The analyst estimates that global cellular IoT module shipments will increase by 14% in 2020, reaching a new record level of 303 million. Annual revenue growth slowed to 8%, reaching US$3.4 billion.
The cellular and LPWA IoT device ecosystem provides a comprehensive overview of the main WAN technologies of the IoT-2G/3G/4G/5G cellular, LoRa, Sigfox and 802.15.4 WAN.
The Internet of Things is weaving a new global network of interconnected objects. As of the first quarter of 2021, approximately 2.1 billion devices are connected to a wide area network based on cellular or LPWA technology. The market is highly diversified and divided into multiple ecosystems. The analyst predicts that annual shipments of cellular and non-3GPP LPWA IoT modules will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7% from 363 million in 2020 to 855 million in 2025.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the demand in several major application areas in 2020, the global chipset shortage will have a broader impact on the market in 2021 and curb the growth of IoT device shipments in the short term. Analysts predict that by 2025, cellular IoT module shipments will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.8%, reaching 629.6 million units.
The latest cellular IoT module vendor market share evaluation results show that the five largest module vendors including Quectel, Sierra Wireless, Sunsea AIoT, Fibocom and Thales account for 71% of the market share in terms of revenue. Senior analyst Fredrik Stalbrand said: “The performance of top suppliers has changed a lot during the year, in part due to the different geographic and vertical market exposures affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Due to 4G LTE In addition to the strong demand for LPWA products, China Quectel and Fibocom have the highest module sales growth, which is about 40%. Next year, Quectel’s annual revenue will exceed the $1 billion mark, becoming the first of all cellular IoT module suppliers.
Following the commercialization of 5G modules in mid-2020, a number of IoT device manufacturers launched 5G devices during the year. These include many IoT gateway suppliers, as well as Chinese automakers.
With the expansion of network coverage and mass production of IoT-optimized modems and attractive prices, it is expected that a wider range of IoT devices supporting 5G networks will enter the market in 2021 and beyond. Another key accelerator for the adoption of 5G in the IoT market will be the support for reduced functionality (RedCap) devices that will be introduced in the upcoming 3GPP Release 17.
Sometimes referred to as NR Light, RedCap devices are cheaper than 5G devices deployed today and provide higher data rates than LPWA technologies such as LTE-M and NB-IoT. Modules that support the specification may be available in 2023 and increase the potential market for 5G NR to use cases such as wearable devices, video surveillance, and industrial surveillance.
Post time: Jul-05-2021