The times, they are certainly changing. IDC forecast that tablet sales will surpass combined laptop and desktop PC sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, and will have completely overtaken traditional computer sales by 2017. While PCs currently have around 20% of the ‘smart device’ market compared to 14.6% for tablets, this is expected to change dramatically over the next few years.

IDC estimate the PC market share will decrease to around 13% by 2017, compared to 16.5% for tablets. However, larger smartphones - or ‘phablets’ - are expected to start taking some of the market share from standard tablet devices.

Meanwhile, smartphones continue to go from strength to strength, with the IDC study suggesting a total of 1 billion smartphones shipped this year, accounting for 65% of all smart devices. The report further predicts this will increase by almost 75% by 2017, with total shipments expected to surpass 1.73 billion.

In Western Europe, smartphones now account for three-quarters of all phone sales, with Samsung leading the way with 43.4% of all phone sales. Nokia and Apple follow at 13.2% market share each. On a global scale, it’s estimated that Android smartphones will account for over 75% of the smartphone market, with iOS at 16.9%, Windows Phone at 3.9% and Blackberry OS at 2.7%.

Megha Saini, Research Analyst with IDC, observes “at a time when the smartphone and tablet markets are showing early signs of saturation, the emergence of lower-priced devices will be a game-changer. Introducing new handsets and tablet devices at cheaper price points along with special initiatives like trade-in programs from Apple will accelerate the upgrade cycle and expand the total addressable market overnight."