X

IDC device maker ranking shows Apple value, Samsung volume

IDC report shows personal computing market shifting to smartphones and tablets, away from PCs.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
See full bio
Brooke Crothers
2 min read
iPad 4 and iPad Mini. Personal computing devices include tablets, as IDC's Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market ranking shows.
iPad 4 and iPad Mini. Personal computing devices include tablets, as IDC's Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market ranking shows. Brooke Crothers

In the brave new world of connected personal computing devices, Hewlett-Packard is a distant No. 4, with Samsung and Apple leading the way.

Think of IDC's "Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market" report as the 21st century equivalent of PC maker rankings.

Personal computing today includes tablets and smartphones, not just the laptop in your father's home office.

That global smart-connected device market grew 27.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to a record 303.6 million shipments valued at $140.4 billion, IDC said today in a research note.

"HP, which is virtually non-existent in the mobile space, has dropped its share from 7.4% in 3Q11 to 4.6% in 3Q12 with shipments declining -20.5% during that time," said IDC.

Related stories

That's telling because HP still leans heavily on traditional PCs, while Apple and Samsung have shifted their product emphasis to smartphones and tablets.

And while Samsung leads in shipments (see chart below), Apple leads in value.

"The fact that Apple's [average selling price] is $310 higher than Samsung's with just over 20 million fewer shipments in the quarter speaks volumes about the premium product line that Apple sells," Ryan Reith, an IDC analyst, said in a statement.

Translation: Apple's products are pricey but consumers buy them anyway.

And what does the future hold? In 2011, PCs -- a combination of desktop and laptops -- accounted for 39.1 percent of the smart connected device market. By 2016 it is expected to drop to 19.9 percent, IDC said.

Smartphones will be the "preferred product category" with share growing from 53.1 percent in 2011 to 66.7 percent in 2016, while tablet share grows from 7.7 percent in 2011 to 13.4 percent in 2016.


IDC