Mobile, tablet sales expanding this year, everywhere

Gartner says 'any time, anywhere' computing growth will continue through 2013

While traditional PC shipments will shrink 10.6 per cent in 2013, the expansion of mobile computing categories will push overall sales up 5.9 per cent worldwide, says Gartner.

So-called "any time, anywhere" computing is the key driver right now of buyer behaviour, with no sign of the mobility boom letting up. Tablet sales alone will expand 67.9 per cent to 202 million units this year, according to Gartner.

Carolina Milanesi (pictured, below left), research vice president at Gartner, said: "Consumers want any time, anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products.

"Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets."

Shipments of all PCs, tablets and mobile phones around the globe are expected to total 2.35bn units this year - 5.9 per cent up on 2012 sales.

The key categories are tablets and smartphones, Gartner confirmed, although ultramobile laptop PCs - including Chromebooks and hybrids - are also playing a role. Desktops and traditional notebooks are projected to decline 10.6 per cent to 305 million units in 2013.

The more saturated mobile phone category, taken on its own, is tipped to grow 4.3 per cent, to 1.8bn units worldwide, according to Gartner's latest figures.

"The sharp decline in PC sales recorded in the first quarter [of 2013] was the result of a change in preferences in consumers' wants and needs, but also an adjustment in the channel to make room for new products hitting the market in the second half of 2013," the market watcher said in a press statement.

In Q4, new-design ultramobile based on Intel Bay Trail and Haswell processors and Windows 8.1 will marginally help overall sales volumes initially, and are expected to help vendors increase average selling prices (ASPs) and margins, according to Gartner.

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, noted however that tablets and smartphones are facing "some challenges" as life cycles extend and people either hang on to their premium tablets for longer or opt increasingly for cheaper, more basic tablets.

"We will also see consumer preferences split between basic tablets and ultramobile devices," Atwal said. "With mobile phones, volume expectations for 2013 have been brought down as life cycles lengthen. Consumers [will] wait for new models and lower prices to hit the market in the autumn and holiday season."

Price points - and margins - are also being squeezed in the smartphone category as penetration becomes more mass market, Atwal said.

According to Gartner, though, the mobile OS battle is far from won, with the leading vendors staying equally relevant to the market overall.

Detailed forecast data can be found in Gartner's report Forecast: Devices by Operating System and User Type, Worldwide, 2010-2017, 2Q13 Update.