Hong Kongers buying more and bigger screens: GfK

Overall sales of three screens—laptop, media tablet and smartphone—registered a year-on-year increase of 6 per cent in the first quarter, according to the company, with more than 2 million units sold and revenue of more than US$1.1 billion.

Walter Leung, managing director for GfK in Hong Kong, explained that a portable smart device is an essential must-have for urban dwellers who're constantly on the move with the city's fast-paced lifestyle.

“Especially in a developed and affluent city such as Hong Kong, where infrastructure is already well laid out, it is not surprising for individuals to own all three devices, and households to own several units of each device,” he said.  

Among the three, media tablets led sales with a twofold (98 per cent) demand surge compared to the same time period last year. Consumers in Hong Kong spent more than US$216 million on nearly 480,000 units in the first quarter.

However, smartphones held the highest sales volume with more than 1.4 million units sold in the three-month period. GfK findings noted the increasing popularity of smartphones with screen sizes of more than 4.5 inches; that category grew 30 per cent in market share.

Not surprisingly, as a result of the increasing penetration of smartphones and tablets, sales of laptops continued to decline, with around 114,000 laptops sold.

However, driven largely by the rising popularity of hybrid PCs, the 11-inch laptop is registering a growth in sales, with the share of this segment rising from 11 to 15 per cent in the past six months.

“There is definitely strong competition among these three screens as some of their functions and features are similar and have the tendency to overlap,” said Leung. “And yet there are well-defined boundaries, which make each of the three screens unique and stand out on its own.”

“We anticipate the three screens to carry on being the key drivers in the technology sector,” he added. “As demand for media tablets is sustained and big display smartphones as well as hybrid PCs continue to gain traction, they'll push sales to a higher level.”