Consumer Tech: What’s Changed in 2020?

In this report, we’ll explore just how big an impact Covid-19 and accompanying lockdowns have had on consumers’ relationships with their gadgets and devices. We’ll also take a look at what consumers value most when purchasing tech of all kinds, from smartphones to refrigerators, and deep dive into new employee expectations as remote work continues.

You’ll discover how:

• 20% of global consumers say personal tech has become more important to them since the start of the pandemic
• Battery life is the single most important aspect for global consumers when it comes to buying a smartphone
• 48% of global consumers believe employers should pay for their employees to have a reliable internet connection when working from home

For this analysis, in October we surveyed 7,478 respondents across the US, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Australia, and Singapore using Brandwatch Qriously. We also unpicked review data to find out what people love and hate about best-selling tech this year.

Without further ado, let’s start with an overview of how 2020 changed consumer tech.

Overview of tech trends at the end of 2020

According to our survey, 20% of global respondents think personal tech has become more important to them since the start of the pandemic.

This makes total sense – during lockdowns, our devices become a dominant part of connecting with loved ones and the outside world. Meanwhile, when working from home, our tech can be vital to our livelihoods.

For many, 2020 has prompted them to spend more than they’d planned on tech. And that spending could continue. 18 to 35-year-olds are leading the way here – they are the most likely age group to have spent more on tech in 2020 than planned, and think they’ll spend more than they usually would on tech in the next six months.

That said, not everyone is happy with increasing their reliance on technology.

14% of global respondents want to cut down on their use of technology. This number rises to 18% for people aged 18 to 35. While we might be using tech more, that doesn’t mean we’re enjoying the experience.

Meanwhile, there are other concerns about tech that are coming to the fore. 16% of global respondents worry about the environmental impact of the tech they use.

So for many people, tech is becoming more important. But what do we value most in the tech products we buy?

Consumer preferences around particular products

In our Brandwatch Qriously survey in October, we asked global respondents what tech they planned to buy or ask for as a gift over the next six months. For each tech item they planned to acquire, we asked them what was most important to them when getting one.

We also used Amazon’s Best Sellers pages to find the top selling items across our categories. Once we had URLs for popular tech products, we plugged them into Brandwatch Reviews and were able to see what keywords appeared in good and bad reviews on the site. All together, this data gave us an insight into what consumers value most in tech, and how top selling items right now are performing with regard to those values.

Computers

The most popular computer attributes for our survey respondents were speed, memory / storage, and cost or value for money.

Looking at our top sellers, value for money was a top-rated aspect. Many of the most positive reviews featured the word ‘Price’.

Many of the top-selling computers on our list came with a keyboard and screen. Interestingly, the most negative reviews tended to feature these in their complaints.

While value for money is key, computer brands shouldn’t skimp on accompanying accessories like monitors and keyboards. They should also take note of what consumers are craving most from computers, and adjust promotions accordingly.

Laptops

Next up, we asked those who planned to get a laptop in the coming six months what they wanted from one.

Just like with computers above, speed, memory / storage, and cost / value for money are all important.

Similarly again, value for money came up as an important aspect in positive online reviews.

Unlike with the computers above, best-selling laptop keyboards are actually a cause for celebration in online reviews.

We also noticed that ‘games’ appeared in more positive reviews than ‘ram’ did, suggesting that the technical aspects of the product are not nearly as important to laptop consumers as how the thing actually runs.

Tablets

Our survey respondents who plan to acquire a tablet listed slightly different preferences, compared to laptops and computers above. Memory / storage is important, but battery life is way up there too. Cost or value for money is also a high priority, with ease of use just behind.

In reviews, price and battery life were both key features in positive reviews. This suggests the current best sellers are really nailing it when it comes to what consumers want and what manufacturers are delivering.

In fact, tablets are nailing it compared to the other categories we looked at. The tablets we analyzed had the highest average rating of all the tech we looked at in this report.

That said, there is negativity around apps which is finding its way onto tablet reviews. Apps running as they should is central to consumers’ enjoyment of a tablet, so this is well worth addressing.

TVs

When it comes to TVs, our survey respondents wanted high definition / resolution, value for money, and for the TV to have internet access so they could easily stream whatever they want to watch.

In reviews for the top selling TVs, picture and price appeared prominently in positive reviews.

On the negative side, screens, remotes, and sound tended to appear in more negative reviews. High quality sound and screens are popular options on the list of consumer priorities for TVs, which suggests there’s a real opportunity here for improvement among the best-selling options.

Meanwhile, issues with remote controls should be investigated and ironed out as soon as possible to avoid more negative reviews.

Gaming

In our surveys around each of the tech categories, we asked people how important it was that they liked or trusted a brand when buying tech. Games consoles scored particularly highly for this, with gamers expressing loyalty to their favorite consoles.

