The year 2017 is looking bright for Apple. A new research suggests that the company will be surpassing Microsoft in shipments of smart devices for the first time in tech history.
According to the research conducted by the firm Gartner Inc., the combination of Apple's macOS and iOS platforms that are powering the company's Macs, iPhones and iPads line of products will take over Microsoft's OS beginning this year and will be extended until 2019.
The firm is forecasting that Apple will increase its total shipments of smart devices by 16 million more compared to Microsoft in 2017. Through 2018-2019, the difference is expected to reach 23 million and 28 million, respectively.
In the case of Microsoft, Gartner predicts that its OS will fuel 252 million devices, mostly PCs, that will be shipped in 2017. By 2018, Microsoft's sales is looking to bear an almost zero growth rate by a predicted total shipments of 253 million.
It will not be until 2019 that Microsoft will experience an 1.8 percent increase of growth rate by shipping 257 million devices, according to Gartner.
"The global devices market is stagnating. Mobile phone shipments are only growing in emerging Asia/Pacific markets, and the PC market is just reaching the bottom of its decline," said Gartner's research director Ranjit Atwal.
With the high competition for sales in the smartphone industry, Gartner predicts that the numbers will remain flat in 2017. By 2018, however, the firm is positive that shipments on traditional devices will experience substantial growth.
Among Apple's key products, it is likely that the new line of Macs and the iPhone 7 will serve the company well in bringing in more sales. The company is also looking to launch the iPhone 8, another signature device that poses an even larger threat to other smartphone manufacturers.