SEA device market grows 12% in value and 26% in volume

• SEA laptop and tablet markets expand further in first three quarters of 2012
• Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia the three biggest markets for such gadgets

MOBILE Internet devices such as laptops and tablets continue to see a surge in demand and experience exponential growth, market research firm GfK Asia said in a statement.
 
In January to September this year, consumers across six key markets in South-East Asia spent over US$4.72 billion on nearly 8.8 million tablets and laptops, reflecting a growth of 12% in value and 26% in volume compared to the same period last year.
 
According to latest GfK Asia retail audit findings across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, the overall worth of the combined laptop and tablet markets in each and every country expanded by between 5% and 22%, with all markets managing to achieve robust double-digit volume growth of up to 37%.
 
“South-East Asia’s laptop and tablet markets will continue to remain buoyant in the coming months with the region’s major developing markets being the growth engines,” said Gerard Tan, account director for digital technology at GfK Asia.
 
“Our findings show that Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are the three biggest markets for such gadgets and collectively consume over 70% of the region’s sales volume while contributing 67% to the overall dollar value.”
 
Consumption of laptops and tablets in the largest market, Indonesia, reached 2.76 million units—an increase of 37% over the last year and collecting revenue totaling nearly US$1.24 billion. Malaysia ranked second in both sales volume and value, thanks to consumers there spending nearly US$1.1 billion on two million of these devices.
 
It is worth noting that tablets on the Android operating system (OS) have been dominating the market in both of these countries, with over seven in every ten sold (72%) being an Android tablet, GfK Asia said.
 
Two increasingly popularity form factors are rapidly being adopted across the region: Tablets and ultrathin laptops.  Sales volume of ultrathin laptops, defined as those which are 2cm or less in thickness, grew 259% over last year while tablet sales more than doubled.
 
To date, tablets make up a third (33%) of the total sales value of the overall market, compared with only 19% a year ago.
 
“Sales of tablets and laptops have concurrently surged across South-East Asia, both contributing significantly to the growth of the overall market,” said Tan.  “It is important to note that both devices have different performance capabilities and functions, as well as serve different purposes—thus creating an exciting market where manufacturers need to carefully positioning their offerings.”
 
“As economies in the developing markets continue to advance in sophistication and network service providers further expand their coverage to avail easy access to the Internet, we can surely expect the market and performance of tablets to keep on trending upwards,” he added.