Tablet Market Projected to Surpass Notebooks in 2013, Total PC Market in 2015
Research firm IDC today released new projections showing that the firm expects tablet shipments to surpass shipments of notebook computers in 2013, marking a significant shift in how consumers approach portable devices. IDC projects that the strong growth of tablets will continue into the future, allowing tablets to overtake the entire PC market in 2015.
"What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change in the global computing paradigm with mobile being the primary benefactor," said Ryan Reith, Program Manager for IDC's Mobility Trackers. "Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about compute devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them. IDC continues to believe that PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users. But for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC."
While Apple has remade the tablet market with the iPad, IDC notes that a proliferation of low-cost Android tablets is driving overall growth at this point. Apple's efforts have also shown that tablets are viable tools for the education market, opening up significant possibilities for sales growth.
"Apple's success in the education market has proven that tablets can be used as more than just a content consumption or gaming device," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Analyst for the Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "These devices are learning companions, and as tablet prices continue to drop, the dream of having a PC for every child gets replaced with the reality that we can actually provide a tablet for every child."
The success of tablets is undoubtedly coming as no surprise to Apple, as its executives have said a number of times over the past several years that they expect the tablet market to exceed that of PCs.
Popular Stories
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Images comparing purportedly accurate dummy models of the iPhone 16 series have been shared online, providing a closer look at the rumored design of the upcoming devices. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to get larger display sizes this year, according to multiple sources, while the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will be the same size as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. ...
Top Rated Comments
At this point I'm seeing a MacBook Air as a much better option for on the move computing. If it had 3G built in I would buy it yesterday.
That doesn't mean that bicycles have replaced horses, truck tractors and airliners. Just that less people use them less often. There are a few, but very few people play polo, deliver refrigerators, or prepare photo spreads for National Geographic. Maybe you're one, but you'll have to pay for your tools. Not expect grandma to support the economy of scale necessary to make your horse stables, Peterbilt tractors and Bugattis cheaper.
IBM still sells mainframes. Not many and they are not cheap. The typical programmer hasn't seen one in decades. Thus heads the full tower desktop PC.
And as long as i am a gamer i want a big fat desktop for gaming.
Consoles are just not good enough (no mouse, no multimonitor stuff, and as far as i can see it, even the new ones have less grafic power than current pc cards).
And yes ... for hardcore gaming i can't use a mac :-(
People who program, those who require powerful apps to do their work and people who create sophisticated content are among the only ones that will continue to need full-pledged computers.
Fortunately, Apple makes the best tablet and those who value the superior user experience will continue to pony up for an iPad. We can't be bothered with the hordes of cheapskates.
You're about to see another resurge of the death of PC gaming arguments now that a new generation of consoles is about to come out.
And just like last time with the PS3/360, the time before that with the PS2/Gamecube, and even the time before that with the PS1/N64, after they've been out for a couple of years, PC gaming will start climbing back up to normal. It always sees a huge hit with each new console generation, and always ends up being at its most popular shortly before another cycle begins.
----------
It won't be anything like the arcades. The consumer PC market, which is what's most at danger from the tablets, has never been a part of the PC gamer market. Even when they fall by the wayside, the PC gamer niche will likely still be buying towers and powerful AIOs like they always have.
The PC in general isn't going to die. It's going to become much like it was in the mid-late 90's. A market for professionals and enthusiasts.
I cringe whenever I read these four words. The way I see it is that unless you own a research company, don't presume to tell me what "most people" do. :mad: