PC, tablet, phone shipments to hit 2.4B in 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Research firm Gartner says it expects worldwide PC, tablet and mobile phone shipments to reach 2.4 billion units this year, up 9 percent from 2012.

Gartner Inc. said Thursday that device shipments should continue to grow, hitting more than 2.9 billion in 2017. But the mix of devices is shifting away from PCs.

Gartner expects desktop and notebook PC shipments to continue to decline as people move toward more portable devices like tablets and "ultramobile" electronics that fall somewhere between a laptop and a tablet, such as the MacBook Air.

The research firm says that tablet shipments will likely reach 197 million units this year, up nearly 70 percent from 116 million in 2012.