Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues fell -1.4 percent year-over-year to nearly $5.9 billion during the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14), according to research firm IDC.
According to a new forecast from analyst firm IDC, worldwide phablet shipments (smartphones with screen sizes from 5.5 to less than 7 inches) will reach 175 million units worldwide in 2014, passing the 170 million portable PCs expected to ship during the same period.
Global unit shipments of smart cards are expected to rise by 2.1 billion from 2014 through 2019 ? about equal to the combined populations of China, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil, according to research firm IHS Technology.
Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -3.7 percent in 2014, an improvement from the previous forecast of -6 percent, according to research firm IDC.
On a year-over-year basis, volume systems experienced 4.9 percent revenue growth. This was the fifth consecutive quarter that volume system demand increased year-over-year.
The worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market ? also known as the printer industry -- declined for the first time in the past three quarters to 25.5 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14) resulting in a -2.3 percent year-over-year decrease.
Research firm IDC found that now even larger devices, tablets of 7-inch screen sizes and above, are increasingly shipping with cellular voice capabilities, and such devices are getting more traction in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) region, breaching the 25-percent mark in the second quarter of 2014.
3D printing is evolving rapidly, although many technologies are still five to 10 years away from mainstream adoption. Consumer adoption will be outpaced by business and medical applications that have more compelling use cases in the short term, according to analyst firm Gartner.
Sales of Chromebooks will reach 5.2 million units in 2014, a 79-percent increase from 2013, according to analyst firm Gartner. By 2017, sales of Chromebooks are set to nearly triple to reach 14.4 million units.
Liquid-crystal-display television (LCD TV) panels enjoyed unexpected growth in the first half of this year, tied to enthusiastic TV viewing because of the World Cup and other factors that benefited the market, according to a new report from IHS Technology.
