Internet Things new technology business engine - in the next 10 years, this dynamic will grow at an accelerated pace with the advance of 5G networks and innovative applications of artificial intelligence

In addition to the presentation of products ranging from huge home TVs to toothbrushes to vehicles and drones, the CES fair, the largest global gathering of technology and consumer electronics, which takes place this week in the US city of Las Vegas is an area where companies and analysts from these industries share their forecasts for the year.

Although they are focused on the United States market, they have global relevance because they anticipate the trends that will unfold in the rest of the world, except for the exceptions of other markets such as China, Japan and South Korea, which offer their own movements.

Internet Things new technology business engine

The growing popularity of streaming services and wireless headphones along with fifth-generation (5G) wireless and mobile connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices will drive revenue growth in the industry. consumer technology in the United States, which will reach a record 422 billion dollars in retail revenue this year, almost 4% growth over last year according to the report of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the organizing body of CES.

Twice a year this association reflects the sales of US factories. to distributors for more than 300 consumer technology products and related software and services.

The CTA forecast also provides a general number of digital health devices, including smart watches, physical activity trackers and connected health monitoring devices, such as blood pressure monitors and smart scales.

The digital health category is projected to sell 64 million devices and a total of 10 billion dollars this year.

"More and more consumers are adopting the fastest connectivity, advanced intelligence and seemingly infinite content that technology offers today, pushing the revenue of the consumer technology industry towards another record year in 2020," said Gary Shapiro, president and CTA CEO.

"We will see advances in 5G connectivity and artificial intelligence throughout the CES 2020 fair, from digital health to autonomous vehicles and smart homes, vital technologies that are changing our lives for the better," he said.

These multi-year projections do not take into account unpredictable factors, such as changes in commercial laws. For example, any escalation in the trade dispute with China and the expansion of tariffs would likely present significant counter winds for these forecasts.

High growth segments

Expenditure on software and streaming services (including music, video and video games) is expected to reach a new high of $ 81.2 billion in 2020 (a growth of 11% over last year).

On video, the original award-winning content and more important participants in the video streaming wars will raise consumer spending to $ 24.1 billion in 2020, up 29%.

Music on demand services, including Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify, will total $ 9 billion in revenue, up 15%, with room to grow as more and more consumers adopt smart speakers and wireless headphones.

The rising expenses in the game and subscribers will boost the category of video game software and services to $ 38.3 billion in revenue this year, up 5%.

Wireless headphones like Apple AirPods and Samsung Galaxy Buds will help boost the category in 2020 to almost 67 million units in 2020 (35% more), earning $ 8.2 billion in revenue (31% more).

As for the smart home, security is a key driving force in this category. CTA expects smart home sales, including smart doorbells and locks, Wi-Fi cameras, smart thermostats, smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and smart home security kits, to reach 35.2 million units (growth 15%) and 4.3 billion dollars (4% increase).

Consumers are upgrading their smart speakers, such as Google Home, Amazon Echo or Apple HomePod, to voice-enabled devices with a display screen.

Unit sales are expected to reach 39 million units sold (5% more than last year) and $ 4.2 billion in revenue (14% increase) in 2020.

"The last decade was about the Internet of things, but now, we are starting a new decade defined by the intelligence of things," said Steve Koenig, vice president of market research at CTA.

«Connected intelligence defines the ecosystem of today's devices, from consumer favorites, such as smartphones and televisions, to an expanding universe of smart home solutions that make smart living spaces a reality. In the next 10 years, the dynamics of connected intelligence will grow at an accelerated pace with the advancement of 5G networks and innovative applications of artificial intelligence to drive the consumer technology industry forward, and with it the consumer experiences, the safety, health and more, ”said Koenig.

New verges for traditional categories

After a fall in 2019, “smart” mobile phones will recover losses with an increase in shipments of “smartphones” enabled for 5G this year. Cell phones are expected to reach 166 million units (2% increase) and earn 79 billion dollars in revenue (a 3% increase) in 2020.

5G smartphones will reach their pace, with 20.3 million units sold (a growth of 12 times more than the initial introduction last year) and generate 15.3 billion dollars in revenue (10 percent jump), with the creation of US 5G capabilities

In the case of laptops, they maintain their leadership as the most popular personal computing device, almost 53 million laptops will be sent in 2020, 1% more than last year, and they will earn 33.3 billion dollars in revenue (1% more).

TVs continue their reign as flagship technology in many US homes. UU. In general, television manufacturers will send 40.8 million units in 2020 (2% increase) generating 23.4 billion dollars in revenue (unchanged with 2019), as new TV features generate interest for consumers.

Replacement updates will be driven by larger screens and televisions with 4K ultra high definition (4K UHD) resolution and high dynamic range (HDR).

In 2020, 4K UHD sets will amount to 25 million units (12% increase) and 17.6 billion dollars in revenue (2% increase). And 8K UHD TVs will cross the milestone of one billion dollars (1.6 billion dollars) in revenue, selling 504,000 units.

The technology installed from the factory in the vehicle will grow by 6% to $ 18.5 billion in revenue in 2020 as the autonomous safety and entertainment features in the new car models pave the way towards greater growth of income.

More manufacturers are including features of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as automatic emergency braking systems, active lane maintenance and more.