Consumer electronics are innovative but lack imagination

As a teenager, my Sony Walkman was my most treasured possession. It was a portal to another world that let me consume music in industrial quantities. By the early 1990s, it wasn’t new—Sony invented it in the late ’70s—yetit still held incredible power. Sony sold more than 220 million units globally.

When one died, often from overuse, I’d use a birthday or Christmas present to upgrade it, usually with a trip to an electronics store with my Dad. Those places felt mythical.

That feeling came flooding back when I visited a big-box electronics store with my kids. Retail is under pressure as e-commerce reshapes how we shop. But my overriding thought was: where did the excitement go?

On the surface, consumer electronics is one of the most inventive sectors in the world. New products launch constantly: AI assistants, smart home devices, wearables, and ever-smarter phones.

We have never had more choice. But do we still feel its power when so many of the brands behind it are, frankly, so forgettable?

BRANDS FOLLOW, ENGINEERING LEADS

Consumer electronics companies are, unsurprisingly, engineering-led. They prioritize performance, technical capability, and feature differentiation.

The issue is that product marketing becomes the default language. Campaigns explain what the product does: specifications dominate, visuals fixate on hardware, and messaging focuses on incremental improvements.

Every brand explains what its technology does. Few explain why it matters. There’s little effort to shape a broader story, resulting in a repetitive and ultimately forgettable pattern of communication.

Take buying a TV. Everything is HD or 4K, specs blur together, and products look the same, making true differentiation hard to spot.

Part of this is progress. TVs are better and cheaper than ever. A 27-inch color TV in 1990 cost $700–$800—around 30% of an average U.S. monthly salary. Today, a 40–55-inch TV costs $300–$500, which is closer to 6%.

What was once a considered purchase is now less than the average U.S. monthly grocery bill.

Outliers like Samsung’s The Frame model show that you can have innovation, build a brand, and charge a premium in the process. Retailers present them with as more than a black box dominating a room and with the home in mind. The company positions the model with differentiation and a story to tell, showing that electronics don’t just have to be the result of reductive engineering.

THE APPLE AESTHETIC TRAP

There’s barely a month that goes by without a client telling me Apple is their favorite brand. Steve Jobs’ obsession with design created an unintended consequence: he standardized the visual language of consumer tech.

Apple became the benchmark.

That works when your products are genuinely distinctive—when you deeply embed materials, craft, and philosophy over decades. The Blueberry iMac and today’s MacBook are worlds apart, but you can trace a clear line between them.

Copy that without the foundation, and minimalism becomes imitation, not identity. And imitation is, by definition, boring. The scale of Apple mimicry across the category is remarkable. It speaks to a lack of confidence beyond the product. This is something deeply ingrained in the industry, alongside a very real respect for Apple.

BETTER SORRY THAN SAFE

Branding creates value beyond the product. Brands build value through repeated interactions that form familiarity and trust. I still look at Sony TVs first because of my Walkman. But I have a Samsung The Frame TV on my wall because I liked both the product and how the marketing presented it to me.

When every company uses the same visual language and messaging framework, differentiation becomes the deciding factor, but it requires bravery.

Look at Hyundai in the automotive space. Over the past decade, design has helped it move upmarket. Cars like the IONIQ 5 and Santa Fe show how distinctive design can increase consideration and brand value. Kia has followed a similar path.

Electronics operate in a world of short product lifecycles, where competitors quickly match features. In that environment, brand becomes the most durable advantage. Risk-averse branding and boring branding are the same. What feels safe in the short term often leads to regret in the long run.

WHO’S DOING IT WELL?

For all my  downbeat view about the state of electronics today, there are brands that understand the power of moving beyond pure product marketing.

• Sonos has strong positioning around sound, culture, and the home. A brand with a clear role in people’s lives. (Shame about the software.)
• Nothing is a brand for people who don’t want to look like everyone else. It is known for its transparent design, rebellious tone, real attitude.
• Dyson. Whatever James Dyson says, this is a brand. Color, form, and engineering combine to justify a premium.

These companies create worlds people want to belong to. They define how their products fit into life, whether that’s work, play, rest, or creation.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

We may be at the start of another shift in consumer electronics. AI-powered products are emerging that will reshape how we communicate, consume, and live.

Hardware is hard, but with Silicon Valley investing heavily, we may see a more brand-led approach to technology spill into the broader category. That could bring much-needed creativity and more considered consumer experiences.

There’s no reason the technology we use every day should be designed solely for engineers. People are emotional buyers, and when every product promises intelligence, performance, and innovation, those words quickly lose meaning.

Better products will get you so far. Character will take you the rest of the way.

James Greenfield is the CEO at Koto.

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