Google’s Android mobile operating system made up 75% of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012, far ahead of Apple’s 14.9%, according to new data.
The study from market analysis firm IDC attributed the jump in market share to the faltering market reach for Nokia’s Symbian platform and Research In Motion’s Blackberry mobile OS.
According to the study Google Android smartphone shipments increased by 91.5% during Q3 2012.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said in a statement: “Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008. In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition.
“In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market.”
iOS and Windows Phone on the rise
The other two gainers according to the same analysts include Apple’s iOS which grew by 57.3%. The iOS platform is featured in only Apple’s products unlike the Android Platform.
The iOS platform was featured in 26.9 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2012 and represented a 14.9 % share of the market.
The other gainer is the Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform which was featured in 3.6 million devices shipped in the third quarter of the year 2012.
Suffering at the hands of Android and iOS was Symbian which watched its share drop from 14.6 percent last year to 2.3 percent this year. The report also found that the Symbian based smartphones were down 77.3 percent.
Research In Motion in the meantime now controls 4.3 percent of the market, more than half of its market share.
According to IDC analyst Kevin Restivo, “The share decline of smartphone operating systems not named iOS since Android’s introduction isn’t a coincidence. The smartphone operating system isn’t an isolated product, it’s a crucial part of a larger technology ecosystem. Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio,”during the end of Q3 2011.
IDC suggests that 181.1 million smartphones shipped in Q3 2012, a jump of 46.4 percent from one year earlier.
Based on current estimates Google Android devices accounted for 136 million of those sales and iOS smartphones counted for 26.9 million units sold.
Android is estimated to control 17.5 percent of the overall market (including feature phones which still dominate many markets worldwide) based on end of Q3 numbers.
Source: IDC
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