U.S. consumer electronics industry revenues projected to reach all-time high in 2015

Revenues for the consumer electronics industry are projected to grow 3 percent in 2015 and to reach an all-time high of 223.2 billion U.S. dollars, said U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts, a semi-annual industry report released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) here on Tuesday.

The CEA forecast, which reflects U.S. factory sales to dealers and covers more than 100 consumer electronics (CE) products, projects that revenue for new, emerging product categories is expected to double, growing 108 percent year-over-year in 2015.

These new technology categories include 3D printers, 4K Ultra- High Definition televisions, connected thermostats, unmanned systems (unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned vehicles and home robots), IP cameras and wearables, such as health and fitness devices, smartwatches and smart eyewear.

CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro announced the revenues forecast during his opening remarks Tuesday at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest gathering of consumer electronic products, technologies and services running through Jan. 9.

The report said that while the emerging product categories represent less than 5 percent of the entire CE industry revenue forecast, they are expected to contribute almost 11 billion dollars to overall CE revenue in 2015.

"Our forecast underscores that consumers' love affair with technology shows no signs of slowing any time soon," said Shapiro.

"Consumer technology is all about continued innovation. In the blink of an eye, consumer demand has taken off for emerging categories such as wearables, unmanned aerial vehicles and 4K Ultra HD -- categories that were too small to track just three years ago. Expect to see these burgeoning categories, as well as innovations across the full spectrum of consumer technology, on display this week at the 2015 International CES."

Sales of mobile connected devices, specifically smartphones and tablets, will continue to stand as the top two revenue drives of the CE bottom line in 2015, representing 34.1 percent of the total CE industry revenue, the report showed.

The report projects TV sales remain critical as the industry's third-largest contributor to the total revenue with sales of TV sets and displays projected to reach 18.3 billion dollars in 2015, down 2 percent from 2014.

This year's CES gathers 3,500 exhibitors from all over the world and the number of visitors is expected to reach last year's 150,000. The organizer of the show, the CEA, is representing more than 2,000 member companies in the consumer electronics industry in the United States.