Gartner predicts voice control and VR will drive device sales
Customers seeking "fresher experiences and applications" will drive the growth of devices featuring virtual reality (VR) and voice assistants, according to Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. Atwal said hardware manufacturers will have to partner with third parties to keep up with the trend, as they "lack the expertise" to deliver the offerings themselves. He also warned sales of PCs, tablets and mobile phones would stagnate due to a lack of innovation, with an uptick expected in 2018.

Sales of PCs, mobile phones and tablets are stagnating, Gartner warned today, blaming market saturation and slower innovation.

The research firm predicts that sales will remain flat at 2.32 billion units until 2018, when they will increase to 2.35 billion units.

"The global devices market is stagnating. Mobile phone shipments are only growing in emerging Asia/Pacific markets, and the PC market is just reaching the bottom of its decline," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.

"As well as declining shipment growth for traditional devices, average selling prices are also beginning to stagnate because of market saturation and a slower rate of innovation."

PCs sold 219 million units in 2016, but are expected to sell just 205 million in 2017, 198 million in 2018, and 193 million the year after.

Devices like Apple's MacBook Pro and Microsoft's Surface range, will eat up some of the ailing PC demand, with sales rising 24% to 61 million units in 2017, according to Gartner's predictions.

But while emerging markets are quicker to replace their smartphones, as these devices function as their primary means of computing, mature markets take longer, the research firm states.

Therefore Gartner believes that while mobile phone sales will increase from 1.88 billion in 2016 to 1.89 billion in 2017, and 1.92 billion in 2018, most of that growth will be driven by demand from new markets.

Meanwhile, VR and voice assistants are expected to drive future device growth.

Atwal said: "Consumers have fewer reasons to upgrade or buy traditional devices. They are seeking fresher experiences and applications in emerging categories such as head mounted displays (HMDs), virtual personal assistant (VPA) speakers and wearables."

In order to meet that demand, hardware vendors will seek to pair with service providers offering those kinds of functions.

"As service-led approaches become even more crucial, hardware providers will have to partner with service providers, as they lack the expertise to deliver the service offerings themselves," said Atwal.

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