Technology Spending in Middle East & Africa to hit $149bn in 2023

Technology spending by consumers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to hit $149billion by 2023. The figures were forecasted by International Data Corporation in its Worldwide Semiannual Connected Spending Guide.

The Worldwide Semiannual Connected Spending Guide quantifies consumer spending for 22 technologies in 10 categories across 9 geographic regions. This enables users to extract meaningful information and to be aware of data trends in the market.

There has been tremendous growth in Consumer spending on technology in Africa, the figures grew to $130.8 billion this year. This amounted to a 4.1% increase year on year.

Also, 83% of the total spending in 2019 was spent on traditional technologies like mobile phones, personal computing devices, and mobile services. For example, Voice and Data accounted for 68.7% of the total 83% fund spent while mobile phones amounted to 26.6%.

The growth of tradition technologies will, however, be relatively slow by 2019-2023 and will only experience a 2.4% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

Also, emerging technologies like AR/VR, drones, IoT, and robotics will deliver a five-year CAGR of 10.2%, thereby leading to an overall consumer spending of 17.1% in 2023.

In addition to the above, smart home devices and on-demand services will account for about 93% of consumer spending.

Moreso, the communication and entertainment industry will have the highest spending between 2019-2023. The industry will control about 79% of the $149 billion due to the growth of Augmented Reality entertainment gadgets.

The increase in connectivity and the decline of data cost will further drive the growth of the specific sector in 2023.