Ultra-Slim PCs Will Account for a Quarter of All Notebook Sales in 3 Years

Another day has gone by, which means that another market research and analysis firm has said its piece regarding one or more layers of the IT industry, just like SIA commented on chips two days ago (October 3, 2012) and IHS cut its ultrabooks forecast.

Only the latter has anything to do with the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

Since ultrabooks, easily the most heavily promoted of ultra-thin / -slim PCs, managed to fail so badly (IHS cut its shipment prediction by more than half), one might be tempted to view it as a failure or ultra-slim notebooks as a whole.

That is not the case, according to DisplaySearch. While the firm does believe that tablets are kicking notebooks to the curb and will overtake them by 2016, laptops won't be going away, and, thus, ultra-slim devices won't either.

In fact, now that technology allows for more components to be miniaturized and/or thinned down, it is easier for notebooks to be made slim without cost drawbacks.

Thus, by 2015, ultra-slim mobile PCs, defined as 14-inch or larger notebooks with thickness of under 21 mm, or notebooks smaller than 14 inches but no more than 18mm-thick, will account for 25% of all laptop sales.

Thus, Ultrabooks, Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, HP Sleekbooks and most other AMD-based ultrathins qualify.

"Tablet PCs have offered consumers what they have been requesting from the notebook market for years, instant-on activation, long battery life, and sleeker designs," said Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch.

"These attributes are the basis for enabling greater and easier accessibility to content and services. Ultra-slim PCs are the notebook market's response to tablets and aim to balance performance and convenience."

Last year (2012), shipments of ultra-slim PCs were of 3.4 million. By 2015, the number will rise to 65 million.

Via: Ultra-Slim PCs Will Account for a Quarter of All Notebook Sales in 3 Years