Laptops poised to outsell desktops in 2009
Companies are expected to sell 2.2 trillion won ($1.57 billion) worth of notebook PCs in Korea this year, a 3.3 percent increase from last year`s 1.9 trillion won, the Korean unit of market research firm IDC said.
Conversely, sales of desktops are expected to decline 5.3 percent to 1.9 trillion won this year, according to IDC Korea.
In terms of sales volume, desktop shipments are expected to be eclipsed by laptop shipments for the first time in 2013.
Laptop shipments are expected to grow by an annual average of 5.6 percent to reach 2.2 million units in 2013. At the same time, desktop shipments are forecast to drop at an annual rate of 3.4 percent to reach 2.2 million units. In 2007, laptop shipments reached 1.7 million units compared with desktop sales of 2.6 million units.
The rise of laptops came as notebook PCs have been gaining market share with home PC buyers.
In the home PC market, 1.2 million laptops were sold, 100,000 more than the number of desktop PCs.
Still, desktop PCs will remain the mainstay of businesses, public and educational organizations.
"It is a worldwide trend that laptops are replacing desktops as the functions of notebooks are improved," an official of IDC Korea said.
The official added that desktops were expected to maintain a higher share of the PC market in Korea than in other countries, due to the widespread use of desktops at PC cafes and military bases.
The local PC market is expected to fall to 4,360 billion won in terms of revenue this year, from 4,370 billion won last year. But revenue is expected to grow in the long term by 0.8 percent per year to reach 4.5 trillion won in 2013.
PC sales volume is also expected to slip to 4.3 million units in 2009, from 4.5 million units in 2008. PC sales volume is expected to grow by an annual average of 0.7 percent to reach 4.6 million units in 2013.
By Jin Hyun-joo
(hjjin@heraldm.com)
