Gartner reports 2014 tablet sales growth is slowing down to 229 million units with 11% growth, a far cry over 2013 growth of 55%, as customers prefer to either buy alternative devices or simply stick with their current tablets.

As a result tablets make just 9.5% of 2014 global device (combined PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) sales, which the analyst estimates will reach 2.4 billion units with 3.2% growth.

"The device market continues to evolve, with the relationship between traditional PCs, different form factor ultramobiles (clamshells, hybrids and tablets) and mobile phones becoming increasingly complex," Gartner says.

The tablet segment's downward trend stems from the slowdown in basic ultramobiles-- new iPad and Android tablet sales-- and the lifetime extension of current tablets to 3 years by 2018. Thus Gartner projects 90m fewer new tablet sales and 155m fewer replacements through 2018, while some customers will replace their current tablets with hybrid or two-in-one devices.

According to Juniper Research wearable device retail revenues are set to treble by 2016, before reaching $53.2 billion by 2019, with premium smartwatches and smartglasses driving sales during the forecast period.

In comparison 2014 revenues should total around $4.5bn.

However, while the numbers look big, the analyst warns consumers are still still confused by the actual use case of wearables-- meaning many are hesitant to adopt devices with functionality all too similar to that of smartphones. Thus it suggests vendors should lose the "technology first" attitude and develop devices in terms of consumer benefits.

The forecast period should see more advanced wearable technologies emerging from the enterprise and medical segments, before eventual trickle-down to the consumer segment.

According to IDC 2014 smartphone shipments are set to grow by 23.8% to 1.25 billion units while tablets and 2-in-1 devices will reach 2331 million units with 6.5% growth, down from previous predictions of 12.1% growth.

The analyst adds total smartphone volumes will total 1.8bn units with a  CAGR for the 2013-2018 period of 12.7%. Pushing such growth are emerging markets, as 2014 growth in mature territories is expected to crawl down to just 4.9%, compared to 32.4% in emerging markets.

"Mature markets have slowed considerably but still deliver strong revenues with ASPs over $400. Meanwhile, many emerging markets are still barreling along, but with ASPs of less than $250," IDC says. "The key for vendors now is to maintain a presence in the higher-margin mature markets, while establishing a sustainable presence within the fast-growing emerging markets. To enable this strategy, operating system companies are partnering with OEMs to provide low-cost handsets."

IDC expects emerging market smartphone volume will account for 73.5% of all shipments, with low-cost Android devices making 88.4% of said volume.

According to IDC the global smartphone market hit a new milestone on Q2 2014 as shipments surpass 300 million units for the first time. The analyst says shipments total 301.3m units, up by 25.3% from Q2 2013.

The quarter also sees growth for the two dominant smartphone operating systems-- combined iOS-Android market share reaches 96.4%, leaving little space for the rest of the competition, even if iOS market share is down despite 12.7% growth on iPhone shipments reaching 35.2m units.