There’s been many references to the “Post-PC” era by analysts and bloggers over the past year. One analyst firm says it has only just arrived – Canalys has deemed the period as officially in progress thanks to the significant computing milestones at the end of 2011.
Recent figures released by the research firm showed a considerable raise in smartphone shipments in Q4 of 2011. The same quarter of the 2010, only 101.2 million units of smartphones were shipped compared to the 158.5 million units shipped in Q4 of 2011. This period also showed a record 37 million iPhone shipments for tech major, Apple.
These impressive figures are juxtaposed by less than exciting numbers for PCs, with reports showing no significant improvement, with an increase of 15 percent reflected in the overall PC market.
But even this figure was influenced by tablets, as Canalys prefers to include the PC devices in the same category as their full-size computer counterparts. Without the inclusion of tablet shipments, there is actually a 0.4 percent decline in PC shipments.
Netbooks fared even worse, with shipments dropping by 25 percent in 2011.
It’s worth noting that not all tech analysts are satisfied with the findings of Canalys – primarily the group’s classification of tablets as PCs. Most industry types still feel comfortable with the traditional definition of PCs—i.e. the monitor, desktop, keyboard and mouse.
Similar to the predictions of other research groups, Canalys too sees a continued shift to tablets as they become more pronounced in the future market driven by the evolving purchase preferences of consumers.
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