Smartphones may have brought us to the dance, but it will be tablet computers that boogie the night away.
According to the latest data from IDC, tablets are now driving the strongest demand for smart connected devices.
The smart connected device market continued to post strong growth in 4Q of 2013, with combined shipments of PCs, tablets, and smartphones reaching nearly 70 million units in the fourth quarter (totaling nearly 230 million units for the year 2013).
Despite a slowdown in growth as the market reaches significant volumes, SCDs continue to be one of the fastest-growing markets in the IT industry, and tablets continued to drive overall consumer electronics spending during the holiday season.
“The accelerated adoption of tablets is having a significant impact on the way consumers and businesses use and consider their computing devices. The frontiers between private and professional are blurring and new form factors are supporting increasing versatility, opening new usage scenarios and new growth opportunities for the industry,” says Chrystelle Labesque, research manager for IDC EMEA Personal Computing.
The report projects that tablets, including 2-in-1, will continue to drive the SCD market from a growth perspective in 2014, with shipments expected to grow 17.6% this year. Demand for tablets continued unabated during the holiday season and led to a total volume of over 45 million units sold in Western Europe for the year 2013 and growth of 51.4% compared with 2012.
“Growth will naturally slow down as volumes have now reached high levels, but is set to remain in double digits over the next three years,” IDC estimates, “supported by continued product expansion while accelerated adoption in the business space will give the market a further uplift from 2H14 and onward.”
