14 DAY TRIAL // New research by IHS iSuppli says that the DisplayPort digital display interface is gaining rapid momentum in 2011, with shipments in PC-related equipment expected to rise by a triple-digit percentage this year, all because of Apple’s adoption of the standard.
[admark=1]Based on its research, iSuppli has concluded that global factory shipments of DisplayPort-enabled PC equipment will amount to 78.9 million units in 2011, an increase of 154.6 percent from 31 million units last year.
Before Apple adopted the standard, only occasional sightings of DisplayPort had been made in the market, said iSuppli.
Some of the early adopters named in their report include Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., as well as Lenovo Group.
2011 will be what the analytics firm calls “a peak period” of DisplayPort growth which will exceed the 2010 expansion of 136.5 percent and also outpace next year’s increase, anticipated at 137 percent.
Annual shipments of DisplayPort-equipped devices will rise to 445.2 million units by 2014, while growth rates will taper off during the following years, iSuppli estimates.
“Although DisplayPort had been around for several years, the technology achieved only sporadic usage until 2009, when Apple began to support the interface as a standard feature of its notebook and desktop designs,” said Randy Lawson, manager and principal analyst for display and consumer electronics at IHS.
“This provided the essential momentum to drive DisplayPort beyond the nascent stage and into the mainstream.”
With the strong adoption of DisplayPort from system and chip vendors, and declining support for the existing video graphic adapter (VGA) standard, the new technology will experience rapid growth in the coming years,” Lawson added.
iSuppli cautions that, although declining in volume, the VGA (Video Graphics Array) standard will remain a common interface on monitors for some time to come.