Market Research Firm: Tablet Sales to Beat Laptop Sales This Year, PC Sales Next Year

PC sales actually shrunk this year

It's long been said that tablets will at some point become more popular than laptops, but according to a new forecast from IDC, that shift is poised to occur this year.

The market research firm predicted that tablet shipments will grow 58.7 percent year over year in 2013 to reach 229.3 million units, up from 144.5 million last year. Meanwhile, the "slumping PC market" is expected to see negative growth for a second consecutive year as tablet shipments outpace laptop shipments in 2013, and exceed the entire PC market—including desktops—by 2015.