Microsoft joins the conga line of companies leaving the CES 2022 show floor
No in-person attendance
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While we were expectingCES 2022to be the first proper in-person tech conference since the Covid-19 pandemic, disaster has struck the early-January week-long Las Vegas-based consumer tech event, and the past few weeks have been rife with big tech companies pulling out of a physical showing.
Following in the shoes ofGoogle,Amazonand many more,Microsoftis the latest company to head for the door, it confirmed in a statement toThe Verge. The big M said it’d be avoiding an ‘in-person’ attendance at the show, which suggests it could still have a virtual conference, though that’s not the same for attendees or general tech fans.
At conferences like CES, tech journalists have the opportunity to attend loads of product launches and bring you hands-on reviews and impressions. When companies do digital launches, as the CES-pullers-outers may do, we don’t often get to handle the new products, meaning you’ll be waiting longer to find out how good they actually are.
Throughout Covid, journalists often got products during or after their release, unlike pre-pandemic where we generally got them ahead of time, which makes it a lot harder to deliver relevant and well-researched buying advice on time - while this is clearly going to be the case withCES 2022as well, we’re hoping smartphone tech showMWC 2022in February will still go ahead as planned.
Microsoft’s abandonment of CES makes total sense though: the company stated the ‘rapidly evolving COVID environment’ is the reason it’s pulling out, and since it would need to field numerous executives and representatives in Las Vegas for the conference, the risk of its employees contracting the virus is high. This option is safer for Microsoft’s staff.
The new state of CES remains to be seen - it’s scheduled to start on January 2, 2022, and while exhibitors are dropping out right, left and center, new ones are filling in for them too. TechRadar will be covering the conference digitally, not in person, so while we might not be able to test out all the newest gadgets debuted, we’ll be working hard to cover as much as possible.
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Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.
He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.
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