ARLINGTON, VA. — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) predicts that factory-todealer sales of CE products will increase 2 percent to $211.3 billion this year.
The growth is driven in part by the skyrocketing sales of connected devices, according to “U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts 2010-2015,” CEA’s semiannual industry report.
CEA’s consensus forecast covers more than 100 CE products, serving as a benchmark for the CE industry, and charting the size and growth of underlying categories.
The report’s midyear update is in line with CEA’s projection in January, slightly adjusted after better-than-expected 2013 revenue growth. Looking ahead to 2015, CEA expects industry sales to grow by 1.2 percent, with industry revenues reaching another all-time high of $214 billion.
CEA’s forecast projects that revenues from emerging product categories will grow by 242 percent year over year in 2014, and another 108 percent in 2015. These developing technology categories include 3D printers, health and fitness devices, smart watches, Ultra HD TVs and smart thermostats, a newly introduced sales category to the report.
Cumulatively, while the emerging product categories represent less than 3 percent of the entire CE industry revenue, they are expected to contribute almost $5 billion to the overall CE industry in 2014. That total is an astounding jump from just two years ago, when revenue from these categories was too small to track, CEA said.
In video, despite a steady decline in average wholesale prices, TV sales remain critical to the industry’s overall bottom line with total TV sets and displays projected to reach $18.4 billion in 2014, down 5 percent from 2013.
The continued market growth of Ultra HD TV is performing better than initially projected in 2014, CEA said. Unit shipments of Ultra HD displays are expected to reach 800,000 in 2014, earning $1.9 billion in revenue, a 517 percent increase over the 2013 total. Revenue from Ultra HD displays is projected to exceed $5 billion in 2015, an impressive total considering that revenue was virtually nonexistent three years earlier.
LCD TVs will account for 94 percent of all digital display sets sold this year, with 36.7 million units expected to ship to dealers in 2014. That total will produce $17.3 billion in revenue, in line with 2013 levels as the thirdhighest revenue driver to the CE industry.
Sales of mobile connected devices, specifically smartphones and tablets, will continue to stand as the top two revenue drivers of the CE bottom line in 2014. These two devices alone will represent 35.1 percent of total CE industry revenue in 2014. Although revenue growth for this category has slowed, unit sales will continue to see increases.
As the sales leader of the industry, smartphone unit shipments are projected to reach 163.5 million this year, up 8 percent from the 151 million units sold in 2013. Additionally, smartphone revenues are expected to generate $46 billion in 2014, a 7 percent increase from $43 billion in 2013.
Unit sales of tablets are projected to reach 80.4 million this year, a 4 percent increase from 77.4 million in 2013. Revenues for tablets will reach $25.6 billion this year, down 3 percent.
