IoT Statistics 2026: Devices, Market Size, Connectivity, and Security

There were 21.1 billion connected IoT devices worldwide in 2025, up 14% over the prior year, according to IoT Analytics. That is a big number, but it is far below the forecast the industry repeated for a decade. A widely cited 2016 projection put the count at 75 billion by 2025, roughly three and a half times higher than what actually arrived. IoT growth is real and steady. The hype around it was not.

This page collects the IoT statistics that matter for planning network capacity, security, or infrastructure spending: how many devices are online, how fast the count is growing, how big the market is, how devices connect, which industries are adopting, and how exposed those devices are. Each figure names its source and the year the data describes. The Network Installers is a commercial network cabling and infrastructure company, and this data reflects the demand behind the networks our clients ask us to build.

Citation Policy: Every statistic here is free to cite, share, and reuse, commercial use included. We ask one thing in return. Credit the original source named next to each figure, and where you reference this compiled set, link back to The Network Installers so other researchers can find it.

Key Takeaways

• 21.1 billion connected IoT devices were online worldwide in 2025, growing 14% year over year (IoT Analytics).
• IoT Analytics forecasts 39 billion connected devices by 2030 and more than 50 billion by 2035.
• Global IoT market estimates for 2025 span $547 billion to $1.35 trillion, more than double between research firms, because each counts a different scope.
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular together carry close to 80% of all IoT connections, with Wi-Fi leading at 32% (IoT Analytics).
• 70% of EU adults used at least one IoT device in 2024, ranging from 95% in the Netherlands to 46% in Poland (Eurostat).
• IoT devices generated roughly 79.4 zettabytes of data in 2025 (IDC).
• IoT and operational-technology cyberattacks surged in 2025, with attacks on energy targets up 387% year over year (Zscaler ThreatLabz).

How Many IoT Devices Are There in 2026?

There were 21.1 billion connected IoT devices worldwide at the end of 2025, up from 18.5 billion in 2024, according to IoT Analytics. That is 14% annual growth, an acceleration from about 11% the year before. The count covers industrial sensors, smart cameras, connected vehicles, and wearables, but excludes phones, laptops, and tablets.

Independent estimates land in the same range. Transforma Insights put the 2025 installed base at about 21 billion. Statista uses a broader definition and counts near 19.8 billion for 2025, rising past 40 billion by 2034. Across sources, the number of things on business networks now exceeds the number of people using them.

Number of IoT Devices by Year (2020 to 2025)

Connected IoT devices grew from about 12 billion in 2020 to 21.1 billion in 2025, an increase of roughly 75% in five years. Growth dipped in 2023 and 2024 as chip shortages and cautious enterprise spending slowed deployments, then reaccelerated to 14% in 2025.

How we built this: IoT Analytics publishes a device count each year and restates prior years as its methodology matures, but never as one continuous table. We compiled the series above from IoT Analytics figures, using its most recent published values for each year so the whole series sits on one basis. The 2023 to 2025 points are from the current edition; earlier years are IoT Analytics restatements and are approximate.

How Many IoT Devices Will There Be by 2030 and 2035?

Forecasts point to the installed base roughly doubling within a decade, though the exact figures vary by how each firm defines a connection. IoT Analytics is the most bullish of the major analysts, projecting 39 billion devices by 2030 at a 13.2% compound growth rate.

Even the most conservative of these forecasts, GSMA Intelligence at 38.7 billion connections by 2030, is roughly 80% above today’s count, with the base passing 50 billion by 2035. The disagreement is about how fast, not whether.

How Big Is the IoT Market?

Global IoT market estimates for 2025 range from $547 billion to $1.35 trillion, depending on what each research firm counts. That gap is not a rounding difference. It reflects genuinely different definitions of what belongs in the IoT market.

On the buyer side, IoT Analytics tracks global enterprise IoT spending specifically, which reached $269 billion in 2023 and about $301 billion in 2024. Enterprise spending excludes consumer devices, which is one reason it runs lower than the whole-market estimates above.

Why IoT Market Estimates Disagree So Much

The gap comes from scope, not error. Some firms count only hardware and connectivity. Others add platforms, software, analytics, and professional services, which grow fastest and account for the most spend. A “$547 billion” market and a “$1.35 trillion” market can both be correct measurements of different things.

Our read: for network and infrastructure planning, the exact market-size number matters less than the growth direction, which every firm agrees on. Check what a firm included before comparing its number to another’s. None of the sources above draws this conclusion; it is our interpretation of why the figures diverge.

How Are IoT Devices Connected?

Three technologies carry close to 80% of all IoT connections: Wi-Fi at 32%, Bluetooth at 24%, and cellular at 22%, according to IoT Analytics for 2025. The remaining share is split across low-power wide-area networks, Zigbee, wired connections, and satellite.

Wi-Fi’s lead is why wireless capacity is often the first constraint a growing IoT deployment hits. Among the low-power options, the LoRaWAN standard alone reached more than 125 million deployed devices by 2025, growing at a 25% annual rate, per the LoRa Alliance. These long-range, low-power links handle metering, agriculture, and asset tracking where devices run on batteries for years.

Cellular IoT and 5G Connections

Cellular IoT connections reached between 4.5 billion and 4.7 billion in 2025, and trackers differ on the exact figure because they count different connection types.

The gap comes down to whether a tracker counts 2G and 3G links being retired. By module shipments, IoT Analytics reports NB-IoT led 2025 at 33.5%, followed by LTE Cat-1 bis at 21.4% and legacy 4G at 18.6%, and the cellular IoT chipset market grew to $4.07 billion in 2024, forecast to reach $14.08 billion by 2030. On the network side, Ericsson reports 5G RedCap, a lower-cost 5G variant built for IoT, now live across 42 providers in 27 countries.

