14 DAY TRIAL // That USB 3.0 devices have been selling well is no real secret, but it still falls to analysts to determine exactly how large a shipment volume they might reach this year, and this is precisely what In-Stat looked into.
When it comes to the Universal Serial Bus, the USB Implementers Forum and market analysts seem to take turns at evaluating results and setting expectations.
The former has already certified a significant number of motherboards, storage units and controller chips, while the latter found that sales of the USB 3.0 standard have grown by a lot.
Speaking of the SuperSpeed specification, it is what became the subject of In-Stat's newest research project.
Turns out that the analyst firm expects about 80 million devices with support for this 5 Gbps connectivity to be shipped by the end of this year (2011).
This high volume will be made possible by the fact that Advanced Micro Devices now has chipsets with native support for the technology.
That said, the number can only grow in 2012, when Intel's Ivy Bridge will finally offer native support as well.
“Mobile phones are a key driver for USB overall, and will play a role in the adoption of SuperSpeed USB. In 2010, USB was found internally in over 1.2 billion mobile phones, with high-speed USB dominating,” said Brian O’Rourke, a research director at In-Stat.
“In addition, the number of USB ports in phones increased to over 100 million units. The first SuperSpeed USB phones won't hit the market until late 2013, but they will be accompanied by a new SuperSpeed connector for phones that will succeed the current micro-USB port found in today's phones."
So far, storage units have accounted for most of the sales, but more consumer electronics, like TVs, PMPs, digital cameras and set-top boxes, among other things, will integrate the connection from now on.