STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A new report reveals that the Internet of Things will overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected devices by 2018.
Ericsson data shows that while mobile phones currently claim 7.2 billion of the 15 billion connected devices, and IoT 4.6 billion today, that percentage will dramatically change.
“Looking forward, we expect mobile phones to grow at an average of 3% annually over the next six years, which is vastly overshadowed by the growth we expect in IoT,” Patrik Cerwall, head of strategic marketing, business unit radio at Ericsson, told SatteliteToday.com.
According to the Ericsson report, between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT-connected devices is expected to grow 23% annually. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, close to 16 billion will be IoT enabled, SatteliteToday.com said.
While IoT will overtake cellular devices as the most heavily connected, among the different categories of IoT-connected devices — including tele-health devices, remote utility monitoring and others — cellular IoT is expected to have the highest growth rate between 2015 and 2021, SatteliteToday.com reported.