Apple iPad 2 and tablet demand harming HDD shipments

The increasing popularity of solid state disk-based tablet devices will contribute to a four per cent decline in hard disk drive (HDD) shipments in the first quarter of 2011, according to the latest stats from market research firm IHS iSuppli. 

HDD shipments in Q1 are expected to reach 160.9 million units, down from 167.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The market research firm is warning that tablet demand will have an increasingly serious impact on the HDD market, as they cannibalise sales of netbooks.
Declines will occur in four of the six main segments driving demand for HDDs, namely desktop PCs, notebook PCs, netbook PCs and consumer electronics, according to the research.
This will ultimately reduce shipments of HDDs despite a slight increase in demand in the enterprise business and entry server segments.
The first quarter is also a traditionally slow time of year, compounded by the oversupply of six to eight million drives left over from the previous quarter, said iSuppli.
Western Digital remains the market leader among HDD makers, shipping 52.2 million units compared to 48.9 million for Seagate and 30.3 million for Hitachi Global Storage.
The arrival of the Apple iPad 2 this week, however, and a slew of Android tablet devices demonstrated at Mobile World Congress set to launch in the next few months, will keep HDD makers worried.