Apple remains world's largest IT vendor

Apple remains the largest vendor in IT by annual revenue, but challenger Samsung is closing the gap, according to Gartner.

The research firm has published a list of the top 100 global vendors in IT based on their total revenue across the IT and component market segments.

Apple topped the list with more than US$218 billion in IT revenue, but this was down from US$235 billion in 2015. Samsung was second with US$139.1 million. While Samsung also recorded a revenue decline during 2016, it was narrower than Apple’s at US$2.9 billion.

Google climbed to third place, up from fifth a year earlier, with total 2016 IT revenues up US$15.2 billion to US$90 billion. This made Google the only vendor in the top five not to experience a year-on-year revenue decline.

Microsoft and IBM rounded out the top five, but both fell one position on the leaderboard. Microsoft recorded 2016 revenues of US$85.7 billion, compared to US$77.8 billion for IBM.

Gartner said the top three vendors can attribute much of their strong market presence to their alignment with what Gartner calls the Nexus of Forces — the convergence of social, mobility, cloud and information that drive new business scenarios.

Another highlight of the top 100 research is the growing prominence of digital services giants — which include Google and Apple, as well as Facebook, Amazon and Chinese players Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent — and their control over the digital experience. Gartner said it expects that by 2021, 20% of all activities an individual engages in will involve at least one of these companies.

“Digital giants effectively become gatekeepers for any business that delivers digital content and services to consumers,” Gartner VP and distinguished analyst John-David Lovelock said.

“Any company that wants to engage consumers in, or through, their digital world will have to consider engaging with one or more of these digital giants.”

He added that because these companies have prioritised developing services for consumers, citizens and employees, other companies have the opportunity to take the lead in developing digital services for the B2B world.

Image courtesy Apple.

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