While the list is largely consistent with 2016’s report, CTA identified a few notable changes within its annual top five rankings of most frequently owned tech devices in U.S. households:
- Televisions: While household ownership remains steady at 96 percent owning at least one TV, the total number of units owned (308 million) decreased by three percent YOY, reflecting a very slight decrease in the number of TVs in use per household.
- Smartphones: With smartphones reaching a record level of household penetration (80 percent), they jumped solidly into second place among the country’s most frequently owned tech products; the total number of smartphones owned also increased significantly to 238 million (up 13 percent).
- DVD/Blu-ray players: After ranking second on this list for several years, household ownership levels dropped seven percentage points YOY (70 percent) and unit ownership fell 14 percentage points (142 million).
- Wired headphones and earbuds: With the addition of earbuds, household ownership of this category now sits at 70 percent, boosting this audio technology up one spot from last year’s report; these are the country’s most frequently owned tech product by unit (352 million).
- Notebooks, laptops or netbooks: While household ownership increased slightly (69 percent, up one percentage point), the category fell one spot in the rankings despite a 12 percent YOY jump in unit ownership.
ARLINGTON, VA.—Smartphones are now in 80 percent of U.S. homes, a six percentage point increase year-over-year. U.S. consumers now own 27 million more smartphones than they did just last year, according to new research from the Consumer Technology Association, which also indicated that TVs remain the most popular technology, with at least one in 96 percent of U.S. homes.
“Three of the top five most frequently owned technology devices are products with screens—televisions, smartphones and laptops—and those numbers will continue to grow as one-third of consumers tell us they’ll buy at least one smartphone in 2017, and one-fifth say they plan to buy a television or laptop in the coming year,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the CTA. “U.S. consumers are quickly embracing the rapid rise of today’s ‘screen culture,’ demonstrating their appetite for connected devices that enable easy and accessible consumption of content of all types.”
While CTA forecasts overall industry growth in 2016, the strong household penetration of mature categories, such as tablets, televisions, PCs and laptops, and continued industry innovation are declining or slowing growth and placing pressure on margins for some manufacturers and retailers. For example, despite a projected 65 percent increase in revenue for Ultra High-Definition TVs in 2016, CTA expects revenue for the overall TV market to not increase this year.
Smartphones and in-vehicle communications/safety systems saw the largest gains in household ownership among connected devices —both increasing by six percentage points YOY. Almost half (45 percent) of U.S. households now have at least one vehicle with a driver-assistive safety or communication system such as back-up sensors, rearview cameras or hands-free calling. Smart home devices, smart TVs, smartwatches, wearable activity trackers and wireless speakers each saw an increase in household ownership of four percent YOY.
Among emerging technologies, 4K Ultra HD television is enjoying the fastest growth in ownership. CTA’s research analysis shows 16 percent of U.S. households now own a 4K UHDTV, up nine percentage points YOY and 11 percent of U.S. households plan to purchase a 4K UHDTV in the coming year. Other emerging technologies expected to experience significant YOY ownership growth in the year to come include voice-activated digital assistants, drones and virtual reality headsets.
The 19th Annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study ascertains ownership and purchase intent of consumer technology products among U.S. households across various categories. The report was administered via a dual-frame telephone interview to 2,014 U.S. adults between Feb. 2-13, 2017. It is designed and formulated by CTA Market Research. The complete study is available for free for CTA member companies at CTA.tech/membership. Non-members may purchase the study at the CTA store.
Concurrently, statistics visualizer Statista reported that Americans spend 2 hours, 37 minutes a day, on average, on mobile electronics devices, up 80 percent over four years. (See graphic below.) Find more statistics at Statista
