The sale of mobile processors is forecast to increase at combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22% reaching 1.9 billion units per year by 2016, according to a new research.

The report, Mobile Processor Architectures, Devices, and Market Shares, Q4’11, by NPD In-Stat, reports that the growth of mobile processors in 2011 exceeded 43%.

In-Stat chief technology strategist Jim McGregor said although the total available market for mobile processors continues to grow, the emergence of industry leaders in the high-growth mobile device segment is becoming a key factor in the success of processor vendors.

The research firm revealed that by just having a captive smartphone and tablet market, Apple occupied second place for the entire mobile processor market behind industry leader Intel.

In 2012, Apple will likely capture the top spot, in terms of unit shipments, driven by the success of its iPhone and iPad.

Other companies that benefitted greatly from new product releases or dominance by their OEM customers included Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Samsung.

For all mobile devices, ARM is the dominant processor architecture with over 73% of all units shipped and is growing.

Report showed Intel’s dominance continues in mobile PCs, while Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung claim the top spots in other CE devices.

Smartphones and tablets with a combined 75% growth in 2011 and 29.3% CAGR expected through 2016, represent the greatest opportunity for growth.

In-Stat expects consolidation in the mobile processor market starting from the 2013/2014 timeframe and the release of Windows 8 by the end of 2012 will be a pivotal point in the competition.

Mobile processor refers to a range of processors used in mobile CE devices, often referred to as applications processors and central processing units (CPUs) and are employed in multifunction devices that combine computing, communications, entertainment, and/or productivity capabilities.

Mobile devices include e-readers, handheld game consoles (HGCs), mobile PCs, portable media players (PMPs), smartphones, and tablets.