Android grabs 75% market share

The Android smartphone operating system was found on three out of every four smartphones shipped during the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

The study found that total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136 million units, accounting for 75% of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12. The 91.5% year-on-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4%.

"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," says Ramon Llamas, research manager, mobile phones, at IDC. "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."

Android, having topped the 100 million unit mark last quarter, reached a new record level in a single quarter, says the IDC study. By comparison, Android's total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in 2007, the year that Android was officially announced. Samsung once again led all vendors in this space, but saw its market share decline as numerous smaller vendors increased their production.

iOS was a distant second place to Android, but was the only other mobile operating system to amass double-digit market share for the quarter. The late quarter launch of the iPhone 5 and lower prices on older models prevented total shipment volumes from slipping to 3Q11 levels. But without a "splashy" new OS-driven feature, like Siri in 2011 and FaceTime in 2010, the iPhone 5 relied on its larger, but not wider, screen and LTE connectivity to drive growth, says the IDC.

BlackBerry's market share continued to shrink, falling to just over 4% by the end of the quarter. With the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet to come in 2013, BlackBerry will continue to rely on its aging BlackBerry 7 platform, and equally aging device line-up. "Still, demand for BlackBerry and its wildly popular BBM service is strong within multiple key markets worldwide, and the number of subscribers continues to increase," according to the research house.

The study also found that Symbian posted the largest year-on-year decline of the leading operating systems. Nokia remains the largest vendor still supporting Symbian, along with Japanese vendors Fujitsu, Sharp, and Sony. Each of these vendors is in the midst of transitioning to other operating systems and IDC believes they will cease shipping Symbian-powered smartphones in 2013.

Windows Phone marked its second anniversary with a total of just 3.6 million units shipped worldwide, fewer than the total number of Symbian units shipped, says the IDC. Even with the backing of multiple smartphone market leaders, Windows Phone has yet to make a significant dent into Android's and iOS's collective market share. That could change in 4Q12, when multiple Windows Phone 8 smartphones will reach the market.

Linux volume declined for the third straight quarter, as did its year-on-year growth, the IDC found. "Samsung accounted for the majority of shipments once again, but like most other vendors competing with Linux-powered smartphones, most of its attention went towards Android instead. Still, that has not deterred other vendors from experimenting, or at least considering the open source operating system, as multiple reports of Firefox, Sailfish, and Tizen plan to release new Linux-based experiences in the future," says the IDC.

Top six smartphone mobile operating systems, shipments, and market share, Q3 2012 (preliminary) (units in millions