A report by Gartner suggests that the global Android market will more than double its 2012 performance by 2014.
After shipping 506 million smartphones and tablets in 2012, Gartner expects nearly 870 million Android mobile devices to ship in 2013, with almost 1.1 billion shipping in 2014.
For Apple, the picture is slightly less rosy: Gartner reckons around 355 million iOS smartphones, tablets and Mac OS devices will ship in 2014 - that's up from an estimated 296 million in 2013 and 213 million in 2012.
In other words, looking at the 2012 - 2014 window, the market for Android will increase by almost 110 percent while the iOS market will increase by slightly less than 67 percent.
The rise of the tablet
Gartner's research also suggests that an estimated 202 million tablets are expected to ship across the globe this year, which is a 67.9 percent increase from 2012's figure of 120 million shipped devices.
Smartphones are enjoying more modest growth in 2012, with 1.8 billion units expected to ship globally - a 4.3 percent increase over 2012's figure of 1.75 billion units.
These growth trends are expected to continue into 2014, with tablet shipments increasing by 37 percent and smartphones shipments increasing by a 4.3 percent.
While the slower growth in tablet shipments between 2013 - 2014 might seem odd given the near 70 percent increase between 2012 - 2013, Gartner's research director Ranjit Atwal says that its natural, noting that the life cycle of premium tablets are responsible for the figures.
"The increased availability of lower priced basic tablets, plus the value add shifting to software rather than hardware will result in the lifetimes of premium tablets extending as they remain active in the household for longer," he concluded.
[source: Gartner]
Data & Research
US Correspondent
Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.
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