CEA: Mobile Device Sales Surging

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/19/2011

ARLINGTON, VA. – Cellular handset sell-in through U.S. consumer channels will grow 8 percent in units and 15 percent in dollars during 2011, and U.S. tablet sell-in will rise an astounding 157 percent in units and 121 percent in dollars, recently revised Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) forecasts show.

“[CE] industry growth in 2011 is pinned on a handful of mobile connected devices, most notably tablet PCs, smartphones, and e-readers,” the association said.

Tablets: CEA forecasts tablet sell-in to rise 157 percent in units to 26.6 million and 121 percent in dollars to $14.9 billion. In 2012, unit growth will slow to 31 percent on dollar growth of 7 percent.

E-readers: CEA forecasts 101 percent unit growth in e-reader shipments to 16.6 million followed by 2012 growth of 27 percent to 21.1 million units. In dollars, CEA forecasts e-reader shipments to rise 42 percent in 2011 to $1.8 million, given prices far lower than tablet prices, and 17 percent in 2012 to $2.1 million.

Cellphones: Smartphone growth through consumer channels will exceed overall cellphone growth in units and dollars in 2011 and 2012.

Handsets of all kinds, including smartphones and standard handsets, will rise 8 percent in units in 2011 to 157.4 million followed by 2012 gains of 11 percent to 175.4 million. On the other hand, smartphone unit sellin into consumer channels will rise 45 percent in units in 2011 to 78.6 million followed by 2012 gains of 25 percent to 98.6 million. In dollars, smartphone sell-in will grow 32 percent to $23.2 billion in 2011 followed in 2012 by 15 percent growth to $26.6 billion.

The improved shipment outlook for tablets “is a major contributor to the better-than-expected revenue growth for the [CE] industry this year,” CEA said. Industrywide CE sales are expected to rise 5.6 percent to $190.5 billion from a previously forecast rise of 3.5 percent.