Apple's iOS grows to 23% of worldwide smartphone shipments

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple continues to gain share in the worldwide smartphone market, as the latest data shows the iOS mobile operating system accounted for nearly a quarter of all smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012.

The IDC data issued on Thursday shows once again that the smartphone operating system competition has become a two-horse race between Apple's iOS, which is limited to three available iPhone models, and Google Android, which is found on a number of devices from multiple handset makers on virtually all carriers. Apple saw its market share increase from 18.3 percent of smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2011, to 23 percent in the first three months of 2012.

Android saw even greater gains year over year, rocketing from 36.1 percent of smartphones shipped at the start of 2011 to 59 percent of shipments in the first quarter of 2012. Total estimated unit shipments for Android smartphones were 89.9 million for the quarter, compared with 35.1 million iPhones for Apple.

While iOS and Android saw gains to start 2012, all other mobile platforms lost share over the last year. The hardest hit was Nokia's Symbian platform, which dropped from 26 percent of smartphones in the first quarter of 2011 to just 6.8 percent of shipments last quarter.

Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS also tumbled from 13.6 percent a year ago to 6.4 percent to start 2012. And Microsoft's Windows Phone platform slid from 2.6 percent in 2011 to just 2.2 percent of shipments in the first quarter of 2012.

IDC


"The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. "Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless has quickly earned a massive following."

Total smartphone shipments for the quarter were 152.3 million units, which was up 49.9 percent from the 101.6 million shipped a year ago. In terms of units shipped, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform actually grew year over year to 3.3 million, even though its share of the overall market was smaller.

"In order for operating system challengers to gain share, their creators and hardware partners need to secure developer loyalty," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. "This is true because developer intentions or enthusiasm for a particular operating system is typically a leading indicator of hardware sales success."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member


    Wha...?


     


    That Qtr 1 2011 Share column is confusing as heck! 


     


    EDIT: Another AI error. The 4th column should actually be labeled Year Over Year Change, not Qtr 1 share. If you look at the source report there were 5 columns. AI left one out, and mislabeled one.

  • Reply 2 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    iOS increases to 23% smartphone [B]OS[/B] installations.

    This distinction is important. I don't expect non-tech sites to be so [I]technical[/i] but I do expect tech sites to be.
  • Reply 3 of 46
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member


    Uh... other is .3%, not 30%.

     

  • Reply 4 of 46
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member


    Additional comments from the IDC press release:


     


    "Samsung was the largest contributor to Android's success, accounting for 45.4% of all Android-based smartphone shipments. But beyond Samsung was a mix of companies retrenching themselves or slowly growing their volumes."


    (Which would give Samsung at least around 26% marketshare even if all they sold were Android-based smartphones, assuming I did the math sorta, kinda right.... Right?)


     


    "Linux maintained its small presence in the worldwide smartphone market, thanks in large part to Samsung's continued emphasis on bada. By the end of the quarter, Samsung accounted for 81.6% of all Linux-powered smartphones, a 3.6% share gain versus the prior-year period. (That one's for you Soli as I noted you've been curious about how much of Sammy's sales were accounted for by those OS's)


    Other vendors, meanwhile, have been experimenting with Android to drive volume. Still, Linux's fortunes are closely tied to Samsung's strategy, which already encompasses Android, Windows Phone, and later this year, Tizen."


     


    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/android-and-ios-powered-smartphones-expand-their-share-of-the-market-in-the-first-quarter-according-to-idc-2012-05-24

  • Reply 5 of 46
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


    Uh... other is .3%, not 30%.

     



    I was wondering why for a second there the sum of the 2012 share column was over 100%. Makes sense.

  • Reply 6 of 46
    c4rlobc4rlob Posts: 277member


    I wonder what it says of Apple's strategy that the increase of their share came from an almost identical increase of shipments while Android's increase in share required a far steeper increase of shipment?

  • Reply 7 of 46
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    c4rlob wrote: »
    I wonder what it says of Apple's strategy that the increase of their share came from an almost identical increase of shipments while Android's increase in share required a far steeper increase of shipment?

    I don't know. Maybe if you translate your question into English?



    Keep in mind when evaluating this chart that 'smart phone' is an ambiguous term. IDC (which is responsible for this chart) is one of the companies which counts even bare bones 'smart phones' which are really not much more than feature phones. Apple's share of 'true' smart phones is undoubtedly higher.
  • Reply 8 of 46
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member


    Those statistics show Android heavily leading in market share. I would be more interested in seeing market share based around actual sales. Video game companies too often tout they shipped millions of copies (non-WoW MMOs are bad about this) but then when it comes down to which of those actually sold, it tends to be poor.

