4 years after its debut Google’s Android platform has achieved 75% of the global smartphone market in terms of quantity.
In the period from July to September 2012 the world market was supplied with 136 million of Android-based smartphones, which accounted for 75% of total shipments in the 181.1 million units, according to IDC.
Android smartphone shipments for the III quarter of 2012 increased by 91.5% compared to the same period last year.
The second place is won by a considerable margin platform, by Apple’s iOS, which is the basis of iPhone. During this period, the global market was supplied with 26.9 million of “apple” smartphones, which has led to the platform share in the amount of 14.9%. It is worth noting that iPhone is made only by one company – Apple, while Android smartphones by lots of vendors.
The third place is occupied by BlackBerry OS with a 4.3%market share. BlackBerry smartphone shipments declined by 34.7%, while the share of the platform more than halved in comparison with the same period in 2011. BlackBerry smartphones are also produced by only one company, RIM. In early 2013 it plans to release the first smartphone based on the new generation of BlackBerry 10.
The fourth place went to the dying Symbian platform with a market share of 2.3%. For comparison, last year the platform owned 14.6% of all deliveries.
The top five was closed Microsoft with its Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile. During the year the total share of the platforms increased from 1.2 to 2% in III quarter. It is noteworthy that the supply of Windows Phone smartphones showed the highest growth among all smartphone OSs: in the III quarter, they rose by 140% to 3.6 million units.
“Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008,”noted Ramon Llamas, research manager, Mobile Phones at IDC. “In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market.”
“The share decline of smartphone operating systems not named iOS since Android’s introduction isn’t a coincidence,” added Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “The smartphone operating system isn’t an isolated product, it’s a crucial part of a larger technology ecosystem. Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio. Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins to the mobile OS, do not. This factor and others have led to loss of share for competitors with few exceptions.”
Earlier, analysts from IDC have predicted that in 2012 the world market will be supplied with 659.8 million smartphones, it is up 33.5% in comparison with the previous year data.
Author’s Info
This post is written by Kate, a tech writer from Intellectsoft, a professional Android development company. To find out more, follow the team of Twitter @Intellectsoft.
