Nearly Three In Every Four Smartphones Sold Are Running Android [Report]
Nearly three in every four smartphones sold during the first quarter of 2013 were running Android, according to the latest statistics from the analysts at Gartner. Google’s operating system grabbed a whopping 74% of the market share during the three-month period, while Apple’s iOS came in second with 18.2%.
Companies choosing to build Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian powered devices might want to look away now.
Having said that, BlackBerry will take comfort in the fact that it came third, narrowly beating Windows Phone’s 2.9% share with a 3% share. Samsung’s Bada operating system came fifth with 0.7%, while the dying Symbian platform came sixth with 0.3%.
Android did remarkably well during the first quarter, especially when you consider that its latest flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One weren’t on sale during this period, with over 156,000 devices sold altogether.
Not even Apple’s iOS — which powers the hugely popular iPhone and iPad — came close to that, with just over 38,000 iOS devices sold. What’s more, Android share grew from 56.9% to 74.4% in comparison with the same quarter last year, while iOS’s share fell from 22.5% to 18.2%.
This may emphasize the absence of a cheaper iPhone to compete with the plethora of budget Android devices that are available today. But rumor has it Apple is working on that.
Gartner’s figures also showed that smartphones in general are becoming increasingly popular. Out of the 426 million cellphones sold during Q1 2013, 210 million were classified as smartphones, up from 147 million a year ago.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung is seeing most of those sales, with 65 million units moved. Apple saw just 38 million units sold.
