PCs and Mobile Phones Are This Year's Gadget Industry Stars

And expect the vast majority of the TV sets on display to be at least 3D capable. While the technology has yet to take off, manufacturers aren't about to give up on it. An influx of 3D cameras and camcorders will be on display as well, as the technology continues to expand.

The overriding theme of the show will be a nod to the increasingly mobile nature of the consumer technology world, though. Smartphones will boast larger screens, and the line between phones and tablets will blur a little more. Apps, too, will continue to be huge, on phones as well as connected TV sets, which were strongly pushed at the 2011 CES.

Once again, though, the biggest name in consumer electronics will skip the show — but will cast a shadow over the entire affair. Apple bypasses CES every year, but several of the companies that attend find themselves in the precarious position of having to anticipate the company's new products — then having to react when those products are announced and inevitably contain a feature no one anticipated.