New Delhi, August 15 – The latest numbers from the phone market are in. And they show that adoption of smartphones is exploding across the world. According to IDC, a market research firm, phone companies shipped a total of 301.3 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter of 2014, up 25.3 per cent from the 240.5 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2013.
The market is dominated by Android and iOS, which powers iPhones. These two mobile operating systems have a combined share of 96.4 per cent in the global phone market. However, numbers can be deceiving.
In reality, it is the Android that is towering over the other smartphone operating systems. Compared to the last year’s market share of 79.6 per cent market, Android had 84.7 percent market share in the second quarter of 2014.
While both iOS and Android managed to see a growth in the number of units shipped on year-to-year basis, in terms of market share only Android witnessed a growth. The market share of iOS declined from 13 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 to 11.7 per cent in the same quarter this year.
Windows Phone, which is hoping to be a viable third biggest smartphone platform in the short run and second biggest behind the Android in the next few years, also saw its market share go down to 2.5 per cent this year compared to 3.4 percent last year.
The growth of Android was fuelled by affordable smartphones that are coming into the developing markets. “With many of its OEM partners focusing on the sub-$200 segments, Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team.
“During the second quarter, 58.6 per cent of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide cost less than $200, making them very attractive compared to other devices.
With the recent introduction of Android One, in which Google offers reference designs below $100 to Android OEMs, the proportion of sub-$200 volumes will climb even higher.” On Wednesday, IndiaToday.in had reported that Android One would see its global launch in India in September.
IDC says that for Windows Phone and others, building up market share is going to be even more difficult in future. “It’s been an incredible upward slog for other OS players – Windows Phone has been around since 2010 but has yet to break the 5 per cent.
share mark, while the backing of the world’s largest smartphone player, Samsung, has not boosted Tizen into the spotlight,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
“The biggest stumbling block is around getting enough partnerships in play – not just phone manufacturers but also developers, many of which are smaller outfits looking to minimise development efforts by sticking to the two big ecosystems.”
Among the phone companies, Samsung has taken some beating in the market. IDC said that in the Android camp, Samsung once again led the charge, accounting for 29.3 per cent of all Android-powered shipments. But the number was down from 40 per cent that Samsung had almost two years ago.
“Competitors including Coolpad, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Xiaomi, and ZTE have all grown their respective volumes (and) are jockeying for position in the rankings behind Samsung,” IDC noted in its report.
-INDIA TODAY
