Gadget fatigue? Worldwide sales are forecast to decline

Analysts expect users to upgrade their tablets an average of once every three years - far less than smartphones. Photo / AP

According to a new forecast, shoppers worldwide will spend less on gadgets in 2015 than they did in 2014 - the first drop since 2010.

That's not to say the market will crater.

Analysts from Gartner, a technology research firm, still predict we'll spend a total of $606 billion in 2015.

But it's still a decline of 5.7 per cent compared with 2014, lower than Gartner had forecast just three months ago.

So what's behind the softer sales? In part, it's because fewer people are buying desktop computers in Western Europe, Japan and Russia, Ranjit Atwal, a research director at Gartner, said in a news release.

The firm projects that sales of desktops and "ultramobile" devices such as tablets will continue to slide this year.

"The tablet has become a 'nice to have' device, and there is no real need for an upgrade as regularly as for the phone," Gartner research director Roberta Cozza said in the release.

She also said that the tablet market is reaching its saturation point and that analysts expect users to upgrade their tablets an average of once every three years - far less than smartphones.

Sales of mobile devices such as smartphones and high-end laptops will continue to grow, the firm said.

Still, even within that bright spot, there is some hint of a slowdown.

The rates of first-time smartphone buyers in China, one of the world's fastest-growing and most important mobile markets, have slowed.

That's bad news for companies that have been marketing aggressively to the Chinese market to get a leg up on sales.

Xiaomi, a Chinese company that some say has the potential to take on Apple in China, posted slower sales during its most recent quarter.

As Quartz reported last week, the company isn't toast by any means, but it did walk back a goal to sell 100 million smartphones this year.

Meanwhile, Samsung told investors that it will report an approximate 4 per cent drop in profits this quarter.

That could, in part, be due to supply problems with the company's flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone. But it also marks the seventh straight quarter in which Samsung's smartphone profits have slipped.

To succeed in China, Gartner research director Annette Zimmermann said in the release, companies will have to pull something new out of their hats.

"Vendors in China will have to win replacement buyers and improve the appeal of their premium offerings to attract upgrades, if they want to maintain or increase their market share," she said.

As for overall spending, Gartner predicts gadget sales will resume growth after this year's dip, though gradually. The firm predicts that shoppers will spend $627 billion on devices in 2017 - still lower than the $642 billion spent in 2014.