3D laptop sales slow

Posted on 23 Sep 2010 at 10:43

Market watcher DisplaySearch has released a report that shows that demand for laptops with 3D displays is not matching up to supply, with the technology being met by consumer apathy.

According to figures from the report quoted by Computerworld, just 100,000 3D laptops have shipped to customers so far this year - out of a total laptop market of more than 100 million sales.

By the end of the year, DisplaySearch believes that just 179,000 3D-enabled laptops will have sold globally - a mere 0.08 percent of the total laptop market. While this figure is projected to grow to 611,000 in 2011, it will still remain a very niche section for some time.

Explaining the poor sales, DisplaySearch's director of notebook market research John Jacobs claimed that "if there's a reason you buy a notebook, it is because you need a notebook - not because you need a 3D notebook."

The news comes as more manufacturers are jumping on to the 3D bandwagon, and as Sony releases its long-awaited firmware update for the PlayStation 3 that allows the console to play back 3D Blu-ray films when connected to a suitable 3D-ready TV.

While it's clear that 3D is here to stay, DisplaySearch's research clearly shows that it has a long way to go before it can be considered a mainstream technology - at least, in the laptop market.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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User comments

Is anyone surprised?

Why on earth would I need a 3D laptop to surf the web, check email and edit/view my photos? More than that, why in God's name would I want to wear special specs in order to do it? Has the world gone mad?

3D seems to me to be a solution (and not very well implemented at the moment) to a problem that few of us have.

By tdodd1 on 27 Sep 2010