According to research outfit IHS, an increasing number of vendors is shifting to 2.5-inch hard drives in the desktop market.

Of course, the trend does not apply to the bog standard ATX market, or enthusiasts for that matter, but the advent of all-in-one PCs is forcing manufacturers to reach for notebook components. Shipments of all-in-ones with 2.5-inch drives are still relatively low and they are forecast to hit seven million units in 2013. However, by 2016 the figure will hit seven million, but 3.5-inch drives will be used in as many as 31 million AIOs.

IHS believes major AIO vendors such as Apple, HP, Samsung and Lenovo could shift to 2.5-inch drives in next generation AIO designs. Using smaller hard drives would allow vendors to come up with sleeker designs and 2.5-inch drives also use less power than their 3.5-inch counterparts. However, they also cost much more and cannot match traditional 3.5-inch drives in terms of performance or capacity.

More here.