According to IDC the smart connected device (SCD) market shows strong growth in W. Europe during Q3 2013, with combined PC, tablet and smartphone shipments reaching 55 million units with 12% Y-o-Y growth.

The analyst forecasts 2013 shipments will exceed 230m units in the Western side of the continent, an 11% increase over 2012.

Predictably smartphones and tablets drive spending not only on SCDs, but on CE as a whole-- tablets in particular, with Q3 2013 growth within the SCD market reaching 38% Y-o-Y and overall 2013 shipments set to reach 45m units with 53.1% growth. The quarter was one of transition for a number of vendors ahead of traditional holiday season launches, and Q4 2013 is set to be "another bouyant quarter" IDC says.

According to Futuresource Consulting 2013 headphone shipments are to grow by 9% from 2012 to reach 284 million units, with revenues forecast to be worth $8.2 billion.

"The headphones market is highly fragmented and increasingly competitive, with new brands continuing to emerge across all price categories," the analyst says. "Traditional headphones brands Philips, Sony, JVC, Sennheiser and Skullcandy combined accounted for 45% of global headphones shipments in 2012 and in terms of value, Beats by Dr. Dre has captured 23% of global revenues."

The analyst predicts headphone sales will flatten by 2017, as the market should saturate at one set per 6.6 audio devices in use. Many customers also rely on headphones bundled with devices.

Meanwhile global headphone retail value wil grow at a CAGR of 5% during the 2013-2017 period thanks to growing ASPs and strong demand for premium over-ear models from brands such as Beats by Dre.

Global Q3 2013 mobile phone sales reach 455.6 million units with 5.7% Y-o-Y growth as even W. Europe returns to growth for the first time in the year, Gartner reports.

Smartphones account for 55% of overall sales at 250.2m units-- the highest share to date, with growth reaching 45.8% Y-o-Y through customers replacing feature phones with smartphones, even in emerging markets.

“Sales of feature phones continued to decline and the decrease was more pronounced in markets where the average selling price (ASP) for feature phones was much closer to the ASP affordable smartphones,”Gartner says. “In markets such as China and Latin America, demand for feature phones fell significantly as users rushed to replace their old models with smartphones.”  

According to IDC global Q3 2013 tablet shipments total 47.6 million units with 36.7% Y-o-Y (or 7% Q-o-Q) growth. Android drives "much" of such growth, while iOS stalls and Windows struggles.

Apple remains in the doldrums during the quarter-- iPad shipments drop from 14.6m units in Q2 2013 to 14.1m, Y-o-Y growth remains virtually flat at less than 1%, and market share slips to 29.6%, the lowest to date.

The analyst blames such results the lack of Q2 and Q3 2013 iPad launches, but since Apple moved product launches to October-November shipments should rebound to "robust" levels come Q4 2013.

"With two 7.9-inch models and two 9.7-inch models Apple is taking steps to appeal to multiple segments," IDC says. "While some undoubtedly hoped for more aggressive pricing from Apple, the current prices clearly reflect Apple's ongoing strategy to maintain its premium status."