December 26th, 2022, Kineree Shah
In this piece, we’re rounding up this year’s highlights of the tech industry in the US market.
The year began with the news of the Omicron variant, which soon faded into the background with the influx of vaccinations and boosters. But as the global pandemic loosened its grip, a new economic problem arose. Inflation soared and so did the cost of living. This was coupled with global supply chain issues which drove up the cost of electronic goods, leading a a third of Americans to say that prices had gone up a lot (30%). Although 36% of consumers were looking to cut back on tech purchases as a result of cost of living crisis, more than more half were willing to spend amount the same as last year for buying consumer electronics such as smartphones, consoles, etc., (56%).
Privacy was increasingly a cause of concern for Americans this year with more than half worried about data privacy when using the internet (57%). YouGov data revealed that two in five consumers don’t know how to protect their personal details online (42%). Majority of Americans say it’s important that search engines obtain explicit user consent before sharing personal data with third parties (91%). Tech companies need to work hard when it comes to consumer trust as nearly two in five say they don’t trust them at all with their personal data (37%).
Data concern is rising among health app users too with three-quarters of American saying data security is important when choosing apps that store their health data (73%). Smart wearable consumers also have concerns about their data with three in five Americans saying, “the data from a wearable will be used by companies to learn things about my lifestyle”.
YouGov’s most significant tech story was Americans’ opinion on 16 emerging technologies. In this detailed piece businesses can learn whether consumers think emerging tech including 3D printing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, etc., will be good for society and their sentiments towards visibility, impact and government investment.
Looking at other forms of tech, we found out that Americans use AI navigation services most infrequently in comparison to 17 other international markets (38%). A quarter of consumers have never used a QR code. But voice commands on smartphones are used by nearly two in five consumers (37%). The same percentage of Americans also use biometric security such as fingerprint and face recognition on some or all tech devices.
The above only presents a brief overview of what we’ve covered in 2022. Stay tuned for more latest insights and tech trends.
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