IQOS MESH Atomizer Sales Rise Along With IQOS HNB Growth
PMI’s IQOS shipments grew strongly in 2019, while rivals JT and Imperial Tobacco faced weaker expectations. The broader heated tobacco market also lifted demand for related IQOS MESH atomizers.
Shipments of Philip Morris International (PMI)'s IQOS increased in 2019, while its competitors Japan Tobacco (JT) and Imperial Brands were expected to post losses.
In 2019, PMI reported that IQOS shipments rose 44.2% to 59.7 billion units, while fourth-quarter shipments increased 40.7% year over year to 17.1 billion units.
Excluding the United States, PMI's market share in the IQOS category increased by 1.4 percentage points to 5%. By the end of 2019, the estimated number of IQOS users had reached 13.6 million, of whom 9.7 million were former smokers who had switched to what they considered a safer alternative.
Meanwhile, effective February 1, Japan Tobacco (JT) cut the prices of its Ploom Tech and Ploom Tech+ devices, as they continued to lag behind IQOS and British American Tobacco (BAT)'s Glo, even in its domestic market.
Likewise, Imperial Brands, the tobacco company that produces Blu, said net revenue from its "next-generation products" (NGP) was expected to "decline significantly" year over year, as "regulatory uncertainty and unfavorable news flow" directly affected the tobacco market in the United States and Europe.
