IHS: Mobile devices to surpass PCs in DRAM consumption by 2015

Mobile devices continue to trounce upon the PC industry, one supply chain link at a time.

IHS iSuppli issued a new forecast on Tuesday that mobile devices are projected to surpass traditional PCs in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) usage by 2015.

Specifically, mobile devices are expected to use up to $11.6 billion worth of DRAM compared to just $9.9 billion worth of the technology integrated into conventional PCs.

The market intelligence firm described this as "a telling sign of the arrival of the post-PC era."

IHS senior director Dale Ford explained further in the report that this is because the "fortunes of the PC and DRAM industries have been intricately intertwined for 30 years now."

DRAM makers have centered their technology, capacity and product strategies on the needs of their PC customers. At the same time, the performance of the DRAM business has been dependent on upturns and downturns in the PC market. But with the decline of the PC market and rise of wireless platforms, this alignment is coming to an end.

On Monday, mixed reports about speculation surrounding Samsung's desktop unit pointed towards more abandonment of traditional computing.

The Seoul-based corporation has since denounced such claims, but it wouldn't have been terribly surprising to most industry followers nonetheless.

Garnter published a new forecast earlier on Monday that shipments of traditional PCs (meaning both desktops and laptops) are expected to reach 305 million units this year -- a 10.6 percent decline from 2012.

Furthermore, the IDC released a report back in April that found global PC shipments had declined by 14 percent during the first three months of 2013 -- the worst plunge for the segment since 1994.