According to IDC Q1 2013 global thin client and terminal client device shipments total 1.2 million units with a -8.4% Y-o-Y decline-- but the analyst still predicts the market will recover during 2013.
IDC forecasts overall 2013 shipments to reach 5.6m units with 7% growth over 2012, before growing to 9.2m units by 2017.
"With increasing adoption of cloud and virtualisation, growth is expected in all form factors, including mobile and with LCDs, although standalone will still dominate," the analyst says.
Thin clients make 96% of enterprise client devices, with the standalone form factor taking 89% share of the overall market. Thin clients with LCD also show growth in W. Europe.
Zero clients hold 24% of the thin client segment, while Linux-based thin clients make 25%.
When it comes to vendors HP leads with 28.2% WW market share. DellWyse follows with 24.7% share, while NComputing ranks 3rd (11.4% share) as top MEA vendor.