![5G logo on an illustrated blue and green background.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nyzl_vUejYoEWKYeFsS3j86UhBU=/0x0:2040x1360/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71837151/STK142_5G.0.jpg)
When it wasn’t being overshadowed by covid resurgences, CES, for the past few years, has partially functioned as a big 5G pep rally. But as cars, smart home standards, and so many screens took center stage at this year’s show, 5G took a back seat.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg gave a very similar keynote speech in 2019 and 2021, showing off all of the things 5G would supposedly enable: remote surgery, self-driving cars, augmented reality, and so on. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert was slated to deliver the 2022 keynote before omicron put a stop to that. But in 2023, 5G was hardly a footnote on the speaker roster.
Why? It’s not as if all of the things we were promised with 5G have come to pass. I don’t remember getting into a fully autonomous…