Strong first-half sales and rising average selling prices are prompting NPD to project that U.S. consumer tech industry revenue will grow 7% year over year in 2021 despite a 1% unit sales decline, reported the company Tuesday. NPD expects 2022 revenue to be down 7% on a 6% unit decline, while 2023 will bring a 4% revenue decline as units decrease 5%, it said. NPD attributes this year’s higher than expected ASPs to increased shipping costs and inflation from component shortages, plus “consumer readiness” to trade up to more premium products, said Stephen Baker, vice president-industry adviser. A lack of “promotional activity” also is at play, he said: “All of these factors have driven our total revenue projections up, but higher ASPs inevitably lead to lower demand, resulting in unit sales declines in categories such as TVs, networking devices, and printers in the back half of the year.” After the “historically high” COVID-19 pandemic-induced demand for consumer tech products in 2020 and 2021, “we are anticipating near-term declines with a slow climb back to normalcy by the end of 2023,” said Baker.

Consumers’ return to travel after 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns is driving growth in travel tech, blogged NPD analyst Ben Arnold Monday. Consumer tech revenue grew 3% in Q2 vs. the 2020 quarter, he said. In digital imaging, revenue in the detachable lens/mirrorless camera category doubled in first half vs. January-June 2020; unit sales grew 28%, he said. Camcorder unit sales grew 17% in Q2. Point-and-shoot cameras, which had been declining by 20% or more over the past few years, rebounded with 15% growth in the first half. Bluetooth speaker revenue was up 20% in first half, with a return of social gatherings driving an 81% revenue increase in party box speakers and threefold growth in karaoke speakers, he said. Summer road trips fueled car audio sales, which declined last year: In-dash head units were up 15% in first half, car amplifiers up 48% and satellite radio receivers grew 36% year on year.

Chromebook shipments grew 68.6% globally in Q2 to 12.3 million units, despite the “tough comparison” with the 2020 period as the first full quarter of COVID-19 lockdowns, reported IDC Friday. Tablets grew 4.2% year over year to 40.5 million devices, it said. “Both categories are experiencing some slowdown from the boom in the preceding quarters.” Chromebooks are still in high demand and “even on backlog” for many education deals, but vendors have started prioritizing higher-margin Windows laptops amid the ongoing component shortages, it said. The “bigger concern” with tablets is that consumer demand “will slow much faster than Chromebooks or even the broader PC market,” it said. Lenovo leapfrogged Acer in Q2 for second place in global Chromebook share, but HP solidified its position as top brand, increasing its share to 14 points from 6.2 points over its nearest competitor.

Cable and wireless companies are the worst in terms of customer service call access. That distinction is per TCN-contracted survey results of 1,000 U.S. adults in May. It said 43% of those surveyed said cable or wireless companies are the worst to get in touch with for customer service, followed by 23% naming a federal agency and 8% naming a financial services firm.

Some 72% of consumers report regularly using multiple platforms to consume video, Parks Associates reported Tuesday. Four in 10 view video on all tested platforms: TV and TV-connected devices, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and PCs, said the research firm. “Consumers today have much higher expectations of their video entertainment experiences,” said Pierre Donath, chief product and marketing officer, 3 Screen Solutions, saying Netflix and other streaming services “set a new benchmark and continue to improve it.” With connected device use increasing, building “mutually beneficial partnerships with these device platforms is an important component of WarnerMedia’s distribution strategy,” said Melissa de la Rama, vice president-distribution. With major studios making moves in the over-the-top video world, the viewer experience will become “the most important way to retain viewers,” said Lexie Knauer, Brightcove senior product marketing manager. Parks plans a virtual Future of Video webcast Wednesday.

Consumer intentions on buying TV sets jumped sharply in July from June, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Analytics company Toluna canvassed a nationally representative sample of consumers for the board through July 23, finding 13.8% planning to buy a new TV set in the next six months, up 2.2 points from June and 2.7 points higher than in July 2020. Consumer confidence was virtually unchanged in July from June “but remains at its highest level since February 2020,” said the board: “Consumer spending should continue to support robust economic growth in the second half of 2021.”

More than 665 million homes worldwide, 34%, owned a smart TV at the end of last year, with 51% expected by 2026, said Strategy Analytics Tuesday. Smart TV sales grew 7.4% last year to 186 million, for 79% of all flat-panel TV sales. North America led growth, fueled by the U.S. government’s COVID-19 economic stimulus programs, said the research firm. Samsung held the top spot for the ninth consecutive year, with TCL sliding into second place for the first time ahead of LG. Samsung’s Tizen is the leading streaming platform, but Android TV and Roku are gaining ground. The top four smart TV operating systems had over 50% of sales last year, said SA. The connected TV landscape is “incredibly complex” and consumers have multiple devices in different configurations to choose from, said analyst David Watkins: “TV streaming platform providers face a significant challenge in driving engagement and ensuring that TV viewers remain on their platform and do not switch to another source.” Smart TV OS providers need to consider improved content discovery capabilities, advanced analytics and advertising platforms and the development of an intuitive and user-friendly user interface, he said.

Consumers plan to spend record amounts on school and college supplies as they prepare for a return to in-person classrooms this fall, said survey results emailed Monday by the National Retail Federation. Spending for college will average $1,200, up $141 from last year, with $80 of the increase pegged for electronics and dorm furnishings, NRF said. Back-to-school shoppers plan to spend an average $21 more on electronics this year than 2020, it said. Of those planning to buy electronics, 49% plan to buy a laptop, 32% a calculator and 31% a tablet, it said. Total back-to-college spending is forecast at $71 billion, up from $67.7 billion in 2020. Families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $848.90 on school items, $59 over last year, with total back-to-school spending expected to reach a record $37.1 billion. As of early July, 51% of K-12 and college shoppers had begun shopping for school items; 39% shopped for school items during recent sale events such as Amazon Prime Day, Target Deal Days and Walmart's Deals for Days, said the survey. Some 43% said they plan to use money they received from government stimulus to buy back-to-class items. The most popular destinations for K-12 shoppers are online (48%), department stores (48%), discount stores (44%), clothing stores (41%), office supplies stores (27%) and electronics stores (27%). Top college shopping destinations are online (43%), department stores (33%), discount stores (30%), office supplies stores (29%) and college bookstores (28%). The survey of 7,704 consumers was fielded by Prosper Insights July 1-8.

The Tokyo Olympics look to be among the least-watched recent Summer Games, reported Zeta Friday. The marketing tech company canvassed 2,000 U.S. adult consumers, finding 45% aren't looking forward to the event and 17% undecided if they will tune in. Generation Z and younger millennials had the highest interest. Among women, 48%, said they were interested in watching, compared with 41% of men.

U.S. wireless customers spent 110 minutes daily on average on their smartphones in June, five minutes more than the January average, reported J.D. Power Thursday. “Despite the increased usage on everything from streaming audio to browsing content to gaming,” consumers experienced fewer data and streaming problems, it said. There's "a combination of improvements from carriers and manufacturers and an increasing level of sophistication among consumers,” said Managing Director Ian Greenblatt. Findings were based on a January-June canvass of 32,400 U.S. wireless customers across six regions of the country.