Mubasher: Global device shipments, including personal computers (PC), tablets and mobile phones, are on pace to grow 0.9%, totalling 2.28 billion units in 2018 from 2.26 billion last year, according to a recent report on Thursday.

The PC and tablet market is set to decline 1.2% this year to 260 million units, as the mobile phone sales are on the track to rise 1.4% to 1.88 billion units, US research firm Gartner said.

The PC sales are still curbed by the undersupply in the market of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) due to the lack of new online wafer capacity throughout 2018, Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said.

"Larger screens and more graphic boards also mean rising costs, adding to the bill of hardware materials for businesses and household buyers," Atwal added.

Moreover, China’s mobile phone sales declined 8.7% in 2017 to 428 million units, while they are estimated to rise 3.3% in 2018, making up 23% of global mobile sales this year.

The global device market is expected to be influenced by China as the world’s second largest economy represents more than 20% of global spending on devices.   

Moreover, the US company says that business demand is migrating to high-end computers such as ultramobile premium devices, as shipments of that devices are set to increase 12% to 65 million units this year.

In addition, the end of support for Microsoft’s Windows 7 in January 2020 will herald a major shift in the PC market, prompting businesses to adopt Windows 10 as their operating system (OS) as soon as possible, and probably by the end of 2019, Atwal added.

North America has taken the lead in migrating to Windows 10 since 2015, while the shift is due to be completed by the next year, while businesses in Western Europe are speeding up their adoption in 2018.

 However, in China, Japan and other emerging regions, migration plans are shifting from 2018 to 2019, as they are still preparing for complications in changing process and procedures for Windows 10 as a service.