New Berg Insight research predicts cellular Internet of Things device shipments will hit 530.1 million by 2022, with an annual growth rate of 22.7 percent.

That's a healthy jump from 155.6 million units shipped in 2016, noted a press release on the research report.

"Strong growth is fueled by fast-growing demand in China and the global adoption of connected car technology in the automotive industry," states the release.

"LTE-M and NB-IoT are the latest in a long line of cellular standards already connecting hundreds of millions of devices worldwide," Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst and author of the report, said in the release. "Alternative non-cellular LPWA technologies have a very long way to go before they achieve the same prominence."