A recent report from analyst firm IDC study reveals that Android was the operating system on 81 per cent of smartphones sold across the globe in the third quarter this year, a first for the mobile OS from Google.
Worldwide smartphone shipments also rose 39.9 per cent year-on-year for the period. Mobile device manufacturer Samsung gained the largest market share in the quarter, with 39 per cent of all Android smartphones shipped globally.
Windows Phone sales were also up 156 per cent from the same period last year, though the Microsoft OS retains less than a 5 percent global market share. Nokia manufactured 93.2 per cent of all Windows Phones shipped in the period.
“Despite their differences in market share, (Android and Windows Phone) both have one important factor behind their success: price,” said IDC research manager Ramon Llamas in a statement. “Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward.”
Apple iOS also posted a 12.9 per cent global market share for the quarter, dropping 1.5 per cent year-on-year. In the survey, IDC contributed the decline in part to soft demand for the period prior to September’s launch the company’s new iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones and iOS 7 release.
