Apple's iOS, Google's Android grow to 96.4% of smartphone market as competitors shrink, IDC says

Posted:
in iPhone edited August 2014
The two-horse race for smartphone operating system share continues to obliterate competitors, as Apple's iOS and Google's Android were the only two platforms to see growth in the second quarter of 2014, the latest data from IDC claims.




Apple's iPhone shipments grew 12.7 percent to 35.2 million total units in the June quarter. According to IDC, that growth was slower than the wide range of devices from various manufacturers running Android, which increased by 33.3 percent to an estimated 255.3 million units.

As a result, though Apple saw growth for the period, its overall market share slipped from 13 percent of shipments in the same period in 2013 to 11.7 percent in the June 2014 quarter. Android, meanwhile, represented 84.7 percent of devices shipped in the quarter, according to IDC, up from 79.6 percent a year ago.

IDC also broke down market share by price tier, where Apple unsurprisingly dominates in the high-end range of handsets over $400. Almost all of the iPhones Apple shipped were priced over $400, while nearly 60 percent of Android handsets shipped were priced under $200.

It should be noted that IDC's methodologies have been called into question in recent months, as the firm's predictions often differ significantly from reported numbers.




With iOS and Android growing their shipments, competitors took heavy losses. Microsoft's Windows Phone, which has been struggling to gain a foothold in the market, fell an estimated 9.4 percent to just 7.4 million total units shipped worldwide. Among phones shipped, an even greater percentage were priced under $200 than with Android.

Microsoft's estimated market share was pegged at 2.5 percent for the quarter, compared to 3.4 percent of shipments in the same period a year ago.

The losses were even worse for BlackBerry, where shipments are estimated to have dropped 78 percent year over year to 1.5 million units. IDC believes BlackBerry had a 0.5 percent share of shipments in the June quarter, off from 2.8 percent in the same period in 2013.

Other mobile operating systems also saw losses, down 32.2 percent to 1.9 million collective units shipped.

But the overall market was up, thanks to the growth seen by Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Total shipments increased by 25.3 percent year over year, reaching 301.3 million units in the June quarter. In comparison, 240.5 million smartphones were shipped in the same period of 2013.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 77
    Does anyone really believe IDC number at all?
  • Reply 2 of 77
    IDC say it, so it must be true...
  • Reply 3 of 77
    I honestly cant take ANYTHING IDC says seriously. This report means nothing.
  • Reply 4 of 77
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    It is far past time for analysts to differentiate the Google Play platform from the bastardized versions of Android AOSP running on most phones in Asia and even on Amazon's devices.
    "Android" alone has zero relevance to understanding the market for apps, services and even hardware.
  • Reply 5 of 77
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JONOROM View Post



    It is far past time for analysts to differentiate the Google Play platform from the bastardized versions of Android AOSP running on most phones in Asia and even on Amazon's devices.

    "Android" alone has zero relevance to understanding the market for apps, services and even hardware.

     

    Well in this context they're speaking of the operating system, not platform, so it is valid. However, I would never trust their statistics.

  • Reply 6 of 77
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Interdyne View Post



    Does anyone really believe IDC number at all?

     

    Aren't they occasionally cited by Apple brass?

  • Reply 7 of 77
    jonoromjonorom Posts: 293member
    My point is that the "Android operating system", undifferentiated by version, mods, ability to be updated etc. is a completely irrelevant number to anything in the known universe.
  • Reply 8 of 77
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JONOROM View Post



    My point is that the "Android operating system", undifferentiated by version, mods, ability to be updated etc. is a completely irrelevant number to anything in the known universe.

    A breakdown by Google Play Services version would probably be the most helpful. A version graph wouldn't show which ones have an update on the way, and it wouldn't do a good job of distinguishing Android-without-Google devices like Amazon's.

  • Reply 9 of 77
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    jonorom wrote: »
    My point is that the "Android operating system", undifferentiated by version, mods, ability to be updated etc. is a completely irrelevant number to anything in the known universe.

