According to the International Data Corporation, tablets are forecast to overtake portable PC sales by the end of 2013. The news comes as part of the IDC's quarterly tablet tracker, which looks at sales of tablets worldwide.

Amazingly, the report even suggests that tablet sales could surpass the whole of the PC market by 2015. This could paint a bleak future for some of the current core PC manufacturers which are struggling to make good in the tablet market.

“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. IDC continues to believe that PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users," said Ryan Reith, programme manager for IDC’s Mobility Trackers.

"But for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC.” 

There will likely always remain a market for those who require ultra-powerful desktop PC solutions, but when it comes to portables, if the IDC's results are correct, people may no longer be looking at laptops for day to day use.

Interestingly, the IDC says this quarter has seen a greater shift to smaller form factor tablets, with 8-inch offerings and below becoming increasingly popular. This is presumably because of the likes of the highly affordable Nexus 7. Consumers who traditionally might have purchased a cheap laptop as a means to connected to the web may be looking at smaller tablet options instead.