“It’s time to do the update for the 2011 final numbers of computer sales, when all types of computing devices are included,” Tomi Ahonen writes for Communities Dominate Brands. “We count traditional mainframes and servers, the PCs [and Macs] we know and love from desktops to laptops and netbooks, [and] tablet PCs like the iPad, and the smartphones, as well as that lingering PDA market which is still typified by the iPod touch.”

“By this definition – and please readers do remember, all major PC makers have already accepted that smartphones are indeed computers, so don’t bother to argue about that oldfashioned view that a smartphone would not be a proper computer, we do reach dizzying heights – the total computer market hit 950 million units sold last year,” Ahonen writes. “The computer market as thus defined, grew a massive 47% in just one year from 646 million units in 2010, and this growth was all driven by huge growth in smartphones and tablets, the legacy PC market was stagnant. And also just so you know, the 60 million unit tablet-market is projected by many analysts to pass 100 million in size this year, so yes, tablets are roughly one seventh the size of smartphones – yes, the smartphone market alone is 7 times bigger than the tablet market.”

Largest Computer Makers When Smartphones & Tablets Included

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Lance" for the heads up.]