Both consumers and business buyers contributed to the growth.
The size of the smart connected devices market was $131.5 billion worldwide, up 16.3 percent year-over-year increase, down 2.7 percent quarter-over-quarter.
In the U.S. market, PCs and smart connected devices are facing a difficult time as both unit shipments and revenues declined. Unit shipments for 2Q12 fell 7.8 percent sequentially and 5 percent annually to under 47.4 million units. Revenues for the combined categories slipped to $24.8 billion, a 10.3 percent sequential and 8.6 percent annual drop.
Smartphones will represent over 59 percent of smart connected device shipments in 2012 and will grow by nearly 15.8 percent annually, approaching 63 percent of device shipments in 2016.
Tablets will rise from about 10 percent share this year to 13 percent by 2016, reducing PC share from 31 percent in 2012 to 24 percent in 2016.
Asia/Pacific leads in total PC and smartphone shipments, while tablet shipments are concentrated in mature markets. EMEA is expected to gain share in tablets while the Americas and Asia/Pacific will increase volume but capture a smaller share of the global total.
“The recent shipment data clearly demonstrates that we have fully entered into the multi-device era, where individuals are buying and using multiple devices per person, most often with different combinations of operating systems,” said Bob O’Donnell, program vice president for Clients and Displays.
IDC forecasts that the worldwide total unit shipments for smart connected devices will reach nearly 1.2 billion in 2012, up 27.4 percent increase over 2011, and grow to 1.4 billion in 2013, up 19.2 percent year-over-year increase.
IDC predicts the combined worldwide smart connected devices market will surpass 2 billion units in 2016.
The Asia/Pacific market is expected to top well over 860 million units by 2016, stretching its lead over other regions to have the most volume.
The Americas should also experience continued growth, bringing its total device count to over 600 million by 2016 and a CAGR of 13.7 percent compared to 2012.
EMEA is expected to grow at a slower pace relative to other regions, with volume totaling just over 530 million by 2016 and a CAGR of 12.6 percent.
Amidst the growth, smartphones will make up the bulk of the volume, but tablets are expected to grow the fastest at over 22 percent CAGR between 2012 and 2016.
