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There will be nearly 2.5 billion shipments of...

There will be nearly 2.5 billion shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones in 2014, a 7.6 percent increase from 2013, said Gartner’s annual devices forecast released Tuesday (http://gtnr.it/1eEJ08k). Tablets and mobile phones will drive the increase, as PC shipments…

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are expected to drop for the third straight year, said the industry researcher. It said mobile phones will account for just over three-fourths of all devices shipped, a slight drop since 2012, as the tablet market has grown. “Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products,” said Research Director Ranjit Atwal. “Users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool.” The Android OS is the leading platform across all devices, expected to reach 1.1 billion users in 2014, 26 percent more than in 2013, said the report. “There’s no doubt that there is a volume versus value equation, with Android users also purchasing lower-cost devices compared to Apple users,” said Annette Zimmerman, principal analyst. Gartner said that by 2017, 75 percent of Android’s volume will come from emerging markets.