In a revelation which clearly shows that the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets has come at the cost of PCs, market research firm IHS iSuppli said in a Friday-released report that use of DRAM memory chips in PCs is apparently on a fall.

Going by the iSuppli statistics, with barely 49 percent of new DRAM chips having been used in PCs in the 2012 second quarter, it is evident that while PCs have been accounting for the majority of demand of DRAM chips ever since the 1980s, the mounting popularity of smartphones and tablets has changed the scenario.

Moreover, with smartphones and tablets taking an increasingly bigger slice of PC desktop and laptop sales, and bringing down the profits of bigwig firms like Intel, Dell, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard, iSuppli is projecting that, by the end of next year, PCs will probably make up only 42.8 percent of DRAM production.

Since iSuppli's statistics for the 2012 second-quarter underscore a `below 50 percent' drop in the use of DRAM chips in PCs for the first time ever, analysts have highlighted the significance of the iSuppli figures by terming them as another confirmation of the computer industry's move into a "post-PC era."

Noting that PCs are fast losing their long-standing DRAM-chip dominance, IHS' memory analyst Clifford Leimbach said that the future focus of DRAM suppliers will be essentially on "serving the needs of fast-expanding new markets for smartphones and tablets, at the expense of catering to the PC business."