Tablet shipments will exceed those of portable PCs this year, and outstrip the entire PC (portable and desktop) market by 2015, according to research from IDC.

The company said that this “marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about computer devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them”.

Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC’s Mobility Trackers, said: “IDC continues to believe that PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users. But for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC.”

Growth in the tablet market comes at a time when PC volumes are on the slide, as users “consider alternatives such as delaying a PC purchase or using tablets or smartphones for more of their computing needs”.

The research firm also said that while Apple has been “at the forefront of the tablet revolution”, the current market expansion has been fuelled by low-cost Android devices.

In 2013, the worldwide average selling price for tablets is expected to fall by almost 11 per cent to $381 – compared with an ASP of $635 for PCs.

Total tablet shipments in 2013 are expected to grow by 58.7 per cent year-on-year, to 229.3 million. This compares with 187.4 million portable PCs.