Industry news

Laptops set to overtake desktops, analyst says

Laptops will overtake desktop computers next year, one analyst has said.

In-Stat predicts that towards the end of the year, the PC microprocessor market will enter an "inflection point" when shipping of the chips for laptops will exceed that of desktops.

A report from the analyst suggests that growth in the desktop PC market will fall into the single digit bracket for the next several years, though it predicts that commercial demand will remain strong.

Jim McGregor, the firm's principal analyst, said: "In the long run, desktop PCs will see growth in developing economies because of the extreme price sensitivities and in commercial applications through the growth of smaller form factors."

"Richer content over the internet and changing usage models will also drive overall market growth in the future," he added.

The research also forecast that competition between the major chip manufacturers will remain strong as each begins deploying new strategies in an attempt to increase its market share.

Meanwhile, analyst IDC revealed recently that worldwide PC shipments increased by 14.6 per cent to 69.5 million units in the first quarter of 2008.

Earlier this year, it suggested that double-digit growth will continue in the PC market throughout 2008 and 2009