The dramatic growth in smartphones running the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) platform or other ‘forked’ versions of Android is expected to slow next year, according to a report from ABI Research. Devices that run forked or AOSP versions of Android don’t have direct access to the Google Play app store, unlike those produced by the Open Handset Alliance.
This slowdown is forecast to happen as Chinese smartphone growth falls to 13% and Google’s ‘Android One’ initiative encourages Indian manufacturers to use ‘certified’ versions of Android.
Last year, AOSP growth was 211% year-on-year - but next year it’s expected to be just 18%.
Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director for Mobile Devices at ABI Research, said “AOSP’s growth has been driven by the growth of Chinese and Indian handset manufacturers, mainly in their domestic markets, but China’s growth is slowing and Android One is seeing some significant wins among Indian manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn, Spice, Intex, and Lava, as well as some of the more International Chinese brands like Lenovo and Alcatel. Google has worked with top chipset vendors Qualcomm and MediaTek to create a low cost reference design, namely Android One, as it seeks to control fragmentation and ensure its services are available and up to date so Google can monetize the Android installed base efficiently, especially in the high growth low price tiers.”