Consumers to use and own more than three personal devices by 2018: Gartner

During the next several years, consumers will add more devices to their personal portfolio rather than consolidating it, predicts IT research and advisory company Gartner, Inc. in a report released on Wednesday.

Gartner estimates that in 2016, the installed base of devices will total 7.8 billion units (including wearables, phones, tablets and PCs) and is on pace to reach 8.3 billion units in 2018. By 2018, a “consumer in a mature market” will use and own more than three personal devices.

“The combination of the high level of adoption of technology, the availability of faster networks, and decision making becoming increasingly dependent on real-time information, will undoubtedly lead to more devices per user,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, in a press release.

Gartner expects mature market users to use three to four personal devices from a mix of “main” and “niche” devices. Main devices will include smartphones, tablets, convertibles (two-in-one devices) and notebooks and will contribute to more than two devices per person at any time, Gartner predicted. Niche devices will include a growing range of wearables such as smart watches, health bands, smart glasses and new types of connected devices such as smart cards, ereaders and portable cameras.

The report, titled Predicts 2016: More Devices per User Spurs Innovation in User Interface Technologies, also estimated that by 2019, 20% of personal devices will “record emotions used to create individual responses or crowdsourced analysis by the system.”

“With wearables recording heart rates, blood pressure, sleep patterns and steps taken, emotions are the next frontier for personal devices,” said Annette Zimmermann, research director at Gartner, in the release. The company estimates that over 740 million wearables will be in use in 2016, up 20% from 2015. Wearables are set to reach 1.1 billion units by 2019.

Devices tracking personal health and fitness will become more accurate, allowing people to better track their physical and mental health, Gartner suggested. At the same time, organizations will be able to track the stress or fatigue levels of employees who work in hazardous environments or carry heavy responsibility (such as air traffic controllers), and take preventative measures where necessary.

Also, by 2019, one-third of PC users will use speech or gestures to issue commands, Gartner said. “Speech and gesture will bring new usage and productivity gains in the commercial sector,” said Lillian Tay, principal research analyst at Gartner, in the release. “Take, for example, in field service where a worker can have hands-free access to files and documents by using a gesture to flip a page. Similarly, at home, voice and gesture provide a nice fit with a hands-free PC interaction scenario. For example, waving to a screen to change the page of a recipe book when the user is cooking, or opening a browser to search and add items to a grocery shopping list whenever something comes to mind.”