Global cellular IoT module shipments market grows only 2% in Q3 2022

Global cellular internet of things (IoT) module shipments grew by only 2 per cent (on-year) in Q3 2022, as China led the market followed by North America and Europe.

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, China’s shipments decreased 8 per cent (YoY) in Q3 due to a resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

Automotive, router/CPE, PC, industrial and point of sale (POS) were the top five applications in terms of value in Q3.

However, some of this demand decline was offset by an increase in the residential, smart door lock, patient monitoring, registrar device, smoke detector, drone, smart meter and automotive applications.

Senior Research Analyst Soumen Mandal said that the IoT module market is undergoing changes as demand for low-end technologies like 2G and 3G declines and “shifts towards 4G Cat 1 and 4G Cat 1 bis, where higher-end applications are upgrading from 4G to 5G”.

In this quarter, the top three technologies in terms of shipments – NB-IoT, 4G Cat 1 and 4G Cat 4 — accounted for over 60 per cent of the total shipments.

“However, in terms of revenue share, 5G, 4G Cat 4 and 4G Other were the top three technologies and held nearly two-thirds of the total revenue. The lower-end technologies such as NB-IoT, 4G Cat 1 and 4G Cat 1 bis are helping connect a greater number of IoT devices, while higher-end technologies like 4G Cat 4, 4G Other and 5G are adding more value to the IoT ecosystem,” said Mandal.

Despite slower growth in IoT module shipments, IoT module revenue increased by 12 per cent YoY in Q3 due to a higher mix of 5G and 4G Cat 4 modules.