Shipments of Android smartphones are expected to climb to more than 1 billion units annually in 2017, more than twice the 470 million Android phones that shipped last year. Market research firm Canalys on Tuesday issued a new report containing its smartphone forecast for the next five years. Android is clearly the big winner, and its 1 billion units shipped in 2017 will be good for 67.1% of the 1.5 billion smartphones that sell into channels globally. That figure is down slightly from the 67.7% of the market Android controlled in 2012, but the narrow loss in market share won’t benefit top rival Apple. According to Canalys, Apple’s share of the global smartphone market will drop from 19.5% in 2012

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