One Billion USB 3.0 Devices to Be Shipped in 2014

As the number of CE devices and their capabilities continue to evolve and converge, many require significantly more bandwidth to provide the quality interactive experience users have come to expect.

SuperSpeed USB brings performance enhancements to the ubiquitous USB standard, while remaining compatible with the billions of USB-enabled devices currently deployed in the market. New NPD In-Stat research forecasts SuperSpeed USB-enabled device shipments are on a fast track and will surpass 1 billion in 2014, up from 70 million in 2011.

"Because the throughput of SuperSpeed USB, ten times that of high-speed USB, is not required in some devices, adoption will not initially be as broad as for full- and high-speed USB," says Brian O’Rourke, Research Director. "However, SuperSpeed USB will gain significant initial penetration in markets requiring transfers of increasingly larger pools of data. This process is already well underway, as evidenced in the USB Implementer Forum’s December announcement that Intel’s 7 Series PC Chipset and C216 PC Chipset family achieved SuperSpeed USB certification, guaranteeing increased SuperSpeed penetration of the PC market."

Other details from the report include:

Low-Speed and Full-Speed USB attach rates for keyboards will be 81% in 2013.
Notebooks will be the single largest device that will ship with SuperSpeed USB capability in 2015.
High-Speed USB-enabled device shipments will peak in 2012.
In 2015, 5.5 billion devices will ship with some type of USB capability.

Recent NPD In-Stat research, USB by Device, Q1’12 Forecast (#IN1205302MI, $3,995), provides forecasts of the worldwide USB device market for the 2010-2015 period with detailed segmentation by device type and technology.

Device forecasts are provided for:

Cellular devices (basic and feature phones, smartphones, external cellular modems, mobile hotspots)
Computing devices (desktops, mini-notes, notebooks, tablets)
Networking devices (broadband routers, cable modems, DSL modems, residential gateways)
Peripheral devices (Blu-ray drives, DVD drives, external web cameras, external hard drives/enclosures, discrete USB host controllers, flash card readers, flash drives, game controllers , hubs , keyboards, mice, mobile PC docking stations, multifunction peripherals, ink jet printers, laser printers, scanners, speakers, USB adapters)
Portable consumer electronics devices (digital still cameras, digital camcorders, e-readers, MP3 players, personal media players, personal navigation devices, handheld game consoles)
Stationary consumer electronics devices (A/V receivers, Blu-ray players, DVD players, DVD recorders, digital photo frames, digital televisions, cable set top boxes, IP/DSL set top boxes, standalone PVRs, streaming media players, satellite set top boxes, terrestrial set top boxes, video game consoles)