External hard disk: Key market research findings
- Low cost of purchase to drive growth in the market
- APAC to dominate the market geographically
- Key vendors – Western Digital, Seagate Technology PLC, and Toshiba
Technavio’s market research analysts predict the global external hard disk market to grow at a CAGR of around 3% between 2016 and 2020. The reduced cost of purchase involved in buying additional memory devices is the major driving force behind the augmented adoption of external hard disks among individual consumers. Generally, laptops with high inbuilt memory cost much higher than buying an external hard disk separately. As a result, users opt for external hard disks in an attempt to avoid bearing additional expenses for extra space. At present, APAC accounts for more than 55% of the total market share. The presence of prominent PC manufacturers, such as Lenovo and Asus, in this region coupled with the rising demand for storage among consumers are some of the factors that will lead to the growth of the external hard disk market in APAC during the forecast period.
The new industry research report from Technavio discusses in detail the key drivers and trends responsible for the growth of this market and its sub-segments.
“Currently, the demand for wireless hard drives in the market is increasing significantly owing to its high portability and the availability of devices that are portable and have an inbuilt battery and embedded Wi-Fi network. Wireless external hard disk drives can be connected to devices like smartphones, tablets, PCs, and laptops through the Wi-Fi network. Western Digital‘s My Passport, Toshiba’s Canvio Aeromobile, and Seagate’s STCV2000100 are some of the popular wireless external hard disks available in the market,” says Sunil Kumar Singh, Lead Analyst, Hardware & Semiconductor, Technavio Research.
The demand for additional storage is on the rise as every individual need to store the images and videos they capture with their smartphones or tablets. External hard disks are available in large capacities of up to 8 TB while the maximum memory of an SD card is significantly smaller. The majority of the demand for external hard disk drives comes from movie enthusiasts and PC gamers, who like collect and store movies and games. At present, Seagate is the only vendor that provides 8 TB portable external hard disk drives.
The key vendors in the global external hard disk market are Western Digital, Seagate Technology PLC, and Toshiba. In this market, customers are looking to replace their conventional hard disks with wireless and less heavy ones, which, in turn, has compelled vendors to create reliable, high storage hard disks that are extremely cost efficient.
A more detailed analysis is available in the Technavio report, Global External Hard Disk Market 2016-2020.
We can customize reports by other regions and specific segments upon request.
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