Gartner: Worldwide PC, Tablet and Mobile Phone Shipments to Grow 4.5 Percent in 2013

Thanks to massive penetration of tablets and smartphones, the combined market of PCs, tablets and mobile phones is set to grow 4.5% in 2013. With only 303 million units sold, PCs are set to decline by 11.2% in 2013 (down from 341 million unit sold in 2012) and this will only get worse in 2014 with sales falling below 300 million units.

Tablets on the other hands are expected to go up 53.4% (with 184 millions units sold) and are set to have explosive sales in 2014 (Microsoft better get their act right by early 2014 w.r.t Windows tablets). Also, it is understood that cheaper 7” tablets are gaining more attention and higher increase in sales than bigger premium priced tablets.

“While consumers will be bombarded with ads for the new ultramobile devices, we expect their attention to be grabbed but not necessarily their money,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “Continuing on the trend we saw last year, we expect this holiday season to be all about smaller tablets as even the long-term holiday favorite — the smartphone — loses its appeal”

Worldwide Device Shipments by Segment (Thousands of Units):

With respect to Operating Systems, Android will sweep the market with 38% of marketshare while Windows (Windows for PCs + Windows Phone) will stay in second place with OS X + iOS stuck in 3rd for another year. Though Microsoft will see decline of sales in 2013, 2014 will be a better year as they will see heavy increase in sales of Windows based products.

Worldwide Device Shipments by Operating System (Thousands of Units)

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