Almost everyone out there knows that Android is the widely used mobile operating system in the world. The OS can be found on devices within all price ranges from the affordable ones to the most expensive ones.
With that said, the latest statistics from market research firm, Strategy Analytics, reveal that Android’s global market share currently stands at 88%. This is for Q3 of 2016 and is up from 84.1% that was recorded during the same period last year. This means that out of every 10 smartphones in use, about 8 of them are running on Android.
In second place is Apple’s iOS which has a market share of 12.1%. Compared to the same period last year, this is a drop of about 1.5%. This is a small percentage compared to Android’s market share but keep in mind that iOS devices tend to be high end ones and thus expensive and not everyone can afford them. The other mobile operating systems including BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile are listed under ‘Others’ and those have a market share of 0.3%. This is a very small and insignificant percentage.
As for smartphone shipments, Android rose by 10.3% compared to the same period last year while iOS declined by 5.2% compared to the same period.
Commenting on the latest statistics, Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics said, “Android’s gain came at the expense of every major rival platform. Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent share worldwide in Q3 2016, due to a lackluster performance in China and Africa.”
“BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone have all but disappeared due to strategic shifts, while Tizen and other emerging platforms softened as a result of limited product portfolios and modest developer support.”
