40 mln hard drives shipped in consumer electronics devices in 2004

As consumers continue to amass large amounts of digital content, they require enhanced storage capacity on their consumer electronic products. Hard drive manufacturers are increasing storage capacities on smaller form factor hard disk drives (HDDs); as a result, these companies are poised to benefit from the expanding Consumer Electronics (CE) market, reports In-Stat. In 2004, shipments of hard disk drives into the Consumer Electronics segment reached 40 mln units, and this market will reach almost 240 mln units in 2009. Over the next few years, significant growth may come from portable devices such as PDAs, digital camcorders, and mobile phones.

The 1-inch-and-smaller HDD market will win out over the forecast period and represent 50% of all HDDs shipped to the CE segment by 2009. Total worldwide shipments of hard drives will increase dramatically over the next five years, growing from approximately 304 mln in 2004 to 500 mln in 2009. As a result of demand for storing increased amounts of data on smaller, portable devices, HDD manufacturers have strengthened efforts to introduce products utilizing perpendicular recording.