CES 2019: the show, the shiny and the shape of things to come

GSMA Intelligence's Chart of the Month is a visual way of telling an important story in the mobile and broader tech ecosystem. From the shape and size of markets to trends in consumer behaviour, we aim to provide food for thought through informative visuals designed to bring colour and clarity to complex issues facing the industry. This edition highlights the major differences in behaviour between MVNO and MNO customers.

This edition of the Industry Checkpoint series focuses on consumer devices, highlighting how the market has changed in the last six months and its implications. The report considers three major developments: accelerating innovation for smart glasses as leading companies try to establish it as the next major consumer platform; smartphone innovation becoming more diverse, from practical to experimental concepts; and chipmakers increasingly designing on-device agentic AI capabilities.

Over the last 10 years, the number of MVNOs around the world has grown by 70%. As the consumer market is a major focus for MVNOs, analysing and comparing the behaviour of MVNO and MNO customers offers insight than can be used to inform business strategies and commercial decisions. This research unveils the biggest differences and their commercial implications.