This report provides a market and forecast overview of the Personal Portable Electronics Application Group (which includes Portable Cameras, Headphones, Smartwatches, and Media Players) found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT Forecast. These electronic devices are lightweight portable equipment that are mostly used by consumers.
The availability of increasingly capable smartphones has resulted in a constrained market for cameras and media players as most consumers have access to smartphones and they typically offer similar functionality. This has left a market for devices being used either for commercial purposes or targeted to specific consumer segments such as cameras for photography enthusiasts and media players for those who prioritise better audio quality. However, the ubiquity of smartphones has been a key enabler for the adoption of Headphones and Smartwatches, which are often used in association with smartphones.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue.
A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
This section begins with the reasons that are driving the demand for consumer electronic devices, leading OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to either create new products or update old ones. It then talks about how smartphones are one of the popular consumer electronic devices that have boosted the demand for headphones and watches and reduced the demand for cameras and media players. It then refers to the Covid-19 pandemic and talks about how it has affected the demand for electronic products such as connected cameras.
The “Market development” section has been further categorised into Connected Consumer Cameras, Headphones, Smart Watches, and Media Players.
This section discusses how the market for dedicated cameras is mostly driven by hobbyists and light professional users (as confirmed by crucial industry players like Nikon). It also considers the cameras that are used to record adventurous activities (like Go Pro cameras), the connectivity technologies used in them, and their features like image stabilisation and 4K videos. It also talks about the limited scope of WAN connectivity in cameras and states the reasons behind this.
This section also includes some popular innovations by market vendors in the industry, like the Canon EOS R5, which is a mirrorless camera that captures 45-megapixel photos at up to 20 frames per second. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth with CF express and SD card slots along with the extended Canon cloud platform.
This section talks about how the mass adoption of MP3 players, followed by smartphones has created considerable growth in the adoption of headphones in recent years, resulting in significant technological evolution (like noise cancellation features). It also talks about how the recent Covid-19 pandemic has also encouraged the adoption of connected headphones.
It then lists some popular innovations by market vendors in the industry, like the Bose 700 which are noise-cancelling headphones with capacitive touch controls, noise-cancelling technology, streamlined lightweight design, built-in voice control and Bluetooth connectivity.
This section begins with an explanation of the symbiotic relationship between smart watches and smartphones and talks about some of the reasons that have driven the adoption of smart watches (like the growing importance of health monitoring). It also explores why cellular-enabled smartwatches are taking an increasing share in the smartwatch market (owing to their features like audio streaming and navigation). Besides, it also mentions the kind of connectivity technologies that are being preferred in new smart watches (like LoRa) and their advantages (like enabling a range of Smart Home and Healthcare applications). It also charts a few barriers (like interface limitation) which hamper their adoption.
This section also includes some popular innovations by market vendors, like the Apple Watch Series 7, which is equipped with cellular connectivity (using eSIM), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and NFC technology, and has multiple features including responding to texts and tracking sleep options for tracking outdoor activities.
This section begins with a short description of how PMPs (portable media players) have evolved with time, with features such as a long battery life and a wide range of input and connectivity options.
It then charts the features of connected portable media players (like relying on a USB connection or memory cards to transfer media) and explains how they differ from tablets and smartphones. It also discusses the challenges faced by the media player market (for instance, from the smartphone industry) and how this market will perform in future.
This section also lists some popular innovations by market vendors in the industry including the Apple iPod Touch, which is a popular portable media player that is equipped with a 4-inch display touch screen, has a maximum storage of 256GB, and offers access to downloaded music files as well as streaming capability on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of personal portable electronics devices which will grow from 1.4 billion in 2023 to 3.2 billion in 2033.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the personal portable electronics application group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Personal Portable Electronics Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 20%.
