According to GfK, in the last 12 months, the demand for laptops and tablets in South East Asia grew to reach combined sales of nearly 14.2 million across six of the region’s key markets—Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines. This highlights a 32 per cent growth in volume sales compared to the previous year.

Both the laptop and tablet markets reported sales surge in this region albeit at significantly differing level of growth. Although laptops continued to make up more than half the combined sales volume at 57 per cent, the segment’s growth rate for Southeast Asia stood at 4 per cent; whereas the fast growing tablet segment doubled in volume demand (by 101 per cent ) in the June 2012 to May 2013 period compared to this same period the year before.

Indonesia is the largest tablet market accounting for nearly 1.3 million units or over a third of total tablet sales volume in the region with consumers here snapping up one in every three units of all tablets sold across the six markets. Compared to the previous year, demand for tablets in the country surged by 141 per cent in the latest one year period. However, the most robust market appears to be the Philippines where tablet take up rate in the last 12 months grew over fourfold, at 322 percent. Nearly 455,000 of this device were sold in June 2012 to May 2013.

Meanwhile laptop sales continued to surge in Indonesia and Thailand by 17 and 16 per cent respectively, while Philippines and Singapore fell into the negative growth range.