Global technology spending will dip 1 per cent to $1.055 billion in 2014 as lower prices for smartphones and tablets offset increased consumer demand.
That is according to a forecast issued late Sunday by US technology umbrella organisation, the Consumer Electronics Association, at the opening of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The decline will be greatest in what the CEA called Developed Asia which will see spending drop 8 per cent on top of the 11 per cent it fell in 2012. Western Europe will see tech spending drop 6 per cent on top of the 3-per-cent drop of 2013, while the US will see a 1-per-cent drop.
“We’re awaiting the next big trend,” to rejuvenate technology spending, Steve Koening, director of industry analysis at the CEA, said at a press event.
Growth will be strongest in the Middle East and Africa, with a 6 per cent spending boost, while Latin America will see a 2-per-cent boost.
Emerging Asia will see a 1-per-cent nudge, following its 15-per-cent spending boost in 2015.
According to the forecast, emerging markets will match the tech spending of developed markets for the first time in 2014, having achieved a 41-per-cent growth since 2010, compared to a 3-per-cent drop in mature markets. In 2014, Emerging Asia will outspend North America on technology, with 286 billion dollars in sales compared to 254 billion dollars in North American sales.
Lower priced smartphones and tablets are the key drivers of higher sales in emerging markets, which will account for 42 per cent of global tablet sales and 70 per cent of global smartphones sales in 2014, the CEA said. The average price of a smartphone in 2014 will be 297 dollars, compared to 345 dollars in 2013 and 444 dollars in 2010.
“We’ve really taken the cream off the top,” Koenig said. “Now we’re really trying to penetrate these developing markets.”