The success of smartphones is spelling bad news for other products in the consumer electronic (CE) devices market.
This is according to new findings from ABI Research, which revealed these devices are stealing market share around the world and in particular in North America, with annual shipments of digital cameras and handheld game players set to decline.
It is anticipated that sales of handheld players will dip at least four per cent year-on-year worldwide and almost 13 per cent in North America, while global purchases of cameras are likely to fall more than 11 per cent year-on-year and nearly 20 per cent in the US and Canada alone.
Attempts are being made in the industry, however, to plug the gap between portable CE products and cellular-enabled mobile devices with the introduction of models such as Sony’s 3G PlayStation Vita and Samsung’s Galaxy Camera.
Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research, said: “Early sales of Sony’s 3G Vita were quite strong, likely attributable to pre-launch bundles which favored the cellular version – more recent holiday bundles have since favored the Wi-Fi-only model.”
