Android remains leader in global smartphone market share at 88 percent in Q3 2016

Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, has released statistics which show that Android’s global smartphone market share in the third quarter of 2016 were at around 88 percent which is an increase from 84.1 percent recorded in the same period last year. The numbers are not groundbreaking but it definitely means that Android is still growing. On the other hand, Apple’s iOS now sits at 12.1 percent which is down from the 13.6 percent market share it had in Q3 last year. Even in the smartphone shipment numbers, Android smartphones saw a year-on-year growth of 10.3 percent going from 298 million units last year to 328.6 million this year. iOS devices saw a decline of 5.2 percent which is a drop to 45.5 million compared to 48 million last year.  Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said “Android’s domination of global smartphone shipments remained strong in Q3 2016, with a record 88 percent of all smartphones now running Google’s OS. Android’s gain came at the expense of every major rival platform. Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent share worldwide in Q3 2016, due to a lackluster performance in China and Africa. BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone have all but disappeared due to strategic shifts, while Tizen and other emerging platforms softened as a result of limited product portfolios and modest developer support.” Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Android’s leadership of the global smartphone market looks unassailable at the moment. Its low-cost services and user-friendly software remain attractive to hardware makers, operators and consumers worldwide. However, several challenges remain for Google. The Android platform is getting overcrowded with hundreds of manufacturers, few Android device vendors make profits, and Google’s new Pixel range is attacking its own hardware partners that made Android popular in the first place.”