    The point isn't what it is, but what it's not, and regardless of what flavor of Android it is, it is not Windows, BB, etc,.....
  • Reply 10 of 77
    joshajosha Posts: 901member

    I'm wondering what new iPhone model was priced ar $200 to $400 ?

    Also those cheapie android less that $200  phones are certainly primitive.

     

    What would be interesting would be a comparison of the iPhone iOS7 competitive  phones,

      which would improve the BB and Win figures significantly.

    Lumping the bottom end old model android cheapie phones in with iOS7 level phones makes this survey useless !

  • Reply 11 of 77
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    A bit surprised that the Windows Mobile graph shows more of a tendency toward cheaper devices than Android.  I haven't seen many Windows Phone devices in the wild but they've all been high end Lumias.

  • Reply 12 of 77
    gilly33gilly33 Posts: 433member
    Who gives a rat's behind about this IDC report.
  • Reply 13 of 77
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    pscooter63 wrote: »
    Aren't they occasionally cited by Apple brass?

    Yes because there isn't any other data. No one but Apple reports numbers.

    Still, I wouldn't trust IDC for anything.
  • Reply 14 of 77
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Interdyne View Post



    Does anyone really believe IDC number at all?

    They aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Metaphorically speaking.

  • Reply 15 of 77
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    How would you feel if your product was number on the market place and you did not make any money, I am not say you profits were less than your costs, but you actually may no money, no income so it is a complete lost. Google gave away the product so they did not have any return on money invested.

     

    They also fail to materialize any real mobile ad revenue, they still make the majority of their money on IOS. All Google did was to help other make money. It is just going to get worse for them.

     

    The reason IDC now breaks down the phones into market segment is to show that Apple is failing to attract customer on the low end. I best they will say the largest share of customers in the world are on the low end and Apple is missing out. It design to tell the story they want which is Apple is failing.

  • Reply 16 of 77
    crowley wrote: »
    A bit surprised that the Windows Mobile graph shows more of a tendency toward cheaper devices than Android.  I haven't seen many Windows Phone devices in the wild but they've all been high end Lumias.

    I think the best-selling Windows Phone in the world is the Lumia 520.

    It's about $100 unlocked.

    And from what I hear.... it's a pretty nice phone for the price... MUCH better than the usual $100 Android phone.

    There's a cheap Motorola Android phone that's pretty good... but it doesn't sell nearly the same volume as other Android phones.

    The general consensus is... if you've only got $100 to spend... the Lumia 520 is the phone to get.
  • Reply 17 of 77
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post

     

    A bit surprised that the Windows Mobile graph shows more of a tendency toward cheaper devices than Android.  I haven't seen many Windows Phone devices in the wild but they've all been high end Lumias.


     

    Two of my colleagues (both make well above 6 figure for the reference) bought  Lumia 520 for about $100 unlocked.

    Maybe camera is shitty but UI is smooth as silk from what I've seen.

     

    So I am with my $700 iPhone starting wondering how Apple can even compete with these phones...

  • Reply 18 of 77
    maestro64 wrote: »
    The reason IDC now breaks down the phones into market segment is to show that Apple is failing to attract customer on the low end. I best they will say the largest share of customers in the world are on the low end and Apple is missing out. It design to tell the story they want which is Apple is failing.

    Whatever the reason is... I'm glad they did.

    The automobile market is broken down into different segments... why not smartphones?

    It's silly to compare sales of luxury sedans to sales of sub-compact hatchbacks. And that's why they don't do it.
  • Reply 19 of 77
    To take a quote from jobs biography, true smartphone manufacturers sell they don't just ship! What would be interesting would be to look at sales to consumers and the amount of phones stuck in the shipping chain. Maybe a ratio would be better I.e. Sales/shipped!
  • Reply 20 of 77
    But Android and iOS will switch #1 and #2 positions with each other if we count units actually sold and shipped, not just stocked. (:-)
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