Apple's iOS, macOS projected to beat Windows

Gartner has new shipment projections for computers and mobile devices. The most interesting news from this data comes from Computerworld, which asked Gartner to break down the shipments by operating system. The forecast shows Apple devices might outpace Windows this year for the first time as shipments of devices running the Microsoft OS fall to 260 million devices and Apple devices running iOS and macOS climb to 268 million. The Gartner numbers also show this gap between Microsoft and Apple devices could widen to 27 million by 2019.

Most of the 2.3 billion devices shipped in 2016 were running Google's Android, which is open source and free to use. Microsoft is still the dominant player in PCs, but the combined shipments of iOS and macOS devices show how influential Apple has become in the market. This is why Microsoft worked so hard to make Windows a hybrid system that works as both a mobile and desktop OS. The results have been mixed, but Microsoft's Surface line of devices have been successful enough to spawn countless imitations and new innovations in detachable laptops and other hybrid devices.

Windows still remains vitally important for productivity and gaming. This is why detachables have done well and high-end gaming PCs have been able to weather the slumping PC market. Android has been creeping into the laptop form factor more and more, especially in the China market. Android is not mature enough to take on Windows, however, and Chrome OS has only recently started to become much better for offline productivity thanks to Google introducing Play Store app compatibility. Ultimately, though, Windows is in good shape, even if Microsoft does not command as much of the market as it once did.