Omdia

Another Sunday and another day of travel, today it is off to Dell Tech World, in the pre-brief the news is very interesting, watch my posts when the news is public Omdia #DTW26

Three charts to illustrate the insane rollercoaster that is the tech industry in 2026. Last quarter we tracked perhaps the most negative channel sentiment in two decades of analysis. In Q1, nearly 60% of all partners were expecting a profit decline YoY, with most forecasting decline of more than 10%. Almost 45% were also predicting a decline in revenue. This quarter, full reversal. Look at Q2. Some 66% are now expecting profits to grow YoY, with 4 in 10 anticipation growth of more than 10%. Roughly 60% of all partners expect revenue increase. Now let’s switch to the vendors. The numbers are staggering. Across the 18 major tech vendors in our Omdia Tech Titans Index, Q1 revenue grew 28.3%, almost seven points above their best-case forecast of 21.8%. This is the strongest growth in 15 years. The Titans Index is now on track to break $3 trillion this year, having only cracked $2 trillion in 2024. Meanwhile, four Titans announced layoffs totaling 58,000 in Q1, with more signaling future cuts. AI efficiencies are cited, but the deeper driver is unwinding the 2021 hiring surge. What a time to be a tech analyst. What will Q3 bring?

Congratulations to Check Point Software , CrowdStrike , Palo Alto Networks , Proofpoint , TrendAI and Zscaler for being named Champions in the new Omdia Cybersecurity Platform Ecosystems Leadership Matrix!

👓 VR was a flop in China, but AI glasses are having a breakout moment 👇 While Meta poured billions into the West to force a VR ecosystem into existence, China’s tech giants remained non-committal. ByteDance did make a play with Pico for a couple of years before scaling back, and the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei never went beyond dipping their toes. Consumer VR is led by gaming, but the Chinese games companies largely ignored VR, choosing to focus on proven platforms (namely mobile). Without a major player willing to subsidise the hardware/software and build a viable ecosystem, VR remained very niche. In contrast to VR, the current push into AI glasses is seeing a real show of force from the heavyweights: Xiaomi Technology , Huawei , and Lenovo are leveraging their smartphone ecosystems. Meanwhile Alibaba Group is making a big bet with its Qwen platform, integrating agentic AI and spatial awareness. According to Omdia data, China has quickly become the fastest-growing AI glasses market, increasing by 3545% in 2025 and capturing just over 10% of the global shipments. This was fueled by numerous product launches, a wave of new entrants, and aggressive pricing strategies. Sustaining this momentum will be a challenge. As is the case in the Chinese smartphone market, these players are deeply entrenched in domestic tech stack, which inherently limits global expansion. Also, for AI glasses to move from a novelty/POV camera to a daily necessity, there needs to be a big shift in consumer behaviour and emergence of truly useful AI. It’s early days, but the path to mainstream "intelligent headwear" is starting to take shape more than ever before. 📒 Check out my colleague Jason Low 's recent blog piece about Huawei's AI glasses debut: https://lnkd.in/e8jDu7Hd 📊 And also this press release about Omdia's AI glasses forecast by Jason and Qiran Ju : 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gKmhQPPs #AIglasses #XR #AR #wearables #smartglasses

If you'll be at #NetworkX Americas, let's take advantage of being in person. I'd love to say hello, hear what you're up to, and tell you what we are working on at #Omdia .

KDDI releases its FY26 (Apr 25 - Mar 26) results, as well as new Mid-term management strategy for the next three years. The Company indicated its "Telecom Core Segment", which included traditional mobile and fixed connectivity business, as a role of "Towards stable growth and a lean and mean profit structure" in its larger growth commitment. Stable and LTV, these are the two keywords for KDDI's connectivity business strategy. And LTV focused, especially, would represent its structural, strategic switches from a massive expansion to a "intensive cultivation", which aims to maximize long-term & life-time value for every customer - by improving churn rate, offering value-added addons. The company also dedicated to promoting cross-use of mobile/fixed services with finance and LAWSON, the convenient store giant which KDDI acquired in 2024, to create more synergic value to customers in KDDI's ecosystem. #KDDI #OMDIA #OMDIATELECOM #LTV #TELECOM

