Tablets help revive ‘sluggish’ PC market

The market research firm says the personal computing market will grow by 12% this year to reach a record 585million units. A further 9% increase is forecast for 2015. This is despite the fact that the market for standard desktop PCs continues to be sluggish. Sales plunged by 9% in 2013 from an all-time high of 345m in 2012. A 5% decline is predicted for this year. Overall tablet shipments, meanwhile, are due to grow by 39% in 2014 to reach 281m units, and by 16% in 2015 to reach 327m. "Clearly personal computing has forever changed with the growth of tablets and other new platforms now superseding standard keyboard based PCs," said IC Insights in a statement. "Tablets and internet/cloud computing platforms are not only making up for declines in PC unit sales but also maintaining historical growth patterns in personal computing systems during changing economic cycles."