$3.5 trillion will be spent on IT globally this year
Global IT spend is projected to reach $3.5 trillion in 2017, according to Gartner. This includes all enterprise hardware, software services, and telecommunication services.
Those trillions of dollars are 1.4% more than what the research group projected spending would look like in last quarter's report, and a 2.4% increase over actual spending in 2016.
The reason? Gartner says the U.S. dollar has declined against many foreign currencies. It just costs more to do the same amount of business.
Not all of this has to do with currency though. Enterprise software in particular is expected to grow by 7.6% globally this year, compared to 5.3% growth last year. Gartner attributes this to software's increasing role in digital businesses. Companies increasingly rely on digital applications to make money.
Device spending is expected to grow 3.8% in 2017, making it a $654 billion market - a bump from last quarter's projection of a 1.7% increase. Devices include PCs, tablets, mobile phones and "ultramobiles," which are basically just devices somewhere between a phone and a tablet in size.
Mobile phone spending is driven primarily by an increase in phone prices. Tablet spending, though, is in decline because people don't replace them as often.