Tablet shipments are expected to exceed those of portable PC shipments this year according to analysts.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) is predicting that tablet sales will grow by 58.7% year over year in 2013.
This would put tablet sales at 229.3 million units, up from 144.5 million units last year and IDC now predicts that tablet shipments will exceed those of portable PCs this year.
It says the “slumping PC market” is expected to see more negative growth for the second year running to such an extent that tablets are predicted to outpace the sales of portable and desktop PCs combined.
Ryan Reith, Program Manager for IDC’s Mobility Trackers, said: “What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change in the global computing paradigm with mobile being the primary benefactor.
“Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about computer devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them.
“IDC continues to believe that PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users. But for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC.”
IDC also says:
- the current market expansion has been increasingly fueled by low-cost Android devices
- In 2013, the worldwide average selling price for tablets is expected to decline by 10.8% to $381
- In comparison, the average selling price of a PC in 2013 is nearly double that at $635.
- IDC expects tablet prices to decline further