A new report from research firm IDC makes it clear that smartphone OS wars are between Android and iOS only as others are losing the race while these two are gaining significantly. IDC has released it’s report on smartphone shipments in Q1 2012, the most interesting fact in this report is that both Android and iOS now command more than 80 percent of the smartphone market share while others are fighting to get a significant market share.
Android for its part is growing at an astonishing rate year on year, compared to the 2011 Q1 Android ha grown 145% with 89.9 million units shipped this quarter, last year’s Q1 shipments are at 36.7 million.
iOS shipments increased from 18.6 million units in 2011 Q1 to 35.1 million units in this year’s Q1, a year on year growth of 88.7%. iOS now commands 23% of the smartphone market at the second place after Android. Both Android and iOS now account for 82% of the smartphone market.
The biggest winner in Android manufacturers is Samsung with 45.4% of the Android smartphone market, while the rest are trying to catch up with Samsung. The success of Samsung is duet to the hugely successful Galaxy line of smartphones.
The biggest losers here are both Symbian and Blackberry OS. Symbian smartphone market share is now just 6.8% and Blackberry is trailing Symbian with 6.4%. Symbian market share dropped 60.6% year on year and Blackberry loss 29.7% year on year. IDC expects that Symbian will continue to lose market share as Nokia is betting on Windows Phone OS.
Windows Phone OS now accounts for 2.2% of the smartphone market share. Windows Phone shipments increased from 2.6 million last year to 3.3 million units this year’s first quarter. But the market share has dropped from 2.6% to 2.2% year on year. Unless Nokia ramps up the Windows phone with models or other vendors join the Windows Phone party, IDC expects slow growth for the operating system this year.
Top Six Smartphone Operating Systems, Shipments, and Market Share, 2012 Q1 (Units in Millions)
| Mobile Operating System | 1Q12 Unit Shipments | 1Q12 Market Share | 1Q11 Unit Shipments | 1Q11 Market Share | Year-over-Year Change |
| Android | 89.9 | 59.0% | 36.7 | 36.1% | 145% |
| iOS | 35.1 | 23.0% | 18.6 | 18.3% | 88.7% |
| Symbian | 10.4 | 6.8% | 26.4 | 26.0% | -60.6% |
| BlackBerry OS | 9.7 | 6.4% | 13.8 | 13.6% | -29.7% |
| Linux | 3.5 | 2.3% | 3.2 | 3.1% | 9.4% |
| Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile | 3.3
|
2.2% | 2.6 | 2.6% | 26.9% |
| Other | 0.4 | 0.3% | 0.3 | 0.3% | 33.3% |
| Total | 152.3 | 100% | 101.6 | 100.0% | 49.9% |
Another observation from the data is that smartphone shipments increased from 101.6 million units in 2011 first quarter 152.3 million units in this quarter, that shows 49.9% of year on year growth for smartphone market.
Source: IDC
