Android takes more than 50 percent of smartphone market

Research company Gartner has released a report that shows Android making great leaps in the smartphone market . In the third quarter of 2011 Android phones accounted for 52.5 percent of all smartphones sold worldwide, up from 25.3 percent in the same quarter last year. That’s an increase of nearly 300 percent from 20.5 million units sold in the third quarter of 2010 to 60.5 million  in Q3 2011. Symbian trails in second place with 16.9 percent (19.5 million units), and iOS in third with only 15.0 percent of the market (17.3 million units). Microsoft has a paltry 1.5 percent, equating to sales of just 1.7 million units. [caption id=“attachment_132889” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Android phones accounted for 52.5 percent of all smartphones sold worldwide. Reuters”] [/caption] In total 440.5 million mobile devices were sold worldwide during the quarter, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year. Of those, 115 million were smartphones, up 42 percent year- on-year. Although smartphone sales slowed slightly through 2011, a healthy growth of 25 percent from quarter to quarter remains. Said Gartner in their press release:

“Strong smartphone growth in China and Russia helped increase overall volumes in the quarter, but demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets such as Western Europe and the US as many users waited for new flagship devices featuring new versions of the key operating systems,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.” “Some consumers held off upgrading in the third quarter because they were waiting for promotions on other new high-end models that were launched in the run-up to the fourth quarter holiday season,” Ms Cozza said. “Other consumers were waiting for a rumored new iPhone and associated price cuts on older iPhone models; this affected U.S. sales particularly.”

When it came to handset makers, Nokia hangs on to its lead with 23.9 percent (105 million) devices sold. After a dip in the second quarter, Nokia’s performance with feature phones, particularly dual-SIM phones, in emerging market improved its position. Samsung, on the other hand, took the premier position amongst smartphone manufacturers, its sales tripling year on year to 24 million. This was down to combination of its Galaxy smartphones and a weaker market, says Gartner. Apple shipped 17 million iPhones, up 21 percent from last year but down by 3 million units from last quarter due to consumers waiting for Apple’s announcement of its iPhone 4s and unfulfilled expectations of the iPhone 5. Preorders of the iPhone 4s should improve Apple’s numbers  in the fourth quarter. Research in Motion, however, reached a new low, its market share by handset down to 2.9 percent and by operating system down to 11 percent. After significant service disruptions and a lack of new handsets, it’s unlikely that RIM can claw back market share in the next quarter. As any report about mobile device markets is quick to point out, Android benefits substantially from having a variety of manufacturers provide handsets, giving consumers much more choice. Any iOS fans, on the other hand, have only various flavours of iPhone to choose from. The dark horse in all this, though, is Microsoft. Its new alliance with Nokia has yet to fully bear fruit as Nokia’s Lumia has only recently reached the market. If the Lumia is successful, and rumours of a Windows 8 tablet and high-end Lumia are true, the partnership with Nokia could see Microsoft begin to challenge certainly Bada, but also RIM. Reviews of the Lumia have been positive and there’s a lot of opportunity for an operating system that takes on iOS and Android, but only time will tell if Microsoft and Nokia are up to the challenge.