End users are increasingly reaching for the tablet or smartphone first when accessing the Internet. 

According to Gartner, more than 50 percent of users will use a tablet or smarpthone first for all online activities. 

“The use pattern that has emerged for nearly all consumers, based on device accessibility, is the smartphone first as a device that is carried when mobile, followed by the tablet that is used for longer sessions, with the PC increasingly reserved for more-complex tasks,” said Van Baker, research vice president for Gartner, in a statement. 

Baker says the behavior will soon evolve to include wearables as well. 

As the new year approaches, Gartner took time to outline a few mobile predictions. The firm suggests that by 2020, 75 percent of smartphone buyers will pay less than $100 for a device. And by 2018, 78 percent of global smartphone sales will come from developing economies. 

Also by 2018, Gartner expects the average selling price for a basic and a utility phone to be $78 and $25, respectively, with some smartphones selling for as little as $35 unsubsidized by the year-end 2014. 

Gartner contends that this trend is having an effect on the competitive landscape of smartphone vendors, as Chinese brands rapidly grow share, putting pressure on the Tier 1 smartphone vendors.