Gartner: Apple's iOS lost smartphone share to Android in Q3 2011

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
With a limited number of iPhone models taking on a plethora of Android-powered handsets from multiple manufacturers, Apple's iOS actually lost market share in the worldwide smartphone market last quarter despite growing sales, according to the latest sales data from Gartner.



Sales of 17.3 million iPhones to end users in the third quarter of 2011 garnered iOS a 15 percent market share, making Apple's smartphone platform the third-largest worldwide. But that percentage was down from the third quarter of 2010, when Gartner says iOS represented 16.6 percent of smartphones sold.



Apple's apparent 1.6 percent loss came at the hands of Android, which saw huge year over year growth. Google's mobile operating system was estimated to power 60.5 million units sold in the third quarter of 2011, good for 52.5 percent of all smartphones sold in the three-month period.



That was well up from the 20.5 million Android-powered smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2011, according to Gartner, when the platform accounted for a 25.3 percent market share.



In fact, Android's growth was so explosive that nearly every other smartphone maker saw market share losses, even though companies like Apple saw a significant year over year increase in actual units sold. Nokia's Symbian remained the No. 2 worldwide smartphone platform in the third quarter of 2011, but its 16.9 percent share was down significantly from the market-leading 36.3 percent it held during the same period in 2010.



Research in Motion also saw its platform fall from 15.4 percent share in 2010 to 11 percent in 2011, while Microsoft dropped from 2.7 percent a year ago to 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011. Only Samsung's Bada platform saw year over year growth, going from 1.1 percent in 2010 to 2.2 percent in 2011.







"Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 and RIM," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Apple's iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone. Continued pressure is impacting RIM's performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point so far in the U.S. market, where it dropped to 10 percent."



Of course, market share only tells part of the story, as Apple has been consistently shown to dominate profits in the mobile industry. One study from earlier this month found that with just 4 percent share of the total mobile phone market, Apple's iPhone rakes in 52 percent of total mobile profits.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 84
    "Apple's apparent 1.6 percent loss came at the hands of Android, which saw huge year over year growth."



    This would imply that Apple lost total users to Android, which I don't think is the case. I think the case is that as a partof the whole smartphone market (which increased), Android made up a far larger chunk of those new users than Apple did.



    Not surprising since most people, even those that don't read tech blogs, knew a new iPhone was "overdue" by prior year standards.
  • Reply 2 of 84
    Android might never have gotten "off the ground" in the first place had the iPhone had been multi carrier from day one.
  • Reply 3 of 84
    thomprthompr Posts: 1,521member
    Gartner: yes, yes, we already know this.



    How many ways are we going to hear echos of the same fact, i.e. consumers delayed purchase of the iPhone in calendar Q3, in anticipation of the new version in calendar Q4?



    Let's see what these organizations all say in January and February, when they are 2 months late with what we already know: this Q's surprise will be commensurate with last Q's disappointment.



    Thompson
  • Reply 4 of 84
    diddydiddy Posts: 282member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Obama View Post


    Android might never have gotten "off the ground" in the first place had the iPhone had been multi carrier from day one.



    I doubt it. Android sells a lot simply because it is an OS available on multiple phones. You might as well compare the number of bullets fired from a sniper versus a machine gun.
  • Reply 5 of 84
    thomprthompr Posts: 1,521member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Obama View Post


    Android might never have gotten "off the ground" in the first place had the iPhone had been multi carrier from day one.



    I don't think Apple is losing any sleep over a comparison between their market share and the COMBINED market share of a bunch of devices that happen to share the "Android" name but very little else. It's really quite an arbitrary sum, considering the fact that "Android" is not 100% compatible across hardware lines like Microsoft's OS was.



    The iPhone 4, 4S, and 3GS are still the most popular single models in the US, and together they capture 50% of the handset industry profits. Basically, Apple just gave a clinic on how to enter a cutthroat, highly competitive business and still maintain margins, quality, and brand power. It was unprecedented and superbly executed.



    Thompson
  • Reply 6 of 84
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by starbird View Post


    "Apple's apparent 1.6 percent loss came at the hands of Android, which saw huge year over year growth."



    This would imply that Apple lost total users to Android, which I don't think is the case. I think the case is that as a partof the whole smartphone market (which increased), Android made up a far larger chunk of those new users than Apple did.



    Not surprising since most people, even those that don't read tech blogs, knew a new iPhone was "overdue" by prior year standards.



    ^this



    Also I swear similar click-baiting articles have been posted before.



    Call me when the Q4 numbers are in (which will show a large growth iOS and a slower growth for Android)
  • Reply 7 of 84
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:

    Apple's apparent 1.6 percent loss came at the hands of Android, which saw huge year over year growth. Google's mobile operating system was estimated to power 60.5 million units sold in the third quarter of 2011, good for 52.5 percent of all smartphones sold in the three-month period.



