IDTechEx has been researching the RFID industry for nearly two decades. "RFID Forecasts, Players, and Opportunities 2026-2036" is the most recent RFID market research study, offering a thorough review of passive RFID (for UHF, HF, and LF bands), battery assisted passive, active RFID, and chipless RFID technologies, players, and markets.
This report provides an unbiased analysis of primary data gathered through interviews with key players throughout the value chain (many of whom supply data to IDTechEx under non-disclosure agreements that allows aggregation of the data into a total) as well as secondary data from all available sources, and it builds on IDTechEx's RFID industry expertise. This report provides in-depth forecasts and analysis that no other source can match.
The future of RFID is looking bright, the global RFID market is expected to expand further in 2025; according to IDTechEx, the market will be worth US$15.6 billion in 2025, up from US$15 billion in 2024. This comprises RFID labels, cards, fobs, and any other form factors, as well as tags, readers, and software/services for both passive and active RFID.
IDTechEx assesses the RFID industry in a variety of ways using new and unique information gathered globally by IDTechEx research analysts. Each market is thoroughly examined, with detailed historical data by application type provided from 2012 to 2024, followed by a prediction from 2026 and every year thereafter until 2031. IDTechEx also provides a long-term forecast for 2036. Key forecasts included in this report are: 10-year prediction of tag numbers, average sales price, and market value of Passive RFID, Battery-assisted Passive RFID, Active RFID, and RFID readers, Forecast for the Passive tag market size by end use geography.
Key questions answered in this report
IDTechEx evaluates the key data in this report to answer key questions such as:
What is the market size for passive RFID tags by end use and geography, and how is it expected to evolve over the next decade?
Which industries are thriving, and which are underperforming?
Who are the most profitable suppliers, and why?
Which industries are gaining the most traction?
How will emerging low-cost RFID technologies such as flexible ICs impact the RFID market and its applications?
What are the remaining barriers to large-scale adoption?
What emerging technologies pose a threat to RFID?
What are the company profiles of key and emerging players in the RFID industry?
For example, IDTechEx discovered that there are now established leaders in most places of the value chain across the various technologies after conducting comprehensive interviews with suppliers, but that only a few businesses had revenues of more than US$100 million. There are still numerous opportunities, which are evaluated in this report.
IDTechEx's level of detailed analysis allows us to account for data throughout the value chain, for example, inlay sales lag the number of IC sales by several months which is considered in our forecasts.
Key market forecasts include:
10-year Market forecast of RFID segmented by each frequency and corresponding application sectors
1. Passive UHF tag numbers and market value segmented in the following sectors:
Retail apparel and footwear
Retail - other
Medical/healthcare
Assets, logistics containers
Air baggage
Access Control/ticketing
Sensors and embedded
People
Other
2. Passive HF tag numbers and market value segmented in the following sectors:
Contactless cards/fobs
Smart tickets
Books
Medical
Assets/tools
Passports
People
NFC
Other
3. Passive LF tag numbers and market value segmented in the following sectors:
Livestock and pets
Access control
Vehicle immobilizers
Medicals
People
Other
4. Active RFID
5. RFID readers
6. Passive RFID market value segmented in the following regions:
Americas
Europe
Asia Pacific
Middle East & Africa
For the full report details and sample pages reach out to our team at research@IDTechEx.com, or visit www.IDTechEx.com/RFID.