The impact of technology is seen in nearly every industry, and every region of the world. The Global Networked Economy is in a perpetual state of evolution. This creates both challenges and opportunities.
Following the COVID-19 global pandemic, the market saw some recovery due to rising demand from remote working and the need for a connected ecosystem. Now there are new overarching issues affecting the global supply chains for many consumer electronics sectors.
According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, these conditions have led to weaker demand, but with technical advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Fifth Generation (5G) mobile connectivity, and new form factors, 2023 will be a recovery year for the consumer technology market.
Consumer Technology Market Development
"In smartphones, the replacement cycle followed by the migration to 5G smartphones and eagerness to embrace new form factors like foldable devices will be the main growth drivers for accelerating adoption in 2023," said Sachin Mehta, senior analyst at ABI Research.
With the rapid increase of AI in various verticals, innovation and use cases will accelerate the growth in end markets for various consumer technology verticals.
Business professionals in the consumer technology world must embrace AI to leverage its potential, drive innovation, and gain a competitive edge.
The consumer market for robotics is maturing and continue to thrive in the past 6 months, although results from leading players suggest a market adapting to a range of economic and competitive pressures.
This change comes at a time when there are also some specific concerns about addressing inventory management and reduced consumer spending.
Consumer robotics shipments for 2023 will increase 13.6 percent from 2022, with revenue up by 12 percent from 2022, as competition increases in the key home care robotics market.
The total market for consumer robotics and smart appliances will see shipments at 215 million units, that's up 18 percent from 2022. Revenue will increase by 9.6 percent to $141.3 billion.
Some consumer technology markets, such as wearables, are witnessing a lot of innovation and new use cases. The overall market for the wearable category is expected to reach 363.10 million units in 2022.
"Health being the core center of innovation for the wearable category is pushing vendors to bring more robust devices with advanced features. The use of advanced sensors and AI based algorithms will be on the rise to bridge the gap between the wearables and health care ecosystem in 2023 and beyond," says Mehta.
According to the ABI assessment, the healthcare wearables market is expected to grow to 31.64 million shipments in 2022, and then reach 82.25 million shipments by 2027.
Meanwhile, fixed broadband subscriptions are on the rise and are expected to reach 2 billion in 2027 as internet connectivity will be an essential part of the ecosystem in the years to come.
From smart homes, to consumer robotics, to the adoption of online entertainment platforms such as video streaming and online gaming, the demand for reliable broadband connection will drive the growth and innovations in various verticals.
Also, new network deployments are likely to boost the 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) market targeting the replacement of last-mile fiber-optic connectivity. This market will see significant growth with a CAGR of 62 percent, reaching nearly 72 million FWA subscriptions by 2027.
Outlook for Consumer Technology Applications Growth
The Smart Home also continues to transition from delivering individual value to a single home, from a single service or device supplier, into providing a networked infrastructure with value that will be leveraged by multiple users, to be connected throughout cities, nations, and regional economies.
"Also, in terms of connectivity, Bluetooth will play a pivotal role in the consumer technology market. Bluetooth consumer device shipments will accelerate as the technology continues to be deployed beyond smartphones giving a big push to other verticals like smart homes, wearables and other IoT applications," Mehta concludes.
That said, I anticipate the deployment of advanced mobile internet access services will enable new applications that may not have been possible with previous cellular wireless networking generations. I also believe that the price of many consumer devices will continue to fall across several key categories.