Gartner predicts 2.5 billion portable devices to be sold in 2015

Gartner has revised its "Devices" forecast for 2015 to a total of 2.5 billion mobile phones, PCs, and tablets sold worldwide. This represents an increase of 1.5 percent compared to the previous year. The analytics firm had originally predicted a 2.8 percent growth during the previous quarter of this year.

For the first time since 2010, consumers this year will spend less on portable devices compared to previous years. Gartner expects consumers to spend around 606 billion USD, which is around 5.7 percent less than 2014 where consumers had spent a total of 642 billion USD. Reasons for the decline include higher prices of portable electronics, the stronger US Dollar, and generally lower demand for PCs in key regions like Japan, Russia, and Western Europe.

As for worldwide PC shipments, Gartner expects a decline of about 4.5 percent to 300 million units in 2015. Much of the drop can be attributed to lower sales of traditional desktop and notebook PCs, while ultramobiles and tablets make up a smaller portion of the decline. Key markets like China are closer to saturation now that mobile phone growth in the region has slowed.

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