World Buys More Smartphones Than Computers

In 2011, manufacturers shipped 487.7 million smartphones and only 414.6 million computers — that’s desktops, laptops and tablets. Combined. We’d heard prophecy of this day and now it may have arrived.

The study by Canalys has troves of data about global smartphone sales, which seem to lend credence to the theory that smartphones are becoming the main computing devices of the masses. Creation and productivity tasks aside, the vast majority of what we need to do or obtain from the internet can be accomplished on a device that fits in our hand. And they’re becoming near-ubiquitous.

For the rest of the stat geekery, check out the full report if poring over data about product shipments is your thing. [Canalys]