This means that on average, a consumer in a mature market will use and own more than three personal devices by 2018. This is based on the research company’s estimation that in 2016, the installed base of devices will be 7.8 billion units (including wearables, phones, tablets and PCs) and is on track to reach 8.3 billion units in 2018.

It is expected that mature market users will use three to four personal devices from a mix of ‘main’ devices – such as smartphones, tablets, two-in-one devices and notebooks, and ‘niche’ devices – including wearables and connected devices such as smart watches, health bands, smart glasses and smart cards.

“The combination of the high level of adoption of technology, the availability of faster networks, and decision-making becoming increasingly dependent on real-time information, will undoubtedly lead to more devices per user,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.

Gartner also predicts that at least one non-traditional phone maker will be among the top five smartphone brands in China, and that by 2019, 20% of personal devices will record emotions used to create individual responses or crowdsourced analysis by the system, and one third of PC users will use speech or gestures to issue commands.

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