When it comes to computers, it’s not the laptop.  It’s definitely not the desktop.  And, surprisingly, it isn’t the tablet/pad form factor, either.  The future of the computer is the phone, ladies and gentlemen.  According to Canalys, in 2011 manufacturers shipped more smartphones than all computer formats put together.  That number is only going to continue to tilt more in the smartphone’s favor.

In 2011, a staggering 487.7 million smartphones were shipped worldwide.  Compare that number to 414.6 million computers total.  Even the vaunted tablet computer doesn’t seem to be making a big dent in the smartphone market; the majority of computers sold were notebooks, followed by desktops, then the tablets, and finally netbooks.

The difference in price probably has a lot to do with it.  After all, swapping out a cell phone every two years isn’t a huge deal; even the iPhone can be discounted by carriers versus playing retail price for a new computer.  Also, computers are A) likely to last longer and stay useful longer than phones and B) are less likely to be dropped into toilets or lost in parking lots.  Still, it’s weird to see that number in print once you consider that includes corporate buyers buying thousands of computers at a time.

Will there ever be a time in which no one has a computer and everyone does everything on a smartphone?  Perhaps, but I don’t think we’re there yet.  One day they’ll manage to successfully marry a notebook’s power with a phone’s portability (without killing battery in the process).