Android and iOS dominated the global smartphone operating systems (OS) market in the second quarter of 2104, according to data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) in its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
The data also show that the worldwide smartphone market reached a new milestone in the second quarter of 2014 moving past the 300 million unit mark for the first time in its history. Vendors shipped a total of 301.3 million smartphones worldwide in 2Q14, an increase of 25.3% from the 240.5 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2013.
According to the statistics, Android and iOS saw their combined market share rose to 96.4% for the quarter. Android led the market, with its vendor partners shipping a total of 255.3 million Android-based smartphones in 2Q14, up 33.3% year over year.
“With many of its OEM partners focusing on the sub-$200 segments, Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets,” says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “During the second quarter, 58.6% of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide cost less than $200 off contract, making them very attractive compared to other devices. With the recent introduction of Android One, in which Google offers reference designs below $100 to Android OEMs, the proportion of sub-$200 volumes will climb even higher.”
Meanwhile, iOS saw its market share decline despite posting 12.7% year-over-year shipment growth. While Android and iOS both realized gains from a year ago, the rest of the market recorded losses.
Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker says “it’s been an incredible upward slog for other OS players – Windows Phone has been around since 2010 but has yet to break the 5% share mark, while the backing of the world’s largest smartphone player, Samsung, has not boosted Tizen into the spotlight.”
About 7.4 million units of Windows Phone operating system devices were shipped in the second quarter of the year, representing 2.5% market share as against 8.2 million units, which accounted for 3.4 million units during the same period in 2013. Also, 1.5 million units of Blackberry devices were shipped, representing 0.5% of the market as against 6.7 million units, which accounted for 2.8% of the market in 2013.
Home