The worldwide smartphone market showed no signs of slowing down in the first half of the year. Following strong numbers in Q1, 301.3 million smartphones shipped in Q2 2014 according to market research firm IDC. This is up 25.3% from the 240.5 million shipped the same quarter a year ago. Echoing similar findings by Strategy Analytics earlier this month, the IDC reports finds that Android and iOS dominate the market, accounting for 96.4% of all smartphones shipped.
“With many of its OEM partners focusing on the sub-$200 segments, Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets,” says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “During the second quarter, 58.6% of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide cost less than $200 off contract, 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.”
Android consolidated its hold on first place. 255.3 million smartphones shipped with Google’s mobile operating system to account for 84.7% of total shipments. Apple’s iOS saw shipments rise to 35.2 million but saw its market share drope to 11.7% as its shipment growth, up nearly 13%, could not match that of Android.
In the face of such dominant numbers by Android and iOS, other operating systems all reported market share drops over the past year. Windows Phone, holding down third, accounted for only 2.5% of the market in Q2 2014, falling 9.4%. Numbers were even worse for BlackBerry although they showed a slight increase over Q1. In fourth place, its market share was only 0.5%, a drop of 78% from a year ago.
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Source : IDC