Analyst firm Gartner has released a study revealing that traditional worldwide PC shipments are expected to decline 10.6 percent by the time the year is out; tablet shipments are expected to jump a whopping 67.9 percent by the time we ring in 2014!
Worldwide traditional PC shipments are forecast to total 305 million units in 2013, a 10.6 percent decline from 2012, while the PC market including ultramobiles is forecast to decline 7.3 percent in 2013. Tablet shipments are expected to grow 67.9 percent, with shipments reaching 202 million units, while the mobile phone market will grow 4.3 percent, with volume of more than 1.8 billion units. The sharp decline in PC sales recorded in the first quarter was the result in a change in preferences in consumers’ wants and needs, but also an adjustment in the channel to make room for new products hitting the market in the second half of 2013.
“Consumers want anytime-anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products. Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
I, for one, am still using my PC and laptop in my home office. I recently heard that people use PCs/laptops, etc. to create data/information (which is what most of my day is spent doing), while they look to their tablets and smartphones to consume data (e.g. surfing the ‘net, checking Facebook and Googling).
I have an iPhone and Blackberry Z10 that I use on the go for things like emailing, texting and social media updates, and I typically would not use my smartphone, say to edit a document or create this week’s e-newsletter. But who knows, that might change, especially since Microsoft released its mobile version of Office 365 for iPhone last week. See my report here on how I’ve been testing it so far.
Analysts said ultramobile devices are gaining in attractiveness and drawing demand away from other devices. This will be even more evident in the fourth quarter of 2013 when the combination of new design based on Intel processors Bay Trail and Haswell running on Windows 8.1 will hit the market. Although these devices will only marginally help overall sales volumes initially, they are expected to help vendors increase average selling prices and margins.
The tablet and smartphone markets are facing some challenges as these devices gain longer life cycles. There has also been a shift as many consumers go from premium tablets to basic tablets. The share of basic tablets is expected to increase faster than anticipated, as sales of the iPad Mini already represented 60 percent of overall iOS tablet sales in the first quarter of 2013.
