- The forecast noted that smartphones will continue to lead the sales of connected devices both in value and volume
- Enablers like Amazon’s Alexa are expected to have a greater role in expanding the voice computing market opportunities
- Tablet PCs and smart feature phones are the two categories expected to show continued decline in sales outlook for 2020
Pic source – FlickrIndians will buy connected devices worth Rs 3,24,960 Lakh crore or US$ 45.7 Billion in 2020. This would represent 11 per cent growth over 2019 read ‘India Connected Consumer Devices Report’ by Techarc.
“Users in India are moving beyond Smartphone connectivity. These connected solutions apart from making them ‘smart’ substantially increase the utility of such devices as well,” noted Faisal Kawoosa, founder & chief analyst, Techarc.
Interestingly, the likes of Xiaomi and Realme, have recently stressed on their plans to launch more IoT aka smart features embedded products in India. As a matter of fact, a lot of new brands have announced launches of products that come embedded with smart features.
Product categories to look out for
Smartphones, as per the report, will continue to lead the sales of connected devices both in value and volume. These are sold at individual levels than household and have higher ASP (Average Selling Price) among such personal connectivity devices. However, with normal growth outlook for Smartphones, OEMs will explore adjacent products with higher growth prospects where there is still a lot of headroom for growth.
Smart speakers will see high growth in sales. Content being made available through and on them is on the rise. Enablers like Amazon’s Alexa are expected to have a greater role in expanding the voice computing market opportunities.
Faisal Kawoosa noted, “Tablet PCs and smart feature phones are the two categories expected to show continued decline in sales outlook for 2020. These two device categories have not been able to excite the market beyond a point and there continue to be very limited opportunities for them in the market.”
Smart home solutions picking up
Among other connected devices, smart home solutions have started to pick up. These include smart bulbs, fans and other electric and electronics devices for homes. The penetration is still very low. The other segment within these includes peripherals and accessories where the wireless connectivity is increasingly creating new use cases as well as adding to the digital lifestyle of consumers in India.
“The growth for Connected Consumers’ Devices in 2020 will be driven by Cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity to Consumer Electronics for mass markets making several ‘luxury’ products available to masses during the year,” noted Faisal Kawoosa.
“However, government must intervene to ensure the standardisation and quality control of such devices and go beyond the present quality checks and balances in the interests of consumers. This will lead to consumers getting maximum value out of the money being spent on these connected devices. The biggest concern will however continue to be of security as there will be several endpoints vulnerable for security exploits for hackers,” he added.
The overall growth outlook, as per Techarc, for connected consumer devices for 2020 is of normal. It defines normal growth as a range between 10 to 25 per cent of annual sales growth. Smart wearables led by wireless buds (Earables) will see ultra-growth with many brands likely to foray in the segment after Apple’s success in the category. Realme has already launched its wireless buds recently.
