An assortment of figures from Strategy Analytics, IDC and ABI Research last week showed how Samsung had dominated the smartphone market in the previous quarter. Now IDC (International Data Corporation) has published new research that shows even greater dominance for the Android operating system.
It’s calculated that Android smartphone shipments accounted for 136 million - 75% - of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in Q3 2012. That’s a 91.5% year-on-year increase in shipments; almost double the the overall smartphone market growth rate of 46.4%.
Ramon Llamas, research manager for mobile phones at IDC, said “Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008. 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.”
Apple’s iOS took second place to Android with a share of almost 15%, while third place BlackBerry’s share fell to 4.3%
Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst at IDC, said “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.”
| Mobile OS |
Q3 2012 shipments (millions) |
Q3 2012 market share |
Q3 2011 shipments (millions) |
Q3 2012 market share |
Year-on-year change (shipments) |
|
Android
|
136.0
|
75.0%
|
71.0
|
57.5%
|
91.5%
|
|
iOS
|
26.9
|
14.9%
|
17.1
|
13.8%
|
57.3%
|
|
BlackBerry
|
7.7
|
4.3%
|
11.8
|
9.5%
|
-34.7%
|
|
Symbian
|
4.1
|
2.3%
|
18.1
|
14.6%
|
-77.3%
|
|
Windows Phone / Mobile
|
3.6
|
2.0%
|
1.5
|
1.2%
|
140.0%
|
|
Linux
|
2.8
|
1.5%
|
4.1
|
3.3%
|
-31.7%
|
|
Others
|
0.0
|
0.0%
|
0.1
|
0.1%
|
-100%
|
|
Total
|
181.1
|
|
123.7
|
|
46.4%
|