Apple’s total device market share to grow from 10% to 14% – new forecast

A forecast published today by market intelligence company Gartner suggests that Apple’s combined market share of mobile phones, tablets and PCs will grow from just under 10 percent to over 14 percent by 2014 – shipping almost 3m devices this year, and rising to over 3.5m next year.

Gartner is predicting that while PC sales will fall 10.6 percent year-on-year, and phones grow at a modest 4.3 percent, tablets will grow 67.9 percent … 

“Consumers want anytime-anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products. Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

While Android tablet sales have overtaken iPad sales, the Android market is of course split across multiple manufacturers, with Apple remaining the top vendor.

Steve Jobs famously predicted that PCs would become trucks, with many finding that a tablet meets their computing needs in a cheaper and more portable form-factor. The lifecycle of smartphones has also slowed in recent years as developed markets reach saturation point and the economy has led many to delay upgrades. Apple’s share of the mobile phone market grew

Another trend which Gartner expects to continue is a shift towards cheaper tablets, with not even the iPad immune, as customers favour the cheaper iPad mini over the original.

There has also been a shift as many consumers go from premium tablets to basic tablets. The share of basic tablets is expected to increase faster than anticipated, as sales of the iPad Mini already represented 60 per cent of overall iOS sales in the first quarter of 2013.