Handheld shipments to grow to 63.5 million by 2013

Shipments of handheld consoles are set to grow to 63.5 million units by 2013, according to analyst firm iSuppli, with revenues from handhelds to reach USD 8.1 billion.

iSuppli also estimates that no new handheld technology will be released by either Sony or Nintendo until 2011 at the earliest.

"The global market for handheld video game systems is set to buck weak conditions in the global consumer electronics market and rise by 4.9 per cent in units and 8.2 percent in revenue during 2009, due to moves by Sony and Nintendo to freshen up their products," said the company, following the release of the DSi and the PSP 3000 last year.

"While the long-term growth rate isn’t staggering by any means, Nintendo’s and Sony’s platform revisions should keep their portable game console shipments growing until they are able to roll out next-generation handheld platforms."

"iSuppli believes Sony and Nintendo will not introduce next-generation handheld video game consoles until 2011, at the earliest," added the company.

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