Ericsson’s 10 hot consumer trends for 2016: Early adopters less important

TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2015 /CNW/ – In the fifth edition of its annual trend report, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) ConsumerLab presents the 10 hottest consumer trends for 2016 and beyond.

This year’s report shows consumers believe artificial intelligence (AI) will soon enable interaction with objects without the need for a smartphone screen. In fact, half of all smartphone users expect smartphones to become things of the past within the next five years.

The report also shows that as the adoption of networked technologies moves faster than ever, mass-market use becomes the norm quicker. As a result, the time period when early adopters influence others is now shorter than before.

Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says: “Some of these trends may seem futuristic. But consumer interest in new interaction paradigms such as AI and virtual reality (VR), as well as in embedding the internet in the walls of homes or even in our bodies, is quite strong.

“This means we could soon see new consumer product categories appearing – and whole industries transforming – to accommodate this development.”

The insights in the “10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2016” report come from Ericsson ConsumerLab’s global research program and cover a range of consumer opinions. The broadest trend is representative of 1.1 billion people across 24 countries, whereas the narrowest represents 46 million urban smartphone users in 10 major cities.

These are the 10 trends for 2016 and beyond:

   

NOTES TO EDITORS

Report “10 hot consumer trends 2016”

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