As 500GB platter designs are already mature, allowing 2.5-inch hard drives to become capable of offering 1TB capacities, sources from hard drive makers believe 1TB platter designs should mature as soon as 2011. By then, 3.5-inch 4TB and 2.5-inch 2TB hard drives will be available.
The sources citied IDC's figures and pointed out that the market share of notebooks with 2.5-inch 500GB hard drives has already reach 22% and as demand for 500GB hard drives has been growing since early fourth-quarter 2010, 500GB models are expected to account for 35-40% of the global 2.5-inch hard drive shipments in 2011, while 320GB will be 30-35%, 250GB 10-15%, and 160GB to be phased out of the market. Meanwhile, 640GB and 750GB models will be mainly adopted by high-end notebooks due to their high cost, accounting for 10-15%.
The sources also cited IDC that the enterprise market's hard drive demand is about 40.5 million units and will grow to 52.6 million units in 2014. The data also showed that the 3.5-inch drives will be completely replaced by 2.5-inch models by 2012.
Source: DIGITIMES
