Plenty of what I witnessed acted as a reassuring validation of my work at CC. One key insight we’re pursuing is the fact that consumers are expecting – nay demanding – that their next generation devices be both smaller, lighter, and more power efficient. In other words, they should fit in with existing lifestyles without compromise. This is a pet subject of mine.
Technology at its best needs to sit as an imperceptible interface between us as users and the real world. Bulky and intrusive devices can adversely affect consumer satisfaction and in turn compromise commercial success, because increasingly they’ll be seen as a barrier to adoption.
Enriched consumer experiences
Consumers want their products to blend seamlessly with activities and lifestyles. Gone are the early Apple days when the device itself might be considered as the ‘activity’ – it now needs to be the conduit to an enriched experience. Let me give you an example. The Oura ring range crams lots of smart tech into a very alluring package; it sits quietly and lightly on a finger, but offers supersized life enrichment through sleep tracking, fertility monitoring, sports motivation and much more.
To blend with consumer lifestyle choices, devices also need to be stylish and fashion-forward. Gauche and brightly coloured consumer electronics products have long-since given way to AAA – anodised, aluminium, Apple. This is why emerging brands are focusing on minimal presence and a refined look and feel. Product releases by the likes of Nothing や Even Realities underscore this. Everything is minimal and driven by thoughtful graphical user interfaces.
These trends haven’t gone unnoticed at CC. Indeed, we’ve purposely developed an innovation offering for our clients and prospects – the ability to enjoy ‘design freedom through miniaturisation and extreme hyper integration’. This is more than just an empty promise; it’s founded in world-class science and engineering.
Design freedom through miniaturisation
One of the joys of working at CC is being surrounded by so many super-smart people. Take, for example, Tom Watson, Head of Photonics here and one of the brains behind pioneering eye-tracking technology that uses programable structured light instead of cameras. It’s a great example of design freedom through miniaturisation, and it went down a storm at CES. As Tom explained to T3 magazine, CC’s photonic light engine could transform eye tracking and signal a turning point for smart glasses.
The breakthrough started as a thought experiment. There are applications that require eye-tracking to enhance seamless interaction for consumers, but existing technology is too bulky and power hungry. Our teams set out to reimagine how eye tracking could be achieved without cameras. Essentially, how to enable the interaction without compromising the stylish design of glasses.
Advances like this are what we’re all about. On our best day, teams at CC are harnessing first-principle science and engineering to help clients create new-to-the-world consumer devices that are hard to copy. And that’s where truly valuable commercial advantage sits.
This first-principles to first-of-its-kind approach is more vital than ever now, with the technology driving consumer electronics rapidly becoming commoditised. Large innovation leaps would have traditionally given brands a defensible ‘moat’ between them and competitors. But with me-too tech from China and elsewhere coming on the scene so quickly, this competitive edge is quickly eroded. Incremental innovation is no longer enough.
Companies must now consider more radical innovative steps to keep some open water between them and their rivals. For instance, Flint have pioneered a paper-based battery system that simply replaces existing battery tech. They don’t want to disrupt the way we use batteries – they just want to change what batteries are made of. Given the proven importance that consumers place on the sustainability status of their devices (especially those with higher willingness to spend), this radical step is exactly what’s needed to effectively differentiate from competitors.
CC is actively investing to develop solutions that offer this type of transformative, rather than incremental, leap. Without blowing our own trumpet too much, it was great that one current example – our repairable smart watch concept – was nominated for an ‘Official Best of CES 2026 Award’ in the sustainability category.
This world-first feat of no-compromise innovation proves that miniaturisation and ingenious engineering can result in a repairable, consumer-friendly product – without ruining its aesthetics, feel and performance. In this case, the concept meets pressing European right-to-repair regulations, which so many brands are having to contend with.
Leaps in consumer robotics
Before I sign off, a quick word about consumer robotics. This is another area of CC investment, as we work to take humanoid robotics and physical AI from concept to real world impact. From my personal perspective, there’s currently a clear link between advances in industrial robotics and the trickle-down progress seen in consumer robotics.
We saw some awesome industrial robotics at CES that is deployed, scaling rapidly and delivering significant positive impact (and if you’re still thinking of Boston Dynamics as the company doing the cute backflipping robots in a lab, you need to look again). The consumer robotics category is far more nascent but is making huge leaps – as seen at CES.
Previously, clear pre-training and very constrained demos showcased humanoid robots doing complex movements and completing simple tasks. This time, I saw many new consumer units which try to blend with the home environment and carry out tasks that people just don’t want to do (folding laundry, lifting boxes, delivering snacks and so on).
There remain some issues with standardisation in the industry – including a lack of unified operating standard and safety protocols. It’s a bit wild west, with every company vying for consumer adoption and use-case alignment. Home resource constraints on modern homeowners need to be mapped correctly to see where humanoid robotics will have the biggest impact.
Caring for the elderly and pets, cleaning tasks, cooking and other household chores will likely remain the holy grail for robotics and – back to my hobby horse – I strongly believe that we’ll need to reinvent our approach to the technology to ensure we deliver uncompromisingly for consumers.
Well, that’s my take on the current consumer innovation scene post-CES. What’s your view of my call for small, smarter and even more radical technology; and for an uncompromised approach that puts consumer experience first? Please ぜひお気軽にご連絡ください if any of the topics above have piqued your interest – it would be great to continue the conversation.
専門家
Sam’s focus is on the commercialisation of new and innovative technologies and how they can generate value. He is aware of the challenges faced by innovators, companies and organisations during this time of radical technological shift. He believes that well-designed technology should serve as an extension of the human body, augmenting the living experience rather than replacing it.
