Worldwide shipments of tablets will overtake that of PCs in 2015, Gartner has predicted.
The research company expect that 317m PCs will be shipped in 2015, in comparison to 321m tablets.
The report says that the global PC market will see a “relative revival” in 2014, with a 2.9% growth, after a 9.5% decline in 2013.
Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said:
“Business upgrades from Windows XP and the general business replacement cycle will lessen the downward trend, especially in Western Europe.
“This year, we anticipate nearly 60m professional PC replacements in mature markets.”
Mobile phones are expected to reach 1.9bn units in 2014, a 3.1% increase from 2013.
The desk-based and notebook PC market will continue its decline, expected to contract 6.7% in 2014, and 5.3% in 2015.
Gartner says the worldwide tablet market will slow down in 2014, reaching 256m units – which is still an increase of 23.9% from 2013.
Atwal said that the “next wave of adoption will be driven by lower price points rather than superior functionality.”
With regards to mobile, the research firm predict a 30% increase for Android, and a 15% increase for Apple.
Annette Zimmermann, research director at Gartner, said:
“We expect the announcement of the new Apple iPhone 6 will attract pent-up demand for users who want a larger screen.
“Windows phones will exhibit strong growth from a low base in 2014, and are projected to reach a 10% market share by 2018 – up from 4 % in 2014.”
See the full report here.