Analysts seeing declines in PC, smartphone, and tablet markets

According to Gartner, worldwide sales of PCs, tablets, and mobile phones are expected to total 2.4 billion units for 2015. This represents a decrease of 1 percent compared to 2014 and a readjust of previous forecasts from Gartner where the firm had predicted a growth of 1.5 percent instead.

Gartner points the blame to current usage patterns where consumers are holding onto their existing computer and smartphone purchases for longer than expected. Apparently, interest in new releases and models has been waning in the short to medium term. The only exception, according to Gartner, is the smartphone market as analysts are still expecting a growth of 1.4 percent over the previous year.

Overall PC shipments are expected to total 291 million units by the end of the year for a decrease of 7.3 percent year over year (YoY). In particular, worldwide shipment of business notebooks has decreased more significantly due partly to the strong US Dollar. The PC market is expected to recover by late 2015 and early 2016 due to both Skylake and Windows 10.

As for the tablet and clamshell market, Gartner is predicting a shipment volume of 199 million units for a decrease of 12 percent YoY. Tablet sales will slip 13 percent for a total of 192 million units YoY. According to the firm, this represents a market under pressure to really innovate or show something new to regain consumer interest. A recent survey from Gartner showed that 44 percent of tablet owners would consider replacing their existing tablets with a PC or notebook.

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