Global tech spending seen slipping 1 pct in 2014

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LAS VEGAS – The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that global spending on technology will slip 1 percent this year to $1.06 trillion as the lower average selling price of smartphones and tablets offsets unit growth in markets like China.

The decline is off the peak of $1.07 trillion estimated this year.

Steve Koenig, the association’s director of industry analysis, issued the forecast at the opening of the annual International CES gadget show on Sunday.

The retreat doesn’t reflect less consumer appetite for what Koenig called the “dynamic duo” of tech gadgets. Spending on smartphones and tablets is still expected to account for some 43 cents of every dollar spent on technology this year.

But the average price of smartphones, for example, will fall from $444 in 2010 to an estimated $297 this year.