As smartphones and other mobile platforms have become more prevalent, PC sales have begun to slump. However, consumers till need to get things done on larger screens. While some manufacturers have managed to specialize for the PC market, others are attempting to blend the mobile with external displays, essentially making smartphones and tablets primary computing devices.

Market analyst firm ABI Research today predicted that the latter is likely to become more popular over the next five years. The firm believes that mobile devices will become portable hubs that can carry both work and personal experiences from work to home and everywhere in-between.

This type of future will be enabled through external display technologies. ABI predicts that methods enabling large screen display of mobile content, as well as second-screen experience software, will be at the forefront of such technologies. In the near-term wired technologies will be at the forefront of the external display industry, but it will not be long before wireless solutions take over.

“Wired technologies currently have the upper-hand since it’s only a matter of using a compatible cable,” said Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI. “In the next couple years, the battleground will shift toward the use of 60 GHz wireless protocols, including WirelessHD and WiGig, capable of pushing 4K video content from the mobile device to the home, office, or vehicle display.”

Though external display technologies aren’t widely used today outside of business and education applications, ABI believes that the tech will soon be found on over half of mobile devices by 2018, including 2.1 billion smartphones. Orr also suggested that mobile device manufacturers may “gain a competitive edge” by promoting the technology.

(Image courtesy Sony)