The Consumer Electronics Show -- the world’s largest annual tech event -- is usually a platform to showcase next-generation TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, but the latest edition will see brand new smartphones in the limelight, according to industry sources Monday.

CES 2020 that will kick off in Las Vegas on Jan. 7 and is slated to offer a glimpse of future smartphones, which will make their first appearances at the show.

Led by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, around 400 Korean tech companies, startups and research institutes have registered to join the show, marking the largest-ever presence of Korean businesses boasting their technological prowess.

American tech giant Apple is scheduled to make an appearance for the first time in more than two decades.

Some lesser-known smartphone makers from China are also likely to dominate the show’s mobile segment.

Chinese firm OnePlus has announced it will unveil what it calls an alternative future smartphone -- Concept One -- at the event.

Market watchers think Concept One will be another foldable-display smartphone, like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, Motorola’s Razr and Huawei’s Mate X. But no details about the new model have been disclosed.

While Motorola is predicted to display its clamshell-type Razr phone, which folds vertically, at CES next month ahead of the device’s Jan. 9 launch in the US market, Samsung is less likely to show off its second foldable design, which features the same clamshell style.

Samsung is more likely to announce the clamshell foldable device in February, along with its flagship Galaxy S11 series, at a separate event.

Instead, the Korean tech titan is projected to introduce a new lineup of midrange Galaxy phones bound for emerging markets at CES 2020, according to industry sources.

The relatively affordable Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite models, with lower-end specs to square off against Apple’s iPhone XR and iPhone 11, are likely to be presented at CES 2020. The Lite lineup is expected to be launched initially in India in January.

Apple’s participation in CES 2020 is also raising anticipation.

Although Samsung’s US archrival is not going to run a booth for its products or services at CES next month, its chief privacy officer will be presiding over a roundtable meeting on consumer security issues, according to the Consumer Technology Association, the event’s organizer.

Jane Hovarth, senior director of global privacy at Apple, will take part in the security discussion, to be attended by executives from other tech giants such as Facebook.

It marks Apple’s first official appearance at CES since 1992, suggesting the US tech mogul is moving in the direction of prioritizing security above all else.

(song@heraldcorp.com)