Smart accessories for smart phones, growing market for system OEMs and chip makers

ABI research says while the shipments for smartphones have reached over 40% of all handsets, the shipments of aftermarket smartphone accessories account for 56% of accessory shipments and 64% of revenues. “With a large portion of the accessory ecosystem focusing on smartphones, handset and accessory OEMs are looking to make their accessory products ‘smart’ in an attempt to differentiate, extend brand, and increase revenues,” comments senior analyst, Michael Morgan. Currently the smart accessory ecosystem is dominated by health and fitness applications that are leveraging a combination of the GATT profile in Bluetooth v4.0, and low-power sensors made by leading IC vendors such as Texas Instruments. ABI Research believes that leveraging the processing and software capabilities inherent in mobile devices in combination with hardware products will open a new vector for accessory OEMs looking to create differentiated accessory products. Adding ‘smart’ capabilities to accessories can increase product ASPs by 30% to 100% over non-smart versions of the same product, finds ABI. ABI suggests smart accessories pose challenges for accessory OEMs who tend to have limited electrical engineering and software engineering skillsets. This new technology vector for accessories also poses an opportunity for IC vendors looking to expand their reach beyond the mobile device and handset marke...