New IDC Spending Guide Forecasts Consumer Spending on Technology to Reach $1.3 Trillion in 2019, Led by Communication and Entertainment Use Cases

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/IDCSpendingGuide?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#IDCSpendingGuidelt;/agt;–Consumer spending on technology is forecast to reach $1.32 trillion in
2019, an increase of 3.5% over 2018. According to the inaugural Worldwide
Semiannual Connected Consumer Spending Guide from International Data
Corporation (IDC),
consumer purchases of traditional and emerging technologies will remain
strong over the 2018-2022 forecast period, reaching $1.43 trillion in
2022 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.0%.

“The new Connected Consumer Spending Guide leverages IDC’s long history
of capturing consumer device shipments, combined with valuable insights
from regular consumer surveys and channel discussions, to tell a
comprehensive story about consumer spending,” said Tom
Mainelli, IDC’s group vice president for Devices and Consumer
Research. “The Connected Consumer Spending Guide team has built out an
initial set of consumer-focused use cases designed to deliver insights
about spending across a wide range of device types, from smartphones to
tablets, PCs to drones, and smart speakers to wearables. Over time, the
team will continue to develop an ever-widening array of use cases,
adding additional data about software and services, and eventually
demographic-focused insights.”

Traditional technologies – personal computing devices, mobile phones,
and mobile telecom services – will account for more than 96% of all
consumer spending in 2019. Mobile telecom services will represent more
than half of this amount throughout the forecast, followed by mobile
phones. Spending growth for traditional technologies will be relatively
slow with a CAGR of 2.4% over the forecast period.

In contrast, emerging technologies, including AR/VR headsets, drones,
robotic systems, smart home devices, and wearables, will deliver strong
growth with a five-year CAGR of 20.6%. By 2022, IDC expects more than 5%
of all consumer spending will be for these emerging technologies. Smart
home devices and smart wearables will account for more than 80% of the
overall spending on emerging technologies in 2019. Smart home devices
will also be the fastest growing technology category with a five-year
CAGR of 38.0%.

“Connected technologies are transforming consumers’ activities and
habits, becoming more and more integrated into their daily lives. This
is fueling the consumer’s unquenchable thirst for content and immersive
experiences delivered anytime, anywhere, via multiple formats and across
a myriad of channels. As a result, we see the balance of power shifting
in consumer-facing industries. Whereas once upon time, the enterprise
called the shots, more and more consumer demands and expectations are
propelling innovation,” said Jessica
Goepfert, program vice president, Customer
Insights & Analysis at IDC. “What’s the next wave of consumer
transformation? Even more widely adopted and mature activities such as
listening to music and shopping are being disrupted by new technologies
such as smart speakers. And disruption presents opportunity.”

Communication will be the largest category of use cases for consumer
technology, representing nearly half of all spending in 2019 and
throughout the forecast. Most of this will go toward traditional voice
and messaging services, joined by social networking and video chat as
notable use cases within this category. Entertainment will be the second
largest category, accounting for nearly a quarter of all spending as
consumers listen to music, edit and share photos and videos, download
and play online games, and watch TV, videos, and movies. The use cases
that will see the fastest spending growth over the forecast period are
augmented reality games (82.9% CAGR) and home automation (59.8% CAGR).

“There’s an expectation among today’s consumers for a seamless consumer
experience. The connected consumer is no longer a passive one; the
connected business buyer is in control and it’s essential for technology
providers to understand this if they want to continue to grow and gain
market share in this digital age. As technology becomes more affordable
and accessible, the connected consumer is expected to spend more as they
leverage these platforms for entertainment, education, social
networking, commerce, and other purposes. IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual
Connected Consumer Spending Guide presents a comprehensive view of the
consumer ecosystem and serves as a framework for how IDC organizes its
consumer research and forecasts,” said Stacey
Soohoo, research manager with IDC’s Customer
Insights & Analysis group.

The Worldwide
Semiannual Connected Consumer Spending Guide quantifies consumer
spending for eighteen technologies in nine categories across nine
geographic regions. The guide also provides spending details for 24
consumer use cases. Unlike any other research in the industry, the
Connected Consumer Spending Guide was designed to help business and IT
decision makers to better understand the scope and direction of consumer
investments in technology over the next five years.

About IDC Spending Guides
IDC’s Spending Guides provide a
granular view of key technology markets from a regional, vertical
industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending
guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool,
allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each
market by viewing data trends and relationships.

For more information about IDC’s Spending Guides, please contact Monika
Kumar at mkumar@idc.com.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the
premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and
events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer
technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers
global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry
opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and
insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment
community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their
key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of IDG,
the world’s leading technology media, data, and marketing services
company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com.
Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.

Contacts

Jessica Goepfert
jgoepfert@idc.com
508-988-6944

Stacey Soohoo
ssoohoo@idc.com
508-935-4050

Michael Shirer
press@idc.com
508-935-4200