Worldwide Tablet Shipments To Grow Nearly 39% In 2014 While PC Market Continues To Decline: Gartner

The winning run of tablets over traditional desktop PCs is likely to continue, as more consumers are expected to pick up mobile devices in 2014 and beyond, according to a new report from Gartner Inc. (NYSE:IT).

This year, the worldwide tablet market is forecast to grow 38.6 percent as overall adoption continues to grow faster in markets outside North America. Meanwhile, global shipments of PCs are estimated to drop 6.6 percent.

"The adoption of tablets has been largely concentrated in the U.S., with the dominance of Apple. Market dynamics in other regions are different, as the uptake of lower cost, smaller, non-branded tablets, becomes more apparent,” Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. “The traditional PC category continues to decrease, with only about two-thirds of notebook and desktop replacements remaining within this category. The majority of the remaining one-third will move to ultramobiles, while others will not be replaced at all.”

Gartner said that while the trend of declining prices of devices is inevitable, consumers increasingly value other features in a device. For example, new tablet users look for smaller screens and greater portability, while current tablet users look for better connectivity in their devices.

However, the number of people replacing their PCs with tablets is expected to decline.

“Tablet substitution of notebooks will start to dissipate from this year onwards as consumers and businesses align the right device with the right usage pattern. As they do this, we will see where dedicated devices (such as tablets), or hybrid devices (detachable or convertible devices), fit in the overall portfolio of devices,” Atwal said.

According to Gartner, the shipments of mobile phones, the largest segment of the overall device market that includes PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones, are expected to reach 1.9 billion units in 2014, a 4.9 percent year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, combined shipments of PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones will reach 2.5 billion in 2014, a 6.9 percent gain from 2013. Check out the tablet here:

When it comes to operating system market, Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS tablet growth has slowed, while Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android is estimated to power more than 1 billion devices in 2014.

See the specific data below: