Google’s Android OS has for the first time ever, accounted for over 80 percent of all smartphone units shipped, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
The total smartphone units shipped during the third quarter of 2013 was 211.6 million, with Android accounting for 81 percent of the total units shipped as the smartphone segment saw a growth of 39.9 percent year over year in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s relatively new Windows Phone OS saw a phenomenal 156 percent growth, mostly in Nokia devices. The OS now has a 3.6 percent market share with 9.5 million units during the quarter, with the price of Windows Phones speculated to come down as more players like Micromax, Karbonn etc expected to offer devices in the near future. This quarter, Nokia had a 93.2 percent market share of all Windows Phone powered smartphones.
“Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price,” Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team, said in a release.
In the meantime, Apple’s iOS saw a decline in the market share in the third quarter as total sales volume reached a record level. However, things could brighten up once the figure from the new iOS7 devices are taken into account for the next quarter.
BlackBerry suffered a major setback recording the largest decline among leading operating systems which saw a drop of over 41 percent, with shipments falling to 4.5 million units.
Source: FinancialExpress