If one were to compare the Apple vs Microsoft OS operating system battle, some might consider it equivalent to a turf war. While each operating system has its own strengths and weaknesses, and diehard supporters, the folks over at Gartner sit to the side of the proverbial war and analyze the statistics behind the operating systems every month. This month, Gartner has found that Apple, and not Microsoft will be the biggest OS company in 2017 (via ComputerWorld)
According to the latest Gartner report, in the year 2016 about 260 million devices of the total 2.3 billion shipped devices were powered by Windows, which accounts for a total of about 11.2 percent of total devices. Apple’s iOS and MacOS, meanwhile, combined to run on 248 million devices in 2016, mainly in part due to a dip in iPhone sales.
Gartner, in turn, foresees that Apple will recover from this, and predicts that the iOS and MacOS combination will rise up to 8% in total share, to about 268 million devices in 2017. Further down the line, Gartner sees Apple passing Microsoft’s stronghold of 260 Windows devices, with another 3% raise in 2018 to meet 276 million, then followed by another 3% in 2019 to reach 285 million.
On the Microsoft front of the proverbial operating system battle, Gartner sees that Window’s share in the market will dip in 2017, then stagnate in the following two years. The firm predicts that Windows will power about 252 million devices in 2017, which is a 3% year- to-year decline. In 2018, meanwhile, Gartner sees that Windows will power 253 million devices, then 257 million devices in 2019. This still would give Apple the overall lead, meaning that Microsoft’s current 12 million device lead will fall, and Apple will have a 27 million device lead by 2019.
Gartner analyst Ranjit Atwal pointed to several factors for the change atop the charts. “The global devices market is stagnating… Mobile phone shipments are growing only in emerging markets in the Asia and Pacific markets… The PC market is just reaching the bottom of its decline…” said the analyst.
Indeed, the Gartner numbers also show that the total PC shipments in 2016 arrived at 268 million devices, which is a 7% loss compared to last year. Numbers from Gartner are grim, and show that PC shipments will fall another 0.7% in 2017 to 266 million, followed up by a rise in the following years to 272 million in 2018 and 278 million in 2019.
Gartner Research is an independent research firm. What are your impressions of these numbers? Do you foresee a change in these statistics? Let us know what you think by dropping us a comment below!
