iSuppli : 45 Million Ultrabook Storage Solutions to Ship in 2013.

Posted on 30 April 2013, Last updated on 17 March 2023 by

P1140740In a report issued yesterday, iSuppli is predicting that 45 million SSD, cache SSD and Hyrid HDD solutions will ship for Ultrabooks and ultrathins in 2013 indicating a huge 4X jump over 2012. Isuppli is predicting that despite a contraction of the PC market but that a flattening off of interest for ‘superthins’ will ‘take-off’ in the second half of 2013.

The report by iSuppli is highlighting a growth curve for hybrid HDDs (integrated and embedded SSD as cache in a hard-drive casing) but reveals interesting statistics split into three categories.

  • SSD-cache shipments 2013: 23.8 Million (53%) (2012: 5.2 million)
  • Pure SSD shipments 2013: 18.7 Million (42%)
  • Hybrid HDD shipments 2013: 2.6 Million (5%)

Given a similar percentage breakdown for 2012, the numbers would indicate sales of around 10 million for the Ultrabook and ultrathin sector which is in-line with other late-2012 predictions. The total forecast for 2013 based on these figures is around 44 million, a 440% increase over estimated 2012 sales and a healthy figure.

Our 2013 Ultrabook market update is here. The timeline for next-generation Ultrabooks is here.

ISuppli expects cache shipments to lead the three alternatives until 2017 when over 100 Million SSD and SSD-Cache solutions are expected to ship with hybrid HDD adding another 20.5 million units for a total market of over 120 million units, or around half of the laptop sector sales if we assume zero growth in the laptop sector overall.

Clearly cache cache solutions are expected to be used because of cost factors. Customers want fast response but many also want or need space for videos, music, backups and documents. There are a couple of points to note in this area though. Firstly, lower-cost mainboard-embedded eMMC is getting faster and moving towards fast response with good enough speed. It’s already used in Clovertrail tablets and hybrids and the reason for that is Connected Standby capability which requires tight mainboard design and the OS on a non-spinning drive. If this style of Ultrabook takes off (it will be a premium style Ultrabook that offers this initially) then SSD deployment in either SATA or eMMC form could increase faster than expected, pushing prices down. There are other possibilities too. Wireless storage via WiGig and cloud storage via services like the well-integrated SkyDrive could reduce the need for media storage.

 

Source: iSuppli

11 Comments For This Post

  1. Adam says:

    Makes sense as Intel Atom Bay Trail will now support high perf SATA2 SSDs in addition to eMMC.

    This is what’s needed; high PERF storage to make apps load quickly.
    http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/48313-intel-lets-slip-bay-trail-atom-platform-secrets/

    Adam

  2. Steve Chippy Paine says:

    I don’t see the reference to SATA interface. I’ve looked in the past too. Can you point it out for me.
    Chippy

  3. Adam says:

    Its on the first slide on the link above. Under “I/O highlights”, then “wide range of IO: eg: SATA2, …..etc…”.

    Adam

  4. Adam says:

    Dang! This slide clarifies that it’s only BayTrail -D and -M that will include SATA2 support. The -T tablet version will continue to be eMMC only… ; ( -Sad face.

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/cms/include/image.php?src=/images/news/2013-01/intel_atom_valleyview_baytrail_4.jpg&width=550&height=404&cache=1&quality=88&aspect=0&format=jpg

    But eMMC 4.5 supports 200MB/sec eMMC-based storage so this is probably “fast enough” for a well performing tablet.

    Adam

  5. Steve Chippy Paine says:

    I think Samsung have got through the 100MBps mark now for sequential. Not far to go before most people won’t to ow the difference between HDD and eMMC

  6. Adam says:

    I don’t know if you guys are allowed to report on other platforms given the close oversight by Intel these days, but the recent Bay Trail news is incredibly exciting for the ultra mobile / ultrabook enthusiast and it would be great to get a comparison and see what will become available “down market” hopefully for Christmas 2013.

    http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/48313-intel-lets-slip-bay-trail-atom-platform-secrets/

    Summary:
    2x CPU perf improvement
    3x GPU perf improvement
    half the power requirement at same perf as clovertrail
    x64 support
    Quad Core CPU -up to 2.4ghz x4
    Up to 8GB dual channel low voltage DDR 3 support
    Intel HD 4000-based graphics -w DX11 support
    Intel virtualization support
    High performance IO (FINALLY!)-both SATA2 and USB3
    Hardware video decode (low power utilization on videoplayback)
    WIDI Support- which intel has promised will be made compatible with Miracast!
    22nm process tech and out-of-order architecture
    Secure boot support
    WAY, WAY cheaper than Haswell

    This is an incredible feature set and specifically addressing BayTrail-T for Tablets / Convertible tablets.

    An INCREDIBLY compelling Windows Blue convertible tablet for half the cost of an ultabook?!? -If they can come out with a quality one by Christmas for $500 -I’ll buy 4 or 5 and hand them out to family members. This is what the consumer PC market needs! (Although Hawswell is nice for enthusiasts and corporate buyers.)

    Adam

  7. Steve Chippy Paine says:

    Good idea. We need a platform overview. I’m looking to get some more AMD info too. We’re still independent, despite the good 2-way we have with Intel.

  8. Adam says:

    It would be hard for me to justify paying 2x as much for an Ultrabook.

    I’m guessing that Intel holds back BayTrail till after Christmas to try and lock-in ultrabook profit margins for Christmas…

    Adam

  9. Steve Chippy Paine says:

    The separation between the platforms is something I’ve though about a lot and talked about on umpcportal. It must be one of Intel’s more difficult tasks and I’m sure it will be tightly controlled.

  10. Adam says:

    I’d really like to see them “unchain” Atom and chase after marketshare with wanton abandon. Make Atom and Core as good as they can possibly be, price them both appropriately and let the consumer decide. (Their over-all profit would decline though as Atom would eat into Core profit margins and Wall Street would beat them about the head.)

    Adam

  11. Adam says:

    Jeff Bezos at Amazon has done a good job of educating Wall Street that his strategy is NOT about chasing after higher and higher PROFIT but that they will continue to grow market share; if they can still succeed on Wall Street doing that; so can Intel.

    Adam

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