Ultrabooks to ship 178m by 2016

Huge surge coming, but not quite enough to catch tablets.

New data from Juniper states that the Intel-backed Ultrabook form factor will capture the public imagination to a degree.

It says OEMs will ship 178m by 2016, while tablet makers will ship 253 million. Netbooks shipments will fall to just a third of today's volumes.

Juniper reckons the challenge for manufacturers is differentiating their products from from those of Apple in terms of price and features, while also adhering to Intel's guidelines on Ultrabook specs.

The latter, which mandates certain product size, width, weight and power consumption, makes Ultrabooks a more expensive purchase than the netbooks they are expected to replace.

Report author Daniel Ashdown said: "While Intel's control of the brand ensures that Ultrabooks stand out from traditional notebooks, vendors face a balancing act in terms of product strategy.