According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the worldwide shipments of smart connected devices saw a growth of 29.1% year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped with a combined value of $576.9 billion while the market expansion was largely driven by 78.4% year over year growth in tablet shipments, surpassing 128 million units in 2012.
Considering only the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), the combined shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tablet and smartphone accounted for nearly 378 million while the revenues were over $168 billion. Talking about market share, Apple Vs Samsung continues the lead, as Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad Mini together make up to 20.3% shipment share while Samsung accounts for 21.2%. Urging on a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple still lead the way with 30.7% share versus 20.4% share for Samsung.
Accounting for this year, 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 make a fall out by 4.3% and portable PCs to maintain a flat growth of 0.9% while the tablet market is expected to ship about 190 million units with year over year growth of 48.7% while the smartphone market is expected to accounts for 27.2% to 918.5 million units.
