According to IDC WW 2013 tablet shipments will reach 229.3 million units with 58.7% growth, up from 144.5m for 2012-- beating portable PC shipments for the year, with the PC market showing negative growth for the second consecutive year.

As a result the analyst forecasts tablet shipments will beat the entire PC market (covering portables and desktops) by 2015, since consumers continue to prefer purchasing tablets to deal with tasks such as web access, social media, emails and any number of apps.

"What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change in the global computing paradigm with mobile being the primary benefactor," IDC remarks. "Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about compute devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them... for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC."

Global smart mobile device (combined notebook, tablet and smartphone) shipments total 308.7 million units with 37.4% Y-o-Y for Q1 2013 according to Canalys, with Android devices making 59.5% of shipments.

When it comes to other OS vendors, iOS has 19.3% market share thanks to strong smartphone and tablet market presence, while Windows share totals 18.1% through "relative" PC market strength.

Tablets continue to show the fastest growth of the three market segments-- Canalys reports WW Q1 2013 tablet shipments are up by 106.1% Y-o-Y to 41.9m units. Apple controls 46.4% of the market, even if it continues to lose share for the 3rd consecutive quarter to the Android-based competition.

"The commoditisation of the tablet market has happened far quicker than that of the wider PC market," the analyst says. "Profit margins are being squeezed and vendors without a low cost structure will find it hard to compete. A solid range of must-have accessories and a software and services strategy are vital as vendors will increasingly need to make revenue around their devices."

The global tablet market remains strong IDC reports-- Q1 2013 shipments grow by 142.4% Y-o-Y to 49.2 million units, with demand for smaller screen devices fueling shipments.

Apple outperforms earlier IDC projections for the quarter, managing to beat seasonal Q1 shipment drop off (following strong Q4 sales) with shipments reaching 19.5m units compared to a forecast of 18.7m.

"Sustained demand for the iPad mini and increasingly strong commercial shipments led to a better-than expected Q1 2012 for Apple," IDC says. "In addition, by moving the iPad launch to Q4 2012 Apple seems to have avoided the typical Q1 slowdown that traditionally occurred when consumers held off buying in January and February in anticipation of a new product launch in March."

IDC reports a mobile market first for Q1 2013-- smartphones beat feature phones in global shipment totals, making 51.6% (or 216.2 million units) of total shipments for the quarter. 

Overall the global mobile market shows 4% Y-o-Y growth in a seasonally slow Q1 2013, with shipments reaching 418.6m units-- up from 402.4m units in Q1 2012 but down from 483.2m in Q4 2012. 

"Phone users want computers in their pockets." IDC states. "The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away... The balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones."