According to the latest statistics released by Gartner on Thursday, the worldwide shipments of PCs, tablets, and mobile handsets will likely witness a 9 percent year-on-year increase in 2013; with the total shipment figures of these devices expected to touch 2.4 billion units.

The Gartner data not only projects an increase in total global shipments of PCs, tablets, and mobile handsets this year, but also predicts that the shipments of these devices will see a further growth by the year 2017, when the shipments figures will reach over 2.9 billion units.

However, Gartner has also forecast that, in the coming years, there will be a "significant change" in the mix of the mentioned devices; thanks chiefly to the fact that consumers are increasingly showing a preference for tablets over PCs. About the projected change, Gartner's research VP Carolina Milanesi said that consumers will "shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones."

As a result of the change in consumer preferences, Gartner has projected that there will probably be a 7.6 percent decline in the traditional PC market of desktops and laptops, which will ship around 315 million units this year; and will continue plunging further over the next four-year period as the tablet market will see robust growth.

Going by the Gartner figures, the worldwide tablet shipments in 2013 will touch a total of 197 million units; thereby marking an increase of 69.8 percent over the 2012 tablet-shipment figures of 116 million units.