14 DAY TRIAL // It was about time it happened, but for a while there, I actually thought it wouldn't happen quite this early.
Yet IDC analyst firm believes it: tablets will outpace notebooks in terms of sales this year.
Which is to say, their shipment levels will grow by 58.7% on-year, to 229.3 million units versus 144.5 million in 2012.
The entire PC market, including portables and desktops, will be overtaken by slates in 2015, the firm believes.
"What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change in the global computing paradigm with mobile being the primary benefactor," said Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC's Mobility Trackers.
"Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about compute devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them."