- Android holds 72.4 per cent share of world's mobile OS market, up from the 52.5 per cent share it held a year ago
- Apple's iOS slips from 15 per cent market share to 13.9 per cent as users hold off upgrading as they waited for the release of the iPhone 5
By Damien Gayle
|
Almost three out of four of the world's smartphones are now running the Android mobile operating system, a report has revealed.
Google's mobile OS now has a 72.4 per cent share of the market for mobile operating systems, a massive increase from the 52.5 per cent it held a year ago.
Samsung's wildly popular smartphones accounted for a big portion of that gain, with the South Korean tech giant shipping 55million units, the majority of which run on Android.
Models display Samsung Electronics' newest smartphone Galaxy S III in Seoul, South Korea: New research shows the Android OS, which the SIII uses, now holds nearly three-quarters of the market
Apple, meanwhile, whose devices run on its own proprietary iOS software, sold around 23.5million phones over the same period, the third quarter of 2012.
That was up from 17.3million a year ago, but the rise was not enough to stop the market share of the Silicon Valley company's operating system slipping from 15 per cent to 13.9 per cent.
IT market research firm Gartner said the fall in Apple's market share could have been a result of users around the world waiting for the release of the iPhone 5 in their countries.
Slipping: Apple's iOS lost market share, possible because users around the world were awaiting the release of the iPhone 5 (pictured) in their markets
'With the launch of iPhone 5, Gartner analysts expect iOS share will grow strongly in the fourth quarter of 2012 because users held on to their replacements in many markets ahead of the iPhone 5 wider roll out,' it added.
The news comes a week after it emerged that Samsung's flagship Galaxy S3 had become the world's best-selling smartphone for the past quarter, pushing aside Apple which had dominated the chart for more than two years.
Research firm Strategy Analytics said Samsung sold 18million S3 models in the third quarter, compared with iPhone 4S sales of 16.2million.
Gartner's report also showed Research In Motion's Blackberry brand continued it's precipitous decline, it's share of the world's smartphone OS market more than halving to 5.3 per cent, compared to 11 per cent at the same time last year.
However, it nevertheless climbed to become the third most popular mobile OS after the number of Symbian users collapsed, that software falling from nearly 17 per cent of the market to 2.6 per cent.
Microsoft's Windows Phone OS also lost some share of the market, with many users apparently holding off buying phones running Windows Phone 7 in anticipation of the release of Windows Phone 8.
WORLDWIDE DEVICE SALES BY OPERATING SYSTEM / 1000s of units
| Operating system | 3Q 2012 units | 3Q 2012 market share / % | 3Q 2011 units | 3Q 2011 market share / % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 122,480.0 | 72.4 | 60,490.4 | 52.5 |
| iOS | 23,550.3 | 13.9 | 17,295.3 | 15.0 |
| Research in Motion | 8,946.8 | 5.3 | 12,701.1 | 11.0 |
| Bada | 5,054.7 | 3.0 | 2,478.5 | 2.2 |
| Symbian | 4,404.9 | 2.6 | 19,500.1 | 16.9 |
| Microsoft | 4,058.2 | 2.4 | 1,701.9 | 1.5 |
| Others | 683.7 | 0.4 | 1,018.1 | 0.9 |
| Total | 169,178.6 | 100.0 | 115,185.4 | 100.0 |
Source: Gartner, November 2012
Total smartphone sales grew nearly 47 per cent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, the research showed, accounting now for nearly 40 per cent of mobile phone sales.
'After two consecutive quarter of decline in mobile phone sales, demand has improved in both mature and emerging markets as sales increased sequentially,' said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
'In China, sales of mobile phones grew driven by sales of smartphones, while demand of feature phones remained weak. In mature markets, we finally saw replacement sales pick up with the launch of new devices in the quarter.'
The smartphone marketed was dominated by Apple and Samsung. 'Both vendors together controlled 46.5 percent of smartphone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting over a distant third spot,' Mr Gupta said.
But Gartner predicted a weaker than usual boost to sales over Christmas, with consumers either cautious with their money of finding other gadgets like tablet computers more attractive gifts.
Total mobile phone sales continued to decline for the second quarter, falling just over 3 per cent year-on-year as non-smartphone sales plummeted 21 per cent.
No comments:
Post a Comment