Laptops to outstrip desktops by 2011?

As worldwide desktop shipments continue to slow, laptops are expected to represent more than half of all client PCs by 2011, according to an IDC report.

PC shipments worldwide rose only 7.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with a 15 per cent growth rate for the same period last year. IDC attributes the declining growth to corporate buyers purchasing fewer desktops, especially in the more mature markets.

Desktop shipments grew an anaemic two per cent to 138.3 million in 2006, while portables - a category that doesn't include handhelds - jumped 26.3 per cent to 82.4 million, according to the report.

Meanwhile, in the US retail sales of laptops surpassed desktops in 2005.

Doug Bell, IDC personal computing program analyst, said in a statement: "In the United States, portable PC shipments will maintain double-digit growth through 2010 but this shift to mobility will not be enough to offset reduced demand for desktops."

IDC, however, notes that the release of Microsoft's Windows Vista is likely to lead to a temporary boost in desktop shipments later this year and into early next year but the declining growth-rate is expected to re-emerge shortly afterward.

Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, said in a statement: "While more replacements and Vista adoption may provide a brief respite for desktops in 2008, essentially all desktop growth will occur in emerging regions."

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com