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As tech industry leaders gather for an annual extravaganza showcasing hot new products, political uncertainty is casting a cloud over the sector.
The election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum are among the factors weighing on the outlook. And a strong US dollar may cut into spending for many consumers around the world.
With the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off this week in Las Vegas, the organizers are predicting that industry revenue would shrink for the fourth consecutive year.
Consumer Technology Association senior director of market research Steve Koenig revealed the forecast Tuesday, predicting the amount of money people around the world spend on smartphones and other gadgets this year would tally $929 billion as compared to $950 billion in 2016.
Koenig said the "underpinning" of the global forecast was "uncertainty with the election of Trump and with Brexit."
It's the end of the world as we know it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Thursday January 05 2017, @02:44PM
the fact that smartphones have gotten as insanely overpowered as PCs yet battery tech hasn't kept up with the times? Not to mention so many of them trying to ape "Apple thin" which makes the battery life suck even harder and you have plenty of reasons for consumers to look at the new stuff and go "no thanks mine works just fine" and stick with what they already have.
I'm now in the same boat, I've been replacing my smartphone every year and a half but...I already have a 1.3Ghz quad with a GB of RAM and a MicroSD giving me 32Gb of storage, so I just can't justify grabbing a new one when mine is working perfectly well. I don't play video games on my phone (I have a PC for that) and only download trusted apps from the Google Playstore so I'm really not too worried about not having the latest OS, so what can they offer me? A bigger screen that will make it more of a PITA to put in my pocket? Worse battery life? I've seen nothing in the latest offerings to make me want to break open my wallet and Trump has exactly jack to do with it and Brexit? Really? What are they gonna blame their sales numbers on next, global warming?
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by chromas on Thursday January 05 2017, @06:19PM
But we've got at least 8 different techs perpetually right around the corner that will give us 10× battery life!
Don't forget the Russian hackers.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday January 05 2017, @07:44PM
I'd take a second phone just to help them, but considering the prices providers charge compared to Europe, and how the new FCC is likely to allow them to fuck us all even deeper, I'll have to pass.
Get me a real hoverboard, or at least an e-bike with a decent range, and I'll help the tech sector's top line.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 05 2017, @08:26PM
Same here. I bought a multi-pack of extra batteries for my phone when I got it because the word on the street was that manufacturers were doing away with physical keyboards. I wanted to be able to cross the wasteland of touch screens to the future point when some company will come to its senses and bring back a keyboard.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday January 05 2017, @09:36PM
Dampened = made slightly wet. Damped = reduced amplitude of.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 05 2017, @10:09PM
Re = regarding, or reply