3 Tech Trends That Could Take Center Stage in 2016

There's no shortage of major tech trends that are ramping up as we speak, hoping to change the world. Some ideas will prove to be revolutionary, while others will flail and sputter out and not live up to early hype. It's always tough to distinguish the winners from the losers, and different trends also have different time horizons to manifest.

To help investors figure out where to look, here are three different tech trends that our contributors think could steal the show next year.

Evan Niu, CFA (wearables): Technically speaking, the wearables market might be a little older than you think. Fitness trackers have been around for quite a while, and these were the first product category to really be considered wearable technology. It goes without saying that Fitbit (FIT) emerged as the dominant player in the fitness tracker market, but the wearables market is evolving in a big way, and 2016 could be a seminal year for the relatively young industry.

This is because 2015 is the year that Apple (AAPL -1.22%) officially entered the fray, although it wasn't until the year was halfway over that Apple Watch shipments began ramping up in volume. The device launched in late April, but was severely supply constrained until June. Apple has already catalyzed the smartwatch market in a big way, almost single-handedly. While Apple won't disclose unit volumes, IDC estimates that Apple sold more Apple Watch units in two quarters (an estimated 7.5 million units) than the entire market shipped in 2014 (6.8 million units).

Categorically, nearly all smartwatches include fitness tracking capabilities. As such, smartwatches are expected to begin cannibalizing stand-alone fitness trackers in a big way, which is exactly why Fitbit is racing to move upmarket into smartwatch territory with its latest devices. As it stands, wearables are still far from mainstream adoption, but there's a good chance that investors will see a marked increase in adoption in 2016 across the board.

Tim Brugger (cord-cutting): The term, and the projected impact of, cord-cutting has been bandied about for some time as consumers search for alternatives to the high price and often less-than-ideal service that comes with cable, and satellite pay TV subscriptions. Recent reports indicate the trend will gain steam in 2016.

Opting for non-cable or satellite viewing choices from either online video streaming or over-the-top (OTT) services from folks like Netflix (NFLX -9.09%) has never been more popular. In fact, in 2016 eMarketer estimates that 5.5 million U.S. consumers will say "enough" of cable or satellite and shift to other forms of entertainment, which would mark yet another year of double-digit growth in the number of cord-cutters.

There are reasons Netflix shareholders have enjoyed a nearly 150% jump in share price this year, and the stampede of cord-cutters is one of them. When cord-shavers and cord-nevers -- consumers who choose to scale back or have never paid for a cable or satellite TV package -- are added into the mix, 2016 looks even gloomier for cable and satellite providers.

In a survey of over 3,100 U.S. and Canadian adults, a whopping 45.2% said they reduced their level of cable or satellite service in 2014, largely due to increasing costs and poor service. As for cord-nevers, an estimated 16.9 million U.S. consumers will have never sampled cable or satellite TV by next year, and like cord-cutters, the numbers are expected to continue climbing in 2016, and beyond.