Android Surges to Dominate Smartphone Market

by Christopher Freeburn | August 8, 2012 2:45 pm

While consumers anxiously await the debut of Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL[1]) next-generation iPhone, the Cupertino-based tech giant is losing the battle for smartphone market share[2].

Market research from IDC shows that smartphones running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG[3]) Android operating system have significantly widened their lead over the iPhone with consumers, CNNMoney notes.

In fact, Android-running handsets dominate the worldwide smartphone market, rising to a 68% share during the last quarter. The iPhone, by contrast, has just 17% of the global market.

That leaves other, once-leading competitors in the dust. Research In Motion‘s (NASDAQ:RIMM[4]) BlackBerry phones, which arguable started the smartphone craze, now hold just 5% of the market, and that’s down 41% from last year. The Canadian company, which is slashing its payroll to cut costs, says it won’t debut its updated BlackBerry 10 operating system until next year. But by then it may be too late for RIM[5].

Finnish phone maker Nokia (NYSE:NOK[6]) has seen shipments of phones running its Symbian operating system fall 60% compared to last year, collapsing to just 4.4% of the market. In desperation, Nokia has turned to Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT[7]) Windows operating system for its Lumia line of smartphones[8].

While Apple shipped 26 million iPhones last quarter, a gain of 28% over the same time in 2011, Android smartphone shipments more than doubled to 105 million units.

Android’s rising profile is driving Samsung’s dominance of the smartphone market. Samsung produced 44% of all Android-running smartphones shipped last quarter, including its popular Galaxy S line of smartphones.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/08/android-surges-to-dominate-smartphone-market/

---