Four of top five IT vendors saw revenue fall last year

'Nexus of Forces' props up Apple, Samsung and other vendors' performance in 2016, but 'digital giants' such as AWS will soon make their mark, says Gartner

Four of the top five IT vendors by revenue suffered a fall in sales last year, according to Gartner.

Of the leading quintet - Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and IBM - only Google grew its revenues, according to the inaugural Gartner Global Top 100: IT Vendors report.

The research ranks the top 100 largest tech companies based on estimates for their revenue across IT and component market segments. It excludes communications services.

Despite seeing estimated IT revenue fall from $235bn (£185.7bn) to $218bn year on year, Apple topped the rankings, well ahead of Samsung, which saw its haul shrink from $142bn to $1391.bn.

Third-placed Google grew its revenues from $74.9bn to $90.1bn, while Microsoft and IBM both saw their revenues shrink, from $88.1bn to $85.7bn and from $79.6bn to $77.8bn, respectively.

Gartner said its figures will help illustrate the shift in the industry from the 'Nexus of Forces' to digital business as the driver of IT purchasing.

The Nexus of Forces, Gartner's term for the convergence of social, mobility, cloud and information, has propped up many of the IT market's leading players - including Apple and Google - in recent years, the analyst said.

"The needs of IT buyers are shifting. CEOs are focused on growth and are more focused on realising business outcomes from their IT spend," said Gartner vice president John-David Lovelock. "The Nexus of Forces has been the focus of attention for many years, however, the impact of digital business is giving rise to new categories."

The so-called 'digital giants' - the likes of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent - will consequently leave their mark in 2017, Gartner said.

These seven companies will be involved in 20 per cent of all activities an individual engages in by 2020, Gartner predicted.

"Digital giants effectively become gatekeepers for any business that delivers digital content and services to consumers," said Lovelock. "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."