Booming US sales of high-resolution television sets, China’s insatiable appetite for smartphones and the emergence of new gadgets were not enough to prevent a global slowdown in the consumer electronics market to just 1 per cent growth last year, according to the industry’s trade body, writes Tim Bradshaw.
The Consumer Electronics Association’s report showed how softening demand for smartphones and tablets in developed markets and falling prices for mobile devices around the world are putting pressure on the industry to find new sources of growth, such as in-car systems, wearable fitness-tracking devices and home appliances.
The CEA published its annual market update, which was calculated along with market researcher GfK, ahead of this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The event sees thousands of gadgets launched every year, such as the pair of Axxess CE Air 2 levitating speakers, pictured right at this year’s show. The number of start-ups exhibiting at CES this year has risen 59 per cent to 375 compared with the 2014 event. Hundreds more companies have paid to display products in the so-called “internet of things”.