Better Sales Seen for Consumer Electronics Products

For the first time ever, US consumer electronics purchases are expected to top $200 billion in 2012 according to the latest forecast from the US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The group is expecting total sales of $206 billion this year, up 5.9% from 2011 sales and 2 points higher than the January estimate. The CEA further estimates that 2013 sales will grow another 4.5% to total $215.8 billion.

The CEA’s president and CEO noted:

Consumers’ desire for connected devices is pushing projected revenues higher than originally anticipated, but the long-term health of our industry relies on a strong and growing U.S. economy.

Sales of tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are expected to nearly triple from $10.8 billion in 2011 to $29.1 billion this year. Unit sales are expected to total 68.5 million.

The primary revenue driver remains smartphones, which CEA expects to ship more than 108 million units in 2012 and account for $33.7 billion in revenues.

Apple, Samsung, and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will account for most of the sales, while Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and software partner Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) have been projected to capture as much as 4% of sales by Strategy Analytics.

CEA also sees laptop sales rising to 21.3 million units and $14.9 billion in revenue. Networked TV sales will grow by 50%, with unit sales reaching 10 million and revenue up to $9 billion. 3-D TV sales are also expected to double in units sold to 5.6 million and revenues are set to rise 75%, to more than $7 billion. Sales of in-vehicle electronics gear is also expected to grow to $1.6 billion for factory-installed systems.

Paul Ausick