According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Smart Connected Device Tracker, worldwide shipments of smart connected devices grew 29.1% year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped with a value of $576.9 billion. The market expansion was largely driven by 78.4% year-over-year growth in tablet shipments, which surpassed 128 million in 2012.
Looking specifically at the results for the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), combined shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tablets, and smartphones was nearly 378 million and revenues were more than $168 billion. In terms of market share, Apple significantly closed the gap with market leader Samsung in the quarter, as the combination of Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad mini brought Apple up to 20.3% unit shipment share versus 21.2% for Samsung. On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple continued to dominate with 30.7% share versus 20.4% share for Samsung.
Going forward, IDC expects 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% and portable PCs to maintain a flat growth of 0.9%. 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% while the smartphone market is expected to grow 27.2% to 918.5 million units.
From a regional perspective, the smart connected device volume in emerging markets grew by 41.3% in 2012 with the tablet volume growing by 111.3% and smartphone volume by 69.7% year over- year. Mature markets, on the other hand, grew by 15.6% and saw a huge plunge in the PC market in the year 2012. By the end of year 2017, IDC predicts that the tablet and smartphone markets will have a huge growth potential in the emerging markets. 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.
“In emerging markets, consumer spending typically starts with mobile phones and, in many cases, moves to tablets before PCs,” said Megha Saini, Research Analyst for IDC’s Worldwide Smart Connected Device Tracker, in a statement. “The pressure on the PC market is significantly increasing and we can see longer replacement cycles coming into effect very soon and that, too, will put downward pressure on PC sales.”
Looking forward, 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. “Consumers and business buyers are now starting to see smartphones, tablets, and PCs as a single continuum of connected devices separated primarily by screen size,” added Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President for Clients and Displays, in a statement. “Each of these devices is primarily used for data applications and different individuals choose different sets of screen sizes in order to fit their unique needs. These kinds of developments are creating exciting new opportunities that will continue to drive the smart connected devices market forward in a positive way.”
Smart Connected Device Year-over-Year Growth by Region and Product Category, 2012-2017
Source: IDC’s Worldwide Smart Connected Device Tracker Forecast Data, February 28, 2013
* Forecast estimates.
Smart Connected Device Market by Product Category, Shipments, Market Share, 2012-1016 (units in millions)
Source: IDC’s Worldwide Smart Connected Device Tracker Forecast Data, February 28, 2013
* Forecast estimates.
Source: IDC
Great couple of years coming up for Steve, Bill, and their stockholders, huh?
Where does IDC pull Samsungs shipping numbers from? Samsung announcements? No, they do not announce numbers. Oh, I know, a dart board!
Samsumg’s numbers are “flowing”. [Can’t remember the exact Korean word.]
Samsung’s sales are “quite smooth”
Try a Google search for Korean runny poop. That should get it for you.
@silverhawk – “Where does IDC pull Samsungs shipping numbers from?”
Apparently IDC uses a wide variety of overlapping methods to collect data … I looked at its website and it seems the company makes a genuine effort to do more than accept whatever figures that Samsung feeds to the press.
“IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker® provides an integrated view of three important technology markets: Personal computers (notebooks and desktops), smartphones, and tablets. This integrated deliverable with data from three highly sought-out consumer trackers provides a holistic view of the changing dynamics across all four product categories. This data provides vendor market share across the smart connected device spectrum, as well as a detailed country-level forecast that highlights shifts in demand.”
IDC’s (Feb. 21) report is here:
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23958513#.UVIBb6XNolI
No offense, but that paragraph was more like “government speak” and didn’t sy anything about where IDC gets their information. If not a dart board maybe tea leaves?
The desktop PC is not dead. The issue is that the desktop PC was overkill for 75% of PC users. Those users are now better served by laptops, tablets, and smart phones. It’s kind of like everyone driving an SUV, when most people never get off dry pavement.
There is still that 25% of computer users who actually need the power and screen real estate of a desktop PC. I hope Apple comes out with a new desktop pro machine soon. I and many others desperately need a dedicated desktop powerhouse.
“On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple continued to dominate with 30.7% share versus 20.4% share for Samsung”
Dead Heat?
When the winner …by looking at a real finish line where the winner can be seen (instead of virtual shopments) wins by 10 meters in a 100M race (comparable to 10%)
Not a dead heat, Apple is clearly the winner.
Actually, It is more like Samsung being 34 yards behind (they would have run 66 yards) when Apple wins a 100 meter.
although I’m happy that IDCs projections for apple are positive I’m curious about IDCs historical accuracy.
If I remember correctly they projected Windows Phone to surpass iOS ….
IDC (2012) : ” Windows Phone that will experience the greatest growth over the next four years, at least according to IDC. It will experience an incredible 46.2 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next year to achieve 19.2 percent market share, good for number two, behind Android (52.9 percent market share) but ahead of iPhone (19 percent).”
a chart with their projections from 3 – 5 years ago vs reality would be insightful.
(strange that companies make decisions worth tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars based on IDC projections and pay big bucks for their reports, for stuff pertaining to apple average MDN readers probably can guess better …. )
Nice! Thank you.