Apple Tablet Market Share: Apple Could Benefit From Tablet, Touch Growth

Apple Tablet Market Share: Right now, it appears that there is no slowing down the growth of mobile PC shipments. For companies, such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), this is great news. Cupertino has positioned itself nicely to take advantage of the growth of the tablet market, and over the next few years the company should be able to do just that.

According to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report, “the mobile PC market is expected to increase from 367.6 million units shipped in 2012 to 762.7 million globally by 2017.”

As you can see, this is more than just a little bit of growth. This is something that Apple, as well as its competitors, can hang its hat on as the next few years unfold.

This shift is due in large part to the fact that a growing number of people are moving away from notebook PCs and towards tablets.

As you know, one of the key features of any tablet, including the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)  iPad lineup, is the touch screen. Here are some additional stats from the report, giving you a better idea of how much growth to expect:

“Tablet PC shipments are forecast to increase 67% Y/Y to 256.5 million in 2013, and reach 579.4 million by 2017. White box tablet PCs accounted for one-third of tablet PC shipments in 2012 and will maintain at that level for the next several years.”

This shift is taking place right now. You won’t have to wait for many years to realize that things are changing.

Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch, added the following:

“The rapid rise and establishment of white box tablet PCs (tablets made by small local brands, mainly in China) is putting pressure on traditional notebook PCs. These low-cost tablets are reaching further into emerging regions where notebook PC penetration rates have remained low, resulting in cannibalization by tablet PCs.”

If you take that statement into consideration, it is easy to see that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is both in a good and bad position.

On one side of things, the growth of the tablet market will work in its favor. On the other side, you have to consider what Shim said, this being that lower priced devices are making its way to the marketplace.

The growth of the tablet market is not going to slow anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what type of impact this has on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) through 2017.

On the next page, you will find a graph from NPD DisplaySearch that displays the details of the growth: