CES 2022 Tech Forecast: Cloudy with a Chance of Sunshine
US Consumer Tech Industry Expected to Grow, But Slowly in 2022
Sometimes a little step forward means a lot: It’s better than stumbling or tripping and falling backward. That seemed to be the opening-day theme as CES, the world’s largest tech event, opened Monday for the first of two media-only days.
Revenue generated by the US consumer tech industry is not expected to grow in 2022 at the same frantic pace as in recent years, but is still forecast to grow. And that’s a good thing, said Steve Koenig, vice president, market research, for the Consumer Technology Association, which operates CES.
According to the CTA, the US consumer tech industry grew 7 per cent in 2020 and 9.6 per cent in 2021, but is expected to grow just 2.8 per cent in 2022, nosing just above the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time.
“We can’t hit these historic highs forever, but we’re still growing,” said Koenig as he presented a “Tech Trends to Watch” session to the press in Las Vegas Monday.
But he tempered the good news with a forecast that the shipping problems and chip shortages that have plagued tech and auto companies globally for the past year will continue into the near future and maybe until the middle of the decade.
“This is going to be with us for a while,” said Koenig. “This is kind of a one-two punch in many ways.”
However, he said that advances in autonomous-driving vehicles and technologies, some of which are being showcased at CES 2022, and the construction of new chip-fabrication plants (fabs) in Asia, the US and elsewhere will solve these problems—but not right away. New chip fabs take years to plan, site and build and are extremely expensive, he said.
Nevertheless, Koenig struck an optimistic tone. “Technology is the answer and it’s here at CES,” he said.
As the curtain rises on CES 2022, which opens to all attendees Wednesday, there’s no shortage of hope and hyperbole and technology and products worth digging into, but there will be shortages in attendance, which will be much lower than at the last in-person CES in 2020, which drew 170,000 attendees.
Social media images from Monday’s two #CES2022 media events, the trends session by Koenig and CES Unveiled, the first of many product showcases this week, revealed much smaller attendance than in 2020 and many empty exhibitor tables. Many members of the media, including this writer, opted to cover the show remotely due to Covid-19 concerns.
Still, the CES 2022 show is going on, albeit for one day less than originally planned. Stay safe attendees.
©️Copyright 2022 Robert S. Anthony, Stadium Circle Features
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