What They Say
Rethink Research of the UK released extracts from its report on “Set Top Box, Smart TV, and Connected TV Device Operating System Forecast – 2020-2026”. The report forecast that the winning SmartTV operating systems will be Android TV and HarmonyOS, the OS from Huawei. The firm said that Android TV will reach 25% share by 2026, which is 236 million out of a total of 905 million installed SmartTV and STB devices (up from 497 million last year). Linux will be the main loser in the STB market and the firm believes that WebOS, Tizen and Roku will lose ground.
Globally, Android TV Operator Tier will grow from around 5% of the installed operator set top base to some 23%, in 2026. RDK, meanwhile, is only expected to grow from 6% to 10%, even with interest from Tier 1 operators in Europe.
Pay TV Households will decline from an estimated 921 million in 2020 to 680 million in 2026, impacting the annual shipments of Operator Set Tops, which falls from 242.6 million to 184.8 million, propped up by the upgrade cycle for new Set Top Box operating systems.
This means that the install base for set tops is set to decline from 1.21 billion in 2020 to 824.67 million in 2026.
What We Think
Rethink highlighted that Huawei’s troubles and the fight between China and the US may have helped Huawei to get support from the Chinese government, which may get behind HarmonyOS. (BR)
