iOS and Android Combined for Record 99% of Smartphone Sales Last Quarter

[MacRumors]

The latest numbers from research firm Gartner reveal that the smartphone industry continues to be a virtual two-horse race between iOS and Android. The operating systems combined for a record 99.1% worldwide market share in the second calendar quarter of 2016, compared to 96.8% in the year-ago period.

Android remained the world's most widely used smartphone operating system with 86.2% market share in the second quarter, up from 82.2% a year ago, while iOS dropped to 12.9% market share from 14.6% in the year-ago period. Windows and BlackBerry smartphones continued their long-running descent, dropping to 0.6% and 0.1% market share worldwide respectively.

Units in thousands​

iOS and Android achieving a 99% duopoly in the smartphone market is remarkable given that Symbian and BlackBerry operating systems were industry leaders just six years ago. Symbian was used by several major mobile phone vendors, including Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson.

Symbian was essentially discontinued in 2012, beyond being used on a few regional smartphones in Japan, while BlackBerry released its first Android smartphone last year. Meanwhile, Microsoft scaled back its Windows Phone efforts earlier this year following continuously poor sales of Lumia devices.

Article Link: iOS and Android Combined for Record 99% of Smartphone Sales Last Quarter

 

[pushingrobot]

*virtual one-horse race

fixed that for you.

 

[Zirel]

Smartphone sales went from 330M to 344M... and people still say that smartphone sales are declining...

 

[Born Again]

Android has come a long away.

I believe this year will be the 1st year I buy an Android phone because of the lack of innovation from Apple and the iPhone 7.

 

[smacrumon]

This is disappointing. This market share for Apple is terrible. I'd love to see iOS with six figure units sold each quarter. This has to do with iOS pricing for iPhone. A lower cost device will bring Apple higher ongoing income from other products and services,

At what point do developers stop making apps for iOS? Wasn't that the issue the Mac had in the 1990's, a smaller and smaller market share, so developers abandon it?

 

[ghanwani]

Is the Android version the same on all phones? If not, do they break it down by version?

 

[VulchR]

Android has come a long away.

I believe this year will be the 1st year I buy an Android phone because of the lack of innovation from Apple and the iPhone 7.

iPhone7 is neither announced nor released yet. Just sayin'.

 

[phoneme]

Smartphone sales went from 330M to 344M... and people still say that smartphone sales are declining...

no people are saying apple iphones are declining. and the records reflect that.

 

[Derekuda]

I'm just curious how you sell a .4 of a unit? How does one sell a percentage of a phone? Shouldn't the unit number be whole numbers?

 

[bgraham]

Crazy how quickly Windows phone has just died completely. Microsoft really has seemed to have given up.

 

[MrX8503]

This is disappointing. This market share for Apple is terrible. I'd love to see iOS with six figure units sold each quarter. This has to do with iOS pricing for iPhone. A lower cost device will bring Apple higher ongoing income from other products and services,

At what point do developers stop making apps for iOS? Wasn't that the issue the Mac had in the 1990's, a smaller and smaller market share, so developers abandon it?

Most app developers release apps for iOS first. It's about the money, not market share. Market share "can" lead to money.

 

[bgraham]

I'm just curious how you sell a .4 of a unit? How does one sell a percentage of a phone? Shouldn't the unit number be whole numbers?

Do you genuinely believe Apple sold 44,000 iPhones in a quarter? The numbers are in thousands.

 

[MrX8503]

Android has come a long away.

I believe this year will be the 1st year I buy an Android phone because of the lack of innovation from Apple and the iPhone 7.

The grass always seems greener on the other side.

 

[2457282]

I think we can now safely lump BB in the "other" category. And if the trend continues, Windows is not far behind.

 

[raazman]

I'm just curious how you sell a .4 of a unit? How does one sell a percentage of a phone? Shouldn't the unit number be whole numbers?

I don't think you're reading the table properly. Lol

 

[djcerla]

This is disappointing. This market share for Apple is terrible. I'd love to see iOS with six figure units sold each quarter. This has to do with iOS pricing for iPhone. A lower cost device will bring Apple higher ongoing income from other products and services,

At what point do developers stop making apps for iOS? Wasn't that the issue the Mac had in the 1990's, a smaller and smaller market share, so developers abandon it?

Developers make 4x from iOS apps vs. Android. The vast majority of people choosing* Android don't spend a dime on apps nor services.

Apple's iOS strategy is no different from the Mac's: skim the customers creme, enjoy the high margins and spend more on customer service. You can't beat iOS.

*EDIT: they don't actually "choose": they pick the lowest priced item, and it's not an iPhone.

 

[npmacuser5]

Android has come a long away.

I believe this year will be the 1st year I buy an Android phone because of the lack of innovation from Apple and the iPhone 7.

Question, how much innovation does a user really need in a phone? At some point the return would exponentially decline. I suspect the sales results are more of a pricing issue then innovation.

 

[avanpelt]

Wow. Can't say I'm surprised, but it sure does hammer it home to see the figures in black and white. Microsoft and BlackBerry are clearly done.

To the people bemoaning the fact that Apple doesn't have more market share, just remember that the Android phones include a large number of devices that are priced $300 and lower when they're brand new and off contract. Apple doesn't want to compete for the customers who want to pay those prices; or at least they haven't, historically.

 

[69650]

It was always going to end up this way. Mac v Windows, iOS v Android. Apple's market share will remain at 10-15%.

 

[Derekuda]

Do you genuinely believe Apple sold 44,000 iPhones in a quarter? The numbers are in thousands.

Yes very good. 44 THOUSAND. LOL
Where are these numbers pulled from then?

 

[logicstudiouser]

Blackberry, 0.1% OUCH!

 

[kodos]

Alternate headline: iOS continues to lose marketshare to Android.
Significantly: Android gained 4% of the market, while Apple lost 1.7% of the market.

 

[thewap]

Let's hope the iphone will not result in being the smartphone only for the 1%...

 

[Gasu E.]

I'm just curious how you sell a .4 of a unit? How does one sell a percentage of a phone? Shouldn't the unit number be whole numbers?

It's really foolish of Gartner to "show their work", but in fact they have no way of knowing how many units were sold. This is just the output of some model that combines various bits of publicly available data, interviews with company execs, and guess work.

 

[adamjackson]

It's unfortunate for Apple that some people see these stats and think "clearly Android is better and oh hey, Android phones are cheaper too"

If you compare the top of the line Android w/ top of the line iPhone, prices are not much different and Apple has a higher market-share. I have a friend who uses Straight Talk and on the page of available phones, over 60 are Android and there are 3 iPhone models. 16GB is the only choice and iPhones are $150-$600 (5S to 6S). The ASP of every android phone is $20 considering half of them are "free" and the rest are $20-$50.

When you compare a $150 5S w/ 16GB of storage to a Free Android phone, most people see that and this market share and it's no competition.

Most Android buyers don't read Daring Fireball when John constantly talks about "highest % of smartphone profits go to apple". They look at marketshare and it's clear Android is winning.

My friend ended up getting a free Android phone for his straight talk plan. it's 2 years old, has 4GB of built in storage and runs a 4 year old Android OS. Customer Sat is going to be in the single digits and he's going to hate using it.

To a lot of Americans, spending $150 on a phone is out of their budget but having any smart-phone is necessary in today's society. This is why Android is winning. Cheaper, accessible, everywhere.

 

[44267547]

I think we can now safely lump BB in the "other" category. And if the trend continues, Windows is not far behind.

If it wasn't for Corporations still using Blackberry for their E-mail server accounts and security, they would have been flushed while ago. Windows is following shortly.