How Much Data Do IoT Devices Generate?

IoT devices generated roughly 79.4 zettabytes of data in 2025, according to IDC estimates. A zettabyte is one trillion gigabytes. Most of that data comes from a few high-output devices: a single surveillance camera streams far more than a fleet of sensors sending a few kilobytes each. That imbalance is why more IoT processing now happens at the edge rather than streaming everything to a central cloud.

Which Industries Are Adopting IoT?

Manufacturing and industrial operations lead IoT adoption, driven by the clearest return on investment. In the United States, 46% of large manufacturers use industrial IoT at the facility or network level, according to Deloitte’s 2025 smart manufacturing survey of 600 firms with $500 million or more in revenue.

Healthcare, retail, transportation, and logistics follow manufacturing’s lead. The common thread is that industries with expensive downtime or physical assets to track adopt fastest, because one sensor that prevents an unplanned outage pays for many.

Consumer and Smart Home IoT Statistics

Consumer IoT is now mainstream in developed markets. 70% of EU adults aged 16 to 74 used at least one IoT device in 2024, according to Eurostat, whose device-level breakdown is the most reliable free consumer dataset available.

The global smart home market was worth about $159.5 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $184.6 billion by 2031, per Statista Market Insights, which also estimates household penetration near 82% in North America. Wearables are already the second most common connected device among EU adults, after internet-connected TVs, per Eurostat.

IoT Adoption by Country and Age Group

IoT adoption varies widely by country and age. Within the EU, Eurostat recorded 2024 use ranging from 95% of adults in the Netherlands to 46% in Poland, with a similarly steep gap between age groups.

Younger, wealthier, and more urban populations adopt first, which is where connected-device network demand concentrates.

IoT Security Statistics

IoT security got measurably worse in 2025, and the devices themselves are the weak point. Attacks on internet-of-things and operational-technology targets rose sharply across sectors, according to Zscaler ThreatLabz, which also found routers behind most observed IoT incidents. Forescout’s 2025 research measured router and device risk climbing, and an older Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 study quantified how much IoT traffic still travels unencrypted.

The single most effective defense is isolation. Network segmentation keeps IoT devices off the same network as critical business systems, so a compromised camera or sensor cannot reach financial or operational data. It is the control security teams cite most often and skip most often in fast deployments.

The IoT Forecasts That Didn’t Come True

The most repeated IoT statistic of the last decade never happened. A widely cited 2016 industry forecast projected 75 billion connected devices by 2025. The real 2025 figure was 21.1 billion, according to IoT Analytics, roughly three and a half times lower. The old number still turns up in reference material and older articles, which is exactly why any dramatic IoT projection is worth checking against its publication date and its original source. Many of the biggest figures in circulation trace back to a single forecast the market never reached.

What IoT Growth Means for Your Network

More connected devices pressure network infrastructure that older designs were not built to carry. Thousands of small devices create aggregate load, large address tables, and heavy broadcast traffic, and one camera can generate as much traffic as hundreds of sensors. Building for IoT growth comes down to a few early decisions:

1. Choose cabling with headroom. Cat6a or higher structured cabling supports 10 Gbps runs at IoT device density, and a fiber optic backbone keeps the core from bottlenecking.
2. Plan wireless for capacity, not coverage. Wi-Fi carries the largest share of IoT connections, so Wi-Fi infrastructure has to be sized for concurrent device counts.
3. Segment IoT devices onto their own network. A dedicated segment for sensors and cameras improves security and performance and most reduces breach impact. Our network segmentation guide covers how.
4. Power devices over the cabling. Power over Ethernet delivers data and power on one line, simplifying installation for cameras, access points, and sensors.

The Network Installers designs and installs this foundation for commercial and government networks, so infrastructure scales with the device count.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

IoT statistics tell a grounded story for 2026. There are 21.1 billion connected devices worldwide, growth is holding at a steady 14% a year, and the installed base is on track to reach 39 billion by 2030 and more than 50 billion by 2035. Connectivity leans on Wi-Fi and cellular, and the security exposure of these devices is rising fast. The one number to retire is the old 75 billion forecast the market missed by more than three times.

The practical lesson sits in the infrastructure. Every connected device rides on cabling, wireless, and switching that has to be sized for the load and segmented for safety. With 19-plus years of commercial work behind it, more than 20,000 locations served, and BICSI certification and a C7 low-voltage license, The Network Installers designs the network cabling, fiber, and wireless that growing IoT fleets run on. If you are planning for IoT growth, talk to our team about the cabling, wireless, and segmentation your deployment will need.

Sources

1. IoT Analytics: Number of Connected IoT Devices
2. IoT Analytics: Global IoT Enterprise Spending
3. IoT Analytics: Cellular IoT Market Update
4. Statista: Number of IoT Connected Devices Worldwide
5. Statista Market Insights: Smart Home Worldwide
6. Transforma Insights: IoT Forecasts
7. GSMA Intelligence
8. MarketsandMarkets: Internet of Things Market
9. Fortune Business Insights: Internet of Things Market
10. Mordor Intelligence: Internet of Things Market
11. Ericsson Mobility Report: IoT Connections Outlook
12. LoRa Alliance: LoRaWAN Growth
13. IDC: Global DataSphere IoT Forecast
14. Eurostat: Use of Internet of Things by Individuals
15. Deloitte: Smart Manufacturing Survey
16. Zscaler ThreatLabz: Mobile, IoT and OT Report
17. Forescout: Riskiest Connected Devices of 2025
18. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42: IoT Threat Report