IoT Goods To Become Largest Category of Connected Gear by 2018, Ericsson Says

IoT products will overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected devices by 2018, Ericsson said in a Wednesday report. Ericsson predicts shipments of IoT connected devices will grow 23 percent annually through 2021, the report said. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, close to 16 billion will be IoT devices, it said. Western Europe will lead the way in adding IoT connections, it said. The number of IoT devices in Western Europe will increase 400 percent by 2021, it said: "IoT is now accelerating as device costs fall and innovative applications emerge. From 2020, commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide additional capabilities that are critical for IoT, such as network slicing and the capacity to connect exponentially more devices than is possible today."