Ultrabook growth to outpace tablets over five years

The Ultrabook™ market is expected to grow three times faster than the tablet computer market during the next five years, with the former reaching 178 million units sold in 2016, according to analyst firm Juniper Research.

Tablet sales will still exceed those of Ultrabooks, with 253 million units shipped in 2016, but tablet shipments will start to even out after several years of monumental growth in the first half of the decade.

Several developments will occur as a result of the Ultrabook's growth. Juniper says Microsoft's Windows® 8 will be a major catalyst of the technology's adoption. The operating system will be available in the latter half of 2012 and will be central to a number of the Ultrabook's functionalities, including longer battery life and near-constant connection.

Netbook shipments will flounder as the Ultrabook continues to climb. According to Juniper, the netbook will comprise just one-third of the notebook market by 2016.

Intel®, the company behind the Ultrabook, has even higher expectations for the next-generation laptop, estimating that the device will account for 40 percent of all consumer notebook sales in 2012.