Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic or digital equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment (flat screen TVs, DVD players, DVD movies, iPods, video games, remote control cars, etc.), communications (telephones, cell phones, e-mail-capable laptops, etc.) and home officeactivities (e.g., desktop computers, printers, paper shredders, etc.). In British English they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers, to distinguish them from "white goods" such as washing machines and refrigerators.[1][n 1] In the 2010s, this distinction is not always present in large big box consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy, which sell both entertainment, communications and home office devices and kitchen appliances such as refrigerators. Consumer electronics stores differ from professional audio stores in that the former sells consumer-grade electronics for private use, whereas the latter sells professional-grade electronics designed for use by audio engineers and audio technicians.
Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver. Later products included telephones, personal computers, MP3 players, audio equipment, televisions (first cathode ray tube TVs, then in the 2000s, flatscreen TVs), calculators, GPS, automotive electronics (car stereos), video game consoles, electronic musical instruments, karaoke machines, digital cameras and players and recorders using video media such as VCRs in the 1980s and 1990s, followed by DVDs andBlu-ray discs. Stores also sell digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones and smartphones. In the 2000s, most products have become based on digital technologies, and have largely merged with the computer industry in what is increasingly referred to as the consumerization of information technology.
The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) estimated the value of 2015 consumer electronics sales at US$220 billion
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