Three Kinds of Computers (Cont.)


Embedded Computers
An embedded computer inside another device is used for running one predetermined application or collection of software. They include the microprocessors found in cars, the computers in cell phones, and the computers in video game systems or TVs. The figure shows various devices with embedded computers.

The PC and mobile phone worldwide sales are given in the following table according to various market research reports. It shows smartphones outperformed other devices for many years. The sales of tablet PCs picked in 2014 and become steady afterwards.

Year Numbers of Units Shipped (Million)
Feature phones Smartphones PCs and servers Tablet PCs PDAs (without phone capabilities)
2002 432 — 148 — 12.1
2003 520 — 169 — 11.5
2004 713 — 189 — 12.5
2005 813 — 209 — 2.9
2006 927 64 239 — 17.7
2007 1,031 122 271 — —
2008 1,081 139 302 — —
2009 1,055 166 306 1 —
2010 1,609 286 346 17 —
2011 1,323 486 365 73 —
2012 1,048 698 352 128 —
2013 838 968 296 (PCs only) 195 —
2014 634 1,245 314 (PCs only) 227 —
2015 486 1,424 290 (PCs only) 196 —
2016 396 1,495 270 (PCs only) 169 —
2017 — 1,537 263 (PCs only) 160 —
2018 — 1,555 259 (PCs only) 146 —
2019 — 1,541 261 (PCs only) 145 —
2020 — 1,348 295 (PCs only) 164 —
2021 — 1,434 340 (PCs only) 169 —
2022 — 1,395 287 (PCs only) 137 —
2023 — 1,167 251 (PCs only) ? —