The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has reported that sales of tech products, such as drones, wearables and smart home appliances will increase 1.3 percent above last year’s industry revenues.
The popularity of smart technology and the increased awareness about the Internet of Things should end up pushing the consumer technology industry within the U.S. to $286.6 billion in revenues by the end of this year.
See Also: What is the Internet of Things?
“We have only just scratched the surface of what IoT will become. IoT is a loose paradigm of physical objects becoming digitized, sensorized and connected,” states Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist for the CTA. “But what generally happens, is that once these objects are connected, they fall into other categories. Connected door locks become part of the smart home. Connected sports equipment becomes part of connected fitness. It’s the everyday things that will undergo the most pronounced changes. IoT is emerging everywhere around the consumer.”
CTA projects unit shipments will reach 183 million in 2016, while revenues will reach $55 billion.
According to the report, smartphones will see their first small decline in unit sales and revenue, due to the vast improvements made to smartphones in recent years.
Will the smartphone be the lynchpin technology?
“The future of smartphones is dynamic. Smartphones are expected to grow by 5 percent on a unit sales basis for 2016 before dropping 2 percent year-over-year in 2017,” explains DuBravac. “This will mark the first of year-over-year smartphone unit decline in the U.S. Low, single-digit unit declines are expected through 2020, although any new breakthroughs in smartphone design or performance could reverse that trend, even if temporarily.”
This future dip is no cause for concern though, because it means that there are plenty of growth opportunities ahead as shoppers look for more devices that will help them in their daily lives.
“The smartphone will remain an important complement and component of this future,” says DuBravac.
It is devices that are geared towards health and fitness that are playing a large role in the growth of wearables, according to DuBravac.
Fitness activity trackers are on track to reach 28 million units in 2016, which is an increase of 60 percent. Smartwatches are getting more attention by vendors as their features offer more and more abilities such as heart monitoring and UV monitoring.
Wearables have become a large market within the tech industry, and they appear to have a bright future.
