Air purifiers are the most wanted home appliance electronics this year amid escalating concerns over bad levels of fine dust and indoor air pollution, industry watchers said, forecasting its sales to reach up to 3 million units by the end of this year.

Sales of air purifiers have been increasing since 2014. A total of 1.4 million units of air purifiers were sold last year, up from 1 million in 2016, 870,000 units in 2015 and 500,000 in 2014.

The sales rise is expected to continue as the South Korean government rolled out a plan last week to install air purifiers in the classrooms of all kindergartens, elementary schools and special purpose schools in the next three years, industry watcher said.

Domestic home appliance electronics market, which has been primarily led by refrigerators and laundry machines until recently, has dominantly shifted toward air purifiers and air conditioners, they added.

Following the expansion of air purifier market, tech giants such as Samsung Electronics have launched new products that incorporate new technology, such as Internet of Things features.

Samsung Electronics in February unveiled a modular air purifier Cube, which allows users to separate or combine devices depending on the situation and use. The company said users can combine two devices during the daytime and use it in the living room, and then separate it into two and to use in different bedrooms at night.

Cube also features IoT communication functions based on Wi-Fi networks, enabling customers to check the air quality inside the house and control the device remotely, according to Samsung.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)