What you need to know
Technology devices are essential tools that can provide a level of convenience and quality in people’s lives. Although the ownership of mature tech products (eg PCs, tablets) is approaching universal, there is strong interest in replacing or upgrading them. Purchase interest among non-owners of new/emerging tech devices also appears to be strong, primarily driven by consumers’ inner need to seek solutions in life with technology.
Artificial intelligence is one of the most remarkable technological advancements over the past decade. So far, AI has been applied to many devices and services to make them serve humans more efficiently. However, the overuse of the terms “smart” and “intelligent” in almost every tech device could easily lead to desensitisation and distrust among consumers, especially when the claimed intelligent features fail to meet expectations. Despite all the fancy imaginings about what AI can do, in reality, most consumers still view AI as a useful tool assisting their daily lives. Technology brands need to focus on perfecting the intelligent functions that consumers find useful, instead of applying the “intelligent” label to everything.
It’s only natural that consumers’ attitudes towards technology vary, affecting their purchase decision-making and their interest in and attitudes towards tech advancements such as AI. Technology brands should understand their preferences and adopt more targeted marketing and sales approaches.
Key issues covered in this Report
Key questions covered in this Report include:
Ownership and purchase interest in various technology devices
Factors important to consumers when buying technology products
Consumers’ usage of popular apps/websites on their devices (primarily smartphones)
Intelligent functions/services consumers are interested in
Consumers’ attitudes towards artificial intelligence
Consumers’ attitudes towards technology
Covered in this Report
This Report covers ownership and intentions to purchase consumer technology products (eg smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearable devices), and consumers’ digital activities, ie usage of different popular apps or websites on their technology devices (primarily smartphones).
Each edition of the Digital Trends Report contains a Special Focus section, where we address a particular aspect of the consumer technology market. This edition’s Special Focus is on artificial intelligence, and we examine what intelligent functions and services consumers are interested in and their attitudes towards AI.
In addition, we perform a preliminary cluster analysis on consumers based on their attitudes towards technology in this edition – respondents are grouped into clusters with different attitudes towards technology, namely, “Early Adopters”, “Tech Savvies” and “Technology Conservatives”. We then examined issues such as their ownership of technology products, purchase interests, consideration factors when buying tech products, intelligent functions/services of interest and attitudes towards AI.
