Android captures nearly 50 percent of global smartphone market

By Kul Bhushan | Updated on 02-Aug-2011

02-Aug-2011

Over the years we have seen a number of mobile phone makers such as HTC, LG, Samsung and Motorola adopting Google’s Android platform. The popularity of Android is evidently still growing, with single-device iOS platform as its nearest competitor. According to an estimate released by research firm Canalys, the Android platform has grabbed almost 50 percent of the global smartphone market and enjoys dominance in the Asia-Pacific market. Canalys says that Android is the top most platform in 35 of the 36 countries, resulting in a market share of nearly 48 percent.

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Apple’s iOS holds the second spot with a market share of 19 percent. It is notable that Apple‘s iOS has overtaken Nokia’s Symbian platform during the quarter. In the meanwhile, echoing earlier reports about the current status quo of smartphone manufacturers, Canalys stated in their estimate that Samsung has surpassed Nokia, riding high on the popularity of its flagship Galaxy S II. However, the overall performance of Samsung could have been better, as Canalys VP and Principal Analyst Chris Jones, pointed out:

“Samsung has failed to fully capitalize on Nokia’s weakened state around the world, as the Finnish company rides out a challenging transitional period. It’s the best placed vendor to grow at Nokia’s expense, taking advantage of its global scale and channel reach, but it hasn’t yet done enough to capitalize on this, particularly in emerging markets.”

Meanwhile, the research firm adds that Android is the number one platform in terms of shipments since Q4 2010. It is also the “strongest growth driver” with shipments of Android-based of smartphones surging by 379 percent in last one year. Popularity was boosted by a number of Android-based products from various vendors such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. Android devices have performed really well in countries like South Korea where the OS holds some 85 percent share, while in Taiwan, it is nearly 71 percent.

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