Gartner has presented its forecast for the development of the mobile device market for 2017. These data go against the figures prepared by IDC specialists.
By 2017, Gartner believes, tablet shipments will reach almost 468 million, which is a third more than IDC predicts – 352 million.
Regarding smartphones, the data is controversial: in its report, Gartner indicates the number of 2.1 billion, but under the general category of “mobile phones”. IDC predicts shipments of smartphones in the amount of 1.5 billion by 2017. In any case, the difference of more than 600 million (or 40%) is unlikely to come to ordinary tubes.
By the way, analysts from Gartner built their positive forecast on the basis of annual growth rates. And if at the end of 2012 the tablet market had about 116 million shipments, by the end of 2013 it will grow by 70%. It is assumed that more than 197 million tablets will be delivered this year.
The company also calculated which operating system devices will be the most popular by 2017. The study includes data not only on smartphones and tablets, but also on other devices, including PCs and laptops. Android will account for exactly half of the entire operating system market or 1.5 billion devices, which is exactly 3 times more than in 2012.
Despite the traditional dominance of Windows in the PC market, by the end of 2017, the gap between the “Apple” axes and the Microsoft platform will be minimal (half a billion each – by the way, this figure belongs to Android since last year).