Analyst firm Gartner projects that "connected devices" are expected to grow 31% this year to reach 8.4 billion devices — up from 6.4 billion devices — which is about a billion more than the world's total population, per ZDNet. More from Gartner's analysis:

• Expects spending on Internet of Things devices (IoT) to reach $2 trillion in 2017, with China, North America and Western Europe accounting for 67% of the total figure.
• Consumer devices — vehicles, smart TVs and digital set-top boxes — are expected to account for 5.2 billion IoT devices, or 63%; and businesses — smart electric meters and commercial security cameras — are set to account for 3.1 billion.
• Total number of connected devices will increase to 11.2 billion by 2018, thanks to a rise in adoption of cross-industry devices — LED lighting, HVAC systems and physical security systems.
• Consumers and business spent $1.4 billion on devices and will spend $1.7 billion in 2017. By 2020, spending will reach $2.9 trillion.