RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2018-2028

IDTechEx Research has analyzed the RFID market for over 19 years. This report provides detailed data and analysis of the entire RFID sector based on our extensive research including interviews with RFID adopters and technology providers in the various applicational RFID markets, giving an unprecedented level of insight into the total RFID industry and what is really happening. Predominately, our research is conducted through interviews with companies across the value chain (many of whom provide data to us under non disclosure agreements who allow us to aggregate the data into the total) in addition to site visits and conference visits followed by secondary research.

 

This comprehensive report from IDTechEx gives the complete picture covering passive RFID (for UHF, HF and LF frequencies), battery assisted passive, active RFID and chipless RFID. It provides detailed forecasts and depth unmatched by any other.

 

IDTechEx find that in 2018, the total RFID market will be worth $11.0 Billion, rising to $13.4 Billion in 2022. This includes tags, readers and software/services for RFID labels, cards, fobs and all other form factors, for both passive and active RFID.

 

In retail, RFID continues to be adopted for apparel tagging above all other applications by volume - that application alone will demand 8 Billion RFID labels in 2018 - which still has some way to go with RFID penetrating only about 10% of the total addressable market for apparel in 2018. RFID in the form of contactless cards will demand 2.2 Billion cards in 2018, driven by contactless payment, transit and secure access applications. In a completely different sector again, the tagging of animals (such as pigs, sheep and pets) is substantial as it continues to be a legal requirement in many more territories, with 540 million tags being used for this sector in 2018.

 

In total, IDTechEx expects that 16.4 billion tags will be sold in 2018 versus 15.0 billion in 2017. Most of that growth is from passive UHF RFID (RAIN RFID) labels. However, in 2018 UHF (RAIN RFID) tag sales by value will only be 20% of the value of HF tag sales (including NFC), mainly because HF tags where used for security (such as payments, access etc) have a higher price point versus the cheaper, usually disposable UHF (RAIN) tags used for tagging things.

 

 

 

 

Using new, unique information researched globally by IDTechEx technical experts, we analyze the RFID market in many different ways. Full analysis by each market is given in great detail including in-depth historic data by application type from 2005 to 2017, followed by a forecast from 2018 and every year thereafter to 2023. We additionally give a long term 2028 outlook.

 

For passive RFID, forecasts are provided separately for the application areas listed below and for each application area at each frequency we provide the number of tags, average sales price and total value of tags:

 

 

RAIN (UHF) RFID tag sales by numbers, 2017-2028 (data blurred for sample)

 

In addition, ten year forecasts are provided for battery assisted passive and active RFID.

 

Additionally, the report provides units, asp and total value for RFID readers in the following categories:

 

 

The research conducted by IDTechEx ultimately provides ten year forecasts by application area including tags, readers, software and services for the following markets:

 

 

Data is also provided for other sectors including trends by territory, value chain positioning, NFC, chip vs chipless and more. Cumulative sales of RFID are analyzed. Progress of key companies is provided in addition to a matrix of hundreds of suppliers.

 

A rice teardown is conducted for the to main types of passive RFID inlays - UHF and HF RFID.

Taking the core data, IDTechEx interprets it in this report to identify aspects such as: Which sectors are booming and which are under performing? Which suppliers and profitable and why? What are the hot sectors? And much more.

 

For example, after extensive interviews with suppliers, IDTechEx find that there are now emerging or established leaders in most positions of the value chain across the different technologies - yet still very few companies have sales of more than $100 million. There are still many opportunities, which are assessed in this report.

 

Our level of detailed analysis allows us to account for data throughout the value chain, for example, inlay sales lag the number of IC sales by a number of months which is taken into account in our forecasts.

Major players in the various parts of the value chain are identified and the big orders and milestones now and in the future are analyzed. Those doing well in numbers sold are sometimes much less impressive in dollars taken and vice versa. Of course, not everyone will want to serve the severely price constrained, highest volume markets. For them, we examine many large niches that are emerging and many smaller opportunities where there is even less competition.

IDTechEx has researched RFID markets, suppliers and technologies since 1999. Our coverage is

 

In addition to the report - in PDF format - you will receive access to the key data contained in tables throughout the report.

All report purchases include up to 30 minutes telephone time with an expert analyst who will help you link key findings in the report to the business issues you're addressing. This needs to be used within three months of purchasing the report.

If you have any questions about this report, please do not hesitate to contact our report team at research@IDTechEx.com or call one of our sales managers:

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