What if the next smart home upgrade isn’t a device… but a new member of the family? Not in a sci-fi way — but something closer to a "digital parent": 🤗 always present 🤗 quietly attentive 🤗 looking after everyone in the household 🤗 and acting in your best interest 🏠 An intelligent home that knows who’s there, understands routines, and adapts in real time — adjusting comfort, managing energy, watching for risks, and even checking in when something feels off. 📊 The data suggests this idea is no longer far-fetched: New Omdia research shows strong willingness to pay for AI-driven outcomes: 💰 50% for advanced, AI-powered home security 💰 47% for energy optimisation that reduces bills 💰 36% for personalised comfort 💰 32% for automation that learns routines The signal is clear: people don’t just want smart devices — they want a home that looks after them. But there are some challenges: 🤔 Fragmented ecosystems still limit how “intelligent” the home can be 🤔 Trust and privacy are non-negotiable when the home knows this much 🤔 And the value has to be continuous, visible, and meaningful In the end, the winners won’t be those who connect more devices… They’ll be those who create a home that feels like it’s on your side. This research comes from an excellent collab report between Nicole McCormick Alzbeta Fellenbaum Mariana Zamoszczyk and Pål Jesper Karlsen published this week. Link in the comments. Get in touch if you would like access. #AI #SmartHome #ConnectedHome #Telco #Monetization #OmdiaTelecoms

I’ll be speaking at SuperAI 2026 taking place on 10-11 June at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. As #Singapore continues to strengthen its position as a neutral global #AI hub, #SuperAI2026 is invaluable for fostering meaningful dialogue among industry leaders, researchers, and innovators from around the world. If you’re attending, I’d love to connect, exchange ideas, and discuss the future of all things AI. Feel free to reach out! #agenticai #genai #physicalai #responsibleai #omdia

Thinking back to a great trip to Dubrovnik presenting to the WatchGuard Technologies partner community last week. Much of the time was spent discussing platforms and the race for AI supremacy. During the closing keynote, I referenced our Omdia MSP tech stack slide. In the MSP world, the tech stack has been the prevailing view for so long. How does this hold up in the age of platforms and AI? Will the platform providers take more market share? Will AI make MSPs irrelevant? The medium term answer to the two latter questions, from recent history and channel feedback, is yes(ish) and no, in that order. Platforms (of which there are many being built, but few come close to being comprehensive) are developing more gravitational pull on the most important factor for MSPs when selecting a new vendor: integrations. Polling data shows 57% of channel partners still view 2-4 cybersecurity vendors as strategic to their businesses. But a slight majority (54%) of those partners are still looking to expand that vendor base, while 59% are expanding for emerging vendors. This is a normal conflict. Partners know they can only focus their efforts on a few key players, but they aren't necessarily throwing all their eggs in one basket. Cybersecurity has over 4,000 vendors. It is the only area of technology with an active and financially motivated opponent. There will always be a need for new vendors to tackle the new threats. One crucial downfall of platforms is uneven product development. When partners feel they are locked into a platform where one or two products shine and others see less investment, dissatisfaction is common. For the vendors building platforms, the message is pretty clear. AI is, of course, a vital component in making those MSPs more efficient, and in scaling vendor-led services such as MDR. While AI will do many things in the future, a fully autonomous SOC is not necessarily a desirable outcome. But in order to keep the partners those same platform stars must invest heavily across their portfolios and continue to invest in third-party partnerships, keeping an eye on the start-ups and the funding rounds. It is also very clear that AI will need the channel to grow. Most partners view it as a tailwind rather than headwind. Take cyber as an example: 67% of the total IT market will flow through the channel in 2026, compared to over 90% of cybersecurity products. The more complex the technology, the more vital the partner base.