Tablet shipments to grow rapidly as PCs decline; Android rules the roost, says report
Summary: Another nugget from the Dept. of the Rather Obvious, tablet shipments are expected to grow by a massive 70 percent while PC and laptop shipments decline by 7.3 percent, while Android will remain the platform favorite by three-times its closest rival, all by 2017.
Gartner's latest figures on PCs, tablets and smartphones — collectively known as combined worldwide devices — are expected to hit 2.4 billion units this year, a 9 percent increase on the year before, according to the firm.
By 2017, the growth in this area is expected to hit 2.9 million, but the mix of these devices will change and shift over time, with a greater onus on portability and mobile devices.
The figures echo, for the most part, IDC's latest figures, released just over a week ago. The rival research firm said that tablet shipments will vastly outnumber PCs and laptops this year, and portable PCs will take much of the brunt the following year.
What's clear is that the mobile world is set to reign over all else, and the one behemothic PC empire is set to collapse around itself in the coming years.
"As consumers shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones, they will no longer see their PC as a device that they need to replace on a regular basis," according to Gartner research vice president Carolina Milanesi in prepared remarks.
Breaking down the figures, while tablets, smartphones and ultramobile devices (tablets running full desktop operating systems, like the Surface Pro running Windows 8, for instance) are set to increase by just shy of 70 percent to 197 million units in 2013, the traditional PC market — including desk-based machines and laptops — is expected to decline by 7.6 percent.
Gartner says this isn't a sudden change or a result of economic difficulties in Europe or further afield — as we know based on previous reports, it falls down to a change in user behavior over the long term.
It's grim reading for Microsoft as the overall shift towards mobile and ultramobile devices running Android is expected to outnumber Windows-based machines by nearly three times. Currently, with the rate of decline, by 2017 Android will have 1.46 million devices running the platform while Windows-based machines will peg around the half-million mark.
This can be attributed to lower sales of Microsoft's Surface tablet, other Windows 8 and RT-based machines by end manufacturers, and an underlying slumping PC market.
This is where it gets interesting. Combined, by 2017 Android will have about the same overall share by shipments as its rivals put together.
Apple's iOS and Mac machines will fall just behind Windows as the third favorite platform — which isn't much of a surprise considering the growing unification between iOS and OS X, and the vast second-place market share Apple already has in the tablet space. But for the enterprise favorite, Apple currently holds the top spot, though Android is increasingly gaining traction in the business space.
"The trend towards smartphones and tablets will have much wider implications than hardware displacement," said Milanesi.
Correction at 1:15 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this story said Microsoft will have 1.46 million devices by 2017, when it should have said Android.
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Talkback
Don't think so.
Er... I don't think Apple is second place in the tablet space. Do you mean to write "the vast 1st place market share Apple already has in the tablet space?"
nope
Why would I pay five times that for an IPAD or IPOD or I-whatever and tolerate Apple dictating to me what I can install?
Not arguing
further
Dear Clueless
Researching a locating a true value proposition involves far more than a "low price" that's just buying a number and deluding or bullshitting yourself.
Apple is killing it with the iPad and the iPad mini and will continue to do so. There's a sea of Crap-droid tablets out there and Apple still far and away provides not just better hardware but a vastly superior end-user experience in both the consumer and business markets.
Enjoy your brick of Samsung smartphone and your crappy CHEAP Android tablet and keep your non-reality based comments to yourself. What a clues tool you are!
Overpriced or not doesn't seem to be having any effect on Apple's sales
Tablet market share
IDC is predicting 49% market share for Android tablets versus 46% for IOS in 2013.
However, there is already some data out, based on screen sizes that shows that iPad 9.7" devices are not growing anywhere near as well as expected, and that Android's market share has already significantly passed IOS.
Yep
It is a future thing.
and the funny thing is
Tablet shipments to grow rapidly as PCs decline; Android rules the roost, s
Dream on... Loser...
If all you do is playing Angry Birds be happy with your pad
And there are others still
That is not to say the desktop and laptop will die altogether, because indeed there are plenty who do benefit from the keyboard. And indeed if you look at that data you will see no evidence of keyboard based computing dying. But it will diminish to its proper place, at least until a better, more accurate textual input device comes along.
The charts do point out that full PC "ultra mobiles" will rise--
Personally, I think the close relationship between Windows RT and Windows 8 WILL prove a strong advantage over time. Sure, in current polls roughly 50% of respondents hate Windows 8's interface, but that interface isn't going away and with them tied together their joint growth will probably start making itself felt later this year. After all, it took Android nearly 2 years to really start hitting on all cylinders and so far Microsoft's Win8/RT has only been available for about 6 months.
Basically, give it time. Gartner has been notoriously wrong over the years; it's not likely this report is any more accurate.
LOL! You misspelled your own name
Screen size matters
Loverock-Davidson...I actually agree with allot of what you say.
But to think it will end Laptop or desktop sales is silly.
The real reason desktop have slowed down is simple......desktops are so powerful and last so much longer that their is less and less reason to keep upgrading them. The reason XP is still around at 38% market share is, its not totally out dated in being able to actually function in todays day to day world. W-XP would never go away if Microsoft would continue to support it...............XP still has a very nice UI that MANY people still like...........
"real world experience" ...
What world do you live in?
I just got a Nexus 7 a month ago, and I now spend as much time using it as I do my laptop. I am surprised by how much I really like the form factor. I read on it all the time, and I do much of my daily business & correspondence on it. For many people it is exactly what they need and all they need for their regular computer use. Now I still have and need a laptop, but tablet purchase has simply put off another laptop purchase for at least a year, maybe more.