Connected Cars Boost IoT Growth

According to Chetan Sharma Consulting, the internet of things is now the U.S. wireless industry’s growth center and is driven by connected cars. Reportedly, 90% of this sector’s net additions come from connected cars and IoT devices.

In their most recent US Mobile Market Update, the firm wrote that smartphone sales remain healthy, but “we can expect that new net adds will continue to be dominated by the connected device segment.”

Chetan Sharma goes on to say that the “sharp decline of tablet net adds…doesn’t bode well for the category.” This means that consumers already own a smartphone so carriers hope to insert their cellular connection into other kinds of devices.

More context on IoT and connected cars growth includes:

• In 2014, phones accounted for 61% growth, cars for 12% and IoT for 18%
• Tablets are growing at 9%
• In 2015 and 2016, phones purchases declined while connected cars and IoT grew
• In 2017, non-phone categories dominated with connected cars leading the field for the first time in history