Ultraportable PC Shipments Experience Growth Year over Year, and are Forecasted to Reach 34.4 Million Shipments Worldwide for 2014

An estimated 5.1 million Ultraportables shipped in Q1 2014, experiencing approximately 65% growth in total shipments year-over-year, according to market intelligence firm ABI Research. Ultraportable shipments are forecasted to continue expanding globally. This demonstrates that there is still a need for these devices even with a dreary PC market, and by 2019 Ultraportables will experience a CAGR increase of 26% to 109.4 million units.

“Ultraportables continue to be a strong force in the PC market and ABI Research expects shipments to continue growing through 2019,” says research analyst Stephanie Van Vactor. “While the PC market’s growth is declining, it is also continuing to fragment, with a plethora of choices including variations in OS, form factor (i.e., hybrid, convertible, swivel) display size, and weight/thickness. With ASP’s forecast to drop by 6.5% year on year, the year 2014 will focus on the budget-conscious consumer and vendors are responding to the changing market landscape with devices like Ultraportables.”

Beyond Ultraportables, ABI Research still sees the broader portable PC market continuing its struggle to regain high market growth, but due to the overcrowding of the market may never relive those high growth numbers. Chromebooks, however, are another low cost growth story. “Initial Chromebook adoption was slow due to consumer hesitation and questionable need, but Chromebooks have now managed to present themselves as a disruptive force and ABI Research expects shipments to grow by 56% year over year for the year 2014. Chromebooks are gaining interest among consumers due to their low-price point, cloud services, and vertical market integration, especially among businesses and institutions,” continued Van Vactor.

Looking ahead, ABI Research expects cost, connectivity and greater reliance on cloud services to be driving forces of the ultraportable PC market. As expected, overall Notebook PC shipments slowed after the holiday season but the market is still going strong. The year 2014 will be an important deciding factor for Chromebooks and the trajectory of the Notebook PC market in general. Cloud services and storage are becoming one of the more essential components for the mobile industry and users are interested in devices that offer these services.

These “Ultrabook, Netbook, Chromebook, Notebook, and Smartbook” Market Data findings are part of ABI Research’s Media Tablets, Ultrabooks and eReaders Research Service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.