New Zealand is second only to South Korea among 19 countries canvassed in consumer adoption of smart TVs, reported IDC Tuesday. Smart TVs penetrated 44 percent of New Zealand homes, above the worldwide average of 39 percent. The adoption rate for 4K TVs in New Zealand doubled to 20 percent in the past year, about on par with the global average of 19 percent. Fewer than half the 4K TV buyers surveyed in New Zealand said that 4K capability of their smart sets “influenced their purchasing decision,” it said.

Smart speakers are fast becoming an “invaluable tool” for many Germans, said Strategy Analytics in a report Thursday datelined Munich and not obviously tied to coincide with Friday's opening of the IFA show in Berlin to the public. About 7 percent of Germans SA canvassed in July and August said they use a smart speaker, and 43 percent of those said they “can’t imagine living” without one, it said. Sixty-one percent agreed smart speakers “greatly improved the way I use technology at home,” and 68 percent said smart speakers “are much more useful than I thought they would be,” it said: “The results suggest that smart speakers are set to become widely established in German homes in the next few years.”

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets increased sharply in August from July, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 homes for the board through Aug. 17 and found 14.1 percent plan to buy a new TV in the next six months, up from 11.2 percent each in July and June, and flat with 14 percent in August 2017, said the board. The overall consumer confidence index increased to its highest level since October 2000, it said: “Overall, these historically high confidence levels should continue to support healthy consumer spending in the near-term.”

Consumers are “torn” on the role emerging technologies will play in their everyday lives, with equal proportions expressing the thought that future technologies “will create as many new problems as they do solutions,” said Intel in a “Next 50" survey report Wednesday on what consumers “are most and least excited about regarding the future of technology.” Intel celebrated its 50th birthday July 18 (see 1807270010). For the survey, Intel canvassed 1,000 consumers online May 9-20 to “understand current attitudes toward technology and its role in day-to-day activities,” to depict what consumers think the world “could look like in the next 50 years through technology innovation,” it said. The survey also sampled 102 respondents identified as “tech elites,” which Intel defined as adults 25 and older with at least a college education, household income of $100,000 and higher and a tendency to follow news about technology closely. Despite trepidation that the future can bear a whole new set of problems, consumers, especially millennials and parents, “generally feel excited about emerging technologies,” said Intel. Consumers and tech elites agree that technology “makes their lives easier,” with 57 percent of consumers and 88 percent of elites agreeing to that statement, it said. More than six in 10 elites (61 percent) agreed with the statement, “I pride myself in having the latest technology,” compared with only 21 percent of consumers who agreed, it said. In another key finding, said Intel, consumers today “express the most excitement toward familiar, established technologies such as computers and smartphones.” In 50 years, it said, consumers “expect these same technologies to be the most important, along with smart home technology.”

Global semiconductor industry revenue in Q2 grew 4.4 percent sequentially, reaching a record $120.8 billion, reported IHS Markit Wednesday. The industry recorded revenue growth “in all application markets and world regions,” it said. “This growth contributed to record application revenue in data processing and wired communication markets as well as in the microcomponent and memory categories.” Samsung continued to lead with 15.9 percent share, followed by Intel at 13.9 percent and SK Hynix at 7.9 percent, it said: “Quarter-over-quarter market shares were relatively flat, with no change in the top-three ranking. SK Hynix achieved the highest growth rate and record quarterly sales among the top three companies, recording 16.4 percent growth in the second quarter.”

The artificial intelligence market is entering a "dynamic" growth phase, fueled by the enterprise sector, and is expected to generate $8.1 billion revenue this year, growing to $105.8 billion by 2025, said a Monday Tractica report. But deep learning technology fueling the AI revolution "might be hitting a bottleneck," said the research firm. Facebook's data privacy issues, AI safety, questions about Uber’s self-driving car fatality, and the power of generative algorithms to create fake images and video are among the challenges that hit AI this year, and are the type "to be expected as we move from a hype phase into a reality phase as part of the cycle of market development,” said analyst Aditya Kaul. Tractica forecasts a "maturity curve" for AI, with the next few years bringing a "sobering of expectations, while the momentum around use cases and applications continues to build.”

