Rising electronics shipment a hint of surging global e-waste streams

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The estimated global shipment of PC, tablets and smartphones in 2014 suggests that global e-waste streams are most likely to report strong growth.

According to latest statistics published by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the total PC shipments in entire 2014 are expected to reach 163.9 million. The estimates for the year is lower than 2013 PC shipments. However, the drop in shipments has weakened to 2.7% over the previous year. IDC had earlier projected a drop of 3.7% in PC shipments in 2014 when compared with the previous year. The PC shipments will continue to remain strong in the upcoming months. The body forecasts 161.9 million units of PC shipments during 2018. Also, mature and emerging markets may see a visible shift in preferences towards tablets and smartphones.

IDC expects the overall tablet shipments during 2014 to total 235.7 million, 7.2% higher when compared with the previous year. The growth rate this year has dropped significantly when compared with the growth of 52.5% reported in 2013 over 2012. The total shipment of tablets is expected to surge to 285.9 million units by 2018.

The smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1.3 billion units in 2014, rising 26.3% over the previous year shipments. The shipments are expected to drop rise further to 1.4 billion units and 1.9 billion units in 2015 and 2018 respectively.