Amazon, T-Mobile, and Meta drop out of CES 2022 amid Omicron concerns

Companies that are planning to go ahead with their CES events will also have a "limited presence."

What you need to know

• Amazon, T-Mobile, Meta, Twitter, and a few other tech companies have decided to pull out of CES 2022 over the rise in COVID cases.
• Most of the companies that have dropped out will now participate in the event virtually.
• CES 2022 is set to kick off on Wednesday, January 5.

A number of tech giants have announced that they will no longer attend CES 2022 in person due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases and uncertainty around the Omicron variant. The list of companies that have dropped out of CES includes Amazon, Facebook parent Meta, T-Mobile, and Twitter.

In a statement sent to Bloomberg, Amazon said that it has decided not to have on-site presence at CES "due to the quickly shifting situation and uncertainty around the Omicron variant." Amazon's smart home brand Ring, which makes some of the best security cameras, has also decided to skip CES 2022 over the same concerns.

T-Mobile will "significantly limit" its in-person participation at the Consumer Electronics Show. The company said in a statement:

While we are confident that CES organizers are taking exhaustive measures to protect in-person attendees and we had many preventative practices in place as well, we are prioritizing the safety of our team and other attendees with this decision.

Facebook parent Meta won't be attending the event in person to care for its employees. However, it still plans to be part of CES virtually. Twitter is also reportedly exploring online opportunities to ensure the safety and health of its employees.

Some of the other big names that won't be attending CES 2022 in person include Pinterest and iHeartRadio. More names are likely to be added to the list in the coming days.

While Sony, Qualcomm, OnePlus, and Google currently plan to attend the event, Samsung is said to be "closely monitoring the current health situation." Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S21 FE at its pre-CES keynote event on January 4.