Global tablet sales will pass 381 million units in 2017, according to a new report by Forrester. Tablets will become so mainstream that one in eight humans on earth will own one, representing 29% of online consumers worldwide, according to the Global Business And Consumer Tablet Forecast Update, 2013 to 2017 report.

Tablet sales are expected to exceed PC sales by 2015, according to a new report from IDC. The study also found that this year, one in 22 people worldwide is expected to purchase a PC, while one in 31 people are expected to buy a tablet.

Here is more from the press release: “…tablet shipments are expected to grow 58.7% year over year in 2013 reaching 229.3 million units, up from 144.5 million units last year.”

Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC’s Mobility Trackers, stated: “Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about compute devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them. IDC continues to believe that PCs will have an important role in this new era of computing, especially among business users. But for many consumers, a tablet is a simple and elegant solution for core use cases that were previously addressed by the PC.”