Global production of connected devices will rise 6...

Global production of connected devices will rise 6 percent this year to 6.2 billion units, as new smartphones and tablets “enter the electronics ecosystem,” IHS Technology said Thursday. That would be the market’s largest increase since 2010, when production jumped 10 percent, a year after the global economic recession ended, IHS said. The research firm sees production growth rates slowing in the next few years, though total units produced will continue to rise in absolute numbers, it said. It estimates nearly 19.5 billion new devices “will flood the planet” between 2015 and 2017.