Global IoT connections forecast to rise above 40 billion in 2034

The latest report from industry analyst firm Transforma Insights presents its annual snapshot of the status of the IoT market worldwide.

LONDON UK – 10 June 2025 – Transforma Insights has today published its report Global IoT Forecast Report, 2024-2034 which provides the industry benchmark of the status of the global Internet of Things market.

The key highlights are:

• At the end of 2024 there were 17.7 billion active IoT devices, a figure which will grow to 40.6 billion in 2034, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9%. Annual device sales will grow from 4.3 billion in 2024 to 9.0 billion (a CAGR of 8%).
• Short range technologies will dominate connections, accounting for 76% in 2034, a slight reduction compared to the 79% they account for today.
• Cellular connections will grow from 2.1 billion at end 2024 to 6.7 billion at end 2034. By 2034 total ‘5G’ including mMTC will be 4.9 billion, but just 1.2 billion will be ‘full’ 5G New Radio (NR). The remainder will be mMTC technologies such as NB-IoT and LTE-M. Substantially the biggest 5G non-mMTC use case is vehicle head units, accounting for 48% of connected in 2034.
• Other Low Power Wide Area technologies such as LoRaWAN will collectively grow from 439 million in 2024 to approaching 1.8 billion in 2034.
• In revenue terms, the total IoT market (defined as including connectivity modules, value added connectivity, and core associated applications) in 2024 was worth USD369 billion, a figure which will rise to USD908 billion in 2034. Value Added Connectivity will account for 8% of spend in 2034, with the connectivity modules accounting for a further 4%.
• In 2034 the consumer sector will account for 65% of all device shipments. Of the enterprise segment in 2034, 33% of shipments will be accounted for by ‘cross-vertical’ use cases such as generic track-and-trace, office equipment and fleet vehicles, 17% by utilities, most prominently smart meters, 15% by retail/wholesale (predominantly payment processing devices and electronic shelf labels), 7% by transport and logistics, and 6% by government.
• Geographically, China, Europe, and North America dominate, accounting for 31%, 21% and 20% respectively of total IoT connections in 2034.

Commenting on the findings, Principal Analyst Matt Arnott said: “Despite the rising trade tensions and inconsistent consumer sentiment that have characterised the year so far, the IoT market continues to grow at the steady pace we expected. As always, the consistent growth of the IoT market obscures the erratic movements of the thousands of micro-markets that it encompasses. Over the past year, rising sales of cellular devices in India have transformed it from a market with potential into a major demand centre. Similarly, the looming arrival of non-terrestrial cellular networks has created greater potential in the most remote parts of the world, and for the most underrepresented use cases. In order to forecast the future of the IoT, it is crucial to understand how these small components build the greater whole.”

The report provides a summary of the data within Transforma Insights’ ultra-granular IoT Forecast Database and associated Forecast Insight reports, which together provide application-by-application analysis of the market.

Jim Morrish, Founding Partner at Transforma Insights noted: “Transforma Insights analysts have been forecasting the Internet of Things market opportunity for over 15 years. Today our team continues to provide the most detailed, extensive and deeply researched forecasts of the IoT, making ours the benchmark against which all predictions of IoT market growth should be compared. As a company, we continue to enhance our forecast databases having recently published forecasts for converged AIoT propositions with the same level of granularity as for our IoT forecasts.”

Join us for a webinar on 17th June

On the 17th June 2025 we will run a free webinar delving into many of the most interesting details of the IoT forecasts as discussed in the report and more, including focussed discussion of key emerging IoT applications together with an overview of AIoT and 5G Non-Terrestrial Networking (NTN) opportunities. Join our leading IoT experts Jim Morrish and Matt Arnott to learn more.

Register here.

About the report

This Global IoT Forecast Report, 2024-2034 provides a snapshot of the state of the IoT market in 2024 and forecasts to 2034. It is compiled based on data extracted from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database, specifically the IoT ‘Connected Things’ forecasts. The forecasts are constantly updated and cover over 250 applications across 21 vertical sectors and 196 countries.

The report comprises analysis of connections and revenues including splits by geography, technology, vertical sector and use case/application. This includes analysis of cellular connections and generation splits (2G, 3G, 4G and 5G), LPWA connections, public vs private network splits and many more. It also includes tables containing high level data. For a full set of data, subscribers should go to the IoT Forecast Database.

The report also provides details of methodology, segmentation and definitions which will be useful to anyone using the forecasts.

If you have questions concerning the methodology, either general or specific to a particular application or vertical sector, don’t hesitate to contact our analysts via enquiries@transformainsights.com.

About Transforma Insights

Transforma Insights is a leading research firm focused on the world of Digital Transformation (DX). Led by seasoned technology industry analysts we provide advice, recommendations and decision support tools for organisations seeking to understand how new technologies will change the markets in which they operate.

For more information about Transforma Insights, please see our website transformainsights.com or contact us at enquiries@transformainsights.com.