Spycams to dominate 5G IoT market until 2023

Automotive industry will become largest 5G IoT market by 2023, Gartner says

Nearly three quarters of 5G IoT endpoint devices installed in 2020 will be outdoor surveillance cameras, taking the total number of 5G-equipped spycams to 6.2 million.

That’s according to analyst house Gartner, which has just released its latest predictions for 5G IoT use cases (where connected devices leverage the emerging next-gen mobile network for connectivity).

“Cameras deployed by city operators or used to ensure building security and provide intruder detection offer the largest addressable market as they are located outdoors, often across cities, and require cellular connectivity,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, senior research director at Gartner.

But the dominance of spycams won’t last forever, Gartner adds. By the end of 2023, their market share will drop from 70 to 32 percent, making way for the automotive industry’s roving fleet of connected cars. But if you believe Gartner’s predictions, that still means around 16 million 5G surveillance cams installed globally.

Long term, Gartner is advising everyone to get ready for connected cars. The analyst reckons there will be over 19 million 5G-equipped consumer and commercial vehicles on our roads by 2023, taking their share of the market to 39 percent.

“The addressable market for embedded 5G connections in connected cars is growing faster than the overall growth in the 5G IoT sector,” added Baghdassarian.

“Commercial and consumer connected-car embedded 5G endpoints will represent 11 percent of all 5G endpoints installed in 2020, and this figure will reach 39 percent  by the end of 2023.”

Gartner cautions that just because a car has 5G connectivity doesn’t mean it will necessarily be connected to a 5G service, but nevertheless anticipates a surge in service connections. It expects 94 percent of connected vehicles to be joined to a 5G service by 2028, which cars will use to send and receive messages between other vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians and cyclists.

“As the automotive industry will be the largest sector for IoT endpoints and 5G IoT use cases in the long term, we recommend that CSPs that want to be relevant in the 5G IoT market put this industry at the forefront of their investments. They should do this in terms of personnel who understand the sector and of partnerships that will move the market forward,” said Ms Baghdassarian.