Most important for gamers are great graphics, memory / storage, and value for money. The range of new games and the ability to play older games also scores highly.

In short, gamers have high expectations for their consoles, which might be why the competition is so intense in the industry.

When we looked at online reviews for best-selling consoles, we found that accessories like headsets and controllers were key, both in positive and negative reviews.

While the quality of the consoles themselves is vital, ensuring that the accompanying devices are up to scratch is also very important. Controller issues are having a negative impact on online reviews, which can put prospective customers off.

Wearable fitness devices

For wearable fitness devices, our survey respondents said value for money, ease of use, their ability to monitor progress, and battery life are the most important attributes.

Both battery life and price feature heavily in positive best-selling fitness device reviews.

One of the most negative aspects of fitness device reviews was around apps. It might be great that a smartwatch can last a long time and track steps, but if the apps people want on them don’t work properly, or if the fitness device’s smartphone app itself doesn’t give a smooth experience, people are going to be frustrated. There is work to do here, especially when ease of use is a key consumer priority for these wearables.

Smartphones

Battery life, memory / storage, and cost / value for money are all key for our survey respondents who are planning to get a smartphone in the coming months.

Given the sophistication of today’s top smartphones, you’d think something as seemingly mundane as battery life would be less of a priority. In fact, it’s a key issue.

When we looked at reviews of best-selling smartphones, battery life and screens were key problems that featured in many negative reviews. We should note here that many of the best-selling phones that came up on Amazon’s list were ‘renewed’ (second hand). This may be a reason why battery life featured as a complaint, but it isn’t an excuse consumers have much time for.

Along with complaints about sellers, battery life and screen issues are just a few of the reasons why smartphones are among the worst rated tech categories in this report.

Smart speakers

Let’s talk about the little devices that are taking over our home lives – smart speakers.

Consumers in our survey said that great sound quality was by far the most important thing for them when buying a smart speaker. Meanwhile, ease of use, the ability to control household functions (like lights, heating, etc) and cost / value for money were also important.

It seems that smart speaker manufacturers are nailing it on the sound quality front. Reviews that mentioned sound tended to be very positive.

We found that reviews mentioning the word ‘app’ were not so positive. Just like with the wearable devices mentioned above, apps not working can really mess with someone’s enjoyment of a piece of tech. They can also impact ratings (and therefore sales), so these kinds of complaints should be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Appliances

Finally for this section, we’ll look at kitchen appliances. For our survey respondents, value for money and energy consumption were both key factors when buying things like refrigerators, freezers, and similar appliances.

Looking at the most positive reviews for best-selling fridges and freezers, many of them featured words like ‘size’ and ‘space’. We should note here that demand for these items went up massively in 2020, especially in response to panic buying. Celebration around size and space may be due to people fitting additional refrigeration units alongside existing ones in the home.

On the negative side, we found that fridge and freezer doors tended to be spoken about negatively.

Whether it was dented doors or ill-fitting doors, these are complaints that need to be addressed to improve ratings.

Working / studying from home

46% of our global respondents say they work or study from home full time or sometimes. That’s a large chunk of the workforce relying on tech to keep them connected to their work, and we wanted to explore how they were approaching their (often new) home-working environments.

Our survey results show that 64% of respondents who work or study from home (either part time or full time) have either made a purchase to improve their home-working experience, or plan to soon.

Only 46% of respondents who work from home (part or full time) say they have everything they need to work from home effectively and comfortably. The remainder selected either ‘Somewhat’ or ‘No’ when asked if they had what they needed.

Of those who either don’t or only somewhat have what they need to work or study from home effectively and comfortably, the most common items that were lacking were suitable computers / laptops, reliable internet connection, and comfortable chairs.

Previous research has indicated that many are suffering from back pain from unsuitable working-from-home seating arrangements.

Given all the inadequate equipment, should employees be putting up the cash to rectify their dodgy internet connections and uncomfortable seating?

We asked our whole set of global respondents (regardless of whether they worked from home or not) if employers should pay for specific items for their WFH employees.

The majority of people believe employers should pay for a suitable laptop or computer to work on.

Meanwhile, 48% of global respondents believe employers should pay for their employees to have a reliable internet connection.

Just 12% believe that employers shouldn’t pay for anything.

Given how many people support employers buying computers for their staff, we asked our working-from-home respondents about how they prefer their setup.

45% of respondents who work or study from home (either part or full time) will ideally use one computer or laptop for both work and personal activities, while 27% would prefer to have one work computer or laptop and one personal computer or laptop.

The most popular option is interesting – many employees expect their work laptop to also handle their personal use, which could include all their browsing, gaming, and other activities. Employers may want to consider this when assessing which tech is most suitable for their employees as standard.