Hong Kong sales of tablets, smartphones and laptops surge in Q1

Total spending on smartphones, media tablets and laptop personal computers surged to HK$8.62 billion on record sales of 2.03 million units in the first three months of the year.

That was up 9 per cent from HK$7.92 billion a year earlier when 1.93 million units were sold, according to market research company GfK.

Walter Leung, the managing director at GfK in Hong Kong, said purchases of the so-called "three screens", encompassing smartphones, laptops and tablets, grew mainly on the back of strong demand for tablets and smartphones, especially those models with a larger display.

Tablet sales in the first quarter grew to HK$1.68 billion from HK$1.05 billion a year ago, with volume nearly doubled to 480,000 units from 243,000.

Data from technology research firm IDC shows that the top five tablet brands in the first quarter were Apple, Samsung Electronics, Asus, Huawei Technologies and Acer.

Smartphones rang up sales of HK$6.11 billion in the past quarter from HK$5.98 billion in the previous year, despite a decline in units bought to 1.44 million from 1.55 million.

Samsung and Apple were the two most coveted smartphone brands in the market, according to telecommunications industry estimates.