Sales of hybrid devices expected to rise to 21.5 million this year

Gartner predicts boom times ahead for laptop/tablet 2-in-1s

Sales of hybrid devices will rise by 70 percent this year to 21.5 million units, according to new figures from Gartner

The 2-in-1 laptop/tablet computers will take 12 percent of the mobile PC market, rising to 26 percent by 2019 at the expense of desktops, notebooks and tablets.

Consumers are likely to lead the charge to hybrid devices with Gartner research director Tracy Tsai saying that firms are struggling to sell the technology into the enterprise, but Windows 10 will have an impact this year.

"Windows 10 on hybrid ultramobiles will offer a better user experience with touch and voice as well as universal Windows apps that are written once and receive device-specific user experience tweaks to allow them to run on different Windows devices," she said.

Asus is currently the biggest player in the hybrid market with a range of devices, and saw sales rise by 263 percent between 2013 and 2014. This gave the firm a 41 percent market share with shipments of 3.1 million, Gartner said.

Asus needs to act quickly to keep this lead, as second-placed Lenovo has seen success by targeting the consumer market.

Gartner has already flagged Lenovo as an important player. The firm sold 1.9 million units during the period, representing a 331 percent year-on-year increase.

HP was third with 800,000 shipments, up from seventh place in 2013. Microsoft's Surface does not count because keyboards are optional. If it were to be allowed it would have third position.

Gartner said that all this adds up to a threat to Apple and Android from the army of tablet buyers.

"The combination of portability, productivity and flexibility of touch and a keyboard in one device is attracting some notebook and tablet users to replace their devices with hybrid form factors," added Tsai.

"PC vendors are expanding into this segment with a value proposition to compete with Apple and Android-based tablet vendors."