(1) Hardware. The term refers to any electronic or electromechanical machine or component. A device always refers to hardware, never to software. However, a "device driver" refers to software, because the driver software controls the hardware device (see
driver).
A User or Client Device
In general conversation, "the user's device" refers to the hardware operated by a person and may refer to a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, but not to devices in a network (see
network device).
(2) In electronics and semiconductor design, a device is a component such as a transistor, diode, resistor or capacitor.