Why are Smartphone Sales Overtaking PC Sales?

For the past couple of years, smartphones have been outselling PCs, and this trend is expected to continue into the future now. With smartphone sales going from strength to strength, it is unlikely we’ll see a reversal in this trend anytime soon. Prices of BlackBerry and Android handsets are rapidly coming down, with each new iPhone release pushing down the prices of older models, meaning it’s becoming more and more affordable to own a smartphone.
One of the reasons smartphones are becoming so popular is that people are becoming more and more connected. Smartphones aren’t just for calls and texts; they’re social and business hubs too. People use their phones for social networking, for sharing images and videos, for viewing media, for sending business emails... In fact, almost everything that can be done on a regular PC can now be done on a smartphone.
It also helps that smartphones are portable. While you can carry your entire photo and music collection around on a phone, you are at the mercy of your PC in terms of location. Set your PC up in your bedroom but want to show someone downstairs a photo? You either have to summon them upstairs to have a look or transfer that photo onto a portable device such as a smartphone. Smartphones offer a far greater degree of flexibility than PCs. This is even true if we think about laptops in their capacity as personal PCs. Yes, they’re smaller and yes, they can be carried around, but a tiny pocket-sized device is far more desirable than carrying a laptop around all day, every day.
So does this signal the end of the PC? It’s very doubtful. PCs are still the staple of every office desk in the country, and are much better at handling large amounts of data. While smartphones are improving their media handling abilities, the fact is that PCs are still far better at loading videos, handling lots of open windows and for basic word processing and spreadsheets. Imagine having to type an entire report up using tiny buttons...
The reality is that while smartphones are becoming more and more popular, PCs still have their place and are still just as important as ever. Remember that the reason smartphone sales are relatively high compared to PCs is probably because the vast majority of people with a smartphone will probably already have a PC. Of course fewer people will be buying replacement PCs each quarter than new smartphones, so really the two devices are just as useful as the other with their own unique points. It’s safe to say that we won’t be saying goodbye to PCs just yet.
Annie Glover is a freelance telecommunications correspondent who writes for a number of online publications about the future of mobile communications