New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS): Global shipments of PCs, tablets and smartphones are projected to exceed 2.35 billion units in 2018 which is the highest year-on-year (YoY) growth since 2015 and an increase of two per cent from 2017, market research firm Gartner said on Tuesday.

"Our latest online end-user survey shows that users depend just as much on PCs or tablets as they do on smartphones," said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director at Gartner, in a statement.

Forty per cent respondents said that they use mostly a PC/tablet for certain daily experiences, such as reading and writing detailed emails or watching videos, while 34 per cent mostly use a smartphone for its convenience while on the move.

"Users holding onto their PCs for longer remains a major issue for the PC market. In contrast, users continue to replace their smartphone quite frequently," Atwal added.

Driven by faster Windows 10 replacement in many regions, especially in western Europe, business PC shipments are projected see growth by the end of 2017. 

"Despite the fact that prices have been rising due to higher component costs, Windows 10 replacements have kept the PC market relatively stable through 2017. We estimate that the PC market (desk-based, notebook and ultramobiles) is set to return to 0.8 percent growth in 2018," said Atwal. 

With shipments totalling 1.9 billion units, mobile phone sales are expected to return to YoY growth in 2018. 

Smartphones will represent 86 per cent of total mobile phone shipments in 2018, up 6 per cent from 2017.

"Given the late November availability of the iPhone X, we expect the iPhone's replacement cycle to flow more strongly into 2018," said Roberta Cozza, Research Director at Gartner, in a statement.