Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 25 | Page 70

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology especially in Western Europe. “Despite the fact that prices have been rising due to higher component costs, Windows 10 replacements have kept the PC market relatively stable through 2017,” said Atwal. “We estimate that the PC market (desk-based, notebook and ultramobiles) is set to return to 0.8% growth in 2018.” This upward trend is assisted by two factors. The PC market in Russia has been positively influenced by an upturn in the country’s economic prospects, which has seen business spending on PCs increase by 5% in 2017. This growth will persist into 2018. Spending is primarily focused on desktop PCs, which are more aggressively priced than mobile PCs or hybrid devices. The second factor is China, where the move to Windows 10 has been delayed due to security and privacy issues, leading to slow PC sales in 2017. However, Microsoft is now working with a Chinese government agency to develop a government-approved version. Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner Gartner says worldwide device shipments will increase 2% in 2018 W orldwide shipments of PCs, tablets and smartphones are predicted to exceed 2.35 billion units in 2018, an increase of 2% from 2017, according to Gartner. This would be the highest year-over- year growth since 2015. Gartner says the misconception persists that the world has gone mobile and relies solely on smartphones. “However, our latest online end-user survey shows that users depend just as much on PCs or tablets as they do on smartphones,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “40% of respondents said that they use mostly a PC/tablet for certain daily 70 INTELLIGENTCIO experiences, such as reading and writing detailed emails or watching videos, while 34% mostly use a smartphone for its convenience while on the move. “Users holding onto their PCs for longer remains a major issue for the PC market. In contrast, users continue to replace their smartphone quite frequently.” Traditional PC shipments are forecast to decline 4.4% in 2018 while mobile phone shipments are expected to increase 2.4%. Business PC shipments are estimated to return to growth by the end of 2017, driven by faster Windows 10 replacement in many regions, “The features of Windows 10 could be particularly useful for the Chinese Government that is looking to move from desktops and notebooks to ultramobile premium devices,” said Atwal. “We expect this development to positively impact the PC market in 2018.” Mobile phone sales are expected to return to year-over-year growth in 2018, with shipments totaling 1.9 billion units. Smartphones will represent 86% of total mobile phone shipments in 2018, up 6% from 2017. Gartner expects Apple’s iPhone X to be the sales driver in North America, China and Western Europe, despite its high price. “Given the late November availability of the iPhone X, we expect the iPhone’s replacement cycle to flow more strongly into 2018,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. Component shortages could lead to the inability to meet smartphone demand in the fourth quarter of 2017, further favouring unit sales moving into 2018. n www.intelligentcio.com