Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
Consumer electronics in the UK - statistics & facts
Interested in watching Premier League soccer or a BBC series? How about listening to your favorite music playlist or playing a game on your Nintendo Switch? Consumer electronics devices make these activities, and many others, possible and easy to perform. The term consumer electronics (CE) refers to home entertainment and personal electronic devices that are used the everyday life, such as TVs, smartphones, tablets, and speakers. As in the rest of the world, the consumer electronics sector has continued to expand in the UK, with the market forecast to reach around 25.5 billion British pounds in 2024, a value forecast to increase in the near future.
Looking ahead, with UK consumers continuing to adapt their digital habits to the latest trends, we can expect the country to remain a fertile market for CE device manufacturers.
Smartphones lead the UK consumer electronics market
The smartphone market is the most profitable consumer electronics segment in the UK. Expected to reach revenues of roughly ten billion British pounds in 2024, the UK smartphone industry will count around 60 million smartphone users in that same year. Smartphones perform a wide range of tasks and are often used as a replacement for laptops and more traditional PCs - tasks that are also fulfilled by tablets. However, the UK tablet segment is expected to contract in the near future, with its revenue dropping to just above one billion British pounds. Other popular segments include smart speakers, smartwatches, earbuds, and gaming consoles.Extended reality (XR) devices: A new entry in the consumer electronics market
Recent years have witnessed the creation of a new iteration of the internet, the metaverse, where the physical and digital worlds meet. Immersive technologies are being more extensively developed, including innovative augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) solutions, encompassed in the umbrella term XR. Such technologies extend reality by either merging the virtual and real worlds or by creating a fully immersive experience. Companies have begun to manufacture XR devices, such as headsets and glasses, examples of which are the Meta Quest and the Apple Vision Pro. With a greater number of XR devices available to UK consumers across a range of price points, it is expected that the number of VR headset sales will grow rapidly in the country.Looking ahead, with UK consumers continuing to adapt their digital habits to the latest trends, we can expect the country to remain a fertile market for CE device manufacturers.
