New Delhi : Announcing the 1st edition of India Connected Consumer Devices Report, techARC today said that Indians will buy connected devices worth ₹ 3,24,960 Lakh crore or US$ 45.7 Billion in 2020. This would be 11% growth over 2019.
Releasing the report, Faisal Kawoosa, Founder & Chief Analyst techARC said, “Users in India are moving beyond Smartphone connectivity and moving to other connected solutions which apart from making them ‘smart’ substantially increase the utility of such devices.”
“Fundamentally, this is being driven by two trends of creating a connected cluster around Smartphones, being the hub and adding connectivity in consumer electronics led by Smart TVs and Smart Speakers,” added Faisal.
Smartphones 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.
The overall growth outlook for connected consumer devices for 2020 is of normal growth. techARC defines normal growth as a range between 10-25% 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.
Smart Speakers will see high growth in sales as both devices as well as content being made available through them is on the rise. There is a lot of work happening in enabling lot many use cases through Smart Speakers. Enablers like Amazon’s Alexa is expected to have a greater role in expanding the voice computing market opportunities.
Tablet PCs and Smart Featurephones 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.
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. However, the penetration is still very low. The other segment within these includes of 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. 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.
