UHD Ownership Surging In U.S. Households

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Among emerging technologies, 4K Ultra HD (UHD) television is enjoying the fastest growth in U.S. household ownership. That’s a key takeaway from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)‘s 19th annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study.


CTA research shows 16% of U.S. households now own a 4K UHD TV – up nine percentage points year-over-year.

Furthermore, some 11% of U.S. households plan to purchase a 4K UHD TV in the coming year.

Other emerging technologies expected to experience significant year-over-year ownership growth in the year to come include voice-activated digital assistants, drones and virtual reality headsets.

At the same time, smartphones and in-vehicle communications/safety systems saw the largest gains in household ownership among connected devices – both increasing by six percentage points year-over-year. Some 45% of U.S. households now have at least one vehicle with a driver-assisted safety or communication system, such as a back-up sensor, rear-view camera or hands-free calling.

Smart home devices, smart TVs, smartwatches, wearable activity trackers and wireless speakers each saw an increase in household ownership of four percent, year-over-year.

“Our research last year showed most consumers are excited about automated driving features and self-driving cars, but there’s still some hesitancy about the technology,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at CTA. “This report is further evidence that, despite that wariness, more and more drivers want innovations that help keep them safer on the road. So, as a broader range of our driving tasks are automated via driving-assist technologies, eventually, riding in a self-driving car will be just an incremental step from the in-car tech we’ve all come to know and love.”

CTA’s 19th Annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study also shows televisions remain the most popular technology device in the U.S., as they have for decades.

Some 96% of households own at least one TV. But, the total number of units owned (308 million) decreased by 3% year-over-year.

Smartphones are now in 80% of U.S. homes, reflecting a 6 percentage-point jump year-over-year.

U.S. consumers now own 27 million more smartphones than they did last year, CTA says.

 

 

 

After ranking second on this list for several years, household ownership levels for DVD/Blu-ray players dropped 7 percentage points year-over-year (70%) and unit ownership fell 14 percentage points (142 million).

With the addition of earbuds, household ownership of this category now sits at 70%, boosting this audio technology up one spot from last year’s report; these are the country’s most frequently owned tech product by unit (352 million).

The CTA study was administered via a dual-frame telephone interview to 2,014 U.S. adults between Feb. 2-13, 2017.