Futuresource Consulting, the leading provider of education technology research, has published its annual strategic technology in education report, delivering a fully-comprehensive view of the global education landscape.
“Total universe spend in the global K-12 education technology hardware market in 2015 increased 7% to $15 billion from 2014,” says Colin Messenger, Senior Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “Growth has been strong with an additional $4.5 billion being added since 2012.”
The products covered in this report represent the main EdTech hardware used in classrooms across the world. Choice of product can vary enormously, from the recent emergence of Chromebooks in US, where personal computing is being driven by the move towards digital assessment and personalised learning. In countries where front of class teaching prevails then display devices are having the most traction; such as the fast growth of interactive flat panels in China, interactive whiteboards in Spain, Italy and Russia and even to the rise of visualiser sales in Germany.
The Continued Rise of the Mobile PC
This increase of universe spend in education technology has been primarily driven by the uplift in the mobile PC market which at $10.1 billion now accounts for 67% of the total spend, up from 63%. Thailand, India, Mexico and Venezuela have all deployed significant projects.
Chromebooks were the biggest growth category within the personal computers segment, growing more than 42% ‘YoY’ in terms of revenue and generating more than $1.5 billion in 2015. The USA was the largest market for Chromebooks.
The Classroom Displays Category
In 2015, over 2.5 million interactive displays were sold. The volume of interactive flat panels more than doubled. There is a proliferation of new models and new vendors entering the market. This is leading to increased competition, especially for interactive whiteboard vendors who have traditionally dominated the segment. The interactive projector market is expected to have continued growth over the next 3 years.