According to IDC the global thin and terminal client market "deteriorated" during Q4 2014, with shipments dropping by -12.5% Y-o-Y to 1.4 million units following a "mild" Q3 2014 contraction.
Full-year 2014 shows slight (-0.2%) decline, a weak comparison against the Windows XP migration projections of 2013 spurring more VDI adoptions and the continued decline of terminal client deployments.
However the analyst says the market shows some silver linings-- thin clients remain resilient with 4.6% 2014 growth, as only terminal clients show deterioration. Meanwhile mature markets are doing well with 2014 growth reaching 4.3% thanks to trials growing into full deployments and companies seeing improved experiences and longer term savings from VDI deployments.
IDC forecasts mature market shipments will reach around 6m units in 2015.
"Although currency impacts and a faster-than-expected slowing of momentum from migrations earlier in the year resulted in a Q4 2014 that was less than forecast, more and more IT decision makers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the concept and requirements of a successful desktop virtualization deployment, leading IDC to project steady growth ahead," the analyst remarks.
Dell leads the Q4 2014 client device vendor rankings (with 27.2% market share) through some key financial sector shipments. HP follows with shipments reaching 360480 units with a -17.1% Y-o-Y decline, together with Centern, Igel and NComputing.
