With thousands of new products shouting for your attention, you can easily miss the bigger takeaways at CES. Recognizing the trends that develop and will impact the future is one of the most valuable things about the show. And since technology now touches more aspects of our lives than ever before, there were several key trends on display at CES 2020.

Here are the ones that will have the biggest impact on the rest of 2020 and beyond.

Tech getting less techie and more subtle

Today’s technology is flashy, it’s in your face and it’s everywhere. It’s difficult not to feel like technology is taking over our lives as it embeds itself in more and more places and things. But one of the trends of CES 2020 was technology becoming less obtrusive, more subtle and blending into the environment in more natural ways. We saw three companies that can tell that story: UltraSense, Sentons and Mui Lab.

UltraSense and Sentons are doing something similar. Both use sound waves to create touch interfaces out of plain surfaces made of plastic, metal, wood or other materials. This means the buttonless phone is a lot closer than we think, because this sound-wave technology can simply make the side of the phone a virtual button. Pressing and holding one spot could activate a power button. Sliding your finger up and down one side can change the volume. Squeezing the phone can take a selfie. Running your index finger down the back of the phone could act like a scroll wheel. You get the idea.

These sound-wave buttons don’t wear out as fast and the interface is more integrated into the device’s build. Manufacturers can also use haptic feedback to help you locate and interact with these virtual buttons. But beyond phones, both companies are also working to bring this technology to other surfaces, including steering wheels on cars, window panes, appliances and much more. This is going to be appearing in phones during 2020, but it’s when it starts making its way to other surfaces that its full potential could start to shine through.

Mui Lab takes a different approach to the same issue. The company has designed a smart display out of a natural wood surface. It looks like a normal strip of wood most of the time, but when it goes into display mode then it lights up with buttons or messages that show directly on top of the wood surface. Mui is a Japanese term that’s meant to convey a relaxed state of mind, and the idea behind this product is for it to blend seamlessly into your living space rather than just being another slab of technology taking up space.

Read the top five and the rest of the article here.