IHS: over 8bn connected devices globally, Chromecast outselling Apple TV

Google’s Chromecast

There were over eight billion connected devices globally at the end of 2015, according to IHS.

The analyst group’s Techology Connected Device Market Monitor found that there were over 8.1 billion connected smartphones, tablets, personal computers, TVs, TV-attached devices and audio devices at the end of last year. The number equates to an average of four per devices per household across the globe.

Smartphones accounted for half a billion new devices to the market year-on-year. IHS predicts that there will be almost 10 times as many smartphones as tablets globally by 2020.

The analyst group also found that connected TV device Chromecast is now out-shipping Apple TV. According to IHS, the first quarter of this year saw Google push 3.2 million Chromecast devices to market compared with 1.7 million Apple TV boxes. The shift was attributed to Apple positioning its fourth-generation Apple TV as a premium device with a much higher price tag than Chromecast.

IHS found that Netflix was present on 339 million devices in the US, or 32% of all audiovisual devices, at the end of last year.

“The proliferation of media-enabled connected endpoints has implications for media consumption, media production, broadband infrastructure, and the business itself of network management and traffic discrimination It drives media consumption, IP traffic and more,” said Merrick Kingston, principal analyst-connected home, at IHS Technology.