing Employee Experience is just as critical as Product Innovation and Customer Experience in moving businesses forward. It’s also common sense: happy employee, happy customer, good product = thriving business.

“CIO’s need to change from being pure technology to leading Intelligent Business Transformation. From security, servers, and databases they need to start looking at the cultural impact of technology in the organization and the business. They need to champion Employee Experience.” – Thorsten Stremlau, Lenovo

The future of technology used to be so vague but this year’s CES painted a much clearer picture of the world’s gadget roadmap at least for the next 2-5 years. It’s definitely an exciting time for technology and we all can’t wait to see what’s going to come next.