The PC isn't going away anytime soon and here's why.

We've probably all heard it sometime in the last eight years: "PC sales are going down, and mobile device sales are going up". Usually, when this is said, it is said as part of an argument that claims that PCs are being used less and mobile devices are being used more. While this certainly has become the case to some extent, it isn't nearly that simple. Here's why.

Convenience.
The first and most obvious reason why smartphones are now selling better than ever and PCs are not is that smartphones can do almost literally everything that the average person would do on a desktop PC, and it can fit in your pocket. And, you can make phone calls too (imagine that)! Now, of course, while you can do anything on the web (excluding stuff that requires Flash, Java) on your phone that you would on your PC, the screen size can often be a limitation, and many websites are just more efficient to use with a mouse and keyboard. But for things like watching videos, checking social media, gaming or email, phones are perfect and if those things are all that someone does on the Internet, it could potentially be hard for them to justify the purchase of a desktop or laptop PC.

Bang for Buck.
This is basically an extension of the "Convenience" section. If you only have a phone because you don't need anything else, you are (in most cases) saving money.

Future-proofness.
Let's face it, when comparing raw performance and overall potential and functionality and excluding the needs of a user, PCs are a better bang for buck. Why? Simply because you can buy a mid-range PC and it will be usable for at least ten years. As time progresses, and as PCs become more powerful, that length of time will likely increase a bit more before it plateaus. For example, I have an old Intel iMac from late 2006. It has a 64bit dual core processor, a not so good GPU, and 3 gigabytes of RAM. Although the version of Mac OS X that it runs is no longer supported,  is also capable of running the latest version of Windows 10 via Boot Camp (and of course, Windows 7 if that is your thing). This means that it is secure, and it is actually fast enough to view 720P HD video, play basic games, and browse the web. Keep in mind, that is a ten year old PC. Perfectly usable for the average person, even if it doesn't provide the best possible experience. Now, think back to what kinds of smartphones we had in 2006.

The basic idea is, because PCs stay usable for so much longer than PCs, not as many of them need to be bought. If a business has 8 year old PCs that they use for database entry purposes, they would be stupid to buy new PCs. They arguably would be smart to keep the operating system up to date, but even this is not always necessary. In contrast, smartphones often don't even have the option to keep themselves up to date after two years, and even if you are fine with that, you will eventually not be able to play the latest game that you want to, either due to hardware or software limitations. Because of this, you really have to buy a new smartphone much more often than you have to buy a new PC.


So what was the purpose of this article? Basically, I a urging tech news outlets to stop claiming that PCs aren't being used less overall and that it's doomsday for the PC. There is a difference between the purchase of a PC and the actual use of one. Also, there is such a thing as a used hardware market for both PCs and smartphones, and that is something that from what I can gather is never factored into studies and statistics.