Asia Pacific Dominates Global Consumer Electronics Market

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The global consumer electronics market features several players dominating the market for a particular type of electronic device. However, players such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Apple Inc., LG Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Sony Corporation, HP, Nikon Corporation, Canon Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Dell Inc. have emerged as the dominant consumer electronics manufacturers due to their strong performance in multiple areas of the consumer electronics market.

Rising Demand for Low-cost Consumer Electronics Drives Growth

The increasing disposable income of consumers in developing economies is a major driver for the global consumer electronics market. While developed regions such as the U.S. and Western Europe are becoming saturated markets for consumer electronics, the demand for all types of consumer electronics is growing rapidly in Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and large parts of Africa. The solid economic growth of countries such as India, China, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, and Thailand has propelled the global consumer electronics market and is likely to remain a determinant factor in the market’s growth in the coming years.

The reducing prices of electronic items, particularly smartphones, are another major factor driving the global consumer electronics market. As companies from developing companies have been able to exploit the availability of cheap labor to their advantage, established Western giants have faced increasing competition in developing regions in the last few years. The rapid rise of Chinese smartphone giants, Xiaomi and Huawei, is the perfect example of this phenomenon.

The consistent technological innovation in consumer electronics has also played out well for the global market for the same. The abundance of manufacturers of consumer electronics has resulted in several companies focusing on previously unexplored niches and developing products to suit the changing lifestyles of their key consumers.

“The major restraints on the global consumer electronics market are the erosion of the price margin of manufacturers due to the intense competition and the risk of continual technological advancements devaluing OEMs and making them unsustainable,” according to TMR’s lead analyst.

Increasing Demand for Smartphones to Ensure Dominance of Handheld Devices

By product type, the global consumer electronics market is segmented into handheld devices, television sets, personal computers, audio/video devices, cameras and camcorders, gaming consoles, and personal care products. Of these, handheld devices, which include smartphones and tablets, are expected to remain the largest segment of the consumer electronics market in the 2014-2020 forecast period.

The increasing demand for low-cost handheld devices in developing regions is a prominent feature of the global consumer electronics market and is likely to remain unchanged over the aforementioned forecast period. Asia Pacific was the largest market for consumer electronics in 2013. Furthermore, the increasing demand for and production of consumer electronics in Southeast Asian countries are likely to ensure rapid growth of the Asia Pacific consumer electronics market in the 2014-2020 forecast period.

According to Transparency Market Research, the global consumer electronics market was valued at US$1,074.56 bn in 2013. Exhibiting a steady 4% CAGR from 2014 to 2022, the market is expected to rise to US$1,550.34 bn. This information comes from a market study titled ‘Consumer Electronics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2022.’