Android now runs on four-out-of-five smartphones sold worldwide, while Apple’s iOS runs on just one-in-six, according to new worldwide smartphone platform marketshare figures from IDC.
The figures covering worldwide shipments during the second quarter of 2013, show the worldwide market for smartphones grew 51.3% year-on-year to 236.4 million units, up from 156.2 million for the same quarter a year ago.
The overwhelming majority of those smartphones ran Google Android, with the platform now accounting for 187.4 million units or 79.3% of all smartphones shipped worldwide, up 73.5% from 108 million units with 69.1% marketshare a year ago.
Meanwhile, despite its unit shipments growing by 20% from 26 million to 31.2 million, Apple’s iOS marketshare shrank from 16.6% to 13.2%.
“Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple’s market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition. But with a new iPhone and revamped iOS coming out later this year, Apple is well-positioned to re-capture market share,” IDC mobile phone team research manager Ramon Llamas says.
Windows Phone, across all versions, saw its unit shipments grow by 77.6% from 4.9 million units (with 3.1% marketshare) to 8.7 million (with 3.7% of the market).
Fourth-placed BlackBerry saw its unit shipments drop 11.7% for the quarter to 6.8 million with 2.9% marketshare, down from 7.7 million with 4.9% marketshare despite the release of the company’s BlackBerry 10 series of smartphones.
The figures also show that Samsung’s stranglehold over the Android market might be weakening slightly, with its share of the Android market slipping from 44.4% to 39.1% year-on-year as its quarterly volumes increased from 48 million to 73.3 million.
Fellow Korean tech giant LG became the world’s second largest vendor, with shipments up 108.6% 12.1 million with 6.5% of the Android market, while third-placed Lenovo increased its shipments 132.7% over the past year to 11.4 million units and 6.1% of the Android market.