Worldwide combined shipments of devices will see a seven per cent increase this year from last year’s numbers, with overall growth being hampered by stagnant PC sales, according to a study.
Technology research company Gartner has said sales of PCs, tablets, ultramobile and mobile phones shipments are set to reach 2.5 billion devices this year.
However, the company said sales of traditional PCs will continue to hamper the overall growth of devices and substitution from PCs to tablets will decline.
“Tablet substitution of notebooks will start to dissipate from this year onwards as consumers and businesses align the right device with the right usage pattern. As they do this, we will see where dedicated devices (such as tablets), or hybrid devices (detachable or convertible devices), fit in the overall portfolio of devices,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.
The decrease in substitution rates is also due to saturation of the market.
“As the overall device market starts to saturate, the increasing pressure on margins will continue, and vendors will look at different ways to cope with the ongoing issue of lower margins,” Gartner said.
The sale of traditional PCs has declined by 6.5 per cent over the past year while tablet sales have increased, with Gartner saying this trend is set to continue.
“The adoption of tablets has been largely concentrated in the U.S., with the dominance of Apple. Market dynamics in other regions are different, as the uptake of lower cost, smaller, non-branded tablets, becomes more apparent,” said Atwal.
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