Gartner analysts expect tablet shipments to reach 184 million by the end of this year.
This is 53.4% more than in 2012, when companies sold 120 million devices. The company also expects that by the end of 2014, 283 million devices will be sold to suppliers.
The growth in shipments of mobile phones (regular handsets + smartphones), on the contrary, is disappointing. If 1.7 billion similar devices were put on the market last year, then in 2013 the figure may not reach the declared 1.8 billion, which indicates a qualitative growth of the market, the replacement of one category of devices with another.
At the same time, the supply of desktop PCs (including laptops) is falling. Back in 2012, 341 million similar devices were shipped, this figure fell to 303 million. At this rate, it’s not far to the moment when tablets will overtake PCs in terms of supplies.
By the way, users increasingly prefer small seven-inch tablets to large analogues.
A source: http://www.gartner.com