Consumer electronics

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 (flatscreen TVs, DVD players, DVD movies, iPods, video games, remote control cars, etc.), communications (telephones, cell phones, e-mail-capable laptops, etc.), and home-office activities (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. 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) and calculators. In the 2010s, consumer electronics stores often sell GPS, automotive electronics (car stereos), video game consoles, electronic musical instruments (e.g., synthesizer keyboards), karaoke machines, digital cameras, and video players (VCRs in the 1980s and 1990s, followed by DVD players and Blu-ray disc players). Stores also sell digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones, and smartphones. As of 2016, some of the newer products sold include virtual reality head-mounted display goggles, smart home devices that connect home devices to the Internet (such as smartphone-controllable thermostats and lights) and wearable technology such as Fitbit digital exercise watches.