NPD Sees Wireless Headphones, Chromebooks, Large TVs as 2020's Top Tech Drivers
The U.S. tech industry, following a 3 percent sales uptick in 2019, is poised for 5 percent growth this year, tapering to 4 percent in 2021 and 3 percent to 2022, NPD reported. This year’s top growth categories are expected…
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to be wireless headphones (51 percent year on year), Chromebooks (22 percent), 65-inch-and-larger TVs (19 percent) and smart home devices (16 percent), it said Monday. Competitive pricing on current technology -- some in the midst of upgrade cycles -- will continue to drive CE sales, said analyst Stephen Baker. Consumer tech sales grew nearly 5 percent during the U.S. holiday season amid a generally flat period for key general merchandise categories, said the researcher. NPD’s numbers don’t include mobile phones. Despite preseason concerns over the shorter Thanksgiving-Christmas period in 2019, consumers bought “early and often,” with tech sales up 9 percent year on year during Thanksgiving week, 14 percent on Cyber Monday and 21 percent during Christmas week, it said. TVs and PCs were the top revenue categories within consumer tech in November and December; headphones, up 52 percent year over year, surpassed tablets for the number three position for the first time, NPD said. The December quarter was a positive indicator heading into 2020, said Baker: “Consumers are choosing to purchase at a time when a lot of innovation is looming -- 5G, foldable screens, OLED, AI -- not necessarily waiting for those technologies, nor expecting today’s product to be discounted.”