NEW DELHI: Increasing demand for affordable smartphones, especially in emerging markets like India and China, is expected to push up shipment of devices in the Asia Pacific region by 3.2 per cent to 1.19 billion units in 2015, research firm Gartner said.

While the shipments — including PCs, tablets and mobile phones — stood at 1.15 billion in 2014, the volume is forecast to grow to 1.19 billion in 2015 and further to 1.28 billion by 2017, the research firm said in a statement.

The increase in device shipments is mainly driven by 4.1 per cent growth in the mobile phone segment as cheaper priced smartphones stimulate replacements.

“Chinese vendors are aiming to grow in other emerging Asian markets as the local market is approaching saturation point,” Gartner Principal Analyst CK Lu said.

However, local currency depreciation against the dollar is deterring Chinese firms from reducing smartphone prices to reach wider segments, he added.

Mobile phone shipments are expected to grow from 987.72 million in 2014 to 1.02 billion this year and further to 1.11 billion by 2017.

The computing devices segment (PCs, tablets, clamshells) is forecast to decline 1.9 per cent this year from 170.4 million units in 2014 to 167.25 million units, mainly affected by low demand for tablets.

“Market saturation along with consumers extending the lifetime of their tablets has caused a re-calibration in the growth trajectory in the market,” Gartner Principal Analyst Lillian Tay said.

From 2016 onwards, the firm expect the tablet market to resume growth from a stabilised base, Tay added.

The PC market will continue to grow slightly (to 170.9 million units by 2017), as shipments in the premium ultramobile category compensate for a decline in sales of traditional desk-based and notebook PCs, Gartner said.

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