Global device shipments will fall, marginally, this year, says Gartner

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Companies looking forward to a hi-tech run of product launches in Q3 and Q4 may be disappointed to learn that 2017 won’t be the best year for global shipments of such devices. In fact, according to Gartner, volumes will be down by 0.3% this year as a whole, compared with last year. There will be “only” 2.32 billion units to ship. This minor decline is mostly driven by computers. The mobile market is still seeing growth, with the “basic” smartphone market actually up 6.8% this year. However, 2018 should see growth again, even in PCs, with the total market expected to be up 1.6% next year.