DRAM in Tablet PCs Will Increase by 147% in 2011

According to IHS iSuppli's research, the DRAM in tablet PCs will increase by 147% in 2011, with an average of 676MB.

With tablet computers processing video and other applications with a larger amount of data, the average DRAM content of these platforms in 2011 will be about two and a half times that of last year's 274MB. The rapid growth will continue next year, with an average of approximately 1.3GB, and the subsequent growth will slow.

However, by 2015, the DRAM content of the tablet will be closer to that of today's notebooks, reaching around 3.7GB, and the compound annual growth rate for 2010-2015 will be 68%, as shown in the figure.

Although the Tablet PC's DRAM content has increased significantly this year, if Apple's recently launched iPad 2 has a full 1 GB of DRAM, similar to the iPad's competing products, the increase should be even greater. The previous assumption seems to suggest that the iPad 2 should contain 1GB of DRAM instead of 512MB. The Xoom from Motorola, the TouchPad from HP, and the BlackBerry Playbook from Research In Motion all compete with the iPad and both contain 1GB of DRAM.

However, IHS believes that considering that Apple is trying to focus on the overall tablet experience without focusing on product parameters, it is not surprising that its tablet contains only 512 MB of DRAM. At the same time, considering Apple’s current dominant position in the tablet PC market and the DRAM content of the 512MB iPad, it means that the overall increase of DRAM this year is much smaller than that of Apple’s selection of 1GB DRAM.

At the same time, the market is rumored that the next iPad may use Retina camera displays, similar to the Apple iPhone 4 and iPod Touch. IHS predicts that if this is the case, DRAM content will certainly increase to 1GB, which will change the above predictions and lead to a more robust increase in DRAM content in the tablet PC. Apple's future launch of the iOS operating system will also release the functionality of the iPad, which will require more DRAM.

Similar to the tablet market, this year's smart phone DRAM content is expected to increase by 62%. IHS iSuppli's research shows that around 2012 and 2013, tablet PCs will become the main application area of ​​DRAM, rivaling smartphones. Although each tablet PC and smart phone cooperate with less DRAM than the PC, the total shipments of the tablet and smart phone in 2011 will exceed PC, so it is a DRAM market worthy of attention.

By Mike Howard, Principal Analyst, DRAM and Memory, IHS.