Apple Stimulates Sales Growth In Two Main Consumer Electronics Categories

Today NPD released a report analyzing consumer technology sales in U.S. for 2012. According to the report, since 2010, U.S. consumer technology sales have decreased by $4 billion, down to $143 billion.

In addition, three of the top five consumer electronics categories based on revenue in 2012 saw declines compared to 2011. The two CE categories that experienced growth were tablets and smartphones, both of which are markets that Apple currently dominates. Vice president of industry analysis at NPD Stephen Baker said:

"While CE remains a dynamic industry the fact is that the stellar growth of the past few years has made growth today more difficult.

Most market segments have high penetration rates and the demand for additional devices is slowing, or declining. Tablets and smartphones have been able to stimulate demand for additional devices, but unfortunately it hasn’t been enough, yet, to sustain positive growth trends.”

NPD also noted that Apple accounted for 19.9 percent of U.S. sales, (based on revenue), up from 17,3 percent in 2011. Samsung captured 9.3 percent of sales, up 2,3 percent compared to 2011.