A lot of things are happening in the consumer technology space. In 2022, we will see an ever-growing number of intelligent and smart devices. Here are the key trends for 2022.

1. THE 7 BIGGEST CONSUMER
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN 2022

2. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
THE 7 BIGGEST CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY
TRENDS IN 2022
A lot of things are happening in the consumer technology space. In
2022, we will see an ever-growing number of intelligent and smart
devices. Here are the key trends for 2022.

3. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) is re-
shaping industry and augmenting the abilities of professionals, including doctors,
lawyers, and architects, enabling them to do amazing new things. However, it’s
also enriching our everyday lives by improving our ability to communicate with
friends and family, improve our health, fill our homes with smart appliances and
gadgets, or simply just letting us kick back and enjoy movies, music, and gaming
in more impressive and experiential ways.

4. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Consumer technology is a broad category of products and services that cater to helping us
solve problems or just have better experiences in our day-to-day lives. It can be big and
bold, in the manner that only a 100-inch 8K tv set can be, or sleek and portable, like the
latest generation of phones, watches, and media players.
So here’s an overview of a few of the ways that Apple, Samsung, Sony, and the other
market leaders will be looking to part us from our hard-earned cash in 2022.

5. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 1: RISE OF THE DOMESTIC ROBOTS
Robots in the home have been on the cards for a while, and robotic vacuum cleaners
and other single-purpose devices are already relatively common. But with Astra,
Amazon is bringing what it believes will be the first general-purpose home robot to the
market. If it’s a success, other manufacturers are sure to follow, in the same way, they did
when Amazon introduced home AI assistants with the Echo.
Astra can act as a roving security bot, keeping an eye out for people who shouldn’t be
there, as well as an "Alexa on wheels," coming to find you when you have calls or alerts.
It also has a personality so it can keep you company or just provide general
entertainment. Other robots that are either hitting the market or appearing as
prototypes will offer help with household chores, healthcare monitoring for the elderly
who live alone, or serve an educational purpose.

6. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 2: SMARTER THINGS
The first generation of "smart" products were really just "connected products," from
smartphones that let us browse the web to TVs that let us watch Youtube and Netflix. Machine
learning came later, and as well as enabling phones to prolong their battery life with intelligent
power management, or take better pictures with image enhancing algorithms, brought us smart
thermostats that learn how to operate efficiently and devices that are essentially capable of
operating autonomously, like self-driving cars. Today, rather than simply letting us watch online
content and run apps, smart TVs use AI to adapt their picture and sound to the environment
they are in, and have built-in natural language recognition algorithms so we can control them
with our voices. Smart consumer devices in 2022 will build on this ability to deliver personalized
solutions to the unique challenges we face in our day-to-day lives, whether it’s the angle that
the sun shines on our TV screen or monitoring our activity to provide fitness advice.

7. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 3: VR/AR AND THE INTERNET OF SENSES
Engage with digital content and services online traditionally involves stimulation of two of our senses – sight
and hearing. Moving forward, both manufacturers and content providers will look to engage us through
touch, taste, and smell to create truly immersive consumer experiences. Much of this will take place in virtual
reality environments (VR), where new devices will let us smell and feel experiences, meaning that they will
seem increasingly “real” and interactive. Videogame Phasmophobia involves hunting ghosts, with the
terrifying innovation that players can feel themselves being touched or grabbed by ghouls and apparitions, if
they are wearing a haptic suit. Both VR and augmented reality (AR) consumer devices will proliferate during
2022 – Oculus is reported to have sold close to two million of its Quest 2 headsets during 2021, meaning
more content producers will be motivated to bring their games and experiences to VR. We can also expect
competitors like HTC and Sony to step up their play for their share of the lucrative new market. We can also
expect consumer entertainment, including movies and gaming, to provide more realistic audio experiences –
Nvidia is applying the “ray tracing” principles it uses to create ultra-realistic computer images to sound
creation, to create richer and more realistic soundscapes.

8. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 4: ENTER THE METAVERSE
A new Matrix movie will drive consumer interest in virtual worlds and alternate digital
realities, and consumer technology will be there to offer a taste in 2022. Companies
including Facebook, Nvidia, and Microsoft have laid out their plans for the metaverse,
with their aim of creating immersive online environments that offer a persistent world for
work, socializing, and play. However, game developer Epic could have played the biggest
part in showing us the way forward, with its Fortnite game attracting up to 15 million
players online at any one time, to build things, experience live concerts, and, of course,
blow each other up.

9. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 5: 5G AND THE ULTRAFAST NETWORKS
5G capabilities will become the norm for mobile phones and other devices at all
price points, rather than being confined to premium and flagship products. This
will mean higher definition and higher bandwidth video services will start to
become available, including 8K streaming as well as cloud gaming and VR. This
means that devices will become smaller and lighter as there’s no need for bulky
processors and graphics chips, with all the calculations being done remotely and
the output simply streamed to consumer devices as a video feed.

10. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 4: SMART HOMES AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
The trend for all things domestic to become increasingly “smart” and capable of
communicating and connecting with each other in more useful ways will continue
throughout the next year. In fact, analysts at Gartner have predicted that the average
home could contain more than 500 smart devices during 2022. This year should finally
see the launch of Matter, the “smart home OS” created in collaboration by Apple,
Google, and Amazon, which aims to create a standard operating environment for
connected devices in the home. Currently, devices from different manufacturers
generally operate using their own protocols, and although these are frequently designed
to play nicely with others, there’s no equivalent of Windows or MacOS to let consumers
manage and connect all of their gadgets and toys. This could change in 2022, when it’s
predicted the market for smart home devices will grow to $53 billion.

11. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
TREND 5: NFT, BLOCKCHAIN AND DIGITAL TWINS
I’m putting these all together in one category because when it comes to their applications in
consumer technology, they are closely related. Put simply, blockchains (persistent, distributed,
and encrypted digital ledgers), NFTs (unique tokens that can be created and stored on
blockchains), and digital twins (digital models or replicas of real-world products or processes)
will change the way we interact with technology. In 2022 we will start to see them impacting
consumer products in a big way. Consumer brands including Sony, Asics, and Coca-Cola
have signaled their intention to be a part of the NFT space, and we can expect to see digital
goods and services designed to complement and augment physical consumer products. This
is a result of brands increasingly seeing growing their digital engagement to be equally
important to their business strategy as simply selling us products.

12. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Read more about these and other future trends in my book, Business Trends in
Practice: The 25+ Trends That are Redefining Organizations.

13. © 2021 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker,
futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and
companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data
more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as
artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is
a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for
Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers
and shares content that reaches millions of readers.

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