Laptops and tablets are showing “surprising resilience” despite a 4 percent drop in global shipments year on year, said a Wednesday Strategy Analytics report. The 2018 connected computing market installed base is at 1.5 billion units globally, with household penetration of at least one device at 30 percent, said SA. Consumers are paring down the number of computing devices they own, holding on to them longer and replacing them less regularly, said the researcher. Connected computing device unit sales are projected to grow from 354 million this year to 403 million in 2022, with revenue rising from $148 billion to $156 billion. “People use devices based on what makes the most sense at any given time,” said analyst Eric Smith, and while smartphones fill much of that need, laptops and tablets are the “go-to devices for long-form entertainment and work.” Vendors should understand what drives a buyer to choose ultramobile, notebook and 2-in-1 PCs, and they should optimize tablets for entertainment use as older devices approach the end of the replacement cycle, Smith said. Analyst David Mercer cited “uncertain times” as enterprises become more flexible with form factors to help employees become more productive, but “consumers are not as impressed.” New, slimmer form factors come at higher cost, a “major impediment to faster replacement rates as household electronics budgets are spread thinner every year,” Mercer said. In emerging markets, rising household income will drive connected computing device sales for entertainment and productivity, said analyst Chirag Upadhyay, while replacement rates in developed markets will rebound as many devices “are too old to handle modern demands and cannot keep up with the behavioral changes of both consumer and enterprise users.” Fierce competition will drive down prices to fit more consumers’ budgets, particularly for detachable 2-in-1 PCs, he said.

Viewers in Europe’s five largest markets -- France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. -- watched on average two more hours a month of on-demand content in 2017 than the previous year, said IHS Markit Monday. Linear TV viewing time declined, as did time-shifted viewing on personal video recorders. “With the increasing volume of consumption moving away from traditional linear broadcast, monetization of on-demand and time-shifted viewing remains a key concern, as ad-insertion and tracking technology has been slow to keep up,” said IHS. The increasing shift to over-the-top consumption “signals the need for pay TV operators to act quickly,” it said. “Leading operators are already enhancing their current propositions and embracing OTT, to ensure they capture some of the time spent on other devices and services.”

Usability, image quality and high prices are among barriers that blunted growth in the video device market, Futuresource reported Monday. Sales remained “resilient” across all segments, including traditional camcorders, action cams and 360-degree consumer cameras, with 12.2 million units shipped last year, said Futuresource. But the market is projected to show year-on-year improvements from the “adventure-sharing consumer,” said Futuresource, saying rugged action cams that can be mounted onto clothes and accessories offer a clear justification over a more fragile smartphone. The average retail price of action cameras dropped last year by 9 percent, as wider availability of Chinese brands for $50-$100 led to price reductions from market leader GoPro, which cut camera prices at e-commerce sites, including Amazon. Brick-and-mortar retailers responded by narrowing shelf space for the category, said the research firm. In addition to benefiting from lower prices, consumers will get higher end features in action cameras, including better Wi-Fi for social media sharing, more sophisticated editing features and improved image quality and stabilization, as 4K resolution at 60 frames per second becomes more widely available, Futuresource said. Lower prices and better features will drive demand among new users, it said.

U.S. subscription VOD customers will grow from 132 million in 2017 to 208 million by 2023, Digital TV Research said Monday. It said 88.5 million households -- 73.5 percent of those in the U.S. -- will subscribe to at least one platform by 2023, with the average household paying for 2.35 of them. At the end of 2017, 65.1 million U.S. households, or 55 percent, subscribed to at least one platform, and the average subscription VOD subscriber paid for 2.03 services, it said.