Consumer Tech to 'Gradually Recover' From Pandemic-Driven Trials: ABI

Consumer technology shipments showed some resiliency amid large-scale disruption to production lines and supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, said ABI Research Wednesday. Shipments will “gradually recover in 2021 as the impact of the pandemic starts to wane, consumer confidence returns, and device supply chains bounce back to near-pre-COVID levels,” said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn.

Khin highlighted ultra low-power machine learning chipsets and devices supporting ultra-wideband (UWB) networks as major consumer technologies expected to “take-off” in 2021. Consumer devices supporting UWB, including cellular devices, smart home appliances and automotive, will reach 286 million units globally, said the researcher.

Global smartphone shipments fell 8.5% last year, but 5G helped prop up sales with a diverse range of handsets and a “rapid rush” to lower priced models, said Khin. ABI forecasts the 5G smartphone market will grow at a 43% compound annual growth rate to pass 1.1 billion units in 2025, accounting for 73% of all smartphone sales.

Wearables and true wireless earbuds are evolving from simple smartphone accessories to “whole digital platforms,” delivering personalized experiences and data, said Lynn. The analyst predicted “explosive growth” in the segment to more than 1 billion shipments in 2025.

Demand for wireless connectivity propelled shipments of Wi-Fi routers, wireless hot spots, gateways and Wi-Fi customer premises equipment last year, as consumers looked for more robust Wi-Fi networks to support home-based work and learning, streaming video services and online gaming, noted Khin. Edge processing will expand beyond image and language processing to deliver faster responses, more privacy, improved device functionality and smart home device management, she said. Demand for voice-controlled front-end devices will also remain strong, she said.

The consumer technology market is shifting from being device-centric to being “experience-focused,” said analyst Eleftheria Kouri. Cloud services and internet-based content and apps boost the value of devices and appliances, she said. “Consumer electronics and device vendors need to build ecosystems that offer consumers flexibility and seamless experiences, combining hardware quality, platform-agnostic content, and cloud services."