Around 1.38 million units of thin client and terminal client devices were shipped in the third quarter of 2013, marking an increase of 8.5% from the second quarter of 2013, according to a study by International Data Corporation (IDC).

It, however, was 2.8% below IDC’s predictions for the quarter.

But, Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region surpassed the United States to become the largest market for enterprise client devices in the world, as it garnered 28.5% share of the global market, while the share of the US market stood at 27%.

IDC Worldwide Trackers research analyst, Jennifer Song, said that the APEJ region’s ascendence in Q3 could be attributed to China, which saw a growth of 32% compared to the previous quarter.

"IDC believes that cost reduction as well as the easier endpoint management that desktop virtualization provides will continue to drive thin client growth, with VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) replacing old PCs," added Song.

"We also expect to see more mobile virtualization applications. For the remainder of the year, although companies see value in VDI, pilot programs are beginning to roll out slowly.

"In 2014, VDI adoption should accelerate among enterprise firms."

HP was the leading vendor in this market globally in third quarter with a market share of 28%. It was followed by Dell with 22.7% market share worldwide, while NComputing, took the third position with a market share of 15.9%.