Although the new version of the iPhone had spectacular sales results – Apple sold over 178 million units of its iPhones – Android is still the undisputed ruler of the mobile operating system market. According to Cnet, over 1 billion Android handsets will be shipped until the end of this year.
Android will most likely maintain its dominant position on the smartphone operating system market, a report issued by IDC – International Data Corporation, a major market research and analysis company – shows. The total number of Android handsets delivered until the end of this year will reach 1.06 billion, giving Android a market share of 82.3 per cent. Apple’s iPhone OS (iOS) will finish the year second with its 13.8% market share, while Windows Phone will be far behind with just 2.7% of the market, with 35 million smartphones shipped this year. According to IDC’s forecast his situation is unlikely to change in the near future, with mobile operating systems like Tizen (Samsung) and Firefox OS (Mozilla) having no chance of competing with Android on their price alone. The company considers that a mobile OS has to be radically different from the current ones to gain any significant traction in the current market conditions.
IDC expects the total number of smartphones shipped this year to reach 1.3 billion, most of them being Android handsets. For next year the company predicts the sales to grow even more, soaring by 12% compared to 2014, and does not expect smartphone sales to slow down until at least 2018. The company expects 1.5 billion Android – powered smartphones to be shipped in 2018, and the OS to have a market share of 80%.
Android is expected to maintain its leading position both on the smartphone and the tablet markets, while IDC expects Apple’s iPad shipments to decline by 13% this year. Android currently has a market share of 67.7% of the tablet market, with total shipments of up to 240 million Android tablets until the end of this year.