Telecom Lead Asia: Google Android has captured 75 percent market share in smartphone mobile operating systems shipments in Q3 2012.
IDC said Android smartphone shipments reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75 percent of 181.1 million smartphones shipped in Q3 2012.
The 91.5 percent year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.
“Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Mobile Phones at IDC. ”
With 15 percent, iOS was a distant second place to Android. The late quarter launch of the iPhone 5 and lower prices on older models prevented total shipment volumes from slipping to 3Q11 levels.
BlackBerry’s market share decreased to over 4 percent by the end of the quarter. With the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet to come in 2013, BlackBerry will continue to rely on its aging BlackBerry 7 platform, and equally aging device line-up.
Demand for BlackBerry and its BBM service is strong within multiple key markets worldwide, and the number of subscribers continues to increase.
Symbian posted the largest year-on-year decline. Nokia remains the largest vendor still supporting Symbian, along with Japanese vendors Fujitsu, Sharp, and Sony. These vendors are in the midst of transitioning to other operating systems. IDC said they will cease shipping Symbian-powered smartphones in 2013.
Windows Phone shipments were 3.6 million units. Even with the backing of multiple smartphone market leaders, Windows Phone has yet to make a significant dent into Android’s and iOS’s collective market share. In Q4 2012, Windows Phone 8 will have more market share.
| Top Six Smartphone Mobile Operating Systems, Shipments, and Market Share, Q3 2012 (Preliminary) | |||||||||||||||
| (Units in Millions) | |||||||||||||||
| Operating System | 3Q12 Shipment Volumes |
3Q12 Market Share |
3Q11 Shipment Volumes |
3Q11 Market Share |
Year-Over- Year Change |
||||||||||
| Android | 136.0 | 75.0 percent | 71.0 | 57.5 percent | 91.5 percent | ||||||||||
| iOS | 26.9 | 14.9 percent | 17.1 | 13.8 percent | 57.3 percent | ||||||||||
| BlackBerry | 7.7 | 4.3 percent | 11.8 | 9.5 percent | -34.7 percent | ||||||||||
| Symbian | 4.1 | 2.3 percent | 18.1 | 14.6 percent | -77.3 percent | ||||||||||
| Windows Phone 7/ Windows Mobile |
3.6 | 2.0 percent | 1.5 | 1.2 percent | 140.0 percent | ||||||||||
| Linux | 2.8 | 1.5 percent | 4.1 | 3.3 percent | -31.7 percent | ||||||||||
| Others | 0.0 | 0.0 percent | 0.1 | 0.1 percent | -100.0 percent | ||||||||||
| Totals | 181.1 | 100.0 percent | 123.7 | 100.0 percent | 46.4 percent | ||||||||||
