More than one billion consumers will have Android-based PCs, tablets and mobile phone devices this year, according to the latest research.
The study, conducted by analyst firm Gartner, said the operating system will be on 1.1 billion tablets, smartphone devices and other handsets, a 26% from 2013. By 2017, over 75% of Android shipments will come from emerging markets.
Annette Zimmerman, a principal analyst at Gartner, said: "There is no doubt that there is a volume versus value equation, with Android users also purchasing lower-cost devices compared to Apple users.
"Android holds the largest number of installed-base devices, with 1.9 billion in use in 2014, compared with 682 million iOS/Mac OS installed-base devices."
Gartner also forecasted shipments for PCs, tablets and other smartphone devices will reach 2.5 billion units in 2014, a 7.6% from 2013.
Research director Ranjit Atwal said: "The device market continues to evolve, with buyers deciding which combination of devices is required to meet their wants and needs.
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"Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products."
The analysts predicted there would 2.5 billion PCs, tablets and mobile handsets shipped this year, a 7.6% increase from last year, driven by a surge in demand for smartphone devices and tablets.
However, PC shipments are expected to decline by 7% to 278 million units in 2014, following a decline of 9.9% in 2013.
"Meanwhile users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool, while the greater flexibility of tablets, hybrids and lighter notebooks address users’ increasingly different demands," added Atwal.
The report said 1.9 billion mobile phones would be shipped in 2014, a 5% increase from 2013, while tablets, hybrids and clamshells, will increase by 54% to about 303 million this year. Tablets alone will grow by 47% as suppliers continue to charge a lower average selling price.
The research comes not too long after Gartner found that over two-thirds of tablets were used on the go in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy , the UK, the US and Japan.
