Smartphone Sales Break the Billion Barrier

The smartphone market is developing perfectly in 2013, according to a recent IDC forecast. The analysts expect global smartphone sales to break the billion barrier for the first time, which means an increase of 40 percent on the previous year.

For 2017, the forecast is 1.7 billion smartphones sold (+71 percent). The tablet market is also expected to develop very positively over the coming years. Here IDC is predicting a rise from 227 million units sold in 2013 to almost twice as many – 407 million units (+79 percent).

The personal computer is the big loser in the connected devices segment. The outlook is especially bleak for the traditional desktop PC. Even though laptop sales will moderately increase over the next 4 years (+9 percent), eight percent less desktop PCs will be sold.