By 2017, touch-panel notebook penetration is expected to reach nearly 40 percent, equal to 64.2 million units, according to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report.
This year, touch-panel notebook PC shipments will reach 19.8 million units, or 11 percent penetration, led by Asus with 26.3 percent market share. Ultra-slim PCs led touch-screen penetration in the overall notebook PC category, with 1.7 million units, followed by standard notebooks, with 4.5 million units.
“Touch penetration in notebooks was modest in the first half of the year, and we expect a slight increase to 10 percent in the second half. Premium pricing and a lack of compelling uses for touch-screens on notebooks continue to hinder adoption,” Richard Shim, senior analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, said in a statement. “As touch interfaces become increasingly common across all mobile devices, however, it is just a matter of time before the technology also becomes more prevalent in notebooks.”
During the first half of 2013, global shipments of notebook PCs with touch-screens reached 6.2 million units, or 7 percent share of the overall notebook market.
The report noted factors encouraging adoption include Intel’s mandate that third-generation Ultrabooks include touch, as well as hybrids, sliders, convertibles and other new touch-friendly form factors that will become more common in the years to come.
“A touch panel on a clamshell notebook seems less intuitive than it does on a tablet-like device, which is better suited to touch interactions,” Shim said.
Lenovo followed Asus to be the second-biggest player in the touch-screen notebook market, with 14.7 percent market share, followed by Acer with 13.5 percent market share. Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Sony rounded out the top five with 9.3 percent and 8 percent market shares.
Touch-enabled devices are seen as one of the bright spots in the PC market, as tablets and smartphones continue to eat away at market share. The worldwide PC market experienced zero quarter-to-quarter growth overall, thanks to declines in shipments of desktop and notebook computers, which fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent, according to an August report from Canalys.
On a regional basis, Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe continue to be challenging for vendors, with annual declines of 10 percent and 3 percent. PC shipments in the Asia Pacific region declined 0.5 percent year-on-year to just more than 40 million units.
The report said the region was badly affected by slow shipments in China, which accounted for almost 45 percent of the region’s shipments and declined by approximately 6 percent.