According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the Android mobile operating system ran 84% of smartphones shipped globally in the third quarter, down slightly from 85% in the second quarter.Android continued to be a dominant player in global smartphone operating system market share, increasing its lead over iOS by three percentage points compared to the year-ago quarter. Apple’s mobile operating system held 12.3% market share during the third quarter. According to Strategy Analytics, Microsoft saw Windows Phone sales decline to eight million units in the quarter from 8.9 million a year ago. That dropped its market share to 2.7% from 3.8%. BlackBerry’s woes are deepening, according to the survey, which found unit sales tumbling 66% to 1.9 million, and market share falling to 0.6%.
Overall, global smartphone shipments grew 27 percent annually to 320.4 million units in the third quarter versus 252.9 million units in the year-ago quarter. The growth in the smartphone market continues to come mainly from emerging markets such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In particular, smartphone makers like Google and Xiaomi have been aggressively pushing entry-level devices in countries like China and India, which boast the first- and second-largest populations in the world.
Earlier another global market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a report that Xiaomi jumped into the top 5 manufacturers list for the first time thanks to its focus on China and adjacent markets, which resulted in triple digit year-over-year growth.
Strategy Analytics found that Samsung shipped 74.5 million smartphones worldwide to capture a 25 percent share of the market, a marked decline from its 33 percent market share a year earlier. Apple shipped 35.2 million smartphones and saw its market share fall slightly from 13.4 percent to 11.9 percent.
According to Strategy Analytics, the Android’s leadership of the global smartphone market looks unbeatable at the moment. Its low-cost services and user-friendly software remain attractive to hardware makers, operators and consumers worldwide. The Android platform is getting overcrowded with hundreds of hardware brands; Android smartphone prices are falling worldwide, and few Android device vendors make profits.
