Global shipments of PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones are expected to reach 2.5 billion units in 2015, according to the report. End-user spending on devices will total USD 606 billion in 2015 and will show, for the first time since 2010, a 5.7 percent decline in current US dollars. Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, says that this is due to the continued slowdown in PC purchases in Western Europe, Russian Federation and Japan.
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The much smaller premium ultramobile market meanwhile, is predicted to see growth – up from 37 million in 2014 to 49 million in 2015, with the growth continuing out to 2017 where Gartner is predicting 89 million shipments. Overall, device shipments are expected to grow at an anemic 1.5 percent this year.
“The outlook for the major applications that drive the semiconductor market, including PCs, smartphones, and tablets, have all been revised downward”, Gartner analyst Jon Erensen said in a press release.
And the release of Windows 10 at the end of July will actually cause a slowing in professional demand for laptops and “ultramobiles” this year as people hang on to their devices longer, the market research firm said.
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Ultra mobiles comprising of both tablets and clamshells “is also on pace to contract in 2015”, with shipments ‘estimated to total 214 million units in 2015, a decline of 5.3% year on year.’.
It’s the mobile phone market that continues to show growth as prices are falling, with China leading the way amongst the rest of the emerging markets driving all this growth. “Inventory in the PC market remains high, despite vendors looking to clear the supply chain in anticipation of Windows 10 and Intel’s Skylake products”, Erensen noted.
The decrease in spending isn’t because we’re buying fewer mobile phones.
Roberta Cozza, Gartner research director, says at the sametime, the smartwatch is not compelling enough for the average user “and the impact of these wearables on tablet purchases remains neglibible”.
The growth will however be affected by the flat performance in high-end Android smartphones and general softness in the Chinese smartphone market.
“The tablet has become a “nice to have” device, and there is no real need for an upgrade as regularly as for the phone”, Cozza says.
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Gartner said the typical second-quarter bounce did not materialise this year. Emerging markets are witnessing a sizeable share of feature phones and an opportunity for manufactures to exploit.