    They keyword here is "estimated". Apple numbers are actual sale figures while Androids are estimates since Android OEM never disclose their Android handsets sales figures. I don't think anyone will dispute the fact that Android is selling more than iPhones. But I find it hard to believe that Android OEM are not making enough profit even with their 3.5x more handset sale than the leading smartphone (iPhone).
  • Reply 8 of 84
    There you go again, starting off with excuses. Even if Apple made a 'plethora' of devices, they still wouldn't match sales of android devices.
  • Reply 9 of 84
    They lost market share and yet somehow they still manage to make billions of dollars...whatever will they do?
  • Reply 10 of 84
    Considering the lack of any new iOS powered handsets in Q3, Apple did well IMO.



    Android (as an OS) has some stiff competition with Nokia finally jumping on the WP7 train and Apple's seemingly dominating 4s pushing things forward for iOS.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz View Post


    Call me when the Q4 numbers are in (which will show a large growth iOS and a slower growth for Android)



    Q3 is what it is. It shouldn't be dismissed just because it was a loss in Q3 for Apple.

    Apple decided to delay their traditional summer release and this was the result.
  • Reply 11 of 84
    Seems some people still don't understand that Apple doesn't give a crap about market share. Apple is a business; it's out to make money. As long as Apple continues to mop the floor with the rest of the industry as far as profits go, there is absolutely no reason for them to care that there are more Android handsets out there than there are iPhones.
  • Reply 12 of 84
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bstring View Post


    There you go again, starting off with excuses. Even if Apple made a 'plethora' of devices, they still wouldn't match sales of android devices.



    And Android devices will never make as much money as an iPhone so who wins there?
  • Reply 13 of 84
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thompr View Post


    I don't think Apple is losing any sleep over a comparison between their market share and the COMBINED market share of a bunch of devices that happen to share the "Android" name but very little else. It's really quite an arbitrary sum, considering the fact that "Android" is not 100% compatible across hardware lines like Microsoft's OS was.



    The iPhone 4, 4S, and 3GS are still the most popular single models in the US, and together they capture 50% of the handset industry profits. Basically, Apple just gave a clinic on how to enter a cutthroat, highly competitive business and still maintain margins, quality, and brand power. It was unprecedented and superbly executed.



    Thompson



    Yes, exactly. The overall market is growing rapidly and Apple has a very sizeable chunk of that market, with millions of happy customers and a rude portion of the profits. The fact that there are more android driven devices is not really a problem. On the contrary, I imagine it plays into Apple's hands as they sell more and more devices.



    No-one at Apple is loosing sleep over this though I am sure they are aware. Which is as it should be.
  • Reply 14 of 84
    Prediction: this thread will end in picturez. Either picturez of devicez or picturez or screenz.
  • Reply 15 of 84
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by j1h15233 View Post


    They lost market share and yet somehow they still manage to make billions of dollars...whatever will they do?



    They already did it. They lowered the ASP with the FreeGS to improve market share. It will work very, very well.
  • Reply 16 of 84
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Obama View Post


    Android might never have gotten "off the ground" in the first place had the iPhone had been multi carrier from day one.



    +1 However, Apple would never have gotten the lucrative deal it had and the cash influx it got had it not gotten the the carrier exclusivity that brought it subscription subsidies from AT&T.



    I think, in time, the Android market will settle down. People will grow tired of the lack of having to upgrade their phone to keep up with the latest OS releases and having little to no actual support from their phone OEM. Also, they'll tire of waiting 11 months from the time an OS is released by Google until the time it's actually upgraded on their phone, if it gets an upgrade at all. Developers will also come to the same conclusion Adobe has, that developing for Android takes entirely too many resources to develop for different OS releases on various hardware and applications will reduce over time. Eventually, people will see the value of the iPhone model and decide to pitch the wannabe Android clones and get the real deal. Of course, they'll always be diehards that resist out of sheer ignorance.
  • Reply 17 of 84
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    How did Apple's profits do in that time frame?
  • Reply 18 of 84
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacDevil View Post


    Seems some people still don't understand that Apple doesn't give a crap about market share. Apple is a business; it's out to make money. As long as Apple continues to mop the floor with the rest of the industry as far as profits go, there is absolutely no reason for them to care that there are more Android handsets out there than there are iPhones.





    It is easier to make more money with popular products. Additionally, a robust third-party ecosystem is vitally important to Apple.



    For these reasons and more, Apple cares very much about market share.
  • Reply 19 of 84
    No, market share does matter. Mind you, this is not a case of Android edging out Apple by slim margin. There were three times as many Android devices sold; 60 million vs 20 million. It's a different strategy and it seems to be working. It doesn't mean Apple's strategy is bad, just different.



    Every time Android adoption is shown to be accelerating, people make excuses about how it's short lived, but it keeps growing and leaving Apple further behind in market share.



    What does Apple's profit do for users? I'm not sure. Frankly, I think they could tack an extra 50% onto the price every product and earn much more.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacDevil View Post


    Seems some people still don't understand that Apple doesn't give a crap about market share. Apple is a business; it's out to make money. As long as Apple continues to mop the floor with the rest of the industry as far as profits go, there is absolutely no reason for them to care that there are more Android handsets out there than there are iPhones.



  • Reply 20 of 84
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,649member
    EDITTED: inadvertent duplicate
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