Telecom Lead Asia: Tablets have fuelled the growth of smart connected devices to $576.9 billion in 2012.
IDC says smart connected devices shipments grew 29.1 percent in 2012, crossing 1 billion units with $576.9 billion value.
78.4 percent growth in tablet shipments, which surpassed 128 million in 2012, has fueled the growth.
In Q4 2012, combined shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tablets, and smartphones was nearly 378 million and revenues were more than $168 billion.
The combination of Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad Mini brought Apple up to 20.3 percent unit shipment share versus 21.2 percent for Samsung.
On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple dominates with 30.7 percent share versus 20.4 percent share for Samsung.
IDC forecasts that tablet shipments will surpass desktop PCs in 2013 and portable PCs in 2014.
In 2013, worldwide desktop PC shipments are expected to drop by 4.3 percent and portable PCs to maintain a flat growth of 0.9 percent.
The tablet market, on the other hand, is expected to reach a new high of 190 million shipment units with year-on-year growth of 48.7 percent while the smartphone market is expected to grow 27.2 percent to 918.5 million units.
The smart connected device volume in emerging markets grew by 41.3 percent in 2012 with the tablet volume growing by 111.3 percent and smartphone volume by 69.7 percent year over- year.
Mature markets, on the other hand, grew by 15.6 percent and saw a huge plunge in the PC market in the year 2012.
By the end of 2017, the tablet and smartphone markets will have a huge growth potential in the emerging markets.
Smart Connected Device Year-over-Year Growth by Region and Product Category, 2012-2017
| Region | Product Category | 2012 | 2013* | 2017* | ||||||||
| Mature Market | Desktop PC | -4.8% | -5.5% | -2.9% | ||||||||
| Mature Market | Portable PC | -8.1% | -3.1% | -1.4% | ||||||||
| Mature Market | Tablet | 62.8% | 41.4% | 8.3% | ||||||||
| Mature Market | Smartphone | 20.6% | 15.1% | 4.6% | ||||||||
| Total Market | 15.6% | 13.8% | 4.2% | |||||||||
| Emerging Markets | Desktop PC | -3.8% | -3.5% | 0% | ||||||||
| Emerging Markets | Portable PC | -0.8% | 4.1% | 7.1% | ||||||||
| Emerging Markets | Tablet | 111.3% | 60.7% | 13.4% | ||||||||
| Emerging Markets | Smartphone | 69.7% | 35.1% | 12.2% | ||||||||
| Total Market | 41.3% | 26.6% | 10.9% | |||||||||
| Worldwide | Desktop PC | -4.1% | -4.3% | -1.0% | ||||||||
| Worldwide | Portable PC | -3.4% | 0.9% | 3.7% | ||||||||
| Worldwide | Tablet | 78.4% | 48.7% | 10.6% | ||||||||
| Worldwide | Smartphone | 46.1% | 27.2% | 9.8% | ||||||||
| Total Market | 29.1% | 21.2% | 8.5% |
Source: IDC’s Worldwide Smart Connected Device Tracker Forecast Data, February 28, 2013
During this time, tablet unit shipments are expected to increase by a factor of 3 with a shipment value of $125 billion dollars while smartphone unit shipments are expected to double and reach a shipment value of $462 billion dollars.
Portable PCs, on the other hand will show a moderate single-digit growth while desktop PCs are expected to consistently decline year over year with almost no growth in 2017.
IDC predicts the worldwide smart connected device space will continue to surge with shipments surpassing 2.2 billion units and revenues reaching $814.3 billion in 2017.
