According to the recent data from research specialist Gartner, Inc. the worldwide devices shipments – that include tablets, PCs, mobiles and Ultramobile – will increase by 2.8% in 2015, reaching nearly 2.5 billion units. Unfortunately, this is the slowest growth rate the Industry has been recording for the last few years.
The sales of PC devices is estimated to go down by 2.4% in 2015. This decrease in the desktop purchase is a result of the currency squeeze that has forced vendors to keep the prices high in order to garner some profit. Besides, the stiff competition due the rising demand for laptops, Tablets and phablets devices and also hurting the PC market.
“The fall in PC purchases is primarily due to expected price increases by vendors in Europe and other regions, which is forced by local currency depreciation against the dollar,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.
While desktop prices are on a rise, smartphone prices are going down steadily. This is another reason why people are more prone to buy a smartphone than invest in a PC. Having said that, the overall devices market growth is primarily driven by the exploded demand of mobile phones worldwide. Gartner predicts a 3.5% growth in the mobile phone market, touching 2 billion shipment mark in 2015.
Mobile phones are emerging as the top contributor to this growth. In 2015, the shipment of mobile devices is estimated to touch nearly 2 billion mobile devices, followed by 226 million Ultramobile (tablets & Clamshells) and 306 million PC devices. Therefore, the total computing devices market (Ultramobile + PC) is estimated worth $226 billion in 2015 and will grow up to US$228 billion in 2017.
Here are few of the major highlights of the report, projecting a growth between 2014 and 201:.
- The total number of devices shipped globally in 2014 reached 2.4 billion and projects the number to be 2.5 billion in 2015 – 2.8% rise from 2014.
- The estimated number for 2016 is 2.6 billion units – Â a rise of 4.3% as compared to 2015.
- In 2017, it is predicted to reach 2.7 billion units, indicating a rise of 2.5% from 2016.
The growth of devices market in 2015 is going to be relatively slow as compared to the previous years. According to the earlier IDC reports, the number of devices shipped globally in 2012 totaled to 2.2 billion and went up to 2.3 billion units in 2013, indicating a 3.8% year-on-year growth.
By far, it is the mobile phone market that has seen the maximum growth year-on-year. As low-price smartphones, below sub-$200 are becoming increasingly popular, the first-time mobile users are directly buying smartphones instead of graduating from feature phone. Off late, Smartphone OEMs are betting big time on the entry-level and mid-rage devices. Xiaomi – the Apple of China – has sold over 56.5 million smartphones in 2014, while Lenovo sold over 84 million mobile phones during the same period – thanks to the strong sales of Moto G and Moto E.
Gartner also predicts that high-end Android smartphone vendors are unable to “differentiate and add value beyond technology and features“. To add to this, Apple’s recent models with large screen is a strong alternative. Although Apple phones are costly in comparison to Android devices, the conversion of high-end Android smartphone users to iPhone, that started in the last quarter of 2014, will continue this year. Both, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sport a large screen now and as the gap between Android phablet devices has narrow, high-end smartphone users are finding more value in iPhone. Hence, a person who has deep pockets is looking for a big screen smartphone, is finding more value for money in iPhone 6.
The growth in overall device market is also influenced by the faster adoption of mobile internet, especially in small towns and cities. In the tier II and Tier III cities, the adoption of mobile internet is growing at a faster pace now. As smartphone companies are churning out power packed mobile devices at a lower price range, the penetration of smartphones is happening at a deeper level.In the last few years the Average Selling Price (ASP) of smartphone has dropped significantly; the average selling price is expected to go further down from $297 in 2014 to $241 by 2018. This has led to the high consumption of mobile internet data and people are becoming more mobile friendly as compare traditional computing devices.
