US spending on tech booms even as overall purchasing declines

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in sales for consumer technology in the US, even as spending declines overall, an NPD analyst is reporting. For the week ending April 18th, NPD’s Stephen Baker notes that consumer tech sales increased by 23 percent year-over-year. In contrast, the group tracked an overall decline in spending of 23 percent across the industries it tracks. NPD’s data also suggests that people are buying more tech to k