The top tech trends for the coming year will be about the coming of 5G, artificial intelligence, companion robots, smart cities, mixed reality, sports innovation, digital therapeutics, and other things that are going to be a big part of the global economy in the years to come.
Those were some of the takeaways based on a presentation by analysts at the beginning of the media day for CES 2018, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week.
The presentation was made jointly by Steve Koenig and Lesley Rohrbaugh, two tech analysts at the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on CES 2018.
Above: Steve Koenig of the CTA.
Overall, they said the tech economy is healthy. The U.S. market for tech devices is expected to grow from 621 million units in 2016 to 671 million units in 2017, up 8 percent. 2018 revenue for those tech devices in the U.S. is expected to be $351 billion, up 3.9 percent from $339 billion in 2017.
Koenig said that the top trend for the show and the year will be the pending arrival of 5G networks, which promise multigigabit download speeds for broadband data. Companies such as Samsung, Verizon, Intel, Qualcomm and others are debuting equipment that will make the 5G networks possible in the next couple of years. And once 5G is here, it will lead to huge expansions in the telecom, industrial, automotive, healthcare, and mixed reality markets, he said.
Artificial intelligence is also a pervasive tech trend, with smart speakers like the Amazon Echo with the Alexa voice recognition service taking off. Koenig said sales of smart speakers grew an estimated 279 percent in 2017 to 27.2 million units, and that number could hit 43.6 million in 2018.
AI is also making its way into automobiles through self-driving cars and other applications. Robotics continues to grow as companies such as Blue Frog Robotics and Mayfield Robotics create better buddy robots that provide companionship and party fun for people. LG will have a lawn-mowing robot soon.
Face recognition and other biometric technology are growing rapidly as well, leading to improvements in everything from smartphone security in the iPhone X to better security cameras that don’t give off false alarms.
Above: CTA stats for connected devices.
Rohrbaugh also said that sleep technology is making advances, as researchers are increasingly recognizing that lack of sleep is really taking its toll on busy people. Somnox, for instance, has a sleep robot that you can cuddle. It will help you go to sleep, like a teddy bear. Yes, that’s worth a good laugh, but Koenig said robots have come a long way since Honda made the humanoid Asimo years ago.
While sales of virtual reality consumer units have been mixed, Koenig predicted an explosion of VR and augmented realitiy as content gets better and more useful. Lenovo is expected to release its low-cost Mirage Solo VR unit soon to compete with Facebook’s upcoming Oculus Go at a $200 price point.
Above: Consumer tech revenues in the U.S.
“Hopefully this will spur adoption,” Koenig said.
Rohrbaugh also said that smart cities are really getting under way, as the collection of big data becomes useful and actionable, whether it’s information about the power grid or traffic patterns. There are big initiatives for smart cities in places such as Paris and London. Those cities are getting ready for the day when well over half the population lives in mega cities in the future.
Above: Lesley Rohrbach of the CTA.
Koenig also said that tech is transforming sports through fitness measurement, and digital therapeutics is bearing fruit in products such as mini blood pressure monitors and EKG monitors.
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