  • Reply 9 of 46
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Negafox View Post


    Those statistics show Android heavily leading in market share. I would be more interested in seeing market share based around actual sales. Video game companies too often tout they shipped millions of copies (non-WoW MMOs are bad about this) but then when it comes down to which of those actually sold, it tends to be poor.



    I would imagine they're nearly all sales. In general they were almost certainly paid for (or at least committed to) which is one of the requirements needed to recognize revenue according to GAAP, the SEC and international reporting standards.


     


    Instead I imagine you're curious how many of those were then purchased by a consumer? That would require a whole lot of current data from a whole lot of manufacturers, some of which probably don't know unless their resellers are reporting back with their own sales figures on a timely and regular basis.

  • Reply 10 of 46

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Apple continues to gain share in the worldwide smartphone market, as the latest data shows the iOS mobile operating system accounted for nearly a quarter of all smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012.

     


     


     


    That means that there is room in the market for Apple to more than quadruple its iPhone sales.  I don't see that Android manufacturers have nearly the upside potential.

  • Reply 11 of 46
    gwlaw99gwlaw99 Posts: 134member


    Apple is still leading in profits which what companies care about.  If it wants to gain significantly more market share (and that may not be a desirable thing if it cuts into profits), it needs to offer different size phones (ie a 4" iPhone 5 and a 3.5" 4s which very well may happen) and offer an inexpensive 3GS in markets where phones are not subsidized.

  • Reply 12 of 46
    luxom3luxom3 Posts: 96member


    Although I love stats as much as the next guy - Q2 is going to be the REAL tale about mobile marketshare. Although I am surrounded by Apple products (heck I outfitted my entire design office with G5 Towers once upon a time)... I got the Windows Phone because I wasn't seeing much innovation in the iOS (my opinion mind you).


     


    With the release of the Windows Phones beginning of Q2, a three-horse race is what a lot of consumers and marketers are looking for. Pity we have to wait another couple of months to see those stats.



     


     




     


     

  • Reply 13 of 46
    sleepy3sleepy3 Posts: 244member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Hyram Gestan View Post


     


     


    That means that there is room in the market for Apple to more than quadruple its iPhone sales.  I don't see that Android manufacturers have nearly the upside potential.



    That means that there is room in the market for Windows Phone to increase nearly more than 50 fold its WP sales.  I don't see that Apple has nearly the upside potential. Seeing as they only have 2.6% of the market


     


    Twisted logic you used there, but I like it.

  • Reply 14 of 46
    orlandoorlando Posts: 601member


    Poor RIM. Windows Phone is at least growing although not as fast as the overall market. But Blackberry not only lost marketshare but they ship roughly a third fewer phones. I wonder how long they can last?

  • Reply 15 of 46


    Windows Phone is still a 'rounding error' as Balmer would say.

  • Reply 16 of 46
    sleepy3sleepy3 Posts: 244member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    Poor RIM. Windows Phone is at least growing although not as fast as the overall market. But Blackberry not only lost marketshare but they ship roughly a third fewer phones. I wonder how long they can last?



    was just about to say this.


     


    If BB10 fails, they are screwed.


     


    Its just so hard to stand out now. Everyone has a phone with a screen on the front and things that move around on the screen. To the average consumer its not really about OS anymore. Its about


     


    A) Price


    B) Brand Recognition


     


    Price, well android wins that one. Sure, you can get a free 3gs, but the fact that its the 'really old one' people would rather get a 'new' cheap android, even though the cheap android phones have sucky screens, processors, gpu's and experiences over all.


     


    The brand recognition market right now is all about who can market their device better IMO. And in this regard Apple is light years ahead.

  • Reply 17 of 46
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Pipped :)
  • Reply 18 of 46
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sleepy3 View Post


    Sure, you can get a free 3gs, but the fact that its the 'really old one' people would rather get a 'new' cheap android…





    More people would rather get a 3GS than the most expensive, fastest, newest Android.

  • Reply 19 of 46
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




    More people would rather get a 3GS than the most expensive, fastest, newest Android.



    I wouldn't want to wish the 3GS with iOS 5 on anyone. That phone has long since shone its age with poor UI performance compared to modern smart phones. I gave mine to my 3-year-old who alternates between watching cartoons on YouTube and beating the living hell out of it.

  • Reply 20 of 46
    sleepy3sleepy3 Posts: 244member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




    More people would rather get a 3GS than the most expensive, fastest, newest Android.



     


    Actually the 3gs is free whereas the newest androids are up to 200 dollars so i don't see how you......oh, you were making joke.


     


    ha ha. good one. so funny you. you should get a prize. funniest man ever. you funny funny man. yes you very funny, very very funny. very very funny man, you so funny. look up funny in the dictionary and i'll see your face, thats how funny you are. oh my, i like your humor.  so funny. from now on i call you mr funny haha. well done mr funny. good job. you make me laugh out loud. cause you so funny.

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