The worldwide semiconductor market for portable media players (PMPs) is poised to drop significantly from US$7.5 billion ($10.1 billion) in 2008 to US$4.6 billion ($6.2 billion) in 2013, representing a negative compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -9%, according to a new forecast from analysts IDC. A mature market, the economic slowdown, similarity with mobile phones and mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and inevitable cannibalization all contribute to the shrinking semiconductor opportunity in PMPs, says the company. In addition, PMPs will no longer be the largest market for NAND flash memory.
While revenue for most of the semiconductor components will decline in line with the total decline in PMP unit shipments, wireless connectivity semiconductors will exhibit modest growth, driven by the increase in attach rate for FM, WLAN and Bluetooth radios.
“As PMPs have grown in capabilities, the dividing line has blurred between multimedia phones and MIDs,” says Ajit Deosthali, research manager for Short Range Wireless Semiconductors at IDC. “Moving forward, one should expect the semiconductor players to focus on the larger multimedia phones and growing opportunity in MIDs.”
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