Deloitte Predicts Huge Growth in Smartphones, mPayments for 2016

Deloitte has issued its 15th round of Technology, Media & Telecommunicaitons (TMT) Predictions. Among predictions about major growth in virtual reality, decline of traditional TV, and other trends, Deloitte expects major growth in the mobile sector.

Deloitte forecasts that smartphone volume will increase by 66 percent, with the overall market reaching a value of $17 billion. Better still, the company predicts growth of 150 percent in what it calls ‘touch-based commerce on mobile devices’, asserting that 50 million people will use mPayment services in the coming year. That will be very good news for the likes of platforms like Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, especially as they enter major new markets such as that of China. It’s also good news for the companies involved in developing the fingerprint scanning technology used to enable the biometric authentication that is so important to mobile payments and commerce.

Also worth noting is the continued rise of online photo sharing, which Deloitte believes will exceed two trillion photos, rising by 15 percent against 2015. That could be good news for Shutterfly and even Facebook even as those companies grapple with the emerging legal issues over the facial recognition technology that is used in their photo sharing apps.

A full list of Deloitte’s TMT Predictions for 2016 can be found on its website.