Survey finds Laptops, Tablets steady while Desktop PC ownership plunges

UK regulator Ofcom has published the result of its annual survey, and it makes interesting reading for those interested in the future of consumer computing.

The face-to-face survey of around 3,750 adults shows that the home computing market appears to have been rather steady of the last few years, with 63% of users owning laptops and 28% own tablets in 2018, while tablet ownership was at 58%. The graph, however, makes it clear that Desktop PC ownership has seen a steady trend downwards, even if this was slowing, and that the days of the explosive growth in tablet ownership are over. Overall 83% of users owned large-screened computing devices.

Interestingly that is still above the level of smartphone ownership, which, while still growing steadily, currently stands at 78%.

The survey demonstrates that one device does not necessarily replace another, with users much more likely to own multiple computers of whatever form and use them in a complementary way.

The full survey can be seen here.