Healthy mobile devices market
July 7, 2014
Worldwide combined shipments of PCs, tablets, mobile phones and so-called "ultramobiles" was expected to reach 2.4 billion units in 2014, a study by the world's leading information technology research and advisory firm, Gartner, revealed on Monday.
Gartner said this would mean a 4.2-percent increase in combined sales from the levels reached a year earlier.
"2014 will be marked by a relative revival of the global PC market," Gartner's research director, Ranjit Atwal, said in a statement.
He noted that this specific market segment (desk-based, notebooks and ultramobile tablets) would contract by only 2.9 percent this year, following a staggering 9.5-percent decline in 2013.
Smartphones a hit
Atwal pointed out that the Microsoft's decision not to support Windows XP anymore was playing a certain role in that.
"Business upgrades from Windows XP and the general replacement cycle will lessen the downward trend, especially in western Europe," he said.
The study also expects sales of mobile phones to total 1.9 billion units in 2014, a 3.1-percent increase from the previous year. Smartphone sales would represent 88 percent of global mobile phone sales by 2018, up from 66 percent in the current year, Gartner predicted.
hg/cjc (dpa, Gartner)