Okay Geek Farm
Smartphones outsell PC's for the first time in history
Daniel Carey
Wow, I knew smartphones had generated some traction amongst the populace, but I hadn’t expected anything this crazy. According to a report put out by research firm IDC, smartphones are now outselling personal computers worldwide. With several smartphone operating systems to choose from and a deluge of different hardware, such a feat shouldn’t be that big a surprise — although, it most definitely is.
The tail end of 2010 saw smartphone manufacturers ship a whopping 100.9 million phones, a drastic 87% increase from the same time one year previously. While smartphone shipments increased drastically, PC sales on the other hand increased by a substantially lesser 3% to 92.1 million — it is important to note however, that while PCs shipped less, most already have a personal computer thanks to them being readily available for the last 20 years. Smartphones on the other hand have only just bulked up and out of the ‘welterweight’ category.
According to IDC analyst Ramon Llamas, the two trends aren’t necessarily related. While each device provides a differing use case scenario, most in possession of a smartphone already own a PC. Computers are generally still needed by consumers for such tasks involving heavy content creation i.e. video and photo editing, reports Llamas.
As noted in Dana Wollman’s Associated Press article, PC sales have taken heavy competition due to the current tablet boom, the greatest offending culprit, “namely Apple’s iPad.”
As smartphones become cheaper and easier to make, carriers the world over have been able to offer them at substantially reduced pricing, either outright, or via a subsidy agreement. And while the same rules apply for personal computers — specifically cheaper to manufacture therefore cheaper to purchase — it’s important to remember PCs are replaced far less frequently than smartphones.
I know this as well as anyone, throughout 2010 I went through four personal handsets. In comparison, I’m still yet to replace my current desktop set-up, an early 2009 iMac. Sure, I may have updated some specs inside it i.e. more RAM and a two terabyte hard drive, but that’s about it.
